by Karen Lamb
“Before you go, how are things up in Scotland, are you ok, and what’s the news with Adam?” My stomach sank as I thought how I could honestly talk about what was going on in my world.
“Let’s save that until tonight, got to go, love you lots.”
“And you,” she said,” enjoy the fishing.”
“Will do, bye” and I ended the call.
I was genuinely very happy for Laura and Frank, they seemed to have been given another chance, something that doesn’t come around that often! I wondered if Adam and I would be so lucky?
My fishing trip was fun, Hamish wouldn’t entertain me being miserable and unhappy, he made it his mission to make me laugh and distract me with funny stories about clients fishing blunders, how a billionaire nearly drowned in the loch because his belt had such a huge solid gold buckle, the weight of which almost succeeded in pulling him down to the bottom of the loch when he fell in. In the end he reluctantly managed to undo the belt and let it drop to the bottom of the water, a number of locals had subsequently attempted diving the murky depths to retrieve the valuable nugget, but it had been too weedy and muddy, so there it remained.
Hamish knew I was struggling to keep myself together; I didn’t give him any details because the truth was, I was in the dark, as to what Adam would do next. He rowed us back to the boat house, a most successful day’s fishing; I had caught two and he had bagged three, we were laughing about our competitive spirits and how I would win next time. As he guided the boat towards the jetty I looked up and saw a man walking towards us, suddenly I saw it was Adam, I caught my breathe and almost tumbled with shock as Hamish dropped the oars to catch me.
“Are you ok lass?” as he looked with concern at my ashen face; I shook my head.
“It’s Adam” I whispered.
“What, where?” as Hamish also looked out towards the bank.
“Oh!” he said in a resigned voice. “Come on Claire pull yourself together, don’t let him see you like this”. For once Hamish was making sense, as I tried to compose myself and pull away from his steadying arms.
Adam saw the incident as Claire stumbled and was deftly rescued by a man who he assumed was Hamish. He stopped and stared at the pair, his anger rising, he had promised himself he would not over react to anything he saw or heard, until he could assess the facts. Hamish was now busy mooring the boat and gathering the tackle, he handed the bag of fish to Claire.
“Well what are you waiting for? go on lass, go greet your man,” he said with a smile, “he looks like he needs a hug!”
I climbed out of the boat my legs were like jelly as I tried to move towards him, but I found myself rooted a few feet away staring in disbelief as to what was happening, I wanted to run into his arms and kiss him with everything I had, but instead I kept looking towards his face waiting to see his response.
ADAM.
I saw her face in front of me her cheeks rosy red with the wind and her hair tousled I don’t think I had seen her more beautiful as she was standing in front of me. I called her name as her face broke into tears and she dropped a bag and came forward into my waiting outstretched arms. We silently embraced as our bodies tried to meld into each other as one. I looked over her shoulder at Hamish whose face said it all; he had tried to steal her away from me but failed, a beaten man. He walked up towards us, with a boldness of spirit starring back at me with a steely look.
“Well aren’t you going to introduce us Lass?” the familiar Scottish term was not lost on me.
“Sorry,” I said as I slipped out of Adam’s arms momentarily. Hamish this is Adam. Hamish held a hand out, but Adam paused for some time, before speaking icily.
“I’m not sure if I am going to shake your hand or punch you in the face” said Adam with a look, which I had never seen.
“Well make your mind up, you’re eating into some valuable drinking time and I for one need a whisky,” as he slowly allowed his craggy handsome face to grin out towards Adam.
“Well, we can’t have that can we,” said Adam, and stepped forward to shake Hamish’s hand. Hamish looked Adam boldly in the eyes.
“I’ll say this only once, you’re a very lucky man, she is an amazing woman and you can’t blame me for trying to win her over to my side, can you? I can see she loves you and that’s good enough for me.” He slapped Adam on the back and laughed as he hooked my arm into his, but not before Adam took my other arm, a profound relief that it was going to be all right.
“Come on boys play nicely,” I laughed.
“No way lass,” said Hamish, as he winked at Adam.
When we arrived at the lodge, Adam lifted me down from the quad bike and smiled.
“I have missed you so much,” the tears immediately started falling down my face; Hamish tried to look away.
“I think I’ll leave you two love birds to get reacquainted!”
“Wait Hamish!” as I ran around the bike to give him a customary kiss on the cheek, “thank you for a lovely day.”
“You’re welcome, Claire enjoy your evening.”
We were left standing looking towards each other; at that moment I needed to talk, touch, and kiss this beautiful man and do so much more with him, I wanted to make him fully understand that I was ready to embrace everything he wanted to give me, time is precious, and I wanted to spend it all with him.
After what seemed like a lifetime of staring, Adam broke the tension.
“Please come to me now Claire, I need to feel your body and show you all the different ways I am going to take you, I need to possess you and make you indelibly mine.” As I watched his face I saw the pain, fear and love etched in his eyes, this man loves me totally, he needs me to know that and words aren’t enough.
I walked to him and took his hand and walked him to the Lodge, opening the door and immediately shutting it behind us, shutting away the outside world. My hands began immediately stripping my clothes off as Adam followed my lead, I silently took him upstairs to my bedroom through to the bathroom. Turning the shower on over the bath I stepped into the warm jets of water, Adam stepped in behind me, I reached for the soap and turning, began to touch his body, sliding the bar and the lather over his torso, he stood staring into my face, allowing me to wash him, a softness rising from his muscles as the tensions of the last few weeks eased left him; he was mine now and I wanted to show him how much I had missed him. My hand glided down his taut abdomen, I heard him groan and paused to look at him, he gasped.
“Don’t you dare stop Claire.” I smiled and took him in my hand slowly rocking as his breathing intensified before finally allowing himself to release all his pent up sexual energy. He pulled my face to him and kissed me fiercely while a hand stroked my body, making me ache for him, his hands and fingers expertly drove me crazy till I too felt my body shudder and a cry of joy escaped me. Our bodies had enjoyed mutual release and as we caught our breath, we held each other allowing the hot water to wash away our pain.
I turned the shower off and grabbed a towel.
“Please allow me,” as he took the towel and began to dry my body, it felt so good.
“I could get used to this, may I?” as I grabbed a second towel and reciprocated with equal care and attention, before Adam stopped me.
“Careful Claire, this is too good, so enough!” as he threw the towel on the floor and scooped me into his arms and brought me into the bedroom. He gently lay me on the bed, his eyes had a dark intensity, as he joined me and began to kiss my face, his tongue caressing me working towards my breasts where he tormented me as a hand stroked and tickled my skin, I heard my gasps of pleasure and his mouth groaned and ached with desire,
“God, what are you doing to me Adam, your mouth is driving me crazy!”
“Where exactly, here?” as he took my breast and teased me, “or here?” as he pulled my lips and nibbled, “or here?” as he descended to the top of my legs.
“Stop Adam, I can’t take any more.”
“Are you sure Claire?” As his tongue co
ntinued until I exploded with an orgasm, which was off the Richter scale.
“I haven’t finished with you yet,” as he eased himself inside my body and moved with an urgency, which shocked and pleasured me in equal measure as our love making took us once again into another dimension.
Adam smiled at me with a look of satisfied pleasure.
“You’re some woman Claire, you’re going to be the undoing of me!”
“Me?” as I tried to look innocent, “what have I done?” as I gave him a mischievous grin.
“Don’t come the innocent with me woman! You do know I can’t keep my hands off you and I will never ever get enough of your body?” I didn’t quite know what to say to this out pouring of lust, this was all so new to me, but I was very quickly becoming addicted to his touch and the things he did to me with his body. All I can say is, he certainly knew how to awaken me, simply one look from his gorgeous big brown eyes and I surrendered to his wishes. He looked at me with such love, and the hint of a cheeky smile.
“Claire,” he whispered in my ear.
“Yes” I asked breathlessly.
“Is there any chance of?” he paused for effect, my imagination now running away with itself as I wondered what he was going to suggest next! “I am starving, I need some food!” he laughed, “I need fed, it’s been almost 24 hours since I’ve eaten!”
“Adam, I am so sorry, yes of course that’s easy, let me grab the menu and we can order some supper.” I wasn’t too sure if I was relieved or a touch disappointed, still there was always later!
Five minutes later we were in casual joggers and sweatshirts studying the menu. The front door bell rang, I headed off to see who it was; Ewan stood at the door.
“Sorry Claire, the door is usually open, I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“No Ewan, come in please.” He chattered away about his day, asking how the fishing had been while lighting the fire and bringing extra logs. Adam walked into the lounge and said hello, I introduced them, Adam was immediately offering his thanks for the good care he had shown to me during my stay.
“No bother,” said Ewan with a slightly embarrassed look, “it’s been a pleasure looking after our favourite guest, Claire is practically one of the family,” he said with genuine feeling. “Now have you got everything you need?”
“I think you stocked the bar a couple of days ago and I am just about to order supper.”
“Oh great, what would you like, I take the order over and bring it over when its ready.”
“Thanks Ewan.” We ordered and Ewan assured us he’d return soon with our food.
“I’m impressed Claire, you really are like part of the family here, but I don’t know why I am surprised, everyone who meets you seems to fall in love with you; you are one special lady” I felt a touch embarrassed at his observation, not being one to take compliments easily!
“I don’t know about that, but they have been really kind and thoughtful, I couldn’t have asked for any more.”
Adam poured us a drink and walked over to the large bay window.
“It’s certainly beautiful up here Claire, I can’t wait to have a guided tour of the place.”
“I can’t wait to show you, now come and sit down next to me,” as I patted the cushioned sofa, “and tell me what’s been going on, don’t spare any details, I can then fill you in with my news.”
Adam sat back relaxing into the sofa, he told me how well his father was recovering under the watchful eye of his mother. His brothers had agreed on a new order of roles around the farm. Sean had hired a new local accountant to take over the accounts and daily financial affairs; Sean would be keeping an eagle eye on her, which wasn’t going to be too much of a hardship, apparently, as together with brains, she was very attractive, and Sean had been more than a little interested in getting to know her away from the farm!
Henry had welcomed Sean’s help with the sheep and Daniel was showing him the ropes on how to take over his job. It had been decided they would scale down the numbers of cattle until Sean felt confident to take over, or possibly even take on someone else to share the workload.
“So Daniel has definitely decided to go to New Zealand?”
“Yes, it looks like it, he and dad are just too alike in temperament, so it’s probably for the best, I just wish it wasn’t so dam far, Daniel and I get on so well, I am going to really miss him.”
“So, that just leaves you.” I stated, as he took one of my hands and gently caressed the palm.
“When I met you a few short months ago, I never knew the impact you would have on my life. It was as if everything I had changed in the past eighteen months previously, had been leading up perfectly so I would meet you.”
“Like Kismet?” I asked nervously.
“Something like that, I believe in destiny and the Universe guiding us to the path and people we are meant to connect with. It all happened so fast and I think as much as we were strongly attracted to each other, it kind of caught us unaware and this separation really made me appreciate exactly what I wanted and that was you Claire,” my eyes began to swim with tears of happiness as I listened to his words. “The short telephone calls each day just weren’t enough and between my family obligations and missing you, I began to believe, wrongly, that you were having some feelings for another man. Each call made me more and more jealous and my imagination was filling my head with visions of you and Hamish living here happily ever after! The thought of losing you was unbearable, so…I did what any hot blooded jealous man would do, I jumped into Roxy and drove up to my place.”
“Whoa! hold it right there,” I gave a quizzical look. ”Who’s Roxy?”
“Your car, well she looks like a Roxy, what can I say,” amusement written all over his face, “she’s hot and sexy, a bit like her owner, don’t you think?”
“I suppose I can’t argue with that, continue.”
“I managed to get the first early train up to Glasgow, then hired a car and drove up here, I didn’t want to wait one more day to get here and tell you how I felt. The question is, are you happy with my decision?”
“I am very happy you came, you see tomorrow I was about to jump into my car and drive down to you, I knew things here were getting unexpectedly complicated, I was concerned with Hamish’s intentions and sudden undying love for me, which I have to say was nothing to do with anything I said or did! “
“Claire, you are a beautiful woman and I don’t blame Hamish for falling in love with you, you have a uniqueness that makes you irresistible.”
“Oh, please don’t say that Adam, I am not sure I like the thought. All I wanted was a friend, someone to talk to; Hamish and I actually started out really disliking each other and then before we knew it, we were enjoying each other’s company; we never crossed any boundaries, until he proposed.”
“Excuse me, he did what?” shouted Adam.
“Calm down, he did apologise afterwards when I told him to stop being silly and we could be nothing more than friends.”
“Bloody hell, the cheek of the man,” Adam snarled.
“Stop, he’s a lovely man, just lonely and sad, he lost his wife a few years ago and his kids aren’t interested in keeping in touch, and even worse they won’t take over the Estate, so he is going to have to sell it!”
“Oh!” said a conciliatory Adam, “that is rough!”
“So, as long as we are here, we cut him some slack, agreed?”
“Agreed,” said Adam.
The doorbell rang.
“I bet that’s Ewan with our supper, would you grab it and I will set the table.” Five minutes later we were sat around the table, candles flickering, wine poured, tucking into a tasty venison pate with homemade oatcakes.
“This is delicious,” said Adam.
“I believe it comes directly from the estate’s own herds of deer.” Adam wolfed it down and most of mine. We followed with an Aberdeen angus steak and hand cut chips, the knife went through the meat like butter, I could see Adam was be
ginning to feel better. Finally, a platter of local cheeses with more oatcakes. The supper was hearty and restorative, just what we needed.
Adam poured us two malt whiskies.
“I never really drank much whisky in the past, but when in Rome!”
I watched Adam sip his drink and stare into the log fire, its glow reflecting across his handsome face.
“I was thinking long and hard on the way up about our relationship Claire,” he took my hand and kissed it lovingly,” I am deep down a romantic, but I never chose to exhibit this side of myself with other women, with you it’s all I think about, so if you will let me, I want to begin our courtship in a more traditional manner. I looked at his serious face with a puzzled stare. “For example, I want to take you on dates, wine and dine you in fine restaurants, take you dancing and to the theatre, I want to spoil you and give you experiences to remember.” I felt myself smiling contentedly.
“I confess I haven’t been out socially for so long, and I love dressing up and being spoilt. Will was a guy who loved to surprise me, we did lots of special things together, once a fortnight we even had what we called our date night, but I would like to add that some of my favourite dates were simple, didn’t cost a lot. I don’t need you to splash money at me to win me over; I’m not that kind of lady! But the odd special splurge would be fun. At the same time, I don’t want you to feel like you have to, or do anything just to impress me.”
“Understood, and please don’t worry about money, I am doing really well with my Yoga business, so I am more than happy to spoil you as often as I want.”
“You’re a softie Adam and I love it, but I would like to chip in with my share as well, I am what I consider ‘comfortably off’ thanks to Will, I would love to be generous and that means sharing with you and friends.”
“You are the kindest most generous woman I have ever had the honour to be with. So, we’re good?”
