Arsenic and Old Armor (11 page)

“
What are you
doing?”

“
Giving you the experience
you long for.”

“
Here? Now?”

“
Here and now.”

“
But I don’t want it
from
you
.” Her
complaint barely escaped her lips before he was kissing her again.
She kissed him back with the same intensity.

His hands were all over her back, her
buttocks, her sides. A soft moan escaped her throat when he kneaded
her breast through the dress. Marion couldn’t believe it, but she
welcomed the touch. She wanted more. He pushed her back against the
solid trunk of a tall oak.

She didn’t know what he was going to do. But
she was too afraid to ask. She didn’t want him to stop, though. Her
entire body burned with anticipation. Iain’s mouth had become rough
again, demanding. His kisses were deeper, more ardent.

She gasped with shock when he lifted her
skirts and chemise to her waist and fitted one leg between her
thighs.

She managed to break her mouth free. “What
are you doing?”

“
Ride me, Marion. Let your
feelings loose.”

Twelve years living in a priory, and there
was not one single thought of shyness or caution in her head. Iain
was taking her body on a bold, new journey, and she had to follow.
He placed her hands around his neck and she tightened her hold. He
pressed his muscular thigh into the junction of her legs, and she
gasped as the excitement rushed through her.

His mouth stole her breath, and the pressure
between her legs increased until she had no choice but to do what
he was encouraging her to do. Her hips began to move and she was
riding the sinewy hardness of his thigh.

She freed her mouth to catch her breath. Her
back, her head, pressed against the tree. Iain’s body surrounded
her. She was becoming light-headed and yet she continued to ride.
The woods around her were a blur; the pulsing sound of the river
filled her ears, pushing her to a destination she couldn’t move
fast enough to reach.

Vaguely, she felt Iain’s fingers on her
naked buttocks, pressing her tighter against his loins. “From this
day on, I am the only one who shall give you this. And you shall be
the only one for me.”

There was no argument in her. Not after
this. Not after what she was feeling now. Still, she was totally
unprepared for what was beginning to happen to her. She had no idea
about the wave of sensations that was beginning to carry her
away.

Iain moved one hand and slid two fingers
into the moist cleft between her legs. Marion threw her head back
as she felt herself stretch. But as he stroked, her breaths started
coming in ragged gasps. As she rose higher and higher, he continued
to hold her tightly to him, teasing, stroking.

Her release caused her to twist and arch in
his arms. She cried aloud before wrapping herself tightly around
his frame. As her shudders of pleasure began to subside, he
gathered her tenderly into his chest.

“
My wife.”

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. It was a field
of rock, softened only by the yellow meadow grasses and fading
wildflowers that sprouted between the stone outcroppings and small
boulders.

The croft was a wee stretch of the legs from
the river, and there appeared to be no well. The land around the
low cottage was not fit for planting. The rock that had been used
to build it had come from a single space where it appeared there
must have been some kind of kitchen garden some time ago, but that
was overgrown now. The surrounding area looked to be good for
raising sheep, if that. But there was not one of those left,
either. A crumbling wall that looked older than the cottage stood a
short distance away.

Why someone had built the inconveniently
situated cottage here was beyond Iain’s understanding, but built it
they had.

The furnishings that remained in the place
were scant and filthy. A dirty pile of straw in one corner, a low
stool from which two legs were missing, and a small iron pot with a
hole in the bottom the size of his fist. The cottage had to have
been sitting empty for at least a year, he thought. Like so many
other crofters scratching out a living in the Highlands, Iain
figured, these people had finally given up and moved on.

No windows, there was only a hole in the
sagging thatched roof to let out the smoke. Still, Iain thought,
the place would do quite nicely for the two of them until his men
arrived. He stooped and came out through the low doorway to find
her standing and staring wide-eyed by the cottage. He let the stiff
hide that served as a door flap shut.

“
Didn’t I tell you to stay
hidden in the trees on the far side of the meadow?”

“
I was too far away,” she
told him. “How was I to save you from harm at that
distance?”

There were a few things he would have liked
to lecture her about such as who would save whom and the danger she
put herself in by behaving so. But Iain couldn’t bring himself to
do any lecturing now. Not after the way she had come apart in his
arms in the woods. Not when he wanted her so much.

My God, she was beautiful.

“
By the devil,” he cursed,
pulling her inside the cottage and into his arms. He kissed her
long and hard.

“
There is no one in here?”
she asked, tearing her mouth free.

“
We have the place to
ourselves.”

“
Not for long,” she said,
peering through a tear in the leather door. “I wasn’t jesting about
saving you. I heard horses.”

Iain pushed her behind him and looked out,
too. There was no one out there. “It could be my men.”

“
It could be,” she
whispered. “But in case it is not them, is there another way out of
this place? Some way we could escape?”

He looked at her. “I’m relieved to know that
you do have some common sense.”

“
This is hardly the time to
be critical of me,” she scolded him. “I have a very uncomfortable
feeling about how friendly these riders are.”

This was the first time that Iain was seeing
her nervous. He decided to trust her instinct.

“
How large a
group?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t see them. But
there seemed to be as many horses as there were in yours. They were
watering their animals by the river.”

“
More proof that the
mystery riders are Brother Luke and my men. There cannot be too
many groups of horsemen here in the Highlands. Even the occasional
bands of outlaws up here travel mostly on foot.”

She shook her head again. “With the
exception of your uncle, your men speak little, treating words like
precious gold. This group was downright chatty, and their accents I
haven’t heard.”

“
They were close enough for
you to hear their voices, and you couldn’t get a look at
them?”

“
One moment, you’re mocking
me for thinking safely and the next, you’re criticizing me for not
asking them for a bloody ride!”

He smiled and kissed her softly on the lips.
“You did fine.”

Iain looked around the cottage for anything
he could use as a weapon. The couple of broken legs to the piece of
furniture was the extent of it. He peered outside. Near the ruined
stone wall, something metal glinted in the sun. Most likely a tool,
he thought.

“
I want you to stay inside.
Don’t let anyone see you.”

“
Where are you going?”
Marion clutched his arm.

“
I have to find something I
can use as a weapon. Also, I need to climb that brae to see for
myself what we might be facing.”

“
I’m coming with you,” she
suggested.

“
You are not, Marion,” Iain
said curtly. “I don’t want them to see you. If they see me, I don’t
want them to know you’re here. We don’t want to tempt anyone who
might otherwise just pass by.”

“
You think I am tempting?”
There was a note of genuine surprise in her voice. He caressed her
cheek.

“
Very much.” Iain cleared
his head and looked outside again. He hated leaving her. But the
landscape around here was too exposed, and he didn’t think the
woods would be any safer for her if they spotted her. He turned
back to her. “If you hear any noise, talk, horses arriving,
anything at all, you hide under that old straw. If they think no
one is inside, they’d have no reason to linger here.”

She glanced at the dark corner of the
cottage where he pointed. She frowned.

He cupped her chin, forced her to look into
his eyes. “Will you promise to do as you are told?”

She nodded.

Iain kissed her lips and slipped out.

Blackthorn Hall was certainly blessed with
many helping hands, Judith thought. Marion’s aunt glanced at her
sister and Lady Elizabeth, Sir Iain’s mother, and marveled at how
lovely an afternoon they were spending.

It was so different from Fleet Tower, where
they were pretty much alone these days. So different from the old
days, she thought with a sigh.

Here at Blackthorn, she and Margaret had
seen an army of grooms and servants working near the stables and
tending to things in the courtyard when they’d arrived for their
visit. Just as many people were crowded in the great hall, bustling
about and acting as if they had a purpose for everything they were
doing. And that had not been the end of it. In Lady Elizabeth’s
chambers, a manservant stood by the door and a lady-in-waiting sat
beside her, and a maidservant hovered behind the Armstrong
dowager’s chair, adjusting her shawl whenever Lady Elizabeth leaned
forward or back, or moved side to side in her chair. Another
serving lass stood beside them with a tray of sweet pastries and
cakes. Yet another stood by with a pitcher of spiced cider. All
Judith had to do was to stretch out her right hand, and her cup was
filled with the warm sweet brew. Stretch out her left, and her
plate received one of the baked delights.

When the McCall sisters first sat down with
the dowager, Judith hardly knew which to try first. Dainty
gingerbread cakes and tarts made of apple, pear, quince--all looked
so tempting. Now that she’d sampled them all, she couldn’t decide
which she liked the best. By the saints, she thought, she felt the
way she had on feast days when she'd been just a wee lass.

Judith glanced across the small table that
had been placed by the fire for them. Lady Elizabeth was still
talking. She’d spent time in France before she was married, and she
knew so much of the ways of the world. What were they talking
about? Well, it looked like Margaret, the dear, was listening.

Judith didn’t want to let on, but she was
getting a little bored. She’d been helping Margaret prepare
elderberries for wine the past few days, and she wondered now how
long before the present batch would be ready for the casks.

Still talking. Judith relieved her boredom
by stretching out her left hand and then right, only to switch the
sequence a moment later. She repeated the action, receiving yet
another cake. Well, if they ran out of cider and cakes soon,
perhaps it would be time to go home.

She realized Lady Elizabeth was talking to
her.

“
Pardon?”

“
I asked if either of you
had any questions for me.”

Judith looked at her older sister, who was
looking at her and smiling brightly.

“
No questions,” Margaret
replied somewhat loudly in her high pitched voice.

“
No questions,” Judith
repeated in a whisper, looking back again at their host.

“
I am so happy.” Lady
Elizabeth clapped her hands in her lap and nodded approvingly. “I
am so relieved that you see no problem in allowing us to manage the
arrangements. Preparing for a wedding ceremony and feast is a great
deal of work that we really didn’t want to burden you with. We are
so much better prepared here at Blackthorn Hall to see to an event
of this magnitude.”

“
Indeed,” Margaret
repeated, “much better prepared.”

“
Indeed,” Judith
added.

“
And, as you know, there
are some very distinguished guests who are traveling all the way
from Edinburgh and London to attend the wedding.”

The two sisters looked at each other and
nodded simultaneously, pretending they knew.

“
Very distinguished,”
Margaret responded.

“
Indeed,” Judith agreed.
“Very distinguished.”

Lady Elizabeth leaned forward in her chair
and looked with discomfort at one sister and then the other. The
servant in charge of the shawl jumped to her task.

“
Which brings me to the
sensitive topic of your brother and how he would feel about leaving
Fleet Tower and coming here for the ceremony. I know the last time
he journeyed here was twelve years ago, right after my beloved
husband and the good Earl of Fleet died heroically at Flodden
Field. If I recall correctly, he didn’t take too well to Blackthorn
Hall.”

“
Oh, no! William will not
be coming,” Margaret quickly offered.

“
William is not coming.”
Judith shook her head adamantly.

“
Our brother is very
particular about his routines, Lady Elizabeth,” Margaret continued.
“Excessive company distresses him.”

Judith stretched her plate out for more
sweets. The servant glanced in distress at the four cakes and two
tarts already on it, but said nothing and carefully placed another
tart on top.