Rogue Highlander: The King's Command

by Sondra Grey

  It was a moment before his eyes found hers and he stopped speaking, his head cocked sideways as if trying to read her. Then he moved, heading towards the crowd. Edane stepped out and walked a few paces away so that when Leith reached her they were out of earshot.

  “Lady Shadow,” said Leith. “Come to cheer me on?” He looked amused, but when Edane didn’t answer immediately, his gaze sharpened. “What is it?” He demanded.

  Edane took a deep breath and then shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “Nothing. I’m being foolish.”

  She turned to go but stopped when his hand came out and grabbed her wrist, lightly. “Edane,” he said, his voice low. “What is it that troubles you?”

  Meeting his clear, green gaze Edane wanted to tell him everything. But she didn’t dare. She didn’t really know him.

  “Truly, it’s nothing, Mr. Macleod. I just wanted to wish you good luck.”

  “Good luck?” Leith repeated. “No banter? No witty remarks to take me down a peg? Something must be wrong.”

  Edane tried to smile at him and found it wasn’t difficult. Just his concern made her feel better. “It’s nothing to worry about, I assure you. Please. I just wanted to wish you luck.”

  Leith inclined his head. “Thank you, Lady. I hope you’ll be watching.”

  But she wouldn’t be. Edane wanted to be well away from this crowd.

  CHAPTER 13

  L eith beat Colin Campbell, but it was not easy. The young man was quite adept and, were Leith a smaller man, he might have been bested. As it was, Leith’s size and speed helped him quite a bit against an opponent who may well have been a bit more skilled.

  At the end, he was smarting and ordered a hot bath so that he might relax sore muscles. Tomorrow, he’d be fighting the Queen’s champion. What he needed more than anything was a good long soak, a hot, hearty meal, and a willing lass. The first two were easy enough to come by. The last… Leith knew he might have his pick of women. After the match today he’d received yet another host of barely subtle invitations. But he wasn’t interested in those women. He wanted the beauty with the sad smile.

  He was beginning to think that he might need to give that particularly fantasy up. Edane Campbell was an innocent, and Leith wasn’t entirely certain he wanted that responsibility. She seemed gentle - different from the other women. While his original intention had been to bed her, their conversation today had changed his mind. She’d come to see him looking distraught, and he found he could not tolerate the thought of her in pain of any sort. He desperately wanted to know what her problem was so that he could fix it. The feeling didn’t sit well. Leith was a Clan Chief’s son and could ill afford to be getting romantically entangled with Argyle’s bastard daughter.

  Still, as he dressed, found Richard, and made his way to the celebratory dinner, he couldn’t stop thinking about Edane, or feeling a thrill at seeing her again.

  The dinner tonight was another grand affair with the court in full dress. Leith’s eyes sought out Edane and found her immediately, standing near the wall with an elegantly dressed elderly woman who seemed to be digging her elbow into the poor girl’s side.

  Leith was about to walk over to her, but it was Edane Campbell who made the first move, across the room towards him.

  “Well now,” murmured Richard, eyes following the beauty as she made her way towards them. “It looks like you’ve made a conquest after all.”

  “You’ll need to make yourself scarce,” Leith all but growled. Richard clapped his cousin on the shoulder and bowed to Edane as she approached. “Ma’am,” he said. “I have somewhere else to be.” And with that he was gone. Leith groaned inwardly. So much for subtlety.

  “You fought well in the lists, My Lord,” Edane said. “Though I admit there were moments when I thought my brother was close to besting you.”

  “A talented fighter, your brother,” said Leith, slightly perplexed at Edane’s avoidance of his gaze. “He left me with my fair share of bruises.”

  “I hope they are not too bad,” said Edane, placing a hand boldly on his arm. Though she touched only his sleeve, her touch sent little pulses of electricity shooting through him. He found himself stepping even closer towards her.

  “Lady, with your concern, I feel they are getting better by the minute.”

  He thought that would make her smile, but more than anything she looked anxious. “What is it?” He found himself asking, stepping forward.

  He watched her lick her delectable lips and take a deep breath. Then she met his gaze. Her eyes held a strange longing that he wasn’t at all certain was directed at him, but her hand on his arm told him a different story. Leith took a breath, trying to steady the heady desire that shot through him at her nearness.

  “I would like to leave this crush. With you. I suppose we best not be seen together…”

  Leith’s mind was whirling. “Lady…”

  “Will you meet me in the courtyard?”

  This was all happening rather quickly. Leith tried to slow her down. “My lady, are you not hungry?”

  Edane closed her eyes a moment, and nodded. “I am,” she said, as if disappointed. “I’d forgotten…” She looked ready to cry. “I’m making a mess of this…”

  Making a mess of what? Leith reached out and placed his hand on hers. “I will take care of dinner, Lady. I will meet you in the courtyard in twenty minutes.”

  She took a deep breath, “Okay,” and strode off.

  Leith watched her go. If it were possible, she looked even more delectable than usual, that plum gown hugging gentle curves, all that soft brown hair twisted into an intricate style. He had the sudden image of pulling all the pins from her hair and watching it spill across his chest.

  “What on earth was that about?” Richard asked, returning from wherever he’d hidden himself.

  “I believe,” said Leith, “It was a proposition.”

  Edane paced the courtyard desperately trying to calm her racing heart. This wasn’t a mistake, it wasn’t a mistake, she chanted to herself. She needed to do this. And it needed to be with Leith. At least she felt something for Leith, at least she thought that, if she knew him better, she might be able to love him.

  She’d been heading back to her room from the lists when the king had caught her in the hall. He’d been drinking, for he had slurred to his advisors to proceed without him, and admitted to Edane that he was in his cups and needed to be escorted to his rooms. Edane had all but frozen with fear. When she’d approached him and offered him her arm, he’d roughly pulled her into an embrace, backing her against the stone wall and kissing her. Like Leith’s, the king’s kiss had been deep and probing. It tasted of Ale, and Edane had not felt that same burning she’d felt with Leith. Only the king had not stopped at the kiss. He’d hiked her skirts up; he’d run his hands across her bare thighs. Edane was certain he might have carried on, had not the sound of footsteps in the hall interrupted him. The king had wrenched away, sending Edane a look of longing. And Edane had stayed there, frozen and terrified, until the king quit the hall.

  “If you plan on eating outside, we’d best try to find a spot where we won’t be bothered. There’s a hill not far, should you wish to accompany me.” Leith appeared out of the darkness, and the solid size of him sent tremors through her. The nerves she’d been feeling seemed to subside. He was carrying a blanket and a basket, and she could smell the food from where she stood.

  Edane nodded her head and Leith offered her his arm. She took it and followed him out of the courtyard and towards the castle walls. In the dark and quiet of the night, it was easy to believe that they weren’t in a city. Just beyond the walls, beyond the cultivated gardens, there were trees and abandoned stretches of lawn and overgrowth. Leith spread the blanket in the shadow of one of the trees, a monstrous oak that blocked them from prying eyes. Edane opened the basket and pulled out a chicken leg. Leith pulled out a breast and began picking the meat from the bones with his fingers. They ate in silence, and Edane knew that he
was waiting for her to say something. For the life of her, she could not think of what to say.

  Finally, it was Leith who broke the silence. “You and your father do not seem to have a close relationship.”

  Relieved to be speaking about something, Edane shook her head. “He was away, often, when I was a girl. I was grateful he chose to acknowledge me, to raise me in the castle, but the only times I ever spoke with him were when I was in trouble with his wife.”

  “And that was often enough?”

  “Thankfully no,” said Edane. “I did my best to behave, but there were tantrums when I was younger. When I didn’t understand why Liz, or Marjorie, or Donald were able to go places and do things that I was not able to do.”

  “It doesn’t sound like an appealing childhood.”

  Edane shrugged. “I’m sure it was better than most. Most women are taught only womanly duties. My father had us all taught to read, write, and figure numbers.”

  “Useful of him,” Leith commented.

  “And what about you?” Edane asked him. Her nerves were settling, her breathing slowing, and she found herself leaning towards him to hear his answer.

  “I am my father’s heir. I have two demonic little sisters. One who is married, one who yet too young.”

  “And you live on the Isles?”

  “Oh Skye. I spent a good deal of time there as a boy, though I fostered in the North, with the Grants at Freuchie castle.”

  “So, you’ve been all over Scotland?”

  “And England twice.”

  Edane had a mountain of questions about England, having heard Margaret speak on it often and being unable to ask her questions. The two spoke on England for a while, until they’d consumed most of the food that Leith had brought out. When Edane was out of questions, and Leith out of answers, silence fell again.

  But this silence was more companionable. Leith had relaxed backwards until he was resting on his arms. Edane was plucking nervously at the grass. “Do you like to read?” She asked.

  Leith didn’t answer her immediately, and when he spoke, finally, his voice was low, almost rumbling. “Why are we here, Lady?”

  Edane closed her eyes. It was dark, the night barely lit by the sconces that lined the castle wall. She could see him in outline, make out the shape of him, so close and yet not touching. You don’t need to say anything Lady Maxwell had advised. Let your hands do the talking.

  And so Edane reached out, taking his hand in hers and weaving her fingers through his in an intimate grasp. She felt him grab her fingers in return and took heart. You won’t have to work too hard to convince him, girl.

  “Edane?” Leith insisted. It seemed he wanted words. “Edane.”

  “I would have thought,” she said, keeping her voice light. “That what I wanted was plain enough.”

  She ran her free hand up his arm and reached for his dark hair, and she relished the feel of the cool, silky strands against her fingers.

  Leith was tense beneath her hands as she stroked his neck. Just kiss me, please!

  She didn’t have to be more explicit. With a groan Leith was on her, head bending down, lips taking hers in a hard, demanding kiss. It was nothing like the king’s kiss. It was questing, not assuming, demanding but controlled. Leith pulled her across his lap and cradled her head in one hand as he kissed, and kissed, and kissed her.

  Edane almost didn’t notice when the kiss turned from something hard into something smoldering. Leith released the tight grasp he had on her shoulders and held her more gently. His lips softened and his tongue touched hers, daring her onward. What nerves Edane had felt were slowly melting away, replaced by something deeper, something she’d never quite felt before.

  It was Leith who broke the kiss, finally. “Lady,” he said, his voice was rough. “We must stop…”

  “Why must we?” Edane asked, her voice breathy. Her breasts felt heavy. She reached down, grabbing his hand and guiding it up to her chest. Margaret had spoken of the king lavishing attention on her breasts. Edane wanted Leith’s hands there.

  “Edane, if we go further…”

  “Don’t you want to?” she asked, feeling suddenly like a fool.

  “Lord God Almighty of course I want to,” Leith bit out. His hand was cupping her breast, thumb brushing across her nipple. Sensation shot through her, burning from her very center.

  “Good,” said Edane, arching her chest so that her breast pushed further into his hand. “Because I want you to…”

  It wasn’t a lie. She was burning for him, his very touch enflamed her, calling up her desire like the moon to the tide. She wanted him to keep kissing her. To touch her everywhere. And she wanted to touch him too.

  Leith was laying her down, leaning over her as if he could see her face in the darkness. He ran a hand across her cheek and she could feel his eyes burning across her skin. When he leaned down to kiss her, his kiss was softer still. His hands reached up and cradled her head so gently she wanted to cry. He was treating her like she was fragile. She felt a sudden inexplicable need to press herself as close to him as she could get - take what protection he offered. There was too much air between them.

  Edane wrapped her arms around Leith’s neck pulling him close. Leith deepened the kiss, his hand skating across her breast, cupping the weight in his hand and stroking his thumb across her nipple. Edane felt strange and needy. She writhed beneath him, seeking some sort of easement from the strange sensation stirring in her most secret place.

  Leith’s hand moved, sliding over her rib cage and down towards her hip. His lips broke away from hers and his head dipped low, kissing her throat, the sensitive skin of her neck, until she was gasping from the sensation. She felt his teeth too, scraping, and a small moan escaped her lips. Then he took her lips again in his and she felt his hand lifting her skirts, skimming up the bare expanse of her leg, stroking the skin of her thigh.

  Edane held her breath, her head falling back, giving herself over to the desperation building within her.

  “May I touch you here?” Leith asked, pulling his mouth away. “Please Edane. I wish to touch you here.”

  The king hadn’t asked permission. Edane nodded, biting her lip and though she couldn’t quite see his face, she could feel his eyes on hers as his fingers slid up and touched her. Oh god! She was wet there. She wanted to apologize, but maybe she was supposed to be, for he seemed to appreciate finding her thus. His finger slid through her moisture and touched the small bead at the apex of her thighs. Oh god! The sensations she’d been feeling seemed to center there, and she gasped.

  “May I kiss you?” Leith asked, his voice raw and rasping. Edane nodded, wanting his kiss and nearly shrieked as he swooped between her legs, pinning her thighs to the blanket with his hands. She bit her lip until it hurt, and emitted a strangled sob when his lips brushed over that small bundle of nerves. When his tongue slid between her lips, she did shriek.

  “Shhh,” he whispered. “Relax. Has no one ever kissed you like this?”

  Edane was robbed of speech and that seemed to please him, for he did it again, that thing with his tongue, and again, and again. Then his finger slid into her slowly, so slowly. Edane was assaulted by sensations she’d never felt before. She wanted it to end and she never wanted it to end. She realized that her hips were bucking to meet the onslaught of his mouth, that he worked a second finger into her tight channel, curling them inside her and touching parts of her she’d never known existed.

  Sensations were streaking, building. Edane felt desperate and heard herself pleading, the pressure was too much, she needed some sort of release...

  But Leith stopped. Edane nearly sobbed as his mouth withdrew, as his fingers slowly slid out.

  “Please!”

  “Shhh, relax Lady Shadow,” he murmured, sliding up and kissing her neck, fondling her breasts. She tried to do as he said, tried to relax, but it was hard. Oh god! But as he kissed her, lightly stroked her heavy breasts, she felt herself calm down.

  “Woul
d you like me to do it again?” he asked, and she could feel his smile against her skin.

  “Yes,” she gasped, her head falling back with relief as his disappeared again, as his mouth resumed its ownership of her flesh. His hands were now tilting her hips up, tongue lapping against her skin. Edane writhed in his grasp, that sensation of pressure building up again, and again. Oh god! She could feel…

  He stopped again, and again Edane cried out pounded her fists against his shoulders.

  Leith was laughing against her skin. “Relax, angel. Lie back down.”

  She wanted to curse him but he was moving, coming atop her, his heavy body pressing her into her blanket as he adjusted his kilt. Edane nearly leapt out of her skin when something hot and hard pressed against her opening. Leith reached down and grabbed her legs, bending her knees, then tilting her hips up. He rubbed against her, coating himself in her wetness, and his hands came down, parting her folds and pushing in.

  “Leith!” she gasped. “It’s too big!”

  “I’ll fit. Relax. There’s a girl,” he murmured into her hair. Edane felt speared, trapped, and yet he felt so good. That aching inside her was being soothed by his size. And he was slow. He pushed in an inch and withdrew, rubbing himself against her most sensitive place before returning to probe again push deeper. Withdraw, push deeper. Any moment he’d hit her virginity, and the thought made Edane panic. She didn’t want him to know. And so she reached up and grabbed his hips, tilted herself up in a hard gesture that impaled him past her maidenhead. It hurt. And it took everything Edane had not to cry out.

  “Easy,” Leith was murmuring, but his hips were flexing again, and he surged inside her filling her. The sensation was so strange that Edane found herself unwilling to breathe. Leith withdrew slowly, halfway, and surged back in, going deeper this time, eliciting a cry from Edane. He shifted, then, pressing her knees towards her chest and scooping her hips up to meet his thrust as he withdrew and surged forward again. Sensation streaked through Edane, the pain gone and replaced by a pleasure even more potent than the one she’d felt earlier.