Capturing A Highland Knight (2 page)

Looking back over the river, he suddenly froze.  He reached for his claymore and rose to his feet.  He heard the hoof beats getting closer.  Brandishing his sword in front of him, he waited for whoever it was to come into sight.  He hoped that it was more than one.  He hadn’t had a good fight in a long time, and his muscled strained to go into battle.  He watched as the lone rider grew closer.  He spread his feet and stood at the ready.

As the rider got closer, Derek recognized his plaid colors.  It was a MacDougal.  He sheathed his claymore. 

“Sorry to disappoint ye,” Colm chuckled as he brought his horse to a halt a few feet from Derek. 

Colm was a knight in the MacDougal clan.  He had grown up and trained alongside Derek.  They were the same age.  He had fought fearlessly by their side and was like a brother to them.

Colm was six feet one inch of pure muscle.  His blue eyes and chestnut hair was a striking contrast to his tanned skin.  His easy demeanor and charming smile attracted women like bees to honey.  He and Derek had similar tastes in women, and they often shared the women at the keep.  Colm had even had Eilidh on occasion.

“What brings ye back this way?” Derek asked him as they clasped arms in greeting.

“Yer Da did not want ye riding alone.  He knew ye would,” Colm winked.

Derek frowned.  Derek’s father knew that he was fearless and would not think twice about riding alone.  Even though they were allied with the other clans, they still had some enemies.

  “I doona need a nurse maid,” he growled as he turned back to tie his food sack to his saddle.

Colm only laughed.  He knew that Derek was a fierce warrior and he could take care of himself.  He had fought with the MacDougals all of his life.  None of them needed a nurse maid.

“I’ve been watching that carrion bird for a while now.  What do ye think it’s after?” Colm said looking toward the bird.

Derek looked up.  The bird was even lower than before.

“Aye.  I have been watching it too.  I think the animal ‘tis dead.”

“Aye.  I’m going to see what it ‘tis after,” Colm said tethering his horse and wading across the river.

Derek followed behind him.  The river was only three feet deep.  He looked at the bird, and it seemed to be lower still.  They made their way through a small patch of trees that led to a clearing.  They saw what looked like a small animal lying on the ground in the middle of the clearing.  The bird was still circling above.  Derek hoped, as he approached the injured animal, that the bird did not decide to attack him instead.

“I hope that bird doesnae intend to attack us,” Colm said echoing his thoughts.

Derek nodded.  As they grew closer to the animal, Derek began to realize that it was not an animal after all. What they thought was dark fir was actually clothing.  He ran the rest of the way to the body, Colm close on his heels.  When he reached it, he dropped to his knees beside it.  It was a woman. She was lying on her side. Derek pushed her onto her back.  He heard Colm’s sharp intake of breath. 

He could not tell if she was breathing or not.  Frantically, he put his ear to her breast to listen for a heartbeat.  To his relief, he heard one, but it was very faint.  Derek looked towards the bird.  It had perched in a nearby tree. 

“Och!  ‘Tis a woman!  But she’s beautiful,” he said almost reverently.

Somehow that irritated Derek.  He reached down and picked the woman up.

             
“Sorry, but this one’s mine,” he muttered toward the bird.  He took one last glance at the bird as he made his way back to the river to make sure it was not going to follow or attack.

             
Colm followed behind him.

             
“How think ye she came to be here?”

             
“I doona ken.  Maybe ye should see if ye can find a horse or any others about,” he suggested to Colm.

             
“Aye.  ‘Tis a mystery.  A woman this beautiful shouldnae be alone,” he said as he walked back to where they found her.

Derek held the woman high in his arms as he waded back across the river.  Her head lolled against his chest.  Her lips were slightly parted, and he could feel her faint breath on his neck.  A shiver ran through him.

When he got on the other side of the river, he gently laid her down on the ground.  He went to his pack and tore a piece of cloth from one of his shirts.  He dipped it in the river and knelt down beside her.  Running the wet cloth over her face, he turned her face toward him to wipe the other side and saw dried blood and a gash on that side near her right ear.  The gash did not look too deep, but he knew he would need to clean it and put a bandage over it.

Once Derek had the gash bandaged, he tore another piece of cloth from his shirt and dipped it in the cool water of the river.  He placed it on the gash to help the swelling go down around it.

              While he waited, he studied the woman.  What he saw intrigued him.  She was slender, but she was curved generously in the right places.  Her features were not amazingly beautiful, but she was a beautiful woman.  She had fire red hair and a clear complexion, but her face was pale.  Her full red lips were slightly parted, and Derek found that he wanted to kiss them.  She had a straight small nose and beautiful long eyelashes that were a little darker than her hair.  He wished he could see the color of her eyes.  Her eyebrows matched her eyelashes and were slightly arched.   

Derek’s eyes traveled down her slender neck to the partly exposed tops of her breasts.  Her dress was a very fine soft burgundy.  It had a trail of small pink roses sewn down the right side that then curved around to the left along the waist line.  She still wore long gloves that matched the pink of the roses. 

She must be weel born, he thought.  He did not recognize her, but he thought that maybe he had seen her before.  He wondered what had happened to her that she ended up almost being dinner for the carrion bird.  Besides the gash and bump, she did not look as if she had been attacked.  Her dress was still intact.

             
Derek removed the cloth and dipped it in the river again.  As he applied it, she stirred a little but did not waken.  Derek frowned and leaned forward putting his face close hers.  He could feel her soft breath on his cheek and smell a hint of roses and jasmine as he took a breath.  It was intoxicating.

             
“I found her horse.  ‘Tis an excellent bit o’ horseflesh.  She must have come from one of the neighboring keeps,” Colm called as he crossed the river leading her horse.

             
Derek rocked back on his heels.  He looked toward Colm as he grew nearer.

             
“Ye didnae see any sign she was with someone?”

             
“Nay.  Looks as if she may have fallen from her horse.  I found blood on the saddle horn,” Colm replied tethering the horse next to his and Derek’s.

             
“Aye, I found a gash over her ear,” he showed the gash to Colm.

             
“I wonder what happened to the lass.”

             
“I doonae ken, but intend to find out.  Do ye recognize the lass?  It seems I’ve seen her before, but canna place her.”

             
“Nay, I would remember one so bonny,” Colm said in awe.

             
Derek scowled.  He did not like what he heard in his friend’s voice or what he saw in his clear blue eyes.

             
“What do ye think we should do with the lass?  Do we take her on to Bondlach or return to Dunkirk?” Colm contemplated.

             
“Weel, we have a long ride to Bondlach, but only a half days’ ride to Dunkirk.  We return to Dunkirk.  Megan will be able to help the lass,” Derek said, wringing out the cloth he had used on the woman’s gash and putting it in his bag.

             
“Aye,” Colm agreed.

§

              They made it back to Dunkirk without incident.  Derek had set the woman before him on Charger.  He wrapped one arm around her and kept control of Charger with the other.  He could feel her soft breasts resting against his forearm as he held her upright and in place.  He was shocked at the desire that ran through him at the contact.  Her charms were not as generous as Eilidh’s but, for some reason, they stirred something inside him.  He shook away the thought and concentrated on getting them to Dunkirk.

             
Derek and Colm stopped before the door of the keep.  Derek dismounted with the woman still in his arms.  As he shifted her in a better position, he realized something was different.

             
“She’s burning up!” he said as he hurried into the keep.  He strode up the stairs to his chamber.  He did not even notice Eilidh standing by the door.

             
“Colm, go find Megan.  I’ll get this dress off of her,” he said laying her on his bed.

             
Colm hesitated.

             
“Are ye sure?  Let Megan do that,” he said coming to stand by his friend.

             
Derek frowned.  He knew that they would have to take the gown off in order to cool her body down efficiently. 

             
“Nay, we need to cool her body down, and there is no telling where Megan may be.  Now go find her.  I’ll do what I can until she gets here,” he said.

             
Colm hesitated again, but went to do what Derek told him to do.

             
He bent over her and began to remove her clothing.  He gently removed her gown but left her shift and stockings.  What he could see through the thin fabric of the shift took his breath away.  She had nice full breast, and he could see her pink nipples through the materials. He wanted to reach out and test their weight in his hands.  He forced his eyes to continue their perusal.  She had a flat stomach that led to a thatch of bright red hair and long shapely legs.  Derek expelled a slow breath.  He did not hear the door open as he stood staring at her.

             
“Who is that, Derek?”

             
Derek turned slowly toward the door.  He looked at Eilidh.  She stood trying to look around him at the woman.

             
“I doona ken.  We found her on our way to Bondlach,” he said tightly.  He felt irritated at Eilidh’s interruption. 

             
Eilidh walked further into the room and stood beside the bed.  Her eyes hardened as she saw that the woman was lying in only her shift and stockings.

             
“Did I interrupt something?” she asked venomously.  She turned her head and looked at Derek.

             
Derek could see the jealousy in her eyes, and it angered him.  Eilidh knew that what they had was just sex.  She meant nothing to him beyond that.

             
“The woman is burning up with fever, Eilidh.  I took off her gown so that I could bathe her in cool water,” he did not know why he was explaining to her.  He owed her no explanations.

             
“Ah.  Could not ye wait until Megan was fetched?  Or I could have done that for ye?  Ye did not have to trouble yerself,” she said, turning back to the woman.

             
Eilidh noticed that the woman was indeed beautiful.  She felt a pang of envy, because compared to the woman, Eilidh was almost plain.  She knew Derek would find the woman attractive, and she felt her anger bubbling up inside.  Derek was hers, and she would not let this strange woman come in a take him away from her.  Did not he always come to her?  Well, it would stay that way.

             
Derek decided not to answer Eilidh.  Instead, he dipped a cloth in the basin on his side table and began to wipe the woman’s face, shoulders, and chest with the cool water.  He could almost feel the softness of her skin through the cloth.

             
Eilidh noticed how gently he wiped her down.  She could feel the hatred growing for this unknown woman.  She tried to get Derek’s attention.

             
“Let me do that, Derek.  Ye don’t have to,” she said trying to take the cloth from him.

             
“Nay, Eilidh.  Go see what ’tis taking Colm and Megan so long,” he gruffed.  He did not look up at her.

             
Eilidh opened her mouth to protest, but turned and did what she was bid.  It would not pay to get on the wrong side of Derek.  Once on it, you never got off of it.  And if she planned to keep him, she would have to come up with a strategy because she knew that Derek was attracted to the woman.

Chapter 2

             
“She is still sleeping.  She is cooler to the touch.  Her fever should be broken by morning,” Megan said coming down the stairs into the hall.

             
Colm and Megan had entered the room minutes after Eilidh left.  Derek had been standing by the window watching the breeze waft through the grasses of the moor beyond the keep wall. 

             
“It may be some days before she wakes, or she may wake on the morrow.  But without knowing what happened to the lass, I canna ken what potion to give her,” Megan said sitting her bulk at the trestle table.

             
Derek grunted.  Colm nodded.

             
“So how do ye think we should go about finding out who the lass belongs to?  Ye said ye think ye’ve seen her before, Derek.  Do ye ken now?” Colm asked.  He watched his friend’s face.  Derek had been in a dark mood when they had come upon him in his chamber.  He was not sure what to make of it.

             
“Nay, but somehow we must find out.  Megan, ye can stay with the lass tonight.  I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.”

             
“Aye,” Megan agreed.

             
Colm smiled.  He could guess where that would be.  He had seen the jealousy in Eilidh’s eyes when Derek brought the lass in.  She would be glad to know that she has nothing to worry about.  Colm found that he too was glad that that was the case.

             
Derek stood and strode out of the keep.

             
“What do ye make of that, Colm?”

             
“I doona ken,” Colm said looking toward the door Derek exited.

             
Megan snorted and returned to Derek’s chamber.  Colm rose and followed Derek outside.

§

Derek slipped into Eilidh’s chamber a little past midnight.  He had been drinking with Colm and some of the retainers left to guard Dunkirk.  His mind had never been far from the woman occupying his bed.  He wondered who she was, and why it seemed that he had seen her before.

              He removed his claymore and leaned it against the wall, and then his dirk which he put on a table.  He pulled his shirt over his head and pulled off his kilt.  He stood naked in the middle of the chamber.  He looked toward the bed where he could see Eilidh’s curves silhouetted under the covers.  He felt his groin stir at the sight.  He walked to the bed and slipped under the covers.  He reached and pulled Eilidh into the curve of his body.  Her body was warm from being under the covers.

             
Eilidh stirred and pressed her bottom into Derek’s erection.  She moaned and ran her hand down his thigh.  Derek flipped her to face him and captured her mouth in a hungry kiss.  She wrapped her arms around him and pushed her body into his.  His hands roamed over all of her soft skin.  He released her mouth and kissed her neck and then her breasts.  She gasped with pleasure as the warmth of his mouth surrounded her nipples.

             
Derek pushed Eilidh roughly to her back and mounted her.  He slipped easily into her warmth and rode her hard and fast.  Eilidh reveled in it.  She could not contain her happiness to know that Derek was still hers. 

             
When Derek, at last, fell on top of her, Eilidh was too happy to care.  She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.  She almost told him how much she loved him, but his breathing was even and she knew that he was asleep.  She smiled.  She would get another chance to tell him.