After the Storm

by Tia Isabella

  She backed away from Thomas and began fumbling with her clothing. Her gaze never broke from his while she unbuttoned her gown and parted it open. Thomas sucked in his breath and stared at his lady, unable to move or say anything. She was disrobing. In a moment she would be naked...

  Maya discarded the gown Lena had sewn for her, allowing it to fall to the floor and pool at her feet.

  Thomas’s shaft thickened, jutting beneath his plaid. The sight of his love’s naked body was more intoxicating than the richest of all wines. Her breasts were round and full, made for suckling babes, and for suckling him. Her legs were long and supple, stretching upward toward the tight valley between her thighs. The thatch of hair betwixt her legs was golden and curly. Thomas reached toward it, unable to stop himself, and found, to his delight, that her covering was as soft and welcoming as it looked.

  Maya closed her eyes as Thomas ran his callused fingers over her mons. She released a moan and felt her nipples harden into painfully tight points when he deepened his exploration and tenderly rubbed the folds of her wet flesh. She ached for his touch in a way she’d never ached before.

  The last of Thomas’s resolve faded abruptly away. If his lady wished to be bedded before their marriage, then so be it. He picked her up and strode toward the bed, lying down on top of her as they fell toward it together.

  Thomas sat up and studied Maya’s body eagerly. Lust consumed him. He reached down and plucked her nipples between his fingers. They were long and hard and he was filled with the urge to suck on them. She moaned as he lowered himself back down onto her body and crushed his face into her bosom.

  Thomas sucked hard on her nipples causing her hips to thrash beneath him. He groaned in pleasure as he suckled, turning her on all the more. She drew in her breath as the heat kindled intensely within her. “Make love to me, Thomas,” she whispered in bated breaths. “I don’t want to wait for you another moment.”

  She spread her legs wide as she stroked his back. “Please Thomas. I feel like I’m going to explode. Take me now.”

  He released Maya’s nipple with a growl and sat up on his knees. He looked downwards to her splayed legs and grunted in satisfaction. This was the first time he had gotten a look at the treasure between her thighs.

  Thomas sat spellbound, unable to draw his eyes away from her womanhood. He spread her legs wider, wanting to give himself a better look. He groaned. If he thought her nipples were as tasty as berries then he could well imagine what this feast would do to him.

  Unable to deny himself a moment longer, his mouth dove for Maya’s flesh, covering it fully. He found the swollen clit waiting for his tongue and took it between his teeth. He sucked hungrily upon it, relishing the scent and taste of her. She threw her head back and moaned, certain that she wouldn’t be able to hold off her fulfillment until he entered her.

  Maya arched her back, indicating that she could bear no more. She shook violently, causing the bed to tremble beneath her. “Thomas!” she screamed as her body gave into his touch and shuttered out its climax.

  Thomas lapped ravenously at her juices then drew himself to his knees once more. He was harder than he’d ever been in his life. He wanted Maya—nay, needed Maya—more than he thought it possible. He took his swollen shaft in hand and guided it toward her awaiting body. He couldn’t bear being apart from her for a moment longer.

  “My lord, ye must come!”

  Thomas growled in anger and frustration at the yelled summons coming from the other side of the bedchamber door.

  Maya sighed. The people in this castle had shitty timing.

  “What?” Thomas bellowed as he turned his head around to face the closed door.

  Maya recognized the owner of the voice immediately. It belonged to the same man whose voice of gloom and doom had damn near made Thomas kill her on the hillside when she and Sara had first arrived.

  “’Tis the MacAllisters, my lord. They ha’ been spotted on our land. Dugald says they must be fools enough tae attack!”

  Maya’s eyes widened in shock as her mouth dropped open. “Attacked? Oh my god, Thomas!”

  The laird quickly kissed Maya on the mouth then drew himself up to don his plaid. “Ye ha’ nothing tae fear, love. I would die afore I’d let a man harm ye.”

  Die? Oh no, Maya thought, she didn’t want him to die. She had forgotten how lawless the fourteenth century really was. Damn the MacAllisters anyway! “Thomas please be careful. I’m frightened for you!”

  “Fer me?” Thomas shook his head and scowled as he sat down to pull on his boots. “’Tis no’ wise tae insult me, milady.”

  Insult him? Because she was worried about him? Maya forgot all about the truce she had found in Thomas’s arms this day and resumed her warfare of words. “How dare you say that I was insulting you! Because I care enough about you to worry for your wellbeing I am insulting you?”

  “Maya I’ve no time tae listen tae yer ridiculousness right now,” Thomas barked, his frown back in place as he stood up. “I’ve a keep tae protect and a laird tae kill.”

  “Fine!” Maya fumed as she jumped from the bed and balled her hands into fists at her sides. “Leave me and my ridiculousness and go. I should have known better than to trust you with my feelings anyway.”

  “Maya!” Thomas roared as he reached to the ground for his sword. “We will discuss ye and yer childishness later. Go bathe.” He threw her another of his scowls then quickly strode to the bedchamber door.

  “You won’t have to worry about discussing anything with me sweetcakes,” Maya hissed, “because I won’t be here when you return!”

  Thomas paused before leaving the bedchamber long enough to sneer at her. “Ye will see how far ye get do ye try tae leave me again. I will hunt ye down like a dog and bring ye back do ye attempt tae go.”

  Like a dog?

  Maya screamed in rage then turned around and stomped off towards the bathtub. She jumped inside of the barrel with such force that water splashed from over the sides.

  Thomas grunted then shoved open the chamber door and made his way toward the lower bailey. Damn the woman’s wicked tongue! She knew how to rile his anger better than anyone he had ever come across. Better even than his country’s enemies at Bannockburn.

  Thomas located Dugald and hurried to where his commander-at-arms sat astride his mount, waiting for him. If the MacAllister wanted a battle, Thomas growled, then he was just the man to accommodate him.

  Chapter 10

  Maya worked the rose scented soap through her hair and chastised herself over and over again until she was mentally black and blue. When was she ever going to learn to control her mouth? She was an anthropologist for goodness sake! She was acting like a two-year-old ninny.

  She knew that to a fourteenth century Highlander, questioning his ability to protect his self and his home was akin to the most grievous of insults. Still, when Thomas had called her ridiculous it had hurt her feelings more than she cared to acknowledge. At that moment, she had been a hurt lover and not a scientist.

  She couldn’t help but to worry for Thomas. He might consider himself mighty and omnipotent and therefore unable to succumb to death by sword, but Maya knew that he was just a man. A man formidable enough to pique her interest and a man powerful enough to command the respect of chieftains and kings, but still a man.

  Maya drew her arms around her upraised knees and considered her feelings. She took a deep breath as she stared into the flames of the hearth. Who was she kidding? Yes, there was no denying that she feared for Thomas’s safety, but she also realized that she had cast him away from her with her hurled threats for another reason that had nothing to do with the first.

  She was afraid to get close to him.

  Maya feared that if Thomas kept being nice to her, kept holding her in his arms and making her feel like a delicate treasure, she would abandon all plans of trying to find a way back home. Damn, but why did the man of her dreams have to live in a century far removed from her own time?

 
She frowned as she sat in the tepid water and thought back on what Thomas had said to her before he left. He had promised that, if she tried to escape him, he would chase her down like a dog and bring her back.

  A dog! Like a dog!

  Maya’s frown slowly twisted into a wry smile.

  Hell, the man could never get a job writing Hallmark cards, but there was something primitively provocative about his promise nevertheless.

  She shook her head. One thing was for sure: the longer she stayed here, the more her resolve to go home wavered. If she didn’t find a way home soon, she would never want to leave.

  * * * * *

  Sara entered Maya’s bedchamber an hour later with a worried expression written all over her face. Maya knew exactly what was on her best friend’s mind for she had been dealing with the exact same fears ever since Thomas had stormed out of her room. For once, unflappable Sara looked pretty shook up. “Are you okay?”

  Sara shook her head as she climbed under the animal pelts and laid down next to her on the bed. “No. I’m not.”

  Maya nodded, letting Sara know that she understood.

  The two friends laid on the bed in silence for a long while until Sara finally spoke up. “I lied to you, Maya, and I’m sorry for it.”

  Maya sat up slowly, gazing at Sara as she did. She had thought that Sara’s morose state was due to the MacGregor clan’s impending battle with the MacAllisters. Apparently it wasn’t. “I thought you were referring to this raid we’ve been subjected to. What do you mean then?”

  Sara sighed as she pulled an animal pelt up to her chin to keep the shivers at bay. She avoided looking into her eyes. “I’ve read the documents Maya. They will not lose today.”

  “Then what is it?”

  Sara’s voice was quiet. With a sigh, she shook her head and admitted all. “I don’t want to leave, Maya. I never did. I know this will sound crazy to you because it sounds crazy to me, but I think I fell in love with Dugald before we even came back through time. Hell, reading about him was enough to stir my fantasies, but seeing him in the flesh…” Sara groaned.

  Maya smiled at her, though she wasn’t looking at her to see it. “Sara,” she cooed in a soft voice, “I was scared the other day when I said what I said. I would never think that falling in love is a betrayal of me.”

  Sara quickly glanced up at her to see if she was telling the truth. She let out a breath of relief when she realized that she was. “Thank-you, Maya.”

  Maya smiled at her then reached under the covers to take her hand in her own. “I love you Sara. I’ve loved you since we were little girls. If Dugald is what makes you happy, then I am happy. I mean that.”

  Tears came to Sara’s eyes, causing Maya’s eyes to round. Never ever had she seen Sara even remotely close to crying before. It was more than she could bear to witness at the moment. “Please don’t cry. I don’t think I could handle it right now.”

  Sara gazed down at the bed, knowing that if she looked at her when she said the rest of what she had to say, she might very well weep. “Please don’t leave me, Maya.” Her statement came out like a whisper.

  Maya chuckled, causing Sara to look at her with annoyance. “You don’t have to make fun of my feelings!”

  Maya laughed again then playfully rapped Sara over the head with her knuckles. “I didn’t mean to offend you dearest, but you say that as if I have a means of going home.”

  A wicked smile slashed across Sara’s lovely face. “I hope you never find one either.”

  “Sara!” Maya gasped with feigned outrage, “that’s an awful thing to wish on me! You might have found a truly chivalrous knight in Sir Dugald, but all I’ve found here is a man that grunts at me and orders me around as if I were a child…or the village idiot.”

  Sara chuckled, bemused by the frustrated expression that Maya was sporting. “You love him, don’t you?”

  Maya darted her eyes to Sara’s face and shrugged. She didn’t pretend to not understand exactly what her best friend was referring to. “I don’t know. No. Yes. I don’t know. I know he’s a tyrant.”

  Sara laughed. Maya threw an animal pelt at her. “It’s not funny!”

  “The hell it’s not!” Sara chuckled. “Dugald says that Thomas calls you the same thing!”

  Maya grinned. From a man like Thomas, calling her a tyrant was true praise indeed. She quieted for a moment then looked back at her best friend. “Maybe I do.”

  “What?” Sara asked.

  “Love him,” Maya clarified. “It’s hard to say. I mean, I’ve known the guy like what—a little more than a week? Yet there are moments when I am with him where I feel like I’ve known him my entire life. It’s strange you know? I feel almost as if everything in my life up until this point has happened only to prepare me for what I would find here, in this time.”

  Sara sat up in bed, drawing Maya’s hand back into her own. “Probables are that that statement is true.”

  Maya grinned. “You’re just saying that so I won’t play Dorothy and try to find the next twister going back to Kansas.”

  Sara chuckled at that. “Well there is that. But there is more.”

  Maya arched an inquisitive brow.

  Sara grinned then drew her face closer to Maya’s and whispered mischievously. “Has it occurred to you yet, oh demon wench, that you might very well be the mysterious Lady M?”

  Maya blanched, then slowly smiled.

  Damn. She hadn’t thought of that.

  * * * * *

  The squire, barely a man, shook in fear as he gazed into the MacGregor’s cold black eyes. There was no compassion in their lifeless depths, no hint of mercy in the dead pools of emotionless color. He was going to die.

  As a soldier, young Niall had been prepared for this day since his training first began. When the new laird Robert had declared his intention to steal from the MacGregor, he knew at that moment that the day would arrive sooner than expected. Damn that fool! Even though Niall hadn’t been a part of the raiding party, he was still a MacAllister. The MacGregor would never overlook that fact. At ten and six, Niall’s life was about to end.

  The MacGregor would take him out quick, that he could feel fortunate for. The laird wasn’t known for torturing a man needlessly. He would kill him, aye, but he would do it swiftly. “I…I ha’ told ye all I know, my lord. I was n-never p-privy tae the MacAllister’s p-plans.”

  Dugald pushed Niall to the ground, causing him to fall from a sitting position to his backside. “Do ye lie tae the MacGregor, ye will die. Do ye speak now, ye will live.”

  Live? Niall had never considered that as a possibility. The squire shook his head emphatically, his eyes wide and haunted. “I swear it tae ye, Sir Dugald! I dinna know where the MacAllister went. He took with him five of his most loyal men tae steal the lass, but I canna say where they would go if they dinna succeed.”

  Thomas lifted an eyebrow. Up until this point, from the time his men had first spotted MacAllister plaids on their hillside until the time he killed off all of them save Robert who he could not find, the MacGregor had assumed that Robert MacAllister had crossed onto his lands with the intent of lifting cattle. Never once had he thought the man would brave death to steal a woman. He was intrigued.

  Thomas looked around the MacAllister keep and sneered as he shook his head. Had Robert actually thought that this pathetic excuse for a tower with its barely manned gates had the fortitude to withstand his attack? He cast his black glare on Niall once more. “A wench? He provoked me tae steal a village wench?”

  Niall shook his head and told the MacGregor all he knew. “Nay my lord, ‘twas no’ a village wench that caught his eye, but a lady. I dinna know the whole of it, but I know ‘twas said by the laird that she was the comeliest of all lasses. The MacAllister said he first saw her on the hillside that divides our land from yers. ‘Twas said she sported a black cloak and was with a friend donned all in red. The laird boasted that he would be ruttin’ a’tween the lady’s legs within a sennight.”
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br />   Thomas bellowed an outraged cry at the top of his lungs as he balled his hand into a fist. ‘Twas Lady Maya that young Niall spoke of. It could be no other. “The fool!” Thomas hissed, causing Niall to wince. “He thought he could take her from me.”

  The MacGregor narrowed his gaze at Niall, making the squire wonder if he should have been so brave as to be the bearer of bad tidings. Kill the messenger—lairds always killed the messenger. “What else, lad? Ye would be wise tae speak up now.”

  Niall swallowed roughly and wished like hell that he had more to say. The MacGregor wasn’t going to like the fact that he knew naught else. He cleared his throat and stuttered out his words. “As m-much as I wish I had more tae tell y-ye, I swear tae ye on my honor that I d-dinna ken more.” He took a deep, steadying breath, forcing his stuttering at bay. “I know ye probably dinna hold the MacAllister honor in high esteem at the moment, but I vow it that most of us were against his plan. Even Robert’s own younger brother would no’ back him in this madness.”

  Thomas snorted, bemused by the lad’s bravery to speak on behalf of his clan. “Ye are right lad, I dinna hold the MacAllister honor in high esteem a’tall. Yet do I believe ye. Will ye dare tae make me a fool?”

  Niall shook his head emphatically, feeling the first glimmer of hope he’d experienced since the MacGregor had leveled the keep’s gates. “Nay my lord, never.”

  Dugald grunted as he looked to Thomas. “What say ye? Is our business here done?”

  Thomas scowled down at Niall then lifted him into the air with one fist. “Ye will give yer laird a message. Do ye ken, lad?”

  A message? Niall realized that the MacGregor had to keep him alive in order for him to deliver anything. As terrified as he was by the look in the laird’s eyes, he blew out a breath of relief.

  Thomas’s lips curled into a sinister grin at Niall’s telling sigh. “Aye lad, ye will live. The MacGregor does no’ kill a young babe. But ye will do my bidding, ye ken?”