A Very Highland Holiday

by Le Veque, Kathryn

Sarah smiled. Some of her sorrow ebbed with his teasing. “I’m no’ willing to risk your life for a petty thing. But before we leave, I might come in here and steal something. Maybe all of the dragoon items, so no one can mourn them.”

  “Oh, a thief. Ye have no’ mentioned before that ye have the skill.”

  She shrugged, enjoying the sensation of their arms around each other, and neither seemed inclined to withdraw. “I grew up with three brothers. I learned a few things to survive.”

  “Do ye recognize anything in here?” He maneuvered them toward the table, his arm still around her waist.

  Sarah examined the rings, touching the various items, imagining who the owners might be. Thankfully, nothing struck her as familiar. “I dinna. What about ye?”

  “Nothing,” he said quietly.

  Sarah glanced up at him. “How many did ye lose?”

  “Nearly half our men in the battle. A dozen or more in the retreat. More that were routed out as rebels after.” He swallowed hard enough that she could see the lump bob in his throat. “We’ll rebuild.”

  Goodness, they’d lost so many. They were a smaller clan to begin with. But his note of hope filled her with the same sentiment. Though she’d barely known him when his sister had joined her family, now she felt like she’d known him for years, when in reality, less than twenty-four hours had passed.

  They had a connection. Mutual loss. Mutual sorrow. And a common goal.

  Plus, he’d opened up to her, revealing his strength and integrity. All men should want to be like Thane Shaw.

  Without thinking, she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

  Chapter Six

  Thane had not seen this coming. A fantasy or two, sure, but actually kissing Sarah?

  Softness and heat pressed against him in body and lips. Desire flooded his veins, and even though he knew he should stop kissing her, he couldn’t bring himself to pull away.

  With a slant of his head, Thane kissed her deeper. The scent of her surrounded him, and her tiny hands clutched to the front of him, right over the place his heart pounded. He flicked his tongue against her lips, tasting the butter from their breakfast, and then dipping between them when she opened on a gasp.

  Tentatively, she touched her tongue to his. Her grip tightened on his shirt, and she let out a little mewl as he stroked his tongue slowly, languidly along hers. She tasted of heaven and sweetness, anything but what he would have thought of someone that should be his enemy.

  But he knew she wasn’t. That much had been made clear already.

  Thane stroked her face, ending the kiss as softly as it had begun, his gaze locked on hers.

  “Why did ye do that?” he asked, curious about her motives.

  Sarah bit her lip and started to move away, but he held her close. “I’m no’ sure. I just…It felt right.”

  She wasn’t wrong. Kissing her had felt very right.

  Before the battle at Culloden, he’d been thinking that he needed to take a wife; had flirted with many women, kissed a few. But after the battle, he’d kept everyone at arm’s length or longer. No more was his priority to wed, but to keep his clan alive and out of the clutches of the men who would see them all executed for treason.

  It had been nearly a year since he’d kissed a lass, and he was certain that any kisses before now had meant little. Why was this one so different? In his gut, he felt that there was something special about this woman. Something to be discovered, once her layers peeled away. And not just her garments, but her, the very essence of her.

  “I’m…I’m sorry.” Sarah shook her head and again tried to pull away. “Ye told me from the beginning that we should be enemies, that I should remember just why we’re here together. And I…” She sucked in a breath, pressed her hands to her cheeks, clearly mortified when she needn’t have been. “I think the emotion of this room, it—I just could no’—” She broke off then, shaking her head even more.

  “Lass, I didna mind the kiss,” he soothed, stroking his hand over hers and gently tugging it from her pinkened cheeks. “I would kiss ye again, but no’ here. No’ in this place of sorrow.”

  “Horror.”

  “Both.” He took her hand and led her out of the chamber, closing the door behind them as they’d been instructed. Then he guided her back through the common room, nodding to fellow patrons.

  Balthazar accosted them along the way, much to Thane’s irritation, which he couldn’t’ show. “Carrie says ye were in her Chamber of Sorrow, and I see it has greatly affected your lass.” The man frowned. “Take extra scones with ye back to your room. ’Twill make ye feel better.”

  That was a ridiculous notion. How were food and drink going to make them feel better when they’d both lost family to a massacre that should never have taken place?

  But Thane didn’t say that. Instead, he nodded, lifted a tray from a table with at least half a dozen scones on it and a jug of cider. Their host looked ready to balk, but Sarah took that moment to give an all-body shudder, and the old man clamped his lips closed over his rotting teeth.

  In their chamber, he poured them each a glass of cider, and they ate the scones sitting on the edge of the bed, each of them trying to absorb all that had happened.

  “Balthazar’s Tavern may be akin to a type of Hell for me,” Sarah said, following a long gulp of cider. So many dreadful and wretched memories flooded her.

  “Only parts of it,” Thane said. “It would seem our chamber is no’ haunted or filled with mad people.”

  “’Tis true. Unless one of us is mad,” she offered with a lift of her shoulders and popped the last of her scone into her mouth.

  Thane eyed the tray with four more scones on it. They had been delicious. He could eat the entire tray. But he didn’t want to get up, not when it felt so good to be sitting beside her.

  “This Christmas is so much different than last.” Sarah’s shoulders slumped with that admission.

  “Oh?” he urged.

  “Aye. Last Christmas, Thea decorated the entire great hall with holly and pinecones and sweet-smelling herbs. We had a massive feast, dancing, and games and singing. Thea had a spectacular singing voice. She went to great lengths to make it wonderful for us all.” She flashed him a smile.

  “That is surprising.” Thane pursed his lips in thought. “We didna do all that at Tordarroch Castle. My clan much prefers celebrating the holidays of old. Yule and the winter solstice.”

  She smiled up at him. “Perhaps that is why she went all out then, because it was so new and magical to her.”

  “There is something to be said about new traditions.” Thane grinned. “Thank ye for sharing your memories of Thea with me.”

  “’Tis nice to relive them.” Her little finger danced over his, where their hands were braced on the edge of the bed. “I’m glad we can share them together.”

  “Me too.” And then, before he could change his mind, Thane bent to kiss her once more.

  Sarah was playing with fire.

  Already she’d crossed too many lines. Her brothers would have her head if they knew she was behaving this way. Kissing a man she barely knew in a chamber they were meant to share for the night. A man she’d willingly allowed to abduct her. If they’d knew she’d packed the bag before he’d ever arrived—Lord, but they would kill her.

  And she’d be fine with it, for she’d had a chance to feel Thane’s lips on hers. A man worthy of a kiss. A man worthy of so much more.

  Their fingers entwined, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. What would it be like to kiss him every day like this? To glory in the soft sweep of his lips, the sensual stroke of his tongue?

  That was when the idea came to her. She needed to be ruined. And who better for the task than Thane? Should her brothers catch up to them, it would make it impossible for her to partner with anyone else. Whoever they sold her to would not pay for a woman who’d already been claimed by another.

  But Thane…He was honorable. Felt guilty at having abducted her. Ev
en the tough attitude he tried to have with her was seen through easily enough. The man was formidable when he needed to be and in the next breath filled with heart. Much like his sister had been. Which meant that he would not simply steal her virginity if she asked him, too. She’d have to make him take it.

  Sarah threaded her free hand in his hair, kissing him deeper, and he enjoyed it, judging from the sound in the back of his throat. She had no practice at wooing or seducing. Though Thane was not the first man she’d ever kissed, she’d done nothing more than that. And the only knowledge she had of what happened between a man and a woman was what she’d overheard the maids talking about after a feast that had seen plenty of them deep in their cups. But from what she’d heard, she thought she could piece together a fairly decent seduction.

  And she’d not know until she tried.

  With that in mind, and the confidence of someone well versed in lovemaking, she lifted herself up and straddled Thane’s lap. The crux of her thighs pressed to the hardened length of him, sending a shudder of pleasure through her.

  Oh, my…The maids had not been jesting about that part. Frissons of wicked decadence raced through her, and when she rubbed herself back and forth, yet more intense quivers followed.

  No wonder they did this. It actually felt rather good. Better than good. Not the stories she’d been told as a girl by her da. That to rut with a lad would only lead to unbearable pain and was best saved for marriage, when the blessing of God would lessen the torment.

  Da was wrong, it would seem. Or he’d lied.

  Thane’s hands came around her backside, gripping her arse and massaging, and he too moved beneath her, increasing the friction as his arousal stroked against hers. She moaned against his mouth, a little surprised at the sounds she was making. Then he was flipping her around so her back was flush to the mattress, and he was over her, between her thighs.

  He kissed her harder, with more vigor and passion, tossing all her sensations into the air like fairy dust until she felt like she was in a magical dream. His hand swept up her ribs, clutching at her breast, and then he tore his mouth from hers and traveled heatedly over her neck and downward until his lips clamped over her nipple.

  Sarah cried out at that, bucking upward. Goodness…She’d not thought touching could feel any better, but it just kept getting more intense and more pleasurable.

  “Dear God, I love the way ye respond,” he said, panting, his eyes on her. Desire filled his gaze, made his eyelids dip.

  Sarah grinned encouragingly. This was going quite well. “Your touch is magic.”

  He kissed her again, caressing her everywhere until she was floating in a sea of delicious awareness she never wanted to be rescued from.

  “I want ye,” he groaned against her lips.

  His words, spoken so passionately, pinged off all the right spots in her mind and body.

  Seduction had been so easy. And so exciting. “Ye can have me. I give myself willingly.”

  There, she’d said it. And soon she would be ruined, and it would be wonderful.

  Thane pushed her skirts up, fumbled with his breeches, and then she felt the very heat of him at her core.

  “Are ye certain?” he asked, gaze locked on hers, eyes filled with question.

  “Aye,” she said with a confidence she’d never felt so keenly before.

  Thane let out a satisfied groan and surged forward, the invasion accompanied by a sharp clamp of pain. Sarah cried out unbidden at the ache, surprised that it should have felt that way when everything else had been so wonderful.

  Thane stilled, letting out a curse, the force of which blew the hair from her forehead. Sarah’s eyes had been clamped closed, but his angry tone made her snap open her lids.

  “Ye were a virgin,” he accused, a thunderstorm clouding his expression. Gone was the heady look of his lowered lids.

  Tears sprang to her eyes. “Aye,” she whispered.

  “Why did ye no’ bloody tell me?”

  Sarah swallowed hard. Perhaps tricking him into taking her virginity had been stupid, but she had given her full permission. “I did no’ think it mattered. I consented.”

  Thane cursed, withdrawing from her body, leaving her feeling empty and lost. She reached for him as he climbed off, but he backed away from the bed and shoved himself back into his breeches. “I would no’ have done that. ’Tis no’ honorable.”

  Exactly as she’d imagined he would act if he’d known. Tears fell in earnest now, hot waves down her cheeks. “It was no’ your choice to make.” She shoved her skirts back down, pulling her legs up tight to her chest, aching all the more.

  “Why?” There was true anguish in his tone.

  “Because if my brothers come for me, and they will, I can be of no use to them if I am spoiled. I dinna want to be their pawn.”

  “But why would ye have me be the one to spoil ye?” He pressed his fist to his chest.

  Without hesitation, she answered, “Because ye’re so honorable. A good man.”

  “And so ye wished to trick me into marriage then?”

  She shook her head vigorously, everything spinning out of control. That had been the last thing on her mind. And she hated the way his anger had turned to pain. “Nay, I thought…If I were to ruin myself, I’d want to do with it a man like ye, rather than just anyone.”

  All the anger dissipated from him now, his shoulders sagging, and he trudged back toward her. Thane sighed and sat down on the bed next to her, gathering her in his arms. He was quiet for a long time, and she remained very still. Afraid if he remembered that he was holding her, he’d walk away. “If I had known, I would have taken my time. Made sure ye were ready.”

  “I am ready.”

  “I mean, your body.”

  “Oh.” She sucked in a weary breath and stared up at him, meeting his gaze head-on, wanting him to see the truth in her eyes. “I was no’ trying to trick ye, I swear. I dinna seek marriage. I only sought to rid myself of the bargaining chip my brothers are trying to sell.”

  Thane stroked her hair, wiped away her tears. The pain in his expression receded and returned the man she’d fallen for. Oh, dear heavens…Aye, she had fallen for him. Swept up and deposited right on the shores of his affection, should he want her.

  “I will marry ye.” Conviction powered each syllable.

  “What?” She pushed away from him then. Had he not understood her? “I told ye that’s no’ what I seek.”

  “I know, lass. But it is the only way to make certain they canna sell ye. Your brothers will lie about your virginity for the riches it will bring them. I’ll protect ye because I was no’ able to protect my sister.”

  Sarah glanced down at the rug on the dirt floor. “I canna ask ye to do that.” Keeping her safe wouldn’t bring Thea back, and she didn’t want him to feel obligated to her for the rest of their lives. For eternity.

  “Ye didna.” He tipped her chin up. “I offered. Of my own free will, I consent.” He pressed his lips to hers softly. Saints, but it felt so good. “Besides, I like the idea of being able to kiss ye more.”

  “Truly?” His embrace was warm, comforting, and she felt safe with him, cared for.

  “Aye.” He kissed her again and then left the bed once more, though this time he only went to the basin where he took a loose rag and dipped it in water.

  She watched, curious, as he came back to her and then gentle as he could washed between her legs. His ministrations were perhaps the most considerate of any she’d ever had.

  “To soothe the ache,” he murmured.

  “Thank ye,” she said.

  “If ye’ll still have me…I’d like to finish what we started, only make it better this time.”

  Tentatively, she nodded. But then she knew he’d want to hear her say it aloud. “Ye have my permission to make love to me.”

  And then he was laying her back down on the bed, and once more she was melting into the sheets and sighing with pleasure. He kissed his way down the length of her body until
he hovered over the very center of her.

  “I want to kiss ye here.”

  “That is…” That had not been discussed by the maids. “It sounds…”

  But she couldn’t find the words, and it didn’t matter anyway because he robbed her of all sense as his tongue stroked the sensitive folds of her sex. Again and again, he stroked until she was clutching at the sheets and crying out in pleasure. Wave after delicious heady wave crashed over her. Oh my…Thane was a skilled lover. Made her feel powerful one moment and weak in the knees the next. And pleasure, there was so much of it.

  “That was what I meant before,” he said, crawling up the length of her still-shuddering body. “Now, ye’re ready.”

  This time when he pushed inside her, there was no pain, only more pleasure. She gasped, letting the last vestiges of control go. Wrapping herself around him, she followed his lead, kissed his shoulders, his mouth. Gripped his arse, stroked his back. Cried out when he somehow made her body break apart once more and drank in the sounds of his rapture as he whispered her name over and over again.

  “Ye’re mine forever now, lass,” he said, nuzzling against her neck before meeting her gaze. There was not even an inkling of regret in his words or eyes.

  Sarah grinned, placing her arms around his neck and threading her fingers into his hair. “Who knew revenge and abduction could be so…satisfying?”

  Thane let out a roar of laughter and gently bit her lip. “Ye are satisfying.”

  Chapter Seven

  They lay in bliss for an hour or so, whispering, touching and eating the rest of the scones. This was the first time Thane had ever done this with a woman. Just lying there languidly sharing stories from their childhood. Their likes and dislikes. Exploring one another, both in mind and body.

  In the span of an hour, he’d learned more about Sarah than he knew about any other person—even his twin sister Thea.

  Sarah was ticklish behind her knees and at her ankles, but not on her ribs. She loved sunrise more than sunset, and her favorite time of year was in spring when dewdrops dripped from trees onto the tip of her tongue. The lass had a penchant for sweets and disliked spirits, but she’d drink them if she must and agreed to taste the whisky he distilled himself at Tordarroch.