Her Highland Laird: Norman Ladies: Book One

by Hannah West

  …

  Marie was sad as she had to leave, she had such great fun and while she had never before seen that way of life, she liked how simple it was.

  To Duncan’s horror Maeve had taught her to feed their animals, make fresh bread and collect eggs from their chickens.

  Marie had assured him it had been fun to do so. She liked learning new things and it had been eye opening that not everyone had servants or maids to do everything for them. It showed her just how different life could have been for her if she had not been born the daughter of a noble.

  The simple life of living on a farm would suit her well, Marie had thought, and Maeve had agreed.

  “Do not tell Ian what you have done today,” Duncan pleaded of her. “I would never hear the end of it if he found I had let you labor like a commoner.”

  “No work is below anyone, Duncan. I thank you for welcoming me into your home,” Marie said with deep thanks, “It was what I needed and very kind. Most stay away from me as if I have the plague.”

  A dark look crossed over his face at that news, but she could tell he was not surprised by it.

  “They are not trusting of outsiders to much, but I have heard talk at the castle since we came back. They talk about how the laird does not acknowledge you and so they will not either. If I were you, my lady, I would talk to Laird Ian.”

  “If only I could get him too,” Marie muttered.

  “Make him see you, milady. Like you did the first time he saw you. Be the warrior queen he could not stand to give to another man,” he advised.

  Chapter Twenty

  Upon arriving back at the castle Marie went in search of her husband. She had worked herself up for what she was about to do and decided this would be the best thing she could think of.

  Ian liked her when she was bold, so she would become bold, so bold in fact that he could not refuse her. He had said he wanted her to drive him into the bed at the point of where she would not let him out of it. While he was about to get what he wanted and so was she.

  Ian had been out with his men in the lists and she marched right up to him. He could not see her since she was coming upon him from the back, and that suited her just fine.

  She took one last deep breath. You can do this, be brave.

  “Ian Buchanan,” she called. Marie grabbed Ian by the neck and as he turned around she launched herself at him and claimed his mouth in a searing kiss.

  She ignored the cheers or Ian’s man and the gasps of passer bys.

  His shock was potent, but before she could close her eyes he swept her up in his strong arms and devoured her lips. When she could control her desire once again she pushed him away from her, chest heaving.

  The look in his eyes was dangerous and intense. That is how her mood felt, his mirrored her own.

  “I shall be left alone no longer,” she stated, “And you shall take me up to that chamber and finish what you started.” In stating so she grabbed up one of his hands and marched onward dragging him dumbly behind her.

  “Do not expect him back until this eve,” Marie called over her shoulder to his men that stared after them in stunned silence.

  She was blushing like madly, but at the moment she didn’t care. Ian offered no resistance as he followed.

  …

  Before Ian knew what was happening the door to his chambers was bolted shut and he was pushed back onto his bed as his wife came toward him with a determined look upon her face. But when she pulled her dress over her head without a word, his mouth ran dry.

  Her rather slender body sported the right amount of soft curves under a see through chemise, and he focused his attention on her shapely legs before drifting up to pass over her waist and then her high, plump little breasts. They jiggled slightly when she climbed onto the edge in front of him and lust slammed into his gut.

  Ian tried to focus on what was happening but he was light headed as all his blood rushed to his cock in a painful surge.

  What on god’s green earth was his wife doing? What had changed her into such a lustful goddess who had dragged him into his chamber?

  Her green eyes sparkled and deepened as she looked to his groin before she paused before him long enough to start removing his plaid and shirt.

  “I-,” he had started to say but she cut him off with a finger pressed to his lips.

  “You may speak after I get what I want,” Marie said in a husky tone that made him want to groan aloud.

  She yanked his shirt off and with only a moment of hesitation she pressed a kiss to the hot flesh over where his heart lay before trailing kisses up his neck. As she straddled his lap she took his mouth.

  She knew she was not skilled but from the feel of him, she could tell she had done something right.

  Ian tried to speak once more and she let out a frustrated sign and paused in her menstruations.

  “Can you not let me do this?” she snapped. “I want you and have waited long enough. We have been so close so many times, yet you always leave me before it can happen.”

  “Believe me, lass, I had no issue with you getting what you want,” Ian said thickly, “But I would like to know why you chose now.”

  “Because I have become frustrated with you and you left me in bed alone. Well I have been tied in knots of desire and require your,” she looked him over a smiled slyly, “body, to solve my problem. Now do hush and make me tremble like you promised on that ship.”

  She leaned forward and gently bit his bottom lip and his mind went blank as an animalistic need for her shot through him. Without notice he flipped her over and pinned her body beneath his.

  “Let me show you how it is done,” Ian rumbled in her ear before he bit down on the lobe of her ear.

  She moaned loudly before blushing.

  “I love it when you tell me just how much you like my touch,” he breathed, sliding hands up under her shift and molding them to her. “I warn you now, lass, if the goes farther my hands will never leave you. After this there will be now going back and I will never share you.”

  He slowly removed her shift, kissing his way from her navel up to the valley between her breasts, enjoying the trembling of her sweet, soft flesh beneath him.

  “You shall be mine and I shall be yours and I promise you will not be able to tell where I begin and you end,” he kissed the words against the hallow of her neck.

  Her eyes were glazed with passion and begged him to stop teasing her, so he stopped teasing and started playing.

  With a dark smile he slid down her body and cradled himself within her soft thighs.

  “What are you doing,” she gasped that ended on keening cry as he set to work on his irresistible bride.

  Chapter

  Twenty-One

  Three days of complete sated bliss wrapped around Marie and Ian. Marie could not have been happier, she thought that was no way that the emotions she was feeling could well any higher.

  She found that she enjoyed the physical pleasure more than she had thought possible and she had been confused by some of the things before they happened but after it was truly eye opening. She was still sore from their encounters, but delightfully so.

  She stretched in their bed like a cat waking up from a nap and Ian walked into his chamber.

  She smiled warmly at him, but her smile turned brittle at the dark look on his face.

  “What happened,” she asked, quickly sitting up.

  He rubbed the back of his neck in a stressed gesture and sighed heavily as he sat on the edge of their bed. He wouldn’t look at her.

  “What is wrong,” Marie asked coming up behind him and draping her arms around his neck and settling there.

  “I have to leave,” Ian said softly. “My king has commanded me to come to a meeting between the clans.”

  A dizzy since of disappointment flowed through her. She couldn’t quite understand why he must go.

  “Must you?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he sighed. “There has been trouble with a couple nearb
y clans and as one of the large ones we are tasked with keeping the peace. I will have to leave in a few days’ time to make it there.”

  “Will you be gone for long?” she asked. She did not want to be parted from him yet if he was not gone for long then she could manage.

  He pulled her gently around and settled her on his lap. “I shall be away for a fortnight. The trouble being caused is serious and if not stopped it will cause the death of hundreds of people.” He titled her chin up so she looked into his dark eyes, “I do not wish to leave you, but I cannot take you with me.”

  His fingers stroked gently against her cheek and she closed her eyes, trying to remember the sensation for when he was gone.

  “If only there was an easier way, Marie,” Ian said pained.

  She opened her startling green eyes and the emotion in them softened the blow. “You must go. If the king has called you then that we cannot change, but I shall be here for when you return.”

  His eyes wondered over her face and he asked quietly, “How was I so lucky to find you? Without you I never would have known this feeling. It’s like I can’t breathe without you.”

  “Fate wanted us to meet,” she said simply. “It has not been easy but then nothing worth anything ever is.”

  A brief knock came onto their door and Ian called out, “Who goes there?”

  “It is me,” Cain called from the other side.

  Brows drawn Marie looked to Ian. He looked down at her in only her shift then placed her back on the bed and covered her with the cover. Then she watched as he went over to the door and opened it only enough to peer out.

  “What do you want,” Ian asked annoyed.

  Cain lowered his voice so Marie could not hear but what little she could see of him, his body was tensed. Ian went from being tense to ridge.

  “They dare come here,” Ian asked harshly, “After all they had done while I was gone? Let the foolish man come, I shall send him back to hell where he belongs.”

  “They are expected to be here before the evening meal if they keep up their current pace. Be careful,” Cain warned, “Things happened while you were gone and he has grown more bold.”

  Ian shook his head angrily and heaved out a long hard breath. “Of all the things to happen. Be on the lookout. We shall need to be ready for anything. I do not believe him to be foolish enough to do something in the heart of the clan with us back, but the man is mad.”

  Cain agreed and left to start preparing for their unwelcome guess.

  Marie was surprised by the exchange, but was worried over the change in Ian. Reluctantly she asked, “Who is coming?”

  Ian’s face was dark when he turned to her, “Blackadders are coming to ask for help. If they think there is a chance in hell after what they did while I was away they shall all hang.”

  The name Blackadder sent a chill down her spine. She had heard unpleasantly things about them and heard a few tells of their evil deeds.

  She could only imagine what they had done to earn Ian’s ire.

  “What happened while you were away?” Marie asked quietly, unsure she wanted to know. She felt her lower lip tremble.

  “A group of Blackadders came on to the edge of Buchanan land and stumbled upon a small homestead belonging to a young widow. Her husband had just died and they,” he had a hard time saying what they had done. “They raped her, Marie. All three of them and then they beat her and left her for dead.”

  Marie gasped in horror. “Does she yet live?”

  Ian nodded. “One of the things I had to take care of when we got back was seeing to her. She is staying in a small cottage close the kitchen entrance, healing. But she is now scared to come out of to see most people. I cannot let what happen to her stand.”

  A fire burned in Marie’s eyes. “I dare the man to try again. I will need to borrow a sword to gut the swine. Why were they not punished?”

  “Because the one who started it all was the son of the Blackadder chief. The poor woman was a mere peasant and so he could not be charged.”

  “That is wrong,” Marie cried in outrage.

  “I agree, but the law is the law. The Blackadder chief is coming to try and make peace now that I have returned. He shall get none. But his timing could not be worse with the summons from the king. I must take a good deal of my men with me but I shall leave some with you. I do not trust these people.”

  He kissed her forehead gently and she closed her eyes savoring the feeling.

  “I shall see you down stairs, lass.”

  When the door closed and she was alone she admitted to herself se was worried about what was to come. She did not have a good feeling about this meeting of Ian leaving and she had never been wrong about a feeling before.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  “Buchanan,” Blackadder said dispassionately in greeting as he came before Ian at the high table.

  This repulsive man had barraged in with his six men in the middle of the evening meal without so much as a ‘pardon’. He had acted as if this was his own hall and not another lord’s. The hall had grown quiet as they approached and whispers started up behind them.

  This man was a short hairy looking beast with long frizzled brown hair, beady black eyes that surveyed in acute interest and a stench that clung to him like it did the cesspit he smelled of. He had his men looked as if they had run free in the wilds and never touched a drop of water.

  Ian did not give a reply to this man, just glared him down.

  Blackadder’s beady eyes wandered away from Ian and they widened on Marie.

  The touch of his eyes alone to her skin made her flesh crawl. Dark intent bloomed in his eyes as they raked over her body, pausing on her chest, and he gave her a nasty smile showing yellow and rotted teeth with missing gaps. Marie nearly gagged.

  “Who might this fetching wench be,” he asked Ian before coming closer to her at her side of the table. “I heard that you had planned to bring a sister home. Is she yet unwed? I am in need of a new young wife.”

  Ian stood up abruptly from his chair siding it crashing to the ground. The echo silenced the room that had been whispering and chattering in low tones.

  Marie jumped at the loud booming sound.

  “Back away from her before I kill you, Blackadder,” Ian said in a low threating growl.

  “She is just a wench even if she is your sister, not better than a servant maid in bed I wager. A tup is a tup,” Blackadder disagreed, digging his grave.

  Ian’s face turned red with murderess rage. “She is my wife and you will give her the respect she deserves as your better.”

  “Wife, did you say,” Blackadder said without missing a step, a gleam of dark cunning in his eyes as he stared at her again.

  Marie felt as if she needed a bath I scolding water and scrubbed until she was pink. It felt like ants crawling under her skin as Blackadder stared.

  “She must be a wild cat in bed,” he said huskily licking his thin lips.

  “How dare you look at me thus,” she finally snapped at the man at her anger had come to a head, glaring. “I would sooner sleep with the pigs then grace your bed, you vile thing.”

  A crazed light lit his eyes. “Be careful what you wish for, wench.”

  “Enough,” Ian boomed, “leave my hall and my lands and never return. If I catch any of you or your men on my land again you shall feel the wrath of this clan. We do not abide murders and rapists.”

  Ian left a hand signaling his men to come forth and bodily remove the Blackadder men. They did so gleefully and without protest.

  Marie sat, shivering in the intense anger the man had caused. How dare he suggest she be shared like a common whore? And he had called her a wench as well, the nerve of the man. She would have kicked him in the ballocks had she been close enough.

  “What a disgusting man,” she spat.

  She felt large calming hands settle on her shoulders.

  “Pay the man no mind,” Ian said soothingly.

  “Until this moment I won
dered how any man could do what they had done to that poor woman, but now I understand. That poor widow,” Marie whispered as tears stung her eyes. “Men like them don’t deserve to live.”

  “Calm yourself, they shall never set foot on Buchanan land again. You shall never have to see him again.”

  Marie did not agree and the bad feeling she had before grew in size and darkened, making her stomach hurt. It was now gut gnawing and sickening, but she didn’t tell Ian so. She knew something bad would happen because of this and she knew he felt something too.

  But she let it go and decided to place her trust in the hands of her husband. In him would she place her safety and faith.

  …

  Two days later Ian left with a group of fifty warriors, including Duncan.

  Marie had invited Marie to come stay at the castle with her while the men were away and she almost had not come. So Marie had tempted her with the promise of fine things and trinkets she had brought back from her ship.

  As it turned out Maeve had never had such a thing to herself. The closest thing she had was a carved symbol that hung around her neck by a leather cord that had been her mother’s. So wanting to share her treasures she told her friend to pick out what she liked from the stash of pretties and to pick a bolt of the cloth she wanted made into a few dresses.

  Maeve’s eyes widened so much they looked like saucers. “Truly?” she asked, her tone tinged with disbelief.

  Marie grinned at her. “Aye. Think of it was a fair trade for teaching me the things you did last time we were together.”

  She nodded looking down at the items. “Where did you get things such as these? I have never seen any so fine.”

  “They are from around the world and different countries. I traded other goods and coin for them. It is fascinating to see what other places in the world see as beautiful, is it not?”

  Eyes narrowed with suspicion looked her way. “You traded for these?”