by Imani King
"I don't even want you looking at price tags, Jenny, alright?"
I nodded, already feeling like a princess and still not entirely convinced it wasn't all a dream. In the end and after much trying-on I settled on a cream jacquard sleeveless Alexander McQueen dress with a full, flouncy skirt that fell only to about my mid-thigh. It wasn't at all the kind of thing I was used to wearing.
"Are you sure?" I asked Darach, "I feel so...exposed." I was also worried about the color - so pale and perfect and prone to stains.
"Jenny, it's gorgeous. Look at that color against your dark skin, it's striking."
He wasn't wrong - stain-prone or not it made me glow. It also made me feel beautiful, with the hem swishing around my thighs expensively and the internal structure making my breasts look ripe and perky even without a bra.
"Alright, now for the shoes." Darach took the dress out of my hands and draped it over his arm and we headed for the shoe department. It took over an hour for me to settle on a pair of light gray patent Louboutin Biancas that managed to straddle the line between pure, iconic sexiness and my need to be able to walk.
We had to go back to Simone's apartment after buying the shoes and the McQueen dress so I could shower and then spend about three hours moisturizing, doing my hair and make-up and just generally making sure that every part of me was smooth and primped. I knew that after dinner we would be heading to the hotel and I knew what was going to happen at the hotel - that was if I managed to make it that far without jumping on Darach.
"Where are we going?" I asked in the car when I'd finally felt ready to leave the house.
"Le Bernardin - have you heard of it? I always eat there when I'm in New York."
Le Bernardin. Of course Darach always ate there. It was one of those places I knew about and always just assumed I would never see the inside of - it had three Michelin stars, a world-famous chef and a clientele I imagined was made up mostly of Russian oligarchs and the oldest of old money.
I felt like a rock star exiting the black town car and walking into Le Bernardin but the best part was the look on Darach's face. That was it. That was the look I'd waited my whole life to see on a man's face - a mixture of pride, happiness and naked lust.
"Dammit, Jennifer. I'm not sure I can last through dinner. Maybe we should just go to the hotel right now?"
I giggled and walked ahead of him into the rarefied air of the restaurant, very conscious of his hand firmly on the small of my back. Before that night I'd always found the idea of spending hundreds of dollars on a single meal faintly absurd, even for people who could afford it. But it was perfect - a series of moving parts all working together so well that it almost appeared effortless. I ordered salmon carpaccio to start and Darach had caviar.
We talked over our meal, only stopping when some new, wonderful thing was brought to the table and I had to take a few minutes to marvel over how delicious it was. Darach told me that he'd hired a new lawyer, one based in London this time and specializing in family law.
"Diane is going to be charged with fraud - Declan, the gardener, has agreed to testify against her in exchange for not being charged. The lawyer is almost certain Diane is going to prison but at the very least she's already lost her temporary custody of Cameron - she can only see her in Scotland now and it has to be supervised."
"I bet she won't come," I said, certain that Diane wouldn't bother making an effort to see her child if the opportunity to pour poison into her ears wasn't there.
"No, she won't. I would be very surprised if Diane ever showed her face at Castle McLanald ever again, actually."
I suddenly remembered the recording on my phone and asked Darach if he - or the police - still had it.
"Yes, the police gave it back and I brought it with me - it's back at the hotel with my things."
I told him about the conversation with Cameron that I'd recorded and asked if it might help the custody case if Diane ever tried to fight it. Darach was grim-faced.
"I always assumed it was something like that. But Cameron would just clam up whenever I tried to coax her into talking to me about what her mother was telling her."
"But you said she seems much happier now, right?" I asked and Darach nodded.
"Yeah, she's tearing around like she used to, getting into everything - the only thing she'd change is having you back, you know."
I couldn't wait to see Cameron again. But in the meantime, I had her father all to myself.
Darach leaned over the table at one point after watching me eat my first oyster:
"We have to get out of here, Jennifer. I'm so hard I'm going to have to walk out with my jacket held in front of me like a horny schoolboy."
I could see from the slightly glazed look in his blue eyes that he wasn't joking.
"Are you?" I asked, teasingly.
Instead of answering Darach picked up his phone and dropped it under the table, making sure it landed close to my chair.
"Oh dear, can you get that for me?"
A waiter appeared out of nowhere but I waved him away and bent down to grab the phone myself. A quick glance in Darach's direction was all I needed - he had his hand on his cock, which was standing out against the dark blue fabric of his pants very obviously. When I sat back up the smile on my face was gone - not because I was unhappy, but because I needed to be alone with Darach, soon.
"Darach," I whispered breathlessly, leaning across the table so no one else could hear me, "we need to go back to the hotel."
That's all he was waiting for. He signaled the waiter and handed him his credit card.
"Sir, is everything alright? There are still two courses to go - and dess-"
"Yes, it was wonderful as always, Jean-Pierre. We'll be back very soon, but something has just come up and we really must leave right away."
"Very good, sir."
We rushed out to the town car giggling and barely got the door closed behind us before Darach's hands were all over me and he was pushing his tongue between my lips.
I reached down and ran my fingers along the length of his erection, watching the look on his face change as he exhaled and leaned back in the seat, pushing his hips forward.
"Oh, God, I missed you Jennifer."
"Yeah?" I kissed his jaw and his warm neck. "Did you?"
I'm surprised we managed not to have sex in the back of that town car. I knew if we kept going we were going to so I pulled back and scooted over on the seat a little. Darach mouthed two words to me:
"Show me."
I glanced guiltily at the driver but his eyes were on the road and he was studiously avoiding looking back at us in the mirror. So I did what Darach instructed me to and opened my knees a little, slowly pulling the hem of my dress up my thighs. I ran my fingers over my sex through my panties, knowing he wanted more.
"Jennifer..."
He wasn't asking. I slipped my forefinger into the crotch of my panties and pulled it aside for a few seconds, allowing Darach a glance at what he wanted to see.
"Jesus Christ, how long is this going to take?" he barked at the driver, visibly angry with frustration now.
"Not long sir, a couple of minutes."
I loved the anger in his voice. I loved the maleness of his frustration and the single-minded intensity of his need. When he reached down and adjusted himself in his pants I felt a twinge between my legs.
We finally got to the room but there was no time to even glance around - Darach had me pushed against the wall, my wrist pinned up above my head, as soon as the door was closed behind us. We were ravenous, starved for each other. When he yanked at the zipper of my dress too hard and I heard the sound of ripping fabric he pushed my hand away:
"Fuck the dress, Jennifer. I'll buy you another one."
As soon as it was off he was pushing me towards the bed, his head bent down so he could kiss my breasts as he went. Then I was on my back and he was between my legs, pushing them open as wide as he could and tearing my flimsy panties off. I pushed my fingers into
his hair as he kissed down my belly and felt my muscles starting to tense with anticipation. Right on the edge of my clit he looked up at me:
"I think I could eat you, Jennifer. I think I could just eat you right now."
But I couldn't respond because his tongue was on my clit and I had my hand pressed against my mouth, stifling a small scream as he used his big shoulders to open my legs even further.
"Darach...Darach..." My voice was quiet as I fought to stay in control. I was no match for him, though, or his tongue. He slid it up and down the side of my clit gently - not too gently, until my hips were rocking up against him and my breath was coming fast and hard. But he didn't let me come. At the very last moment he pulled away, smiling wickedly up at me as I begged and pleaded and tried to push his head back down between my legs.
"No." He said, looking me right in the eye. "Not yet. You come when I'm ready for you to come, Jenny."
Being talked to like that - in that stern tone of voice - just made me more desperate. I was almost incoherent:
"Darach, no, please...please, I need you."
He moved up and put the weight of his body on mine, kissing my mouth hard and grinding down against me. "I know you need me, Jennifer. I love the way you need me."
He made me watch him take his time unbuckling his belt and undoing his pants - there was a light sheen of sweat on his forehead - I could feel the effort it was taking him to stay in control and I knew it wasn't going to last for long.
My legs opened themselves when Darach took his cock out, holding it in his hand and guiding it between my lips.
"Roll over."
"What?" I asked, completely distracted.
"Jennifer, roll over."
I did as I was told, rolling over onto my tummy and pushing my hips - my ass - up into the air.
"Oh, Jenny. Yeah. You look so good like that, baby."
I looked back over my shoulder and watched his eyes close when he pushed himself into me and grasped my hips, pulling me all the way back against him.
Neither of us could last long. Within a few strokes I was right back where he'd brought me with his tongue, skating along the edge of an orgasm I could just feel was going to shake me to my core. I buried my face into a pillow when I felt it about to break over me and balled my hands into fists as Darach held himself all the way up inside me, moaning as my sex started to spasm around him. It was such acute agony coming for him like that, shoulders on the bed and my body arching itself back to him over and over, needing everything he could give me. The sweet little tightenings inside me didn't have time to subside before I felt Darach's fingers digging into my flesh.
"Oh Jenny, Jennifer, you're going to make me come, oh God..." he trailed off into a loud groan as he started to climax, forcing me to brace myself on the bed with my arms so he didn't push me over. It made me crazy the way he sounded when he came, the depth in his voice as he moaned my own name into my ear and kissed the back of my neck.
"Fuck!" Darach swore as he thrust into me one last time, hard enough so it was on the verge of being painful, making sure I took all of him.
We were both damp with sweat in spite of the air conditioning. Darach pulled himself out of me and leaned down to kiss my back before lying next to me to catch his breath. Needless to say, we did not get much - if any - sleep that night. We were both sore the next day, too. There was a certain not unpleasant tenderness between my legs and I kept catching Darach wincing slightly. He caught my eye once when it happened and winked at me, chuckling:
"Woman, I'm going to need hospital treatment if we keep this up!"
Chapter 15
We flew back to the UK two days later and I finally got a ride in Laird McLanald's helicopter when it brought us from London to the castle. Darach pointed it out when we got close enough to see it:
"Look, there it is. Cameron is going to be losing her marbles waiting for you to get there."
I watched Castle McLanald emerge out of the pale, rolling hills that stretched out around it. How did it feel so much like coming home after spending such a short time there - and then only a few days away? I spotted Cameron's blonde head as the helicopter landed - she was being held back by a struggling Mrs. Clyde.
"Miss Robinson!"
I didn't even have time to get out properly before she was throwing herself on me, kissing my cheek and giggling.
"Cameron, let Jennifer get out for God's sake." Darach affectionately chastised his daughter but she wouldn't let go so I just walked with her wrapped around me.
From the delicious smells emanating from the kitchen I could tell Mrs. Clyde had something wonderful for dinner. She hugged me tightly and then, just as I was about to go and have a quick shower, she gently pulled me back, looking slightly worried.
"Och, Jenny, if it's not too much trouble Mr. Clyde would like to have a word with you."
I looked up and saw Mr. Clyde standing in the kitchen doorway. He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together nervously. I felt bad for him and part of me wanted to spare him the apology, but at the same time I knew I deserved one.
"Jennifer," he started, coughing again before continuing. "Jennifer my deepest apologies to you, dear. I wasn't thinking straight. I should have waited for the Laird's word before doing anything. I've offered to resign my position here at Castle McLanald if you feel you would be more comfortable without me here."
I hadn't been expecting Mr. Clyde to offer up his job - his lifelong job - working for Darach, but I could see that he was deeply ashamed.
"My wife had nothing to do with this, I hope you understand, Jennifer. I sent her out to get groceries in town that morning so she wouldn't be here to stop me. I should have let her try."
Darach had already told me Mrs. Clyde was blameless but I understood that she probably needed to hear her husband tell me herself. I wasn't even angry with Mr. Clyde - I had been angry at Darach, when I thought it was his doing, but I understood that Mr. Clyde had a duty to his Laird and to Castle McLanald and not one to me, although he'd always been kind. I knew he must have thought he was doing the right thing. I even knew it was probably very hard for him.
"Mr. Clyde," I started nervously, "I accept your apology. I understand why you did what you did - I understand you were misled. It was very painful for me having to leave here under those circumstances. But I want you to know that I forgive you and I don't want you to leave your job."
Mrs. Clyde had her arms around me before I could finish.
"Thank you, child," she whispered in my ear, "thank you, you have a good heart."
"Aye, she does have a good heart!" Darach walked in, then, and I realized he'd been waiting just out of sight with Cameron in his arms, so Mr. Clyde could get his apology out uninterrupted. When I looked at him I actually think I caught a slight glassiness in his eyes - and in Mr. Clyde's. But the McLanalds - and their employees - were not ones for public displays of heightened emotion. Darach clapped Mr. Clyde on the back and grinned at him.
"What's your wife got cooked up for us tonight then?"
We ate dinner together, all five of us sitting around the long table in the kitchen, not in the more formal dining room. Mrs. Clyde had prepared a whole salmon en croute, caught in one of the rivers on the McLanald estate. No one said anything - no one needed to say anything, because we all felt it - but there was a certain mood in the kitchen, a feeling of family. Of a patchwork family made up of people from different lands and different classes and different bloodlines, but a real, whole family. Cameron looked up from her salmon at one point and said:
"I am bursting with happiness!"
Darach leaned down and kissed the top of her head, looking at me and then at the Clydes before answering his daughter: "So am I, little one."
Chapter 16
Darach didn't leave Castle McLanald for the rest of the summer, deciding it was in Cameron's best interests to have him around - as well as mine. She also didn't end up going to therapy. Nothing heals like love does - I already knew it was
true in my head but that summer with Darach and Cameron and Mr. and Mrs. Clyde gave me a very tangible - and familiar, due to my grandmother - understanding of what it means to care and be cared for. We spent most of our days outdoors, just watching Cameron as she explored the land she would one day inherit and lying in the heather enjoying each other's company.
My relationship with Darach deepened as well. We found ourselves at the top of the Treacle-Eater's Tower one evening just as the sun was starting to set, bathing the landscape in golden light. Cameron was picking wildflowers around the base of the tower and shouting the names of each species up to us as she picked them - she was developing into a small botanist, always carrying her 'Native Plants of Scotland' reference book around under her arm and checking new discoveries with a serious look on her face. It was a week before I was due to return to New York for my final year of college.
"You could finish your degree here, couldn't you?"
I turned to look at Darach, squinting in the evening light and not sure how serious he was.
"Well...I suppose I could. Why?"
"Why?" Darach repeated my question back to me, scoffing and grinning. "Why do you think, Jennifer?"
I didn't know what I thought. I know what I wanted to be true. Before I could say anything else Darach bent down to kiss me and then pulled away only far enough to look me in the eyes.
"I love you. I love you, Jennifer Robinson, and I don't want you to leave."
My vision blurred with tears almost immediately. It was what I wanted. I think I already knew he loved me but I wanted to hear it from him, I wanted to really know it.
"Yeah, this is the usual reaction I get from women when I tell them I love them. Crying."
I laughed through my tears and took a handful of his shirt in my hand, shaking him gently.
"You better not be lying, Darach. I'd rather live with you never loving me than you telling me you loved me and not meaning it."
He raised his eyebrows at me and tucked a long, dark curl behind one of my ears. "Jenny, are you completely insane? Is this a surprise to you? If it is I have to say I'm very disappointed in your powers of perception - I'm pretty sure it's obvious to everyone within a hundred mile radius that I love you,"
