Leith held in his grimace. That was Cooper’s job to make the young men into soldiers, but making the people afraid of outsiders and controlling their resources was not his. But the people were not complaining.
This was the last person of the six he had spoken to and all six had not had a bad word to say about Cooper. All had sung his praises and if this was a sample of how the whole village thought, he was in for a fight when he was ready to take back his authority.
He stood and brushed his trews off before sticking out a hand. “Thank ye for telling me, Norton.”
Ducking under the low casing, he left the carpentry and went to his horse. Six people. Six people had told him that, in a summary, Cooper was their salvation and he cursed under his breath. The day was waning and he was picturing going back home to a bath, a rich meal, and Mary.
The sun was begging to set, the golden orb darkening to orange as it lowered to the horizon. Dark gray and indigo were about to creep in and overtake the shimmering gold rays but his journey took him away from it and soon enough he could feel the warmth on the back of his neck. His anger for Cooper was smoldering in his gut.
Arriving at the castle, he quickly settled his horse back into the stables and then went inside. He strode up the slight hill, aware that he needed to get control of himself before he saw his mother and Mary.
He purposely avoided the great hall and the front room and took the back servants’ stairwell up to his room. He was fortunate enough to come across as a servant and send for some water. “And send Mary with me supper later.”
This was his second time sending for Mary and some would term it as favoritism but in the frame of mind he was in, he did not give a damn. He entered the room and tugged his cloak from around his neck. He sat and tugged his boots off and then barefooted, began to pace.
What was he to do with Cooper? The man had not done anything definitive enough to show him that he was taking over the lairdship but then he had lured the people to his side. Could he act on mere supposition? His words to Mary last night still stood. If he acted or did not act, he was going to lose anyway.
The door was knocked on and he gave permission to enter. Two squires entered and with big buckets of steaming water. As they filled the wooden tub, he studied the wall as if it had the answers he wanted.
“Sir,” one bowed, “yer bath is full.”
He nodded in thanks and closed the door behind them. His bath was quick but he did spend a few moments languishing in the water to let the heat permeate his tense muscles. He dressed in a linen jerkin and another pair of trews and let his wet hair dry around his shoulders.
Night had fallen by the time he had dressed, but no stars had come out yet. There was another knock on the door, and he went to answer it. Mary had barely come through when he took the tray away from her and kissed her.
He loved how she melted with the touch of his lips. Pliant in his arms, she offered no resistance to his touch. When she let him in his tongue plunged in, tangling with hers in a hungry kiss.
She tasted sweet, he broke the lip lock to drop kisses down her neck, “Ye’ve been eating honey-cakes havenae ye?”
Speechless, he felt Mary tremble as his hands began to roam and map her body. Down her side, over the curve of her bottom and up her back. Through her dress he cupped her breasts, loving the weight of each in his palms and pebbling of her nipples. He was nearly at the point where reason began to spiral out of control.
“L-Leith,” she gasped, “arenae ye going to eat?”
“Aye,” he said while kissing back up her face and under her ear murmured, “Aye Mary…I’m going to eat…I’m famished for ye.”
20
“Me body craves ye and I need to touch ye,” he nuzzled her neck. “I want to taste ye…” his voice dipped into a feral growl, “all of ye.”
Mary’s slender body tensed as something wild and unbidden bubbled up from deep within her core. It always happened when Leith touched her, and she felt the inexplicable need to shy away from the feeling while having no desire for him to stop. Bombarded by intense sensations, she could only cling to him as her body heated and her desire awakened.
He nuzzled her neck, while his hand was fondling the swell of her breast. “Yer body is an oasis to me, Mary, let me drink.”
He nipped down her neck and began to unlace her dress. His lips ran over her bare shoulder, sending a wave of heat rippling through her entire body. Bare to her sternum, his lips left a searing trail of kisses across her shoulder and down to the swell of her breast. When his mouth closed over her nipple, she gasped and grabbed at his hair. It was soft and wet and she loved the feeling.
It felt wonderful, spectacular, feeling him kiss her fevered flesh and she wanted more. His arms were around her back, allowing her to lean backward from the soft, sensual assault. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she moaned with his touch…but though pleasure was filling her mind…she felt something was wrong.
“Leith…” she began, but a suck on her nipple temporarily made her mind blank. She threaded trembling fingers through his hair and forced her mind to stay on the right track. “Leith…stop.”
Her words were quiet, but his mouth left her skin immediately. His grey eyes were dark with confusion. He softly straightened her and frowned. “What is it?”
She sucked in a deep steadying breath and tugged her bodice back in place. Lifting a hand, she cupped his cheek to feel the day’s growth. She searched his eyes. “What is wrong?”
Leith’s mouth opened and then closed. As his eyelids fluttered closed, his nostrils flared and he twisted his face to press his lips to her palm. “I’m on the edge, lass. With all this confusion with Cooper, I feel like I should find a mountainside and scream me frustration to God himself,” Leith mumbled in her hair.
Mary canted her head to the side and smiled. “Why not?”
“Eh?” he asked in confusion.
“Why not find a mountainside and scream,” Mary asked. “Why bottle it in? Let’s do it…tonight.”
“Tonight?” Leith asked, “Mary, I cannea—”
She jabbed a finger into his chest, “I’m not taking no for an answer and I’m going with you.”
Gazing into her eyes—eyes Mary knew were filled with stark determination—a small smile grew on Leith’s face. He shook his head and then leaned in to kiss her on her cheek. “Aye…we’ll go tonight.”
There was not a cloud in the star-spattered sky. A full moon illuminated the rocky cliffs and he could see for miles. The mountainside they had found was the jut of land over a steep cliff that overlooking a dry riverbed.
Up so high, the wind was chilly and Mary, standing beside the horse, wrapped Leith’s pilfered cloak tighter around herself. She then reached out and held the reins of Leith’s horse. They had taken it up the dark paths that Leith had said the horse knew better than he did.
She lingered back as he went to the edge of the cliff and tilted his head up to the sky. Turned away from her, his body, shrouded in darkness was still magnificent. With his head tilted up and his shoulders set in a line, she traced the shape of his broad back, down to his long legs. His hair was fluttering in the wind.
Quietness wrapped around them, briefly broken by the hoots of a melancholic owl. She was wondering why he was hesitating when his head tilted back and unhinged roar blasted to the heavens. Leith’s hands were curled into tight fists near his side when he shouted again. A flurry had a flock of night birds crying out and flying off, covering the dark sky in darker wings.
She heard his anger, his frustration and his pain in that primal call. Her insides ached for him. Leith’s hands clenched tighter, he threw back his head and shouted once more. The horse fidgeted in her hand and he was tugging his head but she reached out to soothe him.
Leith’s shoulders sank and but he did not move. Instead, he twisted to her and held out his hand. “Mary, come here.”
Not expecting that, she hesitated but Leith called for her again. She dropped the re
ins and went to his side where he shifted to place her before him. He dropped his hands to her hips. “Now ye do it. Yell out, scream yer anger.”
With the tables suddenly turned on her, she felt shy. “I do not—”
His lips were on the back of her neck, teasing the soft hairs and tender skin there, “Aye, ye do, now tell the world yer anger, do it, Mary. Ken of yer parents how they made ye feel. Why ye had to run.”
Her breath shuddered her chest before she closed her eyes and the feelings, she had closed up in her soul for her parents sprang forth. The dark feeling of anger, fear, and loneliness was a cauldron of repressed bitterness bubbling inside her gut like bitter gall.
She sucked in a deep breath then screamed. Her chest was on fire when she remembered the uncaring dismissal her parents had coldly given her and her scream was raw. Why Mother! Why Father! Why!
Her body was shivering with emotions when her throat closed up and she sagged back unto Leith’s shoulder. His arms were tight around her and she had to lean on him because her legs felt rubbery. He turned her in his arms and pressed her face under his neck. His hands rubbed her back soothingly.
“Ye were right, ‘tis does help,” he said quietly.
For a long moment, she said nothing, but she quietly asked, “Leith, what do you feel for me?”
His body stiffened before he hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face until he found her. “Ye dinnea ken?”
“I cannot,” she replied, as she laid her palm flat against his beating heart. “There are times when I cannot read you, your face is like a blank slate.
“Because I am the master of my emotions, Mary,” he said as he pulled her even closer. “A result of many years of conditioning. I feel things for ye,” he admitted finally. “Powerful things, things that scare me at times.”
“It scares me too,” she replied in a shaky whisper then laughed quietly. “To the point, I got jealous of Rinalda, I thought your relationship with her was too…well personal.”
His laugh rumbled against her chest as he brushed a tendril of her loose hair from her eyes, “How nice for ye to be jealous of me, I like that yer jealous over me, but there is naything between me and Rinalda. The only woman I want is ye.” he admitted, his voice dripping with desire.
“What about you?” she asked in wonder. “Are you jealous over me?”
“Nay,” he replied while kissing her left ear. “Because I havenae had the chance to be in that situation. I do suspect though that I’d be a beast if any man but me captured yer affections.”
Speaking of jealousy…
“I had a strange conversation with your mother today,” Mary admitted. “Well, not conversation as such as I did not speak, but she called me from the kitchens and spoke to me about marriage. Saying that she knew some reputable men who could marry me.”
Leith spun her. “What the devil? What did ye say.”
Despite his anger, Mary felt amused, “I did not say anything. I’m mute remember. I just signed that I was not interested.” Her arms were around his neck and his eyes eclipsed her vision. “I don’t want anyone else.”
“To be fair, ye havnae been with a man before,” Leith said cheekily.
Even more cheekily, Mary decided to tease him, “Is that permission to find ano—”
His kiss was rough, powerful and the heat of it was branding. He was searing himself into her without joining with her. His lips sent wild tremors running through her body again, stroking the embers of desire in her chest into a flame. He grabbed her hip and pulled away, “Nay, ye are mine. Nayone else’s, ye hear me?”
Rubbing her knuckles across his face she smiled at his possessive tone, “I believe you when you said you would be jealous, but be assured, it’s only you.”
Reaching up, she carried his face down to hers and they kissed softly, lovingly under the luminous rays of the moon. Resting her head on his chest she sighed, “This feels like something out of a dream.”
“Aye,” he said, his breath warming her skin. “A welcomed fantasy in the middle of the prolonged night terror I am in the middle of.”
They stayed there, on the edge of the cliff with cold air around them and the night creatures scurrying in the forest beyond. Minutes passed by until Leith pulled away and rubbed his thumb over her chin. “We should go back. I dinnae ken it will be right for ye to go back. Its madness to try and get into yer quarters. Let me take ye to the infirmary. Ye can say ye felt ill. I’m sure Rinalda will take up for ye.”
Worry overtook Mary, but she did not speak of it. Leith helped her unto the horse and then joined her. The ride back to the castle’s grounds was done with her leaning back on Leith’s chest. Her heart was light knowing that Leith did feel the same confusing, but elating, emotions for her that she had for him.
From the incline, the castle was a large dark shadow with light streaming from the inside. To Mary, it looked like a huge beast with many glowing eyes, and she snickered internally. Leith’s right arm was around her waist while he guided the horse down one-handed. She had noticed that Leith was left-handed. People had very strong opinions about those who were left-handed, believing them to be devilish.
The memory nearly buried her happiness, but she shoved it away before it could take root and focused on Leith’s warmth behind her. They got to the back acres of the castle and followed the boundary wall which was covered by trees. They followed it until Leith came up one of the many backdoors and into the castle.
A few guards strolled the walkways but Leith avoided them all until he got Mary up to the healing rooms. Leith gently pried the door open to the empty room and directed her over to a bed.
“I’ll see ye soon. It’s about six hours to dawn,” he said kissing her cheek, “Rest ye.”
Smiling, Mary went to the bed and took her shoes off to slide into the bed. The aroma of burnt herbs was light and soothing as she turned on her side and watch Leith leave. How he had howled at the sky made her shiver, not to mention the memory of Leith’s kisses. Her hands went to her mouth and smiled.
I feel things for ye…powerful things, things that scare me at times.
His words helped her to drift off to the easiest sleep she had since she arrived at the clan. It did not feel as she had passed an hour before someone was shaking her awake. She recoiled from the touch, unhappy to be woken but the touch was insistent.
Grumbling, she peeled her eyes open to see Rinalda there looking both amused and concerned. Looking around to be sure no one else was near, she whispered. “What?”
“I’m happy yer feeling better, Mary,” Rinalda said loudly enough for anyone who might be listening. “Have ye got the strength to work today?”
Sighing, she sat up and nodded.
“Good, come with me back to our quarters,” Rinalda smiled.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Mary removed herself from the sheets and followed Rinalda. On her feet, she left the room and emerged into the outside. Last night felt like a dream to her, but the memory of Leith’s kisses and words had her feeling content.
She got to the servants’ quarters, but it was empty, all of them had gone to their stations already. Mary went to her cot but as it came to view, recoiled like someone had struck her in her face. Her sheets were mussed and in the middle was a pile of cow dung.
She slapped her hand over her nose as Rinalda came about with a dark blue gown over her arm and shook it out for her. “A woman I know took it upon herself…what in the name of God?”
Rinalda’s exclamation made Mary just that more agitated. “This wasnae here when I left! Someone had to do it when the room cleared!” Shucking the gown to Mary, Rinalda grabbed the sheets into a ball, covering up the pile of dung.
“Mary, dinnea ye worry about this, get dressed. Ye, me dear, have a not-so-secret benefactor and a woman who made that dress will happily make ye two more.”
The obvious allusion to Leith made her face redden. She was fiddling with the dress and looking everywhere but at her friend, “
Oh…erm…I had no idea.”
“Yer lucky,” Rinalda said as she took the sheets. “Ye’ve managed to catch one who has been avoiding commitment for years. I’ll be back soon.”
She might not have realized it but Rinalda had brought up a subject that Mary had tried to not worry about. She swallowed in anxiety but dressed quickly.
When Rinalda came back, she dared to ask, “When you say commitment, what do you mean? Is it that he has a child somewhere but does not…” she paused—what was she saying? Leith was not the kind of man to not claim any child he had sired. “I’m sorry, that is foolish of me. I don’t know why I even thought to ask that. Let’s go back, when you say commitment you meant marriage.”
Mesmerized by a Roguish Highlander: A Steamy Scottish Historical Romance Novel Page 17