To Catch a Highlander: A Highland Erotic Romance

by Krystal LaCroix

  “Do I look like a child to you now?” I asked. Teasingly I began running my fingers through my triangular badge of adult womanhood, fluffing out the hair enticingly. It was rather larger than Penny’s and I had always found that a bit embarrassing, but in this moment I was grateful for the abundance of hair to play with. Through his feigned outrage, I had little doubt he liked it as well.

  “At least tell me this,” he said, having finally succeeded in averting his glance to a crack in the wall on his left and my right. “You have known me all your life, and I have never known you to have this sort of interest in me. Had I known, it might well have solved many of your problems back home. I would have married you, you know, lovely young lady that you are underneath your rebellious streak, at least provided your father approved. But I had no idea!”

  “Nor did I, until today,” I said. “But the conversations we’ve had on our journey, well, they have been a revelation to me. And also…well, this is more embarrassing than my being naked before you, if you want to know the truth, but…being your prisoner after lunch, it awakened something in me. I don’t even rightly know just what that something was, but the sense of wonderful vulnerability was quite…educational, shall we say? I felt outraged and hurt at the entire situation, but I also felt wonderfully safe at your mercy. And that got me to thinking of how I can’t help but admire your loyalty to Father despite his being the sort he is.”

  I stepped into the tub and eased my way down into the water, facing him. He had given up on trying to ignore my body by then and was fixated on my breasts, which were bobbing enticingly right at the water level, each wave of warmth an enticing shock to my nipples.

  “This is wrong in every way, Brianna. You know that as well as I.”

  “No one needs to know except us, and we’ll always have the beautiful memory.”

  “What if I should get you with child?”

  “Everyone will think it was Gordan’s doing. Except me, and I would much rather it be yours than his in any case.”

  “By rights you should be a virgin for your husband.”

  “You are already too late to destroy that virtue, I’m afraid.”

  “Who?!” He looked appropriately shocked.

  “It’s none of your business, but I’ve had my fun with a number of Father’s men. I only humiliate the ones who deserve it. Those who are kind and know how to treat a lady, well, I know how to treat them!”

  “And none has ever got you in trouble?” he mused, and I could see he was losing the battle with his conscience.

  “None ever has,” I confirmed. “I’ve never once missed my…well, let’s just say I know I have never been with child.”

  “What on earth would your father say?!”

  “I could not possibly care less.”

  He looked at me, his disapproving grimace turning slowly to a smile. “Nor could I, Brianna, nor could I. I owe your father a certain allegiance, but by now I suppose you know I have little genuine respect for the man.”

  “Do you have any respect for me?”

  “A great deal, for being true to yourself and refusing to accept the limitations we place on our women in this world. A great deal indeed. And you are beautiful as well.”

  “Thank you, Lord Galbraith.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, you’ve seen me naked! You may call me Ewan!”

  We both dissolved into comfortable laughter, and I turned around and leaned back to let him embrace me from behind. His large, rough hands were surprisingly gentle on my breasts, and I couldn’t help but suspect he’d had a great deal of practice with the ladies of our town, but I didn’t mind in the least. He remained rock hard against the small of my back and I longed to play with it, but that could wait. For the time being I enjoyed the pleasant kneading sensation of his hands, and hoped he would soon feel bold enough to reach downward.

  Soon enough, he did. I had hoped his greater experience than the young men I had been with would translate to gentler intimate strokes than I had known before, and I was very pleasantly correct. His fingers tickled the folds of my womanhood ever so gently and enticingly, never quite touching the sweet spot men so often go straight for, and then rub far too hard…it was almost as if I had told him just what to do, and I could scarcely believe we’d never discussed the matter before! Before I was fully aware of it, my knees were wiggling above the waterline in a hungry rhythm and I was pressing my body back against his while exhaling one delighted moan after another.

  “Oh, Ewan…to bed, please!”

  “I’d best give you a quick wash first,” he said.

  To my mild frustration, he withdrew his hands from my ladygarden; but he then proceeded to soap and rinse every inch of my body, which did feel wonderful after the long hot day on the road. He saved my hair for last, and I exulted in the pleasant feeling of his hands rubbing the soap gently in and then rinsing it out. When we were done, he bade me step out of the tub and then patted me dry from head to toe with the room’s lone towel. An old and matted one, it was nothing like the fresh linens I had grown up with; but that, like our humble surroundings, only endeared me further to the joy of the moment.

  More than comfortable in my nudity by now, I brushed my hair, which remained damp but the dry air from the fire would soon put an end to that; and then it was my turn to dry Ewan off. His earlier inhibitions gone, he offered only an adoring gaze as I patted him dry.

  “I must say, Ewan, this is perfectly delightful!” I remarked when I was nearly done. “Most men just want to jump into bed and then they don’t even like for me to look at them. It’s as if they’re ashamed of themselves.”

  “Most likely they are,” he said. “Ashamed of the way they’re thinking of you in that moment, if I know the type.”

  “Would you be that type?” I asked him, suddenly a bit concerned.

  “I shan’t lie to you; in my younger days, I was,” he confessed. “Live and learn.”

  “Excellent answer,” I said, and tossing the towel aside I took him in a lusty embrace and we enjoyed our first kiss there by the tub. When it was over, I took his hard cock in my hand as if it were a leash. “Now then,” I said, “Your turn to be at my mercy!” I led him to the bed.

  When we arrived there, Ewan gently peeled my hand away from his cock, but then he slipped his arms around me again as if to reassure me it was not a reproof. A reproof, though, it was: he held me gently for a few quiet moments, then drew back to arms’ length, his hands on my shoulders.

  “Brianna,” he said, sounding more gentle than he looked in that moment. “We mustn’t. I am sorry, but we simply mustn’t. There is simply too much history with your father and myself, to say nothing of Gordan.”

  I was accustomed to such last-moment reproofs, for Father’s men often became frightened when they thought of what being caught with me would mean. I had long since learned to overcome such inhibitions, and instinctively I made to do the same to Ewan. I took his still-hard cock in both my hands.

  “Clearly not all of you is so reluctant!” I teased, tickling it gently on the underside where I knew it to be most sensitive of all.

  Momentarily, I succeeded in making him lose control, and he wiggled adorably before me. But then he clamped down both his hands upon mine, and removed them in a gentle but firm manner. “I suppose the damage has been done with respect to our gazing upon one another’s body,” he admitted, his eyes giving me an appreciative assessment as he said it. “If you should wish for us to lounge about in the nude together this evening, I shan’t complain. Indeed, that is perhaps most appropriate, for there is a great deal of secretiveness for us to overcome should there ever be any hope for us to fall truly in love. But tonight I shall go no further.”

  Given the way he continued admiring me in the warm firelight as he lay back on the bed while explaining himself, I still doubted that, and my resolve only grew. “Should there ever be any hope,” I repeated. “Then you concede there is a chance?”

  “I cannot very well unsee yo
ur beautiful feminine secrets,” he conceded, propping himself up on his elbows to address me and, I was certain, to continue admiring me. I felt utterly comfortable and shameless as I stood above him, drinking in his adoring gaze like sweet wine. “And as I have told you, I have always admired you greatly, from the daring young girl you were to the strong and beautiful lady you are. But I am sure you can appreciate, Brianna, you have put me in a most difficult situation, revealing yourself both literally and figuratively only now, when I am to deliver you into the arms of one of my worst enemies.”

  “Your worst enemies?!” I felt naked rather than nude of a sudden, and was tempted for the first time to grab up my dress and take cover. But I didn’t. “Whatever happened to the honest gentleman who will take good care of me?!”

  “I was striving to convince myself of that,” Ewan confessed. “A gentleman will do what he must to avoid the truth in a situation he is helpless to change. Given what we have shared now – are sharing at this moment – I find I cannot but be honest with you. Gordan is a monster, a wretched piece of work, and I am truly sorry to be delivering one as beautiful as yourself into his keeping. But as I told you over supper, I have no choice at all in the matter.”

  “I suppose this involves your deep dark secrets of my father’s doing,” I said. Feeling ready to cry, I lay down beside him on the bed and hoped he would at least comfort me if necessary.

  “I am afraid it does,” he confirmed, and with his right hand he stroked my side gently, sending wonderful sensations throughout my body. I savoured them, for it was clear to me now that this was all the intimacy I could expect from him. “I would tell you, my dear, if I thought it would change anything. But I know all too well it will not.” His caresses stopped of a sudden, and he clenched his hands into fists and stood up. “On my word, Brianna, had you but told me of your love for me two days ago, so very many things could be different!”

  “They still can be!” I jumped up and met him at the foot of the bed, and slipped my arms around him again. After a quick squeeze, I drew back so that he might once again admire my breasts and curves. “Look at me, Ewan! This can be yours! I can be yours! I’ll follow you anywhere you may wish to go, and we should never have to answer to Father or Gordan again!”

  For a wonderful moment, I thought I had won. Ewan gazed again upon my body and into my waiting eyes, and his face softened into something resembling the smile I had known since my days with Penny in the meadow. But just as I was sure he was about to agree, he shook his head and turned away. “I cannot,” he declared firmly. “I am more sorry than you shall ever know, Brianna, but I cannot. And I shall tell you again, you do not want to know why I cannot. Suffice to say we would both be very sorry before long. It would perhaps be the only fate worse than the one to which you are already resigned. Gordan may be a tactless behemoth of a man, but at least he bears you no resentment as he does me. Should he learn I stole you from him – and right or wrong, that is exactly how he would see it – he would hate you as he hates me, and you would bear the brunt of it all as his wife.”

  I do not give in easily to discouragement – there is no other way I could have survived life with Father, after all – but I know when I am beaten. “I see,” I said, choking back tears and laying a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and once again we embraced, this time with a sense of comforting one another rather than of titillation. “I do not suppose you can tell me why Gordan bears you such resentment.”

  “I cannot,” he concurred. “That is all a part of the story I alluded to at supper. And I shall tell you again, Brianna, you do not want to know. It would accomplish nothing to make you as angry as you have ever been in your life.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  “No, you do not,” he corrected. “And you do not want to, I assure you.”

  “That is what I meant,” I said. “Now then, Ewan,” I continued, my confidence once again bubbling to the surface as I recalled my earlier vow to escape again. I relished that idea a great deal less now that we had shared such intimacies, but if he was not to be moved, what other option did I have? “Given that we both agree mine is a fate most wretched and you have confessed your feelings for me, why not make the most of these last days of my freedom?” With a grin I stepped back and ran my fingers playfully through my pubes. I had never known a man who could resist such a display!

  Not until now, in any event. “Gordan is evil, my darling, but he is not stupid. He would know my face anywhere, and if it should appear upon ‘his’ child…”

  “Ewan!” I was now more angry than sad, and rapidly losing my desire to bed him, but I had never taken no for an answer to this question before. “You are being utterly ridiculous here! Gordan will never be able to prove anything, even in the unlikely event of my having a babe in any event!”

  “A man like that does not need to prove anything, and how should you be so sure you won’t get with child?”

  “A man would never understand, even if I were willing to explain,” I said. “But I do. There is no risk of it tonight, or hardly any in any event.”

  “Likewise, Brianna, you would never understand what Gordan might be capable of if he suspected anything of us on this journey. Indeed, as it is, he most likely already does suspect as much! We mustn’t leave anything to chance.” He took my face gently in his hands and gazed into my eyes. “I love you, Brianna. But we mustn’t consummate that love. You may never understand why not; but if you did, rest assured you would thank me for my reticence.”

  “Regardless of all that, Ewan, I could offer you a night you would never forget!”

  “I shall already never forget your beautiful body, that much I can promise you!” He pulled back the lone blanket on the bed. “If you should care to lie together in a chaste embrace, I should be most delighted with that memory as well.”

  Though I felt defeated and even humiliated, the thought of his skin against mine all through the night was delightful. Accepting that was all I could expect, I gave up and climbed into bed and into his waiting arms. They enfolded me in heavenly comfort against the harsh reality I faced in the coming days, and as I returned the gesture, I did the best I could to enjoy the moment. At least I might have this pleasant memory to get me through the coming days and weeks that might pass before I could take my leave of Gordan. I knew not how long that might take, but as I fell asleep in Ewan’s arms, once again I vowed that I would not be any man’s property – most especially not Gordan’s.

  That promise remained foremost on my mind the following morning. I awoke first, with the earliest grey of dawn visible beyond the curtains, and in the night we had at some point rolled off to our own sides of the bed. So Ewan was never aware as I got out of bed and made my way behind the screen for the privy. The joy and frustration of the night before still being very much alive in me in those first moments, I had second thoughts about escaping. We had, after all, shared a great deal, and he had ignited a great deal of hope in me that I might yet prevail upon him to run off with me. And oh, the lovely sight of his body and his adoring gazes upon mine!

  It was only after I had washed my hands in the basin and stepped back before the screen, and saw the heavy iron shackles awaiting me at the foot of the bed, that I knew what I had to do. Ewan was still snoring away harmlessly, and as I stood there naked and utterly free and – I was sure – loved by that man in the bed, I knew going back on the road with him was out of the question. Even if he elected not to chain me up again, the mere knowledge that he had the option after all that we had shared the night before was utterly intolerable.

  Calm as could be, knowing I could simply claim to have been dressing for the day should he wake up, I hurried on my clothes. I paused long enough to assure that my change purse still had all my money inside it; and on confirming that it did, I was forced to consider robbing Ewan. My own savings would not get me far past Inverness, and I shuddered to think what I might have to do to make a living there on my own. But as I made for his pants on the c
hair by the bed, I chanced a long look at his peaceful, beautiful body, and I knew I could never do it. Surely a resourceful young woman like myself would find some solution that would not involve hurting the one and only man I could say I had loved.

  I did, however, steal the shackles. It seemed all too likely I would need them at some point in my travels. With the hated metal contraption clutched in one hand, I eased the door open slowly and stepped out into freedom. Ewan stirred just a bit as I was pulling the door shut, and my heart skipped a beat in terror. But he did not awaken, and I had a clear path to an escape. I lost no time in finding the inn stable and coaxing Honey out of her stall, and we were well on the way to Inverness before the sun was fully up.

  It occurred to me, far too late, that I could have shackled Ewan to the bed. But even when that came to mind, I knew I never could have done that after what we had shared the night before. Whatever miserable fate he was charged with leading me into, our baring of our bodies and our souls had been entirely sincere and I could never have found the strength to do such a thing. Besides, the wily gentleman surely had a key hidden somewhere!

  All along the road to Inverness, I gave little consideration to the possibility that Ewan would catch up with me. After what we had shared, there would always be a silver lining to that, or so I told myself time and again on the long winding paths through the hills. If I were to face life with Gordan, even the slimmest chance of one more night with Ewan seemed most worthwhile indeed. As I drew nearer the city, from my first glimpse of the castle off in the distance, such concerns grew farther from my mind. With the vast panorama of buildings and bridges and the vast Ness drawing ever closer, so grew my confidence that I was going to succeed in my escape. Ewan could never find me here! I had little doubt that he would try; my flimsy suggestion to the contrary yesterday notwithstanding, I now knew the man well enough to understand that he would by now be fully aware of where I was going. But even a noblewoman can get lost in a big enough crowd!