She nodded and shivered when he touched a kiss to the hollow by her ear. Her heart was pounding so hard and fast, she wondered that he did not hear it. Fear and anticipation raced through her veins alongside her increasing desire. Edina almost smiled when she realized that now that she had made her decision to be his lover, she was a little annoyed that he was moving so slowly. She lifted her gaze to his, saw the warm, steady way he was watching her, and briefly feared that he could read her thoughts.
“Lass, I fear I dinnae have the wits left to keep on talking, and ye arenae helping to keep the conversation alive.”
“I think my wits are a wee bit scattered just now as weel,” she whispered, her breathing growing heavy as he inched his mouth closer to hers.
Lucais threaded his fingers through her hair on either side of her head and looked deep into her eyes. He could read a desire in their clear depths that he was sure matched his. As he brushed his lips across hers and felt her tremble, he decided the game of seduction had grown very tiresome.
“Ye ken what I seek, dinnae ye, dearling?” he asked in a soft voice as he covered her upturned face with soft, warm kisses. “I dinnae think I have kept it a verra close secret. Nay, especially not during this last week we have been together.”
“Not since ye were certain that I was innocent, that I wasnae working with Simon.”
“Aye, though it shames me to admit that I held such suspicions about you.”
“Dinnae be shamed. I held them about ye from time to time too.”
Lucais laughed even as he moved his kisses to the pulse point in her long, graceful throat. “I want ye, Edina MacAdam. God’s tears, I want ye so badly that I wake in the night all asweat with the need. I think ye want me too.”
“I should say nay and leave just to dim that arrogance.”
He lifted his head to look at her, smiling faintly when he saw the amusement in her expression, but then he grew serious. “But ye willnae say nay, will ye?” He stroked her cheek, a little surprised to see that his hand was shaking.
“Nay, I willnae say nay. It may be unwise, reckless, e’en stupid, but I willnae say nay to you, Lucais. I fear I havenae got the strength to do as I should.”
“Thank God for that,” he said as he stood up, and scooped her up into his arms. “Although,” he added as he walked to the bed and gently set her down on it, “I should prefer to think that ye arenae weak, that this isnae happening because of weakness. I should prefer to think that ye just have the strength to reach out and take what ye want.”
“That is a much better way to think on it,” she murmured as she welcomed him into her arms.
A soft groan rose from the very depths of her body as he kissed her. There was such passion in his kiss, such sweet tenderness, she was lost in it, so lost that she paid no heed to the removal of her clothes. With each touch of his hands on her body, with each heated kiss, he kept her blinded until they were both naked. It was not until he took off his braies and slowly lowered his body onto hers, the feel of his flesh meeting hers for the first time searing away the haze his kisses had encased her mind in. She shuddered and blushed beneath his gaze as he looked over every exposed inch of her.
“Ye are lovely, sweet Edina, all black silk and white linen.”
“Ye arenae such a poor sight yourself, Lucais MacRae,” she said, smoothing her hand down his side, the feel of his warm, hard skin sending her reeling.
He touched a kiss to her breast and she gasped, the warmth of his lips flaring through her body. She could feel a faint tremor rippling through him and knew he was caught as tightly in the grip of desire as she was. The way he touched her, caressed her skin with his lips, told her that he was struggling to go slowly. When he enclosed the hard tip of her breast in his mouth and drew on it, she decided she did not have the will or the strength to go slowly. She slid her hands down his back to cup his taut backside and laughed huskily when he came alive in her arms, all hesitation gone.
A heedless passion took control of her. She met his every kiss and touch with one of her own, equaling the ferocity of his lovemaking in every way. There was a wildness to their need for each other, and she reveled in it. It was not until she felt him press to enter her that a hint of sanity broke through. She wrapped her body around his, gasping with a strange mix of pleasure and pain as he joined their bodies. When he broke through the barrier of her innocence, the sharp pain of that loss made her cry out, but it became of little importance very quickly.
Edina held him close, smoothing her hands over his broad back as she savored every sensation caused by the unification of their bodies. It was as if her body had been sleeping for twenty years and had suddenly been brought to life. When she shifted, drawing him deeper within herself, she heard him groan and felt him shudder. It was only then that she realized he was so taut that she could feel the veins standing out on his arms.
“Arenae ye supposed to do a wee bit more?” she asked with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.
Lucais looked into her eyes, saw the faint glitter of laughter, and grinned. “Aye, just a wee bit more.” He quickly grew serious and brushed a kiss over her mouth. “Is the pain gone?”
“What pain?” she whispered against his mouth.
When he moved, the last of Edina’s amusement was swept away. She clung to him as he moved, greedily meeting his every thrust. A brief spasm of confusion and fear broke through the desire that so completely possessed her when her need grew almost painful, her body tightening with an anticipation she did not understand. Then something inside her broke free and she was lost. Edina was only faintly aware of crying out Lucais’s name, and of the way he suddenly held her still, pushing deep within her as he shuddered and called out her name. Her inability to think clearly, to even know what was happening around her, did not really fade until Lucais had cleaned them both off and returned to the bed.
Edina cautiously opened her eyes as Lucais gently brushed the tangled hair from her face. He did not look disgusted or surprised, only gently amused, so she began to think that what had just happened to her was normal. She slowly reached up to touch his cheek and realized she was making sure that this was no dream, that he was real. That made her smile at her own foolishness.
“Does something amuse you?” he asked, brushing a kiss over her cheek.
“Only myself. I just realized that I touched you to be sure that ye arenae a dream.”
He chuckled and briefly kissed her when she blushed. “And I have been touching ye so much for the verra same reason.”
“Ah, I am disappointed.”
“Why?”
“I thought ye were touching me for another reason.”
“Ye must let a mon rest, dearling,” he said, laughter shaking his voice as he turned onto his back and pulled her into his arms.
Edina looked at him and idly wondered how she could love him so deeply when he gave her no love in return. She smoothed her hand down his chest to his taut stomach, toying with the tight dark curls encircling his navel as she marveled at her own greed. Her body ached from her first taste of lovemaking, and yet she was hungry for more. She suspected some of that greed was born of the knowledge that this could not last for long, that her time with him was fleeting.
As she slid her hand around to his waist, she leaned down and touched a kiss to his rippled stomach. He shivered and she smiled against his warm skin. There might be weeks left in which they could be lovers, but there could also be only hours. Edina decided that she would give in to her greed and worry about the right or wrong of it later, when she was all alone at Glenfair.
“How long do ye need to rest?” she asked as she slipped her hand beneath the coverlet and curled her fingers around his staff, feeling her desire return as it hardened beneath her touch.
“I think I have rested enough,” he replied in a hoarse voice as he pulled her back into his arms.
Edina laughed when he turned so that she was sprawled beneath him and greedily welcomed his kiss. “Aye,” s
he said hoarsely when he tore his mouth from hers and began to kiss his way toward her breasts. “Your strength does appear to have returned.”
“Lass, do ye mean to love me to exhaustion?”
“What a lovely idea.”
“Weel, I challenge ye to try. We have time enough.”
She threaded her fingers through his thick hair, arching toward his mouth as he lathed and sucked the aching tips of her breasts, and heartily prayed that he was right. Instinct told her, however, that their time together was rapidly slipping from their hands. Edina hoped that if all she would be given was this one night, that she had the strength to be satisfied with that.
Chapter 7
A cold draft brushed against Edina’s back, and she muttered a curse as she tugged the blanket around herself. When she heard the sound of someone approaching the bed, she tensed and warily opened her eyes even as she pressed closer to Lucais. A blush heated her skin as she looked up into Andrew’s face. She and Lucais had spent the whole night making love, and she was sure that was obvious to the young man. Even as she cursed herself for going to sleep and not slipping back into her own room, she noticed the somber expression he wore, and nudged Lucais.
“Andrew is here,” she said as Lucais groaned softly and tried to pull her back into his arms.
Lucais came awake and sat up so quickly that she had to scramble to keep herself modestly covered by the blanket. Her heart was in her throat and she was not sure why. There were any number of reasons for Andrew to look so serious and to seek out his laird so early in the morning.
“Malcolm is gone,” Andrew announced.
When Edina cried out in alarm and started to get up, Lucais grabbed her and held her still. “No need to go and look, dearling. If Andrew says he is gone, he is gone.” He looked back at his cousin. “Tell me everything.”
“ ’Tis clear that Simon had someone here that he could use. Mary was knocked on the head and the bairn was taken from his wee bed. No one saw anyone go into the room or come out with the bairn. Mary thinks it happened but an hour or two ago. She cannae say for certain. She was rising to tend to him, for she was sure she had heard him cry out just before sunrise, and that is when she was struck down.”
“No one saw anyone leave with the child?” Lucais demanded as he climbed out of the bed and began to dress.
“Nay, but if it was someone from here, he or she would have kenned how to slip away without being seen.”
“Gar didnae stop them?” Edina asked.
“Nay, he was asleep.” Andrew frowned. “In truth, he was just waking and was a wee bit unsteady. He should have done something, shouldnae he?”
“Aye,” agreed Lucais. “He still stops even me from taking the child out of the room.”
“Something else a person from Dunmor would ken, and they clearly did something to remove that threat. Something in the dog’s food mayhap.”
“Go, ready the horses. We may find a trail we can follow. And begin a search for who is missing. We must learn who the traitor is.”
“I ken where he took the bairn,” Edina said, her voice softened by surprise that she could think so clearly when she was so afraid for Malcolm.
“How could ye ken where Simon will take him?” asked Lucais, waving to the departing Andrew to wait a moment.
“I think he told me that day by the brook. Truly,” she insisted when he frowned. “He said, ‘A bairn should be with his parents. I mean to take him there.’ Where are your sister and her husband buried?”
“Are we there?” Edina whispered as Lucais reined in, slowing his mount from the furious gallop he had maintained for two hours to a walk.
“The burial site is just through those trees, in the yard of a wee chapel where Walter’s kinsmen are always buried,” Lucais answered in an equally quiet voice as he signaled to the ten men riding with him to move and encircle the area.
“Is he there?” She waited impatiently for an answer as Lucais exchanged a few signals with Andrew, who appeared a few yards ahead of them, then disappeared into the trees again.
“Andrew says he is.”
“Is Malcolm still alive?”
“Aye.”
She sensed the anger gripping Lucais so tightly and eased her hold on his waist. “I am sorry.”
“Ye have naught to feel sorry for,” he said as he dismounted and helped her down.
“I should have stayed close to Malcolm as I had vowed to do. Mayhap with two women in the room he wouldnae have been stolen away.”
“Or ye would have been knocked on the head as weel.” He gave her a brief hard kiss, then began to move toward the churchyard that was on the other side of a thick growth of trees. “Now, dinnae forget that ye are here only to care for the bairn. Not to try and save him or to fight, just to care for him when we get him away from that madmon.”
Following close behind him, Edina nodded and idly patted Gar’s head as the dog finally caught up to her. As they crept toward the churchyard, she prayed that little Malcolm was unhurt. Despite Lucais’s assertions that she had nothing to feel guilty about, she could not stop blaming herself for the danger the child was in. If anything happened to Malcolm, she was not sure she could forgive herself.
When Lucais stopped and crouched down, she silently edged up next to him. It took all her willpower not to race out into the churchyard they looked out on. Simon stood before two graves, Malcolm crying at his feet. He held a sword in his hand and six mounted men watched the wood that surrounded them. At any moment Simon could cease talking to the grave and kill the child, and there would be nothing they could do but watch.
“Ye cannae reach him,” she whispered.
Lucais cursed softly, for it did look bad. He suddenly turned and looked at Gar. The dog had worked to divert the men before, but he was not sure it would work a second time. Simon was a lot closer to Malcolm than he had been to Edina and the child that day at the brook.
Edina saw the direction of his stare and also looked at her dog. “If he is seen, Simon can kill Malcolm ere any of us can reach him.”
“I ken it. Do ye think he can get near one of the men without being seen?”
“Simon has himself weel encircled with watchful eyes this time. I cannae be sure.”
She looked at the men in the churchyard, then back at her dog. The idea forming in her mind could easily mean Gar’s death. Edina patted his big shaggy head and felt like weeping. It was a horrible choice to make, but the child’s life was more important. She briefly hugged the dog, then looked at Lucais.
“There is something he can do that might at least give ye the chance to save Malcolm. Gar can put himself between Simon and the bairn.”
Lucais clasped her hand, squeezing it in sympathy, for he knew how much she loved her dog and she could be sending the animal to its death. “How?”
“I will tell him to go and fetch Malcolm. I will get him to race into the churchyard and try to grab the child and run with him.”
“Would it be better to tell him to attack Simon?”
“Nay, for all Simon needs to do is cut him down as he runs at him. One of those men will see him. If Gar runs for the child instead, it might confuse them, giving ye that brief opening needed to pull Simon away from the bairn so that poor wee Malcolm can be pulled out of harm’s reach. Simon may still kill Gar, but my dog’s body will then be between Simon’s sword and Malcolm for one brief moment.”
“Tell Gar what he needs to do and I will pass along the word to my men.”
Lucais disappeared into the underbrush for a moment and Edina hugged her dog again. Softly she told him what he had to do, finding his eagerness painful. He trusted her completely and could not know that she was asking him to risk death. Even as Lucais reappeared, he nodded, and she sent Gar on his way.
Her heart pounding, Edina clasped her hands tightly together as she watched. It surprised her a little when Gar approached slowly, as if stalking an animal. When one of Simon’s men cried out a warning and everyone looked towar
d Gar, the dog lunged. He ran straight for Simon, who readied himself to cut the dog down as soon as he was in sword’s reach. For one brief moment Edina thought Gar had misunderstood her command, then he veered. She gaped in wonder even as Lucais cursed when Gar darted around a screaming Simon, grabbed Malcolm by his little nightshirt, and kept on running. Simon and his men moved frantically to catch the dog, and that was when Lucais and his men attacked.
When Simon and his men turned to protect their own lives, Gar trotted back to her, little Malcolm swinging from his mouth. Edina quickly took the baby in her arms and hugged her dog. Following Lucais’s orders to go to the horses and wait if she got Malcolm back safely, Edina rose to her feet. She paused only long enough to look at the men fighting in the churchyard. Already three of Simon’s men had been cut down, and Lucais was facing Simon sword to sword. Edina realized that she did not fear Lucais losing this battle and turned to go to the horse, soothing a frightened Malcolm as she walked.
She had just finished changing Malcolm, and was feeding him some goat’s milk when the men from Dunmor returned. A quick look at the men revealed no serious injuries, and she turned all her attention to Lucais. He came to stand in front of her, bending slightly to pat Gar.
“This dog may be the ugliest animal I have e’er set eyes upon, but he is surely the smartest. Ye shall have to breed him. ’Twould be a true shame if he was the only one.” He reached out to ruffle his nephew’s curls. “Is he unhurt?”
“Aye. He was just hungry, wet, and frightened. Is Simon dead?”
“Aye. It is over.”
It was over, she thought, fighting to hide the sudden sadness that nearly overwhelmed her as she secured Malcolm in his sling and mounted Lucais’s horse behind him. She was glad that Simon would no longer threaten Malcolm, that the child was now safe. But the end of Simon also meant the end of her time with Lucais.
Once back at Dunmor, she used the excuse of caring for Malcolm to slip away from Lucais. She took the child up to her bedchamber, murmuring her good-byes to him every step of the way. The moment she entered the room she handed Malcolm to Mary and used the woman’s distraction with the child to collect up her meager belongings and slip away.
Highland Hero Page 5
