Highland Avenger

by Hannah Howell

  Arianna decided that she could lie there all night staring at the ceiling, her mind empty of any clear yet subtle hint of willingness she could give Brian, or she could act. A timid part of her whispered a third choice, that she could just forget the whole thing. Arianna ignored that timid side of herself, rolled onto her side and came face-to-face with Brian. She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she had never felt him turn toward her.

  “I have been thinking about what ye said, ye ken, that last time we kissed and I, weel ...”

  “Ran away?” Brian fought down the eagerness he could feel building inside, the anticipation that had his body already taut with need.

  “Weel, aye.” Arianna reached out to stroke the broad, smooth chest she could not stop admiring. The way his skin felt beneath her hand sent a shiver of delight through her.

  “I remember it all verra weel. Have ye decided ye will now cast off the chains Claud wrapped ye up in?” In his head, Brian was close to begging that that was so.

  “Aye, but ...”

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Nay, dinnae say but. Dinnae torment a poor mon, love. Aye or nay.”

  “Aye, but when we are done, if I do it all wrong or verra badly, can ye just politely tell me what I did wrong and how I might improve?” She knew any criticism, any cold words from him, would crush her.

  “’Tis clear there are a few chains left to shake off. Love, ye may lack a skill or two yet but I doubt ye can do this badly. I have tasted the passion ye have inside. Ye just have to set it free.”

  Before she could argue that and tell him that it could not be that easy, he kissed her. Arianna sank into his arms without hesitation. The fact that she loved his kisses, reveled in the heat of them, was one reason she now dared to go further than kisses. She stroked his broad shoulders and back and beneath her hands the heat of his skin sank into her, warming her blood. By the time he broke off the kiss, she was so swept up in the desire racing through her that it took her a moment to be aware of the fact that he was yanking her shift off her.

  “Ye wish me to be naked?” she asked, and wondered if she had truly just heard him call Claud a horse’s arse. “Are ye certain I should be naked?”

  “Aye, I want ye naked and I want me naked. I want us skin to skin. I want to feel your soft heat touching me everywhere it can touch me.”

  “Oh.”

  She was flushed with an odd mixture of embarrassment and anticipation. He tossed aside her shift and slowly pulled her into his arms. Fear crept in when he stared at her naked body and she fought it, seeing no condemnation in his gaze. She dared not trust her own judgment in thinking he looked hungry for her, even approving what he saw, but the lack of cold dislike in his gaze was enough to ease the fear that was trying to chill the warmth of her desire.

  When their flesh touched, she shuddered from the pleasure of it. He was hard muscle covered with surprisingly soft skin. Arianna wanted to rub herself all over him.

  “Oh,” she whispered again. “Oh, my.”

  He laughed against her throat but his amusement rapidly faded beneath a pounding urge to taste, to touch, and to possess. Brian fought to control the need tearing at him. Arianna needed more than some frantic coupling. She might not be a virgin but she was wounded in heart and mind. He had to make absolutely certain that her desire was stirred into a greedy fever and that she was fully aware of the fact that he burned as she did. Even though he doubted his skill at such things, he also knew that he had to give her a lot of flattering words, praise for her beauty, and her passion. Claud had given her nothing but insult and humiliation, and Brian was determined to keep the man’s cursed ghost from sharing this bed with them.

  Arianna could not catch her breath. She was panting like a hard-run hunting dog. Beneath Brian’s caresses her flesh burned. When he stroked the aching tip of her breasts with his tongue, she barely stopped herself from screeching in shock at the pure heat it sent through her body. She did not have to urge him to do it again, which was good, for she was unable to speak coherently. Instead she wove her fingers through his soft, thick hair and held him close as he licked, nipped, and suckled her breasts until she thought she would go mad from the pleasure it brought her. He kept telling her how good she tasted, how soft her skin was, how much he wanted her, and even how beautiful her breasts were, his words stirring her as much as his touch. The almost constant sound of his deep voice held her entranced and, even though she doubted the truth of his flattery, it pleased her.

  The tension of what she now recognized as her need for him curled hot and tight in her belly. When Brian slid his hand between her thighs she fleetingly stiffened, uncertain about the intimate caress she had never experienced before. He said nothing about the reddish curls sheltering her womanhood, only murmured compliments about the heat she was gifting him with. The way he stroked her, dipping his finger in and out of her in imitation of what he would soon do with the hard length he rubbed against her thigh, had her arching into his touch. And still she wanted, needed, more.

  It was not until he began to join their bodies that a little of passion’s haze began to clear from her mind. With Claud this was what had been the most tedious and embarrassing part and the one that had then become painful. She had barely begun to go rigid, bracing herself for the stinging pain, when Brian was inside her. Arianna blinked in surprise, holding very still until she was certain that there had been no pain and would be no pain.

  When he rose up on his forearms and touched his lips to hers, Arianna flung her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the passion swirling inside her, and a touch of gratitude. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, stroking her with his tongue in the same rhythm he used to move his body in and out of hers. She was filled with him, stretched further to hold him than she had ever been with Claud, yet there was still no pain. He tugged her legs around his waist and she gasped in delight as he plunged even deeper within her.

  She could hear herself making soft noises as he moved within her, rubbing against her where their bodies were joined in away that increased the pleasure he was giving her. The knot low in her belly grew tighter and tighter with each thrust of his body until it was nearly painful. She was just beginning to wonder if she could ever make love without pain when that knot snapped, filling her veins, her heart, even her mind with the purest bliss. Arianna was faintly aware that she called out his name. A heartbeat later, he thrust deeply, held fast there inside her, and his body shuddered as he spilled his seed.

  Though weak, in a way she thoroughly enjoyed, Arianna held him close and savored the lingering flush of pleasure. She liked the damp warmth of his breath against the curve of her neck, liked the damp touch of sweat coating his broad back, and especially liked the faint trembling that afflicted him for several moments after he collapsed in her arms. With Claud she had been glad when he had abruptly left her arms, but she wanted to cling to Brian, wanted to hold him deep inside her for as long as possible.

  This was what the women in her clan had sighed over, had tried to get her to understand. This was passion, that deep, wild hunger that her husband had never given her. Even better, this was a passion that was shared. She suspected she was not completely free of her doubts that she could please a man, but for right now she was certain that the man in her arms had been pleasured most thoroughly. The cure for the wounds Claud had given her was probably not complete but she did not care for she was certain that the healing had begun. If she was not so tired she could not even keep her eyes open to appreciate the beauty of the man sprawled in her arms, she would have gotten up to dance around the room.

  “I did weel, aye?” she whispered as she allowed exhaustion to finally claim her.

  Brian slipped from her lax hold and dragged himself out of bed to fetch a damp cloth. Once he had cleaned them both off, he crawled back into bed and pulled her into his arms. He took a moment to enjoy the sight of her naked body from the fullness of her rose-tipped breasts to the gentle curve of h
er waist. He especially liked the lean strength of her legs. Even more so when they were wrapped around him, that strength used to hold him close while he buried himself deep within her wet heat.

  It was hard to understand how a woman like her could think herself unable to please any man she chose to gift with her favors. Her passion ran hot and wild once she stopped running from it. Claud had tried to kill that sweet heat, left it unsatisfied and then denigrated her. If the man were not already dead, Brian would have been willing to go to France to kill him.

  He touched a kiss to the top of her head and smiled against her silken hair. “Och, aye, love. Ye did weel. Verra weel indeed,” he murmured before allowing himself to follow her into sleep.

  Chapter 7

  Arianna woke to soft, warm lips upon her cheek and a big calloused hand stroking her breast. For a moment, she thought herself back in her marriage bed but then the last dregs of sleep released her mind. Claud had never been affectionate like this. Her eyes widened as she abruptly recalled everything that had happened before she had fallen asleep.

  She was curled up in bed with Sir Brian MacFingal, naked and wrapped in his arms. She had taken a lover. She had taken a big, strong, handsome lover many women would envy her for. She had also enjoyed every minute of it. That still astonished her as much as it pleased her right down to her toes. Claud had been very wrong. She was not cold.

  Even as she began to smile, fear crept in, rapidly dimming her pleasure. Arianna could not deny that she had finally tasted that pleasure her kinswomen all talked about, but had Sir Brian really experienced the same pleasure? She had felt him spill his seed inside her but Claud had done the same. When she had foolishly given her opinion that that showed he had found pleasure with her, he had laughed. Claud had then told her that a man could rut with a hole in the ground, which he had said was a good thing for she was not much livelier. Had she misjudged the depth of the pleasure Brian had experienced?

  When those soft, warm lips touched the corner of her mouth, she recalled something else Claud had often said. She had once attempted to kiss him in the morning upon awakening and he had roughly pushed her away, claiming that in the morning she had breath akin to the bottom of a garderobe shaft. Arianna clapped a hand over her mouth and pulled away from Brian.

  Brian tensed and looked at Arianna where she now balanced precariously on the far edge of the bed. His annoyance over what had appeared to be a rejection despite all they had shared before falling asleep turned to confusion as he studied her. She did not look as if she now regretted what they had shared, nor did she look angry. She looked nervous and just a little afraid, rather like someone who expects some sort of blow to fall at any moment.

  “What is wrong?” he asked, fighting the urge to reach for her for, if she backed away again, she would topple right out of bed and onto the floor. He was also getting tired of the way she kept fleeing his arms.

  “I need to clean my teeth,” she said, her hand still over her mouth muffling her words.

  “Why? Ye did it ere ye climbed into bed and ye havenae eaten anything since then.”

  “’Tis needed. Claud said I had foul breath in the morning.”

  “Nay, ye dinnae.” If Claud were not already dead and buried, Brian thought yet again, he would gladly kill the fool, but only after beating him soundly first.

  “How could ye ken whether I do or nay? We havenae kissed. Claud ne’er kissed me in the morning if we woke together for he said that my breath when I first woke rivaled the stench of the garderobe.”

  “Claud was an idiot. Ye were sleeping with your mouth open, lass. If ye had breath that foul I was close enough that I would have smelled it. When will ye believe that the mon was probably angry that he didnae have the courage to tell his family the truth, that he had gotten himself caught up in a tangle of lies, and ’tis verra clear from all ye tell me about him that he wasnae a mon to shoulder his own blame. So, he spat his anger out at ye. I cannae say it enough. That was all it was, lies meant to beat ye down.”

  “He ne’er hit me,” she said, cautiously removing her hand from her mouth.

  “Aye, he did, and weel ye ken it, though ye seem to forget it quickly. All my words of wisdom cast aside like sad refuse,” he murmured, and almost smiled at her glare for it showed she still had her spirit. “He struck out at ye often, I am thinking. With words. Ye ken weel that they can hurt and scar as easily as fists.”

  Arianna stared at him as she thought over what he had said. She had been casting his words from her mind, not really thinking much on them. Words could scar. She knew that in her mind, but deep in her heart Brian’s wise words had not yet taken hold. Constant criticisms could beat one down as thoroughly as fists. Claud was always criticizing her when he was not ignoring her or burdening her with all the work he should have been doing himself. The way he had so flagrantly favored his mistress over his wife had also left its scars, if only because such actions silently strengthened every criticism he had flung at her. Arianna was not sure how she could heal those scars for his sharp insults and unending criticisms still whispered through her mind. She had, after all, thought she had cured herself of Claud’s criticism of her worth in the bedchamber yet, with the rising of the sun, had fallen into the same old trap.

  “Are ye certain he lied?” she asked, tentatively moving closer to him.

  “Jesu, lass, I would tell ye if it was so bad that ye should clean your teeth ere I kiss ye. Foul breath in the morning curses us all from time to time and ’tis nay something to fret o’er but, I swear to ye, yours isnae foul.”

  Brian pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She tensed as if she feared he would begin to gag and push her away, but quickly softened in his arms. The way she fit so snugly there, her silken flesh warm against his skin, had him hard and hungry for more of what they had shared last night. When she twined her slim arms around his neck and pressed her lithe body even closer, he decided there was no harm in lingering in bed for a while longer.

  His body soon let him know that there would be no lingering. Despite his efforts to control his desire, it rose up fast and greedy. To his delight so did Arianna’s. Her body welcomed him with all the heat any man could want. He could sense her pleasure in her every sigh as he drove them both to passion’s heights. They reached that pinnacle together, her husky voice crying out his name music to his ears as he emptied himself inside her.

  It was a long time before he found the strength to pull away from her. The heat of her surrounding him and the way she idly caressed his body with her small, soft hands, as if she truly liked the feel of him, had him eager to remain joined with her. That need had never been there with any other woman and Brian knew he should seriously consider what that meant. Later, he thought, as he gave her a quick kiss and moved to get out of bed.

  In truth, it did not really matter if he ever sorted out all he was feeling for Lady Arianna Murray Lucette. She was not for him. She was better born and far richer than he was, used to the finer life he and his kinsmen were only beginning to see glimmers of. The widow of a French comte, a woman born of a clan connected in some way to half the clans in Scotland, both notorious and influential, was too high a reach for one of the youngest of the eleven legitimate sons of Fingal MacFingal. It was true that his brother Gregor had married a Murray, but Alanna had been a maid and they had traveled together. The need to honor her with marriage after that overcame any other considerations as to whether Gregor was worthy of the lass or not. Arianna was a widow and those demands would not be directed at him when he finally got her settled with her family. There was no maidenhead to be lost here.

  He grimaced as he slipped behind the privacy screen to wash up and relieve himself. His clan was a jest in many ways, made up of his father and all the sons he had bred in and out of the marriage bed. It was the result of a man being angry with his true family and clan and, like some spoiled child, deciding to make his own. The only claim to fame they might have was that his father was a prodigious breeder of
sons. The acknowledgment of their ability as fighters was growing, but slowly, and it did not even begin to equal the place of honor so many Murrays held. Considering how many of his brethren acted, they were more notorious than honored.

  No, Lady Arianna was not for him. Brian just wished that he did not want her so badly. He had the brief thought that he could probably tie her to his side with the passion they shared, or even a child, but quickly shook it aside. Her clan had already climbed free of the mire of their rough beginnings. He could not drag her down into that again and it would be a long time before his clan got much beyond the struggle to just survive. He was going to have to keep their affair no more than a sharing of pleasure, and keep his heart from yearning for more. The problem was, he feared he was already far past that.

  The moment Brian stepped out from behind the privacy screen, Arianna dashed behind it. She had donned the shirt he had given her for it was easier to find than the shift he had tossed aside in the night, but it was not very modest since it barely reached her knees. Then she realized it was more than simple modesty that made her rush to hide behind the screen, that she feared he would retreat from her once he clearly saw how little her thin body offered a man. A man liked rounded curves, flesh on a woman’s bones to cushion his body, and found the reddish hair covering her privates to be common and gaudy.

  She softly cursed. It was Claud whispering his denigrations in her head again. She had never been vain but she had always believed herself to be moderately appealing to a man’s eyes. Until Claud. Until he had found fault with everything from her face to her feet, some of the criticisms poorly disguised as kindly suggestions on how she might improve herself. By the time she had caught her first sight of the buxom Marie Anne, Arianna had been quick to see just how much she lacked compared to her husband’s mistress. It had also given his family and his people all the excuse they needed to show her their scorn. Brian had now seen her naked and she had seen no hint of the disdain Claud had always shown her, but the fear of it lingered.