The Castle on the Loch

by Evie North

  But you are in love with him, a voice whispered in her head. Aren't you? Does it not make your heart ache to find he is not as perfect as you believed him to be?

  "Who told you this story?" he asked her, and she realised he was angry. Even angrier than he had been before.

  "I don't think I should say."

  He snorted a laugh, and turned to face her. "Aela," he growled. "I would rid us of her lies and trickery, but my foolish brother loves her."

  Maire stared back at him, his words slowly making sense. "She lied?" she whispered at last, and could not help the sob in her voice. Relief washed through her and yet neither of them moved.

  "She lied," he said with a nod of his head. "Those poor creatures who serve us . . . Sibby found them. They are outcasts, abandoned by their countrymen, and she has taken them in. But do not think it is all from the goodness of her heart," he added with a lift of his eyebrow. "It is difficult to find servants who would come to work at Castle Samhanach of their own free will."

  Maire stared and then she laughed. "I have been a fool," she said.

  "Yes," he agreed, watching her.

  Deliberately she took a step toward him, and then another, until she was standing close. She reached up and touched his face in a gentle caress, and then she stretched up on her toes to kiss his chin, the only spot she could reach.

  He closed his eyes.

  She wrapped her arms about him and nestled against his chest, aware of the rough hairs against her cheek, and the warm salty scent of him.

  "Forgive me, Murchadh," she whispered.

  His arms had come around her now and she felt his lips brush the top of her head. "You will not be taken in again," he said. "It was a lesson you had to learn."

  He was generous with his mercy, she realised. He did not need to be, he could have punished her or made her afraid, or any number of the things that powerful men do to those who are under their authority.

  "What of Aela?" she murmured, and pressed her mouth to his skin.

  "I will speak to Shay," he said reluctantly. "Another warning which she will heed for a time, just as she has all the others, and then conveniently forget."

  "Why is she jealous?" Maire asked.

  He shifted her away and she could see the amusement lurking in his dark eyes. "The belt I gave you," he said, gesturing at the serpent about her waist.

  Maire touched the narrow golden head.

  "It is a symbol. It says that you are mine. I have claimed you, Damsel, and there will be no one else. Aela still hopes that one day I will change my mind."

  "But she has Shay?"

  "He was her second choice."

  Maire frowned. "And he does not mind?"

  Murchadh shrugged. "He loves her, and he hopes to win her heart entirely, one day. How can I tell my little brother that his woman has no heart?"

  Maire looked down at her belt again and touched the serpent's head. She was his, she told herself, and she rather thought he was hers.

  "Come," he said, and she looked up to see he was holding out his hand for hers. "It is time for bed."

  This time there was no reason for her not to give herself to him entirely, without restraint. He was a man to be proud of, and this time he made her body sing until just before dawn.

  "Damsel," his deep voice woke her from her slumber.

  It was still dark but she felt that the morning was not far away.

  "Damsel, I am going now to drive off the Norsemen."

  He was seated beside her on the bed, already dressed. She went to put her arms about him but he held her away.

  "If I do not return then I have left instructions with Cian that you are to be treated with consideration. Do not fear."

  But . . . isn't Cian going with you? I thought that was why you waited for him to return?"

  "I wanted Cian to be here to keep a watch on Aela, but I must do this on my own. That is our way. Your favour was asked of me and me alone, and so I alone must go."

  "Murchadh!"

  The idea that he could be hurt was a new and unpleasant one. He wasn't human, he was a Knight of legend; how could he not come back? Now for the first time it occurred to her that the task she had set him might be dangerous. That it might take his life. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling the power and hard strength of his body, and hardly daring to believe he could be taken from her.

  He murmured her name, kissing her face, and then her mouth. The heat and intensity overwhelmed her. It was Maire who unlaced his breeches and drew them down, only to kiss her way back up his thighs and then cradle his cock in her hands.

  His laugh turned into a groan when she licked him, and then he lifted her onto his chest so that he could kiss her mouth. Maire sat astride him, and then paused, the tip of his cock just inside her, her breasts rising and falling heavily with a mixture of desire and emotion.

  She felt the tension in the hands clasping her hips, saw the rigidity of his features, and yet he waited for her. When she sank down fully upon him he groaned so loudly she thought the whole world must hear, and then she forgot everything in their passion.

  Afterwards Maire didn't want to fall asleep. Frantically she wanted to make the most of every moment left to them.

  "I saw you before I came to Castle Samhanach," she said, lying against him, her face buried in the warm crook of his shoulder.

  He went still and seemed to stiffen but she ignored his reaction, such was her urgency to speak the words.

  "I was by the loch, the night before I reached you, and the sun had set and yet it was still light enough to see. I had walked far and I was tired, but I wasn't asleep, although it felt like a dream . . ."

  "What did you see?" he asked, and his voice sounded sharp.

  "You. Walking up from the beach. I knew you'd been swimming because you were wet, and you were naked."

  "Is that all you saw?"

  She lifted her head to look at him because his voice sounded so odd but he reached up to caress her hair and pressed her down again.

  "It was enough," she said. "You were magnificent, Murchadh. A man like no other."

  He laughed softly, but there was still that strain in his voice, a tension she didn't understand.

  "Shouldn't I have told you?" she asked, suddenly afraid.

  But this time when she lifted her face he kissed her and said he was glad she'd told him. Her doubts faded as their kisses grew more frantic. And when she woke again she was alone, and cold, and he was gone.

  ***

  He was gone for several days and nights, and all the time Maire worried for him. She knew she would never forgive herself if her village was not rescued from the Vikings, and yet to lose Murchadh . . . She oscillated from one to the other, wanting both and yet fearing she would not be so fortunate.

  And then Cian spoke to her in the great hall as they were dining.

  "It is done," he announced with satisfaction. "The Norsemen have been driven off—those who aren't dead. They tried to flee in their long boats but Murchadh sank them all." He smiled, as if the image pleased him. "My brother has granted you your heart's wish, Maire."

  "Oh, I am so glad! He isn't hurt?" she added anxiously, eyes searching Cian's.

  "He is well, lady."

  Maire felt relief surge through her. It was done. Her people could return to their village and live their peaceful lives. She knew that Farquhar would watch over them. Eventually a new Laird would come to rule the lands that had been hers and her father's, and perhaps there would be new difficulties to face, but compared to the threat of the Vikings they would be small indeed.

  "You must thank Murchadh when he returns," Aela spoke. There was a strange gleam in her eyes tonight, a sort of repressed excitement, and Cian frowned at her.

  "Indeed I will," Maire said with quiet dignity.

  Aela gave a strange excited giggle. "But which Murchadh will you thank, Maire?"

  "Aela," Shay looked embarrassed. "You know my brother asked us not to speak of this."

&nb
sp; Maire looked from one to the other. "What do you mean?"

  "It is for him to tell you," Cian said firmly.

  "Why do you think he is never here in daylight?" Aela spoke over him. "Why aren't Shay or Cian here in the castle when the sun is up?" Her green eyes narrowed. "When I came to Castle Samhanach I didn't know the truth either but Shay showed himself to me. You must ask yourself why Murchadh hasn't done the same."

  "This is between my brother and Maire," Cian said angrily, and taking the girl's arm in a firm grip, dragged her from her seat at the table.

  Aela struggled, calling to Shay for help, but he turned away, clearly torn between his loyalty to his brother and his love for her. But Aela couldn't see that, and his lack of support loosened her tongue even further.

  "There was another woman, long ago. A woman he loved. He remembers her still and that is why he doesn't want to tell you, Maire, but I think you should know. I think you should . . ."

  A woman he loved.

  Who would have thought those words could strike at her heart so viciously? She felt as consumed with jealously as Aela, and sickened by it.

  They could hear the girl's voice fading and then a door slamming.

  In the ensuing silence, Shay glanced at her stony face. "Aela is young," he said feebly. "She has much to learn."

  She's over a century old, thought Maire, surely she should have learnt it by now? But she didn't speak her thoughts aloud; there was something far more important she needed to know. "What other woman?"

  "Long ago . . . It was a mistake. She . . ." He took a desperate breath, clearing struggling and out of his depth. "Murchadh trusted her and allowed her to see him and . . . she threw herself from the ramparts rather than stay with him." His face darkened. "She was a fool."

  Maire tried to collect her scrambled wits.

  "You are saying that Murchadh chose another woman, as he chose me, and when he showed himself to her, she . . ."

  She stood up, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She remembered now the way he had been on their last night together, when she told him about seeing him by the loch. He'd been afraid, she realised now. Worried that she had seen the other Murchadh, and that she would abandon him. Or worse.

  "Does he fear I will do the same?"

  Shay looked away.

  "You foolish boy!" It was Sibby, her old face creased even more by her frown. She gave Shay a glare before she turned anxiously to Maire.

  "I told him he should show you. I said you were different, lady, but he wouldn't listen. You mean too much to him and he couldn't bear the thought of losing you."

  Maire felt her lips trembling. Was the other Murchadh so terrifying that death would be more acceptable than living with the handsome and valiant man she had come to know?

  "When will he return?" she asked, looking from one to the other. Then, when no one would answer her, "Tell me now!"

  ***

  The loch lay smooth and grey, the surface with barely a ripple. Beneath her thin slippers the ground felt stony, and she glanced behind her at the gloomy bulk of the castle. She was following the line of the shore, and in time she would come to the place she remembered, where she had first seen Murchadh.

  Sibby had told her that he would return today and they would tell him she would be waiting. She hoped he would come to her. That he would be the 'other' Murchadh, she accepted, and although she was frightened she was also determined.

  He wanted her to remain with him forever, Maire knew that now, so he must be honest with her. To fear she might react like that other woman would not make either of them happy. Maire was made of sterner stuff and Murchadh must recognise it.

  Trust me.

  If Murchadh could not do that then there was no chance of them being together.

  A tear trickled beneath her lashes, and then another, rolling hot down her cold skin. She brushed them away, and kept walking.

  It took her longer than she had expected, and by the time she reached the spot she remembered, the light was fading. She'd barely sat down on the bank above the beach to await Murchadh when there was a huge splash out in the water. Something rose up from the loch.

  A great grey creature with a long snakelike tail and the head of a serpent.

  She froze, staring. Whatever it was she had been expecting it was not this, and yet of course if made sense. The belt she wore, and the carvings upon Murchadh's chair, had been clues she had missed. The animal sank beneath the surface again but almost immediately it drove up, far out of the water, revelling in its strength and skill. There was beauty too in the flash of silver along its side and its thick fins. With another enormous splash it returned to the loch and she understood that in this form he was perfectly free.

  Then the long tail was powering the beastie through the water in her direction.

  Maire gasped. Her legs shook with the urge to run but the time to flee had long passed. She held herself in place, watching as the creature made a sudden turn as it reached the shore. It swam alongside and she could see it quite clearly. The eyes were a dark, bottomless black.

  Just like Murchadh's.

  He was so big. She had not thought he would be such a massive beast and yet she found that after all she wasn't afraid he would harm her. Carefully, her legs still shaky, she stepped down from the bank onto the beach, and he came closer still, until his body was halfway out of the water, resting upon the sand.

  As Maire stood before him she hesitated. And he waited.

  Slowly, carefully, she put out a hand and ran it across his skin. It felt smooth and slick, and yet there was warmth beneath that scaly surface. And a living, beating heart.

  The narrow head came down on its long neck and he nudged her fingers gently, and then moved his face back and forth against them, like a caress.

  Maire gave a little sobbing laugh.

  The light was fading, the sun sinking lower, and she sensed something happening. A moment later he was pushing himself off the sand with a great heave of his strong fins. Water splashed up, wetting her, and then he turned and set off across the loch, leaving a white trail in his wake. As she watched, spellbound, he shot up again toward the sky, and dived back into the water one final time.

  She began to make a small fire, feeding the flames until it gave off enough heat to ward off the chill of the coming night. He would be cold, she thought. It was almost full dark now, and it was time for him to be a man again. Her man.

  It was the cry of a night bird that gave him away and she turned to see him wading out of the water. His naked body gleamed and his dark hair was slicked to his head.

  Maire stood up, but he didn't come closer, just watched her from the edge of the loch. She thought she could read all of his doubts and hopes in his eyes as the firelight flickered in their dark depths.

  "Damsel?" he said. His voice was hoarse, and he gave a great shiver. "It is over. Your people are freed of the threat of the Norsemen. I have done as you asked of me."

  "So you have," she said. "Murchadh, I never doubted it."

  His gaze was on her face. "You will stay?" he whispered harshly. "I have been so lonely for so long. I was afraid you would find me as loathsome as that other . . ." He shook his head as if to rid himself of the memory. "I feared you would leave me. Damsel, will you stay now?"

  Maire said, "I will stay always." She walked down to the loch and into the water to wrap her arms about him, and as he bent to kiss her mouth, she said, "My love, my love."

  He held her tightly. "You love me?" he said, with the beginnings of belief.

  "From the first moment, Murchadh."

  At that he heaved a great sigh, but it was a different sigh from the one she remembered.

  "We will be happy," he said, and it was no longer a question. And then he smiled.

  About the Author

  Evie North writes sexy romance with a happy ending. She is the author of the Knights of Passion series one and two, available on Amazon and Smashwords. She has also written two novellas of th
e Brothers Mortmain trilogy published by Samhain. These books are darker and more angsty, but you'll smile at the end.

  You can visit her at her Website:

  http://evienorth.com/

  or her FaceBook page :

  https://www.facebook.com/Evie-North-401015099984268/

  To view and purchase any of Evie North’s books on Amazon go here :

  http://www.amazon.com/Evie-North/e/B00AYMIOOS/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1469478791&sr=1-2-ent

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, without permission of the author.

  Copyright © 2016 Evie North

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is purely coincidental.