“Look at me!”His voice was fierce and demanding.
Her eyes opened, and he could see that they were filled with her passion for him, and her love. “Tame me, my wild Highland husband!” she challenged him.
Slowly he began to move on her, and then his tempo increased as he thrust faster and deeper, deeper and faster, into her burning sheath. He could feel her fingernails raking down his straining back, digging into his shoulders as he fanned the fires of her wild desires. Finally he could bear no more. “Ah, lass!” he cried aloud, “ ’tis ye who’ve conquered me!” But Velvet didn’t hear his confession, for he had taken her to the heights of their love, and then she plummeted down into a whirlpool of passion, sated.
In the village the following morning the goodwives gathered outside the kirk after morning prayer and gossiped with glee at the stories already coming down from the castle of how the earl had taken his wife to bed last night before they had even eaten dinner, that Morag Geddes’s good meal had gone uneaten altogether!
“There’ll be an heir for BrocCairn within the year,” said Jean Lawrie, chuckling, “and that’s certain!”
“Aye,” the other women agreed, pleased.
“But how will the English witch take this news?” asked a young girl.
“Humph! She’s nae a witch even if some silly gooses believe it. If she’s a witch, then why did Lord Alex desert her for his bride? She has no power, girl,” Jean Lawrie scolded.
“When she’s willing to admit the truth, Alanna Wythe will return to England.”
“I hope the earl will nae let her take her bairn. Poor wee girlie. She doesna hae an easy time wi’ a mother who’s nae really a mother to her at all,” said another older woman.
Alanna Wythe heard it all, hidden in the shadows of the church she would not enter. Her anger was a black and bitter one. How she hated Velvet! If that woman had only stayed where she was, Alanna told herself, Alex would have eventually married her, and she, Alanna Wythe, would have been the countess of BrocCairn, not that red-haired bitch! They will pay for my pain, both of them, Alanna vowed. She didn’t know how she was going to punish them, but she would indeed see that they suffered. She slipped silently away from the hurtful words of the women of Broc Ailien and hurried back to her own cottage where her daughter had awakened to find herself alone and was now wailing fearfully. Irritably Alanna slapped the baby.
“Be quiet, Sibby!” she snapped, but the child only howled louder. Annoyed, Alanna pulled her blouse down and pushed a nipple into her daughter’s mouth. That at least would quiet the brat for the time being. She had been trying to wean Sibby for several weeks now. Her breasts were going to be ruined if she continued to allow the brat to keep tugging and sucking on them every day. God, how she hated children! She had only had Sibby in order to bind Alex to her. Even there she had been disappointed, for the baby turned out to be a girl and not the hoped-for son. No matter, she thought. He did have a certain weakness for the child, and that had certainly bettered her position with him even though his wife had returned.
She heard the back door to her cottage open and close, and she looked up, curious. A man stood in the shadows a moment, watching her nurse the child. Sibby had fallen back asleep against her mother’s breast, and carefully Alanna returned her to her cot before she whirled and hissed at the intruder, “Are you mad to come here in daylight? What if one of those village biddies saw you?”
“Well, they didn’t,” he said. “I was careful, Alanna. Very careful. Besides, I needed to get out of the house this morning. I needed to see ye.”
“What has happened?” She was instantly wary. This big fool of a man could ruin everything with his lack of caution.
“Bella started at me, demanding an accounting of the monies I received when I sold the cattle Alex gave us. I could hardly let her know I spent some of that gold now, could I, Alanna?” “What did you tell her, Ian?”
“Nothing,” he said with a smirk. “Instead I took my good and wise brother-in-law’s advice on how to handle my wife.”
“What did you do?” She was very worried now.
“I took a stick and beat her bottom until she begged me for mercy, reminding her all the while that ’twas I who was master ofGrantholm.God’s cock, how she howled and struggled! If I’d known that beating Bella was so pleasant I’d hae done it years ago.”
“You fool!” Alanna spat at him. “If she tells her brother, then Alex will ask those same questions. Couldn’t you have just lied to her?”
“She’ll nae go to Alex,” Ian said with certainty. “It excited me so to beat her that when I finished I couldn’t help fucking her. She’ll nae sit or walk for several days, Alanna, and by that time she’ll hae decided to say nothing. She won’t want her brother and his wife to know what happened. Annabella is a proud little bitch.”
He licked his lips, and his eyes glazed with the memory of his recent victory. Alanna could see that he was still quite hot with lust, for his cock thrust itself out against his red and green kilt. She marveled to herself that she had somehow managed to find the biggest cock she’d ever seen, in this damned Highland backwater, in this barbaric so-called country. It was Ian Grant’s only redeeming feature, for he hadn’t a brain in his head. She suspected it was his monster cock that had won him the hand of the fair Annabella Gordon. She somehow didn’t think Alex’s sister still relished her bargain.
“Alanna,” he murmured hungrily to her, and came forward to turn her around and bend her over the cottage table. Tossing her skirts over her head, he thrust into her without any preliminaries. She grunted softly at his entry, but accepted his bigness as his hands fumbled to find her breasts, large breasts for such a tiny girl. He thrust with practiced regularity into her, and Alanna let the pleasure wash over her. When he had finished, her earlier irritation had been dispelled. Ian Grant knew enough about his one talent to know that the woman must also be satisfied if he was to be totally fulfilled.
Alanna straightened herself up and smoothed her skirts. Ian grinned down at her. “You’re a good fuck,” he said.
“Don’t be seen leaving here,” she said coldly.
“I’ll be back tonight,” he said smugly. “Jesu, I canna ever remember being so hot for a woman even after I’ve just had two.” Then with a chuckle he was quickly gone the way he came.
“Fool!” she muttered after him, but she knew she’d welcome him back that night.
The young Countess of BrocCairn was quickly and easily accepted by her husband’s people. Her beauty drew them first, but they soon discovered her to be an intelligent, kindly, and caring woman for all that she had been born English. They protected her from Alanna Wythe, and life for the silversmith’s daughter became even harder than it had been before Velvet’s arrival. Little Sybilla, however, was not included in the ostracism of her mother, for the people of Broc Ailien considered that as Alex’s child she was one of them.
Velvet spent the autumn restoring the gardensof Dun Brocand learning everything she possibly could about Alex’s lands, people, and the way of life in the Highlands. In this Pansy was a great help to her, for as Dugald’s wife and Morag Geddes’s new daughter-in-law, she was accepted everywhere. The naturally cautious inhabitants of Broc Ailien couldn’t help taking to Pansy with her deliciously funny accent, down-to-earth ways, and fine sense of humor. Velvet learned a good deal of local color and gossip, which aided her in being a good lady of the manor.
The autumn faded into winter, and there was no sign of a child. On New Year’s Eve, Velvet and Alex stood with Bella and Ian upon the walls ofDun Brocand watched fires spring up over the hillsides as far as the eye could see as the church bell tolled in the new year of our Lord 1592. Alex had given her a magnificent rope of pink pearls from which hung three teardrop-shaped diamonds as a New Year’s gift. As Velvet shared the news of her bounty with her sister-in-law, she thought that Bella looked pale, and she noticed a particularly ugly bruise on her breast when Bella bent over to halfheartedly admire the jewels.
