Healing the Highlander's Heart
Page 3
“Do ye pray for yourself, wee Lili?”
“Aye. Every day, and for others.” Her eyes were up again, flashing their brilliance.
Dougal felt himself step closer until they were just inches apart and he could feel her warm breath fanning his chest. ‘What about me?’ he asked even though he had heard her pray on his behalf mere minutes ago.
“Aye, for you too Master Dougal.” She answered in a breathy whisper, her tongue darting out to moisten her lower lip. He let out an appreciative groan and saw her tremble.
He chuckled at her obvious discomfort. “Why do ye tremble wee lamb? Are ye scared?” he asked.
“Just cold, Master Dougal,” she whispered and shivered again.
“Then let me warm ye up wee lamb.” He encircled her into his arms, pulling her close until her body was flush against his. He could feel her warmth, the softness of her body in his arms; the press of her breast against his and the erratic stuttering of her breath; his head dipped, and he drew the scent of her, reveling in it. They were driving him over the edge. Struggling with himself, he drew his head back, releasing shuddering breaths; his cock has grown as hard as steel, needing to sink himself into her moist hotness. The look in her eyes wasn’t helping matters, she was feeling the same electrifying desire as him even though she might not recognize it.
“Just once,” he whispered. “Just a little taste,” he was trying to convince himself that he could stop after just one kiss. Lili wasn’t saying anything, but her body was, the black of her eyes had dilated enough to eclipse the blue, leaving just thin halos of light. Her breathing had become shallow, her face flushed, and he could see her pulse jumping at her throat. “Just once,” he whispered again before dipping his head and brushing her lips with his.
That little kiss sent a bolt of lightning through his body, a small moan escaped his lips and before he betrayed his oath, he tore his mouth away from her and stumbled back, missing the warmth and softness of her body immediately. She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving invitingly, her eyes still black. Dougal turned away.
“Go back to your prayers, wee Lili.” He whispered and stumbled out of the chapel, leaving a stunned Lili staring at him.
Dawn was icy cold.
Lili pulled her knees up to her chin and drew her earasaid tight about her. Thoughts bounced about in her head, each one making less sense than the other. Master Dougal had kissed her! She wasn’t sure it could be called a kiss as it was quick, but she had felt it the softness of his lips on hers, barely there, and the molten heat that had passed through her body.
She had felt dizzy and in the need of air and more. She had wanted to climb over him, wrestle him to the ground and let him have his way with her. Even as she thought it now, she shivered and felt ashamed she would be thinking such sinful thoughts taking place in the chapel.
The thoughts had kept her awake and even though she was bone tired from all the tasks Mistress Eubh had set her to, Lili had hardly slept a wink and now at dawn she had dragged herself out into the icy coldness of the garden sooth her heated skin and mayhap put the thoughts to rest. She shouldn’t put too much thought to them. Master Dougal was a known flirt and there were rumors he had bedded Moire several times and she had a son for him. Lili didn’t doubt that Dougal and Moire slept together but she was skeptical about the son. Moire might have just made that up to get more people to talk about her as she relished gossip.
It saddened her that what had happened between Dougal and her wasn’t anything special and he must have done that to numerous others who had the bad sense to fall in with him. it was then she felt something wriggling on her body and immediately threw off her earasaid, jumping up and shaking her shift.
As beetle dropped from it and she was bending to inspect it when she heard a man chuckle. Whirling around, she slipped on the dew slick grass and fell on her behind just when the man lurched out from the shadows. Lili had never seen him before, so she guessed he was one of the McLagans and heavily drunk it seemed as he stank of ale. Carefully, Lili picked herself up from the floor, keeping an eye on him. the way he was staring at her made her feel uneasy and she wished he would leave. Conscious of the state of undress she was in, she inched towards her earasaid and was picking it up when the man spoke.
“There’s no need to do that, ye are a pretty lass.” He had moved closer now and Lili could see the rough stubble peppering his jaw and his ginger hair falling in a tousled state over his face. He was handsome enough but the leer on his face made him look demonic to Lili, so she took a step back.
“Dinnae run away lass, I’ll be gude to ye. I swear it, even more than the stable boys. C’mere, or do ye need siller? I ha’ a bag full of ‘em.”
Lili kept inching back.
“I’m not interested,” she said. “Thank ye, please go now.” Her hands were working fast to wrap the earasaid about her.
“I said dinnae do that,” he launched forward, his hands grabbing for her. A scream ripped from Lili’s throat and she tore out from him grasp, leaving her earasaid behind which he waved tauntingly.
“C’mere,” he said.
“No.”
“Dinnae play hard, ye’ll only hurt yerself.”
“Methinks the lass says she is not interested,” came Dougal’s voice from the shadows from which he loomed out from, his handsome face set in a hard mask but his green eyes were blazing with fury.
Lili looked over her assaulter’s shoulder and sagged with relief. The drunk McLagan seemed to become less confident and ducked his head.
“I apologise, but the way she is clad,” he waved a vague hand towards Lili in her shift. Dougal’s eyes followed the direction of his hand, raking over her from head to toe and she shivered at the heat from his gaze, feeling herself turn to puddle.
“I reckon it is because you are holding on to her earasaid so desperately.”
The McLagan gave Dougal a grin.
“My fault. Here ye go lass,” he tossed her earasaid to her before slinking back into the shadows.
Lili hastily wrapped her earasaid about her and pinned it in place before opening her mouth to thank him, but hardly had she done that before Dougal exploded.
“Are ye a lack wit, lass?”
Lili flinched as though she had been slapped and looked at Dougal confused, had she done something wrong?
“Or is it a hobby of yours to get into trouble ye cannae get yourself out of?”
Lili bristled with annoyance. Was he insinuating that she had deliberately sought the drunk man out to be harassed?
“Beg your pardons, Master Dougal, but surely ye dinnae mean to say that I forced my wanton self on the man.”
Dougal looked taken aback that she would think that.
“I didna…” he started to say.
“My many thanks Master Dougal for saving me again, even though it musta been a bitter chore I dinnae know why ye even bothered.”
She nodded at him and marched off before he could see her tears.
Chapter 4
Lili hoisted up the folds of her earasaid as she began climbing the hill, her shoes sinking into the damp spongy grass with every step.
Although her legs burned and the previous ache was nagging, the cold air pouring into her lungs was welcome and she felt the haze she had been in for hours, lift. Her hands still stung from the lye but the cooking burn on her wrist had been eased by the herb and goose-fat Eubh had pasted on the shiny mark before wrapping it in clean linen. The herb had been barely enough for her wrist and Ailbeart needed the rest than she did so Lili bore the pain with all the stoic grace she could muster.
The entire castle had been in a state of tizzy for two nights now. The sweet lady Seonag was to be married to the young lord of the McLagan clan and there was to be a feast to celebrate the impeding union between the two clans. With the arrival of the McLagans, the castle had swelled to twice its usual size and with Eubh working them to their bones there had barely been enough time to catch a breath of air that wasn’t
hot steam issuing from the bubbling pots and cauldrons, wood smoke from the cooking fire or the choking stench of burning fat.
Until now.
Lili crested the hill and unpinned her earasaid, pulling it from her body. She shook out the heavy tartan in the colors of the Seymour clan and spread it out on the grass. She kicked off her shoes and lay down with a contented sigh. The sky was a clear blue and with her body finally relaxed her thoughts wandered from the castle and the upcoming festivities to herself. She still couldn’t remember.
“Sometimes it comes back, sometimes it doesn’t,” the physician had told her.
“Ye hit yer head bad lassie, be thankful it dinnae dull yer wits. Now take these blanket up tae the chieftain.”
That had been two years ago, after they found her in the lake, and Lili’s life still remained a mystery to her. Who she was? Where she had come from?
“The loch brought ye tae us, lassie. Yer the loch’s gift tae us,” was Eubh’s explanation.
Aye, she was content with life, but it still niggled her, not knowing, just starting life anew, like a babe. Her eyes closed and she began drifting off when she heard someone call out to her. Lili exhaled heavily but refused to open her eyes to see the small dark-haired woman crest the hill.
“Lili!’ Moire hissed above her. ‘Eubh is asking for you.”
Lili rolled over, putting her arm over her face and mourning her sleep. She forced herself to get up and drape her earasaid about herself, pinning it.
“There’s grass in your hair.” Moire huffed at her before stomping down the hill.
Lili found Eubh in the thick of it all, standing like a general in the kitchen and waving a dripping spoon about like a claymore. She spun around as Lili approached and some of the tension in the eyes lessened.
“There yer are lassie. The laird has been askin’ fur yer. Come on, take this up tae him.” She signaled Moire to hand her the covered tray.
Lili stifled her sigh of exhaustion but held out her hands for the tray. Moire thrust it in her hand and she turned to leave when Eubh said:
“He’ll be wantin’ a tune tonight lassie.”
Lili’s dream of going back outside the castle before dark fell slipped away from her.
“The young lord is with him,” Moire called behind her.
Lili stiffened and almost turned around to hand the tray to Moire while pleading to Eubh to let her retire for the evening as she had taken ill. It wouldn’t be fair for Eubh though, with Bearnas down with the fever and Eimhir just having her bairn, it was only Lili and Moire she trusted to get things done fully. Lili would rather drown in the loch before she disappointed Eubh or add more burden to the woman’s already overflowing load. If only the young lord wasn’t there.
Dougal was the chieftain firstborn son; borne from a welsh woman he hadn’t been married to. She had died during childbirth, leaving behind Dougal, a bastard half-scot. He was lean, tall, dark and broodingly handsome.
“He’s as black as the devil, that there. Stay away from him.” Eubh had warned and Lili tried. To God she tried but she couldn’t keep her eyes away from him, even though Moire and the other girls whispered he had killed his mother upon birth, coming out in a torrent of blood and clutching his mother’s heart in his little fist.
Sometimes, she thought he was looking her way as well, in a way he sometimes looked at the serving maid, but also in a different way. It was a look that made her breathless, that made her day dream about secret sinful things and got her moist down there. Just the other day, he had come to her rescue, sawing her from falling into the mud and chasing the thief that had robbed her even though he had annoyed her to almost yelling at him. And then that night, in the chapel he had brushed his mouth against her, just a simple taste of what a kiss was truly like. In the house of God! It was truly scandalous and yet it sent shock waves through her body. Shocks of which she had never felt before. And then after he had saved her yet again from that rouge McLagan that had mistaken her for a worldly woman, even though he had driven her to annoyance once more, she was really glad he had saved her.
Sometimes Lili got little thrills from watching him from the corner of her eyes, other times he scared her, when he had asked if she was a lack wit and now as he was glaring down at her making her feel she was shrinking into herself.
Lili had walked into a heated conversation between the chieftain and his son, a conversation she was certain she did not want to hear but it nonetheless shocked her. In her two years in Seymour clan, she had never heard the chieftain raise his voice. That may be because he had taken ill shortly before Lili arrived. An illness that had reduced him to a mere shadow of his former self, everyone had informed her, and seemed to have no cure. His pain may be soothed with the aid of herbs and recently his mind soothed by Lili’s harp. Chieftain Albert was a strong and well-respected leader and warrior in his prime, still respected of course, it was evident in the way they spoke with him and about him. Everyone respected him, everyone except his first son. Lili thought there was a degree of bitterness between them, she had heard from Moire that the chieftain planned on passing his title to his other son by his lawful wife, the lady Caitir and Dougal didn’t like that.
Now, here he was riling the poor sick man. Lili moved out from Dougal’s way as he stormed out of the chamber. The door slammed behind him and she felt oddly disappointed he hadn’t even spared her a glance.
“Would you care for the song now, my lord?”
“Later,” the chieftain rasped, settling back against his bedding.
Lili placed the tray on a small stool.
The stars are bright tonight, the moon even brighter. A big round silver coin hanging in the velvety sky dotted by smaller but equally brighter coins. Lili finally let the tension in her shoulder ease. Supper had been served and everyone had crawled into bed, except for Lili and the guards on duty. For reasons unknown, she felt too keyed up to sleep so she had taken a light and found her way to the gardens, and there she laid on her earasaid and was once again staring up at the sky. Still sleep eluded her, so she stared at the stars instead and wandered what they were.
“What are you doing out here?” A low gruff voice demanded, startling Lili from her reverie. She sprang up, hastily gathering her earasaid about herself.
He had stolen out from the shadows as quiet as a ghost and was now frowning down at her. Dougal. Lili shivered but not all from the cold and the fright but from something sinful. She gulped and hastily moved back. It was a cold night and Lili had thought she was the only one mad enough to seek it out, or so she thought as here was the chieftain’s son as mad as she was, traversing the garden cladded in trews and a light cloak that was casually throw about his body as though he had had to get up from bed to attend to a matter of great urgency. Lili dimly wandered what that was, but she was well aware and confused with what his presence was doing to her body right now. How could she want to be far away from him as possible and yet longing to be as near to him as physically possible? Why was her breath shortening and coming out in that harsh pant as though she were out of breath? Why was she slightly thrusting her breasts out?
“You are the lass that plays the harp for my father,” he continued speaking not even minding she hadn’t answered his previous question.
Lili stammered out what couldn’t pass as an acceptable response and fell silent wishing she was back on her pallet, where it was warm and there was no confusing feeling, or maybe right here. What was wrong with her?
“Tell me, how is my ailing father doing? Are your ministrations working?”
Lili flushed but answered him this time. ‘He is sound of mind, my lord.’ Why was he here? Why was he quizzing her so?
‘Sound of mind,’ Dougal repeated with a sardonic laugh. ‘But not sound of body.’
‘It is not my place to say, my lord.’ She stammered, looking down, her face aflame.
‘The entire castle is talking about how it is not far now.’ He went on as though she hadn’t spoken.
She stumbled back but a large hand pressed against her back kept her from moving back any further, keeping her in place. Lili shivered again feeling a stab of something in her nether regions. Dougal grinned, his blue eyes brightening in a way that could only be described as devilish. She gulped.
‘Look at you trembling like a mouse. Do I frighten you or I suppose it is from the cold?’
Lili’s mouth was dry, and she looked up at him their eyes meeting in an intense connection that sucked breath from her. Dougal bared his teeth, growling softly and that empowered her somehow.
‘No,’ she said huskily. ‘And not from the cold.’
‘Oh! Then what makes you shiver so little mouse?’
By now, Lili’s body was hot enough to cook porridge on and there was a heady sensation clouding her mind and all sensible thoughts so she threw all caution to the wind and stepped closer until her soft thinly clad body was pressed against the lean hardness of his. The heat emanating from him was enough to drive her over the edge, Lili looked up at him, eyes big with desire and she heard his sharp intake of breath. Before she could blink, his hand was in her hair pulling her even closer and crushed his mouth on hers in a hard and hungry kiss, sending bolts of lightning through her veins and stealing what was left of her sanity. It was an electrifying coupling of their mouths that seared through her and turned her body to liquid. Lili wrapped her arms about his neck and returned the hungry kiss with much fervour.
Dougal’s hands left her hair and back, trailing a sweet line to her waist and hoisting her up. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs about his waist and felt his hardened member press against her molten core. Lili gasped at the lightning that darted through her and even more so when his tongue darted into her mouth. She moaned and ground her core against his manhood, revelling in the little pleasurable prickles that raced up and down her skin, his groan even more so and he thrust back jerking a low moan from her lips. His mouth left hers and began kissing and licking and sucking its way down her jaw to her neck, nipping lightly on the sensitive skin. She trembled, her eyes rolling back into her skull and so lost in her pleasure she wasn’t aware that Dougal was lowering both of them or even of her back hitting the ground, she was only dimly aware of him pushing her earasaid aside and he slipping down her shift to bare her breasts to the cold air. Lili was only concerned of him placing his mouth on her electrified skin.