Taken by a Highland Raider

by Susan Bella Ikin

  The laughter died as I saw Mary standing there, the small fire already burning in the hearth illuminating her from behind. Tendrils of hair that had escaped were lit from behind, making it look as if a halo were shining around her head. I slowly walked towards her, and leaned my head down to hers, gently running my lips across her soft lips. I drew back, running my thumb across her lower lip.

  “Mary, ye are so beautiful. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone so beautiful in my life. Ye look lovely in that dress, but I have to admit, I would rather ye be out of it”.

  Mary took a step back from me, and without breaking eye contact, unfastened her kirtle and let it pool around her feet. Her legs looked creamy and smooth, and I itched to touch them, but instead watched her hands as she pulled at the fastenings to her tunic, then pulled it over her head. Soon her chemise followed, and then she stood before me, without a stitch of clothing on, but with her glorious hair still bound. I stepped forward and tried to work out how the arrangement was done, then saw a collection of pins, so began gently tugging them from her head, letting them drop to the floor, together with the flowers. Soon, although not as soon as I would have liked, her glorious hair was tumbling down her back, and I finger combed it, smoothing it out as much as I could. The whole time, Mary had not spoken, and watched me, her eyes large.

  I took a step back and unfastened my tunic, tugging it and my undershirt over my head together and letting them fall. Mary’s eyes dropped to my chest, then lower as my hands went to my hose to remove them. When I stood before her naked, I could feel my already hard shaft harden even more as Mary looked at it. When she looked into my eyes again, I could see some nervousness there, and cursed myself for hurting her the first time. I stepped forward, and leaned down to place my hands under her bottom, that delightful bottom that had so taunted me on the ride home from England. I lifted her up so that her face was level with mine, and kissed her gently and thoroughly. After paying thorough attention to her mouth, I kissed her neck, her face, her ears, everywhere I could reach, then turned to the bed, placing her down gently and turning her to her side, lying alongside her and continuing to kiss her. I ran my hand down her back, cupping her bottom and running my hand further down her leg, grasping her leg and placing it over my hip. I lightly traced down the back of Mary’s thigh, feeling her indrawn breath and returning to her mouth to kiss her again, while my hand traced back up her thigh and I reached around from behind to touch Mary’s sex. She squirmed, and I gentled her, before my fingers ran along her cleft, discovering that Mary was already wet with wanting. Smiling into her mouth, I worked two fingers into Mary, slowly stroking her and enjoying her breath coming in little pants in my mouth. I could not get the access I wanted, so I nudged Mary onto her back, letting her leg fall back, but bringing my hand around to the front to nudge Mary’s legs wide so that my hand could get greater access to her. I dipped my fingers in, able to work them in deeper this time, and pressuring her with my thumb just on the nub where I knew she liked it. Mary groaned and began to writhe under my hand, so I continued stroking her, finding a spot that seemed to make her groan even louder. Mary fell back against the pillow, grabbing at my shoulders with her hands. I looked at her with a huge smile on my face. Her hair was almost as I had pictured it, splayed out across the bed, however as she tossed her head from side to side, she was causing it to tangle. I knew that tomorrow it would be a terrible mess, and that I would have to help her comb it out, but I was gaining an amazing amount of pleasure by seeing Mary’s abandon. This woman was so responsive to my touch, it gave me pleasure knowing that I was causing her to lose control so easily. Mary arched her back, exclaiming in surprise, and I felt her inner muscles massaging my fingers as she climaxed. I closed my eyes in pleasure, imagining how this would feel when my shaft was buried inside her. As she came down from her climax, I kissed her again, slowly stroking her and then withdrawing my fingers before positioning myself over her. I felt her tense up, and her thighs clamp tightly against my hips as my tip nudged at her entrance, and kissed her again.

  “Relax Mary, we will take this much slower than last time, but if ye are tense it will be difficult to get inside ye”.

  Mary looked at me with her big trusting eyes, then her arms came up to my shoulders and she let her legs fall wide and made a visible effort to relax. I smiled and wiggled my hips, reaching my hand down to massage her again where I knew she enjoyed it. A little moan was my reward and I slowly eased my way inside Mary. I closed my eyes in pleasure, she was so tight I could feel every little part of myself being squeezed by her, and it took all my self control not to move until I could feel her relax and adjust. When I thought she was ready, I slowly started to withdraw, not missing the look of panic appearing on her face, which disappeared when I thrust into her again. Mary’s eyes half closed as I slowly repeated the process, withdrawing almost all the way before thrusting back in. My own eyes almost completely closed as well, as I was lost in the pleasure of making love to Mary, but I wanted to see her beautiful face so kept them partly open as I set a rhythm that soon had the both of us moaning and gasping. I kept up the pressure with my hand, wanting Mary to climax again, this time with me inside, and was soon rewarded by feeling her inner muscles squeeze me to the point where I almost lost control. Almost, but not quite. Just as I felt my own climax was about to break over me, I withdrew and spilled my seed onto the bed, shuddering until I was done.

  When I looked at Mary again, she looked satisfied, but confused, and hurt.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked me sadly. “I wanted to feel all of you, I wanted to feel you have your climax while you were still inside”.

  “If I do that, I will get ye with child Mary, and I’m not ready for that. Can we just enjoy each other for a while before we worry about having children?”

  Mary nodded at me, but I could see that she still had reservations. I still had my worries about child birthing, and she knew it.

  Mary.

  I really enjoyed married life. Most of it anyway. Liam and I had been married for two months and I experienced more pleasure in our marriage bed than I had ever believed possible. I knew that Liam and I had something special, we only had to touch each other and we were racing off to our chamber, causing more than a few raised eyebrows in the keep by our antics. It was more than just the physical pleasure of the coupling, I loved laying in Liam’s strong arms afterwards, listening to his heartbeat, and knowing that I loved him. I was quite sure that he loved me too, but the one thing that disturbed me was that he refused to give me his seed. I knew he still had concerns about my safety, but no matter how many times I tried to assure him that there was no reason to think that I would not be at any more risk than any other woman, he would not take the risk. We had almost argued on the issue a few times, but somehow arguments always turned into passionate love making sessions. I even tried to be devious and to drive him to the point of losing control, but he never did. I learned that there were different positions for making love, and particularly liked the one where Liam lay flat on the bed and I sat on top of him, and even hoped that maybe I would be able to stay on top when Liam climaxed, but my weight was nothing to his strong arms, and he even managed to lift me off just enough that I could feel his seed spurt up my back instead of where I wanted it to be.

  I know that Patrice watched me, she had been secretly hoping that Edmund might have been the reason for me being barren, but as time passed and there was no news of a grandchild, I could see the disappointment in her face. I could not tell her why there would not be a grandchild, what Liam and I did in our chamber was too private to discuss with anyone, especially his mother.

  One day, news came of a neighbouring family invading the outlying lands and stealing cattle. Liam, Donald, and several of the warriors rode out to deal with the problem, taking Ian with them as he was now old enough to wield a sword, and had trained for this. Stewart was angry that he could not go, but was mollified by being told that if he continued his training, he wou
ld soon be old enough, and that he could remain as a guard with the other men left behind to guard the keep and those who remained.

  Life continued for the time that the men were gone, and I realised how much I missed hearing the clanging of swords at daily practice. There was still some practice going on, but it was mostly old men and young boys, so the sounds of steel striking steel were not as loud or definite.

  I spent time with Bridget, and even helped with the birth of a babe. Kathryn had a long but uneventful labour, and was delivered of a healthy baby boy, who demonstrated his amazing lung power soon after he was born. As Bridget tended to the new mother, I held the baby in my arms, tears running down my face. Unless something happened to change Liam’s mind, I would never get to hold a child of my own.

  That night I cried myself to sleep. My first marriage had been a sham, and although I had been denied the sexual intimacy of a husband, at least I had two good friends in Edmund and D’arcy. My second marriage was at least one in which I found sexual satisfaction, but I was not as close to anyone as I had been to Edmund and D’arcy, and I still felt unfulfilled. I wanted a baby, one as lusty and brawny as his father was, and I didn’t know how to convince Liam that this was a chance worth taking.

  During the night, there was a hue and cry at the gate, the men had returned. I threw on some clothing and rushed downstairs, and as I did, I heard Patrice sobbing. My heart in my throat, I almost fell down the last few stairs, and my hands flew to my mouth as I saw Ian being carried in by Liam, his clothing covered in blood. I raced over to see what I could do until Bridget could be summoned. Ian was laid on the long table, and I quickly looked over Liam before turning to Ian, taking a knife from someone and gently cutting away his clothing. Patrice was being consoled by Liam senior, and Liam and Donald were standing beside each other, both with pale faces. Someone brought some hot water from the kitchen, and I cleaned the wound, dipping the knife in the water and using it to tease the edges of the wound aside for a closer look.

  “It doesn’t look deep, I don’t think there is damage inside, but he has lost a lot of blood. How long ago was this done?” I looked at Liam.

  “Yesterday. We tried to keep it as clean as possible, but there was a lot of dust on the road”.

  Just then Bridget came in, and she confirmed what I had said. She placed a poultice on the wound and began to prepare for stitching. Ian started to regain consciousness, and was given a couple of drops of whiskey to calm his nerves.

  “Not too much”, said Bridget as she prepared her needle, “it will cool his blood too much, and he has already lost a lot. Just enough to dull the pain, and I will need strong people to hold him still, for this will hurt, but it must be done”.

  Liam, Donald and some of the men held Ian by the arms and legs, and I found some cloth for him to bite on while Bridget stitched him. Ian refused to make a sound, although it must have hurt terribly, and the sweat poured off his face until Bridget was done.

  Once the wound was cleaned and stitched, Ian was carried up to his room by Donald, with Patrice and Liam senior following to care for their son. Stewart, who had been woken by all the noise, trailed beside them. I was finally alone with Liam, even though there were other people there, he no longer had the worry of his brother to distract him.

  “Are you wounded at all, or is that all Ian’s blood?” I asked, indicating his tunic.

  “No, I am unharmed. The fool boy mistook posturing for a real threat and ran towards another man just as young as him. I could not bear it if Mother lost him as well, it was hard enough when Robert died of a sickness when he was a boy. He was the child in between Donald and Ian, that is why there is such a big gap in age between Donald and Ian”.

  I moved towards Liam and put my arms around him, putting my head on his chest.

  “Let’s get you upstairs and out of those bloody clothes. I’m just so happy you weren’t hurt”.

  As we walked up the stairs, Liam seemed distant, he appeared very tired and I worried that his mind was still with his brother.

  “Do you want to check in on Ian?” I asked, “Then you might be able to get some sleep, if you aren’t worried any more”.

  We entered our room, and as I turned to bolt the door, I heard Liam speak behind me.

  “No, there are enough people with him now. I’m glad ye were here to look after him until Bridget could take over. I knew everything would be alright if we could just get home to ye”.

  I turned at the rough sound in his voice to find that Liam had moved right up behind me. I started helping him off with his soiled clothing, but Liam pushed my hands aside and pulled his clothes off, dropping them on the floor, not breaking eye contact with me.

  “I missed ye so much, wife. When Ian started his foolishness, I was worried not only that he might die, but that we could all be pulled into a battle, and that I might never get to see ye again, and I just kept thinking of ye the whole time we were making our way home. Then I see ye, and ye were so calm and confident that ye could help Ian. I can’t forget how lucky I was to find ye that day in the field and how much better life is with ye around”.

  I smiled and moved towards Liam, intending to kiss him gently. I had missed him greatly, but he seemed so tired and distraught, that I hoped to convince him to get some sleep, we could make love in the morning once he was rested. But as soon as our lips touched, it seemed to enflame us both, Liam more so than usual.

  Liam slanted his mouth over mine and deepened the kiss, and his hands moved down my back to cradle my bottom, and before I could react, he had pushed up my nightrail and was cupping my naked buttocks. That familiar heat began between my legs, but before I could wiggle out of my nightrail, I found myself lifted into the air and moved backwards, then my back was pressed into the cold stone wall and Liam lowered me down onto his shaft without even taking off my nightrail and began thrusting into me, hard and fast. I was shocked by the speed and intensity of our coupling, but I found that in this position, as Liam withdrew, my body nestled down onto the base of his shaft, and then when he thrust into me again, the length of his shaft rubbed against my nub, causing me to throw my head back as the sensations I was feeling had me spiralling out of control far more quickly than I would have expected. As my body spasmed in pleasure, I felt Liam push into me as he grunted, and he trembled as he drove himself in as far as he could. My eyes opened wide as I felt something warm gushing into me as Liam slowly stilled, trembling all over and resting his head on my shoulder.

  Without saying a word, Liam spun us around and walked towards the bed, even while he was still inside me, and I began feeling that familiar lustful feeling again, as I bounced on his body with each step, I could feel him stiffening inside me, and I resolved not to let go. Liam gently lowered me to the bed, with me hanging on to him for dear life, my legs wrapped around his waist. Once I was lying on my back, Liam pushed my nightrail up so that my breasts were exposed, and pushed it over my head. I tried to wriggle my arms out of it, but I was still laying on it and managed to tangle myself up in it.

  “Help me out of this Liam, I can’t get my arms out”.

  Liam laughed softly, which caused the most amazing sensations in me, as our bodies were still joined. His weight shifted a little as he tried to free my arms, and then his head lowered to mine, one of his hands still holding my wrists where he had been trying to free me.

  “No, I think maybe this once we will leave yer hands where they are. Ye touch me and drive me out of my mind with lust, which I love, but also regret as I finish sooner than I would like. Since ye have managed to tangle yerself up so ye can’t use yer hands, I must just take advantage of ye like this”.

  Liam then smothered my outraged gasp with a kiss as he began thrusting inside me, holding both of my hands above my head with one of his big strong hands, and using the other to support his weight so he didn’t crush me. I squirmed a little at first, not liking the feeling of being powerless, but then gave myself over to the pleasure I was feeling. This was Lia
m and I would always be safe with him. Unlike our earlier coupling which had been frenzied and brief, Liam moved slowly and gently, kissing me and whispering sweet nothings in my ear as we made love to each other. The connection I felt with him on that night was so deep that I almost cried as I climaxed, and a few tears escaped me as Liam shuddered into me again, thrusting deep as he reached his climax and groaning as he emptied himself into me.

  When Liam rolled off me and gathered me to his side, we managed to remove my nightrail so that I could finally move freely and press my naked skin against his. I squirmed a little as I felt Liam’s seed trickle out between my legs. As much as I had enjoyed the feeling of him climaxing while inside me, I was not used to this aspect of the aftermath. I yawned deeply and snuggled into Liam, soon drifting off into an exhausted sleep.

  It seemed to be only a few brief moments later, although in reality it was a couple of hours, when I felt Liam stirring, and I came to wakefulness, smiling at him brightly. The smile faded from my face as I saw the expression on his. He looked devastated.

  Liam.

  What had I done? I had been so overwhelmed last night with relief at reaching home with Ian still alive, so tired from our breakneck journey to get home, and so relieved to find Mary safe and well, that I had taken her against the wall with thought for nothing but my own need for her. To make matters worse, I had not withdrawn before spilling myself, and had then taken her to bed in an attempt to make up for my earlier boorish behaviour, but had again been so lost in my own pleasure that I had not taken care for her safety.

  How could I have been so careless? Even worse, how would I ever do things differently now that I had experienced the pleasure of seeing her face as I came? I hadn’t realised that she derived any pleasure from the final moments of our lovemaking, but it had been clear last night that she did, and I wanted to do it again, but could not. Cursing myself for being a coward, I leapt out of bed and began to pull on clean clothing.