Highland Warrior

by McCollum, Heather

  Geir traipsed over to him. “I need to set these out,” he said, holding up four little figures braided from the tall grasses that grew all over the isle. Crude renditions of two women with long woven hair and two men. He and Joshua walked to the long table where the woven figures of people and animals lay upon the plates, left by the children. There were also hearts and crosses, some plates heaped full of several creations. Geir placed one of his figures on each of the four plates Osk had set for Kára’s husband and her family.

  Lord. There were so many plates, so many deaths. “Is there a spare plate for me to put out?”

  Geir nodded and ran over to a small stack near the far end, coming back to place it next to their four. “Who is it for?”

  “A boy. A bit older than ye. His name was Adam, and he liked to shoot arrows and tease his sister.” Joshua touched the clay disk, letting the memory of the young lad surface. It came easily, always ready to haunt him with eyes filled with trust. Lead us to victory, he’d said. And Joshua had been too prideful to say no.

  Hissss. Joshua turned to see plumes of steam rise over the fires as seawater was dumped on them. The men kicked dirt over the damp coals and trudged away.

  “I will take Broch and Fuil back to Hillside,” Geir said. He smiled. “I have two turnips.”

  “Thank ye,” Joshua said, nodding to him. The lad had made great progress with winning Fuil over this week.

  Kára stood at the fires, watching the drenched dark spots on the wind-whipped grasses. He walked over slowly to stand next to her, and the mostly deadened fires still gave off a bit of heat. She didn’t look up.

  “My first Samhain as chief,” she said. “And it is the worst ever. The world is a dark place, and I do not know if it will ever be light again.”

  Joshua did not speak, only touched her hand. Slowly their fingers intertwined, and she tipped her face up to his, her eyes searching. “We will go back to my den,” she said. It was a statement, but the inflection made it into a question. She was vulnerable. Sadness and regret and mourning made terrible bedfellows.

  “Kára—”

  “That is right,” she said, cutting him off. “Just Kára for the night. No chief or queen or mother or sister or daughter of dead parents. Just Kára.” She stepped into him so the wind could hardly find a passage between their bodies. “I have thought of death too much today, and sorrow has taken my strength. Tonight, I wish to be a woman first, and you only a man. Not the Horseman of War or someone who tries to persuade us to leave our isle.”

  He opened his mouth to refute her statement, but she reached up, brushing a kiss against his lips. She pulled back. “Tomorrow will bring very hard choices and…” She looked up at him in the glow of the lantern she’d left at her feet. “I feel life will not be the same.” She searched his eyes as if trying to peer into his soul. “Love me tonight, Highlander.”

  His free hand rose to slide along her cheek, pushing her hair back from where it danced there in the chilled night air. “Aye, Kára lass.”

  She exhaled as if she’d held her breath. Could she possibly think he’d deny her? He pulled her up against him, his lips settling against hers. Lush and warm, her touch shot through him, igniting the simmering fire like a torch catching light on an arrow soaked in black pitch. She pulled away, her mouth open on a shallow breath.

  Without a word, she tugged him, and he followed her into the night.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”

  Sun Tzu – The Art of War

  Kára listened, her heart thumping harder, as Joshua stalked across her underground earthen den toward her.

  Even without much illumination, his shadow in the muted light from the well opening was imposing. Her heart beat faster, her lips still damp from his savage kiss at the top of the well before they parted to slide down the rope. Neither of them said anything.

  She heard him inhale. Was he finding her by the smell of woodsmoke that had settled into her hair and clothes from the bonfires? She stood still, lips open so her breath moved in and out silently. The large mass that was Joshua Sinclair pushed the stone stool out of the way as he walked forward.

  Breath in. Breath out. She could not hear his advance, his feet setting down with predatory silence and the wind whistling over the opening above her cave. But she knew he was close, her senses attuned to him. If she put her hands forward, they would probably touch him. She shut her eyes, for there was no sense in trying to see through the dense shadows. Instead, she inhaled and took a step closer to where she knew he must be. Her eyes opened but it was as if they were closed, the darkness so thick. She inhaled again and caught the slightest scent of woodsmoke, wool, leather, and fresh air. He was right before her.

  Standing there, listening to him breathe, inhaling his scent, Kára’s blood thrummed through her with anticipation. Who would touch first? What part of her would feel the warmth he gave off? Her nipples pulled taut as she waited there in the dark.

  A brushing against her breasts. Then pressure as Joshua’s chest met her own, and she tilted her face up toward the darkness above her where his face would be. Did he wait for permission? The thought lit a wildness through her. Here was a man, a man who could bring all sorts of pain to foes, who could no doubt kill with his bare hands, and he was honorable and kind and waiting for her to direct him.

  A small hum came from the back of her throat, her hands coming up in the darkness. Palms flat, she set them on his chest, which was already bare. She slid them up over the contours of his muscles. “Aye,” she whispered. “Aye, Joshua.”

  A rumble of a growl answered her in the deep darkness. Hands, large and restrained, grabbed her upper arms, sliding up to cup her face. Powerful, wild, and fervent, Joshua’s mouth came down to meet her lips.

  Like the driest kindling shot by lightning, throwing up a shower of sparks, the flame of anticipation exploded within Kára. Heat surged from within, and she slanted her mouth against his, her fingers scraping through his hair, wrapping it in her fists so he could not pull away. Hands stroked down over her shoulders and the boned stays under her wool dress. She pulled the thin lace at the top of her stays, letting it open enough to release her breasts. She shrugged her shoulders, letting her gown slip lower to expose her. It felt deliciously wicked to feel the chill on her skin, her breasts perched there, even if he could not see them. Finding one of his hands at her waist, she slid it up until he could feel the swell of her above the neckline.

  “Och, lass,” he murmured, his voice thick with appreciation and want. The rumble of it seemed to vibrate in her blood, making it rush faster so that the ache between her legs grew.

  Kára tugged on his belt until she felt it give. Thud. His wrappings dropped to the floor.

  He groaned as she pressed into him, rubbing her abdomen against the huge erection she could feel rising between them. His hands slid down her back to lift under her arse, raising her up to rub the juncture of her legs against him through her gown.

  Kisses. A tasting, a giving. They turned wild. They grew open and savage until Kára felt like she could lose herself within Joshua Sinclair. And tonight, that was exactly what she wanted, what she needed.

  Unpinning the brooches at her shoulders, Kára’s gown slid the rest of the way down. She pushed him slightly back so she could step out of it, leaving her in her unlaced stays over a white smock. His hands rucked up the back, his fingers deftly exploring the contours of her bare arse. Shallow breaths, the distant whistle of wind, the scratch of cotton against skin, the thudding of her heart, and the brush of skin against skin were the only sounds in Kára’s world.

  Joshua added a soft kiss sound as he trailed his lips from her mouth to her jaw and down her neck, sending tantalizing chills along Kára’s limbs. She untied the rest of the laces of her stays and shrugged her shoulders until her smock floated down around her hips to fall into a g
hostly puddle around her feet.

  She heard him work at the lacings on his boots and shove one off, the weight of it thumping on the floor. Everything about Joshua was heavy and hard, except his skin. She bent to untie her own boots, and he seemed to give her space to do it.

  While down, she inhaled, thinking of how he’d pleasured her while they were in her den before. Never had she thought to use her mouth for something other than kissing. They were next to the bed, and she grabbed one of the furs that lay strewn across it, shoving it under her knees where she knelt on the floor before him.

  She reached for him, knowing he must be right before her. His gasp added to the music of near silence around them. Without the sense of sight, touch and smell seemed heightened. Wrapping her hand around his length, she marveled at the softness of the skin stretched over something so hard and powerful. Tentatively, she leaned into him, opening her mouth.

  “Sweet bloody hell.” His whisper came in a rush of breath as she took him into her wet, warm mouth. Massive and powerful, like the rest of her Highlander. She felt his hands fist in her hair, but he did not direct her.

  Sliding back and forth, listening to his intake of breath and the low groans of pleasure, Kára felt powerful, even as she kneeled before him. The trust he had for her made her bold, and his noises of pleasure made heat spread down through her body. She felt his hips thrust against her, gently at first, but the motion grew more forceful until Joshua lifted under her arms, pulling her up to standing.

  The room was cold, but the heat within her warred against it. She shivered from the contrast. Joshua’s mouth fell on her own, kissing her with wild want. Pushing backward, they fell across her bed, the furs tickling against her skin. Without breaking their kisses, they slid up the bed. His fingers moved between her legs, searching her out.

  She gasped as he entered, touching where only one other ever had before. The ache grew heavy there, and she thrust upward against his hand. His mouth drew her nipple inside, the hot, wet suction pulling a moan from her. In the quiet, the sound of her wetness as he worked her flesh spiraled another coil of desperate want through Kára. She panted above his bowed head as he sucked on one and then the other of her breasts.

  Without words to break the spell, Kára opened her legs far across the bed, her knees coming up to clamp around Joshua’s hips. Her hands slid along his taut arse, pushing him toward her. Eyes wide, but too dark to see anything, Kára felt his presence hover over her, and she let her knees fall open. He sought her below, and she held on to his broad, muscle-encased shoulders. And then he surged straight into her.

  Kára gasped, passion’s fire exploding within her at the immense pressure filling her. His lips came back down to hers, and she clung to them, her heels digging into the bed to meet his thrusts with her own. Her hands strained to pull him down on her.

  Suddenly, he pulled out of her, but she did not have time to voice anything before he rolled her to her stomach, his hands lifting her hips up. His hot jack slid down her arse, poised from behind. She pushed up onto her hands, arching her back, her full breasts hanging.

  Joshua’s stomach, hot and hard, lay along her back, and he thrust back inside her.

  “Oh God,” she breathed.

  His hands wrapped around to the front, one holding her stomach so that she couldn’t fall flat, the other finding her most sensitive spot down below. Agile and strong, his fingers strummed against her, and she moaned as he kept their rhythm going, her legs wide, her body completely open and presented to him. The sound of his body slapping against her backside added to the hunger consuming Kára.

  Joshua’s hand moved to capture her weighty breast, squeezing and rolling her hard nipple between his fingers. The sensation shot down through her to join the incredible heat at the juncture of her legs and the pressure building inside.

  Aye. The word throbbed through Kára’s head as she met each thrust. Aye. The sensations building together within her. Aye. His fingers moved against her so expertly, so firmly that the waves of pleasure shattered, and she yelled out, “Oh God, aye!”

  His arms wrapped around her, holding her to him. His roar filled the vastness of the den as his body filled her, continuing the rhythm to wring out every little bit of pleasure. Kára’s head dropped to hang between her shoulders. Joshua’s hands stroked along her form, still embedded within her. He pulled her to their sides, yanking the blankets up and over them. Arms around her, he held her as their breathing slowed over many minutes.

  Kára listened to his inhales and exhales, feeling the whisper of his breath against her nape and the thud of his heart against her back. Slowly, she turned within the circle of his arms to face him. They still couldn’t see each other. She reached up cautiously, catching his whiskered cheeks to kiss him softly. He kissed her back, then tucked her head under his chin. She felt his lips press against her forehead, and then she nuzzled her face into his neck.

  Never before had she felt so… What did she feel? Safe, warm, satiated. Aye, but even more, Kára felt cherished, for who she was, not who she was supposed to be. A queen, a chief, a woman warrior. With Joshua, she was only Kára, and that was all he seemed to want.

  Tucked away from responsibility, bloodshed, and sorrow, she wished she could stay there forever. Her hand slid lower over her abdomen. It was too soon to wonder, and yet she hoped.

  Naked, their combined scent and heat wrapping around them, Kára nuzzled closer into Joshua almost as if she could hide away inside his large body. He held her there, seeming to know what she wanted, what she needed at that moment. Joshua was all around her. She breathed evenly, her thoughts beginning to float on the flow of her breath. For the first time she could remember, she let herself fall completely into the depths of sleep without worry.

  …

  “We will head back to Hillside?” Joshua asked as he belted his wool plaid around his waist without taking his gaze from the beautiful sight of Kára dressing.

  The white smock floated down around her curvaceous form, her breasts swelling high as she tightened the front ties of her stays. It was a shame to cover all that beauty. His urge to tumble her back into the bed was strong and insistent.

  He had never disliked the sunrise as much as he had that morning. The darkness had cloaked them in warmth, keeping them together all night long as they each gave and took pleasure from the other. But daylight brought the world back, all the hard decisions, remorse, and war.

  “You head back,” she said, throwing her wool dress over her smock and stays. “I need to stop in the village first.”

  “I will go with ye.”

  She shook her head, righting the dress around her. “’Tis still Samhain. I must visit my parents’ and sister’s graves. Better that I am alone. I have things to say to them.” A smile grew across her face, and she stepped in to him. “I will not be long.” She lifted her arms, kissing him before he could insist he escort her.

  The kiss was leisurely until Kára sighed and pulled away. She picked up her two brooches, fastening one and then the other at her shoulders. “Are your brooches from your family, handed down?” he asked, nodding to them.

  “Aye, handed down for hundreds of years, actually,” she said, sliding her finger along the polished silver circle. “They were brought by the first of my kinsmen to come to Orkney from Norway. Legend has it we were related to the aristocracy there, and rivals for the crown sought to kill us off.”

  He pulled her back into him, looking down at her beautiful face. “So ye are a queen.”

  She smiled broadly. “I think you should call me that all the time.”

  His brow rose as a wicked grin spread across his mouth. “After what ye did to me last night, ye are definitely my queen.”

  In the light filtering down the well, he saw a slight blush come to her cheeks, but she kept her smile, and it reached her eyes. “I have never done that before to a man,” she said. “You
seemed to like it.”

  Surprise blended quickly with selfish happiness that she had not given such pleasure to her husband. “I more than liked it,” he said, pulling her into him so she could feel that just the thought had rendered him hard again.

  For a long moment, she gave in to their kiss, until it seemed like it would grow wild. Her hands slid up his chest, pressing lightly. “The council is probably waiting for me,” she said through the kiss.

  He rested his forehead against hers. “Very well.” Letting her go, he watched her gather her cloak. “What are ye going to tell them?”

  “Honestly…I am not sure.” She sat to pull on her boots, looking at him from the bent position. “If we were to travel to Scotia, we would be welcome on your land?”

  His heart jumped as the muscles in his chest clenched. “Ye are considering it?”

  “I need to know the facts. If those of my people wanted to escape Robert instead of fighting him or staying on Orkney, hiding from him, would they be welcome? Would there be places where they could make their homes? We have about one hundred in total across the mainland of Orkney, but I am certain not all would choose to leave our isle.”

  Would her brother? Would the annoying Torben? Calder seemed interested in carrying his new family to safety.

  Joshua forced himself to take a breath to calm the excitement that tried to bubble up inside him. “Aye, they would be welcome. My clan is allied with the clan to our south and has taken leadership of the clan to the west. There are miles and miles between us where your people could spread out or stay closer to our castle Girnigoe, where my brother lives.”

  She finished the other boot and stood. He came up before her, his hands finding her shoulders. “Kára,” he said and waited for her eyes to meet his. “Would ye be one of them to come over?” He held his breath, watching her closely.