by Terry Spear
“Every moment that I lay awake in the abandoned croft, or the shelter I built here, I think of you. Of being with you. Of seeing your elusive smiles and your scowls, or hearing your soft laughter or scoldings. I couldna want anyone more than I want you. I love you, Avelina. I didna think I’d ever feel that way about a woman so deeply that I canna get her out of my mind. I imagined being in battle and the only thing I could see was your beautiful blue eyes willing me to return to you.”
“Then ‘tis decided. I agree to be your wife, though remember, it still might be the death of you.”
“I am hard to kill.” He rose to his feet and was about to take her up in his arms, but she tugged at him to come with her back to the shelter. He suspected she was afraid she’d wear him out overly much if he carried her. When it came to taking care of her, he had the strength of ten men.
Right before they reached the shelter, he pulled his hand away from hers and lifted her into his arms and carried her inside. Then he set her down next to the bedding. He needed to expand it for the two of them.
“I think you planned all of this.”
He chuckled. “If it had been in my power, aye.”
She helped him prepare the bedding, but then he was hurrying to remove his belt and once he’d set it aside, she began to remove his plaid. When she’d dropped it near their bedding, he took her face in his hands and kissed her mouth long and deep. He didn’t want to rush this, their first time, not when they had all night, and not when he wanted to show her how much he truly loved her.
She melted in his hands and clung to his waist, kissing him back, as tentatively as before, then growing more adventurous, their tongues colliding and hers seeking entrance into his mouth. She tasted of sweet honeyed mead, and he wanted to devour her, his body burning with need. He only had to think of her, and he was aroused. But kissing her, touching her, feeling her warm body pressed against his, he was past needing to have her.
He pulled slightly away from her to help remove her plaid and her brother’s shirt. The air was growing chillier, the wind whipping about outside and the lightning grew closer, the thunder following much sooner. Wolf was sitting at the entrance of the shelter, observing the storm, appearing fascinated.
“He loves storms, crazy wolf,” she said.
“Good.” Quinn could imagine a cowering wolf trying to get under the covers with them for his protection.
Then Quinn dropped her plaid next to his, and they sat to remove their boots. He wanted to get her under the covers as quickly as possible, so she wouldn’t get chilled. The fire had already gone out.
Once they’d removed their boots, he touched her full breast, admiring her beauty, the red gold curls at the apex of her thighs, and looked up to see that she was looking him over too, though as much as she’d seen him naked, she didn’t seem concerned, except that this time he was fully aroused. She looked more intrigued than anything.
“Do you know what happens next, lass?” he asked, gently moving her onto her back and settling in beside her, then pulling the covers over them. They would get warm while they made love, but he didn’t want her chilled before then, and he didn’t want to just finish this without thoroughly pleasuring her.
“I’ve seen the hunting dogs do it,” she said, quite honestly.
He wanted to laugh, but instead, he kissed her lips again, his body half covering hers to keep her warm, his leg in between hers, while keeping his weight off her and resting instead on his hip.
“Are you hurting?” she asked, and he thought she was confused about him not just plunging in like a rutting beast.
“Nay.” He kissed her again, and ran his hand over her breast, while her hands explored his back and then lower. Her touch made him all the more desperate to have her, and he slid his hand down her waist, her skin velvety soft against his fingertips. Until he reached her short curly hairs and he paused. “You are sure about us, about me, about us marrying?”
“Aye. We have agreed. Dinna make me so hot and achy for you and then stop again.”
He smiled at her. He knew he had made the right choice for a wife, sweet and fiery.
Then he stroked her between the legs, hoping she understood something about foreplay and that he was trying to prepare her for when he entered her. She made little sounds of desperation, and he smiled.
“We are out here in the middle of the water and with a storm overhead, no one will hear you. Enjoy this and share your joy with nature.”
“If I scream out, Wolf may think you are killing me.”
Hell.
Quinn glanced at Wolf and wanted to tell him to go chase seals or something. But Avelina pulled at Quinn’s arm to get his attention, and he continued to stroke her, hoping that she kept her pleasurable moans low so as not to alarm Wolf. Avelina was panting and grabbing at his waist, her face tight, her eyes closed, and then she cried out.
Quinn missed kissing her mouth before she worried Wolf, but he only glanced back at them, then continued to watch the storm. Breathing a sigh of relief, Quinn inserted a finger into Avelina’s feminine folds and said, “You are wet for me, but you will feel a pinch, and you may believe I am stretching you too far when I enter you the first time.”
“Fenella told me.”
He raised a brow, thinking her cousin was a virgin.
“A maid told her. I am ready.”
“You may be sore for a while.” He had to warn her. He didn’t want her to feel that it would always be like this, but he did want her to know how she might feel the first time. He would stop now too, if she changed her mind, but he was hoping she wouldn’t because he knew this was right between them, no matter the consequences to him.
“Do it, unless you are afraid my da will kill you.”
“The only reason I wouldna make love to you, is if you choose for me no’ to.”
“Then do it.”
“Aye.” He spread her legs farther apart. And then, praying she wouldn’t hurt too much and the soreness would go away sooner than later, he drove into her. She cried out and he felt his own pain—his ribs and arm killing him.
Wolf came over to check on Avelina and they both said, “Go, lie down!” He returned to his spot by the entrance to watch the storm.
“I love you,” Quinn whispered against her face, tears filling her eyes.
But she was smiling. And he loved her for it. He began to thrust, kissing her breasts, licking and sucking on her nipples, bringing her to the crest again, and he felt her tremble beneath him right before she climaxed.
He hurried to finish now, not wanting to make her any sorer than he was sure she was now. She continued to cling to him, kissing him back as he kissed her mouth, not seeming to need him to hurry and finish. Maybe because she wanted him to find his own pleasure in her. He found it, with bringing her to climax.
And then he came. He groaned with release. He stayed there for a moment, then slid out of her, and pulled her against his chest where his ribs didn’t hurt quite as much, though to hold her and keep her warm, he would suffer any consequence.
“How do you feel, lass?”
“Glorious. Sore, but it canna be anything like how you are still sore from your injuries. And dinna deny it. You may be a hardened warrior, but I am your wife and you can be honest with me, as I plan to be with you.”
“I dinna want you to fear that it will always hurt like this.”
She looked up at him. “How many lasses did you have that you know so much about it?”
He smiled down at her and ran his hand through her silky hair. “I have heard men telling such tales.”
She chuckled. “Why is it men can do wild and foolish things, and they are cheered on, but women…”
He kissed her mouth. “I will only be here,” he said, and ran his hand down her breast, to her mound.
“Good.”
“You dinna regret that you didna receive your da’s blessing first?”
“Nay.” She sighed. “I couldna imagine being with another man oth
er than you.”
“I couldna have been any luckier that you and your cousin found me. I wanted to tell you why I was there, thinking she wanted to be rescued from her kin, but then I worried she might no’ have told you and you would tell the rest of your people. I never imagined the woman who saved me would end up being my wife. Though I was smitten with you from the first time I saw you.”
“Even when I was half drowned?”
“You were beautiful.”
She frowned at him, as if she didn’t believe him.
He ran his hand over her bare back and buttocks. “The wind was blowing your clothes against your beautiful body, making me hunger for you.”
She laughed. “Even when you were in so much pain?”
“Aye. I couldn’t help it. And when you were soaking wet, holding me close, you canna know how much I longed for this.”
“Hmm.” She kissed his naked chest. “My mother told me any man who held a woman close, any woman, would react in the same manner.”
“To an extent. But not when a man is cold and in pain. You stirred me in a way that no other woman could.”
She sighed. “I hope this friend of yours takes us in.”
“We were on good terms at one time. He wasna with my brother. If he doesna hold my brother’s actions against me, I’m sure he could use another swordsman at his beck and call.”
“I wish I could tell my da about us, but I dinna trust that he wouldna want to kill you.”
“Aye. So we return to the island, you get word to your cousin, and then we leave.”
“Aye, and pray that everything goes as planned without anything going awry.” Then she frowned at him again. “You knew my cousin was there when we found you injured?”
He sighed and told her everything, hoping she wouldn’t be angry with him for keeping the secret all this time.
Avelina never thought she could sleep in a shelter like this with the wind howling and the rain pouring down. Wolf was guarding the entrance, while she was wrapped up in her Highlander’s arms, snuggled under their plaids. She loved how much he had worked to give her pleasure last night, and not just taken his pleasure in her, like she’d heard other women say about their men. After they’d done the deed, the women had wondered what all the excitement had been about.
They must have married men who didn’t know how to pleasure a woman, and she was glad that her Highlander did. She kissed his shoulder and listened, realizing the wind had died down, and the rain had stopped. Wolf was gone, and she hoped he wasn’t scaring off Quinn’s newfound friends—the birds and the seals. She couldn’t believe Quinn had picked out names for them, but thought he was for sweet for it.
He finally stirred, and she was glad he’d seemed to sleep well.
His hand stroked her hair, then he kissed her forehead. “Ready to go?”
“Aye. I dinna want to stay away too long or they will worry about me, and Fenella will be anxious to learn I’m all right.”
“I’ll be right back and”—Quinn glanced around at the shelter—"where’s Wolf?”
“I’m afraid he’s off disturbing the wildlife. I’m sorry, but I didna want to wake you.”
“’Tis okay. They’ll get out of his reach. Let’s break our fast and be on our way. I’ll be right back.” Quinn left, and when he returned, he made them oats while she went to relieve herself and find Wolf.
Wolf came racing toward her, wagging his tail, his tongue hanging out. “How many seals did you chase off the island?” she asked in a scolding way. When she returned to the shelter, Wolf stayed with her, and she had breakfast with Quinn.
He fed Wolf some of his fish, and then they packed up the bundles. She and Wolf climbed into the boat, and Quinn pushed it into the water a bit, then climbed aboard and paddled to the next island. They made it around that island and were halfway to hers when she motioned to the sea. “Och, it canna be.”
He studied the horizon. “Your ships are returning? It will take them as long to reach the island as it will us. But they will be celebrating their return home upon their arrival.”
“Aye, and no one will miss me for a while.”
“No’ even your da?”
“No’ unless he has a marriage contract for me and wishes to see me right away. I suspect he will just be glad to be home and willna miss me for a while.”
“Do you always greet him upon his return?”
“Aye, but he is so busy with all the well-wishers, that he doesna pay me any mind. But what if he does have a marriage contract in hand?”
“What if you decide someone else would be better for you. Mayhap it will be for someone who will elevate your position? Someone you already know and care about? That would improve your children’s positions?”
“I care about you.”
“Aye, lass. But with me, you dinna know where we’ll end up, if we can even pull this off.”
“With you, I’ll have some idea about you and what I’m up against. No’ to mention I can still be with Wolf. But if they discover us together… I wish I could make up a tale that you were shipwrecked some other time and that you didna come from your brother’s clan.” She let out her breath in exasperation. “No matter what, Highlander, I willna give you up. You are my husband now. I wouldna lie to say I am no’ married to you. Though I dinna wish to tell anyone right away.”
“According to your people, you already killed me.”
“I fear if they catch us, or you alone, you will still be a dead man.”
“Then we canna let that happen.”
Avelina loved Quinn, but she was still torn about what to do. She was afraid telling her da that she had married Quinn would throw her da into a tirade. But she didn’t regret agreeing to marry Quinn. She didn’t want to hide that she was married to him either. She wanted others to celebrate that she’d married him, and she wanted to be with him, like she should be.
“What are you going to do? Tell your da?”
“I’m afraid of how he will react. What do you think I should do?”
“If it were me, I’d tell him, but I dinna know your da, or how he’ll respond.”
“He will want to kill you.”
“What about you?”
“He needs only to kill you, and then he can marry me off to someone of his choosing.”
They finally reached her island, and they hurried to take out the bundles. Avelina commanded Wolf to stay with them. He looked eager to race off to the keep. Or maybe he heard something else that made him want to run off, his tail stiff, his ears perked.
Quinn lifted the boat over his head, and Avelina carried the bundles, while Wolf ran here and there, smelling scents. Quinn had to return the boat and the fishing net to the fisherman’s byre before Lendon discovered it was missing as Avelina led the way, since he had no idea where she’d borrowed it from.
As soon as they neared the croft, Wolf ran forward, barking, and Quinn feared the worst. They were already too late.
Avelina’s heart nearly stopped when she heard Lendon whistling a tune, headed for his croft, and Wolf racing to intercept him. She dropped the bundles, all but the fishing net, wrapped it around Quinn’s arm, and whispered to him, “Return the boat to the byre. I’ll try to stop Lendon from reaching it to give you time to drop both the coracle and fishing net off and then get safely away.”
“Aye.” He waited for her to race off to intercept the fisherman.
“Lendon! You have returned! I borrowed your coracle and fishing net, but I didna have any luck catching anything. What news have you from the battlefield? Oh, Lendon, let me see to your wounds.” The poor man was bleeding, a rag wrapped around his arm and his leg, his step slow.
“You may have to fish for me for a while,” he said, his voice gruff, but tired. “But you would have to have better luck. What about that wolf of yours?”
“He catches fish, aye, but I haven’t taught him to release them to me.” She prayed Quinn had time to leave off Lendon’s things and get out of sight. “Tell me
, how is my da?”
“In bad spirits, I’m afraid, lass. We lost a lot of men. He suffered a sword cut to one of his legs. You best be off to tend to him or he’ll be in a worse mood.”
“Nay. I’ll see to yours first and then run along. We will still be celebrating your return home, will we no’? What about my uncle? Is he well?”
“He is dead.”
Avelina stopped in her tracks. “Nay.”
Lendon stopped and looked as bad as she felt about losing their chief. “Aye, lass. We were victorious, but at a great loss.”
Fenella would be devastated. Her eyes filling with tears, Avelina had to return to the keep as soon as she took care of Lendon’s wounds and comfort her cousin.
“We heard about you killing Quinn, brother to Cormac. You were a brave lass to do so.”
She wanted to ask if he knew if her da had returned with contracts to have her cousin and her married off, but he might no’ know about it. Still, she couldn’t wait to learn the truth in case he knew of it. “I’ll hurry to your croft and start a fire for you.” He was moving so slow, she hoped he had not been wounded so badly that he would die on her.
She ran to the croft and saw that Quinn was nowhere near the byre. Then she started a fire at the hearth. She rushed out to where she’d dropped the bundles, fetched bread and cheese, then returned to the croft. At least Lendon could eat a little and rest until everyone was ready to “celebrate” their hard-won victory and their return home. But she knew they would be busy taking care of their wounded first.
Then she wondered who would become chief. Her da, maybe, if he hadn’t been wounded too badly. Hamish, maybe, if her da couldn’t lead. She’d never given it any thought because her da and her uncle had always returned home from battle with only minor injuries. Fighting the tears welling up in her eyes again, she quickly wiped them away as they spilled down her cheeks. She’d miss her uncle. He’d been a good and fair chief. She managed to stop the tears, her eyes blurry, but she thought Lendon should be here by now.
She hurried out of the croft to see what was taking him so long. He was sitting on a stone some distance off, his body stooped, his hand on his injured thigh. “Lendon!” She ran to meet him. “You are no’ going to die on me!” She couldn’t stop the tears this time.
