Highland Thirst (36 page)

He’d
fed well, taken the blankets, and left them unconscious but alive for Lucy’s
sake. She hadn’t been conscious herself at the time, but he hadn’t wanted to
have to lie to her if the matter should come up later.

Now
he wished he’d killed the men and hidden their bodies. The two men at the bothy
by Rosscurrach had probably been found by now and news of them might have
reached Wymon and encouraged him to concentrate his search efforts to the
north. However, leaving the men in the camp alive had obviously revealed that
they were in the area and Wymon had stepped up his hunt for them here. The
Englishman probably had men searching all along the way between Blytheswood and
court now. He’d expect Lucy to be heading that way and would be desperate to
stop her.

Tearlach
took a moment to curse his lack of forethought in leaving the men alive. If he
hadn’t been eaten alive with worry for Lucy, he surely would have considered
the situation more carefully and taken care of the matter properly. The trip to
court would now be more difficult than it need be. They would have to stay off
the paths, avoiding villages and other travelers along the way—if they ever
even got to head for court and were not discovered here in the stables, he
thought with a scowl as he watched William greet the men in the courtyard.

“Can
I take your horses for you, gentlemen?” William asked as he reached the party
of riders.

Several
men moved as if to hand over their reins, but paused when one of them, the
oldest and obviously the leader, narrowed his eyes on William and said, “You
look familiar.”

Tearlach
held his breath as Blytheswood’s stable master shrugged and said mildly, “I
must have one of those faces. Many people say that.”

“Hmm.”
The soldier continued to stare at him a moment, then gestured to his men and
turned away. “We’ll see to the horses ourselves.”

The
other men raised their eyebrows at his words, but no one protested and they all
followed as he began to lead his mount across the courtyard.

Mouth
tightening, Tearlach reached for his sword, only to curse when he found it
missing. It was still in the cellar where he’d left it. He’d intended to go
below and retrieve it after checking on Lucy, but the news that she was up and
about and out in the stables had sent him hotfooting it out here to retrieve
her. His foolishness had now left him unarmed and useless to defend her from
their enemies, he realized grimly.

“Wait!”
William cried almost desperately.

The
men all paused and turned back to the stable master. A moment of silence passed
during which Tearlach was positive the man was scrambling to think of some way
to delay the men. Fortunately, his hesitation wasn’t so long that the men
appeared suspicious when he blurted, “Why do you not tell me what you’ll be
wanting to eat and drink and I’ll go let them know inside so they can start
preparing it.”

Tearlach
didn’t wait to see if the stall tactic worked. If it didn’t, waiting would be
time wasted.

Swinging
away from the doors, he shot his gaze briefly around the stables until it
landed on the hay loft at the back of the building.

Mouth
setting, he caught Lucy by the arm and rushed her silently to the back of the
long building. He had no need to explain what he wanted, the moment they
reached the ladder she hitched up the skirt of the dress she wore and started
to scramble up its rungs.

Tearlach
was right behind her, his gaze shooting repeatedly over his shoulder to the
doors to be sure they were not spotted. Fortunately, he saw no sign of the men
before following her off the ladder and hurrying around behind the stack of
bales.

Nine

Tearlach
and Lucy settled swiftly in the loose straw behind the stacked hay. Both then
sat completely still to prevent giving away their presence in the loft. Nerves
stretched taut and ears straining, they listened tensely for sounds of movement
from below.

William’s
attempt to stall the men must have worked. That, or he’d come up with another
way to delay them after Tearlach and Lucy had headed for the back of the
stables. Whatever the case, another few moments passed in silence before they
heard the creak of the stable doors opening. The shuffle of footsteps soon
followed, along with the murmur of men’s voices.

Lucy
and Tearlach waited tensely as the men worked below. It seemed to take forever
for them to see to their horses, but finally their voices and footsteps moved
away, fading into silence.

Wanting
to be sure they’d not return, Tearlach raised a hand to his lips to warn Lucy
to remain silent. She nodded and then they heard the door below creak again as
someone entered. This time it was a single set of footsteps that reached their
ears.

“My
lady?”

Tearlach
and Lucy glanced at each other as they recognized William’s hissed call. They
then both rose cautiously and eased around the bales to peer down into the
stables.

“There
you are,” the stable master breathed with relief, and then announced, “they’ve
gone into the inn, but I think it’s best if the two of you just stay up there
until they leave. I’m worried they might see you crossing the courtyard. They’ve
only stopped for a meal. We’ll serve them quick and try to get them out in a
hurry. It will be safer for you to come down then.”

Tearlach
nodded at the suggestion. It seemed the most sensible idea.

Relaxing
slightly at the easy agreement, William nodded and moved back to the doors. “I’ll
go help get them fed.”

They
watched him leave, then Lucy turned and moved back to the spot they’d found
behind the bales. She eased down to sit on the straw and leaned her back
against the bales with a little sigh, then glanced up at him expectantly.

Tearlach
hesitated briefly, but there really wasn’t anywhere else to sit that would
offer cover. The bales took up almost half of this end of the loft, but the
rest of it was open to view. Casting one last glance down into the stables, he
followed her and settled himself on the straw.

“Thank
you for bringing me here, you saved my life.”

Tearlach
blinked at the soft words, and then glanced at her with amusement. “Lass, ye’ve
saved me more than a handful of times. ‘Twas time I did a little savin’ o’ me
own. ‘Sides,” he added wryly, “I hardly saved ye. I just brought ye to Betty.
She did the savin’.”

“She
could not have done so had you not brought me. And you saved me from that Scot
in the bothy too,” she pointed out and then added, “I only saved you once. When
I unlocked your chains in the dungeon.”

Tearlach
gave a short laugh at the claim. “Ye unlocked me chains, practically carried me
oot o’ the dungeons, brought me the lad to feed on in the cave, and then got me
oot o’ the sun that morning in the clearing when...” His voice slowed and he
looked away from her, swamped by memories of what they’d nearly done in that
clearing before the sun had forced a halt.

Feeling
his shaft harden at the recollections, Tearlach forced the memories away and
added, “And ye brought that Scottish soldier for me to feed on in the bothy
after I was burnt fighting the first one.”

“Actually,
I did not bring the second Scottish soldier,” she admitted quietly. “I intended
to go out and find you someone, but he found us first.”

“Oh,
well...” Unable to think of anything to say to that, Tearlach fell silent, his
gaze dropping away from her face. Unfortunately, it landed directly on the
cleavage that seemed to be bursting out of the top of her blue gown. Knowing
the dress she’d been wearing at Rosscurrach had been ruined when she was
injured, he supposed she’d had to borrow this one from Betty. The redhead was
obviously a good bit smaller than Lucy, at least when it came to bosoms. While
the gown fit well enough in the waist, her breasts were squeezed tight and appeared
to be trying to crawl right out of it.

Tearlach
stared at the bountiful flesh and found himself licking suddenly dry lips. Dear
Lord, they had to find her a properly fitting gown ere they left for court. He
could not ride that distance with her dressed in such a way without touching
her...And he’d be damned if those lascivious idiots at court were going to see
her dressed so.

“Tearlach?
What is it?”

He
lifted his gaze to her face in time to see her glance down at her own bosom as
if expecting to find something there. Obviously, she’d noted the direction his
gaze had taken.

Apparently
not finding anything amiss, she lifted confused eyes to his.

Rather
than look like a complete arse who couldn’t stop staring at her breasts,
Tearlach lied.

“There’s
just this bit o’ straw...” he said and then couldn’t resist leaning forward and
reaching out to pretend to pluck the nonexistent bit of straw from the soft,
upper swell of one breast. Purely to support the lie, he assured himself.

Lucy
glanced down, then back up, and turned toward him to speak as he leaned
forward, but then froze as their lips met.

Tearlach
froze too, his fingers pausing mid-pluck, his lips soft against hers. He knew
he should back up and end the unintentional caress, but couldn’t seem to bring
himself to do so. Both of them just stayed frozen, both seeming to hold their
breath for a minute, then Lucy released a little sigh that brushed over his
lips and Tearlach was lost.

Lucy
heard the groan come from deep in Tearlach’s throat in response to her sigh,
but it didn’t prepare her for what followed. The sigh had been a result of her
certainty that he was about to pull away from her rather than kiss her as she
would like. But rather than pull away, that groan was like the opening of flood
gates. Tearlach suddenly pressed his lips more firmly over hers, his tongue
slipping out to request entrance.

Hardly
able to believe he was finally kissing her again, Lucy opened to him at once,
her arms creeping tentatively up around his neck as his tongue filled her. The
action brought a riot of sensation to life in her, and she groaned into his
mouth, her upper body arching invitingly as she scraped her nails over his
scalp.

Murmuring
something into her mouth, Tearlach deepened the kiss, his fingers rising to run
over the soft flesh revealed by her décolletage before giving one side of the
material the barest tug. It was all that was needed to free the breast on that
side from the tight gown encasing it and Lucy gasped as she felt his warm,
callused hand immediately close over it. Shuddering with pleasure, she arched
her back further, pressing into the touch.

Her
response to his kiss became somewhat frantic as Tearlach kneaded the sensitive
flesh, and she almost bit his tongue when he caught her erect nipple between
thumb and finger and tweaked it.

Breaking
the kiss then, Tearlach ducked his head to catch the nipple in his mouth.
Groaning, Lucy twisted her head and let it fall back, then cried out and
tangled her fingers in his hair as his tongue rasped over the sensitive nipple.

“We
shouldnae be doin’ this,” he groaned suddenly, lifting his head. “Yer a lady.
Ye deserve more than a tumble in the hay.”

Lucy’s
eyes blinked open with dismay as his words made their way through her
passion-soaked mind.

“I
like hay,” she insisted as he began to withdraw his hands. Then, afraid he
would stop and trying to make sure he didn’t, Lucy released her own hold on him
and reached between them to press her fingers against his erection. She wasn’t
at all sure what she was doing was right, but the way Tearlach growled and
bucked violently against her touch suggested she might be, so she closed her
hand and squeezed slightly.

His
reaction was most gratifying. The next thing she knew, Tearlach was pushing her
onto her back in the straw and kneeling above her, tugging his tunic off over
his head.

“Oh,”
Lucy breathed, reaching for his chest as it was revealed. He was so wide, so
strong, so beautiful. Her hands ran across the marble-like skin with pleasure,
sweeping across his upper chest, then down across his stomach until he caught
them. Her eyes shot anxiously to his face, but he wasn’t stopping. Tearlach
merely kissed the back of first one hand and then the other before holding them
out of the way in one hand so that he could reach down and free her second
breast from the gown with a quick tug. Once it was revealed, he released her
hands and bent to feast on her flesh.

Lucy
clutched at his upper shoulders as Tearlach laved first one breast and then the
other, his tongue and teeth scraping gently over her erect nipples. She was
arching into the attention, her legs shifting and writhing restlessly when she
felt his fingers slide beneath her skirt and begin to run up her leg. She froze
then, stomach muscles clenching and breath coming in short, excited gasps as
her attention was torn between what he was doing to her breasts and the slow,
almost tickling caress of his fingers creeping up her thigh.

Lucy
instinctively tried to close her legs when his hand reached the top of her
thigh, then immediately forced them open again to give him access.

“Oh,
Tearlach,” she gasped, pressing her heels into the straw and thrusting upward
as his fingers brushed lightly over the warm, slick skin that awaited him.