The Laird's Future Bride (5 page)

Duncan looked behind him to see his brother holding Holly’s rectangle thing and studying him. When their eyes met, he nodded and walked toward the keep.

“Mmm, what is it about you that turns me to mush? I have no willpower against you. No other man has ever had the effect you have on me. I haven’t even known you twenty-four hours, and you have me at your mercy, Duncan.” The way Holly said his name made his body tense with need.

He wasn’t going to let Holly get away. The way he had felt since he met her proved that Holly was the one for him. Duncan had never been like this with a woman. He hated to admit it, but his mother had brought a girl he could, and would, marry.

Unwrapping Holly’s arms from his neck, he lifted her and placed her on his horse, then got on behind her. They rode in silence for a moment as his mind started to go through everything that could have happened to her if he hadn’t found her. “Ye canna run. It is dangerous in this time. There are bandits, and we are feuding with other clans. They would nay hesitate to take ye.” He kept an easy pace back to the keep. “I ken ye wish to return to yer own time, but ye are here now. I won’t say I’m sorry ye’re here, because that would be a lie. And one thing I can promise ye is I won’t lie to ye. Ye need to at least give this life a try; otherwise, ye’re gunna spend the rest of yer life here miserable.”

Holly sighed against him. “Okay, I’ll try. I’m sorry I got you out of bed.”

Duncan kissed the top of her head. “I kenned from the moment I laid me eyes on ye, ye would be trouble. I had a feeling ye’d try something, so I told me guards to watch out for ye. Ye were just lucky it was me brother ye met on the road and not someone else.”

They rode through the gates and into the bailey. Duncan dismounted near the stable doors, pulled Holly down, and held her hand as he guided his horse into his stall. The young lad came over, groggy from being woken, to take over the horse’s care.

Duncan took Holly inside his home, never letting go of her hand. They walked around the furniture and up the stairs. He walked past the guest room, and Holly tugged on her hand.

“This is my room.”

He shook his head. “Not anymore.” Duncan wasn’t taking any chances. He showed Holly to the last door, where he opened the door to his sitting room. He walked into the next room to his bed. “This is our chamber.”

He let go of Holly’s hand and watched her as she stood still, looking around the room. Her eyes rested on the door they’d just come through. Duncan could see she was ready to bolt, he stalked her, determined to hold her.

“You don’t have to marry me. I can be your guest until we get to know each other.”

Duncan understood that if he weren’t selfish, he would agree with Holly, but he kenned what he wanted, and he didn’t want to wait to hold her in his arms every night, or feel her body beneath his own. Duncan wanted to kiss her in front of his clan, so they all would know she was his. They would learn each other, and get to know one another as husband and wife.

“I want to marry ye, lass. It’s time I marry.” Duncan reached Holly and grabbed the cloak she wore and lifted it off. “We will get to ken each other once we are wed.”

Holly wore a shirt that was big on her, and men’s pants. “What are ye wearing?”

“These are my comfort clothes. Warm clothes. It’s freezing.”

“They are men’s clothing.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “In my time where I live, women mostly wear pants.”

He shook his head. “What do yer men think of that?” Duncan lifted the hem of her shirt to take it off, and she batted his hands away.

“The men don’t get a say. In my time, women have equal rights and we can wear what we want, within reason.”

Thank God, he didn’t live in that time
. “Ye are not in yer time. I get a say in what ye wear. Take those off before I do, or ye may not like where I put them.”

Duncan bit his cheek to keep from chuckling as Holly’s eyes narrowed at him while she mumbled about being stuck with a medieval jerk. Slowly she took her shirt and trousers off.

As the trousers hit the floor, he growled at the sight of her, and gathered her up placing her on the bed. He took a step back to undress himself quickly, before she could move away.

“Ye are beautiful, lass.” He joined her on the bed and pulled her to him. The light from the fire illuminated the room. Duncan ran his hands over her, admiring the strange garments she wore. “What are these?” He fingered the black fabric over her breasts.

“It’s a bra.”

“And this”

Holly held his hands as he slipped them under the cloth.

“Underwear.”

“I like them. Ye can wear these. Do ye have more in that rectangle thing?”

She gave a huff and tried to wiggle out of his hold. Her wiggling was arousing, and his already pulsing erection strained to get what it wanted.

“I’d stop wriggling if I was ye.” Duncan pulled Holly tightly to his body, and she gasped as she felt his cock rub against her. “I promise I won’t do anything to ye tonight. Answer me question, and we’ll sleep.”

“Yes, I have more.”

Duncan kissed her head. “Wear a different one on the morrow, so I can see.”

Holly didn’t say anything and he didn’t press. Holding her to him, he breathed in her flowery smell, closed his eyes, and let sleep take him. He kenned he had his work cut out for him to convince Holly to stay and let them get to know one another, but he’d do it.

Holly awoke as rough, callused hands glided up and down her body, and warm lips trailed kisses across her neck. For a moment, she let herself enjoy the touch and the tingling feelings coursing through her body.

“Good morn, lass.”

At the sound of his voice, Holly stiffened and moved away from him. Duncan let her go.

“I’ll let ye retreat now, only because ye’ll be me wife tonight.”

Gathering up the sheets, she wrapped them around her and slipped out of the bed. “Why? Why do you want to marry me? I’m not from this time. I know nothing about being a wife, let alone a wife of a laird.”

Duncan sat up in bed and her eyes zeroed in on the thick muscled arms as they crossed over his broad, toned chest. Her gaze followed his tight six-pack abs, and down to the erection that stood proud. Holly stumbled back at the sight of the big, wide, long cock. It was huge, not that she’d seen many penises, but the ones she’d seen on TV hadn’t been that size. He chuckled, and Holly snapped her stare up to his face. Duncan’s eyes shone, and his smile was one of male satisfaction.

“I knew from the moment I laid eyes on ye that I wanted ye. Then I touched ye and I knew ye were mine.” He got off the bed and walked to her.

Holly backed up until she had nowhere else to go. Duncan reached up and ran his fingers through the hair that had fallen out of her braid. He pulled her to him.

“I ken nothing of being a husband. We will learn as we get to ken one another. I have watched me parents, and I hope we can be as good a match as them. And as for not being from this time, ye’ll get used to it. Ye were sent for a reason.” He brushed his lips over hers, as banging on the door had him moving from her.

“Duncan. Duncan! The lass has gone. She is not in the chambers I gave her,” Magan yelled through the door.

Duncan walked to the chair by the fire where his plaid lay, put it on, then opened the door. “Good morn, Mother.”

Magan pushed past her son, and paused as she saw Holly. “I see ye found her.”

“Aye, I did.”

Holly watched the scene play out before her. She told herself to move, but her brain seemed frozen as she watched Duncan slip into his boots. Magan’s scowl turned into a dazzling smile.

“I’ll have the servants bring her bath up here. We have a lot to do today. The priest will be here before the nooning meal.” Magan came to her and gathered all Holly’s hair to the side. “Ye have lovely hair. I will be able to put it up—”

“Nay, Mother. I want her hair out.” Duncan stood dressed with his own red mane tied with a black leather thong. He looked like an imposing figure no one would cross. Holly bet no one ever did.

Magan nodded. “Fine, son. I will leave it down. Ye can go now. I’ve much to do to get yer bride ready.”

Holly felt Duncan’s gaze on her before he turned and left the room, and she was alone with his mother.

“I’ll have someone bring yer things in here. Do ye have any more clothes with ye?”

Holly did have three more period dresses with her. She’d bought them off the internet for a great price, not much different from what it would have cost her for hired clothes. The person she’d bought them from sold them for renaissance fairs. “Yes I have three more dresses: a green one, a red one, and a gold and silver elaborate one.”

Magan almost bounced with her excitement. She grabbed Holly’s hand and pulled her into the sitting room. “Come, we have a lot to do this morn.”

Holly didn’t argue because she knew it wouldn’t get her anywhere. She would bide her time and try to enjoy what she could.

Duncan hadn’t stopped since he left his chambers. He’d been organizing men to get everything ready for his wedding. He knew his mother would have given the women orders. His men had arrived back from a successful hunt, they’d found a boar. It wouldn’t be ready for the nooning meal, but it would be by the evening.

Neither his mother nor Holly had left his chambers. Ian, the guard he’d had on the room all morn, had just switched with Mason. Ian told Duncan that nothing but giggles and his betrothed’s occasional protest could be heard from the room.

Duncan now paced before the priest as he waited for his bride. She was late. He tried not to worry because he kenned with his mother and Mason she wouldn’t run, but that didn’t make it any better. Duncan wished his da could have been there, but the king wanted one of the MacLeods at his back as much as possible to keep him safe, so they complied.

The chattering of his clan stopped, and he turned to see his mother hurry in. At the door on his brother’s arm stood an angel. Holly was in a gold fitted dress with white ribbons and embroidery. Her breasts looked like they just squeezed in. Her hair was out as he requested, except for a braid, twined with flowers, making a crown on her head. Holly’s face looked fresh, her eyes unfocused until they met his, as she slowly walked down the aisle to him.

Growling at her slow pace, he met her halfway and took her from his brother. The clan laughed, but Duncan didn’t care what they thought. He held her hand, and together they walked to the priest.

The priest started and droned on, but Duncan’s gaze never left his bride’s. She seemed captured by his stare and didn’t look anywhere but at him. Duncan didn’t hesitate when the priest asked him to repeat after him, but Holly wasn’t the same, she stuttered and didn’t repeat the “obey him” part. As soon as Holly said, “I do,” Duncan bent to kiss her. He didn’t wait for the priest to announce them and tell him he could kiss his bride; instead, he leaned down and took what was now his.

Holly couldn’t believe she was married on Valentine’s Day, and to a Scottish laird at that. She sat at the top table next to Duncan and stared out at the many unknown faces. Duncan still held her hand. He hadn’t let go of it since he’d met her down the aisle of the chapel. The celebration was in full swing. Everyone was drinking, eating, and laughing. She looked around for Duncan’s brother, Callam, finding him at the end of the table studying her. When her eyes met his, he turned away.

Callam had been a surprise. He’d come to take her to the church, and she’d gotten her first good look at him. Holly hadn’t known he was Duncan’s brother. Callam had blond hair like Magan’s, and wasn’t as big or tall as Duncan. The thing that got Holly was that Callam had the face of a model, or what she imagined an angel or Greek god would look like. He had blue eyes like Duncan’s, emphasized by his blond, shoulder-length hair. His lips were full and his chin was chiseled. Holly found it hard not to stare at him, but he wasn’t the one that made her heart flip or her stomach flutter. He didn’t do anything for her when he touched her.

Music started, and Callam turned, catching Holly’s gaze again. She felt heat creep up her neck at being caught staring. Holly closed her eyes and turned back to the people before her.