Highland Grace

by K. E. Saxon

  She’d made her decision. This night, after the celebration, she would give herself to him. He’d proven himself to her over and over again these past sennights with his kindness, his devotion to her, to Alleck, to the babe in her belly. And what was more, he’d barely even glanced in Lara’s direction. In fact, it seemed to her that Lara vexed Bao, for each time he heard her speak, Jesslyn saw his jaw tighten, tho’ he was careful in all other respects to keep an amiable façade.

  Aye, she was through with her reticence, her fear. She turned her gaze on him. “Will you meet me later? I’d like to speak with you alone.”

  A spark of intrigue lit his eye. “Aye. When?”

  “We’ll wait until after the bonfire is lit. I don’t want to seem rude and leave too early.”

  He nodded and his thumb stroked her cheek. “How do you feel? Are you too warm?”

  Jesslyn smiled. “Nay, I’m fit. My thanks for your concern.” She turned her mouth into his palm and bestowed a kiss upon it.

  * * *

  Bao’s manhood shot to full attention. He longed to rock against the ruby-red lips he’d been speaking of in truth as her hot sheath squeezed him in its grip. Bao swallowed a groan of pure agony and slowly took his hand from her grasp. Turning on his stool, he stared blankly at the players, who’d begun their entertainment while he and his bride spoke.

  He was close to his limit for biding her surrender to him. He’d wanted to wait for her, and he had. He hadn’t found relief since that morn in Perth when he’d awakened from the nearly tangible dream of their only time together.

  So, he hoped fervently that with a bit of luck and a lot of skill, this might just be the night that saw the end of his celibacy for good.

  * * *

  Lara waited until she saw Jesslyn walk with Lady Maclean around to the other side of the bonfire before she excused herself from her husband, saying that she was weary and would retire to their chamber. After receiving a nod from him and a quick peck on the cheek, she walked in the direction of the keep. She saw Bao standing with Laird Donald near the entryway. Perfect. “Good eve, Bao. Good eve, Laird Donald,” she said as she approached. Turning her gaze to the dark-haired object of her forbidden desires, she said, “Jesslyn asked me to tell you that she’d like to meet you in the top chamber of the store tower.”

  Bao smiled and nodded. The store tower. This night might prove to be more interesting than he’d originally hoped. He turned to Laird Donald and said, “It seems I’ve been summoned.”

  Laird Donald laughed. “Aye, lad, that you have. And you mustn’t keep your lady waiting.”

  * * *

  Lara nodded a brief farewell to the two men and walked past them to enter the keep. But she didn’t go up to her chamber. Instead, she made her way across the great hall and through the door in the back wall that led toward the kitchens. She’d get to the store tower via the herb garden.

  * * *

  Using the flint and striker he found just inside the door at ground level, Bao lit one of the candles that intermittently hung from sconces along the wall of the stairs. After climbing the stone steps and entering the room above, he made a quick scan of the chamber. Jesslyn hadn’t arrived yet, it seemed. But she’d evidently planned this interlude quite well; there were blankets and pillows on the floor, and a flagon of wine was resting on a crate with a silver chalice sitting next to it.

  Moving around the chamber, he lit the candles in the two sconces on the wall and then placed the taper he held in his hand onto the bronze candlestick positioned next to the chalice on the crate.

  He turned toward the door when he heard the soft pad of footsteps coming from the stairs. When he saw who it was that entered, his heart dipped into his stomach and catapulted back to throb in dread against his breast bone. “What the hell are you doing here?” he said. ‘Twas Callum’s mischief-making wife that stood before him in a state of dishabille.

  She leaned against the door frame, her arms crossed beneath her breasts, pushing them up so that they spilled from the loosened bodice of her chemise. She’d removed her gown sometime prior to entering, for it was not in sight. Tho’ her belly was round with child, she was still quite slim and, he already knew from past experience, she knew how to make herself alluring to men.

  “Giving you another chance to change your mind, of course,” she replied, straightening and moving further into the chamber.

  She shrugged and her chemise dropped off of her shoulders, leaving her breasts bare, her nipples pebbling as they came in contact with the chill air of the room. “After all, what’s so terrible about a friendly fuck between cousins-in-law? Especially now that there’s no danger of getting me with child.” She giggled. “Nay, that deed has already been done by Giric!—Damn!” Her hand flew to her mouth. “That was supposed to be a secret.”

  “Are you drunk?”

  “Mayhap a wee bit, but isn’t this the night for such behavior?”

  “Get the hell out before my wife finds you here.”

  She laughed throatily. “You foolish man, have you still no apprehension? Your wife remains below enjoying the bonfire—‘twas I who created this lover’s bower.” She walked toward him, her arms outstretched and her chemise slipping to the floor. “Show me heaven, do to me all the things you’ve done before.”

  “Nay,” Bao said, striding around her toward the open door.

  “Not even for the entire casket of jewels?” She pointed to the corner where the container lay. “You can look inside if you like.”

  Bao halted in the doorway, his back to her, grasping the doorframe in both his hands. “Go to your husband for your pleasures. I’ve no desire to bed you, for any amount of riches.”

  Her purring voice turned spiteful. “But would you, in exchange for your sister’s freedom? Or do you want my stepbrother to know where your precious Branwenn dwells? ‘Tis not in a nunnery as you’ve convinced him, is it, dear Bao?”

  He fisted his hands at his sides to keep from strangling her then and there and whirled to face her. “You’ll not say a word to your brother about my sister’s whereabouts. Not a word.”

  Clearly unabashed by her own nakedness, she tossed her head as she stormed toward the table with her arms akimbo. Cocking her hip to the side and keeping one hand at her waist, she lazily ran her finger around the silver rim of the chalice as she asked, “Aye. Not a word—if you give me this one little boon.”

  “Nay, I’ll not. For, you could easily break your word afterward.” Bao scanned her too-knowing visage. “Just how much do you know of why your stepbrother wants my sister?”

  She shrugged. “He says he owns her by right and that you are keeping him from what is his.”

  “He doesn’t own her. I’ve paid him many times over the price he paid my father for her years ago.”

  She cocked a brow at him. “He has a deed of ownership.”

  Bao ground his teeth before he answered. “Aye, I’ve paid his debts, paid him his annual fees for her continued freedom for nigh on fifteen annals trying to get my hands on it—and keep his hands off her.” A flash-memory of Giric looming over his bed when Bao was a young squire sent an all-too familiar tremor of dread and revolt through his system and he clenched his fists to fight it off.

  Lara laughed. “Aye, Giric does like to toy with people.”

  “He does more than toy with his mistresses. Two have gone missing under very mysterious circumstances, to which the King turns a blind eye, as the women were of low birth.”

  Her mouth turned down into a frown, but she shrugged as if forcing a look of disinterest. “He has a bit of a cruel streak. Many men do.”

  “’Tis more than cruelty, ‘tis violent, mayhap even murderous.” And, at the minimum, perverse. “I shall never put my sister in his clutches.”

  Her laughter trilled, echoing off the stone walls. “Then, ‘tis clear what you must do, is it not?” She threw her head back and gave a much more deep-throated laugh. “And this time, Bao Xiong Maclean, you shall pay me for th
e privilege.”

  “Not without surety that my sister will remain unharmed and free of him until I can get her well-wed.”

  Her gaze turned calculating. She sighed. “I was hoping I could keep this little bit of revenge on him in my possession, as he deserves to suffer for what he’s done to me, but…but what if I gave you the deed of ownership? I stole it from him several moons ago, after I discovered my childing state. Once it’s in your hands, ‘twould matter less if my stepbrother found out where your sister dwells, would it not?” She shrugged and turned, walking toward the bedding she’d arranged on the floor. “Anyway, I have naught against the lass—and I know first hand Giric’s proclivities. I’ll not give her away—not if you service me well.”

  “Where is the deed now? I won’t agree to a thing until I see it with my own eyes.”

  “I’ll not say where, but I can promise you that you shall see it, own it, this very night, if you agree to my terms.”

  “I want to see it first.”

  “Nay, not until after.”

  “I must know it’s the deed that my father used to barter Branwenn.”

  “Oh, it is. Why don’t I tell you a bit about it? Will that do as proof?” She looked up at the ceiling beams and said, “’Twas dated the twelth day of January, in the year of our Lord, eleven-ninty. It states that for a price of three silver pennies, one 2-year-old war horse of healthy stock, and a chain mail, the babe, Branwenn, would be given in slavery to Giric MacBean.”

  ‘Twas just as his father had told him. It took Bao less than a second to decide. “I’ll meet you in the stables in an hour. Bring it with you.” Bao left then, flying down the stairs and out into the courtyard. The woman was a menace. But, if he could do as she wanted, by the end of it, he’d finally have his sister’s freedom. He’d also have betrayed the one woman he wanted desperately to love him.

  He needed a drink. With purposeful strides, he moved toward the keep. Some of Daniel’s uisge beatha would do. It might numb the edges enough so that when he tried to do the deed, he would succeed this time. And he must succeed.

  * * *

  Laird Donald strolled up to stand beside Lady Maclean. The bonfire was at full blaze now, the heat from it reaching several feet from its edges, warming those who stood in its sphere. The upper bailey had been cleared of all carts and other articles made of wood or cloth that might accidently ignite from a stray spark. “This be as fine a display as I’ve seen in years.”

  Lady Maclean nodded. “Aye, my grandsons did a fine job on this.”

  “Where’s my son-in-law? I’d like to congratulate him on his success.”

  “He’s with Maryn. She’s awfully close to having her babe, and Daniel doesn’t want to leave her side for very long. He shall be down here again soon, I’m sure.”

  “Branwenn seems to be settling in nicely. I saw her dancing with some of the other young lads and lasses a few moments past.”

  “Aye, she’s coming along just fine. Tho’ she’s still set against wedding.”

  Laird Donald looked at her in surprise. “You’ve given her a choice?”

  Lady Maclean’s lips thinned and she shook her head. “Nay, I’ve not. But, because of her unusual upbringing, I’m giving her a bit more time to become accustomed to her fate. I’ve not argued the point with her as of yet.”

  “Do you have anyone in mind for her?”

  “Several, actually. They’re all from good families and not so old that they’d not tolerate her active nature.”

  “That’s good. The lass has spirit, and ‘twouldn’t do for her to be wed to a man that couldn’t appreciate it.”

  * * *

  Jesslyn wandered over to stand with Callum as he watched the clan youth enjoying another dance. She followed Callum’s gaze and saw Branwenn. “She’s got such impish beauty, does she not?” Jesslyn said.

  “Aye, as long as she doesn’t speak,” Callum replied. “And she’s much too wild. Grandmother should put a stop to this display forthwith.”

  Jesslyn took hold of Callum’s sleeve when he started to turn in the direction of Lady Maclean. “You’ve certainly become stern since last we met. Leave the lass be; she’s only enjoying the festivities a bit.”

  “You think me too stern? When both you and my wife are proof of what can happen to a lass if she doesn’t guard her virtue as she should?” Callum pulled from Jesslyn’s grasp and walked toward Lady Maclean.

  Jesslyn looked toward Branwenn and the other dancing youth, trying to see the danger that Callum was so sure was there. She shook her head. It seemed perfectly innocent to her. Mayhap, ‘twas more that Callum was bent on vexing the poor lass. The two of them did seem to always be at sixes and sevens whenever they met. Sighing, she decided to leave it in the hands of Lady Maclean.

  * * *

  After his second cupful of the ardent spirits, Bao finally felt able to deal with Callum’s wife.

  Rising to his feet, he swayed and grabbed the edge of the table for support. Mayhap he’d had more than he should. The room tilted, but after a moment his head cleared and he tripped off the dais and staggered from the hall to the stables. He intended on taking her to one of the caves in the wood. He’d not betray his wife inside her own home.

  The stables were deserted, as even the stablemen were enjoying the festivities. Bao patted his stallion’s neck. “That’s a good lad,” he said. He grabbed the saddle and tried to slide it on the beast’s back, but the walls of the stall started to collapse and expand and he swayed.

  The stallion snorted and stepped to the side. Bao followed and fell to his knees. He’d better sober up a bit more by the time Lara arrived. With effort, he got to his feet again and gave his face a few slaps. Then he took a ladle full of water from a bucket and drank it down. That seemed to help and he managed to get the stallion saddled and ready for travel over the next minutes.

  He was just leaning against the stall facing the entry of the stables when she came through it. Her eyes sparked with excitement and her lips turned up in a smug smile as she approached him.

  “I’ve never done it in a stable. How…rustic,” she said, looking around. “Is there an empty stall, or…”—she turned her gaze on him—“do you prefer where we stand?”

  “I’ve saddled my stallion. I’m taking you to a cave I know of in the wood. ‘Twill be privy and away from the festivities.”

  She nodded. “Ahh.” She sauntered over to where he stood. “I think I’d prefer you here, on the stable floor. Lie down.”

  “Where is the deed?”

  “I’ll give it to you while we couple. Will that do?”

  He nodded and lay down. She knelt and loosened the ties of his tunic and lifted it over his abdomen. Then, she loosened his braies and brought the cloth away from his pelvis. The old familiar anxiety made his insides tighten. Can I allow it? His member lay to the side, resting in the junction of his thigh and pelvis. With a shaking hand she touched him and Bao gritted his teeth as a wave of revulsion swept through him. Nay! He thrust her hand away. “Nay, let me.” It took everything he had to moderate his voice to a more seductive timbre when he said, “Just watch.” He closed his eyes and brought forth a memory of being inside Jesslyn at the waterfall and his cock sprang to life. As he manipulated it a few more moments, he heard Lara’s breath grow harsh with arousal and he transferred that sound to his dream lover. Jesslyn.

  He groaned.

  “Lord, you are massive. I’ve always liked that about you.” His eyes flew open and he watched and waited, tamping down the dread and disgust at what he was about to do, as she quickly undid her gown and chemise, straddled him and trailed the peak of her nipple over his bottom lip. The pungent smell of clove and cinnamon wafted over him and he almost lost his erection. But knowing what she wanted, he closed his eyes again, and with one hand still vigorously massaging his cock, opened his mouth wide, pulling the peak of her breast into it and suckled deeply. He kept his focus on his memories of Jesslyn, which he knew now were all he’d ever hav
e of her and, once his erection was at full mast again, lifted his hands to Lara’s breasts and molded one in the palm of his hand as he stroked and massaged the other, feeding on her.

  * * *

  Lara pressed down a fraction, feeling the large head of Bao’s arousal stretching her open in that oh-so-familiar way. It would hurt at first, but she liked it better when there was a bit of pain. That had been the best part of her experiences with her stepbrother. But he always finished too quickly. That wouldn’t be the case with Bao. He could go for hours. And, mayhap, if she was rough enough, she could lose this whelp of her stepbrother’s making as well. She’d tried often these past moons, but the thing was stubborn. It stayed in her belly with the ferociousness of a priest on a sinner. Placing her hands on Bao’s chest, she pressed down, forcing him inside her a bit further. The slight sting was now searing. She trembled and sucked in her breath.

  “Fuck me, fuck me now!”

  “First give me Branwenn’s deed!”

  * * *

  Callum walked toward the keep. He’d made his rounds, spoken with all his relatives and Maclean clansmen, and now he was ready for bed. The ringing of the bells was another hour away, but he wasn’t in the mood for more merry-making. He was troubled over his wife. She was never satisfied no matter what he did to appease her. And he worried for their babe. He’d followed her one day and seen her take a pouch from the old woman that dwelled in the MacGregor wood lining the craggy shore of the ocean. ‘Twas well known that she had herbal concoctions that could make a woman lose her babe, if she so desired.

  Fearing that she’d try to end her childing condition, he’d stolen the pouch from her casket before she’d had a chance to use the herbs and replaced them with a bit of clove and cinnamon.

  Callum was just passing the stables when he heard his wife’s exclamation and the reply in a much-too-familiar male voice. Darting inside, he skidded to a halt at the feet of the entwined pair.

  His cousin pushed Lara off him and sat up. The look in his eye was one of a trapped animal. Wild and dark.

  His wife’s bosom and legs were bare, a red bruise and teeth marks marred her right breast. He growled low and unsheathed his dirk. With venom in his voice and his blade in his hand, he said to Bao, “Do you die now, or do I allow you to cover yourself first?”