“Is this the Douglas lass?” they asked through thick northern accents.
“Aye,” Callum nodded. Before she knew what was happening, the two men had pulled her from Callum’s hands and held her between their own firm hands. Their swords now poked threateningly into her back. “Take her up to one of the spare rooms on the second floor. And make sure that she is given food and water. She hasn’t had anything to eat all night.”
“We were told that she was to be taken to the dungeon?” one of the guards asked timidly.
“No. The chamber room across from my own. She is a daughter of the clan leader and she will be treated as such.” Callum paused, his eyes lingering on Sophie as he spoke. “But be sure to post two guards at her door. She is a strong one.”
“Aye, sir,” the guards nodded. Turning their attention back to Sophie, they grabbed her firmly by each arm and led her into the fortress as more castle maids walked out to help Callum unhook the battle gear he had been wearing and take the saddlebag from his hand.
Sophie turned her head back to look at the man and saw that he was still staring right back at her with his intense eyes. Their eyes locked for a moment, and she felt her heartbeat quicken with that same familiar stirring that she had experienced when she first laid eyes on the man. Though he had taken her captive, she wanted desperately to run back toward him and beg him to stay with her. She felt, somehow, safer with him than she did with these men.
As the two guards continued to lead her away, the tip of their swords still poked into her side, reminding her that she was a prisoner of this fortress. They walked through the doors of the castle and up a long stone staircase in the center of a large hall. Sophie took in the castle around her and was amazed to find that it was just as beautiful, if not more so, than her own family home.
Portraits lined the walls and artwork filled in the spaces between the otherwise dreary walls. She was even more surprised when they reached the top of the stairs and saw Callum’s face painted on a large canvas and staring down at her. He was handsome, even in oil form, and Sophie could hardly pull her eyes away from his image. Whoever had painted this had done a perfect job of capturing the beauty in his gaze.
At the end of a long and winding hall, the two brutes came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. With one swift motion, they threw it open and tossed Sophie across the threshold. She landed on her stomach in the center of the room as the door closed behind her, leaving her alone for the first time all day. She heard the clink of locks securing the door and the weight of her imprisonment suddenly crashed in on her.
Her hands were still bound, so she struggled at first to find her footing, but when she did, she glanced around and saw that she was now in a large and well decorated room. This must have been where Clan Fraser housed their important visitors during official trips.
A large four-poster bed sat at the very center of the room, with a small table off to one side and a wash basin on the other. Directly opposite Sophie was a small window that looked out over the Castle’s courtyard.
Standing up, she walked over to the locked glass pane and glanced out at the guards at attention in their posts. Looking at these well-armed men, she was overcome once again with the feeling of being entirely alone in enemy territory. The sheer number of men on watch was staggering. There weren’t this many guards on duty in her own clan castle. And now that Callum had stripped her of her dagger, she couldn’t even defend herself, let alone escape.
How could I have been so stupid to go off on my own? she wondered to herself as she glanced at the binds that still remained tight on her wrists.
She wanted so desperately to stay awake and stay alert, but the long night’s ride and the excitement of the past day was starting to catch up with her. Drowsiness swept over her like a gust of wind.
Glancing over at the bed, the pile of pillows and the warm sheets, but it seemed wrong to curl up in luxury in such a precarious situation. So, instead, she took a seat on the hard, wooden chair that framed the table. Perhaps its discomfort could keep her awake.
Yes, she thought, if I am uncomfortable then sleep will surely pass. These thoughts drifted in and out of her head as she leaned back against the chair. Her eyes began to betray her, however; her lids drooped and sleep overtook her, sinking her even deeper into the darkness.
*****
Bang!
Sophie’s eyes shot open from the sound of the door slamming open across the room. She whipped her head around and saw Callum walking through the threshold as a jolt of pain shot though her neck.
“Ah!” she grimaced. Her hand reached up involuntarily and massaged the base of her head. She must have fallen asleep sitting in the chair.
“I see you in the Douglas Clan haven’t discovered the benefits of a bed yet,” Callum laughed. It was one of the first times she had seen him give a genuine smile, and she couldn’t help but marvel at the attractive way the humor reached his bright eyes. “Did you sleep with your head slumped over like that all night? I’m surprised you can even move your neck now.”
“I’m fine,” Sophie snarled. She tried to set her face in a stern scowl but it was difficult with a crick that now ached throughout her entire back.
“You don’t look fine,” he shrugged. “You look tired. A bit like someone who has slept sitting up for hours on end because they were too stubborn to accept a perfectly good bed. Here, eat up. It will make you feel better.”
Callum placed a plate of food onto the table beside her as he heaved his bulky body into second chair.
“I’m not hungry,” Sophie replied sternly, turning away from the pile of food in front of her. Unfortunately, her stomach betrayed her as a loud growl echoed through her core just that moment.
“Aye,” Callum smiled. “Not hungry. I can see that.” The man looked her over thoroughly before shock seemed to take over his otherwise calm face. “Are your hands still bound?”
“Aye. I guess so,” Sophie replied. She tried her best to look horrified at the treatment, but in reality, she was just again realizing her situation after her long nap. Now that she thought about it though, her wrists did ache from the pain of the bindings.
Reaching into his waistband, Callum pulled out a knife and cut the rope from her hands. It felt nice to finally have motion again, but Sophie couldn’t deny that she was mostly focused on the way Callum’s hand lingered on hers even after he had freed her.
After a moment’s pause, he sat back in the chair and folded his arms across his broad chest. The move only served to heighten the veins that popped from his forearms, and Sophie struggled in vain to keep her eyes off his powerful build and away from the muscles that rippled through his body. He was an absurdly good-looking man, but she chided herself for thinking that way about her captor.
Callum was staring at her intensely, and he watched as she struggled against her desires, both to eat and to look down at his muscular build. He could see these desires flash in her eyes. “You know, you’re not like I expected, Sophie Douglas. You’re quite a unique clan lass.”
“Aye? And what did you expect?” she asked, sitting back in her chair and replicating Callum’s strong body language and stern look.
“I’ve met quite a few lassies like you in my day,” he chuckled. “Known quite a few of them too. But none of them have your...strength.” He paused and looked at her almost fondly for the first time. “I figured you to be just another clan princess, but I figured wrong. You aren’t anything like those others. You’re a fighter.”
“I am,” Sophie agreed. “But it’s alright. I’ll look past your error in judgement if you let me out of here. Give me a horse, and I’ll be on my way home. No trouble.”
This got a good laugh out of him. “You’re quite funny too, you know? It’s a shame that you’re Clan Douglas. I think I’d quite like you otherwise.”
“Why is that a shame?”
“Well, you see,” he sighed, shifting forward onto the table, his elbows resting firmly against the woo
den surface. The muscles in his shoulders were now on full display, and Sophie had to keep her eyes glued to his to stop from admiring his form. “It means that you and I are enemies.”
“Is that why you are keeping me locked up here?” she asked, seeing her chance to pry.
“Aye. It was your father who took my brother’s life. Samuel fought hard in the battle of last winter, but in the end your father took his head as a prize.”
A twinge of sadness pulled at her chest. She knew that the war had caused many casualties, but she couldn’t imagine the pain of losing someone so close to her. Steeling her eyes, however, she pressed forward, not wanting to lose this opportunity for engaging with Callum. “Is that why you are keeping me here? For some sort of revenge?”
“It’s actually quite the opposite. Finding you was a mere coincidence. I didn’t have a plan when I saw you lying in the grass all by yourself, but I knew that you’d be worth something. I’ve been thinking the last day that perhaps you might just be worth peace.” As he spoke, something lit up in his eyes. Sophie might have called it optimism, but she wondered if anyone could be optimistic in a time like this.
“What do you mean?” she continued.
“Well, your father has got quite a few of my Clan’s men. He’s even captured a handful of our villages. The way I figure it, your life is worth all of them. If I were to offer him a trade, I think perhaps we could have the peace we have longed for.” Callum leaned back in his chair again and looked at Sophie with kinder eyes. Perhaps this man was optimistic after all—if so, he had to be the only one who had felt the emotion in years. “I don’t intend to hurt you, lass. But I am going to keep you here until I’m offered a deal.”
“My father will never make a deal with you,” Sophie replied, shaking her head. “Our family is winning the war and my father knows it. He will never give up those lands—not even for me.”
“I disagree,” Callum shook his head. “You underestimate your father’s love. A man’s daughter is worth more than a thousand soldiers. And besides, your father knows what happens to pretty girls like you if they’re held too long in enemy land.”
A grin came over the young man’s face, and Sophie tried to ignore the stirring it caused within her stomach, but it was hard to ignore such overpowering attraction. Why did he have to be so good looking, this Callum Fraser? This was not the type of man her father had ever warned her about, but somehow the way she was feeling toward him seemed even more dangerous.
“Are you threatening my honor?” she asked, trying with all of her might to sound stoic rather than overwhelmed with emotion. To appear weak now would have been a death sentence.
“It doesn’t matter if I threaten it or not,” Callum shrugged. “Your father will think it all the same. He will turn over every one of his men if he thinks I’m ravaging you inch by inch until you declare your loyalty to me and my clan.”
Sophie’s heart began to beat faster as the image of Callum pressing his weight against her and taking her as his own clung to her mind. She gave a slight shake of her head trying to dispel the images, but it was too late. They had lodged themselves into her brain.
Callum must have noticed her internal struggle as he let out a small chuckle. “Don’t worry though. I’ll be a gentleman so long as you obey me. I’ll be a gentleman as long as I can. Now eat up lass, your starting to look famished.”
He pushed the plate toward her and rose from his seat. “I’ll send maids to check on you and get you water to wash yourself. You are starting to smell. You won’t be worth nearly as much if your father thinks I kept you in the dungeon.”
He shot her one last paused look before striding out the door. The second the lock clasped behind him, Sophie’s hands reached for the food in front of her. It had taken all of her willpower not to eat it in front of him, and even more not to devour it all in one bite now. She was famished, and as she gulped down the wine and the masses of food, she couldn’t help but feel the familiar drowsiness return over her. With a sigh, she put her pride aside and strode over to the bed, throwing back the covers and crawling into the blankets. If she was going to be here for a while, she may as well get a good night’s sleep. With that, her eyelids fell once more and she drifted off into a fitful sleep, filled with images of Callum and his muscular hands on her body.
*****
The next few days passed by without any word from Callum, and Sophie was growing restless. Maids had streamed in and out of her chamber as he had promised they would, refilling her water basin and bringing her food, but she hardly touched any of it. Mostly, she spent her days staring out the window, analyzing the patterns of the guards and wondering what was happening outside these walls. Had Callum gone to negotiate with her father? Had those in Clan Douglas even realized she was missing?
She hated being locked up like this, hated feeling constrained without any power to free herself. Her mood was made all the worse by the constant dreams she was now having, dreams of Callum and his firm body. They were dreams that no good clan girl should be having—particularly about a member of an enemy clan—and yet, they plagued her every time she closed her eyes. They plagued her and they excited her, she didn’t know which was worse.
After hours of pacing back and forth, she finally gave up and admitted the defeat of her circumstance. Walking back to her bed, she crawled beneath the covers and decided that if she was unable to change her circumstance, at least she could enjoy it. As her eyes fluttered to sleep, she wondered with both excitement and dread how Callum would take her in her dreams to come.
*****
After four days with no word from Callum or the outside world, Sophie was starting to feel as though she might go mad. This prolonged silence couldn’t mean anything good was happening outside these walls. She tried to keep herself occupied, but the worries and questions only seemed to grow louder in her mind the longer she was trapped in this chamber.
Sophie spent the afternoon pacing back and forth in her large room. She had given up looking out her window as it only made her long for the outside more than she already did. She counted the steps she took to keep her mind occupied, but nothing seemed to make up for the silence that hung in the air.
On stop 1,382, the sound of the door opening broke her concentration. Whipping around, she saw Callum step through the threshold and shut the door behind himself. He carried a plate that overflowed with food in his right hand.
“I thought you might like some company for dinner,” he grinned, placing the plate down on a nearby table.
“Company? You think I want company? I want to be free. I want to be able to go home. When will you let me go?” Sophie demanded. The words spilled out of her mouth in a spew of anger. She knew that speaking to a clan leader in such a way could get her killed, but she could no longer hold back the anger that had bubble up inside of her the past week.
“You’re angry—I understand.” Callum nodded, though he didn’t seem phased by the tone of Sophie’s voice. “I’ll see to it that you are allowed a walk first thing in the morning. But first, you need to eat. The maids have told me that you haven’t touched your food in two days.”
Sophie had resumed her pacing as soon as Callum sat down, but at these words she spun on her heels toward the man. “Are you having me watched?” She asked, her voice breaking slightly from the anger that bubbled beneath her skin.
Callum sighed deeply, looking up at Sophie with exasperated eyes. “You’re a daughter of the enemy clan being held captive in the fortress. Of course eyes will be on you. It's only natural for people to be curious. Now, if you don't come sit down and eat your dinner then I will be forced to make you.”
Sophie shot the large man a cutting scowl as she turned her back to him and resumed her endless walking. She needed to move, to keep active, or she would surely go mad. Before she knew what was happening, she felt a strong arm snake around her waist and lift her into the air.
“What are you doing?! Let me down!” she cried, thrashing back again
st his rock-hard body as she struggled to break free of his grip.
“I gave you fair warning,” Callum whispered in her ear. Sophie was moving so much that he could hardly hold onto her, and but his strength was greater in the end than she was able to fight.
Her fist pounded against his chest, but the more she wiggled, the better it felt to move against him in such an intimate way. She had never been held like this by a man before, never felt his body pressed so closely against hers, and all her senses felt on edge. She knew she shouldn’t be feeling this way about a son of Clan Fraser, but somehow that just made it all the more exciting.
As they continued to move, something shifted in their wrestling, and Sophie knew that Callum felt it too. All of a sudden, he threw her down onto the bed and stood above her, his eyes filled with frantic desire.
All the anger and frustration she had felt over the past week erupted in that moment in a fiery passion. She had never felt lust like this before, and that was surely what this was. Nothing could hold back her feelings for Callum any longer. As he stood in front of her, she wanted to wrap herself entirely around him and feel his muscular form in all its build.
All at once, they were kissing. Their lips smashed together in utter desire. He pulled her to the edge of the bed and wrapped her legs around his waist as his hands found her hair, pulled it slightly and exposed her neck. As his lips found the pulse that was now throbbing through her veins, Sophie wondered if he could feel just how excited, just now nervous, she was through her skin. Did he feel it too?
Her hands reached up and grabbed at his beard, running her fingers through the curly hair that lined his face as she pulled his mouth back to meet hers. As they continued to kiss, his hands reached down and tugged the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head and parting their lips just for a moment to undress himself. It was then that she saw just how muscular he really was.
She had never touched a man before, not like this, and her hands couldn’t help but roam over his body in exploration. His skin was so much smoother than she ever thought possible, and the tufts of red hair that dotted his chest only seemed to accentuate the softness. She felt a yearning deep in her stomach that she had never experienced before, and all she knew was that she had to have him. She had to feel him inside of her.
Inextinguishable Love: Firefighter and Interracial Romance Page 109
