The Pirate Laird's Hostage (The Highland Warlord Series Book 3)

by Tessa Murran

  ‘About what?’

  ‘I don’t hate you. I have tried to, but I don’t. Silly Morna, so easily fooled by your pretty face,’ she said, pointing at him and swaying slightly. ‘I don’t hate you, I am just disappointed that you are not the man I thought you were or could be, at least.’

  ‘Don’t expect me to act the tame hero for you, Morna. I will never be that.’

  ‘And I am not the helpless, little girl you seem to think I am. We are in many ways alike, you and I, both selfish and vengeful.’ She took a swig from the flagon and wiped her mouth and handed it to him. Will came forward and took a mouthful. It was the sweet wine she liked so much and, by the looks of her, she’d had quite a lot of it.

  ‘Have you been thieving from Braya’s stores?’

  ‘Shh –if you don’t tell, I won’t,’ she said, smiling and bringing her finger to her lips.

  ‘Are you in your cups, Morna?’

  ‘Dear Lord, I hope so, for I needed the courage to come to you with my proposition.’

  ‘And what is that?’

  ‘I would strike a bargain with you, William Bain - a bargain for my freedom.’

  ‘You are wasting your time. I’ve all the coin I need, and I will not let you go.’

  ‘Coin is not what I am offering.’

  Surely she couldn’t mean…

  Will folded his arms across his chest, amused by her demeanour and enjoying the sight of her strolling around his bed, her fingers stroking the bedposts, her long brown hair falling down, begging to be taken hold of. She came closer to him and put her hand on his chest, making his breath catch in his throat. When he looked down into her eyes, they were alight with mischief, making him go hard in his braies.

  ‘What are you about, Morna?’

  ‘It seems I have reached my limit with men and their schemes. I am tired to my bones of being used - by you, by my brothers and by this world. From now on, I do what is best for me, and me alone. If I want something, then I shall have it, starting with you, William Bain.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Well, you have no real use for me apart from one, and I would bargain with that for my freedom. Let us have complete honesty between us. I know that is difficult for you but do you think you might manage it?’

  ‘If you can sheath that shrewish tongue of yours, I will try.’

  ‘Alright, then. I think that you want to lie with me.’

  How much wine had she drunk, for those brown eyes of hers were so bold and fearless he felt he could deny them nothing? Her words were bold too, and blunt for a woman.

  ‘Go on,’ he said as his heart picked up its beat and his eyes became fixated on her moist pink lips. All this talk of wanting, why, he could just take her in an instant, a quick, eager coupling on that big bed, his yearning sated and be done with it.

  ‘Do you love me, Will?’

  ‘Do you need me to?

  ‘Answer the question, coward,’ she said, poking him in the chest.

  ‘I don’t love you, and I never will. You are in no danger of stealing my heart, no matter how bonnie you are.’

  ‘Good, so we can just enjoy each other.’

  Morna ran her fingers over his chest while she held his gaze. ‘Why don’t we see if you live up to your reputation? She moved closer so that her breasts touched his chest. ‘You have boasted widely of your prowess with women, so prove it.’

  ‘It would be a waste to unleash my powers on an innocent virgin.’

  ‘I don’t want to be one any longer.’

  There was a kind of sadness in her voice. God, he should stop this. ‘I would think on that a while, Morna. Once innocence is lost, there is no recovering it.’

  ‘What is my innocence, Will, answer me that? It is nought but a prize to be sold to the highest bidder, and I wish to sell mine to you, in exchange for my freedom.’

  ‘I am sure your future husband will not approve.’

  ‘Do you think I care? I want to see what all the fuss is about. I want to see what I possess that will make men go weak at the knees for me. I want you to show me my own power.’

  ‘Stop it, Morna.’

  ‘Are you afraid, Will?’

  ‘No, but you should be.’

  ‘Are you rejecting me?’

  ‘I am declining your kind offer. You should hang on to your virginity, Morna. You can only gift it once, and for a woman, it is the most valuable thing in this world.’

  ‘No, it is not. I have courage, and I have my wits, and they will serve me far better in life than some man’s fascination for what lies between my legs.’

  ‘For God’s sake, Morna!’

  ‘Oh, don’t pretend to be shocked by my direct way of speaking.’

  ‘Was that not your intention - to discomfort me?’

  ‘You are curious, and I am curious, Will. If we lie together, you will have your conquest, your manhood confirmed, and I can find out what all the fuss is about while I whore my way to freedom. Then we both get what we want.’

  ‘Many would call you indecent for speaking so, Morna.’

  ‘They may call me what they will, and so can you. I care not for the opinion of others, I care only for myself.’

  ‘That makes two of us then.’

  ‘So, Will, you can speak your soft words of love and play the chivalrous hero, and I will play the blushing maiden. But we both know deep down what we are, and we do not apologise for it.’

  With that, she went on tiptoe and kissed him. Her hands went to his face, drawing him down to meet her lips, which were searching and insistent. Morna pressed her body into his, and Will was suddenly gripped with a fierce desire to take what was offered. Clutching her to him tightly, he kissed her back, his ardour rising along with his cock, but he was no woman’s slave, and, if she was bluffing, he intended to find out.

  Will grabbed Morna and swung her around so that her back was up against the wall.

  ‘I will accept your bargain, in full, your freedom for your virtue,’ he growled. ‘Now you may go about pleasing me. Take off your clothes.’

  She gasped, and uncertainty spread over her face. ‘No, it is cold. I want to leave them on or get under the blankets,’ she said.

  ‘If you want me to take you, we will do this my way, and you will do as you are told. In this bargain, I am the master, and you are the slave. Do as you are told. Take off every stitch and do it slowly. Men like to look.’

  Morna bit her lip and pulled her dress off over her head, flinging it violently at his feet. Will followed suit with his tunic and boots.

  ‘Now the rest,’ he growled.

  She shivered and then tore her kirtle off. Will froze. What a sight she was in all her naked glory. Morna had a body of such ripe, womanly curves that he wanted to get down on his knees and worship the sight of it. He reached out and touched his fingers to the hollow between her pert, jutting breasts and slid the back of his fingers over one pink nipple with the gentlest of touches. He smiled as it puckered and stood proud, and he brushed it harder with his thumb.

  ‘I am going to enjoy this,’ he said as he slid his hand further down, along the skin of her flat belly, raising goosebumps on her skin, so pale and fine, and onwards to the dark down between her legs. It was silky to the touch, and every stroke of his fingers along it brought forth a gasp from Morna, who stood like a statue, enduring his attentions. Did she hate his touch? He had to do better than this.

  Will pulled her against him with a strong arm around her waist and took her hair with the other, coiling it around his fingers, delighting in the slide of it. He kissed her hard for the longest time.

  ‘Stop this now if you want to, but if you don’t, then I mean to have you.’

  ‘We made a bargain. I will keep it,’ gasped Morna as his mouth found hers again. In one swift movement Will hoisted her up to his waist, his cock pressed hard against her bottom, the heat between her legs sending it pulsing and straining.

  ‘Wrap your legs around me, tight,’ he commanded.<
br />
  Morna did as she was told, and he quickly turned and strode over to the bed. They fell onto it as Will’s hands roamed all over her body, marvelling at the curve of her hips, the soft down of hair on her arms, the smooth thighs and shapely legs. He pinned her arms over her head and looked down into her face. It was full of trepidation, brown eyes wide and locked to his.

  ‘It’s time you found out what pleasure really is, Morna.’

  ‘You…you won’t hurt me, will you?’

  ‘Who said anything about hurting you? I intend to do the opposite. Now shut up and learn.’

  Her bravado seemed to return at his commanding tone. ‘Perhaps you are all talk, Will.’

  ‘I’ll show you talk, woman,’ he said moving down her body, kissing every inch of it on the way, sucking on her nipples, licking his way down her belly until he got to the soft hair between her legs.

  ‘Oh, you can’t,’ she cried. ‘That is not decent.’

  Will gently stroked her cunny and she seemed to melt under his fingers.

  ‘I will decide what’s decent,’ he said, grinning back at her.

  At first, she tried to get away, so he pinned her down with a forearm across her belly while the other arm took hold of one firm thigh and held her open. Now he could go about his work and his pleasure. He lowered his head.

  Morna squirmed in shame at what he was doing but, as his tongue swept over her, circling around, stroking, sucking gently, she began to move with pleasure, to demand it, to clutch his hair and arch her back.

  ‘Oh, oh, you are the Devil,’ she gasped.

  ‘Aye, that I am,’ he said, raising his head, ‘and I mean to debauch you, my sweet.’

  He let go of her waist and took hold of her other leg so that he could spread her wide. He settled into his task and every time Morna let out a soft moan, he went faster, bringing her closer to her peak, only to then slow down, making her dig her hands into his hair and push his head between her legs. Will revelled in the control he had over her, as she shuddered and stiffened in his grasp. He held her down as she cried out and sobbed her passion into the night. Her ecstasy was all the more satisfying for being hard-won.

  Will moved back up her body, the tip of his tongue leaving a hot trail of lust as it slid up between her breasts to her neck. He nuzzled there a while thinking he might burst with lust, and then looked at her face. It was pink, and there were tears in her eyes. Will felt a moment’s pause.

  ‘Are you alright, Morna,’ he asked.

  ‘I…I think so. I wasn’t expecting…’

  ‘To like it?’

  ‘Aye. I did not know that was what men and women do abed.’

  ‘It is just the start of what we do abed. There is more to come,’ he said, pulling her close and kissing her.

  Enough now. He wanted Morna Buchanan, she put a fire in his heart and in his loins, and he was going to have her, bargain be damned.

  Will hurriedly undid his braies, tearing them open so that his cock sprang free.

  Morna looked down on it in shock. ‘Oh. Will it fit?’ she said, going a little pale.

  ‘Let us see, shall we?’

  Their bodies entwined, skin feverish and eager. Will buried his face in Morna’s neck as she arched her back and he spread her legs open wide with his knees. He reached around and cupped one buttock. A firm handful, just how he liked it. He pushed down hard on her, his cock poised at the entrance to her body. The slip and slide of it against her womanhood encouraged him that they were matched in their arousal.

  ‘You are so wet for me. I thought you hated me, Morna.’

  ‘I do hate you,’ she gasped, ‘but I like the way you look and the way you make me feel. Do it. Please, Will.’

  He wanted to plunge inside this beautiful girl, make her cry out for him, take her savagely so that she belonged to him, rip her innocence from her, tame her. But more than this, he wanted her to want him, to trust him. He wanted to feel as one with another person, to feel they cared for him if only a little. Taking Morna Buchanan’s innocence would not only make him a bastard and a seducer, but it would also mean he would have to hold up his end of their bargain and let her go.

  ‘Do it, Will, now, just do it,’ she commanded.

  Will pushed himself off her warm body and sat back on the bed. ‘No, I am not a hound to trot at your heels, Morna Buchanan. If you want me to make you feel good again, you must earn it.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You heard me,’ he hissed, tying up his braies which strained over his erection and plucking his tunic off the floor, unspent lust changing to anger.

  ‘But we had a bargain.’ Morna sat up, naked, blushing and delicious, all creamy skin and outrage. He could scarce take his eyes off her. Instead, he threw her clothes onto the bed.

  ‘Cover yourself, for we are finished here.’

  ‘You agreed, my virginity for my freedom.’

  ‘Aye, and it was the Devil’s bargain. I have decided to do the honourable thing and save you from yourself.’

  ‘But I have lain with you, and I can go free, can’t I?’

  ‘No, you have not lain with me, not properly, and I have not dishonoured you, nor got you with child. Did you not think on that side of it, girl?’

  ‘I thought you would be true to your word.’

  ‘I am true to it. I appear to have too much decency to whore you, Morna, so there it is. You will stay here. Nothing has changed.’

  ‘Oh, yes it has. You…that thing you did to me, it has shamed me, and is as good as lying with me.’

  He could not help but laugh, breaking the tension in him. ‘It is not as good as lying with you. One day you will know what I mean, but not tonight, my love.’

  ‘Don’t you call me that, you bastard.’ He managed to get to the door before she leapt out of bed and hurled the wine flagon at him. It broke on the wall inches from his head, spraying wine all over him. Will swept it out of his eyes and put his fingers in his mouth and licked them.

  ‘T’is good wine this, but it doesn’t taste half as sweet as you,’ he said, winking at her and blowing her a kiss, before diving out the door. If he hung around, she might really hurt him.

  As he walked away, he could hear Morna cursing him to hell, but he was already in it, trapped in a woman’s web of beauty and desire and obsession. Once he was well clear of the bedchamber, Will found a wall and banged his head against it until the pain drove the lust from his loins.

  God should reward him with a saint-hood for denying the temptation that was passionate, fiery, little Morna Buchanan. Worst of all, he had no real idea why he had done it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  From her place in the stables, Morna peered through the driving rain at Will, talking to the guards at the gates. There were more of them these last few days. It seemed her jailor and seducer was not taking any chances at her making another escape attempt. Damn him to Hell.

  The fur slung around Will’s shoulders was dripping wet, his hair darkened by the downpour. Even bedraggled and soaked, the wretch looked impossibly handsome. With any luck, he would take an ague and drop dead. She stroked the horse’s velvety nose, trying to quell the humiliation burning through her.

  Will glanced over and, when their eyes met, his face hardened. He didn’t like being ignored, so she was determined to keep doing it, fuelled by an urge to hurt him as he had hurt her. She was so angry at him for pretending to go along with her bargain and then leaving her panting for him. The wretch had got her to beg him to seduce her, just as Drostan said he would. Why, oh why had she not listened to him? The young man was still nowhere to be found, and, in spite of Will’s protestations that he had not harmed him, Morna fretted for the safety of her only ally at Fitheach. She was such a fool for letting Will get the better of her. How she longed to ride away from Fitheach and never see his smug face again.

  Oh no, he was coming over. She turned her back, hoping he would go away, but, of course, he did not.

  ‘How do you fare this morning, l
ass?’

  Morna said nothing, just redoubled her stroking of the horse. Thunder rumbled overhead.

  ‘Will you not speak to me?

  The silence between them opened up like a chasm, and she was not about to fill it. There was only the hiss of the rain and a flash of lightning behind the towering clouds.

  ‘After what passed between us, we must talk, sooner or later, Morna.’

  ‘Why, so that you can crow about getting the upper hand, so that you can humiliate me again as you have done, over and over, since I came here.’

  ‘If I did that, forgive me, for it was not my intention. Is it your feelings that are hurt, or your pride, Morna?’

  ‘Oh, just go away, will you.’

  ‘If it is your feelings that are hurt, then perhaps you should admit that you care for me a little.’

  ‘I do not.’

  ‘Then I will admit this to you. I admire you, Morna, your courage, your strength. Your ordeal has been harsh, and yet you strive to rise above it, no matter what.’

  ‘You should not admire me, for I am nothing but a fool who trusted you to keep your word.’

  ‘You are no fool. I would own that I am not proud of what I did now I come to ponder it. I should have sent you back to your chamber and not laid a hand on you. You caught me unawares and led me astray.’ He put his hand over hers and smiled, so handsome, such a winning look he had. ‘Perhaps I should lock up the wine so you won’t try to take advantage of me again.’

  ‘You think this is amusing?’

  ‘No, it was a jest Morna, to lighten the mood between us. I would not have us at odds like this.’

  ‘You are loathsome. Go away and leave me alone.’

  ‘I cannot. You know that.’

  Morna maintained a stubborn silence.

  ‘For God’s sake, speak to me, woman. I swear you are as cold as this weather.’

  ‘I hope you take a chill from it and drop dead,’ she snapped.

  ‘But then you would mourn me.’

  ‘Not for long.’

  Will’s mouth turned down at the corners, and his eyes feigned sadness and, despite herself, Morna almost smiled at his teasing. Instead, she turned back to the horse, face on fire, taken by the urge to slap the smirk off his face.