by Sondra Grey
Noticing the way she was still limping, he helped her onto her borrowed horse and told her to keep her injured ankle out of the stirrup. “No need to tweak it further.”
And with that, he hopped on his horse, and they started back towards Inveralt.
Annis didn’t realize how tired she was until they’d reached the inn well after nightfall. Her ankle was stiff, and her mood was sour. After consummating their marriage, Adam had turned into an entirely different person. She was beginning to notice that he was downright mercurial. In the wood, he’d been angry. In the castle, he’d been charming. In bed he’d been passionate. And he seemed to give himself entirely over to those emotions. Now he was impatient, focused. His thoughts were clearly on her (their) estate, for whenever he spoke to her it was to ask a completely unprompted question.
“Are the fields east or west of the River Loy?”
“How many rooms does the croft have?”
“How many tenants work the land.”
Each answer she gave seemed to disappoint him and set him to muttering. They passed through Bo’Ness as the sun was dropping, and Annis was sure they’d stop there for the night, but they didn’t. Instead they kept riding as the sky darkened.
“Good moon tonight!” Adam’s man Simon commented, leading Annis to think, forlornly, that they might ride through the night.
Thank goodness, they didn’t. They stopped in a small town outside of Falkirk, where the innkeeper showed Annis and Adam to a clean and serviceable room.
Annis stared at the bed, wondering whether they were expected to sleep together. In Inveralt there were separate suits for the laird and his lady, but Adam seemed to think nothing of sharing a bed. Despite being married for eight years before ever meeting Adam, Annis felt bumbling and naïve. Not wanting him to laugh at her for what where turning out to be backwards ideas of marriage, she undressed to her chemise and then stood there for an awkward moment.
“Well,” said Adam, glancing up from where he was folding his shirt. “What is it?”
“I, ah, need to relieve myself.”
Adam gave her a strange look and gestured to the earthenware pot in the corner of the room. “Well go ahead then.”
Annis blinked. “With you in the room!?”
Now it was Adam’s turn to look surprised. “Why on earth not? Lass, I’ve already seen you top to bottom, it’s not as if we’re strangers now.”
Annis sighed, and found she had some difficulty using the chamber pot with him in the room. He seemed to understand because he turned his back on her and started whistling a loud, melodic tune. Only then was she able to complete her task. After, she used the small washstand in the corner to clean the dust from her hands and face. She unbraided her hair and slid beneath the covers, while he went about seeing to his own ablutions.
When he slid in next to her, rather than remaining on the far end of the bed, he sidled up close, and wrapped an arm about her hips. Her breath caught in her throat with his lips found the sensitive spot at the base of her neck and began to kiss her there. Awareness bloomed within her, heat scorching outward from her center.
Adam reached a hand down, and lifted her chemise to her hips.
“What…what…” Annis said, as his hand came around the front and tangled in her now exposed curls. His teeth nipped her earlobe.
“It’s still our wedding night,” he said, his voice low and seductive, sending shivers racing up her spine.
“But we’ve been riding for hours…” she protested, weakly. She was exhausted: from the anxiety of the past few days, from riding for hours…
“I’ll be gentle,” he assured her, tongue licking fire along the sensitive back of her ear, teeth scoring her neck. His fingers probed lower, and, despite her exhaustion, a sharp bolt of desire shot through her.
“There’s a girl,” he crooned in her ear, and she could feel the now hard length of him nudging against the rounded globes of her backside. “Look how ready you are for me.”
Fingers parted her folds, his other hand lifted her thigh just slightly, and she felt him pressing against her entrance from behind.
Annis bit her lips. She was incredibly sore, but Adam wouldn’t be gainsaid. And true to his word, he was gentle. As he worked his way inside her (easier this time than it had been the last), he whispered words of soft encouragement, all the while stroking that small, sensitive bud beneath her curls.
Sensations streaked through her and she bit her lips against the cries that wanted to escape. It was a small in, and everyone would hear her. Adam’s hips flexed in a slow, inexorable rhythm, each thrust pressed her against his hand. Right when she thought she was going to burst from the tension, he’d remove his hand. Twice he did this, until she was nearly sobbing, then he shifted her just a bit so that he could press deeper, and his fingers returned. She’d exploded with sensation, crying out and pressing her hips against his hand as he ground into her from behind, spilling inside her.
Only once he was sated did his muscles relax, did his hand fall heavy across her hip. He was snoring lightly within minutes.
Annis, on the other hand, lay there for a while, fighting back tears of confusion. Her body sang at his touch. They were becoming increasingly intimate at a speed that alarmed her. And yet, as interested he seemed in her body, in the estate, he hadn’t seemed all that interested in getting to know her. What questions had he asked her about her family? About her childhood? About her likes and dislikes?
Annis had to work to forcefully quiet her thoughts. Only then could she sleep.
It seemed as if she’d just fallen asleep when Adam awakened her again, for a moment, she thought he was going to try and seduce her, but he wanted her up and dressed to go. He was eager to be off. He was like a tempest: his energy sweeping along everyone in his wake.
That next day of riding was brutal. They didn’t stop to rest at all. They ate while riding, switching horses halfway through the journey for a fresher set and then setting off at that same, brutal pace.
Annis kept up best she could, but by the time they’d reached the inn, she was in a foul mood and stomped around their room. Adam didn’t seem to notice her displeasure at all, not until she beat his hands away when he tried to pull her close.
“Now Wife, what is this!?” he asked, all good-humor and admonishment.
“I’m tired and I’m sore,” Annis retorted.
“I’ll be gentle…”
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” She found that she was spitting mad, barely containing the rage that swamped her. “If you wish to drag me across Scotland at a breakneck pace, then the consequences will be I’ll have none of you. Let me rest or I’ll be worse tomorrow.”
She realized, only when she was finished, that if she’d spoken that way to David, he’d have smacked her. He hadn’t hit her often – for she’d rarely spoken to him sharply. But those few times when her temper had risen, he’d reminded her of her place.
She waited, holding her breath. Adam seemed to sense the shift in her mood – angry to anxious – for he nodded once, leaned in and kissed her temple, then pulled her again him, draped his arm about her waist, and settled in to sleep.
Again, that night, Annis cried – small, silent tears dripping onto the pillow. This time, for an entirely different reason.
By the time they reached Inveralt, days later, they were both in foul moods. Adam refused to slow their breakneck pace, and Annis refused to allow him to touch her sore, and poorly abused thighs. So, Adam, clearly not used to being rejected, all but ignored Annis and snapped and snarled at his men. Annis was in a terrible mood for a whole multitude of reasons:
Adam was petulant when he didn’t get his way.
She found sleeping with him just as enticing as he seemed to find sleeping with her and pushing him away took a great deal of willpower.
She was tired and hungry and in a great deal of discomfort, and was despondent that Adam clearly cared a great deal more for the land than he cared for Annis or
her well-being.
She’d discovered, in the five days she’d been riding with him, that he was incredibly single-minded in his pursuits. When he was riding he was thinking only of getting to the next place he was going. When they were alone together he was thinking only of bedding her, or of falling asleep.
She nearly wept with relief as they crested the hill above Achnanellan and Inveralt was visible in the distance.
A strange emotion came over Annis as her home came into view. For three months she’d feared the fate of Inveralt. And as much as she’d tried to dream of a future and a husband of her choosing, she’d also feared what fate awaited her. Now, after nearly two emotional weeks, she had a handsome, driven husband with a powerful clan at his back, and a future for her people and her property. Yet as they rode closer, and she spied Inveralt, she tried to see the land as Adam might, and was swamped with depression.
As if it were some analogy for her own life, Inveralt was drab and poorly maintained.
It was true, David had let it go to seed. At a distance, the keep itself looked dreary and was in need of at least a dozen repairs. The land around it looked overgrown; the fields looked barren.
As they neared the front of the keep, she caught sight of several strange men on horseback. As they wheeled their mounts and began to ride toward Annis’ party, her heart picked up speed. She glanced at her husband, but Adam didn’t seem concerned. His gaze was intent on the growth around him, seeming to take in the trees, the road, the brush. As the horsemen neared he reined his mount in, his mouth flattening as the next halted just before him.
Annis recognized the stranger’s Maclean plaid, and while the man before her had much different coloring than Adam, it was clear they were related. He had the same intensely blue eyes, the same set to his shoulders. She was willing to bet, when he got off the horse, that he and Adam were the same height.
“When did you arrive?” asked Adam, sounding annoyed.
“Just yesterday,” said the man, not at all flustered by the animosity in Adam’s tone. “We didn’t think we’d beat you here. But I had the men take a sweep of the land, assuming you’d want to know the extent of your new holdings.” The man’s eyes seemed to twinkle as he looked on Adam with amusement. This must be a close relative then, his brother? Annis wondered. Adam was a second son, so he had a brother, but Annis hadn’t had an opportunity yet to ask Adam about his family.
“And?” Adam’s question was impatient.
The horseman shook his head. “You’ve got work ahead of you. The keep wants work. There are no livestock, save a few sheep and some milking cows. We arrived to find that the water was all but dried in its bed. There were a pair of retainers here, and their wives, and we got the tour and the story from them. They took us over to see the river, and I had my men ride up the bank. They just came back. It looks as if the Loy was dammed about three leagues up.”
“Dammed. To what purpose?” asked Adam, frown deepening.
“Uncertain. We’ll question the farmers that live nearby and find out. In the mean-time, I should show you the keep. You’re going to want to send for more men…”
“The Macleans of Argdour aren’t arrived yet?”
“I’ve not seen them, no.”
Adam shook his head and waved a hand. “Lead on, then.”
Before Annis could object that she was more than capable of showing her new husband around his home, Adam had ridden off with the stranger, Simon on his heels. Joss stayed with Annis while she led her mount more slowly towards the stables. If Adam wanted to look over Inveralt without her, fine. She wanted to see Elise, and Caleb’s wife, Cait.
Joss helped her from her horse and waited at the mouth of the stable.
“If you’re waiting for a stable hand, there are none,” said Annis. “I’m afraid we have to stable the horses ourselves.”
Joss nodded, and took the reins from Annis, and Annis limped inside, eager to see her friends and to take her ease.
“Lord! There you are!” came a cry as Annis stepped through the backdoor and into the large kitchen. Cait, who had acted as the cook since the cook up and left, was standing in the kitchen, hands deep in a pile of dough. “Oh god, Caleb will be so relieved!”
Taking her hands out of the dough, she rushed over to embrace Annis, getting flour all over her now-filthy gown.
“What did you think happened?” asked Annis.
“You were gone so long without word,” said Cait, eyes scanning her mistress for obvious injury. “And then a whole pack of Macleans showed up, the one claiming to be your new brother in law… is it true, are you married?”
Annis nodded. “The king summoned me to Edinburgh to wed, it would seem.”
“And he wed you to a Maclean?”
Annis nodded.
“Oh god, she’s here!” Elise rushed into the kitchens with Cait’s husband hot on her heels. Caleb was in his forties, and had a bad limp from a poorly healed broken leg. Elise was closer to Annis’ age. “Is it true?”
“Yes. I married a Maclean.”
“Oh, thank God,” Elise crossed herself with such vehemence that Annis blinked at her, sharply. “What has happened?”
“Lachlan says there have been men watching the house. Word in the village is that there were strangers asking after you. Lachlan had to put the word out that the King’s guard were on their way here, fifty strong, and that you’d gone to visit family in the North.”
“What on earth…”
“We think the men were Cameron men,” said Caleb. “In fact, when the Macleans rode in, I was sure they were Camerons in disguise. But the oldest had a letter he claimed was from his brother. I couldn’t read it, but Lachlan could. He said you married one of James’ knights, a Maclean, and that James needed the Macleans to hold the territory against the Camerons.”
“Good lord,” said Annis. Neither had said as much to her, but it made a certain amount of sense. The Macleans had held Inveralt during the reign of the Bruce. If anyone was going to keep the land out of Cameron hands, it would be the Macleans, who had kin from here to Mull.
“We weren’t certain whether it was true, but as they outnumbered us, there was nothing we could do but hope you returned soon.” Elise put her hand on Annis shoulder, as if to assure herself that her Lady was all right. “There’s more,” she said. “Duncan, that’s your new husband’s brother, thinks that someone has dammed the river. He rode off just a few hours ago to see what happened…”
“He came back,” said Annis. “We met him on the road. He rode off to show Adam. If it’s a few leagues away, they won’t be back for some time.”
Elise sighed. “So much excitement. We barely have enough to feed everyone. Lachlan’s out right now, slaughtering one of the pigs for a roast tonight.”
Annis tipped her head back. “How many Macleans are here?”
“Twelve,” said Elise.
“And three more including my husband and his squires. Plus, the four of us.”
“I best get back to baking then,” said Cait.
“I’m going to go wash and change my clothes,” said Annis. “Elise, we should see if the garden has yielded any vegetables. Perhaps we can scrounge up enough to feed everyone.”
It took some hours to ride out to where the river had been dammed, but Adam was happy to see that four of his brother’s men were already waist deep in the water, working to undam the Loy.
“Adam!” called Davvy MacVeigh, who was riding into the clearing just as Adam and Duncan arrived.
“Davvy, man!” Adam was surprised to see his friend. “What are you doing this far north?”
“Come to build myself a home on your fat plot of land,” said his friend, grinning. Davvy the Grey was called so because his hair had turned the color of iron before his thirtieth birthday. He was a few years Adam’s senior, and had been good friends with Duncan growing up, but Davvy had always itched to leave the isle of Mull, Adam shouldn’t be surprised that his friend turned up here. No doubt Davvy would
stay, even when Duncan left.
“What did you find, Davvy?” asked Duncan, more sedately. Davvy’s smile turned into a grimace. “Nothing. The dam has flooded an already useless bog, killing a good deal of wildlife about a league north of here.”
“So, it was dammed without purpose?” said Adam, incredulously.
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Duncan, sounding thoughtful. “If the purpose was to ruin the fields at Inveralt, I’d say the purpose was realized.”
“And this was definitely manmade,” called one of the man from the water. “It’s wood and stone.”
“Damn,” muttered Adam.
“The good news is that’s fixable. It will take us all of another few hours to clear the dam and the water will flow again. You’ll have fertile fields by next spring, if someone doesn’t come along and do this again.”
“What say you, Duncan?” called one of the men from the water. “Is it a Cameron job?”
Duncan frowned. “I’ll not pin the deviance on anyone without proof, but if what your wife’s men told me was true, then it most likely was the Camerons. Seems like the Camerons raid here often. Three summers back they managed to run off with a whole mess of beef cattle.”
“We’ll have to do some exploring,” said Adam, resolutely.
Duncan snorted. “No doubt. In the meantime, while we’re here, we might as well get our feet wet. It’ll be quicker to dismantle this dam with two more people.
Hours later, the water was flowing, and the sun was starting to sink. The Macleans got back on their horses and set off for the manor.
“So,” said Duncan, after a while. “Tell me about your wife.”
Adam opened his mouth and, after a moment, wasn’t sure what to say about her. In truth, he’d been doing his best not to think of his wife. The more he thought of her, the more distracted he became. Perhaps it was the idea that he had a woman that was legally his, or maybe it was something to do with Annis herself, but Adam felt like a teenager in his first sexual bloom. He couldn’t get enough of his wife, and he’d only had her twice. But what could he actually tell Duncan about Annis herself. What did he actually know?
