The Laird's Future Bride

by Hazel Gower

  Eager now to see what she called swimmers, he got out of bed and dressed as quickly as possible. Duncan could feel her heated gaze on him while he dressed. Once dressed, he pulled Holly to him for a lingering kiss. Reluctantly he eased away. “Come now, lass. If we dinna go now, we’ll never leave.” Holding her hand, they walked out of their rooms and down the hall to break their fast.

  The dining hall was mostly empty, but as soon as he and Holly sat down a serving girl came to them with a goblet. He offered Holly first sip and she shook her head.

  “No, I’m not really a wine drinker. I get drunk really easily.” The serving girl came back with a plate packed full of food. Holly turned to her. “Hello, Alice. Could I please have a glass of milk like I had yesterday?” The girl nodded and rushed off, coming back with another goblet she gave to Holly. “Thank you, Alice.” The girl curtsied and asked if they needed anything else before she left them.

  Holly didn’t touch any of the meats. She ate the fruit and the bread.

  “Ye dinna like the meat?”

  She grimaced. “I’m not really a meat eater.”

  “What do ye mean?”

  “Well, I don’t eat red meats and I eat very little white meat. I have a feeling though, if I’m stuck in this time without my vitamins, I will have to eat more meat so my iron intake doesn’t suffer.”

  Duncan didn’t like how she still referred to here as being stuck. “I think I ken what ye mean. But ye are nay stuck here. This is yer home now.”

  Her lips pursed and she didn’t answer. They finished breaking their fast in quiet.

  The silence continued between them as they walked out of the keep. Duncan held her hand, guiding her to the loch. The walk took a good twenty minutes at his usual pace but with Holly it took a little longer.

  A gasp was the first sound she made as they came upon the loch. “It’s beautiful.”

  The loch was surrounded by forest that cleared not far from the water. His castle backed on to the Isle of Skye, but it wasn’t private to swim.

  “The water is probably freezing cold but I’m dying to try it.” Holly started taking off her clothes, her eyes never leaving his. “There is nothing I need to worry about that may bite me or attack me in the water is there?”

  He shook his head. “Nay. This isn’t the same as the water behind the keep.”

  Duncan watched as her dress slid to the ground, and she leaned down and picked it up, putting it over a boulder. He saw what she called swimmers and couldn’t tell the difference between them and the bra and underwear, except this was brighter and all one color, a dark purple. They were also done up with string everywhere.

  Holly turned before him. “What do you think of my swimmers? These are what I wear when I go swimming at the beach or a pool.”

  Duncan looked her up and down, marveling at how tempting she looked. It made him angry to think other men had seen her in these. All a man would have to do was undo a knot she had at one side, and they would see her treasures. “Ye wore these and other men saw ye?”

  “Well, yeah. There are hundreds of people at the beach sometimes, but all the women are wearing similar things.” She grinned at him and backed into the water, shivering at the coldness.

  Undoing his clothes, he took off his claymore and laid everything with Holly’s things and stalked toward her as she walked deeper into the cold water. When Holly was in to her shoulders, he gathered her to him and walked further in.

  “Only me. No one else gets to see ye in these.” He fingered the part that covered her breasts. “Ye are mine and I dinna want other men seeing what is mine.” He brushed his lips over hers. “I dinna want a riot on me hands.”

  Holly rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. “I highly doubt that will happen.” She rested her forehead against his. “You’re very possessive. I’m not an object you can own. I understand in this time I can’t show any clothes of what I wore in my time, that my clothes would be scandalous. I know in this time men think they are in charge.”

  “We dinna think it, lass. We are.” He nipped at her lip, and she unwrapped herself from him and swam away with a wicked glint in her eyes.

  “I’ll have to show you that women, no matter what time, are the ones in charge, and that men can’t live without us.”

  Needing her close, he lunged for her, and she laughed as she swam away.

  “Come and get me if you can, Duncan MacLeod.”

  Feeling happy and light for the first time in years, he left being a laird behind for a while and chased his wife around the loch.

  Chapter Five

  It was late afternoon when she and Duncan reached the castle after their swim in the loch. When they came into the keep Holly noticed the change in Duncan from carefree to imposing laird.

  Magan met them at the castle doors, a huge smile on her face. “Ye look like ye had a good day. I’m glad.” She took Holly’s hand and turned to Duncan. “Greggor and yer brother are in yer study waiting for ye. Something about the McCoys and borders.”

  Duncan stiffened beside her, and she was sure he swore in Gaelic before he changed to English. “Go with mother and she’ll show ye around the grounds. Dinna leave the castle grounds, though.”

  “Okay. Go, I’ll be fine. Thanks for today. I had fun.”

  Duncan smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss before he turned and entered the castle.

  Magan started walking down the stairs, making Holly follow as she held her hand tightly. “He looked happy. I have nay seen a smile on his face like that in a long time. I thank ye for that.”

  “No need to thank me. I had a ball with him. I love seeing him smile. I have a feeling he doesn’t very often.”

  “Aye, ye are right. I think he thinks if he smiled, people will ken he is nay as scary as he seems. Come now, I show ye what I can before the sun goes down and we have to go in for the evening meal.”

  Holly and Magan spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the outside of the castle. Magan pointed out as best she could how far their land went, and where the village was. She showed her the gate houses where the guards slept, and even where the men practiced fighting.

  Lastly, Magan showed her the gardens. “Duncan said ye like gardening.”

  “Yes, I love making plants grow. It was something my mother and I did from the time I could walk. By the time I was five, I had my own vegetable garden.” Holly knelt down and caressed the leaves of the parsley, carrots, and lettuce. “Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts. I make a mean fruit pie.” Holly walked over to the rows of large trees, where she saw apple, pear, and plum trees to name a few. Smiling, she strolled down the long rows, spotting grapes and apricots, even cherries. “You have a wonderful range. They all are doing really well.”

  Magan smiled at her, and Holly could see the pride. “I think being on the edge of the Isle of Skye helps, and we do get a good amount of rain.”

  Holly couldn’t argue with that. Yesterday and today had been the only days it hadn’t rained since she’d been in Scotland.

  Holly spent the rest of her day in the garden, exploring and picking weeds if she found one. Magan asked her to come back to the castle, but Holly had asked to stay out longer, so she could familiarize herself with the gardens, and find the familiar comfort they offered.

  Duncan found her on her knees in the veggie patch, getting rid of grass and things that didn’t belong. “Holly, it’s dark. The evening meal is ready. I’ve been waiting for ye.”

  Holly stared up at him, and for the first time in a while, looked around her to see the sun had set and the moon was out. Holly had been enjoying being in the garden and the rich soil beneath her fingers as she focused on her task, and she hadn’t noticed how late it was.

  Standing up, she brushed her dress and her hands. “I’m sorry. I got distracted. You have a wonderful garden. This is a garden my mother and I dreamed of.”

  “I’m glad ye like it.” Duncan came to her and pulled her to him. Togethe
r they walked to the castle’s back doors. “Me mother is nay much of a gardener. Ye are welcome to play here if I see the smile ye have on ye face now.”

  Holly threw her arms around Duncan and hugged him. “Thank you. This garden is amazing.”

  “I’ll tell Nathan and Agatha, I’m sure they will appreciate help.” Duncan brushed the tip of her nose and her cheek with his fingers. “I think ye need to clean up first before we eat.”

  Duncan’s lips were inches from hers, and his woodsy smell invaded her senses as she leaned up and brushed her mouth over his. He groaned and pulled her closer as his mouth took hers with the possession Holly was getting used to. He demanded entry into her mouth as she felt his hands pull her dress up. He backed her up against the keep wall, and she quivered in anticipation as she heard the tear of her underwear.

  “I’ve never seen a more alluring sight, even with the dirt on yer nose and cheeks.” The moon shone behind him, and his muscles strained as he let his hand leave her dress and move his clothes, then he lifted her up. Holly felt her eyes widen as he growled, “Hold onto me.” His thrust was powerful as it pushed into her.

  Holly squealed and gripped him tighter. Duncan became like an animal and Holly loved his primal look as he stared into her eyes. His thick muscular arms strained to hold her weight, and she could see the pain was helping with his pleasure. The position and where they were thrilled Holly. She couldn’t believe she was doing something like this. The intense gaze and Duncan’s frenzied deep pushes in and out of her were bringing her to a fast orgasm.

  “Ye feel like heaven, woman.” he gritted out through clenched teeth. His face came down and burrowed into her neck, and he bit down on her tender flesh. Holly screamed in ecstasy. The hard stone wall at her back didn’t give way, and she came in a wash of euphoria.

  Duncan followed her not long after on a roar. He almost had them falling to the ground in a heap. “Ye undo me, Holly. I’m never letting ye go. I’m happy ye’re me wife.” He let her down gently on her shaky legs, and helped her to stand and keep her balance. “Let’s get ye cleaned up. I’ll get the evening meal brought up to us.”

  Duncan helped her up the servant stairway and opened their doors. Holly sat on a chair in front of the fire in their sitting room, and rested her eyes, smiling as she thought of the great day she’d had. It had finished with a bang, too. If her life were going to be like this in the fifteenth century, she just might come to love it.

  Duncan had come with a plate filled high for their dinner only to find Holly asleep in the chair. He’d put the food down on the table and gently lifted her.

  “It can’t be morning already. I just got to sleep,” she’d moaned in his arms.

  “It’s not, angel. I’m just putting ye to bed.”

  “Mmm, I love your voice, so deep.”

  Duncan chuckled. “I’m glad ye like it.”

  “Talk to me more,” Holly said as he’d laid her in the bed. Duncan had gone to leave, and she’d moaned, “Don’t leave me.”

  “I’ll be right back, I promise.” He went back out to the sitting room and retrieved the plate of food and came back into his chambers placing the food close by. Duncan undid his kilt and placed himself on the bed behind Holly, then undid the back of her dress.

  “Duncan, let me have some sleep first.”

  He kissed her neck and smiled. “Ye can sleep. I’m just helping ye get out of yer clothes.”

  With her eyes barely open, Holly sat up and slipped the dress off her shoulders, then pushed it down and onto the floor. Duncan let out a groan of satisfaction as he saw the tattered remains of her pink lacy underwear and the bra that matched. He ran feather-light trails over her covered nipples that drew up into hard points at his touch.

  He grinned as a whimper slipped past Holly’s lips. She responded to even the lightest touch. He was lucky to have a woman who was so sensual and eager. Duncan sat for a moment and just watched Holly. Her hair had fallen out of its braid and lay everywhere, her chest rose and fell and with every breath, her breasts looked like they would slip out of the bra she wore.

  Duncan could watch the beautiful sight before him all night long. He ate some of the food he’d brought. He would rest soon so he could wake up and take his wife again, and again.

  Chapter Six

  Duncan helped her dress, and together they walked down to breakfast. Holly was sore. As much as she’d loved the raunchy sex she and Duncan had had against the castle, her back was aching from the hard stone it had been against.

  The dining hall was busy. Callam sat at the head with some other men. Holly hadn’t seen Callam since the other night. She smiled and sat next to him. “Hi.”

  “Hello, Lady Holly. It is good to see ye up this morn.”

  Holly felt her cheeks heat as she realized she hadn’t been waking up early enough to be present when everyone else ate since she arrived. “What are you doing today?” she asked, changing the subject away from herself.

  “I am to be your escort in the village, mother has told me.”

  “Oh, we’re not taking you from anything important?”

  “Nay. Me mother and ye are the treasures I need to guard.”

  Holly grinned and shook her head. “You have a silver tongue. My father used to say stuff like that to my mother all time. She would roll her eyes and laugh at his antics.” Holly closed her eyes as the image of her parents came up. She snapped them open when she felt a brush of fingers over her hand. Snatching her hands away from Callam, she smiled. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get so emotional. They died a year ago tomorrow.”

  “I’m sorry for yer loss. I can’t even ken what—”

  Callam was interrupted as a child ran into the hall. “Riders are on their way. It looks to be Laird Robert.”

  Magan jumped up from her seat and rushed to the front doors. Duncan stood beside her and pulled her up with him, and they went to go meet the new arrivals.

  Six men road into the bailey, one of whom stood out to Holly as an older replica of Duncan. She could see his hair had once been the bright fiery red of Duncan’s.

  “Da, it is good to see ye. King James has let ye home early,” Duncan strode to his father.

  Holly smiled as Magan pushed Duncan out of the way and jumped on the mammoth man who was only an inch or so shorter than Duncan. Magan looked younger as she kissed her husband and hugged him. Duncan’s father laughed and squeezed his wife to him.

  “I missed ye.” He kissed Magan, and Holly felt the heat rise and she turned away as the couple acted like a young randy couple.

  Callam chuckled beside her. “I dinna think ye will be going to the village today. Mother and da will lock themselves in their room.”

  Holly shook her head to dispel the image that threatened her. “That’s okay. I’m sure I can find something to amuse me.”

  Callam winked at her. “I could keep ye company.”

  “Tha—”

  She was cut off as Duncan pulled her away from Callam and gathered her to his side to stand before his father. “This is me wife, Lady Holly. Ye met her at the Macdonalds earlier this spring.” Duncan’s voice was hoarse, and he gripped her waist to him with a tight hold.

  Holly looked up and saw the smile fall away from Duncan’s father’s face. He glanced at his wife, then back at Holly. She could feel the older man’s steel blue eyes scrutinize her. “She is verra bonny. She will be trouble.” He nodded and walked past her into the castle. “Come, son, I have much to tell ye.”

  Duncan grunted, and Holly felt her heart sink as he let her hand go and walk into the castle. Why hadn’t Duncan stuck up for her? Why had he left her there? What had happened to the man she’d gotten to know the last couple of days? Holly could feel the eyes on her, watching her reaction. She glanced around to see that Callam stood glaring at the retreating back of Duncan and his parents. His eyes snapped to hers and softened as he walked over to her.

  “Come on, lass, I’ll show ye the village while they catch up.” Callam h
eld out his arm, and Holly straightened her back and held onto Callam.

  Holly loved having a brother. Callam showed her around the village and told her what everyone did. They ate lunch at the brewing woman’s cottage, and Callam seemed to charm everyone. As the evening mealtime came upon them, they went to a farmer’s cottage.

  “Lady Holly, I’d like ye to meet me favorite farmer, Arthur, and his beautiful wife, Emily.” Callam picked up a little girl of about five or six. “And this wee one is Anna. Her brother, Bran, is the bairn on the floor.”

  Holly smiled at Bran as he crawled to his parents. He was so cute. Holly knelt down. “May I pick him up? He’s is adorable.”

  Emily beamed at her and nodded. “Aye, Mistress.”

  Holly picked up the baby hugging the chubby bub to her.

  “We were just about to have our evening meal. Would ye like to join us?” said Arthur.

  Callam nodded and patted his stomach. “Aye. Lady Holly has had me exploring all day. For some time now, I’ve been begging to stop and take time to eat so I can stay strong.”

  The little girl in Callam’s arms laughed and Holly rolled her eyes. They were shown to a table with bread, beans, carrots, spinach, a small amount of meat, and asparagus.

  “This looks so good.” Holly put Bran on the floor by his sister.

  Callam nudged her. “I kenned ye’d like it here.”

  They all ate, telling stories of youth. Holly ate the most she’d eaten since being in this time. “Thank you so much for the wonderful meal. I love all the vegetables. They were cooked perfectly.” Emily blushed and started cleaning up. Holly got up to help, but Emily looked horrified and begged her to sit back down. Holly took Emily’s hands. “If there is anything I can ever do to help you, just ask. I will definitely be visiting again, if that is okay with you.”

  “Oh. Aye, Mistress.”