by Lynsay Sands
"Come in time to break your fast and I shall have Cook save some pastries for you," Annabel said as they walked to the door.
"Oh, that would be lovely," Effie breathed, and then admitted, "While I'm a fair hand with a needle, I can't cook to save me soul. 'Twill be nice to have something other than burnt bread to break me fast with."
"Then I shall have Cook put aside pastries for you every day," Annabel decided. A servant always worked better when they weren't hungry. At least she always had.
"Oh my, yer a wonder," Effie said happily as she opened the door for her. "I hope the laird kens the blessing he has in you."
"The laird kens exactly what he has in his wife."
Annabel's smile froze at that deep voice, and her head swiveled abruptly to take in the man on the doorstep. Eyes widening, she breathed with dismay, "Husband."
"Wife," he said dryly. Ross then turned to Effie and smiled as he caught Annabel by the arm and drew her out of the hut. "I gather by the fact that yer both smiling that ye've agreed to work in the castle, Effie. Thank ye, kindly fer that. Yer well needed."
"Oh, yer welcome, me laird," Effie gushed, a blush brightening her old cheeks. " 'Tis me pleasure."
Ross nodded. "We'll see ye on the morrow then."
"Aye," Effie breathed as he turned Annabel away to lead her to her horse.
Annabel bit her lip and glanced sideways and up at her husband. His face was expressionless now that they'd left Effie, but she was pretty sure he was angry. She just wasn't sure how angry . . . or how he meant to handle it, and that worried her. After all, it was perfectly legal for a husband to beat his wife so long as the rod he used was no bigger around than his thumb.
Annabel glanced down at his hands as he grasped her at the waist and lifted her up onto her mare. She then grimaced. Ross had big thumbs.
"Wife."
Annabel gave a start and shifted her gaze to his face. "Aye?" she asked warily.
"Take the reins," he said quietly.
"Oh, aye," she muttered and reached for them as he released her and moved to his own horse now waiting a few feet away.
They traveled in silence at first, which really wasn't a good thing, Annabel decided. It gave her far too much time to imagine how he would punish her for this flouting of his orders.
By the time they reached the edge of the village Annabel had managed to scare herself silly with the possibilities. It was then she started trying to think of ways to deflect his anger when he let it loose. The only thing she could think might distract him from it was the bedding. But it was Friday now, and the church had decreed no bedding on Fridays, so if he waited until they reached the castle to vent his anger, she would be without what she was sure was likely to be the most successful defense. She needed to bring something about before they reached the keep, Annabel realized and immediately began working on the stays of her gown. She had them undone and was tugging her neckline down to free her breasts when Ross glanced over and drew his mount to an abrupt halt. He then simply stared at her breasts for the longest time before asking with bewilderment, "What the devil are ye doing?"
"I am not sure," Annabel admitted, blushing furiously. She was so overset, she then blurted, "I just thought--I mean, I understand you are angry at me, and I thought mayhap I could soothe your temper somehow so you would not beat me, and--"
"I shall never beat ye," Ross interrupted solemnly. "No matter what you do, Annabel, I shall never strike you."
"Oh," she breathed with relief.
"Howbeit, I would appreciate it, did ye take yer vows more seriously," he added grimly.
Annabel tilted her head uncertainly. "My vows?"
"Ye did promise to obey me during our wedding," he pointed out dryly.
"Did I?" she asked with surprise. The wedding had all been something of a blur for her. Annabel had been rather distressed at the change in her future at the time.
Noting the way his mouth tightened at her words, she said quickly, "Aye, I must have." But she couldn't help adding, "But to be fair I did not disobey you. You are not the one who told me I could not leave the keep."
"Gilly and Marach told ye me orders," Ross said.
"Aye, but not you, so I disobeyed them," she reasoned and then added a bit testily, "If you had told me I could then have explained why I found the order unacceptable and you could have explained your position on it and we could have come to an agreement."
Ross scowled at her briefly, then sighed and reached out to draw her from her horse to his. Once he had her settled before him, he then caught her mare's reins in his hand and urged his mount to move again.
Annabel immediately reached for her stays, intending to do up her gown again, but Ross whispered, "Don't," by her ear.
After the briefest hesitation, she obeyed, left the gown gaping open and let her hands drop to her lap.
Ross murmured something that might have been praise then. Annabel wasn't completely sure, she was a little distracted by his free hand suddenly rising to cup one of her breasts.
"So ye were going to make a grand sacrifice and bed me to soothe me temper?" he murmured, sounding amused.
"A--aye," Annabel admitted breathily as he plucked at her nipple, and then confessed, "But 'twould not have been a sacrifice. I like it when you bed me."
Ross rewarded her honesty by reining in and releasing her breast to urge her face up and around for a kiss.
Annabel relaxed in his arms and opened to him with relief, sure he was no longer angry with her. Much to her surprise, she hadn't liked it when he was angry with her. She liked his kisses though and moaned as his tongue urged her lips apart to gain entrance.
Ross ended the kiss far too soon for Annabel and she blinked her eyes open with disappointment when he did. She peered around with surprise when he suddenly turned them back the way they'd come. "Where are we going?"
"Back through the village," he answered, and then gave her breasts another caress each before saying, "Do up yer gown."
Annabel did up her stays and then simply peered ahead, wondering back through the village to where. She didn't ask again, though. He obviously wanted to surprise her or he would have answered fully the first time.
They did head back toward the village, but not before weaving around a bit in what she began to realize were large circles. It took Annabel several such detours before she realized that Ross was making sure they weren't being followed. Just as she did, he stopped his evasive tactics and steered the horses through the village.
"We have lost Jasper," Annabel said with concern as she saw him charge off after a cat that had been sunning itself in front of the cottage next to Effie's.
"He'll catch up," Ross said with a shrug. "And if he doesn't he'll show up back at the castle once the cat either evades him or gives him a good swat."
Annabel frowned, but then noted they were leaving the village. They did not seem to travel long after that ere Ross was reining in by a good-sized cottage and barn.
"Are we visiting someone?" Annabel asked uncertainly as she peered at the shuttered windows on the cottage.
"Nay. This is Carney's cottage and he's no' home. I sent him on a task the day we got home," he assured her, dismounting.
"Oh." Her gaze slid to the barn again and she said, "This Carney must be very wealthy to have such a big barn."
"It's no' really his," Ross said, glancing toward the structure as he moved up beside her mare. "It's only called Carney's barn because his home is so close, but everyone helped build it and everyone stores their goods here."
"Oh," Annabel said, and then as he reached up to lift her off her mare, she asked, "Why are we here?"
"Because I happen to ken that Carney's barn has a nice big stack o' hay in it at the moment."
Annabel stared at him blankly as he set her down. "Hay?" she asked as she watched him tie their mounts to a pole. She didn't understand the relevance.
" 'Tis Friday so we can no' go back to the keep," he pointed out, finishing his task. Scooping her into his arm
s, he then strode toward the barn as he added, "I'll no' risk ye out in the open again, but in a nice cozy barn with a stack o' hay . . ."
"Oh," Annabel said with understanding and smiled. "Hay is a lovely not-bed."
"Exactly," Ross said with a grin.
She fell silent as they entered the barn. It was a large structure, with stone walls and a slate roof that left the interior dark and a bit chilly. Peering over his shoulder, she saw through the dim light that there were several different crops in the building; wheat, oats, peas, beans and barley to name a few.
She didn't see the hay until her husband suddenly opened his arms and let her drop. Annabel released a surprised squawk that turned into an "oomph" as she landed. She sank down into it a bit and had to climb back out.
Ross chuckled, unbuckling and setting aside his sword as he watched her struggle to her knees in the pile. Annabel had just managed the feat when he then tugged at his plaid and sent it floating to the floor around his feet. Smiling at her expression and the way she stopped to stare, he then quickly pulled his shirt off over his head to stand naked before her in naught but his boots. And he was a sight to see. She would never have thought a man could be described as beautiful, and she would not have said that about Ross's face, which was handsome, strong, rugged and manly. But while his body was strong and manly too, it was also breathtakingly beautiful to behold.
Ross let her look her fill for a moment in the dim light, and then held out a hand. "Come. If ye'll stop playing in the hay, I'll lay me plaid out on it to make it a more comfortable not-bed."
Since she was presently being poked in several places by the hay, Annabel took his hand and crawled forward on her knees. But stopped when she found her face a mere inch from his manhood. It had been stirring as she'd stared at him, but now with her face so close that her breath was no doubt rippling across it, his manhood hardened and rose to its full glorious state.
For some reason that recalled her to their first time in the woods when he had pleasured her with his mouth, and Annabel suddenly leaned forward to lick it, giving it one long swipe as if it were her thumb and the fruit center of a pastry had squirted out over it. The action brought a hissing sound from Ross and she peered up to see that his head had gone back, his teeth clenched as if in pain. A glance down showed his hands clenched as well.
Recognizing the pose from when she'd touched him for the first time, Annabel suspected he liked that and did it again, this time ending by closing her mouth over the tip and sucking as she drew her mouth away, as she would if she were trying to get absolutely every last drop of fruit center from her thumb.
"Wife," he growled and suddenly plucked her up under the arms to lift her to her feet. Meeting her gaze then, he warned, "Yer playing with fire."
"Mayhap I like fire," she said with a smile and then added more seriously, "Certainly I like the way ye make me burn."
Eyes widening, Ross tugged her up against his chest and kissed her. Annabel immediately slipped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him eagerly back. Feeling his hardness pressing against her stomach through her skirts, she then shifted her lower body from one side to the other, using her body to caress that hardness.
His response to that was to use both hands to quickly drag her skirts up the back of her legs until he could clasp her bare bottom. Cupping her cheeks, he then lifted and pressed her more intimately against himself. Annabel moaned but more with frustration than anything: her gown was still between them. She was no more pleased, however, when he broke their kiss and set her back on her feet.
"I must make our not-bed," he reminded her, stepping away and bending to collect his plaid from the ground. Annabel grimaced when she saw the bits of hay clinging to the material. As he shook it out, she glanced around in search of somewhere to place her gown that would not result in it ending up the same way as his plaid. Spotting two posts with a rail between them, she moved over to it and quickly undid her lacings and lifted the gown off over her head rather than drag it across the ground. She was laying it over the post when she felt hands at her waist. Annabel jumped in surprise and glanced over her shoulder, smiling wryly at her husband.
"You startled me," she admitted with a crooked smile as he pulled her back against his chest. She peered down at his hands as they slid up to cup her breasts, fascinated by the sight of his tanned hands enclosing her creamy skin. When he caught each nipple between thumb and finger and rolled, then pinched them lightly, Annabel moaned. Her back arched, pushing her breasts into the caress, and her neck stretched as she twisted her head sideways against his chest.
When Ross bent to kiss her forehead, Annabel tipped her head back to offer him her lips. He accepted the invitation, claiming her mouth in a kiss that was almost violent. Annabel responded in kind, nipping at his lips with her teeth before he thrust his tongue into her mouth. She was aware when one of his hands slid from a breast to drop down, gliding over her stomach as it sought out places further south. Moaning, she pressed her bottom back into him and then shifted her stance a bit to allow him better access as his lovely fingers slid between her legs.
"Husband," she gasped, breaking their kiss and clutching at his upper arms as his caresses made her legs go weak. He gave up caressing her other breast then, and wrapped that arm under her breasts to help hold her up as he drove her crazy. Annabel's world tilted, all sensation narrowing to that point between her legs that his fingers were dancing over and she unthinkingly turned her head and bit into his arm to ground herself, easing her jaw when he grunted. She had just enough sense left in her poor passion-muddled head to feel guilty for unintentionally hurting him, and reached back with her hand, seeking to make up for it by distracting him.
Annabel found his manhood and closed her fingers eagerly around it to slide gently up and down. She stopped that though and squeezed when he suddenly thrust a finger into her. They both groaned then and Annabel felt his shaft jump in her hand.
In the next moment, Ross bent her forward. Annabel grabbed at the post in front of her with her free hand and gasped in surprise when he pulled his manhood free of her other hand and thrust it into her from behind. She was a good deal shorter than him, and his legs were on either side of hers, bent to lower him enough to do that. Annabel had the momentary thought that the position could not be comfortable for him, but then he withdrew and thrust back into her even as the hand still between her legs began caressing her again and she forgot the worry. Still, she wasn't surprised when he suddenly stopped, withdrew, and scooped her up to carry her to his plaid in the hay.
He dropped to his knees with her once there, then laid her on his plaid and shifted over her. Annabel reached for him, but he caught her hands at once and pressed them down on either side of her head, holding them there as he bent to nip at her lips and then claim them. Annabel moaned into his mouth as she felt his manhood slide across her slick skin, she then spread her legs and arched and shifted in an effort to help him enter her. But it seems he didn't want to enter her yet for he was enjoying tormenting her by rubbing his hardness against her again and again without actually joining with her.
Annabel suffered it for a time, enjoying the excitement he was continuing to build in her, but then frustration rose up. She wanted him inside of her, she wanted . . .
Twisting her mouth away from his, she gasped, "Dammit husband. Please!"
For some reason that made Ross chuckle, and then he released her wrists and rose up on his knees between her spread legs. Grasping her hips, he raised her bottom off the hay and thrust into her.
"Oh God, yes," Annabel groaned with relief. He then simply held her there, joined with him with one hand at her hip while his other moved between them to caress the bud weeping for him. Annabel groaned again, her heels digging into the hay so that she could shift herself against his hard, still shaft, dancing to the tune his lovely fingers played on her flesh.
Panting with excitement and exertion, Annabel opened her eyes and found that he was watching her. Suddenly self
-conscious, she stopped.
Ross removed himself and lowered her to the hay, then turned her onto her stomach and pressed down on her to kiss the side of her neck before murmuring, "Ye shouldn't ha'e stopped. I liked watchin' ye take yer pleasure on me."
Annabel's eyes widened as she realized that was exactly what she'd been doing, and then she gasped as he suddenly rose up off her, lifting her to her knees with him so that he could plunge into her from behind again. Using her hands to brace herself the best she could in the hay, she gasped and moaned as he drove into her over and over again. But Annabel wasn't sure she liked this position as much since she couldn't kiss or touch him like this, and then she stiffened and gasped out a breath when he reached around to touch her again.
In the next moment, they were both crying out in pleasure and collapsing onto the plaid-covered hay. Ross was still on top of her at first, but quickly shifted off and onto his side next to her. He then turned her onto her side as well and wrapped his arm around her waist, cuddling her so that her back was pressed tight to his chest.
She heard Ross's breathing slow and even out and knew he'd fallen asleep. Content where she was, Annabel dozed off as well, but didn't think she'd managed to fall into a proper sleep before a sound stirred her. Opening her eyes, she peered drowsily at the swath of sunlight stretching across the floor from the open barn door behind them. It was long and wide and had a shape in it, Annabel noted, frowning as she tried to sort out what the shadow in the middle of the sunlight was and why it was growing smaller. The answer came when the shape shifted and shrank toward the ground, almost disappearing into the shadow cast by her and Ross's bodies. It all clicked then. The shadow in the light had been a figure approaching, and he was now kneeling behind them.
Annabel lay completely still, ears straining and eyes locked on the swath of light, and then she saw an oddly shaped, thinner shadow rise out of the darkness cast by their bodies. Even as she realized it was an arm with some sort of club in hand, she shrieked and sat up. The thud came as she did and she whirled on the plaid as the man from the previous attacks glanced up from clubbing her husband over the head.
Annabel's eyes shot to Ross. She couldn't see blood yet, but he was unmoving. Rage merging with her terror, she shrieked furiously and glanced wildly around for a weapon. What she spotted was Ross's sword at the edge of the hay on her side. Scrambling to it, she grabbed up the heavy metal and pushed herself to her feet in one stumbling move, then whirled holding the sword out before her, arms shaking with the effort.