“Pull back!” he shouted.
The English paused in confusion before starting their retreat. The Scots began to cheer and celebrate. The English had all but surrendered.
They began to ride back, only a quarter of their number remaining. The Duke rode through tears that his daughter had not been recovered. Through the path in the woods, thirty English bodies were piled, and the brute was gone.
Failure hung in the air with the stench of death.
Chapter 22
Isabel and Edan continued to walk, but the sky was turning to the color of a bruise, and clouds were moving in. It did not take long for the rains to begin to fall with gentle drops splashing on leaves.
They sought the cover of trees and sat against a trunk. Their lips met again, and Isabel settled against Edan. His invitation was a sensual challenge—and at this moment — hard to resist.
She rested her head in the crook of Edan’s elbow. His muscular biceps acted as a pillow for her pale curls.
“Nothin’ in me heart could hae prepared me for this,” he whispered.
“Nor I,” she replied softly.
He moved just slightly, cautiously, then with intensity, pulling her under the weight of his body. He gently rested her head on the grass beneath, and she looked up at him with her green and gold-flecked eyes. The deep blue of his gaze held her.
In a fever, his gaze drifted to her neck, followed passionately by his lips. First, it was hungry kisses, but quickly changed into licks and light nibbling with his teeth that had no desire other than to devour her. Isabel moaned at the sensation of his mouth, the stubble at his jaw scratching soothingly along her collarbone.
Her fists tightened around the white of his free-flowing shirt, and she felt the fabric give way to her strength as one of her fingernails tore right through it.
He pulled off the inconvenient cloth, exposing muscled tone upon his bare chest. Quickly he returned upon her, the weight of him being something she needed and could not breathe without. His scent was surrounding her, and she inhaled, deeply and desperately.
Isabel rolled over on top of him for a moment, with her skirts hiked up. She slowed the pulse as she sat straddling his waist and feeling the pronounced bump against her. Her hands kneaded up and down his chest, feeling the smooth strength against her palms. She found his eyes again, the blue of a thousand oceans came over her like waves.
She recognized the natural movements of her body as the waves became pulses of excitement. His breathing became shallow, and his eyes blinked at the sensation of her until he could hold them open no more.
Mouth open to inhale, Edan wrenched the dress over her head and pulled her torso against his. His sweet mouth found hers, and his hands gripped her backside, bringing her hard against him.
Isabel gasped in the same moment Edan moaned. Despite their shallow breaths, they continued to kiss lips, necks, cheeks, ears, eyelids. Both were hungry.
The waves continued to roll through her body, growing in strength. His trousers and her undergarments remained a barrier between them, but she felt her wetness in the fabric as he pulled her deeper into the grind.
Edan moaned again. “Aye, lass, it’s perfect. Yer a natural,” he complimented through his shallow breaths. He tightened his muscles to push his pelvis harder into hers as a response to her movements.
For a moment he allowed his right hand to travel to her bare breast and give a few squeezes to satisfy himself, but he returned to having both hands planted firmly on her hips. With his fingers wrapped around her curves while his thumbs brushed along the soft hair above the part of her that was still a mystery to him. His right thumb tugged down on her underwear until he could feel the source of the moisture that he longed for.
“Slower,” he begged suddenly.
Isabel froze in place, and her eyes widened.
“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you? Is it not g-good?” she asked, feeling immediately insecure and embarrassed.
Edan opened his eyes in confusion. “I said nothing of the sort. It’s just that I’m craving ye closer.” His words were a decrescendo, getting quieter as his fingers slipped inside the last remnant of fabric on her body. He pulled them down as she awkwardly shifted and returned to her place, straddling him.
Her cheeks bloomed like roses with an intense redness at the awareness of his eyes on her bare form. She considered that she might be making a mess of his trousers with her legs being so wide open upon him.
He solved that problem, using his hands to undo the top of his trousers, intentionally brushing against her feminine wonder as he did. He watched her face as her eyes rolled for a moment and she inhaled a sharp breath. Reaching behind her buttocks, he tugged the fabric to his knees. It would have been an awkward movement were it not for the intense desire soon to be fulfilled for them both.
Edan shifted his weight slightly down, so his firm tower set against the little knob of nerves at the top of her opening. He used his hand to position it better so the length of it was held along her labia.
Isabel shuddered at the sensations she was feeling. Edan smiled.
“Now ye ought to start moving again,” he asked.
She opened her eyes to look at his manhood. A flutter of fear passed over her face, but her body’s natural urge for movement had taken hold and instantly she found herself powerless to its will.
He was not yet inside of her, but she felt the need spreading like a flame, deliciously licking up and down every inch of her flesh, starting at the source, the small, previously-unknown mound hidden in the part she was not meant to sense.
Moving against him, skin against skin, the waves returned stronger than before. Isabel could not hold back as she let out a yelp of need with her head jerking back and facing up toward the sky. He continued to pull her against him until finally the crescendo reached its peak and she felt a sensation she had never experienced.
A cry of satisfaction escaped her lips and quivering breaths eased her into the final pulses that brought her back to herself.
Opening her eyes again and nearly collapsing upon Edan, Isabel saw that his blue eyes were still trained on her. Additionally, his tower remained, strong and firm against her pelvis.
“You are not satisfied?” she asked with humiliation. How could she have so lost control and not ensured that he, too, reached that incredible moment? Was she really that selfish? Or was she simply unable to please him?
“I be more than satisfied. But, me lass, I have nae intention of ending there. I have to keep myself ready for when ye recover, ye ken? It just so happens I have a bit more planned for ye this evenin’. And ye cannae guess what it’s going to be like,” he teased.
“I cannot imagine it feeling as brilliant as what you just did to me,” she breathed with a smile.
“I didnae do that, it was entirely ye, me lass. And ye looked right bonnie doin’ it,” he commented, brushing the hair from her face with his hand.
“Th-thank you,” Isabel replied. “And what is this ‘more’ that you have planned?”
“Are ye nervous?” Edan asked.
“Truthfully?”
“Aye. Truthfully.”
“I am quite scared. I have never…been with a man,” she explained quietly.
“That’s beautiful,” Edan said. “Ye ken, most men seek a woman who has never experienced another.”
“Why is that?” she asked.
“I suppose it is a chance for us to know we’ve been her first. That she’s never been touched before and she trusts us to be the one,” he said. He had many other thoughts but figured much of it was better left unsaid.
“And…have you…” she began cautiously.
“Aye, lass. There arnae many men among me clan who havnae,” he said.
“Then how do you find women who have not?” she asked.
“We wait for the perfect English rose to get lost in our woods,” he said, bringing his lips back to hers.
Isabel broke away.
“I don’t know tha
t I am ready,” she said with embarrassment.
“I see,” Edan replied with a hint of sadness. “Dinnae worry. If ye arnae ready then that’s how it is. I’ll nae force ye to do anything.”
He returned to his back as the rain dwindled. Isabel lay by his side, wondering if she had said the wrong thing. She wanted him, felt that need for him that she had never experienced before. And yet, she knew that once she stepped forward into giving him her body, she could never take it back.
“It’s not that I do not wish it,” she said suddenly.
“I ken, lass. Dinnae worry, truly. It may happen in time,” he said, pushing aside his disappointment.
“But what we did experience. That was quite wonderful,” Isabel said.
“Aye,” Edan said with a smile. “It was at that.”
“But you were not satisfied,” Isabel remembered.
“I am plenty satisfied. Watching ye, that was enough,” he said.
“No. No, it was not,” Isabel replied. She threw the tartan over their bodies and ran her hand down his chest until she found it there, his manhood returning to its stiff position.
Edan moaned again while Isabel learned to follow his sounds to see what he liked. In a short time, they fell asleep in one another’s arms, both content and satisfied.
Chapter 23
Caitriona road north, stopping now and then to ask passersby if they had seen a carriage with a red-headed Scotsman and a blonde lass who was most likely staying fairly quiet.
A few were able to direct her, and after a short time was told that the two had been seen without any such carriage, but the quiet lass seemed to have taken a chill. They were staying at the Ulbster Arms.
Caitriona found the inn and crept behind Edan who was distracted by his pint. She placed her hands over his eyes and Edan instinctively responded by flipping her around to his front with a dagger at her throat.
“Ha! Perhaps ye are ready for battle after all!” Caitriona exclaimed.
“What in the actual hell are ye doing here?” he asked in frustration and surprise.
“I’ve come to get ye back! Bloody cowards retreated!” she declared.
“Truly?” Edan asked with clear excitement.
“Truly! Now where’s yer little wench?” Caitriona asked.
“She is upstairs. In our room,” he replied.
Caitriona cocked an eyebrow. “In yer room, eh? And what may I ask occurred in yer room?”
“Nothing I wish to tell ye about. She’s ill so ye can be sure I’ve not taken advantage of her…at least not since we got here,” Edan replied.
“Aye, I was told a handsome Titan had been seen with a pretty little quiet lass who’d taken ill. Nothing serious I hope?” she asked.
“No, just a cold from the chill. We were caught in the rain at one point. Our coach was stolen by some brigands,” Edan said.
“Ye mean like the brigands who stole it from her in the first place?” asked Caitriona.
“Ha! Those brigands were a far better sort,” he said, defending his clansmen.
“If ye insist! Anyhoo, I’ll head up to see her if ye think she’ll have me!” Caitriona declared.
“As ye wish. Tell her I’ll be up when I finish me pint,” Edan replied.
Caitriona took the key from Edan and went up the wooden staircase to their room. She unlocked and opened the door to receive quite a shock.
Isabel was posed naked on the bed.
“Starkers!” shouted Caitriona.
Isabel screamed and pulled the blankets over her ivory skin.
“Well I’m thinking ye didnae expect me to be the one walking through the door!” Caitriona exclaimed.
“Oh, good heavens, I am so humiliated!” cried Isabel.
“Aye, and ye should be, exposing yerself to a lady like that,” Caitriona laughed.
“I-I didn’t mean to be so…I mean…I am not a harlot. Please, Caitriona you must understand!” she begged.
“I ken, I ken. Ye have been traveling with him and things happen,” Caitriona said.
“Yes, but even still. It was a mistake. I just…I knew it was what he wanted and now that I’m feeling better, I thought I might surprise him. But, oh, I am such a fool!” Isabel said, her face crimson with shame.
“Dinnae worry, lass! Ye should be more ashamed that ye were planning to do that dance with him not even kenning yer name yet. But I dinnae blame ye for wanting to please the man ye clearly love,” Caitriona said.
“I never said I love him,” replied Isabel.
“So ye are fine and happy to give yer body to a man ye dinnae love? Then maybe ye are a harlot after all,” Caitriona joked.
Her low opinion of her caused Isabel to weep in her humiliation.
“I’m only teasing ye. I’ve never loved a man I kissed, and I ken many ladies who do it with men they arnae in love with. Calm yerself. I’m only teasing ye,” Caitriona soothed.
“But…but my father would be so ashamed,” Isabel wailed.
“Is yer faither here?” Caitriona asked.
“No,” Isabel sniffed.
“Then he never need ken. In fact, I willnae even tell me brother unless ye wish me to,” she promised.
“Oh, please do not! I couldn’t bear for him to know what you saw of me!” Isabel begged.
“Ye have me word. But lass, dinnae toy with me brother’s heart. Ye ken he loves ye, even if ye say ye dinnae love him back. I’m a mighty fierce warrior of a woman and ye dinnae want to make me angry,” Caitriona warned.
“I promise. I will not toy with his heart. Trust me, Caitriona. I would not have been willing to give him my body if I did not care for him,” Isabel said.
And she knew it was true. As much as she had thought to kill Edan, she couldn’t deny that her heart was crossing over into the realm of love.
“Good. Then good wits to jump and I trust that ye will look after him well when ye are all married and well to do with English money in our castle,” Caitriona said, having decided on the future of Edan and Isabel.
“That does sound quite nice,” Isabel replied.
“Aye, indeed. Anyhoo, get herself dressed before me brother comes up here. I suspect that if he sees ye, he’ll be shaking in the sheets and I’d rather not be present when he does that,” she said.
Isabel gave a sneeze and then dressed herself in the gown with the knife still tucked in a fold of the skirt. She had secured the fabric to act as a sheath for her weapon. At this point, she was completely torn between her duty to her family and her daily growing affections for Edan and her weakening in attraction.
What is the matter with me? It is simple. Seduce him and kill him. Do not let yourself indulge in anything beneath that. You are stronger than this. You are stronger than your body. Isabel reminded herself. She pushed away the real question.
Am I stronger than my heart?
Edan joined them before long and they left the inn before realizing they had only Caitriona’s horse. She had brought money and bought another horse for Edan, allowing Isabel to ride with her.
“This beast better be worth it. As if we dinnae have plenty of them back home,” Caitriona complained.
“Aye, but we’ve two less now than we had before. Filthy heathens, stealing from us poor travelers,” Edan said.
“Aye, poor ye. With yer castle and yer bonnie lass and yer small army that slaughtered hundreds of English filths.” Caitriona offered as an aside to Isabel, “No offense,”
“I take no offense,” she replied.
“Aye and right ye shouldn’t. Ye ken I’m a beast of a woman,” Caitriona replied.
“Oh, I ken!” Isabel replied with sarcastic enthusiasm.
“And what can ye tell me of the battle?” interrupted Edan.
“It was fierce, but we were mighty! Ye should have seen us. At the castle we didnae even get to fight because the first and second fronts came in so strong. And now we’ve sent a spy to the Duke’s home to ensure we ken if he tries it again,” Caitriona said.
“And how many were killed? Anyone of importance?” Isabel asked. The question had been ringing in her head, but she was unsure how to subtly learn the fate of her father and uncle.
“Well, we took out easily three-quarters of their army. We lost a great number in doing so, but still, their remnants were our beginnings. We were a fraction of their size.”
“The Duke and his brother were not among their number,” Caitriona added to Edan.
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