Highland Savage (12 page)

“I dinnae think so. Ye were implying that I have had lovers since ye. ’Twas verra clear.”

“I wasnae meaning to insult ye.” He dragged a shaking hand through his hair, trying desperately to think clearly and not stare at her high, full breasts that were almost completely revealed by her sagging gown. “Sweet Jesu, Kat, ye thought I was dead and ye are a verra passionate woman. Ye are also being hunted and people want ye dead. I just thought ye may have sought some comfort or a little pleasure when ye have so little of it in this life Agnes has forced ye into.” He hated to think of her with another man but he prepared himself to accept it.

Katerina studied his face. He looked as if he was about to be served poison. For some reason that made her want to smile. She was not foolish enough to think a possessive nature in a man was a sign of anything aside from a possessive nature, but it was still flattering in a small way. Then she recalled the rest of what he had said and her eyes widened.

“Ye havenae been with anyone for a whole year?”

“Nay.” Lucas thanked God he could say that now, for it was the full truth and she had to be able to read it in his face and hear it in his voice. “I willnae say I didnae think on it or e’en go to the alehouse with the intention of having a woman, some faceless woman who wouldnae care or make me feel aught but a need and then satisfy it. But, nay, I couldnae e’en do that And then there is the matter of my leg,” he faltered as he felt himself blush and he inwardly cursed.

“Your leg?”

“It can be verra stiff at times and so there is an awkwardness just when ye wish there wouldnae be.”

“Oh.” She slowly moved back toward him. “But nay all the time.”

“Nay all the time.”

He gently pulled her back into his arms, suspecting it was going to be the last truly gentle thing he would do for a while. The need pounding in his veins was wild and almost uncontrolled. She had not really said whether she had had another lover during the time she thought he was dead, but her outrage was answer enough. Katerina Haldane was all his and, although she did not know it yet, he had every intention of keeping her.

Lucas kissed her and she felt the strength of his need, sensed how hard he was trying to be slow and gentle. As the kiss grew a little fiercer so did her desire. Soon she did not know who was doing what but their clothes were nearly torn off their bodies by eager hands and their mouths moved over every inch of skin as if starved for the taste.

Katerina clung to him as he moved toward the wall and pinned her there. She was unconcerned about the hard stone against her back, cared only about the hard body of the man holding her in his arms. A soft cry of surprise and then pleasure escaped her as she felt him push into her, her body at first protesting his entry and then greedily grasping hold of him, welcoming him. It was fast and furious and Katerina reveled in it. She felt her body tighten with that exhilarating feeling she remembered from so long ago and heard herself urging him on. Then she felt herself fall into the stars, pleasure rippling through her whole body until she felt consumed by her own passion. A heartbeat later she felt Lucas bury himself deep inside her and groan her name as his whole body shuddered and his seed warmed her insides.

With the return of sanity came embarrassment, but Katerina had barely begun to feel uncertain and anxious to retreat when Lucas kissed her. He held her tight in his arms as he stumbled over to her bed and fell down onto it, careful not to crush her beneath his much larger body. Her eyes widened when she felt him harden inside her.

“Lucas?”

The way she said his name, her voice husky with the lingering effects of their shared passion, made Lucas groan. He began to stroke her body, enjoying every curve and hollow as he kissed her breasts. It was going to be a long, exhausting night, he thought, and it was the last clear thought he had for a while.

Katerina finally found the strength to lift her head from Lucas’s broad chest. She felt a slight chill on her body and searched for the blanket. Picking it up from the floor she spread it over them before returning to his arms. Her body felt a little sore, but she did not mind. It was a good sore, one that brought on heated memories of what had passed between her and Lucas in the past few hours. The man was insatiable and made her feel the same.

She looked over his sprawled body and began to notice the scars. The wounds from his most recent capture by Ranald were still a little raw, but she suspected only a few of them would become scars. The beating he had suffered a year ago had left a lot more. She gently tugged the blanket to the side revealing the leg Ranald had broken and she almost gasped. The scars that lingered there were ragged and ugly and she could almost see how the bone had cut through the skin. He was very lucky he had not lost the leg and she had no doubt that it was the healers in his family who had saved it for him. Suddenly the blanket was gently and firmly taken from her hand and tossed back over the leg.

“Ye dinnae want to be looking at that,” Lucas said, a little embarrassed by his scars and the way he had been behaving since entering her bedchamber. “’Tisnae pretty.”

“I ne’er thought it would be. My scars arenae so pretty either.”

“They arenae so big and ragged. My leg looks like a dog grabbed it and chewed on it.”

She wanted to ask him a lot of questions but held her tongue. They would be questions about the attack on the banks of the loch and she felt that was a subject it might be best to avoid. The very last thing she wanted to do was ruin the bliss they had found together with a talk that would certainly be tainted by his suspicions and anger. She had seen no sign of those things almost from the time she had been wounded but she could not be sure he had rid himself of them.

“I dinnae believe mine are all that much neater. William did his best but he isnae a healer. He stopped the bleeding, kept it all from going putrid, and tended me until the fever burnt itself out. I would ne’er complain that the ordeal has left me with a few scars.”

He gently pushed her onto her back and, ignoring her soft protests, began to search out and kiss every scar. It was obvious that she had been thrown upon the rocks several times, each time tearing open her tender skin. Lucas wished he could have been there to help her, maybe even save her from some of the worst of the scarring, but he had been fighting for his own life and by the time he had recovered he had marked her as a deceiver and a murderess. He felt the heat of embarrassment touch his cheeks and was glad his face was hidden against her flat stomach. At some time he was going to have to talk to her about it, try to explain himself, and gain her trust and forgiveness. It would be wonderful if the wild lovemaking they shared was enough to mend the wound he had dealt her, but he knew it was not.

Katerina threaded her hands through his hair as he kissed her stomach and then licked the scar that ran down her thigh. She was just wondering if it was some sort of silent apology when he kissed the tight blond curls sheltering her womanhood. A squeak of shock escaped her and she tightened her grip on his hair. By the time she gathered enough of her wits to protest such an intimacy his stroking tongue had stolen all of her reticence away and she gave herself over to the strange new delight. By the time he joined their bodies, she was so hungry for him she did not care what he saw or did so long as the pleasure he gave her continued.

Lucas knew he was being a little rough but he could not stop himself and Katerina seemed to revel in it. He felt the start of her release deep within her body and thrust deep so that he could savor it as it grabbed hold of him and took him along with her. He collapsed on top of her, barely recalling the need to move his body a little to the side so that he did not crush her with his weight.

“Ye are going to make me an old mon a-fore my time,” he murmured as he nuzzled her hair.

It took nearly all the strength she had left in her, but Katerina lifted her arm and stroked his hair. “Weel, ye may have some rest from your duties for a wee while as I am going to sleep now.”

“Oh, are ye? Too weak and feeble, are ye?”

“That I am. Or, so I feel right now.”

He turned onto his back and pulled her into his arms. It made him grin to think he had loved her into a stupor, but he was careful to hide his expression. Lucas suspected it would look a little too much like masculine gloating. As he idly stroked her back he felt
her body go limp against his and her breathing grow soft and even.

Putting an arm beneath his head, and caressing her hair with his free hand, Lucas stared up at the smooth stone ceiling of the cave that served as her bedchamber. He knew he would never forget this place or this night. Even with the shadows that lingered over their reunion, his idiocy and false accusations, Ranald and Agnes and their murderous plans, and the fact that Katerina was exiled from her own home, it had been perfect. His body felt wonderfully heavy and sated yet he knew he could easily be stirred to passion again, and after so long and a growing fear that the beating had left him impotent, he wanted to just lie there and savor the feeling.

Closing his eyes and deciding to take a rest himself, he held Katerina a little closer and with what he admitted to himself was a touch of desperation. She was his. They belonged together, should be planning a life together and picking out names for all the children they would have. In a way he had stolen that from both of them. It would be hard work to get her to trust in him again, but he knew it was worth it. He knew he would never doubt her again. He was just going to have to work very hard to make her believe it.

Warmth spread throughout Katerina’s body. She murmured with pleasure as desire stirred to life within her. This was one of the best dreams she had ever had. She could even feel the slight roughness of Lucas’s lightly calloused hands and the moist heat of his mouth. If she could have dreams like this all the time she would never get out of bed. She shifted her body as need became an ache inside her and her leg brushed against a hair-roughened thigh.

“Open your eyes, Kat, ere ye think ye are being attacked and hurt me.”

That deep, laughter-filled voice was achingly familiar and Katerina relaxed. Keeping her eyes closed, she smiled and rubbed her toes against Lucas’s leg. She liked the feel of that crisp hair against her skin. It was nice to wake up all wrapped in heat, she decided. There were a lot of problems facing her, many of them concerning the man now kissing her breasts, but Katerina did not want to face them yet.

Lucas nearly laughed. Katerina was sprawled beneath him with a little smile curving her full lips. She was humming softly to herself as she stroked his leg with her toes. It was very pleasant, but he had woken up hard and heavy with a need for her and he wanted her wide-awake and heartily participating as he fed that need.

“Kat,” he whispered as he stroked her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her nipples until they hardened and she wriggled against him, “open your eyes.”

She slowly opened her eyes but only part of the way, just enough to see that he looked far too tempting in the morning. Katerina almost grinned. She was sorely tempted, but rather liked the feeling of being coaxed. He rubbed his shaft against her thigh and there was no doubting his interest. During their long night of lovemaking she had feared that she would wake in the morning and feel the bitter pinch of shame, but she felt none at all. The passion she and Lucas shared was all she could have hoped for and more. It was also a perfect way to make her forget all her worries and she found that she craved that delightful respite.

“Tirling at the pin rather early in the morning, arenae ye?” she murmured as she slid her hand over Lucas’s hip and lightly trailed her nails up and down his shaft.

“If ye keep doing that I willnae be merely knocking on the door, lass, I will be kicking it in.”

Enjoying the way his eyes closed and a light flush colored his cheeks when his desire rode him hard, Katerina encircled the hard, thick shaft with her hand and stroked him. The soft growl that escaped him made her shiver in anticipation. There was definitely something not quite tame about Lucas Murray. When he opened his eyes to look at her she saw that the silvery-blue of his eyes had darkened into an almost midnight blue and appeared just as mysterious. She smiled at him as she slid her hand down his shaft and lightly squeezed the sacs at its base. The way he shuddered gave her a delicious sense of pure feminine power.

“Temptress,” he growled and kissed her.

The idea that anyone would think her a temptress was almost laughable. She might even question their sanity or think them liars. The way Lucas said the word, with such heated honesty, actually made her feel that she really was a temptress, even if she was only in his eyes. Then Lucas joined their bodies, the rhythm of the thrusts of his hips matching those of his tongue in her mouth. Very quickly Katerina forgot all about
feminine power and temptresses. The only thoughts that lingered in her head for long were those of the rhythm of their bodies and midnight blue eyes.

“Ah, there ye are,” said Annie as Katerina stepped into the hall.

“Aye, here I am.” Katerina grinned at the look of disgust Annie gave her. “Anything I might help ye with?”

“Aye, ye could chop the leeks for me but only after ye have something to break your fast. I will make ye some porridge and Patrick brought us a jug of goat’s milk.”

“I am nay too fond of goat’s milk,” Katerina said as she sat down at the table.

“Weel, try to stomach it. Ye need to keep up your strength and put on a wee bit of weight. When ye had that fever ye lost some weight in fighting it and ye didnae really have enough to begin with. Sir Lucas was most concerned about that lack of a few more pounds to fight the fever with.”

“Oh, weel, where is the milk then? I better gain those few pounds as swiftly as possible or the mon will recall that he wanted me to gain some and he will become a sore trial.”

Annie quickly set a large bowl of porridge in front of Katerina and a tankard full of goat’s milk. “If ye are serving everyone so much of this milk, Annie, ye will be emptying that jug within an hour.”

“The jug can be refilled. Three of the four goats Patrick brought to us are female.”

“We have goats?”

“Aye. It seems people are noticing that Ranald and the rest of those fools soiling Dunlochan arenae hunting their food and yet are eating as if they are kings without a worry for where the food comes from. Those who have animals are gleaning the best out and hiding them. The goats are from Patrick’s sister.”

“Weel, that makes sense, I think.”

“The best cows from Old Wey’s land are being kept with the horses and moved from place to place.”

“’Tis that bad?”

“Aye, and getting worse. And, dinnae worry, Mistress Meg’s chickens will be nay trouble at all and we will have fresh eggs more often now.”

“Where are the chickens?”

“Two of them joined me in my bath,” drawled Lucas as he strode into the hall and sat down next to Katerina. “Since they kept the messy end away from me and my water I didnae mind.”

Katerina ate some more of the porridge and forced herself to drink some of the milk before she asked, “Sheep?”

“High up in the hills where there are many places to hide them if Ranald comes looking.”

“Pigs?”

“Three. One with piglets. We refused to take the boar for the beast is huge and verra temperamental. Dinnae worry, m’lady, Thomas is happy to care for them all. He has always loved animals and will keep them clean and weel fed. He has e’en discovered a way to take them out to enjoy the sun now and again.”

“So somewhere in these caves are chickens, goats, and pigs.” Katerina watched Annie closely as she asked, “No ducks or geese?”

“Nay, not yet.”

Katerina almost laughed at the way Annie kept her gaze fixed firmly on the porridge she was dishing out for Lucas and did not even twitch as she was questioned. The woman was getting verra good at not lying but not revealing any unnecessary truths, either. Although Katerina could only admire that skill, she felt sad that Annie had been forced to learn it.

“A bargain has been made, ye see,” said Annie, sitting down across from Lucas and Katerina. “If we keep these much-prized animals safe we will get help in rebuilding the stock of the keep that those fools are devouring. I am thinking we may need it.”

“It sounds a good bargain, Annie. I am just surprised William made it for he isnae too fond of such animals.”

“Nay, he isnae, but he is fond of eating.” Annie smiled when both Lucas and Katerina laughed. “’Twill be fine. Being that these animals are such fine breeders and all they are verra weel cared for, so it shouldnae be too great a trouble.”

“Oh, it will be,” said Katerina. “We cannae let the people lose all their source of food, can we.”

“Nay, we cannae although it already begins to stink like a stable in here,” snapped William as he strode into the hall.

William had obviously not had a good morning, mused Katerina as she fought to hide a smile. Her cousin did not often lose his temper completely, but he could become surly when things did not go his way. Since they had been trapped in these caverns for almost a year it was a good thing that William’s surliness was usually short-lived.

“Have ye already been out moving the horses?” she asked.

“And those cursed cows.”

“Ye may be grateful for those cursed cows one day if Ranald and Agnes are being as careless with the stock as everyone says they are.”

As he poured himself some ale and sat down at the table, William grunted. Katerina waited patiently while her cousin took several slow but deep drinks of the ale. When he finally looked at her over the top of his tankard, she smiled at him. He laughed and shook his head.

“I worked hard to ne’er become a farmer,” he said. “It irritates me to find that I am one, at least for the nonce.”

“And I am a troll.” She grinned when everyone laughed, then said quietly, “’Twill pass. It has to. At some time e’en those-old fools on the council will have to see that Agnes is hurting Dunlochan, hence their own ever-fattening purses.”

“Do ye think the men on the council are using this trouble between ye and Agnes to fill their own coffers?” asked Lucas.

“I do although I cannae prove it. I cannae really leave here to find anyone powerful who would heed me and who those old men would then bow to, either. Aye, they were my father’s friends and compatriots, but they arenae mine, and they arenae Agnes’s. Oh, they dinnae break whate’er promises they made to my da as far as I can see, but they dinnae really honor them either.

“As his old friends they ken full weel that he would be screaming for them to put a stop to this or beating them about the head for making a profit on the misery of the people of Dunlochan. But they dinnae do any more than what was written in the verra terse last testament my da scratched out as he was dying. They sit like carrion birds, watching and
grasping what they can, telling all who may listen that all the old laird wished was for them to be sure neither of his daughters married without their approval.”

William nodded in solemn agreement. “That says it true. The old laird would be fair to shaking with fury o’er what is happening.” William frowned toward the opening leading into the passage as the sound of voices and laughter drifted closer. “And here comes one reason we were a wee bit later to return here than I had planned.”

Before Katerina could ask him what he meant Patrick, Thomas, Donald, and another man entered the hall. She stared at that other man and knew her mouth was hanging open even before Lucas shifted closer to her on the bench and gently closed it with his fingers on her chin. For a moment she stared at the man very hard as if a closer look would change what she was seeing, but there was no mistaking that fiery red hair, bright green eyes, or cocky grin.

“Why the devil have ye come back here, Robbie?” she demanded.

He laughed, walked over to her, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Why, to see ye, my dear sister.”

Katerina was hard-pressed to hide her surprise when Lucas edged even closer to her, his long legs nudging Robbie until the man had to step back a little. Lucas acting so possessive was a heady thing and she told herself that later she would take the time to lecture herself about how little it meant A man could act possessive over a tankard of ale. She kept her gaze fixed on Robbie and acted as if she had not noticed Lucas’s behavior.

“I am nay your sister,” she said.

“I am wed to dear, sweet Agnes, so that makes me your brother.” He looked around the hall. “Very comfortable for a cave. Just why are ye living down here?”

“We are living down here because we are rather fond of staying alive. And I always thought ye were as weel.”

“And I am.”

“Then why have ye come back to Dunlochan?”

Robbie started to reply, but paused when a blushing Annie served him a tankard of ale. “Why, thank ye most kindly, Mistress. ’Tis glad I am to see that someone has held fast to their good manners despite living in a cave.”

“If ye dinnae answer my question, ye will be buried in a cave.” Katerina forced herself not to soften her expression beneath the warmth of Robbie’s wide grin. “Now, sit down and answer the question.”

“Weel, I decided it was time to see my wife again,” he replied as he sat down across from Katerina, slipping smoothly between Annie and William. “I am married to the woman and the vows did say for better or worse. I began to wonder if I had judged her unfairly.”

“The vows ye spoke also said until death do ye part and, by returning here, ye have now given Agnes the chance to fulfill that part of the vow.”

“Agnes and Ranald have been searching for ye, Robbie,” said William. “They want ye dead.”

“Why?”

“So that she can marry Ranald, get the council to approve the marriage, and then claim Dunlochan as her own,” replied Katerina. “There is a battle going on here, Robbie, and ye have just stepped right into it. And just in case ye have some idea of still going to visit with your wife, let me tell ye that anything ye thought Agnes had done, she probably
has, if not a lot worse.”

“But what can she gain by killing me?”

“I just told ye—Dunlochan. Ye werenae approved of by the council, the men my father chose to help us poor witless women. Agnes feels verra certain Ranald will be and I suspect she has a good reason for feeling so confident about that.”

The fact that Robbie did not respond to her sharp words told Katerina just how upset he was. He had somehow convinced himself that Agnes might not be as bad as he had thought, perhaps even thought on how he had no hard proof and thus could have allowed jealousy to cloud his thinking. Agnes could cause a man to be a fool even when she was miles away. Even if he no longer loved Agnes or was even truly enthralled by her, it had to be a hard blow to realize your wife wanted you dead when you had never done anything to her to deserve such a harsh sentence.

“’Tis verra hard to believe,” Robbie finally murmured and suddenly finished off his ale, but Annie was quickly close by his side to refill his tankard. “I think I hoped too hard that’I was mistaken about her, but all ye have said so far only reminds me of all the reasons I left, and how clear it was then that she wasnae the woman I thought she was.”

“She fools a lot of people, Robbie,” Katerina said gently. “She fooled him,” she added, pointing to Lucas.

“Just who is he?”

“Sir Lucas Murray of Donncoill,” Lucas replied.

“I have heard of your clan. Why are ye crouched in the cave with these Haldanes?”

“Because Agnes and Ranald have already tried to kill me twice. It has annoyed me and I wish to discuss the matter with them. They have also tried to kill Katerina.”