The Taken Bride: A Medieval Romance

by McCormick, Kaley

  “You know that I have to get to town, son. You said that you’d be here 20 minutes ago.” I was getting a pretty good idea of how he was raised. She was opinionated, very caustic and had a strict eye for rules that made me believe that there was a lot of punishment and not a lot of love in that house. Unfortunately, when a young kid is dominated in that way, he becomes exactly like his parents, even if he’s not meaning to. Maybe I could soften him up a bit, but that remained to be seen.

  He got off the horse to lift the kicking and screaming Nancy onto his shoulder. I finally got a chance to see a little bit more of him. The duster was hiding a great physique and I could see that his shoulders were buff and there was probably not even an ounce of fat on this man.

  “Stop kicking me, Nancy and I don’t have time for this.” He didn’t even bother to kiss his mother on the cheek or say two words to her. He handed me Nancy and I held her in front of me with a firm grip on her hips to make her believe that she had to settle down. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt her, but it was supposed to get her attention and it did that.

  Once again, we were off and running and I knew that I was going to be sore the morning with the way that my body was bouncing up and down on this horse. I had ridden all my life, but not to this extreme degree or in a dress for that matter.

  “I hope that the two of you can get along for a little while without me. I do have a lot to do. When I do finish, I would like a nice home cooked meal on the table. You did say in your letter that you were proficient at cooking and cleaning. I do hope that wasn’t an exaggeration.” “It was not even close to an exaggeration. I could cook, maybe not like some others, but at least I could put something on the table.

  “Uncle Lucas…you’re not leaving me with her.” This was the first time that she said anything. Nancy did not like the idea of a stranger taking care of her and I suppose I could understand it from her point of view. “She’s not my mother and nobody will ever take the place of her. I don’t care if you are my uncle. Why can’t you understand that I just want to be left alone.” she did have a chip on her shoulder. She needed understanding and not somebody screaming at her 24 hours a day seven days a week.

  “I don’t think I said anything about wanting your permission, Nancy. If you hadn’t been such a brat, I probably wouldn’t have had to go down this road. I was hoping that you might be able to take care of yourself, but then you almost burned down my house. That was the final straw. I was also hoping that my mother might be able to take you in, but she said that her mothering days were over. She only wants to be your grandmother.”

  “Grandma stinks. She makes me do chores and stands over me while I do them.” At least this black haired handful was learning some manners. I touched her arm and I could see that she winced. I checked and saw that there was an imprint of small hands. I did not raise my daughter Laura like that and I wouldn’t do that to Nancy. Words were better than actions. Once they understood that you were the boss and that you only wanted the best for them, then they usually found a reason to behave.

  We got back to his place with the winding driveway leading up to this beautiful house that was made of almost all stone. “My father built this. He said that anything that was worth doing was worth doing well. I hope that he is looking down and giving me his seal of approval.” As far as I could tell, he was keeping up a place in fine fashion. I helped Nancy down from the horse, but she shrugged her shoulders away from me like she couldn’t be bothered. “I’ll be back in about 2 hours. It might be three, but it all depends on how fast I can rustle this cattle. I have to meet up with William. He’s my number one ranch hand and he’s probably already hard at work. He’ll be trying to do what I’m supposed to do. I hope that you can deal with her on your own, because I certainly couldn’t.”

  Lucas didn’t even get off the horse, before taking off with the reins slapping back and forth against the horse. I looked at Nancy and she had her hands folded across her chest defiantly. She was making it well known that she was showing her displeasure in any way that she could find.

  Chapter three

  “I hope that you’re changing, Nancy. I want all of us to sit down together, as a family when your uncle gets back. He needs to see that we are getting along.” Her attitude was irksome and there were moments there that I had to go outside and clear my head. “I would like to see you down here right now, Nancy.” I was in the process of cutting some fresh vegetables I’d found in the pantry. There was already a cut of beef and I was putting the finishing touches with some scallions and some baby carrots into the pot alongside the pot roast. It had been cooking for almost an hour and ½, but to me it was the aroma of the fresh spices that was taking me back to my childhood.

  “What smells so delicious?” That was the first nice thing that she had said to me all day. She walked in wearing the exact same summer dress. I’d told her to change, but there were battles that I could face down and there were battles that I could leave alone. This one was one that I was going to leave alone. “My mother never taught me how to cook. I was always around her in the kitchen, but she thought that I would hurt myself.” I think that she was looking for some kind of relationship, but she wasn’t sure how to come out and say it.

  “You can wash the potatoes. Scrub them really good. You can even help me baste the roast.” Her eyes lit up and I think this was the first time that anybody had included her in anything. She was only four years old, but she had an old soul that you could see in her eyes. Those baby blues were a dead giveaway that any mother would’ve been proud to have her as their child. She reminded me of Laura, but not in the way that you might think. I found her to be hard to deal with, but maybe I was the same way with my mother and father when I lost my entire family. I think that she was in denial or maybe she was trying to accept the fact that she would never see her parents again.

  I lifted her to the sink and helped her to wash the potatoes. “Maybe tomorrow, you can give me a hand with the laundry. We’ll take it out together in the morning. We’ll wash it in the washtub and then we’ll hang it to dry on the line. After we finish that, I’ll even take you for a picnic down by the river’s edge.” I was giving her sense of accomplishment, but also rewarding her for a job well done. It was the way that my mother raised me and it was the way that I raise Laura, until I lost her.

  I felt a moment there that I had forgot about them. It made me weep inside and even a couple of tears came from my eyes. I felt the tugging on my skirt and I looked down to see that Nancy was looking at me with great concern.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m just missing my family. I lost them in a fire. I still feel them with me all the time. It’s like they’re standing right here with me. I know that they’re watching and I hope that one day I will be a reunited with them.

  “I miss my mother and father. They’re in heaven now and I hope that they see your family and they are fast friends. I would really like to believe that they found a way to be together. I pray to them every night. Lucas doesn’t know and I really don’t want to tell him. He’s always mean. He’s always telling me what to do and never really sits down and talks to me.” I felt her pain and I knelt down on the floor to give her a hug.

  “Ahem.” We both turned at the same time to see Lucas in the doorway looking a little disheveled. His hair was an unruly mess and his clothes were covered in a fine sheen of dust that you could see billowing into the kitchen.

  “You go outside in cleanup.” He raised his hand to argue, but he finally just waved it dismissively, before going outside and taking off the duster. I took out pot roast boat and she helped me serve it with the medley of fresh vegetables and the potatoes that we had mashed down and added spices to complement the flavor.

  I went to the doorway to tell Lucas that supper was ready. I had my hand on the screen door and I looked outside to see that he was without his shirt on. He was smacking his clothes with a piece of wood to get the dust off. His shirt, he slapped repeatedly against the s
tump where he chopped wood. His muscular back in those tight blue jeans were not exactly leaving much to the imagination.

  I couldn’t stop staring at him, until finally I realized that he was looking at me from behind his shoulder. He was doing it subtly, but I sensed that he knew that I was watching him this entire time.

  “If you’re done out there, supper is ready.” He turned around, smiled with all his teeth showing. That was the first time since I met him that I actually saw him happy. “Nancy would really like you to lead us in a family prayer.” He was putting his shirt back on, buttoning it up slowly and I think he was purposely doing that to tease me.

  I knew that the ring on my finger was real, but until we actually stood in front of a priest saying our vows, I didn’t consider it official.

  I sat down at the table and Nancy was itching to eat the food. “Nancy, it’s not polite to start eating without the rest the family present. Surely, your mother and father taught you that.” She tried to sit still, but the aroma was getting to her. Finally, Lucas walked in and sat down with his hands folded. He gave a prayer for our daily bread. When he finished with the prerequisite Amen, I’d never seen a little girl with such an appetite.

  “Emma, I don’t know what you have done with her, but there’s a difference like night and day. Before, she would never eat anything, but now she looks like she hasn’t eaten in days. I have to admit, anything I fed her pales in comparison to this feast. I’m not much of a cook, but I tried my best to give her something good to eat.” I could think of something that was good to eat and I was wondering how I was going to get to see him naked.

  For the next hour, he went out and made sure that everything was secure around the property. I made sure that Nancy was in bed. She was, so exhausted from her day of meeting me and cooking that she fell fast asleep after saying her prayers. I heard her talk about my husband Jasper and Laura. In the same breath, she mentioned her own parents. I did hope that she was right and somehow they had found each other and were keeping each other company, until we arrived.

  My bedroom was down the hall and I was closing the bedroom door of Nancy’s, when I noticed something out of my peripheral vision. Lucas was completely naked with those chiseled good looks and sculpted body now on full display for my eager and hungry eyes. I hadn’t been with anybody in over a month and it was getting tiresome using my own fingers to satisfy that carnal itch.

  It was a good thing that I was obscured by the shadow of the hallway. I could stand there in the darkness and watch him, as he started to do two handed pushups on the floor. I could see his cock dangling underneath him. It wasn’t even hard yet and still it had to be 6 inches. He moved right into sit-ups, forcing his body up to his knees and then back down again. I put my finger in my mouth and sucked on the tip, wondering what else I could suck on that might be more appealing.

  Each time that he bought his body up, I could see that manual labor was not necessarily the only thing that made his body a work of art. I think he enjoyed putting his body to the test. Maybe he just wanted to look good for the ladies. Either way, it was a benefit in my direction. I could stand there and watch and he would have no idea that I was right there ogling him like a piece of meat.

  He stopped momentarily, lying there flat on the floor and breathing heavily. I thought maybe he was having some sort of attack, but apparently he was just getting a second wind. He got up and put his hand on the overhead part of the door. He put his hands up onto the door, leaving him completely out there for me to see. He began to lift himself up and down with his cock now rising, almost like it knew that I was near.

  “You don’t have to stay hidden, Emma. If you want to see, then all you have to do is walk out here and look.” I looked towards Nancy’s door, but it was closed and there was no way that she could hear anything that was going on outside in the hallway. I took a deep breath, sighed with anticipation and then I walked out to see his smiling face.

  He did not stop doing his exercises and his member did bring new meaning to having piece of wood. I saw it and I wondered if I could fit it into my mouth. Each time that he went up, his feet were dangling in the air. All I would have to do is bend over slightly and I would be able to take a taste of a man that I barely knew. I think it was that feeling of being strangers and not strangers at the same time that was making me all that much more eager to find out what he was like in bed.

  “I don’t know what kind of girl you take me for, Lucas.” I was going to tell him that I would never do anything with him, unless we were officially married. I think he would have understood, but that temptation was standing right in front of me.

  “I would never presume to tell you what to do, Emma. I’m just saying that if you wanted to relieve yourself of some of today’s frustration, I am right here to help you.” That was very nice of him to say, but I understood the hidden meaning behind his words. He wanted my body and I think I knew that from the moment that I saw him getting off the boat. He may have not realized he was doing it or maybe he thought that he was being coy. Either way, I knew that he was looking at me in a not so platonic way.

  “Lucas, I wasn’t brought to your country to be your little english muffin. I was brought here to be a proper lady and to treat you like a man.” He was pointing with his eyes and I couldn’t stop from looking at the appendage that was now pointing towards the ceiling. The plum sized knob was something that I had been missing. I didn’t know how much, until I was standing right here and looking at his large equipment.

  “You do whatever you feel comfortable doing, Emma. I just think that we could help each other. You can relief me and I can do the same thing for you. It doesn’t have to be anything more than just a physical release.” Anonymous sex was never something that I was interested in, at least not until right now.

  “I’m still not sure that it’s appropriate under the circumstances.” He landed heavily on the balls of his feet, walked with insistence and grabbed my hand. He pulled me into the bedroom before I even had a chance to say anything more. He closed the door and now he was leaning against it, like he was protecting his castle and not allowing his queen to find a way out. “I think that you need this more than you can ever say, Emma. You may not want to admit it, but deep down this last month has been killing you. You may have been grieving for your family, but there are needs that have yet to be fulfilled.” He walked towards me and I didn’t try to defend myself or try to put up any kind of a fight.

  “Lucas, you better be right that I need this. If not, then you might be barking up the wrong tree. I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

  Chapter four

  I stood there shaking like a leaf and quite nervous about the prospect of being with this man. He circled me like I was some sort of prey. He put his hand on my shoulders and moved my hair out of the way to kiss the nape of my neck. I felt that fire down below beginning to ignite. It didn’t take much more than the touch of his tongue against my skin to raise the temperature in the room a few degrees.

  “I love way that you were with Nancy. It shows me that you are good mother. I’m glad that I chose right. I never expected anything like this, but I’m not exactly going to shy away from it either. We could talk and get to know each other, but I believe that all talking that needs to be done is with our bodies. I’m not saying that I didn’t notice how beautiful and sexy you are, Emma. I just didn’t think that I had much of a chance with a woman like you. I might be rich and to be honest, I’m not sure what I’m really worth. I believe it might be in the billions. As you know, I won five more properties.” I really didn’t know why he was telling me this. It really didn’t make much of a difference how much money he had.

  “Lucas, I’m not the type of girl that gets caught up in material worth. My husband was quite wealthy, but it wasn’t the money that made us a family. Of course, it helped to live a certain lifestyle. I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t like the finer things in life. We really didn’t have many worries. My husband w
as a land baron like you. Unfortunately, being a woman, I didn’t have the same rights to his land than a man would. It’s not fair and I lost everything.” I was trying to find a way out of this and save face at the same time. I was feeling like I was betraying his memory.

  I sat on the bed and he went behind me and started massaging my shoulders. “I understand that this is a very painful time for you. You need to let it go, or it’s going to drag you down and keep you there.” The feel of his fingers kneading my muscles and then moving the straps of my dress to the side was enough to make me flush noticeably. I’d turned a crimson red not only in my cheeks, but along my chest.

  “I know that I have to get on with my life. It’s just hard knowing that I will never see them again. They’ll always have a spot in my heart, but I figure it might be time to finally let myself feel again.” He was licking my neck and it was a sensation that I hadn’t felt before. He blew warm air and sent shivers up and down my spine in a pleasant way. It wasn’t lost on me that he was still naked and there was something quite pronounced poking me in my back.

  The dress slipped further down over my shoulders, revealing my alabaster skin and then the swell of my bosom. He easily undid the tie on my bun. It flowed freely over my shoulders, my chestnut hair now smelling like lilacs. I did hear him sniffing and then felt the jerky motion of his cock in behind me.

  “I just don’t know if I should…do this.” Having him around and watching him get in touch with his softer side with Nancy was enough to make me see him as a viable suitor. He kissed my shoulder blades and I felt vulnerable and exposed, as he moved that dress down, until I was only wearing the black corset. He got up and went around to the other side of the bed in front of me. His cock was right there, not more than a couple of inches away from my mouth. I licked my lips and waited for the inevitable, but then he surprised me with a gesture that went beyond anything that I could ever hope for.