Taming the Scotsman (13 page)

Nora lay there, completely spent and weak. She breathed raggedly as Ewan gathered her into his arms and held her close.

“You weren’t jesting,” she said while her body slowly returned to normal. “I had no idea
that
existed.”

He kissed her brow and cradled her head with his hands. “Neither did I,” he whispered softly.

Nora smiled and snuggled into him, wanting to be as close as she could.

This was the single best night of her life, and she was so glad that she had shared this with him. If tomorrow forced her to marry Ryan, at least she had known one night of true passion. A night of lying in the arms of a man who wanted and respected her.

She would treasure it always.

Ewan listened to Nora as she fell back asleep. Guilt and regret overwhelmed him.

What he had done tonight was inexcusable. He had taken her virginity, something that was a husband’s right, not his.

Her father and betrothed would be furious when they found out.

A fierce wave of rage swept through him at the thought of another man touching her as he had tonight.

At the thought of her encouraging another man with her words.

She was his!

You’ve no right to her
.

Besides, what could you offer her
?

Ewan covered them with her plaid and ran his hands through her pale blond hair. He had nothing to offer her. All he knew was what he felt when he held her like this.

The way he felt every time she looked at him.

God help them both, for they were bound to pay for this night. But he would make sure he paid the lion’s share of it. No one would ever hurt the lady for what she had given him.

He would make sure of it.

Catarina rose just after dawn.

Everyone was still abed, and she didn’t notice that Nora wasn’t in her pallet until she grabbed her bucket and headed for the stream for fresh water.

Whistling the lullaby her mother had taught her, she found Ewan and Nora lying entwined underneath a plaid. Though they were mostly covered, it was still apparent they were both naked.

And it didn’t take a genius to figure out why the two of them were lying naked in the woods underneath a plaid.

She smiled, then tiptoed silently backward so as not to disturb them.

Against all Nora’s protestations, the lady was enamored of the man.

Catarina felt a momentary stab of jealousy. How she wished she could find a man of her own to love.

Still, she wouldn’t let that destroy the happiness she felt for Nora. Love was a beautiful thing, and everyone deserved to find her perfect mate.

She believed in love at first sight. More than that, Cat believed in predestiny. There was some
one out there for everyone; one day she would find a love of her own.

But that would wait.

Right now Ewan and Nora needed her help.

“Oh, not that look.”

She turned to see Viktor sitting up in his pallet, looking at her.

“What look is that?” she asked.

“You’ve got mischief on your mind,
cherie
. Just please tell me it doesn’t involve me this time.”

She laughed. “Nay, Viktor, you are safe.”

He let out a relieved breath. “Thanks be for that small favor. So who is the fish about to be snared by your hook?”

“’Tis no worry of yours.”

Viktor groaned. “You’re planning on putting the two of them together, aren’t you?”

“And if I were?”

“I think Ewan would rather we have poisoned him than drugged him.”

“Viktor! He loves the lady.”

“Cat,” he said, his voice gruff. “I know you’ve got your mother in you. She let her heart lead her astray, and what did it get her? Other than you, all she’s gotten for her wayward love is a broken heart. To this day she waits for your father’s notice. Is that what you’d have for the two of them?”

“My father had no choice of whom he married, but he loved my mother, you know that. Had he been anyone else, he would have married her.”

“And Nora is promised to another. Did you
know that? She is as bound to him as your father was—”

“Nay. Ewan won’t allow her to marry another. I know it.”

He shook his head. “Don’t play with their lives, Cat. I beg you. I’m doing this only because I was told to, but you know I never agreed with it. Leave them in peace.”

Cat understood his warning. He was right. In spite of her parents’ love, they had been forced to live their lives apart. But it wasn’t her starry eyes that had put Ewan and Nora together. It was their own actions.

And if she could do anything to help them, she would.

Nora came awake to find herself still lying atop of Ewan. Heat exploded across her face as she remembered what they had done in the late night hours.

Now in the light of day, she saw their naked bodies.

As she pulled back, Ewan jerked awake as if expecting to battle.

He relaxed as soon as he saw her. The tender smile he gave her went a long way in alleviating her embarrassment.

“Morning, sweeting.”

“Good morning.”

“Are you sore?” he asked.

The heat returned to her face. “Nay, are you?”

He laughed at that. Heavens, how she loved the sound of that deep rumble.

“Nay, love. Not a bit.”

He sat up and the plaid slipped back, exposing his body to her. Nora couldn’t stop her gaze from dropping down to see him hard again.

“Does it do that a lot?”

He looked down at himself, then met her gaze with a wicked grin. “Only when I look at you.”

His kiss was both light and demanding.

At least until they heard the gypsies moving about and talking.

Ewan pulled back. “We’d best dress before they come looking for us.”

Nora nodded.

As she reached for her chemise, she realized her thighs were smeared in blood.

Ewan turned at her dismayed gasp. He picked her up from the ground and carried her to the stream and helped her bathe. He was so incredibly tender.

She saw the frown on his face as he removed all traces of what they’d done.

“Are you sorry for what we did?” she asked.

Ewan looked up, his gaze a cross between shock and guilt. “I’m not sorry for what we did. How could I be? I’m only afraid of what might happen to you if someone else learns of this.”

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise I won’t ask anything more of you.”

Ewan froze.

Her words stunned him. He’d never known a woman so kind. He’d had countless friends forced to marry a wench because she quickly sought out her father with the tale of what they’d done.

Instead Nora offered him immunity.

She was truly a unique lass.

One he wished he could spend a lifetime learning.

He hesitated at the thought.

Dare he chance it?

Dare he not
?

He stood before her, unsure of what to do. Unsure of what he should do.

But in the end, he had one truth that resonated inside him.

Nora deserved better than him.

After he bathed her, they dressed while he considered what he should do with her.

They made their way back to the gypsies, who were up and cooking.

“Where have you two been?” Viktor asked.

For the first time, Nora was at a loss for words as she blushed and looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

“We got up early and went for a walk,” Ewan said.

If the gypsies didn’t believe it, no one said anything. They merely kept on with their various tasks, ignoring them.

Catarina approached them with two platters of
sausage and hard bread. “I figured the two of you would be a bit hungry this morning.”

She cocked her head as she looked at Nora. “Though you be looking a bit tired, my lady. Did you not sleep well?”

“Very well, thank you,” Nora said quickly, taking her platter and moving away from Catarina’s inquisitive stare.

“And you, my lord?”

Ewan forced himself not to glance over to Nora. “Quite well, thank you.”

They didn’t speak while they ate, cleaned their platters, and then packed the wagon.

Nora found herself riding on the wagon at Ewan’s insistence.

“You don’t need to be riding a horse today, my lady,” he said under his breath to her. “It will only make you more sore.”

Then he had kissed her cheek quickly and set her up beside Viktor.

Nora was warmed by his thoughtfulness, and so she spent the day chatting with Viktor as they rode north to meet the man who had paid the gypsies to abduct Ewan.

Ewan rode off to the side of the wagon and watched Nora, his heart aching for what he couldn’t have.

“Tell me,” Lysander said as he reined his horse to ride by Ewan’s side. “How did you manage to
tolerate her chatter without stuffing a gag into her mouth?”

“I don’t mind her chatter.”

Lysander snorted at that. “Surely you jest. How can it not make your ears ring? I’m surprised poor Viktor hasn’t snapped at her.”

Ewan shrugged.

He kicked his horse forward so that he could speak with her. “Nora?”

She turned to face him. The breeze tugged at strands of her pale hair that had come free of her brat. Her cheeks were bright red and her lips moist.

How he ached to taste them again. To drink the delectable sweetness of her mouth until he was drunk from it.

“Aye?” she asked.

Ewan felt sucker-punched as he looked up at her. “Would you care to ride with me for a bit?”

He saw the relieved look on Viktor’s face as the man passed him a grateful nod.

“Would that be proper?” she asked.

“Aye, it would, my lady,” Viktor hastened to assure her. He stopped the wagon.

Ewan helped her from the wagon to his saddle. He pulled her across his lap so that she sat sideways before him.

Nora gave him a suspicious look as she adjusted her skirt. “Are you doing this because you wanted me to ride with you or to save poor Viktor’s hearing?”

“Both.”

She smiled. “So you’re not concerned about your own hearing then?”

“Better I lose my hearing than Viktor wrings your neck.”

She laughed at that. “Then I shall have to torture him more if it means I get to sit in your lap. I rather like it here.”

So did he. More than he should.

Nora felt good in his arms and even better spread out in his lap.

Already he could imagine her as she’d been last night. Hot and welcoming to his touch.

“How much farther do you think we’ll travel before we break to sup?” she asked.

“Are you hungry?”

“Nay, not at all. But I grow weary of riding. How do you stand to be in the saddle for so long? Don’t you wish to be free to walk?”

Before he could answer, she went off on her own. “I think if we could travel by foot it would be better. The horse would like it better, too, I imagine. It must be hard on your horse for both of us to ride astride him.”

“You scarce weigh enough to bother him.”

“Aye, but you weigh at least twice the amount of a normal man, I would think.”

Ewan grimaced at her reminder.

“Did that bother you? I’m sorry, Ewan. I should think you’d be proud of the fact that you’re so large. My cousin Sean often laments that he is
shorter than most men. Indeed, he’s a full head shorter than I am. Why would your size bother you?”

Catarina answered for him as she rode her horse beside them. “I imagine ’tis as big a curse to be too tall as it is to be too short. I am sure Lord Ewan lives in a world where nothing fits. Chairs and beds are ever too small.”

“Aye,” he agreed, “I’m forever banging my head, arms or legs into things that are designed for men half my size. I even had to have my horse specially bred to be larger, too, else my knees would be dragging the ground.”

“I like your height,” Nora confided. “There is nothing about your size that I would change.”

Ewan stared at her, amazed.

“Catarina?” Nora called out. “Do you think we will stop where there might be fresh berries to pick?”

Ewan rode in silence as the women talked to each other. He couldn’t fathom why Nora’s tireless conversation no longer bothered him.

“Would you?”

He realized Nora was speaking to him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. What were you asking?”

Nora laughed and looked completely unconcerned for the fact that his thoughts had trailed off from her conversation. “Catarina wanted to know if you’d pick berries with me. Will you?”

“I…” He frowned at the question. “Pick berries?”

“Nora will need protection,” Catarina said. “Else she might get lost or perhaps be mauled by some bear or other wild thing in the woods.”

Ewan frowned at her words and at the odd note in her voice as she spoke of bears mauling Nora.

He hadn’t picked a berry since he was a boy. But the thought of being alone with Nora…

Well, he’d most definitely like to maul her himself.

“I would be happy to.”

Catarina nodded. “There you go then, Nora. We’ll have fresh berries for dinner.”

The women talked until they stopped to eat. It was a little after noon. Ewan and the other men tended the horses while the ladies made a light meal of cold meat and cheese.

But it wasn’t food Ewan hungered for. It was the dainty woman who sat with her back straight and whose manners were as perfect as a queen’s.

Whose laughter rang out while she talked to the men and Catarina.

As soon as they finished eating, Catarina handed Nora a small basket. “You fetch your berries while I clean up.”

The men started to protest, but the vicious scowl Catarina directed toward them stopped them instantly.

“Take your time,” Viktor said.

“We won’t be overly long,” Nora assured them.

That’s what she thought.

If Ewan had his way, they would be gone for a while, at least.

They walked deep into the woods, until he could no longer hear the others and the gypsies could no longer hear them.

Ewan watched her stoop for the berries. His gaze was fastened on her bottom as she bent over.

He hardened instantly as he imagined lifting her skirt and burying himself deep inside her again.