Falling in Deep Collection Box Set

by Pauline Creeden

  ***

  The door opened without warning. I twisted free of the cloth tape measure in the seamstress’s hands and darted behind the dressing screen. I wore nothing but my thin shift.

  “I just remembered,” Lachlan said to the dressmaker as he stood in the doorway. His voice was warm and his demeanor charming, causing her aghast look to fall away. “My maw told me to ask ye about a run of blue silk in yer storeroom upstairs. I believe she said it came from Edinburg. Do ye know the bolt I speak of?”

  Good grief, is Fia in cahoots with Lachlan?

  “Aye, sir. But that fabric is a wee bit pricey.”

  “That will no’ be a problem. Go and get it, and any others ye feel might look fine on the lass. She’ll need at least a half-dozen if no’ a dozen gowns.”

  Through the gap in the hinged wooden panels of the screen, I saw her face brighten.

  “Right away, sir.”

  She hurried up the skinny staircase as Lachlan watched her go.

  My heart sank when he set his gaze in my direction and walked toward me. I backed into the corner, though it wasn’t far as the screen was in the corner to begin with.

  He stepped around the side and stared at me for a moment. “Are ye being treated well by Mrs. Prink, Jinny?” His voice was hushed, and I kept mine at a whisper also.

  “Yes, Lachlan. Now, please, leave us to it. You shouldn’t be in here. It would ruin me if you were discovered. You know this.”

  “Aye, I do know it. So I suppose ye’d best be on about giving me what I want.”

  Oh God, what is he talking about?

  “Cousin, I beg you, if you have the slightest care for me, please just go before we’re caught.”

  His lips stretched into a devil’s smile. “I’m no’ going until I get what I want.”

  The churning in my gut felt like the sea during a mighty gale.

  “What do you want?”

  He stepped closer. “I want ye, Jinny Fairchild, I always have. From the moment I laid eyes on ye standing on the pier with yer da. But for now I’ll settle for just looking at ye.” His gaze scrolled to my bare feet, and back to my eyes. “Take that shift off.”

  “No! I’m not doing that.”

  “Then I’m no’ leaving, and Mrs. Prink will come back to find me kissing ye madly with my hands full of yer nice, fat tits.”

  I thought for a moment that my heart had stopped, until I realized it wasn’t stopped at all, but beating so fast it was nothing more than a piercing pain.

  “I’ll scream if you do that.”

  He gave a soft laugh. “And bring the whole town running to find ye ruined? Then where would ye go, cousin? I’ll tell ye where. Ye’d have nowhere to go but back home with me. And if ye decided to leave me, the only men out there who would want ye would be ones willing to pay for yer services.

  “Now, I’ll tell ye again what I want. I want to look at ye, without that shift.” He reached for the tie drawn at my cleavage. I flinched back against the wall and smacked his hand away.

  The challenging look he gave me warned he would do everything he’d threatened if I resisted him. I was trapped. My cousin was right—I had no one and nowhere. Though I’d entertained the thought, I knew I couldn’t go back to Olli and Huck, my father’s cook and first mate aboard the ship. Or even Mr. Fitch, my teacher. They loved me, yes, but they were not my father and would not be able to protect me the way I needed protecting—from the tongues of society. Oh, the damage it would do to my reputation for all of England to know I was an unprotected young woman living alone on a ship with a crew of sailors. No man in the world would want me if that were my life. And no man in the world would want me if I got caught in a dressing room with a man groping and kissing me.

  Mrs. Prink would be back any moment and if she discovered us together there would be no saving me. If I did not yield, he would not leave, but would carry out his threat. Left no choice, I accepted the cards I’d been dealt, and dropped my hands to my sides.

  I tried without success to slow my breathing as again Lachlan reached for the tie drawn at my cleavage. He released the bow and brushed his hands over my shoulders, pushing the fabric off so it fell to the floor.

  His sight dropped to my breasts with the parting of his lips. He backed away from me, inhaled, and then blew it out slowly. His lingering gaze was full of covetousness, as if it was feeding his mind and body.

  I wanted to die.

  After a full minute, he stepped close again. I pressed myself to the wall at my back. “I … I thought you said you wouldn’t touch me if I let you look at me.”

  “I’m no’ going to touch ye … at least no’ here.”

  “Then why are you so close?”

  “Because ye are going to touch me.”

  I frowned, my shaking head insisting no!

  “Don’t shake yer bonnie blonde head at me. I want ye to put yer hand up my kilt and feel what ye do to me.”

  “No. You said you wanted to see me. You’ve done that. Now, I’m begging you to leave.”

  “No’ until ye ken.”

  “Ken what, Lachlan?” I pleaded, looking past him to see if Mrs. Prink was coming back.

  “What ye do to me. ’Tis no’ fair that I have to be in this state.”

  “You’re the one who came in here and unclothed me, not I.”

  He laughed. “I’m no’ hard as stone merely because ye’re naked … although that is a factor. But ye keep me this way by just being near me. Ye’re the one who came to live in my house, leaving me nowhere to go. I didnae ask to be tempted day and night when I know there is one such as yerself bathing and sleeping right down the hallway from my bedchamber. Now feel me. Or I’ll feel ye.”

  He slid his sporran aside and took my hand, trying to force it up his kilt.

  I tugged it away, only to have his mouth come hard against mine, shoving my head against the wall at my back as he painfully groped my breasts. I couldn’t breathe from the pressure of his face against mine and thought I would die of suffocation before he pulled away, breathing heavily and glaring at me.

  He said, “I should beat the hell out of ye for making me want ye like ye have and then refusing me.”

  “Lachlan, you must know I never intentionally tried to tempt you.”

  “Intentional or no’, ye have, and now ye need to make it right.”

  He gripped my wrist and pressed it beneath his kilt, then folded my fingers around him. Wrapping his hand around mine he squeezed. “Stroke me.” His gaze was fused to mine.

  I glared at him.

  “Stroke me, damn ye!” He slid our hands up and down. His expression tensed as he went faster. I wished for a blade in my palm at that moment.

  Was this worth it? Should I take my chances in this world alone or on Papa’s ship? If not, would I be doomed to fulfill Lachlan’s every whim? How could I dig myself out of this deepening grave that was rapidly collapsing in on top of me?

  God, what would I do if Mrs. Prink returned to find me standing naked with my hand up my cousin’s kilt, sharing in this most lewd performance?

  Our jacking motion shook my breasts, and Lachlan’s gaze was pinned there. His mouth opened with a muted groan as he squeezed my hand into stillness and cupped his other over the top. I felt hot fluid drip down my fingers and wanted to yank them away, but his hold was too tight.

  He stared at me, and what I saw there in his face made me certain something had just happened within him that would tie me to him forever. He would never let me go. As long as we lived, I would never have a life away from him. He would never stop until he took every dream from me, and not even then.

  He smiled. “I’m coming to ye tonight, Jinny, and one of two things will happen. Either ye’ll let me play with ye a bit and ye’ll do it of yer own free will, or I’ll fuck ye of mine.”

  Chapter four

  Jinny Fairchild

  I was surprised to see Uncle home for supper that evening. It was the first time since Aunt Fia and Lachlan had returned.
I felt for some reason that he was there for me, as if he knew something had happened. But how could he? The question made me self-conscious. Had Mrs. Prink seen Lachlan and me and sent word to Uncle?

  I noticed Uncle scowling at his son, and I looked at Lachlan across the table. As usual, he was watching me, his face flushed and full of greed. I cast my attention to my plate as it dawned on me.

  Uncle’s store!

  Mrs. Fowlie went to Uncle’s store every Monday and Thursday. It was Monday. The maid must have told Mrs. Fowlie about the kiss, and she in turn must have warned Uncle.

  I had only to look at my uncle to see his guilt over leaving me to his family these months. He looked at me, and something in his gaze made me question if my mother had been Uncle’s only happiness … ever? Had our time together at the beginning of my stay made him feel he was once again with her?

  I gave him a sad smile and returned my attention to my plate, wondering about Uncle Ewan’s relationship with Aunt Fia. He’d told me they met at the same time as my father and mother. But how? What were the circumstances? I assumed his desire to stay away from home was a mere search for peace. I could not blame him for that. His presence here tonight assured me of his love, if not for me then for my mother.

  Had he ever loved Aunt Fia? Had they loved each other?

  “How did you and Aunt Fia meet, Uncle?” The words were out of my mouth before I knew I’d spoken them aloud in the silent room.

  Three sets of eyes settled on me.

  “Good heavens, child! Have ye no manners?” Aunt Fia protested. “Ye don’t just come out with something personal like that. May the good Lord help me if I’m to get ye married off to—”

  “’Twas at Wedlove that we met.” Uncle said. Her gaze swung around to him.

  “The castle in Seton, England?” I asked.

  “Aye. I had accompanied Rose to see—”

  “Ewan!” Aunt Fia said. “Ye’re only encouraging the lass to continue in her offensiveness.”

  Uncle glared at her. “She’s family, Fi. And I’m no’ offended in the least for her to take an interest in my life. ’Tis a good feeling to think someone cares a damn about me.”

  He looked back at me, Aunt Fia glowering at him with her wrinkled lips pinched to the size of a raisin.

  “As I was saying, I had accompanied Rose to see Aileen, her dearest friend since our youth. The lass had married a young Englishman by the name of Higgins whose family held a lease on the Duke of Seton’s land. Well, when we made our visit, ’twas in October, and it so happened that the annual Autumn Festival that goes on at Wedlove, the duke’s Castle, was happening.

  I interrupted with, “Yes, I’ve heard of that festival and have always wanted to go. I understand it draws visitors from all over England, being one of the few occasions to bring the nobility and the common masses into the same circle.” I couldn’t help the excitement in my voice, which I noticed irritated Lachlan.

  Uncle nodded. “Aye, I expect ye would like it, as folk from all over England—no’ Scotland—still attend that affair each year.”

  “From the sound of it, you didn’t like it,” I said.

  “Eh, it was all right I suppose, it’s just that I felt like a fish out of water, being a Scotsman at an Englishman’s affair. I was wishing our visit to Aileen had fallen at another time.”

  “Is it true that nobles and commoners mingle?”

  “Aye. I doubt Rose would have been courted by Nathaniel otherwise, him being the son of a viscount.”

  I saw sadness flash in Uncle’s eyes.

  “So you were left alone while my mother got to know my father?”

  “Aye, but I was happy for her to be so swept off her feet by such a man. She deserved that.”

  Uncle drew a slow breath. “It seems Rose and I said goodbye to our childhoods at that place. It was a merry time for most. I can still hear the sounds of gaiety filling the air, with music and laughter, all of which set the mood for love. It was no stretch to guess I was surrounded by the finest youth in England, all of them mingling with everyday folk like Rose and me. There were young couples strolling arm in arm, coming and going. I was no’ blind either. I saw quickly that some had found their way to more private places.”

  Aunt Fia turned red and her look soured, but she remained silent.

  “Anyway. Rose and I had a fine time the first day, but she met Nate the second day and they became inseparable. She tried to include me, but I felt like a third wheel and left them to their enjoyment. I found myself alone all the time, as I said, feeling like a fish out of water, being the only Highlander there that I was aware of.

  “But then on the fourth day, I met yer aunt Fia. She was there for similar reasons, and felt as out of place as I did. I think that’s the thing that drew us together. There was something mesmerizing about being in another country, feeling alone and out of place, and crossing paths with someone who lived right in my own backyard. Yet there in that romantic place, miles and days away from home, I was laying eyes on the lass for the first time. It built a strange bond that might no’ have been there had we passed on the street of our own town.”

  Lachlan sat his glass down hard on the table. “What are ye saying, Da? That ye would no’ have married my maw had ye no’ been under some sort of spell due to yer loneliness in a strange but romantic place?”

  Uncle narrowed his eyes on his son. “I said nothing of the kind, Lachlan. I said it built a strange bond that might no’ have been there had we passed on the street of our own town. But now that ye ask, I’ll tell ye flat out. Had yer maw and I met here in the Highlands, I would no’ have found myself lying down with her and planting my seed in her belly the way I did in that lonesome place.”

  I jumped at Fia’s screech. And again as Lachlan’s chair crashed loudly onto the floor as he sprang to his feet and threw his napkin onto his plate, ready to challenge Uncle.

  I wrung my own napkin in my hands, watching wide-eyed.

  Uncle’s gaze was fixed on Lachlan. “Ye’ll be wise to think before ye act, lad. If ye do me in, ye’ll have no one to pay for yer easy life. And don’t be so sure ye will do me in; it might be that ye will no’. Ye’ll have to live—or no’ live—with the consequences of yer actions. Either one is no’ a promising prospect for ye.”

  Like an angry bull, Lachlan’s eyes blazed and his chest heaved with every breath as he looked at his mother. Her head shook slightly, and her expression pleaded with him to do nothing.

  “I’m going out.” He turned and stormed from the room.

  Chapter five

  Jinny Fairchild

  I laid my hairbrush aside and crawled between the sheets, feeling scared and listening for Lachlan’s return.

  I couldn’t believe Uncle had said what he had. What had made him do it? Clearly, he never loved Fia. Giving in to one moment of pleasure had trapped him in a life he didn’t want and hadn’t anticipated.

  I’d grown up in a family of men—my father, Ollie, Huck, and Mr. Fitch—in odd circumstances traveling the world on a ship, and found that so very pleasing and functional. How had I become embedded in this traditional family of a father, mother, and son, with their established business and home and daily routines to find it so disturbing and impaired?

  Minutes ticked by and I found myself holding my breath at every sound. Old houses made plenty of them through the night, I discovered.

  I must have fallen asleep at some point, since I awoke with a start, my heart lurching to find Lachlan standing over me, wearing only his kilt. He swayed slightly, and I knew he’d been drinking.

  “Lachlan,” I whispered. “Get out of here right now or I’ll call for Uncle.” I struggled to sound unafraid.

  “Na, ye’ll no’ do that, Jinny.”

  “Why won’t I?”

  “Because ye know if ye do, he’ll come running to yer rescue, and that would no’ be good.”

  What the blazes does he mean by that? My heart kicked into a faster pace.

  “It might
not be good for you, but it would be good for me,” I managed to say.

  “I doubt it, since I get the feeling ye’re still attached to my da, even after tonight’s enlightening supper conversation. It’s him it would no’ be good for. I already decided if he comes in here, I’ll break his damn nose if he tries to interfere.”

  Alarm twisted my gut. The tone in his voice told me I’d be a fool to doubt him. “How can you say that? He’s your father.”

  With a harsh creak of protest from the bed, he crawled over me quickly, hissing his potent whiskey breath in my face. “Did ye no’ hear what that bastard said to my mother? He regrets marrying her as much as he regrets fathering me.”

  I tried to slow my breathing as he stayed there on his hands and knees, staring at my face. His anger fled with as much speed as it had come, and he dipped his nose to my neck and drew in a breath.

  “What is it about ye, Jinny?” he whispered into my ear. “How do ye affect me the way ye do? And why do ye always smell so bloody fucking good, so unlike other lasses?” He lifted his head to again look at me. “Is it because ye were raised on ocean air and bathed in saltwater yer whole life? Did it do something to ye? I’m no’ joking. It’s like I could no’ resist ye even if I tried. This mad wanting of ye never lets up.”

  He scowled then. “That’s why my da said what he did to me. He can no more resist ye than I can.”

  I was shocked and repulsed by the accusation and wanted to spit in his face, but recoiled at the sight of his expression growing angry again.

  “I don’t doubt he’s as hard for ye as I am. I can tell he’s jealous of the way I look at ye. The two of ye were having a mighty fine time the night Maw and I returned. My first thought had been that ye were his mistress, and now I know why. It was the way he looked at ye. He looked … alive. I don’t remember ever hearing my da laugh out loud before that night. He wants ye for himself.”

  His twisted words bolstered the courage I couldn’t find a moment earlier. “You’re drunk and you’re disgusting. My uncle has been nothing but kindhearted to me. I believe he is a sad soul who would never dream of such a thing. If his life has been so miserable that you were never blessed to hear his laughter then I suggest you explore why. Maybe you shouldn’t place all the blame on him, and maybe you should investigate your mother, and even yourself, but don’t soil the innocent relationship between my uncle and me.”