Brenda Joyce, Terri Brisbin, Michelle Willingham

by Highlanders - The Warriorand the Rose; The Forbidden Highlander; Rescued by the Highland Warrior

  She wrapped the edge of her skirt around her skirt and lifted the steaming pot from the fire. Carrying it over to the table near the shelves, she poured two cups. A drop or two of honey would make it the way she liked it. When she finished, she turned to find Jamie watching her.

  “I think I like this,” he said, as he lifted his arms out from under the blanket and stretched. Leaning up on his elbows, he accepted the cup she offered him. “It will be no hardship having you as my wife.”

  “You haven’t tasted my cooking yet, so do not rush to judgment,” she teased. He sat up, sipping the steaming tea with a care, and nodded to her.

  “Well, I have yet to experience that, but this is wonderful. What is in it?”

  “Betony from the lady’s garden. A drop of honey.”

  “‘tis good. I like it. My thanks for making it.”

  He stood then, holding the blanket around his hips and holding his cup out to her. She took it, her mouth dry in spite of a mouthful of tea. That tea sat on her tongue and refused to be swallowed. Jamie reached for his trews with his free hand, testing their dryness.

  “How long have I slept?” he asked as he dropped the blanket and pulled the trousers on.

  She would have answered if she was able to, but the sight of him, even from the back, took her breath away. Worse, her hand lifted to touch him before she realized it. To glide her hands over the strong muscles of his back, to let them drop down over his sculpted buttocks and to touch the hard muscles in his thighs... Lost for a moment in desire, she forgot he’d asked her a question. When he turned and met her gaze, the corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that told her he knew exactly what she was thinking. Elizabeth let her hand drop and tried to think about what he’d asked.

  “How long...?” he prompted.

  “‘tis past sunset now,” she replied. “You were exhausted so I did not wake you.”

  She watched as he found his shirt and pulled it over his head. Now, she wanted to run her fingers through his hair, smoothing the tangles and feeling its texture. Pulling her thoughts away from his body, she cleared her throat.

  “Since it was still raining, I did not think you planned to leave yet.” Elizabeth gave him his cup when he reached for it. He shook his head.

  “Traveling the muddy path would be dangerous in the dark. By morning, hopefully the rains will cease and the roads will dry out.” He stepped past her and looked at their store of food on the shelf. “Are you hungry?”

  Her stomach chose that moment to let him know exactly how hungry she was, grumbling loudly enough to be heard by both of them. She covered it with her hands, but it was too late. Her mother always said she a healthy appetite and she would admit to loving a good meal. “I suppose I am.”

  Jamie laughed then, taking the two remaining pies from their cloth wrappers and placing them on the table. He moved the stools next to the table and waited for her to sit. She filled their cups with the remaining tea and sat. They ate their plain meal in companionable silence.

  “The unavoidable will happen,” Jamie said as she cleaned up the crumbs from their food. She stopped in motion and stared at him, thinking he meant to bed her now. “You will have to cook for me in the morn.” He laughed then and nodded. “With your mother’s pies done and needing some of the leftover food for our journey on the morrow, you must make us some of those oatcakes I keep hearing about.”

  She forgot that he was a Lowlander by birth and that, other than this and two other journeys north, he spent little time elsewhere. The language that they now spoke should have reminded her, but she could slip in and out of Scots easily. He spoke little of her Gàidhlig and struggled with it.

  “Every Highland boy and girl is taught to make oatcakes,” she said, smiling at him. “I can teach you how to, if you would like?”

  “Is that so I cannot blame you if they burn or are too dry?” he teased.

  “Aye,” she admitted. “I mean, nay! I have mastered the simple oatcake, sir. ’tis the more involved baked foods that escape my abilities.”

  “Very well,” he said, gazing at her with a new intensity in his blue eyes. “If you promise to teach me how to make an oatcake in the morn, I will teach you something this night.”

  Her body reacted before she even realized the sensual promise in his words, heat spilling through her belly and into her breasts. The deep tones of his voice made her want to peel off her gown and melt at his feet.

  She should be ashamed at the way she reacted, without thinking first of her unmarried state, but she knew he was an honorable man and he would stand by his promises to her. She prayed he would when he discovered her secret.

  But, really, all her examination of conscience seemed to matter little, or not at all, when he lifted his hand and traced the outline of her mouth with his finger. And it mattered less when that same finger slid down and touched her breast, drawing a circle around the sensitive tip before rubbing it with his thumb. Her body ached and arched toward him. Before he could touch her any other place, she covered his hand with hers and asked the question she wanted to.

  “What will you teach me, Jamie?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  WHAT WOULD HE teach her?

  She already loved him. She already wanted him. She’d pledged herself and her life to him. And she made him burn hotter than any fire.

  What could he teach her?

  James stepped closer and touched only his mouth to hers, leaving a few inches between them. Lifting his mouth while staying so close he could feel her breath against his lips, he revealed some of what he wanted to show her this night...and every night of their lives together.

  “I want to teach you how good it can be between us.” He kissed the edge of her chin and trailed a path of kisses along the line of her jaw until he reached her ear.

  “I will teach you the way you like to be touched,” he whispered into her ear. He traced the curves of her ear with his tongue, finally gaining the sigh he wanted to hear. James felt her body tremble and move an infinitesimal amount toward him. He wanted her panting and hot and ready for him and he knew from this morning how to make her so. Her breasts were very sensitive to his attentions.

  “I will teach you how to seek and gain pleasure.” Now he moved to stand behind her, easing the length of her hair to one side and biting the cord between her neck and shoulder gently. The gown she wore was no barrier to what he did, for she did shudder then. His own body reacted now, his flesh ready to join with her. Now.

  James unlaced the back of her gown, kissing his way down her spine as he slid the garment off her shoulders, allowing it to fall to her hips. After pulling his shirt off, he touched her from behind, moving his hands along the bottom of her ribs, around until they rested just below her breasts. She leaned against him then, sending shocks into his body. Her hot, smooth skin against his inflamed his desire for her even more.

  But, he would control the need that simmered within him and make their first time memorable...and immensely pleasurable for her. James kissed her exposed neck as he cupped her breasts in his hands, pulling her back so that she could feel how much he desired her. She gasped over and over as he rubbed his thumbs across her nipples until they tightened.

  “Jamie,” she whispered on a sigh. “You undo me.”

  He smiled then, knowing what more was still to happen between them. He had only just begun his seduction of her. When he covered her breasts and massaged them, then teased the tips again, she rolled her head against his shoulder and moaned aloud.

  Now, he traced the lovely mounds before moving lower, onto her stomach then lower still, pushing the gown until it slid the rest of the way to the floor. Naked but for her stockings and low boots, she arched against his hands, pressing her beautiful arse against him. He closed his eyes and imagined her bent over as he plumbed her feminine depths from behind. He thrust then, losing control for only a moment, but she felt his hardness and rubbed that arse against it harder.

  He placed his hands on her hips and mo
ved against her. She gifted him with another delicious moan, but the sound he wanted to hear came when he crept his fingers down across her belly and touched her mons. Her mouth dropped open and she began to pant. James smiled and moved his fingers lower until he felt the wetness there between her legs. Using both hands, he caressed her there until he felt her allow her body to relax on his. Then he rubbed harder and faster and deeper until he found that tiny bud buried within that would make her scream.

  “And I will teach you to scream,” he said as he increased the pressure and pace against that part of her that would give her both pleasure and then release. “Scream for me, my love.”

  She did then and his body thrust at her from behind, his erection aching and so ready to take that final step. The lovely, lustful sound of her voice, raised and rough, as her release did happen, nearly unmanned him. He nearly lost his grip on her, but he held on and continued to push her body on and on until he’d wrought a full measure of release from her.

  He thought she would melt limply against him, so her next action surprised him. She reached up and drew his head down, taking his mouth in a kiss so deep and so hot that it left him breathless. She turned in his embrace and now held onto him. James scooped her up in his arms, their mouths yet touching, their tongues still tasting and stroking deeply, and laid her on the blankets spread there.

  Elizabeth reached up and unbuckled his belt, loosening his trews and pushing them down. His cock was freed, and she leaned back and watched him. James moved to kneel between her legs and she shifted to allow him there. He bent over and kissed her, using his hands to make her ready for him. When her hips lifted to meet his caresses, he knew she was.

  “Elizabeth. My love,” he whispered as he held onto her hips and brought them up off the blanket. “I will have a care for you in this, lass,” he promised.

  The touch of her hand on his and the expression in her gaze surprised him. Not exactly dread, but clearly she was not as fearless as she’d been only moments before. Then, it was gone and she laid her head back and closed her eyes.

  It was time to claim her and make her truly his.

  Finally.

  He leaned down and began to enter her, slowly but without hesitation. He’d not bedded many virgins, only one before her, and the tightness did not surprise him. Her flesh fit around his as he moved deeper within her. James did not pause until he was completely buried inside her. Only as he began to move, sliding out a little then thrusting back in, did he realize that there had been nothing to resist his entry.

  But, when she lifted her legs around his hips, bringing him deeper still, he lost the ability to think about anything but making her scream once more. Plunging deeper and harder as she urged him on, he felt her body tighten. His release was close. Too close. Reaching between their bodies, he found that sensitive bud and caressed it until her release began. James filled her and eased out, filled her and eased out, over and over until she shuddered and tightened around his cock.

  He did not stop until she collapsed, panting and sweating beneath him. His seed exploded from him, dowsing her womb and making him grunt with satisfaction. Only when the last spasm emptied him did he stop, holding himself on his elbows so she could breathe. Then, still within her, James rolled them to their sides and he waited for the exquisite pleasure to ebb before pulling his flesh from hers.

  Lying together, neither one spoke. He pushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead. Instead of meeting his gaze, she tucked her head under his chin in silence. He caressed her, rubbing her back and holding her close as he tried to come up with the words to say.

  For what did a man say to his beloved, the woman who would be his wife, when he now knew he had not been the first inside her.

  Elizabeth had not been a virgin when he’d claimed her.

  * * *

  YOUNG DOUGAL PACED the yard outside Broch Dubh keep, waiting for some order from the earl. Surely Connor MacLerie would not allow this insult, this kidnapping, to go unanswered. No matter that it had ended well for his friend Tavis and for Ciara—they were married now, only hours ago, as everyone in the clan had always thought they would.

  But, the Murrays’ heir had stolen another MacLerie, forcing her, according to the note he’d left, to leave with him. Elizabeth MacLerie would be ruined if James Murray did not take her as wife. Surely Connor would take action against him for this flagrant disrespect?

  As Tavis’s second-in-command, young Dougal knew it would fall to him to carry out whatever orders the earl gave and he was ready, armed and packed to leave as soon as Connor gave word. Now, hours after James’s actions were uncovered and hours after Ciara and Tavis had married, no word had come. He had not been called by the earl.

  The summons came well after dark and he strode through the keep to the earl’s chambers in the tower. Climbing the stairs, he was not surprised to find the lady also present. If it were unseemly for a woman to know a man’s business, the earl cared not. For as long as Dougal could remember, the lady was always at his side, giving counsel and sharing her opinions as was her wont to do.

  Duncan, the man the earl relied on to negotiate the clan’s treaties, stood in the corner and Rurik, the commander of all MacLerie warriors, was there at his side. Both nodded as he entered but said nothing. Dougal walked to the earl and the lady and bowed, awaiting his orders.

  “Dougal, you know that James Murray took Elizabeth?” Connor said. Dougal grimaced, but nodded. “I want you to select two other men and track them down. My best guess...” The earl glanced at his wife before continuing. He looked over and noticed the embarrassed blush spread across her face before turning back to the earl. “My best guess is that he heads to the village near the Glasgow road south. There is a priest of the old faith there.”

  Dougal clenched his jaw and ground his teeth at this news. He must act on the earl’s orders and do nothing more or less than he said. No matter that Elizabeth was his younger sister and he wanted to rip this man apart, limb by limb, piece by piece, and make him suffer for kidnapping her. He took a deep breath and released it, holding onto his fury and planning to deal with it when he could.

  “I know the place. We passed it on our journey here from Perthshire.” Already calculating the distance and time it would take to reach the village, Dougal realized they could reach it in a matter of hours if they pushed. Sooner if they used the mountain pass south.

  “I want them returned here,” Connor said, his face giving away nothing of how he felt about the actions of this man. “I want him alive.”

  “If he has harmed her or forced her, I will...” Dougal began, clenching his hands into fists.

  “I want him returned alive, Dougal. Tavis assured me that you were ready to lead in his stead. If he was wrong and you cannot manage this task, I will get someone else.”

  He need only return James Murray alive, the earl did not say he could not mete out some punishment—which was his right as Elizabeth’s brother. Piece by piece could wait until after the earl had levied his judgment on the man.

  “I understand, my lord,” he said, nodding in acceptance of the limitations placed on him. “Do you wish me to leave now or at first light?”

  Connor began to speak, but stopped when the lady touched his arm. They exchanged only a glance, no words, but some understanding was reached in that silent conversation.

  “Now,” he said.

  “Connor!” the lady said sharply. Dougal grimaced, waiting for the earl’s reprimand but all he heard was the soft laughter of the two men watching the exchange.

  “Jocelyn, if he was true to his words, the deed is done and there will be no turning back from it. If he dawdled or delayed, I would have him returned here and deal with his lack of honor sooner rather than later. When things cannot be undone.”

  The earl never raised his voice, yet Dougal cringed at the tone. The lady? She did not seem to understand her peril and continued to argue. Dougal forced his body still and fought the urge to take several steps b
ack.

  “Connor, I pray thee, do not...”

  The earl stood so quickly that Dougal never even saw him move. Connor stood so that he blocked Jocelyn from everyone else in the room and no one could hear their harshly whispered words. A few very awkward minutes passed as they conversed, argued really, and then the earl sat back down. The lady wore a dark scowl on her face that matched his—clearly neither were pleased with how things were going.

  “You can choose the men and leave this night.”

  The words echoed in the chamber and Dougal waited for the lady to speak in protest. Silence filled the room, though from the mutinous expression on her face, the lady would not be silent for long after he left.

  “Very well, my lord,” Dougal answered with a bow, offering a nod to the lady and to Duncan and Rurik, who followed him out.

  He reached the bottom of the stairway, thinking about which men he should choose. This was his first command situation and his choice would reflect on him. Since it involved his sister and her reputation, he wanted men who could be discreet. And since he planned to bring James Murray back alive but not untouched, he wanted men who could be trusted.

  Niall and Shaw.

  “Dougal, wait a moment,” Duncan called out to him before he left the tower. “I would have a word with you.”

  Dougal stopped until the two reached him. They were both among the most experienced and most loyal of all the earl’s men and their advice would be valuable.

  “Do not let your personal feelings get in the way of your duty,” Rurik advised. “No matter that your sister is involved.”

  Dougal nodded at the commander’s words, though in truth he would find it difficult not to remember his sister’s part in this.

  “Do not let your temper loose,” Duncan advised. “Though Connor said only ‘alive,’ he would be furious if James Murray comes back too badly damaged.” So, the counselor had heard exactly what Dougal had. “Mistakes are made when a man’s blood is running hot, whether caused by lust or insult. Do not make a mistake in how you treat the Murrays’ heir.”