After the Storm

by Tia Isabella

  “Why did ye run from me, lass?”

  Maya’s head flew up and her eyes rounded in surprise at the sound of Thomas’s voice. He didn’t sound angry or even frustrated, as she had expected he would if he found her. Damned if he didn’t sound…hurt.

  She shook her head, unwilling to succumb to the softer emotions. She needed to stay strong. She needed to go home. “It will never work between us, Thomas.”

  Thomas sighed as he dropped down to his knees to sit beside Maya. He took her hands in his and drew them to his lips for a kiss.

  “Don’t Thomas,” Maya pleaded in a whisper, unwilling to meet his gaze. “You are only making this harder.”

  Thomas chuckled as he put his arm around Maya and drew her into his side for warmth. “’Tis the point, love.”

  Maya inhaled his scent as he held her. She reached up and put her arms around his neck then promptly broke into a fit of sobs. She cried like a baby while he stroked and cooed to her, running his fingers through her hair. She was tired and overwhelmed and she had no idea what the right thing to do was.

  “It’s all right, love. I promise ye. It canna be so bad as that.”

  She allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of Thomas’s warmth and strength for a few more minutes then gathered her resolve and lifted herself to her feet.

  He stood when she did, but made no move to hold her. ‘Twas obvious that something quite serious was troubling her and he wanted to give her the space to say it.

  “Thomas, I must go home. I cannot stay here.”

  “Maya, if this is aboot last eve, I would explain…”

  “No.” Maya shook her head. “Last night is just one more example as to why I must go home.”

  Thomas furrowed his brow, not sure that he was following the logic in this conversation. “I dinna ken. I do no’ beat ye, I will always be faithful tae ye, I would never let another do harm tae ye, I would give ye anything do ye ask it. What more can I do, Maya?”

  She sighed. The fact that he highlighted her lack of beatings was a pointed reminder of the savage world she found herself in. “I don’t know how to make you understand, Thomas.”

  “Try, love.”

  Maya threaded her fingers through her hair as she began pacing in a circle. She came to an abrupt halt and faced him once more. “Where I come from, women are more important than they are here.”

  “Maya, ye know ye are important tae me, I –”

  She held up a palm. “That’s not what I mean, Thomas. I mean that in my clan women can do all that men can do.” She ignored his disbelieving grunt and continued. “There are women in my clan who are great healers, women who are great philosophers, and even women who are great warriors.”

  Maya had to grin at the incredulous expression on his face. “It’s true, Thomas. In fact, in my clan Lady Sara and myself are considered by all and sundry to be two of the most esteemed philosophers in the world.”

  Thomas scowled. “Even if this is so, what has this tae do with us?”

  Maya took a calming breath, determined that the last conversation she would ever have with him would not end in an argument. “Women who are great at something are used to giving orders, not taking them. We find extreme displeasure at being ordered about as if we were feeble minded idiots.”

  Ah, Thomas thought, at last he could see where this conversation was going.

  “Maya,” he began, certain that he would have this problem solved in the blink of an eye, “I will endeavor tae be more thoughtful of yer feelings in the future do ye wish it, yet do I no’ approve of ye spinning such wild tales in order tae impress the importance of yer feelings upon me. I am a reasonable mon. I…”

  That did it.

  “Reasonable? You call yourself reasonable? You humiliated me last night in front of half of the clan, you have forbade me to speak in my own tongue, you have ordered me about for days now as if I didn’t have a mind of my own…” Maya stomped her foot on the ground as her agitation overwhelmed her. “You call that reasonable?”

  “And further more,” she hissed when she saw that Thomas was about to speak, “I am not a liar. And I highly resent you calling me one!”

  It was Thomas’s turn to show his own agitation. His nostrils flared as he grabbed Maya by the arms and turned his black gaze down to her. “Ye do lie and well ye know it! Women are no’ warriors and philosophers, Maya. What kind of fool do ye think me?”

  Maya shrugged away from Thomas and strode from him. He stalked after her and whirled her around to face him. “I am not a liar! Where I come from, women are all of those things and more!”

  “Then I surrender, Lady Maya, fer I ha’ never heard of such a land as this! ‘Tis no’ of another country do ye speak but another world entirely!”

  “Exactly!” Maya shouted, “and I am going home to it!”

  A predatory urgency swept over Thomas as he hauled Maya closer to his body. Through set teeth he issued his warning. “Ye will never leave me, Maya. I will no’ allow it. If ye escape me, I will find ye. Dinna doubt it.”

  Maya laughed humorlessly as she pulled away from Thomas. “You would have a lengthy voyage indeed, trying to find me!”

  “Then so be it!” he roared as he clutched Maya’s shoulders and shook them. “Do I need tae sail the oceans tae find ye, I will do it! If it takes months I willna care! If it takes years, I willna care!”

  “Try seven hundred years!” Maya spat out before she was calm enough to think better of it. She sobered immediately, aware of the fact that she had said too much. If he had thought her a liar before, he would think her a madwoman now.

  “What are ye saying?” Thomas bellowed as he released Maya’s shoulders and forced her chin up to meet his gaze.

  Maya pushed away from him and took a deep breath. It was too late to turn back now. She might as well tell him all, let him leave her because he thinks she’s insane, then wait for the clouds to take her home. Her words were steady, her voice controlled. “I’m saying that it’s not just another land I am from, but another time as well. I am saying I am from the future, Thomas. I am saying that by forces I do not understand, Sara and myself were swept back seven hundred years into the past to bring us here, to your time. I am saying…”

  She took a calming breath and shook her head. “What does it matter what I say when you will not believe me anyway.”

  Thomas stared in silence at Maya for what felt to both of them to be an eternity. He didn’t dare believe the tale she was spinning, yet something deep inside of him told him she was, in fact, telling the truth. Or at least what she believed to be the truth.

  He thought about the strange clothing she had been wearing the day he found her on the hillside. He had never told Maya about it, but he had kept the garments and examined them after they were removed from her chamber. An odd mechanism he had never seen the likes of was used to open and close the garment. ‘Twas made of a thin metal and of parts too small to have been pounded out by a blacksmith.

  And then there was the odd shoes she sported – ‘twas as if they had been fitted perfectly to her feet. There was a shoe made for Maya’s left foot as well as her right, instead of a normal shoe that could fit either foot. And then there were those odd spikes that jutted outward at the bottoms. Nay, he had never seen the likes of them or the fine quality of them afore.

  And then, of course, there was the manner in which she had appeared on the hillside in the first. ‘Twas as if she had materialized from the winds. He could not put it to witchcraft for Maya was too kind to be the devil’s own kin. At least to anyone but him! “From what year?” he heard himself ask.

  Maya glanced up at him dumbfounded, as if she hadn’t expected him to give her even the slightest benefit of the doubt. “2001,” she heard herself whisper in reply.

  Thomas nodded. For some reason he couldn’t name, Maya being a philosopher from the future was easier to believe than Maya being a philosopher from his own time that happened to live in a distant land. “And in 2001, ye are a lea
rned woman?”

  Maya stared into his eyes, not certain as to whether or not he believed her and not certain as to whether or not she wanted him to. “Yes. Both Sara and myself are philosophers of sorts. We are teachers at a university. Our profession is called anthropology.” At his questioningly raised brow, she continued. “An anthropologist is a person of science who devotes their life to studying people who have been dead for hundreds, thousands, even millions of years.

  “It is rather difficult to explain, but basically what I do is dig into the earth, collect old bones, pottery, and jewels, and lecture at the university about what I have learned from them. When I learn enough, I write it down, it is made into a book, and all of the world learns from it.”

  Thomas said nothing, so Maya trooped onward. “At the time in my life when the black clouds came and Sara and I were swept up into them, we had been studying…well, you and your clan to be precise. Some scientists in Glasgow found papers that had been written by you and others written by scribes concerning you, your clan, your wife, your…”

  “My wife?” Thomas interrupted, as he put his hands on his hips and watched her.

  “Well yes,” Maya confirmed with a blush warming her cheeks. “The old documents, documents you have not yet written mind you, referred to her as Lady M. The papers said that when you first found her, you thought her to be cursed, to be a…” She coughed discreetly, “demon wench.”

  Thomas grunted as he folded his arms across his chest. He had thought Maya a demon wench when first he had seen her.

  She chuckled from the irony of it all. “What I find funny is that I spent two days reading everything I could find about this mysterious Lady M in the hopes of finding out what was meant by this demon wench business.” She waved an impatient hand at Thomas as she tried to explain. “Sara and I thought maybe the demon wenches were symbolic, you know, like how there will be words that mean something else in the poetry you read.”

  At Thomas’s nod of understanding, she continued. “I mean, I found it difficult to believe that this demon wench thing could be taken as the literal truth. Imagine my surprise when I’m at a celebration that requires the wearing of costumes and find myself moments later surrounded by men with raised swords shouting at me that I’m a demon wench.” She shook her head and sighed. “’It wasn’t pleasant, I assure you.”

  Thomas, however, was delighted with this turn of events. “But canna ye see, love? If what ye say is how it ‘twas or how it is tae be, then that means that ye were supposed tae come tae me. Ye are supposed tae be my wife.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Ye canna tempt the fates, Lady Maya.” He emphasized his conviction that he was right and she was wrong to flee from him with a jerked nod of his head.

  Maya grinned at him, amazed that he seemed to be taking her tale a hell of a lot better than she would have had the situation been reversed. She cocked her head and studied his features. Her coy grin was quickly replaced by a serious visage. “You really believe me, don’t you Thomas?”

  He was silent for a long moment while he debated with himself over what he believed. Finally he said, “Aye. The saints preserve me, but I do believe ye.”

  Amazed and humbled by the gift of trust Thomas had just given her, Maya flew into his arms and clung tightly to his chest. “I love you, Thomas. God how I love you! If I wasn’t certain before tonight, I know it now.”

  Shocked but pleased by her confession, he drew her chin up to look at him. His eyes searched hers. “The other night ye asked me fer a vow and I gave it tae ye willingly. Now I must ask one of ye.”

  “Yes?”

  “Dinna ever leave me, Maya. Vow it and vow it now.”

  Her eyes rounded. She knew that if she gave her word she would have to honor it. There would be no going back. After a long moment, she bit her lip and nodded in acquiescence. “I promise.”

  Thomas grunted something imperceptible as he picked Maya up and gathered her into his arms. He kissed her roughly on the mouth, his tongue sweeping between her parted lips to lay claim. Maya kissed him back with the powerful, primitive need that only Thomas could make her feel. “Dinna run from me again, love,” he rasped against her lips, “I canna bear it.”

  They kissed for endless moments, relishing the taste and feel of each other. When she could bear no more, Maya reached down between their bodies and rubbed her hand across the material covering his erection. At his intake of breath, she took the touch further by reaching underneath his plaid and drawing his hard manhood into her palm. She stroked his shaft firmly but gently in an up and down motion.

  Thomas sucked in his breath again as he lowered their bodies to the ground. “I need ye, Maya mine,” he muttered against her mouth. “I canna bear the thought of a life without ye in it.”

  Thomas continued to kiss her mouth and throat as he quickly fumbled with the ties of her gown to release her from it. Frustrated by an overpowering need to claim her, he reached for Maya’s dress and in one fell swoop, tore it from her breasts all the way to the waist.

  Maya gasped as the cold air hit her bosom, turning her nipples into the hardened points that Thomas loved to suck on. She dug her fingernails into his back and arched her body against his when he bent his head to claim a nipple. He secured a breast in each of his large hands then took turns sucking on each one as a guttural sound ripped from his throat.

  She forced Thomas’s mouth down on her breasts, wanting him to clamp down and suck even harder. Moaning, she threw her head back and enjoyed the feeling.

  Thomas groaned like a man possessed as he lifted Maya’s skirts to take her. He threw his plaid to the ground as he forced her legs apart with his knee. He spread her legs wide and nestled between them. “Ye are mine,” he murmured. “Now and forever. Ye are mine.” He looked into her eyes and surged inside of her with one powerful thrust.

  Maya gasped as tears stung her eyes. She knew he was made bigger than most men, but nothing could have prepared her for the thick cock that had invaded her body.

  Instinctively, Thomas grew still to give Maya time to adjust to his girth. He grabbed two handfuls of flaxen hair and looked possessively into her eyes. “Ye belong tae me now, Maya mine. I would kill a mon fer even darin’ tae look at ye longer than he should. Do ye ken?” His words were deep and forceful, his eyes glowing with black warning.

  Maya rubbed her hands across Thomas’s chest, stroking his nipples and playing with the dark hair that covered them. Her voice was sultry and seductive. “Yes. Now prove to me that you need me. Make love to me right now.”

  With a low growl he plunged into the depths of Maya’s body once more. She moaned in pleasure as she wrapped her legs around his hips and held on to him for a hard ride. Thomas pumped her tight flesh in long, violent thrusts, taking her to a plateau of ecstasy she hadn’t thought possible. His nostrils flared, his muscles corded and bunched, as he continued to stroke in and out of her. She writhed in his arms, arching into him as she surrendered to the fierce contractions of her orgasm.

  Thomas rode her body faster and faster, pumping his shaft into her sticky heat all the way down to the thick root, then out to the tip, over and over again until his body screamed for release. He gripped Maya’s hips and surged into her barbarically, pummeling her harder and deeper until he could endure no more. Throwing his head back, he shouted out her name as he poured himself into her womb.

  Perspiring despite the frigid night air, Thomas slumped his body over hers while he gathered his strength and steadied his breathing. He let himself bask in the sensuous feeling of having Maya’s caressing hands rub all over his backside. Never before had a woman robbed him of all of his control. Never before had a woman left him so sated after coupling that he didn’t think he had the strength to take her again should she desire it.

  Thomas rolled off of Maya and drew her into his arms, laying her head on his chest. He stroked her bottom as he thought about how scared he had felt at the thought of her leaving him to go back to a world he knew nothing of. On th
e morrow, he reminded himself, she would be his by law. A man can’t count on much where a woman as spirited as Maya is concerned, but he knew he could count on her wedding vows.

  Thomas sucked in his breath when she began to stroke his semi-flaccid flesh into unyielding hardness once more. He chuckled when he realized that he had been wrong on one score. He could get it up again.

  He rolled back on top of his lady and proved it to both of them.

  Chapter 15

  “I still can’t believe that you told him.” Sara paced the length of Maya’s bedchamber while Maya sat cross-legged on the bed and watched her.

  Maya had awoken this morning to the sound of Sara pounding on her door. Sara had been relieved to find her best friend alive and in one piece, as she had been certain that Thomas was going to beat her when he found her last evening.

  Sara had described the laird’s mood while waiting on his mount to be readied as “volatile”. Her dread over what had become of Maya was quickly replaced by the desire to throttle her herself.

  “What were you thinking? This cannot be a good development! What if he tells Dugald?”

  Maya shrugged. “If he does, we’ll deal with it, but I doubt he’ll say anything just yet. We talked about it a little on the ride home last night and, although he has some questions about the future, he agreed to set it aside until after the wedding.”

  Maya’s wedding was to take place in a few hours outside of the chapel on MacGregor lands. She had half expected to wake up a cluster of tattered nerves, but to her surprise and relief, she felt calm and sure of her decision to marry Thomas.

  Argyle had brought her up a tray of food not long after Sara had began pounding on her chamber door and as she flicked her eyes toward the assortment of breads, fruit, and cheeses sitting on the table nearest the bed, she realized she was painfully hungry.

  “So Sara,” Maya grinned as she picked up a piece of bread and tore it into two halves, “what did happen with Sir Dugald yesterday after I had my tantrum and stomped off?”