Claimed by a Laird (12 page)

Galen appeared so solemn and his tone was so sincere, she
forced the smile off her face just in case it might prick his feelings. “From
whom? You?”

“And yourself.”

He was actually turning her down for her own good. Her lips
parted in surprise as she gazed at him. Granted, she wasn’t some sex kitten who
seduced a new man every other day, but no man had ever rejected her offer of
sex before. It didn’t matter if she had bags under her eyes after pulling a
double shift at the hospital or if she was in some obvious fragile, emotional state—they
always jumped at the chance. But not Galen. He wanted her to get her rest, to
heal. He was actually sorry for not listening to her concerns in the tent.

Her eyes fell to the jagged scar on his cheek. How many
battles had he seen and survived? She scanned him for any injuries he might
have sustained during the fight with the Grahams but hadn’t mentioned. Seeing
nothing, she breathed out in relief.

She lifted her eyes to his and her heart melted just a
little over the concern written in his wrinkled brow. A deep ache grew between
her legs. No, he wasn’t leaving her like this.

She rose to her knees and the bed covers fell away from her.
“Come back to bed,” she whispered, trailing her fingers down his arm.

He groaned, reaching down to grab the blankets. “You are
ill, woman. Go back to sleep.”

She shook her head, pulling the hem of his shirt from his
breeches and slipping her hands underneath, flattening her palms against his
abdomen. She nearly moaned at the rock-like hardness of stomach. “I am well enough,”
she whispered, placing a soft kiss just below his neck.

Galen leaned the side of his face against hers, his lips
brushing her ear. “If you do not stop, lass, soon I will not be able to stop
myself.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, his palms smoothing down to cup
her backside.

His heart thudded heavily against her chest and she
whimpered, overwhelmed by how this man, who could probably have any woman he
wanted with a simple snap of his fingers, could barely control himself with
her. Her core throbbed. She rubbed her cheek against his and pressed an
unhurried kiss below his earlobe.

“So, don’t stop,” Anna breathed into his ear.

Galen squeezed her buttocks and pressed his hard cock
against her stomach, dropping his lips to her shoulder and kissing a path up to
her neck.

What was this woman thinking, baiting him like this while
she was ill? She was weakened and he shouldn’t take advantage of that.

He slid one hand between her silky thighs.

He just needed to step away from her. The household would be
awakening soon to begin the clan’s daily activities. At any moment, Catriona
would be walking in to tend to Anna as promised the night before.

He slipped his fingers into her slick folds and she moaned
into his ear. His cock surged as he pulled on her earlobe with his teeth and
cupped one of her luscious, full breasts he just had the fortune to glimpse in
the light of day. He brushed his thumb across the erect nipple and Anna pulled
him closer, grinding her hips against him and rubbing herself back and forth
against his hand.

Her warm juices slickened his fingers. Damn it. She was
ready to be taken. And, God, how he needed her. Needed to sink his straining
cock into her hot depths and slake his lust for the strange, alluring woman.
She had tortured him for half the night as she slid her naked flesh against his
body, her erect nipples and softly rounded ass fairly inviting his mouth to
taste her again. He’d lain for hours at her side, his rock-hard cock filling
almost painfully just inches from her pussy.

But he’d held strong. He’d never taken an unwilling woman
let alone one half out of her mind due to fever and he wasn’t going to start
now. Especially not with Annie. Something about her tugged at him, driving a
strange need to give her everything into his heart. Despite his dismissal of
her having any power over him and this new information about the Campbells,
that one thought refused to budge.

No. The Campbells were somehow involved in her appearance
and he should logically be on guard against her. He pulled away at the same
moment Anna’s warm, inviting hand pressed his aching cock through his breeches.

“Galen.”

His name fell from her lips like a caress and he was
instantly lost, his shaft throbbing against her palm. He drew his fingers to
her clit, reveling in her sharp intake of breath and the sudden rise in heat
emanating from her skin.

Voices carried into the room from the corridor and quickly
faded as they passed by.

Angry and disturbed by his emotions, but hungry to satisfy
the pressing demand of his cock before they were interrupted, Galen rubbed her
clit in ever-quickening circles. “We do not have much time, lass.”

Anna nodded, her head tilting backward and eyes fluttering
closed. His fingers worked quickly, rushing waves of molten, vibrating heat to
her core. The ache in her legs grew and she grabbed onto his shoulders,
shuddering as her entire abdomen contracted in urgency. She resisted the urge
to moan, reluctant to draw the attention of anyone outside the room.

He forced his mouth against hers, thrusting his tongue
between her lips. She rocked her hips back and forth in rhythm with his
strokes, entwining her tongue with his as the first tremors began deep within
her core. Pleasure radiated outward in ever widening and quickening circles
until each throb was coming one on top of the other. Her thighs shook as the
pressure mounted and exploded, her pussy contracting tightly.

Her eyes rolled backward and she gasped for air. He abruptly
spun her on the bed and pushed her onto her hands and knees. The mattress sank
as Galen spread her legs apart and knelt between them.

Breathless, she closed her eyes as he fumbled with his
breeches behind her. Grabbing her hips, he pushed his shaft between her swollen
folds and plunged into her.

A spasm spread through her core as his thick, smooth cock
slid deeply into her and pulled out only to be shoved in just as quickly. As
his testicles hit her clit over and over, she released a moan. The walls of her
pussy pulsated around his shaft, sucking on it and drawing him deeper. Her
entire body tensed, held on the precipice for a brief moment, before the fire
exploded in her belly. Her vision blurred and she whimpered, holding back the
desperate need to cry out.

Galen growled and pounded into her hard. She leaned on her
elbows to steady herself and her aching, distended nipples brushed the bed
covers, sending sparks of acute pleasure directly to her clit. Her labia
twitched and Galen’s fingers dug into her flesh as he drove into her once more
and shuddered, releasing his seed deep inside her.

For several moments, he held her hips as his labored
breathing slowed and normalized. Her core twitched and contracted as he pulled
his cock out. As the mattress shifted and the heat from his body left her, she
grabbed the covers and pressed them to her chest before facing him.

His disheveled hair hung in front of his face as he tucked
his still partially erect shaft into his breeches. A strange, cold mask snapped
in place over his face and that set her on edge.

Barely glancing in her direction, he gripped her shoulders
and pushed her onto the bed. “You will stay here and rest until I have deemed
you fit enough to leave the room.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “What? No, I feel fine.”

“No, you do not,” he insisted, glaring her into submission.
“You are weakened and exhausted. You are not to move from this bed. I will have
Catriona bring your meals.”

Taken aback by the unexplained chill of his expression, Anna
momentarily stiffened in fear. Anger rose within her and she opened her mouth
to protest.

He turned and reached the door in two long strides.

“Sleep,” he ordered as he stepped over the threshold.

“Galen—” Tears stung her eyes.

He closed the door behind him.

What on earth just happened?

She just might have to kill him.

Without so much as a single word other than to order her to
stay put before kissing the breath right out of her and leaving the room each
day, Galen generally ignored her for three days straight. Though she never
remembered him coming into the room at night, somehow he was always next to her
in bed when she awoke.

Angry at being ignored and hurt by the cold dismissal he had
given her the last time they had sex, Anna decided she would leave the room
after lunch on the first day. When she opened the door, however, two very
serious-looking young men, acting as a wall between her and freedom, stared
back at her. They didn’t understand a lick of English so she pleaded and
cajoled in Gaelic as best as she could, but to no avail. The men were like two
immovable mountains.

Though Catriona quickly became a great comfort during those
days of isolation and happily helped her practice Gaelic, Anna was left alone
with her thoughts whenever Catriona had to tend her other duties. Thoughts of
the home she may never see again, thoughts of Ian and Helena, the damnable
pendant and Galen whirled around and around in her mind. Her attraction to
Galen was nothing short of dangerous, if her behavior and his reaction after
she had seduced him was any indication. Besides, what the hell had she been
thinking? As a nurse, she should’ve known better than to have sex without a
condom in sight. She hated herself for being so weak-willed and she hated him
for his sudden coldness.

Most of all, however, she hated the longing for Galen’s
reassuring presence during those long hours alone in his room. She had been
doing just fine on her own—she didn’t
need
anyone. But now she was a
quivering, miserable mess, no thanks to Galen.

After the marriage fiasco with James, she had thrown herself
into work and school. She had her own apartment, her own car, and her own
schedule, but, most importantly, she took care of herself. Unlike her mother,
who was convinced that she needed a man to make her happy, Anna was content
with her independence. After graduating, she dated several men, generally
keeping them at arm’s distance until she was certain of their trustworthiness.
They weren’t always happy about that and some gave up on her rather quickly,
but she always tried to keep her head about her, never allowing herself to
attach to a guy too fast. She was not always as successful as she would have
liked and certainly got her heart bruised from time to time, especially if she
let her guard down. But so far she’d been able to avoid the gut-wrenching
heartbreak and betrayal she’d suffered at the hands of James.

Much to her relief, on the fourth morning of her stay in
Galen’s chamber, he finally agreed she was well enough to leave the room in
order to join everyone for the midday meal. At the beginning of her isolation,
she was frustrated that he would leave the room before she had a chance to take
him to task for acting like such an asshole. But today he seemed different.
More open and somehow gentler. And, damn him, now she even agreed that she had
needed several days of rest to fully recover.

As Catriona assisted her in pulling on the strange, medieval
clothing, Anna bit her lower lip, mulling over a rather appealing idea. She
could finally, after all this time, leave all the pain and hurt of her past
behind her. James wasn’t out there waiting to show up and ruin her life. Her
mother’s ghost wasn’t haunting the family pub in Fannich or the roads of the
rural Midwest where Anna had grown up. The hospital, as much as she loved her
work, wasn’t there to suck every moment of her life away from her. And, perhaps
most importantly, there was no apartment to which she would go home alone every
night. As hard as life was bound to be in the thirteenth century, it was a
fresh start and it was a new adventure.

Anna had taken those long days alone to quiz Catriona about
everything from what a typical day was like, to how people brushed their teeth,
much to the young woman’s confusion. After a couple of days, Anna decided she
was up to the task of roughing it in the thirteenth century. Hell, she had
already mastered her initial disgust over chamber pots, and figured out how to
clean her teeth so they wouldn’t fall out in a few years. Why couldn’t she make
a successful life here? Of course, she had no idea what that life might look like
or how she would go about supporting herself, but she could cross that bridge
when she came to it.

She smiled at Catriona and their eyes met while her new
friend threw a long, brown leather belt around Anna’s waist. Too bad Galen
didn’t have a mirror—she’d love to witness her transformation into a Medieval
woman. The soft, off-white, linen garment Catriona had called a leine, peaked
out from beneath the hem of the fern-green overdress that tied at her shoulders
and served as the sleeves of her outfit.

“There. I do believe the laird will be pleased.” Catriona
stepped back from Anna and gave her a good once-over before nodding in
satisfaction.

“That I am,” Galen’s voice drawled from behind them.

Both women turned to find Galen’s massive form leaned
casually against the doorjamb, taking up most of the opening.

Catriona stooped into an awkward curtsey, but Anna wasn’t
sure he even noticed since he seemed determined to stare the soul right out of
her. She tore her eyes from his, her cheeks heating. How long had he been
standing there silently watching them?

“Leave us, Catriona,” he ordered as he stepped fully into
the room.

Catriona nodded. She threw Anna a knowing grin and skirted
past Galen out of the room.

Anna’s stomach tightened as he stopped a foot in front of
her and his eyes lazily traveled up and down her form. Her abdomen tingled and
her nipples hardened as his stare passed over them. It seemed like it had been
an eternity since he last regarded her with such obvious lust. She drank it in
as though she’d been traversing the desert without water for days.

“Yes, I am pleased,” he whispered, his eyes settling on her
mouth.

She gulped, but then chided herself as she mutely cursed
him. Damn him. Why did he command so much power over her? And why the hell did
her body so eagerly respond?

Without dropping his stare, he reached for the long, plaid
cloth Catriona had left on the bed and wrapped it around Anna’s shoulders. “Do
not attempt to overdo it today,” he murmured. “Should you feel tired, you will
come up here to rest. If I think for even a moment you are exhausting yourself,
I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you up here myself. Is that
understood?”

“I’m not a child.” She pushed his hands away so she could
adjust the shawl without his distracting touch. “And I am a nurse, for crying
out loud. I think I know when I’m ill or not.”

His gray eyes narrowed as he grabbed her, crushing her to
his chest.

“I am laird here, not you,” he calmly replied as she tilted
her head back all the way to meet his stare head-on. “You will obey me and you
will accommodate me. It will not be the other way around. You would do best to
remember that.”

Just as she was about to protest his disgusting, high-handed
remark, he smothered her lips with a demanding power no doubt meant to ensure
her compliance. Warm waves of desire filled her belly and, before she could
think better of it, she opened her mouth for him. His tongue slipped in,
tasting and teasing. Her knees trembled as she weakly clung to him.

Galen withdrew and slowly traced her bottom lip with his
tongue before releasing her. “Come, it is time to eat.”

Anna reached for the carved wooden bed post to steady
herself, no longer able to recall why she had become angry with him in the
first place.

Damn him.

He turned away with an air of smug satisfaction and strode
into the corridor. She huffed in irritation and followed him, stopping beside
him as they reached the top of the stairs.

Galen grabbed her chin and forced her gaze to his once
again. “I will only deny myself until tonight.”

His promise fell across her cheek in a sensual caress.

She blinked several times to rid her mind of the visions of
what he might do to her. The last thing she needed was to throw caution to the
wind and drag him back to the bedroom from which she had only just escaped. She
had to take control of this situation and make him understand her tenuous
position. This relationship—or whatever it was—with Galen was moving too fast.
The last time she allowed her lusts to rule her, she got her heart broken.

“Galen, I—”

He gently squeezed her jaw as if her doubts about their
physical relationship were written all over her face. “You are healed enough. I
am through waiting.”

He dropped his hand and she readied for the argument she was
about to start. No man would treat her as though she were a mere possession he
could do with as he wished.

A strange smell, not unlike one might expect on a farm,
wafted up the stairs and diverted her attention.

“Lass, are you ill again?” his voice cut through her sudden
mental fog.

She shook her head, afraid he was about to force her into
his chamber again.

He nodded, much to her relief, and turned away from her to
descend the staircase. She held her breath and followed.

Her brow lifted in astonishment as she turned her attention
from Galen to the great hall spread out before her. Dogs she swore had to be
part wolf raced back and forth across the length of the room, weaving between
the tables as they chased one another. Men joked and playfully shoved one
another as their beverages sloshed out of their clay drinking vessels. Enough
straw to see a herd of cattle through winter was strewn about the floor and she
half expected chickens to poke their heads from beneath the tables, clucking
and pecking at the men’s feet.

The hall fell into a curious silence as Anna descended the
stairs behind Galen. Her vision blurred slightly, casting the scene before her
into a dream-like quality. Was this all for real? She sucked in a deep, calming
breath.

A small yelp escaped her lips as one foot slipped underneath
her, sending her spiraling backward. Galen whipped around and grasped her waist
just before her tailbone smashed the stone steps.

“Did you become dizzy, lass?” he whispered, his brow laced
with concern as he pressed her into his warm body.

She shook her head, her breath shallowly filling her lungs.
His chiseled chest beneath her fingertips fairly beckoned exploration and it
took all her concentration to will them to be still.

“Shall I escort you back up stairs?”

She swallowed hard and forced a breathy “no” from her lips.
The images triggered by his words did little to help her regain her wits,
especially after he had just told her what he planned to do with her later
tonight. Her vision softened and the noises of the great hall faded. Bare legs
entangled. The hard weightiness of his body pressing her into the mattress.
Running her tongue along his jaw to his ear as his roughened hand slipped
between her thighs to her clit.

“I will not have you dying on me, woman,” he growled into
her ear. “If you are not able to be up without becoming dizzy, I will demand
you go straight back to bed.”

Galen’s dramatic declaration broke the spell. She’d had her
fill of his high-handed behavior. Her sigh was loud enough for the men—waiting
none-too-patiently to eat at the tables in the middle of the hall—to hear. “For
the love of God, Galen, stop fussing over me like a mother hen!”

That certainly got his attention. His scowl was as fierce as
the river’s current that had threatened to drown her just a few days prior. He turned
it on his men when snickers arose from the tables. The hall fell into a deathly
silence.

Not wanting him to turn the scowl back to her, Anna rushed
to placate him. She caressed his upper arm and lowered her voice. “What I meant
to say is I feel fine. I just slipped, that’s all. Please don’t make me go back
up there. It nearly drove me crazy being cooped up all day with nothing to do.”

The black look eased from his face. He snatched her hand
again and led her toward the empty seats near the head of one of the tables.
Distracted by Galen’s changing moods and his quick pace, her feet shifted
underneath her again. She gasped and grabbed his arm, dangling from him like a
rag doll.

Her sudden weight did not seem to faze him in the slightest.
He simply stared down at her questioningly.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, blood rushing to her face as chuckles
arose from the throng of men. “The straw is slippery.”

“It is not straw,” Galen corrected. “They are rushes.”

“Whatever.” She lifted her right foot to examine the bottom
of her primitive leather shoe for an alternative explanation for her sudden
clumsiness. “Don’t you have any rugs?”

“Rugs are expensive, lass,” he replied as though talking to
a child. “And I will not be spending precious coin on them.”

Anna rolled her eyes and questioned what it was that
attracted her to him. The man certainly tried her patience. “I’m not asking you
to buy anything, Galen.”

He ignored her statement and, to the delight of his men,
scooped her into his massive arms and carried her to the table. He plopped her
down on the bench next to one of the more seasoned warriors, Cal, whom she
recognized from the encampment.

Galen stood at the head of the table. A hush fell over the
room and all eyes turned to him. Impressed by the amount of respect he
commanded and received, she turned to face him as well, waiting for him to
speak.

“For those of you who stayed behind to protect the clan
during the recent battle with the Grahams, this is Anna.” He leaned forward,
flattening his palms against the top of the table. “I am certain you have been
well-informed of who she is by now. Seeing as how I have decided to keep her,
you will assist me in assuring her comfort.”