Highlander's Tempting Stranger: A Steamy Scottish Medieval Historical Romance Read online

  The kisses trailed lower down her body, and although Lachlan was eager to explore every inch of her creamy skin, he forced himself to be slow. He pressed kisses to every exposed part of her body as he moved down lower, past the valley of her breasts, and then even further, pausing at her navel.

  He looked up at Maura through his lashes, and the breath hitched in her throat at the sight of him. One hand was flat on the bed beside her to support his weight, and the other was resting at the junction of her inner thigh, poised to make his next move. He was looking up at her in a way that no man had ever looked at her before, with such adoration and devotion that she had never thought possible. In that moment, she swore her heart might burst from her chest.

  “Is this okay?” he whispered.

  Maura nodded enthusiastically. “Aye.”

  Lachlan grinned at that, spurred on by her excitement. His hand moved up to the spot between her thighs, and Maura cried out in surprise at the sensation. It was something she had never felt before, something she had never even come close to feeling before, and as Lachlan touched her, the feeling only grew stronger until it was entirely too much for her to bear.

  She wanted more from him, though, and practically begged him for it when she pulled him up to kiss him over and over again, desperately. She wanted everything from him, even though she had been told that it would damn her soul to hell for an eternity.

  There, in that room with Lachlan, Maura realized she didn’t care. In fact, she could not care. With Lachlan’s weight atop her and the fingers of his hand laced with hers, Maura realized she didn’t mind damnation. When she felt all of him for the first time, she decided it was worth an eternity in hell.

  15

  Afterward, the two of them lay there together in blissful silence. Maura was wrapped up in his arms, exactly where she wanted to be. Her head rested against his chest, and their limbs tangled together beneath the sheets, the perfect picture of debauchery.

  “We should get dressed soon,” Lachlan whispered, breaking the calm silence of the room. “Who knows when yer family’ll be home?”

  “I don’t want to, though,” Maura replied.

  She did not think that anyone could have faulted her for wanting to stay in that spot forever. Nestled against Lachlan’s chest, with his arm wrapped loosely around her waist to anchor her against him, she had never felt safer in her life. It was as though there was nothing in the world that could get to her, nothing that could hurt her. Everything would be alright, just as long as she stayed within the circle of his arms.

  Lachlan chuckled, and she felt the rumbling low in his chest. “Aye, I’d like to stay here too. But ye know we cannae do that. Yer mother will kill us both if she catches us like this.”

  “I know.” Maura cuddled up to his chest a little more, burying her face in the crook of his neck where it was warmest. “But I just want a little longer.”

  How could Lachlan say no to that? With Maura’s body pressed up against his like this, so close that he could practically feel her heart beating in her chest, he could not find the strength to make her move. He was only human, after all.

  “As you wish,” he whispered, pressing a chaste kiss to the top of her head. “Just a little longer then.”

  Maura smiled and began to trace patterns over the skin of his chest with her index finger. The skin there was surprisingly soft. Maura had expected it to be as weathered as the skin of his palms, but it wasn’t.

  It was surprising to her, but as she lay there in Lachlan’s arms, Maura she did not feel any guilt over what they had done together. She felt as though she should—after all, almost everything she had been told prior to that had informed her that sexual relations between a man and a woman should be kept to the marital bed. A woman who was deflowered before her wedding night—the kind of woman who became a lonely spinster—was dirty and cheap and worth nothing to a good man.

  “There’s no pain, is there?” Lachlan checked. Maura was a little sore between her legs, but other than that, she felt fine. She was too happy to focus on the pain anyway.

  “Nay. Ah’m fine.”

  “Good.” He tightened his grip on her a little more, so that she was flush against his chest.

  As they lay there, enjoying their last few moments of solitude together before Maura’s mother and siblings returned, they each had a confession burning their tongues. It was something they had longed to say to the other but were yet to find the courage for.

  Maura was the first to find her voice. “Can I tell ye something?”

  “Of course.”

  “I…have been wanting this for a long time,” she admitted quietly, hiding her face in the crook of his neck shyly. “Since that night in the bothy.”

  Lachlan chuckled at that. “All that time?”

  “Aye.”

  “So have I. Before that night in the bothy, in fact. Ah don’t truly know how long it’s been that ah’ve wanted to bed ye like that,’’ Lachlan admitted, his voice softer than Maura had ever heard it before. “The night ah threw the Jakey out o’ here for what he was threatenin’ ye with, that night ye tended to the cuts on ma face, I remember thinkin’ I was lookin’ at an angel from heaven itself.”

  Heat rose to Maura’s cheeks at his words. No man—no person at all—had ever said such words to her. It was hard to believe that anyone would ever think of her like that.

  “Really?”

  “Truly,” Lachlan assured her. Then, with another kiss to the top of her head, he shuffled out from underneath her and stood up. “We’d best get dressed.”

  There was only one window in the room—a small square that overlooked the stable and let in a patch of light. As Lachlan moved around the room to gather his things, he stepped into the square of light, and Maura was taken aback by how he looked.

  She had always known that he was strong. He had a bulky frame that could not be hidden underneath any amount of clothing. But in that moment, she could truly appreciate him. Afternoon sunlight bounced off his shoulders, highlighting the peaks and valleys of the taut muscles under the skin of his back. His body was like a perfectly constructed valley, leading all the way down to the small of his back, and when he bent to collect his tunic from the floor, Maura saw the muscles of his arms flex.

  His hair, a cascading mess of auburn curls that fell to his shoulders, caught the light as he moved around, and it genuinely looked as though it was on fire. It was as if he was wearing a crown of flames that glowed brightly in the afternoon sun.

  “Ye’re staring,” he said with a teasing smile, coming to kiss her gently. “Get up, before yer mother gets home, or else we’ll both be in fer it.”

  He was right. Her mother’s fury at the sight of the two of them in such a state of undress would put an army to shame. There would be no telling what she would do if she caught them like this, but it would be awful. So with that in mind, the two dressed and headed back downstairs as though nothing had happened, hoping to look perfectly innocent by the time Maura’s family returned from their outing.

  As they sat there in the kitchen together, and the euphoria began to fade, the guilt began to creep into Maura’s mind. She was now a betrothed woman, and as much as she had wanted to turn down Malcolm’s proposal, she knew she had no choice in the matter.

  “Can I confess something?” she asked, looking down at her hands, which rested in front of her atop the kitchen table.

  “Something else?” Lachlan smiled. “Of course.”

  “Ye’re the reason I struggled so much with the proposal from Mr. Campbell. When it came to it, I would be faced with accepting his proposal, and my mind would turn to ye. It would turn to that night in the bothy. It would…I would think of ye. Just ye.”

  Lachlan seemed surprised by her admission, but as they looked at each other across the table, Maura saw the corner of his mouth twitch into a small smile. “Aye, I found maself in the same position, unfortunately.”

  “Ye did?”

  “Ah did. When ah saw Ma
lcolm Campbell pursuing ye, it felt almost as though someone was tryin’ to rip ye away from me. I felt this…this urge, right here.”

  He placed his hand over his heart slowly, his fingers curling into the fabric of his tunic. “It was this urge to keep you as mine, the urge to protect ye no matter the cost. Ah didnae want to see ye marry Malcolm. Ah didnae want to see ye marry anyone.”

  Lachlan paused, a little surprised by his own words. He had never made an admission like that before; in fact, he had never had the cause to do so. Over the years, he had met many women, and while some of them had been very beautiful, none had ever captured his heart in the way that Maura had managed to.

  “I wanted to protect ye from him so desperately,” he finished, his voice barely above a whisper.

  They fell into silence at his words, both thinking about the same problem they now faced together. To admit their feelings for each other was only one hurdle that needed to be overcome. Now, they were faced with an entirely different issue.

  Maura still had to marry Malcolm.

  16

  There was no way around that fact. Without the dowry from Malcolm, there was simply no other way her family could continue to afford the taxes on their Inn. Without that money, they’d soon lose the building, their home, and their income.

  “I havenae got a choice,” she said finally, expressing what they both knew to be true. “I must marry him.”

  The mere thought of Maura being wed to such a man made Lachlan’s blood boil. Malcolm Campbell had already taken so much from him. There was no way that Lachlan could allow him to take this, too. With his gaze determined and his jaw set into a strong line, Lachlan shook his head.

  “Ah can’t allow that.”

  “Excuse me?” Maura thought she must have misheard him. After all, he knew how important this matter was to her and her family. There was no way that he would try and prevent her from doing what she had to in order to protect them, surely?

  “Ah cannae allow ye to marry the man that killed ma family, Maura. I cannae let ye fall into his hands.”

  Panic gripped Maura like an icy hand that closed around her heart. Her hesitance to accept the proposal had already put her poor mother through so much agony and had already pushed her weak heart to its limits. Would Lachlan really put her through any more suffering? Was he about to stop Maura from marrying Malcolm and stop her family from getting the money they so desperately needed?

  “Lachlan,” she whispered, leaning across the table, “what do ye mean?”

  “After all he’s done to me, to ma family, ah cannae just let him keep livin’ like this. He takes whatever it is he wants—money, land, women. He takes it all with nae a care for others. Ah already passed on ma chance to take revenge on what he did to ma poor family. Ah cannae pass that chance up again.”

  “What do ye mean?” Maura repeated, standing so quickly that she knocked her chair back. It clattered against the floor with a bang that echoed in the otherwise silent kitchen, but Lachlan did not flinch at the loud noise. It was almost like he had expected this reaction from her.

  “He killed ma family, Maura!”

  “So ye’ll kill mine?! That’s acceptable to ye?”

  “I’m not killing yer family!” Lachlan snapped, angered by the accusation. “Ah’m taking back that retribution for ma own. Ah’m owed that much, after everything that bastard did.”

  “If ye kill him, what’ll become of my family? What’ll become of my mother, of the Inn? Without his dowry, how’re we to pay off our debts?”

  “So what’ll ye have me do, then?” By now, Lachlan was on his feet too, his face red with fury. Maura had touched the raw wound that still bled in his heart, the memory of what his parents had suffered through because of Malcolm Campbell. “Renounce ma revenge, let the man live happily? Allow him to take something else from me? What kind of a man do ye take me for?”

  Angry tears sprang to Maura’s eyes. Lachlan may have seen himself as remaining dedicated to his family when he refused to give up on his pursuit of revenge, but that was not how he viewed it. To her, this dogged persistence to try and seek vengeance was blinding him. His family was already gone, but her family’s only chance lay in the hands of Malcolm. However, his grief and rage had clouded his vision so much that it was impossible for him to see that fact.

  “A coward and a fool,” she whispered. “That’s what I take ye for. Ye’re so sure that killing Malcolm will solve that aching in yer heart, but what’ll become of me and my family when he’s gone? Who’ll pay our debts?”

  A heavy silence fell between the two of them at her words, and Lachlan’s shoulders sagged as he breathed out a heavy sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, he understood why she was so angry with him. He understood why this was so important to her.

  But still, he could not give in.

  “This man…this monster…he’s plagued ma nightmares for as long as ah can think. When ah close my eyes at night, ah see him taunting me. Ah hear him tellin’ me to go back and die with ma family. Ah already spared his life once before. Ah cannae do that again.”

  As he spoke, Lachlan avoided meeting Maura’s gaze. He did not want to see the pain in those beautiful blue eyes. He did not want to see her devotion turn to hatred; he was sure he would not be able to bear it if he did.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, “but ah cannae do that. Not even for ye.”

  Lachlan knew as he spoke that the words would likely ruin whatever was blossoming between the two of them, but that was something he was going to have to accept. The fact was, he simply could not bring himself to allow Malcolm Campbell to live. Every breath the man took was like a slight against the memory of Lachlan’s family, and it was something he could bear no longer.

  Lachlan left without another word, and Maura did not move to stop him. The kitchen door swung shut behind him, and she heard his footsteps retreat as he left the Inn—where he was headed, she had no idea.

  As the realization of what had just happened hit her, Maura sank to her knees. Her legs seemed to give way beneath her, unable to support her weight after what she had just been through. She dropped to the floor in a trembling mess, trying to will herself to keep from crying.

  It had taken all of the strength that she had to agree to marry Malcolm. She and her mother had fought so many times over the issue of her marriage to him, and it had taken so many arguments to wear Maura down enough that she would agree to marry him. And now it seemed as though all of that pain and stress had been for nothing. She may as well have not bothered with it at all, because now it seemed there would be no marriage. There would be no dowry, and her family was doomed to live the rest of their lives, barely scraping together enough money to put a meal on the table.

  All of the strain and pressure of the past few weeks was bubbling up inside her. The arguments, the proposal, her mother’s illness, and now her confusing feelings for Lachlan. They were all boiling together and threatening to erupt. It was more than she could handle, and as it all washed over her at once, Maura could not stop the tears.

  When her mother and siblings came home from their outing, that was how they found her. She was curled up on the kitchen floor in a tight ball, as though she was trying to protect herself from something. She was wailing like a little girl, and even when her mother pulled her into her arms and rocked her, Maura could not calm down.

  She couldn’t even bring herself to explain to her mother what had happened, or just why she was so upset. How could she look her mother in the eye and tell her what Lachlan was about to do? How could she explain that it was all her fault and that her mother’s worst fears for their future were all about to be realized?

  She could not. And even if she had known the words to say, Maura didn’t believe that she would have been able to tell her mother the truth. So instead, she just clung to her the way she had done as a baby, curled up in the comfort and safety of her mother’s arms.

  After all, it seemed as though there was little else she could do.<
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  17

  Maura spent the next few days on edge. Every time the door opened to the Inn, she felt herself tense up involuntarily, fearing that it would be Malcolm appearing to talk to her.

  At one point not so long ago, her dreams had been of Lachlan. When she slept, she heard his softly murmured words of adoration; she felt his touch as he caressed her creamy skin. He was tender, treating her as though she was a precious jewel he had happened upon. But now those dreams were gone.

  When she closed her eyes, Lachlan was still there, but he was not the same man as before. In the place of the man who held her so tenderly, there was a figure of pure fury—a man who charged with his sword drawn at any who dared cross him. Her dreams now were terrifying, warped imaginations, and when she woke from them, she would often find herself trembling.

  If Lachlan had the chance to do so, she knew that he would gladly take his revenge on Malcolm, the man who had wronged him so deeply. And if she was honest, Maura could not fault him for wanting vengeance for his family. He had buried his mother, father, and sister all in one go because of Malcolm. If Maura had been in his position, she reckoned she’d have a bloodlust just as insatiable.

  Even though she could understand his need to right the wrong that had been done to him, Maura could not allow him to follow through with his plan. She could not stand by idly and watch him destroy her family’s only chance at survival.

  And so, whenever the door to the Inn opened, Maura was the first to reach it. She was ready, if the visitor was Malcolm, to rush him back outside for a walk before he was spotted by Lachan. But Malcolm never came through the door and Maura was left looking like a particularly eager hostess, one who was always ready to greet any guest as soon as he stepped foot in the building.