Medieval Highlands 01 - Highland Vengeance (38 page)

Just then, the door sprung wide and Jesslyn came through the open portal with Callum directly behind her. She had her head turned back toward him, laughing at something he’d said.

Maryn rose from her position on the floor and turned towards the couple, keeping her arm around Alleck’s shoulders.

“I told you Callum took my mama! Where have you been? I woke up and could not find you!” Alleck ran to Jesslyn and threw his arms around her waist.

Jesslyn turned her head to look down at her son and, noticing Maryn, nodded in greeting before directing her reply to the frightened lad. “I’ve only been to the well to draw some water, as I do every morn before you rise,” she explained. “Callum saw me carrying the bucket and offered to assist me. I’m sorry if you were fearful, laddie.” Then, walking further into the room with Alleck clinging to her waist and Callum following close behind, Jesslyn asked Maryn, “What brings you to my humble cottage at such an early hour?”

“I’ve come to invite you to the keep, as I need your assistance with a very important sewing task. Will you meet me in the solar after you’ve broken your fast?”

“‘Tis truth, my skill with a needle is limited, but I shall be pleased to help you, if I can,” she replied, her look one of piqued interest. “Would you like to stay and break your fast with us?”

“Nay, I’ve another errand to perform before my meal.” Looking down at Alleck she said, “You see? Your mama will
never
leave you, so put that fear out of your head.” As she walked toward the door, she caught Callum’s eye and asked, “Will you walk with me back up to the keep?”

“Tho’ ‘twould be a great pleasure, I must decline as I’m to have my meal with this beauteous lady and her son.”

Nodding, Maryn left the cottage and went purposefully on to her next quarry. If she were timely, Grandmother Maclean would be in the great hall breaking her fast.

*

Two hours later, Lady Maclean’s look was pensive as she sat with her back straight and her hands on her knees, fingers tapping. “In addition to the two dozen swaddling clothes, we must make ten shirts of the softest linen. The babe will need changing often, and we want to have plenty. Tho’ he will not wear the shirts for several moons, ‘tis best to have them ready before they’re needed.”

“Aye, Alleck would sometimes need several in one day. ‘Tis important for the babe’s health that his clothes stay clean and dry.” Jesslyn sat next to Lady Maclean, her brows furrowed as she fought with a stitch in her tapestry. “Ouch!” She brought her injured finger up to her mouth and sucked the wound.

The two ladies had been giving instruction since the moment they learned the news and Maryn was a bit overwhelmed. When she’d thought of this scheme, she’d believed ‘twould be mostly for the benefit of Jesslyn. A way for her to show her true self to Lady Maclean and break down that lady’s antagonism. But with each new item on the long list for the babe, Maryn realized how much she still had to learn before her babe was due.

In a dazed voice, she said, “The babe will have more clothing than I. You are sure? I had no idea a babe would need so many things.” She looked from one to the other.

The two ladies nodded and spoke at the same time.

“—Aye, even more.”

“—These are but for the first few moons.”

Panic in her breast, Maryn rose from her stool and walked to the arched window, looking out on the bailey where her husband was training his men. “I cannot do this. I’m no mother—I
had
no mother! I’ll surely do some horrible thing and my babe will suffer for it.” How was she to know what a babe needed? Why had she not thought of this before?

Her two companions came up next to her and Lady Maclean said, “Now, now, lass. You must not worry so. You’ll be a good mother and your babe will not suffer. Forget not, you have both me and Jesslyn to help you along.”

“Aye, Maryn. I shall be pleased to give you any instruction you need. You’ll do just fine,” Jesslyn said, patting her back.

Feeling a bit better, but still unsure of herself, Maryn nodded. She choked back a giggle when she saw her husband thrown to the ground by one of his trainees. Knowing how unusual that feat was, she realized her husband was in much the same dazed condition as herself. This made her feel much better.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maryn caught the knowing look Jesslyn gave Lady Maclean as Jesslyn said with mock innocence, “My, that was odd. I do not believe I’ve ever before seen Daniel so easily overset. Do you suppose ‘twas done deliberately?

Placing her tongue firmly in her cheek, Maryn replied, “Oh, aye. My husband does desire to build his warriors’ confidence as well as their expertise.”

Jesslyn and Lady Maclean gaped at her.

Maryn laughed. “I was jesting!”

That brought on a round of laughter between the three, which served to lighten Maryn’s mood a bit further.

“Let’s continue our list, shall we?” she said at last, delightfully winded from her mirth. Turning, she placed her arms around her friends’ waists as she moved with them back towards the stools.

For the next half-hour, she was instructed on rudimentary care of infants by the two experts. Her mind swam with all the new information. How was she ever to remember all these rules? What if she did something wrong and the babe got sick, or hurt, or—

The door swung open and she swung around.

“I’ve found you at last,” Daniel said to her with a broad grin on his face as he leaned against the open doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. “I should have known to look for you here, but I decided to first search the areas where food could be found.”

She gave him a lopsided smile as she rose to her feet and sauntered towards him. “Ha, ha. My side aches with mirth.” And then, in feigned earnestness, she asked, “How is your backside, husband? No bruises, I hope—for I saw the trouncing you took. I pray you’ve not grown feeble with age.”

With narrowed eyes and a sardonic smile, he scooped her up into his arms.

“
Eeeek!
” Maryn threw her arms around her husband’s neck and held on for dear life.

“Pray pardon me, ladies, but I have something of import to discuss with my wife in privy.”

Maryn shrugged and waived to her amused friends as he carried her out of the solar.

*

Jesslyn felt a stab of envy for the love the two clearly felt for each other. She’d had that once—it seemed so long ago now. Sighing, she looked down at her tapestry, knowing that, for her, that kind of love had ended forevermore on the battlefield over two years past.

“You are not in love with Daniel, nor, I think, with my other grandson, Callum,” Lady Maclean said.

Jesslyn’s head shot up, her eyes wide with horrified dismay. Did the lady expect that she should
love
Callum in order to wed him? Would this betrothal be broken as well, if she did not? Oh, God! Would they expect her to wed the
steward
instead?

“Nay, be not alarmed. If Callum is content, then so, too, am I.” She gave Jesslyn’s knee a comforting pat. “But you did love your husband—Alleck’s father?” she pressed.

Jesslyn dipped her head and clasped her hands over the tapestry in her lap, leaving the threaded needle dangling from the last stitch. She knew not how to answer the older woman. Should she allow her true feelings to be known to the matriarch of this clan or should she equivocate? Nay, she decided in that instant, she was through with wiles.

Straightening, she threw her shoulders back and lifted her head high. With pride, she said, “Aye, I loved my husband deeply.” A wave of grief took her by surprise, making her eyes well with tears. “He was my strength, my light, my breath.” Embarrassed by her show of emotion, Jesslyn cleared her throat and touched her finger to the corner of her eye, dabbing at the stray moisture. “If I’d not had Alleck to raise, I think I might have committed the mortal sin of ending my own life during the sennights after my husband’s body was brought home for burial.”

Lady Maclean took hold of her hand and soothed the top of it with a gentle caress. After a moment, she murmured, “Aye, I know what it is to bury a beloved husband. My own dear Fergus has been in the ground lo’ these four long years and still a day does not pass that I do not miss him.” With a sigh, she shook her head. “The first several moons after his death were the worst days of my life.”

Seeing the same pain in the older woman’s eyes that she’d seen in her own reflection these past years, Jesslyn felt a sense of communion begin to grow. And the lady had not censured her, as she’d expected her to do when she’d made her dark confession, which warmed and calmed her as well. “I do not yet love Callum,” she felt impelled to explain then, “but I hold some fondness for him. My greatest hope is that we shall learn to love each other as time goes on.”

Lady Maclean gave Jesslyn’s hand a squeeze. “‘Tis my hope as well.”

Jesslyn took a deep breath and released it on a slow stream. “As for Daniel…I love him as a brother and as a cherished friend. ‘Twas fear and desperation that drove me to behave so badly—and, I’m grieved to say, a total disregard for the feelings of either Daniel or Maryn.”

“Aye,” Lady Maclean said with a nod, “but you seem to have made amends to them. Maryn is quite fond of you and has taken your part as your protector and friend. Just see how she brought us both together this day.” She lifted Jesslyn’s chin, forcing her to look directly into her eyes as she said with a smile, “Now we shall be friends as well, I trow.”

Jesslyn smiled as well, feeling the warm glow of acceptance that she had not known she craved until she’d at last received it from the older woman. “Aye, now we are friends.”

*

Striding down the circular stair toward the level housing their bedchamber, Daniel stroked the soft breast he’d captured in his hand. Then, allowing his wife’s feet to drop to the floor, he pressed her against the stone wall in the alcove of the stair, nuzzling her ear as he continued his ministration to the plump mound. “So. You think me feeble, wife?”

Maryn thrilled to the low cadence of her husband’s voice, but was not yet ready to cease provoking him. “Aye, quite feeble, in fact.”

A wicked plan formed in Daniel’s mind. Pleasurable, but rather devious. He suckled his wife’s earlobe.

Maryn’s breath caught in her throat. “Daniel?”

“Hmmm?” he murmured, and trailed his lips over her cheek to capture her mouth. He sent his tongue deep in its wet cavern, hungrily gorging on her sweetness.

Instantly forgetting her mischievous game, Maryn moaned and rocked against him, her hands clasping the back of his head and twisting in his hair.

Daniel answered the rhythm of her pelvis with his own, as he continued plundering her lips and rolling her taught nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

Maryn trembled under her husband’s skillful hands, making incoherent mewling noises in the back of her throat as she arched against him, already avid to receive him inside her.

After another moment, when he was sure his wife was well past the point of coherent thought, Daniel released her mouth and smiled against her ear. His face a mask of exhaustion, he stepped back and sighed wearily. “Pardon, love, but I find I am more feeble than I believed. I am much too tired to go on.” Stretching his arms over his head, he feigned a loud yawn. “I believe I shall lie down for awhile in our chamber.” Then, as if an afterthought, he said, “Tho’ if you crave satisfaction, I could possibly do a few things to assist before I sleep. Just meet me in our bedchamber.” Without giving her time to reply, he turned and trotted down the remaining steps. As he strode purposefully to their room, a diabolical grin illuminated his features. When he heard the swish of skirts behind him, he mentally rubbed his hands together, eagerly making further plans for their afternoon tryst.

*

Maryn stood in the abandoned alcove, too stunned to move. He’d stoked her fires to a blazing pitch and left her wanting. What evil game was this? And, more to the point, should she follow or leave him be? The devil in her wanted to leave him unsatisfied in retaliation for his abrupt dismissal. But the woman in her wanted to follow and see what the afternoon held in store. Suddenly, the answer came to her: Why not give herself the satisfaction of both? She’d wait a bit, making him believe she’d not meet him, and then she’d give him everything—at
least
twice. A smug smile lit her face. Sitting down on the top stair with her chin resting in her hand, she drummed her fingers against her cheek, counting down the minutes.

*

Quickly disrobing, Daniel washed off the grime of the training field before falling on the bed with his hands behind his head. He crossed one foot over the other and waited. She’d be here any moment, he was sure. Though he’d believed it was Maryn behind him as he’d entered the chamber, it had turned out to be only a passing maid. His wife had no doubt seen the servant and had been too timid to be seen entering the chamber with him at this time of day. He found that endearingly sweet—and he would tell her just that as soon as she arrived. In fact, he intended to taste every bit of that sweetness. Multiple times. If she’d only come through that door!

A few more minutes passed with Daniel silently, and ever more anxiously, watching the closed portal to their chamber, his thoughts centered on all the carnal delights he intended to enjoy that afternoon. Where the devil was she? Surely, there were no more servants to detain her.