by Highlanders - The Warriorand the Rose; The Forbidden Highlander; Rescued by the Highland Warrior
“And did your mother teach you that as well?” Though these Highlanders were known more for their uisge beatha, ale was the favored drink of the Lowlands and the lands that had belonged, and some that did still, to the Norse in the north.
“Nay,” she said. “My mother is known for her cooking, but her sister is known for her ale.” She laughed then, the sound of it warming his heart. “Now that she is widowed, the earl has offered to buy a place for her in the burgh of Glasgow or in Aberdeen to set up her own business. They would be partners.”
“‘tis a good thing to know, Elizabeth. At least my wife might have employment.” She watched him with widened eyes then, as though divining his meaning.
“Is that what you think will happen after—” she waved her hand between them “—this?” When he hesitated, she slid down to her knees, bringing her with reach before him. “Please, I pray you, tell me.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and rubbed her arms, gently easing up and down in an effort to offer comfort after he’d upset her. Insulting a man like Connor and breaking faith with him was more dangerous than he wanted to dwell upon. With the earl’s allies and connections across the kingdom and beyond, the Murray name would be deemed dishonored by his actions now—if the MacLerie wished it so.
“I do not know what to expect. Although I spoke with the MacLerie, I do not expect him to be happy with the choice I made. But you are his kin and I don’t think he will take action against you.” That was why James’s note spoke of his abduction of Elizabeth rather than making it seem that she was a willing partner in this. It might protect her from Connor’s wrath.
“What would he do to you?” she whispered, her gaze filled with worry. Though he would rather not think on these matters now, they must discuss it.
“I understood when I asked you to marry me that it would violate the contracts negotiated by my father. Not just the marriage contract, but trade arrangements as well. And the MacLerie does not like to be defied,” he said. She nodded, knowing the earl better than he did and knowing the truth of the rumors and tales of his harsh actions and past sins. “I think it just depends on how angry my father is and how much damage the earl wants to inflict.”
She paled then, losing the color in her cheeks until he thought she might faint. Drawing her closer, he held her against him. “Once our marriage is a fact he cannot argue with, we will return and face him. Face my father also. But, first I think we should let the anger cool.”
“Better to face them with the deed done then?” she asked, lifting her face until it was but a scant inch from his own. Deed done? Aye, he wanted a certain deed to be done at this moment!
“Aye. Better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, I think,” he said, surprised at how rough his voice sounded as he spoke. Thick. It was thick with the rising desire he felt for her.
He could resist no more. Her rosy lips, parted slightly in invitation, called to him. James gave in, taking her mouth with his even as he grabbed the blanket she wore around her to hold her where he wanted her. If they would be together, he wanted it to begin now. Now, before anything or anyone came between them.
“Elizabeth, be mine? Now?” he whispered against her lips.
She answered without words. He felt her hands release the blanket and creep up around his neck to embrace him. As her bare skin touched his wet clothing, she shivered even as the heat of her mouth burned his.
“Here, let me,” he said, drawing back a few inches.
He tugged the wet shirt off—as he’d wanted to do before—and then loosened his belt and pushed his trews down, kicking them aside. James took hold of the blanket’s edges once more and brought Elizabeth back to him. He watched her face for any sign of fear or dismay or hesitation and saw none. But for a quick glance down as he faced her, she met his gaze and then accepted his embrace.
His cock rose against his groin and the softness of her bare skin against it simply made him want her more. The tightened nipples pressed against his chest, and his blood caught fire and raced through his veins.
Elizabeth did not want to breathe. She did not want to see. She simply wanted to feel, to feel all the sensations as Jamie claimed her body as he had her heart. Only nervous about his reaction to her impure condition, she did not hesitate when he tugged her to him. Leaning against the hard ridge of flesh that showed he desired her, she rubbed her belly against him.
And felt his reaction.
Her breasts lay heavy against his muscular chest, the sprinkling of curly hair there teasing the now-sensitive tips and making her gasp with each movement. An aching heat began to throb in the center of her.
Was it sinful, as her mother had said, to want to lay with him? To be his even before their vows were spoken? He had taken such risks to marry her—alienating his family, angering one of the most powerful and most dangerous men in the kingdom, risking everything to be with her. Her indecision lasted a brief moment as she understood that he was worth risking what she could give him—her heart, her body, her love and her support as his wife.
She slid her fingers into his hair, entangling them as he moved his hands over her skin, caressing her until she reached up and offered her mouth to him. He teased her skin and her mouth with light, feathery touches until she wanted to scream out in pleasure and frustration. He laughed then and met her gaze for a moment before tilting his head and taking her mouth...and her very breath!
Now, his fingers kneaded the muscles of her back as his tongue tasted her deeply. Then, his strong hands grasped her buttocks and pulled her up and against his erection. When her legs spread open to encircle his hips, she moaned as the hard flesh rubbed against that heated, aching place. Without clothing between them, this was almost too pleasurable to bear. Elizabeth clenched her knees tightly to hold him close and then arched against him.
His reaction was swift. Jamie lifted his mouth from hers and trailed kisses—hungry, ravenous kisses—down her neck. Lifting her higher, he used his teeth against her breasts until he took one of her nipples fully into his mouth. She arched without thought, as though there was a string being pulled through her with each touch. His teeth teased the tip until she did scream out. His caress turned into a gentle suckling, but her body was like a wild thing of its own against him. His hands moved but did not release her and she could do nothing but enjoy his attentions.
With her hands tangled in his hair, she did not know if she held him in place or urged him on. She did not care. When his mouth took the other breast and his tongue relentlessly laved its tip, her head dropped back and she panted as everything within her tightened to an almost-unbearable tension. She sought the release she knew waited for her by rubbing harder and faster against him, but it remained just out of her reach.
Finally, Jamie held her as he knelt down on the blanket she now realized he’d tossed aside some time before. With his body pressing hers to the floor of the croft, she waited for him to seek his release within her. Only by clenching her teeth together did she prevent the begging words from being keened out to him. It would take little action on his part to lift himself and plunge within her, and she urged him to do so with her hips and that hot, wet place between her legs.
He laughed then, a deep-throated sound that came out hoarse with passion and lust. It was time. It was time. It had to be...
She almost yelled at him when he eased to his side, but the touch of his hand between her legs made it impossible to speak. He stared at her, watching her as he pressed down with the heel of his hand and slipped a finger into her. It both eased the tension and spurred it on and made it worse. The second finger moved along with the first and she dropped her knees open so he could touch her more fully.
“Elizabeth,” he whispered, as those two fingers became implements of a sensuous torture. “Open for me, lass,” he urged. When he kissed her breasts and began to suckle one and then the other, in a pace matching his fingers, she knew she would fall apart soon.
Jamie moved his hand and used
his thumb, finding at last that small nub that ached the most. One flick was all it took to send her screaming into release. But he did not stop, he stroked her over and over as her muscles tightened throughout her body and then everything broke free within her. Pleasure and heat flowed deep inside of her as she spasmed in time with his caresses. Her mind wandered as her body shivered and shook.
Elizabeth had barely come back to herself when Jamie lifted himself between her legs. Even as pleasure yet pulsed through her, she knew it would happen again when he filled her. Reaching down to touch his flesh, she held her breath as he began to lower his body to hers.
A flash of lightning filled the shieling, followed by a loud ominous crash of thunder and what sounded like an explosion outside. Jamie turned toward the terrible sound as he quickly climbed to his feet. Grabbing the blanket around her, Elizabeth tried to follow, but her legs shook and would not support her. She sank back to the floor, her body still in the throes of passion, to wait for Jamie to return.
CHAPTER FIVE
BY THE TIME he reached and opened the door, he could only watch as the spooked horse charged off down the hill toward the thicker woods to the south. Walking around to the back of the shieling, James discovered a huge branch of a tree on the ground near where the horse had been, smoke curling up from where the lighting had struck. Only the heavy, soaking rains and the wet turf that served as a roof prevented the entire hut from burning to the ground. Running his hands through his hair, he stared at the damage and then looked to where the horse had last been seen.
Only the cold rain pelting his naked skin brought him to his senses. He was standing out in the rain with not a stitch of clothing on. The torrents of rain had not lessened and the bite of their sharp pellets stung him in places he did not wish to have damaged. Especially not with the lovely and equally naked Elizabeth waiting inside for him. First he found a bucket and filled it from the trough. Pouring it on the tree where it yet burned, he watched until the last embers died out. Dumping another bucketful to be sure, he turned and searched down the hillside for any sign of the terrified creature.
Sweet Christ, he needed to find that horse!
It would take days for them to walk to the village during which time the earl’s men would surely catch up with them. He did not have enough coin to purchase another one and still buy the supplies they would need in order to stay safely away from his family and hers until the worst was past. Looking up at the relentless rain pouring from the black and dangerous sky and then down at his condition, he shook his head.
He needed to find that horse.
Walking back to the door, he could not stop himself from cringing as another crash of lightning reminded him of the present danger of the storm. He knocked first, for a reason he could not fathom, before opening the door and entering. He’d left her naked as tremors of passion flowed through her and did not know what to expect now.
Elizabeth sat cross-legged on the floor, almost where he’d left her. She’d drawn the blanket up around her and only the tip of her soft boots peeked through under the edge of the covering. He made no attempts to cover himself and he felt his cock harden once more as she watched him walk from the door to where she sat.
Her hair was tousled and her mouth well-kissed. She’d melted beneath his touch and his mouth and made the most incredible sounds as he caressed her most private places. An exciting blend of passion and innocence, she had given herself over to him in a way he’d never expected. In a way he prayed would be the normal way of things between them. Once they were married and she was his without question and without challenge.
If only...
The sound of another crash of thunder brought him back on task.
“The horse was spooked by the lightning and bolted. I have to go find it,” he said, grabbing his damp garments from where he’d tossed them. Fighting the fabric’s resistance, he managed to get dressed and pull his boots back on. “I cannot let it wander too far in this storm.”
“Should I come with you?” she asked, glancing over his shoulder to the open door and the storm outside.
“Nay,” he said. “Why should you get wet again? I will search for it and bring it back.” He leaned over and touched her cheek with the back of his hand. She rested against it, closing her eyes as she did. He noticed the dark smudges under her eyes then and realized she was exhausted. “Rest while I’m gone. We have a long journey ahead of us when the rains stop. I must find that damned, cowardly horse.”
James turned and left before he could finish ravishing her as his body was urging him to do now. He followed the path down the hillside, sliding in the mud more times than he would like to admit. The rain did not ease at all as he spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon searching. It took hours but he did track it down, catch it and lead it back to the shieling on the hill. By that time, the rains had changed from torrential to heavy downpours and the lightning had eased and no longer crashed all about them.
As he walked back, trying not to wear any more of the road and mud than he already was, it struck him that he had been more adventurous and daring in the last day and night than in all his life before. And other than the horse’s escape, which could be squarely blamed on the storm, he’d gotten along well in his plan. Facing the consequences would be the difficult part but he would do so gladly with Elizabeth at his side.
He had lived his life by following the rules and being the son his parents expected and needed him to be. Only meeting Elizabeth and realizing what his life would like without her spurred him to leave practicality and pragmatism behind and seek the life he wanted. Now, even after the ludicrous morning escapade of chasing a horse through the forest, James believed everything would work out after all.
There were no burning trees and the shieling looked the same as when he’d left it. Leading the horse up the steep hillside, he tied it, more securely this time, behind the dwelling and eased the door open.
She lay on her side, with a hand tucked under her cheek, sleeping. The fire had warmed the hut nicely and he closed the door so the heat did not escape. Stripping out of his dripping clothes, he took another blanket and wrapped it around himself. Slowly so as to not wake her, James lay down next to her and gathered her closer in his arms. As she always seemed to do, Elizabeth accepted his embrace and moved closer to him.
The rain came down in a steady pace outside and James hoped that meant an end was close. These Highlands were much wetter than his home in Perthshire. He would not miss the constant dampness and dreariness when they returned south. He would take her to the coast, to see the sea and walk on the sandy beaches there.
His thoughts drifted and soon, the warmth of her body and the hypnotic sound of the rain eased his way into sleep.
* * *
ELIZABETH KNEW THE moment he returned but she feigned sleep. Unsure of how to face him after the way she’d behaved, she preferred to let some time pass before facing him. Watching him undress through half-closed eyes, she admired his body once more.
All of it.
Though not as brawny as some of her MacLerie kin, his body was muscular and lean. She’d watched him ride and fight, even taking on Tavis MacLerie and holding his own against the consummate MacLerie warrior. She’d felt every inch of him when he held her close, both during their...activities of a pleasurable nature and then in the comfortable grasp of sleep. Unlike Ciara, who yearned for more and for different than him, Jamie Murray was perfect for her.
She’d found one of her gowns was dry and dressed in it. After seeing to her needs and while waiting for water to boil in the pot for tea she would make, she watched him sleep.
If only she’d been perfect for him.
She sighed, leaning her cheek against her hand, worried now over what was to come between them. Elizabeth had no idea two years ago of how one error in judgment, one lapse in control, could affect her future happiness. But now, as she would face the true repercussions of her shameful behavior, she wondered how Jamie would
react when he discovered that another man had been her first lover.
Would he cast her aside? Would he expose her to public shame when he discovered she had lain with another man? Would he overlook such a failing in the woman who would bear his children and his name?
Marriage to take care of the mistake had not been an option—so the earl had taken care of the matter between her and a visitor, there to negotiate a treaty, quietly. The man, a nobleman high in standing and wealth and with powerful friends and family at court, had claimed he thought her available for bed-sport. She’d been a stupid, naive and inexperienced young woman who thought he spoke the truth about his feelings for her, never realizing it was all part of his game to bed whatever woman he could.
Once she confirmed that she was not with child, Connor had handled the situation as efficiently as he handled most things in his life. The man involved was never welcomed in Lairig Dubh again, indeed, never welcomed by any of the MacLerie allies or friends or branches of the clan.
Though certain very few knew the true reason, Elizabeth knew exactly how Connor MacLerie worked—a touch of genuine concern for his kin mixed with ruthless determination to make things the way he wanted them to be. She’d witnessed it many times as she grew up and knew of even more times through Ciara, as her friend worked at Duncan MacLerie’s side as peacemaker and negotiator for the earl’s business interests. Connor got what he wanted and made whatever he wanted happen, and rarely was he thwarted.
Elizabeth swallowed deeply as she realized she and Jamie had done exactly that. And the price that they would pay for their defiance was yet to be known. She reached down and dropped some of the crushed betony into the pot, enjoying the aroma of the herb. A cup of hot tea would feel good right now.