Sean urged the animal into a gallop and the darkness. The mayhem and massacre left far behind.
Thomasina woke up slowly, the sandy ground beneath her prickling at her skin, working into her trews and bindings. She itched all over.
“Argh.” She moaned in irritation before she opened her eyes.
Above her was the high, jagged ceiling that looked very much like the one in the cave her brother had left the ewes in.
Baaaa.
Thomasina jumped to her feet and looked around. The deer skin brat fell away from her to drop onto the floor. The same cave. The very one she had waited for her brother in. She glanced around. Where was Sean? Had he left her here and gone off to his life in Eire? A heaviness overwhelmed her. She dropped to the ground, rolling into a ball and covering herself again. Just as well. She had run out of options. Her only choice was to return to her father and be married off according to his wishes.
With her hands tucked under her head like a pillow, she closed her eyes to dream. Her father couldn’t touch those. He could order her where to go, what to do, who to marry, but not what to dream.
It was a beautiful loch nestled against a towering hill with heather and thistle. The place of her childhood when her mother still lived. The scent of lavender and honeysuckle filling the air and wild berries growing all around. She and Daisy could walk along the stream, stripping down to nothing if she wanted to take a swim. Nobody would care. She would be alone.
A tightening in her belly. Maybe not alone. She didn’t want to be alone. Maybe Sean would be there. With his broad chest and chiseled stomach. Hard as a rock. His arms safely around her. Anyone that came to insult her or hurt her would have to face him. He wouldn’t back down. He would stand up to anyone who would harm her.
They would work together to care for the livestock, work the land, and raise their many wee ones. And at night… he would hold her close. She could hear his heart beating. And she could touch him. She could run her fingers from neck to waist. No. She would stroke him from the firm tanned column of his neck, down his broad chest, over his rippled belly, dipping down to grasp his fine, hard prick. That fluttering was there again. Low, down between her legs.
“What are ye about?”
Thomasina lurched to sitting up, her mouth hanging open, feeling as if she’d been caught eating the last hunk of bread.
“What? Oh. Nothing.”
Sean crossed in front of her, his steps heavy as if he were tired. “Ye were making noise.”
Her face heated. She hadn’t realized. “I thought I was alone.”
He glanced toward her, a deep frown creasing his handsome face. Placing two large fish on the rock, he came to stand in front of her. He crossed his arms in such a way that she knew he was angry. She waited.
“Alone?” he finally asked.
Her breath caught. He was a fine-looking man. Awareness heightened her senses. It was as if having been in his arms, his body now called out to her, drawing her to him. She was safe in his arms. She would miss him when he left. She followed the dark line of hair down his belly that disappeared into his trews. She licked her parched lips.
“Are ye without a leine now?”
He didn’t budge. No acknowledgement that he’d heard her say anything. “Alone? Ye thought I had abandoned ye here?”
She shrugged. It didn’t matter what she thought. It didn’t matter what she felt. It didn’t matter what she said. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Through the night and now most of the day.”
“How did ye find this place?”
“The loud sound of bleating sheep helped me locate the spot.” He tipped his head toward the pen. “There’s only five. How many did ye say there were?”
She glanced toward the animals. They’d grown. Dirty, little bodies with dark faces. Snared and stuck with no way out. Sadness swamped her only to be replaced by nothingness. “I dunna remember.”
Sean turned away in a display of his impatience. “Back to that are we?”
“And what wouldthatbe?”
“Prevarication.”
Exasperation tightened her gut. Maybe not quite nothingness. She stood, her feet in a wide stance. “I said I dunna remember. Quite a lot has happened since then.”
Images of squirting blood, skin sliced open, limbs being separated from their bodies all flashed through her mind. And the sounds. Men crying out in agony. She dropped again to the floor feeling too weak to stand.
