“Of course. I need to get a dry shift from my trunk, and a clean dress. This one needs washing.” She frowned at him. “Why are you so on edge?”
With that she turned and headed back down the path to the cottage, in front of him, with a tantalizing outline of her behind showing with every step she took. He wanted to roar in agony.
Thankfully, Willa put on dry clothes. And if she was trying to break his resolve and his sanity, she was doing a good job of it. Only the tantalizing smell of baking sweet buns saved his thoughts from complete debauchery. His stomach rescued him. She pulled the pan from the oven and set it on the table before him.
“Wait till they cool a bit.”
He waited a minute at most before grabbing one, not caring that it was still too hot. He bit into it and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. Och, but the lass could cook! Finishing off the first, he reached for another.
Willa laughed at him, and he almost smiled back at her.
“Looks like your appetite is finally returning full force, Warrior.”
He polished off two more before she had finished even one. Then she stood to start cleaning up, and Drust helped her clear the dishes. Though she wasn’t hungry for supper, Willa left Drust eating some apples and cheese while she went to feed her horse.
The pretty mare was wandering in the paddock behind the stable, her silhouette a dark shape in the twilight, the gentle breeze blowing her mane and tail to the side. When she saw Willa, her ears pricked up and she trotted over for the hay and oats she had brought, nickering softly. She stayed with the horse for a while, scratching her between the ears while she crunched her dinner. Darkness was falling, and Willa looked up at the night sky as one by one the stars began to appear. The sky was completely cloudless tonight, a rare enough thing in Scotland, and there was no moon. She wondered if she had ever seen so many stars at one time. Looking up at them in awe, she wandered over to a grassy spot and lay down on her back with her hands behind her head, breathing in the sweet night air.
She didn’t know how long she lay like that, lost in her thoughts, when a shadow fell across her face she gasped in surprise, lifting herself up onto her elbows. But she would know that figure anywhere.
“Drust! God, you scared me.”
“What are ye doing out here? I didna ken where ye…”
She smiled. “Come here, sit down!”
Her voice was so mesmerizing to him that he did so, without even thinking about it. He settled himself next to her on the soft ground, and immediately felt her hand on his shoulder.
“Now lie back.”
She pulled him gently down to lie beside her.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
Aye, it was. The night was so dark and the stars so bright, not even the usual fog or mist to obscure the view. It had been a long time since he’d laid down just to look at the stars, years in fact. It was something he used to do often, when he was younger. Then, the vastness of the night sky made him feel as if he could do anything at all. As if time would stand still for him while he conquered the world. Now looking at the heavens made him feel… alone. He stared up at the sky, trying not to think about how close Willa was, or how isolated they were from anyone else. She could take away some of the loneliness. All he needed to do was roll over, and he’d be on top of her. His cock filled and throbbed. He fought to keep his breathing even. Wait, had she just moved a little closer? He should really get up and go back inside, but he couldn’t seem to muster the will. Despite the unsated lust burning like fire in his body, he felt strangely at peace lying here with her. More so than he had in a very long time.
“On nights like this”, Willa said softly, “it almost feels like anything in the world is possible. As if time stands still for just a little while and we’re outside of it, looking in.”
It was an echo of his own thoughts.
She turned her head towards him, though in the dim starlight, he more felt than saw her movement. “I wish you could tell me more… I mean, I wish we could know each other better.”
“That’s no’ going to happen, lass, so ye’d best forget about it. I’ve told ye, as soon as I can, I’ll be leaving. We’ll likely never see each other again.”
His words were bold, but Drust felt his chest constrict and his throat tighten, the peace he had felt shattered into a thousand broken pieces. Why did the thought of never seeing her again bother him so? It shouldn’t, but it did. In fact it tore at his very heart…
Willa sighed softly. “If that’s what you want, I certainly can’t force you to talk.”
No… no, I don’t think that’s what I want at all. Oh, hell…
Drust knew what hisbodywanted, anyway. His blood was racing through his veins, his skin tingling with the need to be touched. She was so close…
“But I can talk toyou”, she said. Not that she would say anything that could compromise her family, but there were other things… “When I was a child, I hated the city so much. A few times a year we would go to the country to visit a friend, and I wished I could stay there forever, with all the trees and flowers and wide open spaces. I never want to live in a city again.”
When Drust remained silent, she went on. “I like to draw. I would sit outside and sketch everything around me, never stopping until I had it just right. And… I’ve always felt that my life must have a purpose, as if there is something I was born to do, or a place that I’m supposed to be.”
She turned her face to his. “Have you ever felt that way?”
Drust raised his hand, cupping her face in his palm. His thumb slipped down to trace the fullness of her lower lip, and the heat leaping between them grew even more insistent. He had never known attraction could be this strong, or that he would come so close to giving in to his most primal instincts. Mate. Take. Claim. Relieve the brutal ache… God, but he wanted to! And if he stayed here another moment, he just might. Dropping his hand, he sat up.
