Just when she thought she could not last another second, the lid burst open and she was finally free of her dead companion. Kicking her legs hard, she fought her way toward the surface no longer caring if the men in the boat saw her. At least they would probably take her to her husband to receive her punishment. Left on her own she feared she would die from exposure before she ever found her father and Ian.
Her head popped up and she inhaled sharply over and over until she caught her breath. The men in the boat were some distance away with their backs to her. They rowed hard back towards the castle. Glancing around she saw her struggle had brought her within swimming distance of the far shore. She silently thanked Ian for forcing her to give up her fear of water and learn to swim. Taking a deep breath, she swam for the shore.
As soon as Asilinn stumbled out of the water, she realized the seriousness of her predicament. If she didn’t find her father’s encampment quickly, she would freeze to death. She momentarily debated shedding the wet clothing, but didn’t think she would be warmer naked.
There was a trail going into the woods but no campfires glowed in the darkness to light the way. If it weren’t for the full moon, she wouldn’t be able to see at all. Having no other recourse, she set out upon the trail heading into Burnum Woods. Within minutes, her feet and hands were going numb from the cold. She pushed herself onward. She didn’t know how long or how far she had walked. With each step, her progress became more of a struggle. She stumbled every few steps and sometimes she fell and had to pull herself back up to her feet.
As she tripped once more, her resolve broke. Asilinn could barely feel the warmth of her tears on her cold face. She lay on the frigid ground in a haze wondering how long it took to die from exposure. A dim drumming sound broke through the fog of her morbid musings. In the distance, she heard hoof beats coming down the trail toward her. She tried to get up but her frozen limbs would not move the way she wanted. She could hear the rider approaching. He drew closer and closer until he rounded the bend and she saw his silhouette in the moonlight. It looked like the dragon lord had come to fetch her. Even he was a welcome sight in her desperate circumstance. At least he wouldn’t let her die.
“Jared,” she called, but her voice came out like a shallow whisper.
The rider pulled up barely missing running her over. He dismounted and bent over her. “Jared,” she mumbled again. It was not Jared’s voice that responded to her call.
“What the hell? Lady Asilinn?”
She crawled away from him, but he was lifting her into his arms. She stared dumbfounded into the dark eyes of Liam MacLean.
“You’re freezing.”
“Aye,” she whispered. He put her on his horse and swung up behind her. She felt the warmth of his body heat as he wrapped his cloak around both of them. Clinging to him, she buried her head in his muscular chest.
“Are you daft? You canna escape my cousin and his confounded peace plan.”
“Where are you taking me?” she asked, still shivering uncontrollably.
“To Dunbocan.”
“No, take me to my father.”
He looked down at her, his dark eyes glittering in the moonlight. “I canna do it, Milady.” He spurred his horse to flat out run toward the castle gates.
Asilinn lost consciousness for a while. When she woke, her rescuer was barking out orders to a stable boy to fetch her husband. He carried her into a stone cottage near the stables. The heat hit her in the face when he took her inside.
“Ah, you’re awake now. I suppose I should be glad, though ‘twould solve considerable problems to have you dead.” Asilinn struggled away from his grip as he set her on the floor before the fire. “Take off those wet clothes before you freeze to death,” he ordered. He turned his back.
She wanted more privacy but she knew he was right. She had to free herself from the cold, wet clothing sucking all the heat out of her body. Asilinn tried, but her stiff fingers wouldn’t work at all. After several minutes, he glanced over his shoulder.
“Do you need help?” he asked his dark eyes unreadable.
She started to cry. “I canna do it.” Asilinn broke off sniffling as her savior came close and used his big hands to try to free her from the tangled mass of wetness surrounding her. Muttering a low curse, he grabbed the bodice of her simple gown and ripped it right down the front. The door to the cottage door burst open. Her husband stood in the doorway glowering at the man who helped her disrobe.
In two strides, Jared crossed the room, grabbed Liam by the shoulder, and pushed him away from her. “Liam! What the bloody hell are you doing?”
Jared had Liam by the throat and threw him back against the wall of the cottage. “I found your wife wet and half frozen on the path to Burnum Woods.” Liam straightened. Asilinn could see the defiance in his eyes. “She canna get those wet clothes off alone. I suggest you help her.” He wheeled on his heel and left the cottage.
Jared turned to Asilinn his eyes lit with a deadly threat. Coming over he finished the job Liam had started, leaving her clothes in a wet pile at her feet. He looked her over carefully and reached over to touch her chest. “God’s teeth, I am cursed.” Wrapping a length of plaid around her, he picked her up and carried her back outside. Instead of heading for the main entrance of the castle, he was going around the stable. Asilinn didn’t care where he took her. She closed her eyes and dropped her head against his shoulder. At this moment, she didn’t care if she lived or died.
But shortly the steamy warmth of the Dragon’s Spring made her exhausted body stir. Jared had taken her to the bath and even now was stripping his plaid from her.
“Are you awake enough to bathe yourself? I think the warm water will help. Asilinn, can you hear me?”
“Aye,” she nodded. With difficulty, she slipped into the warm bubbling water and let out a moan of delight. God help her, she might survive this madness.
“Do you need help?”
“Nay, Milord, I can manage.”
His face turned hard as he observed her trying to recapture the heat her body had lost. “And can I trust you to stay here alone or will you be gone when I return?”
“You know full well I dinna have the strength to leave on my own.”
“I was not expecting to be drugged and find you gone.”
She swallowed hard and stared at him. “I only wished to stay with my father until the peace is made, Milord.”
He snorted and left the room. When he returned a short time later, he was carrying some dry clothes. “Have you recovered enough to leave the bath?”
She nodded grimly and stepped out of the pool. He threw her a drying cloth and watched her from a distance while she dried off. Donning the clothes he offered, she wrapped her wet hair in the cloth and came to stand beside him.
“I am ready to accept my punishment, Milord.”
He said nothing, but hoisted her again into his arms and carried her up the secret passage to their room. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw it—on the floor by the bed was a long chain with manacles at either end. Dear God, he meant to chain her. In his eyes, no less than she deserved.
“I see I am to be punished.”
“I told you so, Asilinn.” Setting her down in the chair by the fire, he threw more chunks of dried peat on the fire and sank into the chair facing her.
“Tell me all that happened.” His jaw was set in a hard line.
Asilinn closed her eyes and drew a deep breath before gazing once again at his angry face. She told him everything and he listened showing no reaction to any of her tale. “And that is all, Milord,” she finished. She had been drying her hair by the fire while she talked and now turned her full attention to her task to avoid his cold stare.
He stood abruptly and came closer to tower over her. Grabbing her jaw, he forced her to look at him. He ran one finger over her lips. “You seduce me into trusting you with your tender mouth and run from me when the moment is passed. I should know well enough not to trust a woman, but you�
�you with your sweet innocence—I almost believed….”
She wondered if he referred to the intimate service she had given him or to what he saw as her false words. There was no way to tell and she would not ask. “I’m sorry, Milord. I only sought to return to my clan until the peace is set.”
“You knew I would not permit it!”
“Aye and I was forced to sneak away.”
“You could not obey your husband?”
It had never entered her mind she must obey him. She supposed it must have shown on her face, for he snorted and turned from her. She jumped when she heard the chains rattle. He hooked one manacle to the tall bedpost and dragged the chain across the floor. Stopping by her chair, he stooped and locked the other end around her slim ankle.
Asilinn stared at him dumbstruck. “You chain me to your bed?”
“Be glad, fair Asilinn, I didna choose the dungeon.” He shook his head and sighed. “Finish drying your hair and get to bed before you get chilled again. I’ll not have a dead wife to spoil the peace.” With that, he left her alone in the tower. She could hear his footfalls heavy on the stairs as he made his way out of the tower.
Asilinn rose, grimacing while she tugged the heavy chain across the floor and climbed on the bed. Pulling herself up, she was able to see how the bedpost attached into the framing holding the curtain. No chance of dislodging it. She sank wearily to the bed. She was too tired to consider anything else. Jerking the covers around her, she snuggled into the bed and let sleep overtake her.
***
After a restless night alone in his old chamber, Jared found his time occupied with the pressing business of investigating the attack on Laird Innes. Not anxious to tell Asilinn of it before getting more information, he left early with Liam and Keith to survey the site of the attack. Even though he believed Asilinn’s account of what had occurred the night before, he found himself reluctant to leave Liam at the keep while he rode out. Now his cousin rode with him his expression dark and sullen.
They reached Burnum Woods as the sun came full across the ridge bathing the trees in the first rays of dawn. The woods lay still in the early morning light filled with the scent of pine and Mountain Ash. Jared inhaled deeply savoring the freshness of the air. If the task at hand was not grim, he might enjoy the ride.
As he studied the tracks in the damp earth, he spotted what he was looking for. “Look here.” Jared pointed an area where the ground was torn up by dozens of hoof prints. “This must be where the attack took place.”
A further examination showed the attackers had come out of a dense thicket on the left hand side of the trail. “It appears they lay in wait and attacked,” Jared said. “Another trail leads in from behind the rock outcropping.”
“Mayhaps we should get more men before we investigate it further,” Keith suggested.
“I have not known you to be cautious, Keith.”
“These men have tried to kill you once already, Milord.”
Shaking his head, Jared started down the narrow trail. “You have become an old woman with your worries. Are you coming? Liam and I go with or without you.”
Keith frowned before he kneed his horse and followed Jared and Liam down the path. “I only think of you,” Keith grumbled. Jared laughed.
After many twists and turns, the trail led to a glade surrounded by a tall stand of pines. It appeared the area had been cleared in a circular fashion. In the center was a fire pit dug into the earth. Near the pit, a stone slab jutted out of the ground. It was flat across its eight-foot surface and looked rather like a large table carved out of stone. Around the slab were a series of logs in a circle.
Jared didn't know what to make of it, but he surmised the men he was seeking might return here because it looked like a permanent encampment. “I want you to keep this location just between us,” Jared told them. “I'll return periodically to see if I can catch the bastards here.”
“This place has an evil feeling about it,” Liam observed. “Mayhaps we should head back.”
Jared had to admit he shared his cousin’s intuition about the grove but he couldn’t say that in front of Keith.
When they returned to Dunbocan, Jared sought out Morven. “I'll hear your report on the whereabouts of the men during last night's attack.”
“Few are unaccounted for,” Morven began, “but I have no way of knowing the validity of their alibis. I tried to be discreet. It insults an honest man to treat him like a traitor.”
“I agree, but we have a problem and I would solve it before someone's life is forfeit.”
“Tynan surprised me,” Morven said. “I wanted to question his wife. She is so full of grief. It wilna be not an easy task.”
“We'll go to her together,” Jared promised. Morven looked relieved.
***
Asilinn woke to Wynne’s soft knock upon the door. She sat up with a start and heard the chain move across the floor. “Milady, I’ve brought you somethin’ to eat.” Wynne placed her tray on the desk. “Milord has ordered I be the only one to see you like this. “
“Chained, you mean,” Asilinn said, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and purposely making the chain rattle. “He makes me a prisoner in the tower.”
“You should not have run from him, Lady Asilinn.”
“So I deserve to be manacled to his bed?”
Wynne could not suppress a small smile. “If that be where he wants you, Milady, I dinna think you have much of a choice now.”
Asilinn stepped out of bed and tested the length of her restraint. It was long and she realized she could move about ten feet in any direction from the bedpost. She lowered herself into the chair and picked up one of the biscuits Wynne had brought. “What did he tell the others? Do they know I am chained in the tower?”
“The servants saw him bring the manacles to the tower. They suspect your plight. A few know, he told the rest you didna feel well and they were to leave you be.”
“No doubt I shall die of boredom before he decides to release me.” She cast a glance around her prison. Funny, she had rather liked the chamber until she was forced to stay within its walls.
“Would you like me to help you dress?”
Asilinn took a bite of her biscuit and smeared the remainder with the honey Wynne had brought. She looked down at the simple, linen shift Jared had given her to wear. “I see no reason to dress if I canna leave the room.”
“I could tend to yer hair, Milady.”
Asilinn brushed her hair back out of her face. “No Wynne, ‘tis fine. Best leave me and go about your duties.”
Wynne nodded. “I’ll come back later,” she said.
Glancing furtively around the room, Asilinn picked at the food Wynne had brought her. Now she had hours to sit and mull over her situation. It would be true torture. It was not in her nature to be still.
***
It was dark out before she heard him coming up the stairs. He paused outside their door for a minute. She wondered if he was coming in or not. Asilinn had been asleep on the bed when she heard his footsteps. She sat on the edge of the bed and waited to see if he entered.
The door opened slowly and she saw Jared’s tall form fill the doorway. He stood looking at her in silence, swung the door closed behind him, and took a few steps towards her. She didn’t move but met his gaze until he glanced away.
He turned his back to her and began peeling off his clothes. Asilinn kicked her leg out and let the chain scrape across the floor. He turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowing. “So, you do not like our new arrangement.”
She moved the chain again and glared at him. “The damn thing is rubbing my ankle raw.”
Arching his dark brows, he came over and knelt beside her. He grasped her manacled ankle and examined it. “Aye, so,” he said. Taking the key from a gold chain around his neck, he unlocked the crude ankle bracelet.
“Thank you.” Asilinn broke off abruptly when he wrapped a strip of soft cloth around her other ankle and fastened the
manacle on it, then snapped the lock into place.
“Better?”
“You cold-hearted bastard!”
“If that is how you feel, let me show you how a cold-hearted bastard behaves.”
Asilinn’s breath caught in her throat when he pushed up her shift. Running his hands up her thighs, he pressed them apart. His dark head moved between her legs. He nipped the top of her inner thigh and then moved to taste the heart of her. Asilinn grabbed his hair with both hands and tried to tear him away from his task. Even as she did, she felt her insides growing slick and wet under his skillful torture.
“Dinna do this,” she moaned, falling back on the bed. Her legs dangled limply over the edge of the bed. He moved up her body. Jamming the shift up under her arms, his hands found her breasts and squeezed hard. She released her grip on his hair. He rose enough to drop his plaid and enter her roughly, pushing hard to the very heart of her. To her dismay, she felt her body contract around his steel shaft as he plunged into her.
“You are mine Asilinn,” he said, his eyes dark and angry. “Tell me you dinna want this.”
“I dinna….” But she moaned and grabbed the sheeting when he moved deeper.
“Liar.” He grasped her buttocks and forced her hips to meet each thrust. He drove into her time after time.
The dark pleasure of him inside her took over and soon she was wild beneath him—she scratched his chest, pressed him deeper, and screamed his name when he came deep within her.
“You are mine, Asilinn,” he repeated breathlessly. “Say it.”
Still flushed from the frantic fervor of their union, she murmured, “I am yours.”
They were both panting when he withdrew slowly from her depths. His eyes narrowed. He snorted as he stood and looked down on her. The snort was a habit of his she was beginning to dislike intensely. “Remember you belong to me.”
He turned away from her. She studied the firm curve of his buttocks and his broad shoulders. As if she could ever forget, she thought morosely. She belonged to the Dragon Lord of Dunbocan Castle who used his body to turn her flesh into willing clay each time he chose to devour her.
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