Kiltnapped [Kilt, Kilty, Kilted 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Cooper McKenzie

  At lunchtime, she and Fergus would join Ewan, Duncan, and whoever else was about for a meal. Then she and Ewan retired for a nap, during which they rarely slept, but did return to their duties refreshed and smiling. While he dealt with anything that had come up while they rested, Paisley would return to Fergus’s rooms for what she liked to call the afternoon clinic. Those who needed a healing, physically, mentally, spiritually would line up in the hall and wait to be seen.

  The first week, Paisley watched Fergus at work, asking questions and learning as much from this on-the-job training as she did from their morning sessions. The second week Fergus began quizzing her, and the third week, the old woman stepped back and allowed Paisley to take the lead. She only stepped in when Paisley asked for help. By the fourth week Paisley was growing more comfortable in the role as an herbal healer, consulting her notebook and Fergus less each day.

  After dinner in the great hall, Paisley spent the evening telling the children stories then writing them down in one notebook or other that appeared in her room whenever she needed a new one. Much like the new clothes, jeans, skirts, and warm wool sweaters that appeared in the closet in her favorite colors and sizes. She wore skirts more often than not, loving the glow Ewan’s eyes took on whenever he saw her. And like her Scotsman, she took to wearing nothing underneath to make it easier for Ewan to have his way with her, for which he seemed most grateful.

  Feeling content in a way she had never felt before, Paisley stopped worrying about the world beyond the Highland mountain crags that protected them. Instead of living on the computer as she had back home, checking her e-mail and social medial hourly when she was not at work, she now went days without even turning her tablet on.

  And then the first snow fell. With it, the outside world exploded into the quiet, idyllic life Paisley had come to love.

  Chapter 10

  Paisley was surprised when Fergus said, “I want ye ta take the day off and go enjoy the snow.”

  Though she had a feeling something was going on, she could not put her finger on what. Fergus looked healthy enough, so whatever was wrong was not about her. And she knew Ewan was fine. She had just left him. And no one had woken her up in the middle of the night last night, so those who lived in and around the keep were all right. But something was not right somewhere in her world.

  “If you’re sure, I think I’ll go out and take some pictures of the snow,” Paisley said.

  “Aye, ye do that,” Fergus said, her voice faraway as if she, too, knew something was off in the universe.

  Could it be the change in the weather? Or something else?

  Whatever it was, Paisley was not going to argue. After weeks of lessons and lectures and recitations of recipes that Fergus insisted she memorize and be able to work with without consulting her notes, Paisley was ready for a day off.

  Feeling like a child let out of school for a snow day, she went to the room she had claimed as her own next to Ewan’s suite. Ewan had said over breakfast that his morning schedule was full of meetings so she would be on her own.

  She quickly changed into jeans, low-heeled leather boots, and one of the warm sweaters that had begun to appear in her closet. Picking up her backpack, she slid her digital camera, her current writing notebook, several pens, and her computer tablet inside. Then she grabbed the new winter coat, hat, and mittens and headed out.

  Stopping in the kitchen, she took a bottle of water from the supply in the cupboard, along with several snacks, and packed them in her backpack as well. With a wave to the cook, who frowned back at her, Paisley let herself out the back door. Closing the door, she walked out into the snow and took a deep breath as her entire being seemed to laugh at the joy of being free for a day.

  This was the first time she had left the keep without Ewan by her side, and it felt strange walking past the barns and toward the path that led over the crag alone. But Ewan was busy and she wanted pictures of this first snow.

  Slinging the pack over one shoulder, she marched on. She wanted to take pictures of the cottage and ancient oak tree in the falling snow. She had taken pictures of them in every season and weather condition so far. Then, once she had pictures of the keep as well, she would post some so her friends could share in her joy of the first Scottish snow.

  * * * *

  By the time she hiked over the crag, took her pictures, and hiked back again, she was cold and wet, and could not wait to get inside beside a warm fire. Once she stopped shivering, she would go online and not only post pictures, but get caught up on her e-mails and other online work. Then maybe she would spend the rest of the day working on the story she had started shortly after her arrival at the keep. She was nearly done with it, and wanted to finish and submit it to her publisher as soon as possible.

  Entering the great hall, she was surprised to see Ewan, Collin, and several other men gathered in the center of the room and focused on Johnny, who looked like he wanted to run and hide. Tension was so high it crackled against her skin as everyone else hurried around the edges of the room in order to avoid the men and not call attention to themselves.

  Not sure if it was her place to interfere or not, Paisley crossed the room, hoping to ease the tension. Her skin went from feeling uncomfortable from the sparking to burning from the emotions by the time she reached the group.

  Johnny was the first to see her, and he looked way too relieved as he said, “Miss Paisley, yer here!”

  The other men stepped back and turned, until she was facing the whole half dozen men. No one looked happy, but at least the tension immediately dropped by half from everyone except Ewan.

  “Yes, I’m here. What’s going on?”

  “Where in the bloody hell have ye been?” Ewan demanded as he grabbed her shoulders and looked her up and down as if searching for a bomb or injury or some other thing that might be wrong with her. His brogue had grown so thick she could barely understand him.

  It took a few seconds to translate before she said. “Fergus gave me the day off so I hiked over the ridge and took pictures of the shepherd’s cottage and oak tree in the snow. Why? Has something happened?”

  The men muttered amongst themselves, something about women knowing their place and spanking as they looked expectantly at Ewan. He nodded then shifted his hold from two hands on her shoulders to one hand wrapped securely around her upper arm. “Come wit’ me,” he said between clenched teeth, sounding dangerous.

  “What’s going on? Ewan, stop and talk to me.”

  But he kept moving, taking long strides, which meant she had to quick step it to keep up. They crossed the hall, went up the stone staircase, and down the hall to his bedroom. Only after he had closed the door and thrown the deadbolt did he turn to face her.

  “Ye walked o’er the ridge ta take pictures of the cottage and tree?” he asked. His voice was too soft, too controlled, for Paisley’s comfort, and she took a step back.

  “Umm, yes?” she replied, still not seeing the problem. “I knew you were busy in meetings all morning, and after walking the path a dozen or more times, I know the way. What’s the problem?”

  Ewan closed the distance between them in three strides and pulled her into a bear hung that squeezed her tight. “The problem is that no one in this entire pile of rocks knew where ye had gotten off ta.”

  She patted his pack, hoping to calm him so he would release her. Instead, his hold grew even tighter. “Can’t breathe,” she managed to squeak out as her patting turned to hitting.

  Grayness began to close her vision down by the time he finally released her long, long seconds later. She took a long breath, then another, not able to fight him when he took her wrist and pulled her across the room.

  Once they were beside the bed, he quickly stripped off her clothes, not stopping until she was naked as the day she was born. Before she could form a question, he then sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her around and off balance so she ended with her ass in the air over his lap.

  “Ewan, what the, ow!” s
he screeched as his big hand came down hard on her left ass cheek followed a second later by a smack on her right one. “Stop! What are you doing?”

  She tried to escape, tried to wiggle out of his hold, but the arm across her back and the hand curled around her middle held her securely as the spanking continued.

  * * * *

  The wriggling, screaming woman had no idea of the hell he had been through in the last hour since her absence had been noticed. Sure, he had yet to find the words to tell her exactly how he felt about her, but she should understand by his actions over the past weeks. He had taken more time off in the last three months to spend with her than he had in the past five years.

  Finally the ice-cold fear that had encased his heart melted and drained away and he was able to stop spanking the woman. Instead, he smoothed his palm over the hot, red skin. By that point, Paisley had stopped fighting and lay across his lap, accepting her punishment as a woman in the wrong should.

  Sliding his fingers between her legs, he felt wetness on her inner thighs. So, she had liked her spanking, though he knew instinctively that she would never admit it.

  Suddenly his fear and anger fled like dust on a high wind and all he could think of was sliding his now hard, needy cock into her wet, welcoming pussy and teaching her another kind of lesson.

  Lifting her from his lap, he laid her over the side of the bed. She did not move, though she did watch over one naked shoulder as he stripped off his own clothes.

  “’Tis gonna be hard and fast,” he said as he dragged his cock up and down her centerline, her juices wetting the tip.

  In response, Paisley planted her forearms on the bed and used them to shove her entire body back, taking him to the base. They both gasped from the feel of thick cock filling to capacity a hot, wet pussy. Ewan spread his legs and planted his feet more firmly as he wrapped his hands around her full hips. Then he began to move, thrusting in and out like a stallion mounting a mare.

  Her moans and grunts and heavy breathing, as well as the fact that she rocked back to meet every stroke, told him she was as excited by this coupling as he was.

  “Damn, lass, I’m close,” he ground out.

  He slipped one hand around her hip before tracing down the crease between hip and thigh until he reached her engorged clit. Rubbing circles around it several times, he continued fucking his woman with fast, heavy strokes, which carried them both quickly to the edge of sexual sanity. When her pussy muscles began to clamp down, milking his cock even harder, he slid his finger overtop of the clit and pressed.

  She came with a scream as her body arched up from the bed. Two strokes more and he joined her, his roar blending with her cries in a way that opened his heart fully enough to admit, even if it was just to himself, that this woman was the one his soul had been waiting for since he was five years old and he had better do something about it pretty damn quick.

  After his body had finished pouring out his seed, but before it went limp as a wet sock from the release, Ewan managed to get them both fully onto the bed. He wrapped himself around her barely conscious body in order to keep her warm and protected.

  Nuzzling her shoulder, he kissed it and then said softly, “In the future, I’d be profoundly grateful if ye dinna leave the keep withou’ tellin’ someone yer destination.”

  “Mmmm, I’ll think about it,” she sighed.

  He had to smile as she fell asleep in his arms. He had a feeling she would do exactly what she wanted and that this might be the first time he punished her for misdeeds, but it would not be the last. They had both enjoyed it waaaaay too much.

  Though he would have preferred to stay and nap with his love, he did have work to do. Pulling himself away, he covered her with the tartan clan blanket lying over the rocking chair. After dressing, he returned and kissed her bare shoulder once more, which woke her. She rolled over and looked up at him through sleepy eyes before smiling.

  “Behave yerself,” he admonished, leaning down and kissing her again. “And leave a note if yer goin’ ta leave the keep.”

  “Aye, me laird,” she responded in a fairly respectable brogue. Anythin’ ye say.”

  “I’ll see ye at lunch then,” he said as forced himself to turn away and head to his office.

  * * * *

  Paisley lay in bed a few minutes longer before she crawled from the bed. After gathering her clothes and boots, she wrapped the blanket securely around herself then left Ewan’s room and headed down the hall to her own. Thankfully she made it without anyone catching sight of her.

  It would not do for anyone to catch the clan’s new healer wandering the keep in the altogether having just been tumbled by the clan’s second-in-command.

  Closing and locking the door, she quickly cleaned up and redressed in clean, dry clothes. Instead of boots, she pulled on socks and a pair of fuzzy red slippers that matched her sweater.

  Checking the time, she decided to spend the next hour working in her room instead of returning to the great hall. It was warmer here and she would be able to concentrate better without every other person who saw her stopping for a chat. She now understood why Fergus spent most of her time in her rooms at the end of the hall.

  Turning on her tablet, she began by loading the pictures she had taken with her camera. After sorting and deleting a few, she went online and added several to her webpages on all her social media profiles. Then she turned her attention to her e-mail.

  It had been nearly a week since she had cleared out her inbox and checked for messages, and with more than four hundred messages, she vowed to do better in the future. She deleted the junk and advertisements and everything that was not a message from someone she knew, either from family, friends, or business associates. Only then did she begin reading the messages and answering them.

  Her hour was nearly up when she reached one from her sister-in-law from just two hours earlier that shattered her peaceful world. After sending a quick response, she turned off the tablet and went straight to her closet. Pulling out the suitcase she had brought to Scotland with her, she began to pack.

  She was nearly done when Ewan’s familiar knock sounded at the door mere seconds before it swung open. “Ready for lunch, lass?” he asked as he stepped into the room. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m afraid lunch is going to have to wait. I need my plane ticket and a ride to the airport. I have to go home,” she said as she laid the bag of liquids on the top of the contents before zipping the suitcase closed.

  She knew she sounded as stiff and unemotional as a 1970s movie robot, but there was nothing she could do. She could not give in to her feelings. There was too much to do. She had to get home, back to her life where she could deal with this tragedy without falling apart and depending on anyone else. She had to get back to what she knew, where she was strong and independent and able to take bad news without wanting to throw herself into Ewan’s arms and beg him to take care of everything.

  “What’s happened? Is this because I punished ye? Lass, stop and talk ta me,” he said, grabbing her arm when she tried to get around him.

  Taking a deep breath, she looked at him, pulling the emotional veil tight as she could around her soul. “No, I’ve just got to go home. Back to America. My family needs me. Please,” she said. She looked into his eyes, hoping he could read the agony that filled her since she could not share the burden of knowledge with this man who had treated her so well all this time.

  Chapter 11

  Her misery screamed at him, and not just from her glassy, tear-filled eyes that she was holding in by sheer willpower. Whatever was going on with his beautiful healer, she was unwilling to share it even with him. And with winter setting in, and the business dealings he was in the middle of, he was unable to go with her at this time. It would take him at least a week or two to settle things so he could join her. So, all he could do was make things as easy as he could on her.

  Taking a deep breath, he pushed down his emotions so he was as businesslike as she was. “Verra
well, lass. I’ll call and get ye a flight. Once we ken when it is, Collin will take ye ta the airport. And I’ll see ta a return ticket as well.”

  “Don’t bother,” she said, “I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get away and come back.”

  Nodding, he turned away to keep her from seeing the tear that had just rolled from his left eye. “Verra well. Be sure and see Fergus before ye leave. I’ll send Collin to fetch ye when ’tis time ta leave.”

  With that, he brushed a kiss on her cheek before walking out and heading to his downstairs office, needing to be as far away from her as he could get as quickly as possible.

  * * * *

  Paisley watched him breeze out the door, holding her tongue until he was well and truly gone. “I love you, Ewan MacGregor of the clan MacGregor. When I come back, I hope you’ll agree to marry me.”

  But he did not hear her. Did not know she would give her entire being to stay, but her sister-in-law’s e-mail had changed everything. Her brother, Michael, had been in an accident and the doctors were not feeling optimistic as to his survival. Since he was her closest living relative, she needed to get to him, let him know that she had finally found her place in the world.

  Depending on his true condition, she would either release him, by giving him permission to cross the veil as Fergus so eloquently put it, or do what she can to help him fight his way back to wellness. Unfortunately, until she had her family, and what was left of her life in North Carolina sorted out, she could not commit herself to the man who held her heart.