Highland Thirst

by Hannah Howell

  Tearlach peered down at the woman in the saddle before him. She’d stayed awake most of the night chatting with him and telling him more tales of her youth, most of them focusing on her parents. However, she’d begun to doze off an hour ago. She was now sleeping in his arms, cradled against his chest, and he found himself scowling as his gaze slid over her. She was so small and defenseless. And he was apparently the only thing standing between her and Carbonnel at the moment. Her brother was dead, her home overrun by Carbonnel and his men, and he was now her only safe haven. Even as he’d suggested leaving her with William and his family, Tearlach had known he couldn’t. The stableman couldn’t have stood against Carbonnel’s army should she have been found out and, despite the suggestion, he wouldn’t have left her with him. Tearlach would not trust anyone with the chore of guarding her but himself...or perhaps one or two of his clan members. His people were faster and stronger and would fight to the death for her if necessary. As would he. The little slip of a woman had saved his life, freeing him from his chains and pretty much dragging him out of those dungeons. She was also smart, sweet, and spirited and he had no trouble with the idea of laying down his life for her.

  He’d rather not, of course, but would if it became a necessity. Tearlach decided he would have to keep her with him until he could see Heming freed from Rosscurrach. Once that deed was accomplished, he would then escort her safely to court and then...

  Tearlach frowned at the “and then” part. He supposed the “and then” should be that he and Heming would continue their information gathering for the clan, although they had most likely learned enough that that was no longer necessary. That being the case the “and then” should probably be that he gather with his clan members, decide what their next move should be, and help carry it out. Unfortunately, that left Lucy out and he found himself reluctant to leave her out of his future. He’d grown rather used to having her around and wasn’t enjoying the prospect of the day when she would no longer be there.

  Of course, he knew that day would come. Now that her brother was dead, she was the mistress of Blytheswood while he was the only child of Eva and Connall MacAdie and as such, heir to MacAdie castle with responsibilities there.

  Despite these grim considerations, Tearlach found himself smiling faintly at the thought of his mother and father. A more unlikely pair you’d never imagine. His mother, Eva MacAdie, was fair and English, his father, Connall MacAdie, was dark and Scottish. She was a charming, cheerful birdlike woman, constantly bustling here and there. He was stern and solid and rarely seemed to smile except when in his wife’s presence.

  Rather like he and Lucy, Tearlach acknowledged to himself. Anyone meeting them would think they were opposites also and yet they worked well together.

  Dangerous thoughts those, he acknowledged to himself. He and Lucy could not—

  His thoughts scattered as Lucy murmured sleepily in his arms and shifted to press her face into his chest. Tearlach peered over her features soft in sleep, his sensible side suddenly going silent in the face of the rush of longing that rose up within him at the thought of waking every morning to have her cradled in his arms, her expression that same sleepy contentment. The idea was not something he’d ever even thought he wanted, but it now lured him like a siren’s song.

  Sighing, he forced himself to look away. He lifted his gaze to the sky and his eyes narrowed. To someone who didn’t live in perpetual night, it would probably look as if it were still pure night, but Tearlach lived in darkness. He knew it in all its nuances and knew that though it appeared to still be full night, dawn was coming. In fact, she would be streaking the sky with fingers of morning light right then if it weren’t so overcast. Only the dense cloud cover kept it so dark.

  His gaze dropped to their surroundings, searching for markers that would tell him how far they were from the cave and he relaxed as he spotted the shine of water ahead. They’d arrived at the riverside clearing where he’d planned for them to take shelter that evening. His eyes slid to the sky again, noting that it was just a bare shade lighter than it had been. By his guess they had just enough time to let Trinket drink water from the river and clean up a bit themselves before the sun burnt off a good portion of the cloud cover and they had to take cover in the shelter. At least he had to. Lucy had no need to hide from the sun; he on the other hand...

  The steady roll of the moving horse had lulled Lucy to sleep. The end of that movement was what woke her. Shifting sleepily, she lifted her head from Tearlach’s chest and peered around with bleary eyes that suddenly cleared and widened when they fell on the river in front of which Tearlach had brought them to a halt.

  “Where are we?” she asked, her eyes caught on the water’s glistening surface. Dark as it was, the surface seemed to be catching what little light was available and reflecting it like a mirror.

  “By a cave I ha’e used before. We can rest here fer the day and then continue on at night fall.”

  Lucy nodded absently, but she hadn’t really heard what he’d said, every iota of her attention was focused on the water before them. Between the filthy clothes they were wearing and all that they had endured the last several days, the idea of a bath was like the dream of a sweet to a starving person. She couldn’t seem to even focus on anything else.

  A soft breath on her ear and the contraction of his stomach at her back as he chuckled managed to distract her and bring her questioning glance up to his face.

  “We ha’e a little time ere the sun rises fully, why do ye no’ bathe in the river while I unsaddle Trinket?”

  Lucy slid off the mare, a smile stretching her lips so wide it almost hurt. She could already feel the water washing away the filth coating her body.

  Leaving Tearlach to tend the mare, she rushed to the river’s edge and reached for the waist of her braies, and then paused to glance over her shoulder. Tearlach had dismounted and now stood with his back to her as he unsaddled Trinket. Not exactly proper, but he was offering her all the privacy he could under the circumstances.

  Straightening her shoulders, Lucy turned back to the water and quickly pushed down the pants. The scrape of the material, stiff with filth from both herself and their previous owner made her grimace and pause again. Really, her tunic and braies needed cleaning as much as she did and it would be such a shame to bathe and then have to climb back into the filthy clothes. The very idea was really rather disgusting.

  Lucy shifted from one foot to the other and then stepped out of the braies and snatched them up. Still wearing the tunic and jupon, she then marched into the river, gasping as the cool water closed around her feet, then her ankles, then her calves...She kept moving forward until she was in up to her waist, then pinched her nose closed with the finger and thumb of her free hand and submerged herself under the water.

  Hoping that the full body dunking would help her adjust to the cold more quickly, Lucy stayed under until her lungs forced her back up. Eyes squinted shut and sputtering and gasping for air, she stood up abruptly in the water.

  A curse made her blink her eyes open. They then widened as she found Tearlach before her in the water, still fully clothed.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked with concern as she noted the anger on his face.

  Tearlach opened his mouth, closed it on whatever he’d been about to say, then tried again. “Ye disappeared,” he pointed out shortly and when she simply stared back with confusion, added, “I heard ye splashin’ and gaspin’ about the water being cold and then silence. When I turned around ye were gone. I feared there may be a current here or someone or something had dragged ye under.”

  Lucy’s eyes rounded with surprise as she realized he’d come charging into the water to save her. Her disappearance had given him a scare. She could still see the remnants of fear in his eyes, and he was panting slightly, his chest rising and falling rapidly from his rush to save her.

  “You were worried about me,” she whispered with amazement and saw annoyance flicker on his face.

 
“O’ course I was worried about ye, ye daft woman,” he snarled with irritation. His eyes, however, were speaking of other feelings. They had dropped away from her face, sliding down over her shoulders and chest with something like hunger.

  Lucy glanced down, noting that the wet tunic she wore was now clinging to her curves, accentuating nipples that were erect from the cold. She felt a blush crest her face and instinctively raised her hands to cover them.

  A low growl drew her head back up and Tearlach immediately covered her mouth with his. Lucy’s lips parted on a gasp of surprise at the contact. That was all the encouragement Tearlach needed, in the next moment his arms were around her, drawing her through the water and against his damp tunic.

  Startled, Lucy went stiff in his arms, but it was a very brief stiffening, then his tongue slid into her mouth and rasped against her own and she gave a surprised moan of pleasure.

  Lucy had never been kissed. She had seen others kiss; servants she’d stumbled upon, her parents, and even her brother, John, with one of the maids once, but she’d never paid much attention to the actual mechanics of it, usually turning quickly away in embarrassment. She’d never realized that tongues were involved. Lucy had always thought it was just like the perfunctory pecks her mother had planted on her cheek at bed time, only on the lips. She now saw how wrong she’d been. There was much more to this kissing business than she’d realized, at least there was with Tearlach. There was nothing quick or perfunctory about his kiss. It was slow and wet and deep and brought forth responses and sensations from her body that she’d never before experienced, sensations that left her feeling somewhat weak in the knees.

  Lucy dropped the braies she’d been clutching, and caught anxiously at Tearlach’s upper arms. At first it was to steady herself, but then she found that, rather than using the hold to help her stay upright in the water, she was slipping her fingers up around his neck and trying to press him closer. She wanted...

  Lucy wasn’t sure what exactly it was that she wanted. She just knew she wanted more, and she wanted him closer though they were already pressed as tightly together as they could get. Her breasts were actually being crushed against his chest, but rather than pain she was experiencing a tingling there that made her want to rub them more firmly against him.

  As if reading her thoughts, Tearlach’s hand suddenly slid between them and closed over one breast. Lucy groaned into his mouth and almost bit his tongue in reaction to the excitement sent spiraling through her. She then moaned as he tweaked at her erect nipple through the damp rough cloth of the tunic.

  Shuddering as spasms of excitement shot all the way from her breast down to a spot between her legs, Lucy instinctively pressed herself against him there, but quickly drifted away again. Tearlach was taller than her and while he stood with his feet planted firmly on the river bed, he’d lifted her up out of the water a bit to kiss her. Her legs were ungrounded, floating freely in the water and not staying where she wanted.

  Moaning her frustration, she wrapped her legs around Tearlach’s waist, then gasped in shocked pleasure as her naked core rubbed against a cloth-covered bulge in the front of his braies, increasing her excitement.

  This time Tearlach also groaned. She felt his fingers convulse briefly on her breast, squeezing almost painfully, and then his other hand clasped her bottom. His fingers briefly froze on the naked flesh he found, and Lucy suddenly recalled that he’d had his back to her when she’d gone into the water. Apparently he’d assumed she’d gone in fully clothed. The fact that she hadn’t seemed to be a pleasant surprise if she was correctly reading the growl that slid from his mouth into hers and the way his hand suddenly curved over the soft skin of her behind and squeezed even as he pressed her more tightly against the bulge in his braies.

  When his hands left her moments later, Lucy clung to him feeling bereft, but then she felt the cloth of her tunic being tugged up her back. Breaking their kiss, Lucy released her hold on his neck and leaned away from him in the water, her arms rising to allow him to remove the garment.

  Tearlach’s eyes darkened as the tunic slid off over her head, baring her breasts to his view. He was suddenly so absorbed, he didn’t even look away as he tossed the soaking cloth toward shore, but threw it blindly. Despite that, the tunic landed on shore with a splat, she noted.

  “Where are yer bottoms, lass? I didnae see them on shore ere I came in after ye.”

  “I am not sure. I had them in my hand a minute ago, but I think I dropped them,” Lucy admitted breathlessly, but wasn’t feeling much concern over the item at the moment.

  Tearlach still had enough sense to consider them an important matter. Urging her back to his chest, he peered around, and then lunged slightly to the side to snatch the floating braies out of the water when he spotted them. They followed the tunic to shore, landing very near the tunic, but Lucy hardly made note of the fact. The moment they left his hand, Tearlach had turned his attention back to her breasts and her mind was fully taken up with her shock, awe, and pleasure as he lifted her slightly in the water to fasten his mouth on one erect nipple. His mouth was like the flame from a fire compared to the chill of the water and Lucy clutched at his shoulders with her fingers and tightened her legs around his hips as she shivered and shuddered against him.

  The action brought Tearlach’s hands down to her bottom again. This time he used both of them to urge her more tightly against his bulge, almost seeming to encourage her to ride it. Finding all of it together somewhat overwhelming, Lucy cried out and tugged at his hair, murmuring incoherent pleas for him to kiss her.

  Tearlach obeyed at once, lifting his lips to claim hers in a kiss. She’d hoped it would help ease some of the tension clambering inside of her, however, this combination was just as overwhelming. Now she was being assaulted by the feel of his rough tunic brushing across her breasts, his hands urging her against his hips, and his mouth on hers, his tongue thrusting hungrily and deeply until Lucy sobbed into his mouth with need. She didn’t try to break the contact, but couldn’t have in any case since one of his hands had left her bottom to clasp the back of her head to tilt her face to a more satisfactory position.

  Distracted as she was by all the sensations he was stirring in her, Lucy wasn’t aware that he’d carried her out of the water until she felt the ground press against her back. Shivering as the dew-covered grass cushioned her, she let her feet unhook and drop to the ground as he settled on top of her, then immediately began tugging at his tunic, eager to remove it as a barrier between them. Unfortunately it had been a bit snug to begin with and—now wet—was impossible for her to remove unaided.

  Tearlach broke their kiss long enough to rise up on his knees and drag off the clinging cloth. He tossed it aside with little care or concern and lowered himself over her again, but did not return to kissing her. Instead, his attention moved lower and he pressed kisses along her collarbone before dipping to latch onto one breast again.

  Lucy groaned and caught her hands in his hair, writhing under the caress as she felt his hand begin to slide up her inner thigh.

  “Tearlach?” she whispered uncertainly. He immediately slid up her body, claiming her mouth once more in an almost soothing kiss. His hand, however, continued to slide gently up and down her thigh, raising goose bumps and stringing out her tension as it neared the top, then bringing about a confused disappointment and restlessness as it drifted away.

  Much to Lucy’s surprise, the action soon brought a low growl of frustration from her and she was the one to deepen the kiss and thrust her hips upward in demand as his fingers slid up her thigh once more. Despite that, she cried out in startled surprise when his fingers finally continued their upward journey until they found her core. Her body shook as a whole new, much more intense set of sensations exploded inside her.

  Sobbing his name, Lucy pulled on his hair and kissed him frantically as he began to stoke a fire like none she’d ever experienced. Her body seemed to be aflame, every inch of skin suddenly burning for him. She wa
nted to be touched and kissed everywhere and wanted to touch and kiss him everywhere too, but couldn’t seem to figure out how to do that without his stopping what he was doing. Lucy did the best she could, however, running her hands over his naked back and arms, then up into his hair again. She kissed him with all the passion he was eliciting until she almost couldn’t bear it anymore, then she pulled her mouth free and began to press kisses to his face and forehead.

  The moment Lucy broke their kiss she lost him. Tearlach immediately began to snake his way down her body, stopping here to nip and suckle, and there to lick and kiss. His mouth traveled over her collarbone, to each breast, down her stomach, to one hip, and then suddenly it was replacing his hand between her legs. Her eyes immediately shot open and she cried out loud enough to send birds flying from their nests as she bucked into the caress.

  Tearlach merely caught her thighs to hold her in place as he ministered to her, driving her into a frenzy of need and want. Just when she was certain the overwhelming sensation and excitement would surely kill her, it suddenly exploded, wrenching a full scream from her throat as her body convulsed with spasm after spasm of a pleasure as hot and bright as the sun overhead.

  That thought knifed through Lucy’s pleasure like a hot blade through freshly churned butter. As hot and bright as the sun overhead? Dear God, the sun was up!

  It was now high in the sky and burning its way through the last bit of cloud cover that had hidden it. Lucy could feel its warmth, see its brightness, and taste the fear for Tearlach that suddenly filled her...and then he was shifting above her, blocking the sky from her view. Feeling something nudge her between the legs, she lifted her head to peer the length of their bodies. Her eyes widened as she saw that he’d shed his braies and was preparing to mount her. Moments ago she would have welcomed him, but that was before she’d realized that they’d taken too long and the sun had snuck up on them. He couldn’t. They couldn’t. He had to take cover.