Medieval Highlands 01 - Highland Vengeance

by K. E. Saxon

  “His thighs are as big around as tree trunks, and his arms have giant humps on them. He’s got big feet, too, ‘cuz I found one of his boots—but I gave it back. I did not want him to stump his toes in the forest.”

  The lad happily settled back on the edge of the bed then, picking up the coin he’d placed on top of the blanket.

  Maryn looked first at Jesslyn and then they both turned their gazes on Lady Maclean. Maryn wondered now if there really was someone living in the forest. And it was clear by Jesslyn’s and Lady Maclean’s alarmed expressions that they wondered the same.

  “I’m feeling a bit empty, will you go down to the kitchens and see if Cook has a few cakes left from the morning meal?” Lady Maclean asked the energetic lad.

  “Aye.” He scooted away from the bed and ran out the door.

  She turned to Jesslyn then and said, “Have you been to the boulder to see if there are any signs of this man? Mayhap we should send a few soldiers to investigate. Thus far, it seems he’s not a danger to the lad, so I’d want him brought to us unharmed.”

  Jesslyn walked over to the wash basin and rinsed off the soil that her son had left on her hand. “Nay, I’d only just learned of this newest coin prior to his dragging me here.” She turned and faced the older woman. “Alleck has grown so fond of you, Lady Maclean,” she said. “He was anxious to share the glad tidings of his treasure with you.”

  “Is it really possible that someone could be hiding in the forest without our knowledge?” Maryn asked. “After all, we’ve hunters going in there for game each sennight—and I’ve been there myself in the past moon. I saw no sign of human habitance.”

  Jesslyn crossed her arms and rubbed her hands over them, as if chilled. “When will Daniel get back from the MacGregor holding? Mayhap we should wait and tell him before we send a search party out.”

  “He’s due back four days hence.” Turning to Lady Maclean, Maryn asked, “Do you think it wise to wait that long?”

  “I admit, my curiosity is piqued, but Jesslyn makes a valid point. The man seems to have no violent purpose in mind for this holding, and Daniel will want to conduct the search himself. However, I do think it best that Alleck stay clear of the forest for the present.”

  “Aye,” Maryn and Jesslyn agreed in unison.

  *

  For the next four days, Jesslyn kept her son close to her side. Tho’ Alleck was restless and fretful, she remained vigilant in her purpose, making sure her son had no opportunity to visit the forest again.

  *

  Daniel reclined on the bed four nights later with his arm resting on his knee. He’d doffed his clothing long ago and now he watched his wife attending her long, glorious hair. “You’ve been brushing that mane for a quarter-hour, are your tangles not out yet? I’ve been gone for six days, my love, and ‘tis sad to say, but you sorely neglect your primary duty.”

  He grinned when she huffed and narrowed her eyes at him. He patted the empty space beside him. “Crave you more lessons in anatomy? For, as I recall, I’ve still to train you in the art of balance.”

  *

  Maryn decided she’d tempted him long enough. Besides, he’d just reminded her of their conversation that day in the bailey and now she was eager to learn what he would teach her. She placed her brush on the washstand and turned back to face her amorous husband. She boldly locked gazes with him. Grasping the edge of her chemise, she inched it up over her hips.

  Anticipation charged the air around them. “Come to me,” he demanded softly. Sitting forward, he stretched his hand out to her.

  Maryn shook her head. Sliding the chemise higher still, she settled it above the tight buds of her nipples.

  “Godamercy,” he breathed. His eyes were hot embers, scorching her skin as they traveled the length of her figure. “Do I please you, husband?” Her voice was husky with desire.

  His erection jerked, growing larger still. “Ah, sweet siren, I think you know the answer, but I will tell you even so: Aye, you do please me.” He lay back against the pillows once more. “Come to me,” he demanded with more force this time. “‘Tis time and past for you to pleasure me as well.”

  Maryn’s laugh was throaty as she at last ducked her head through the opening of the chemise and lifted it over her head. “In a moment,” she said, feeling bold. The undergarment caught on her hair and she used it to bring the mass around her shoulder to lay across her left breast.

  “Now,” he ground out.

  Shrugging, she made her way to the bed, enjoying the carnal light in her husband’s eyes as he avidly awaited her arrival. At the edge of the bed, she lifted her leg and rested her knee on the mattress as she came down on her hands, inclining towards him.

  *

  Daniel needed no further invitation. He put his arm around her back and brought her down on top of his chest. Fisting his hand in her hair, he tugged, forcing her head down to meet his lips. He kissed her ravenously. “Mmm. You are so wanton, wife,” he said against her mouth. “Perfect. Lovely.” Holding the back of her head in his hand, he kissed her again, this time thrusting his tongue in her mouth to better taste her sweetness. After a moment, he lifted her head and gazed into her passion-misted eyes. “Mine.”

  “Aye.” She bent her head and kissed him, boldly entering his mouth with her tongue.

  Daniel groaned.

  *

  Maryn skimmed her hand over her husband’s hip and stroked his aroused sex, brushing the tips of her fingers over the head and moistening it with the drop of seed she found there. “I want this inside me.”

  “In a moment,” he said, echoing the words she’d spoken earlier. Spreading her thighs wide over his hips, he brought her knees up. Using both his hands, he began his siege on her senses, teasing and tormenting her femininity with his dexterous fingers as he ran his lips over the heated flesh of her neck and breasts. “Kiss me,” he demanded, “as you did before.”

  Holding his head in her hands, she dipped her head and plundered his mouth, devouring him with her tongue and teeth.

  *

  Daniel felt the reins of his control begin to slip even further from his grasp, but he needed her much more ready before he showed her what he had in mind. He began plucking the folds of her labia with the fingers of one hand as he inserted two fingers of the other into her moist sheath, gently stroking her inner walls at the same time. As he moved them in and out of her, he teased her sensitive bud, inciting her passions ever higher.

  She moaned into his mouth. Her own widened as small squeals sounded in time to her hips’ rocking motion against him, telling him she wanted deeper penetration. She arched her back and raised up slightly, forcing his fingers higher into her. With satisfaction, Daniel felt her thighs begin to tremble and quiver. Opening his mouth over the exposed aureole of her breast, he sucked hard.

  He groaned as her silky canal contracted tightly around his fingers, tugging on them as she rotated her hips, her head flung back, her face a mask of tormented pleasure. “Daniel!” His name was a plea on her passion-parched lips.

  He massaged the bud of her sex more rapidly.

  “Aaaahhhhh!” She splintered, ramming herself against his hand as she shuddered and quaked, then collapsed in satiated bliss upon his chest.

  Daniel pulled his saturated fingers free of her clasping sheath and tugged her hips down to accept his arousal. “Now.”

  *

  “Aye!” Maryn cried out, as ecstasy, bright as the sun’s rays, coursed over her skin and through her very being. By instinct alone, she braced her hands on her husband’s shoulders and pumped up and down, controlling the depth and the rhythm of her release.

  *

  Daniel brought his hands up to stroke and fondle her damp breasts. “That’s it, love…ride me…Blood of Christ! You feel so good.” His own orgasm took him by surprise, as, in the next instant, he was blasted into the heavens as well. “Aaarrgh!” His voice was a strangled cry. He held her hips down, madly lifting his own high off the bed at the same time. T
he head of his arousal touched her womb as his sex jerked and shuddered inside of her convulsing sheath.

  *

  “It is all in the knees, husband,” Maryn said as she lay prone on his chest, still breathing hard as if unable to get enough air into her lungs.

  Her husband caressed the curve of her back and smiled. Without opening his eyes, he said, “Aye.”

  She giggled and he kissed her damp brow.

  “Why will you not allow me to go with you when you look for Alleck’s ‘magic giant’ on the morrow? ‘Tis obvious the man’s not a menace, and I’m curious to see how he’s been able to hide all these sennights without detection.”

  He sighed. “Will you not even give me time to recover before you plague me with your queries?” he said, his voice groggy. Opening one eye, he looked at her and answered, “I cannot be sure that the man is harmless. He may be planning something and wants to gain the lad’s trust in order to use him.” He closed his eye once more, saying, “Or, God forbid, he might have been trying to lure Alleck into the forest in order to defile him.”

  “What mean you?” Maryn raised up, her eyes widening in shock as she gazed at her husband’s face. “Mean you he might molest Alleck?” Her stomach lurched.

  He opened his eyes then. Stroking the hair away from her creased brow, he replied, “Aye.”

  “But how is that possible—do men really do that?” Then, recalling the things she’d done to her husband, she knew how it was possible, and her mind revolted. “Nay, explain not. I think I understand and I want to know naught more,” she said, resting her head back on Daniel’s shoulder. “‘Tis glad I am now that we did not allow Alleck to go back to the forest.”

  When her stomach still churned after another moment, she curled on her side away from her husband to relieve the pressure and massaged the ache with her hand.

  Daniel raised up on one elbow and stroked her hip. There was worry in his voice when he said, “Are you well? You’ve grown quite pale.”

  “Aye, the subject turned my stomach a bit, ‘twas all.”

  She heard the shuffle of Daniel’s feet across the floor. After another moment, he was back, settled on the edge of the bed in front of her. “I’ve prepared a portion of gingerroot for you,” he said and pressed her chin down with his thumb, forcing her to open her mouth before placing the sliver on her tongue. “It may burn a bit, but try and chew on this for a moment. ‘Twill settle your stomach.”

  After a time, Maryn felt better. Sitting up, she watched her husband as he washed off the residue of their lovemaking. “How think you the man has been able to hide so long?”

  “That is exactly what I intend to find out. If he can do it, others can do it as well. I must make sure I have secured this holding against an attack of any sort.”

  A chill ran down Maryn’s spine. Needing to feel the security of his embrace, she rose from the bed and walked directly into her husband’s arms.

  Daniel held her close, evidently needing her embrace as much as she needed his. He rested his chin on the top of her head and said, “I love you. You know that, do you not? I will not allow any violence against you; I will keep you safe, I swear it.”

  She placed a kiss over his heart, rubbing her nose in the springy hairs of his chest. “I do know, and I love you, too. You must keep yourself safe as well, my love. I could bear it not if I lost you.”

  *

  Two days later, Daniel lay down on the bench in front of the hearth in the great hall, completely perplexed. He bent one knee and strummed his fingers against it as he pondered his next move.

  He and his men had combed every inch of the forest over the past days to no avail. There was no sign of anyone other than woodland creatures inhabiting the wood. They’d been over the site where Alleck had found the latest coin—thoroughly, and many times—in an effort to find a footprint or remnants of a fire, or any other proof of human habitation.

  But there was naught. Nay, less than naught. Earlier that day, they believed they’d found what they sought when a torn piece of wool was discovered hanging from a branch. But it was soon learned that the material matched perfectly the torn area on a mantel belonging to one of the hunters. That was when Daniel decided to end the search.

  He was beginning to wonder if Alleck simply had an excessively inventive imagination. Mayhap there really was no ‘magic giant.’ Sitting up, Daniel gripped the edge of the bench on either side of him. Then where had the coins come from? Aye, that was the crux of the mystery. For, if he could not find a reasonable explanation for how they had come to be in Alleck’s possession, then he must presume that the lad’s words were true, that there was, in fact, a stranger dwelling in the Maclean forest.

  Deciding to speak to his grandmother about the puzzle, he stood up and strode to the stairs, taking them two at a time to the upper floor.

  At her door, he knocked and walked inside, not waiting for a reply. Thinking she would still be recovering in her bed, he was surprised to find her seated in a chair by the hearth—with his annoying cousin next to her. Tho’ his cousin was extremely irksome, he’d thus far proven to be harmless. “I see I’ve interrupted you.” Stepping back, he began closing the door.

  “Nay, do not leave, Daniel,” his grandmother said in a rush. “I’ve not had a proper conversation with you since you began this search.”

  Daniel walked back inside. “I’d thought to speak with you in privy, but if you wish, I shall stay awhile.

  *

  Callum quickly swallowed the bite of apple he was munching. “Good day to you, cousin. I see you’re back from your hunt. Any luck? Nay, I see not, else you’d be showing much more conceit.” He felt no qualms in baiting the man, as Daniel remained just as cold toward him. Having allowed his amiable mien to drop on their journey to the MacGregor holding, they’d been exchanging barbs ever since. And, he must admit, it felt quite good to be so unconcernedly free with his words.

  His cousin ignored his gibe and walked over to the hearth. Standing next to it, he crossed his arms over his chest and rocked forward and back from heel to toe, no doubt vexed by his words, but trying to hide it from their grandmother.

  “Callum and I were just speaking of the wedding. He told me that my daughter was beautiful in her saffron gown and that the festivities lasted into the wee hours.”

  “Aye, and the bride and groom stayed until the very end. They certainly seemed to enjoy the festivities.” His cousin studied their grandmother more closely. “I’m surprised to see you out of bed.” Turning his gaze on Callum, he drilled him with an accusatory glare. “Was it Callum who helped you to do so?”

  “Oh, aye,” his grandmother replied. “My bones were aching from lying abed so many days. I needed to move around a bit and my muscles needed stretching.”

  His cousin walked over to her and felt the ankle she had propped on a pillow-topped stool in front of her.

  “Now, Daniel, you must not start your fussing, I’m fine.”

  “She pleaded with me to help her walk out her stiffness. I could not find it in myself to refuse her,” Callum said.

  Finished with the quick examination, his cousin walked back over to where he’d been standing before, once again crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Callum.

  Callum sucked the apple juices from his fingers, ignoring Daniel’s malignant gaze, before swiping his arm across his mouth. “So, you found naught in the forest,” he said quite seriously. “Think you the lad speaks falsely?”

  “Since I know that you have a specific interest in the outcome of this quest as well, I shall answer you: Alleck has no talent for guile; the longer you know him, the clearer this will become to you.” He sighed and scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “I do think he may have been swept away by his very vivid imagination, however.” Looking directly at their grandmother, he said, “My only question is, how did he come by the coins?”

  “Well, the first was found in his shoe, so it may have gotten in it during one of his rambles
,” she replied. “The other, he told us, he found next to the boulder where he’d left some food for this creature. I’ve no notion of how the coin could’ve come to be there.”

  Deciding he’d like to look around the area himself, Callum rose from his seat. Stretching his arms above his head, he let out a loud yawn before saying, “My deepest apologies, Gran, but I’ve some things I must do. I’ll come by again on the morrow.” Then, on his way past him, he gave Daniel a mocking salute, tipping his fingers away from his brow, as if tipping a cap. “G’day, coz.”

  *

  Daniel stared at the closed door. “He truly irritates me. I know not how Jesslyn stands him.”

  “He’s a good lad, Daniel. Give him a chance to prove it to you. He made some mistakes, I’ll grant you that, but he’s still my grandson and I love him dearly.”

  Daniel said naught further on the subject, believing it wise to keep his thoughts to himself. Sitting down on the stool Callum had vacated, he took an apple out of the basket his cousin had left on the floor. After polishing the fruit on his sleeve, he took a bite, pondering again the riddle of the coin. “Do you think it possible the coin had been there for some time, possibly covered by soil? Mayhap ‘twas simply coincidence that he found the coin in the same place he’d left the food.”

  His grandmother was silent a long moment. Finally, she nodded. “I suppose it could have happened in that way. I think Alleck should not be allowed to go near the forest again until we know for sure, however. No doubt he will continue to balk, so we will all need to keep a close eye on him.”

  “Aye, you are right.” Daniel rose and admonished his grandmother to get back into bed. He helped her to her feet and kept her steady as she made her way there. Tucking her in, he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  “Get some rest and I shall see you on the morrow.”

  As he opened the door, he chuckled when he heard her blustering snore.

  *

  “Fia, must you always nudge me into the next stall?” Maryn patted the neck of her mare as she countervailed the pressure the horse’s nose was placing on her shoulder.