Ten
Maddie quickly ran up the steps to her room but her wet dress slowed her. She tried to control her sobbing, placing a cupped hand to her mouth, until she made it safely within the four walls of her chamber. Once there, she closed the door and leaned against it. Her chest was heaving in panic. Tears slipped down her face as she slid down the door to the floor.
“What have I done?” she whispered in horror.
She could have very well caused irreparable damage! She couldn’t do that to Connor. She couldn’t! She cared too much about him. She couldn’t curse him like she was.
Her chest heaved in and out as she remembered their kiss.
Kiss!
You were only supposed to kiss someone like that when you were married.
Married! Ha!
She laughed out of irony.
Connor never wanted to marry.
Maddie had behaved brazenly and wantonly, but what was more devastating was that she had behaved selfishly. She bit her knuckles in an effort to calm down. If she continued to keep on the path she was on, he would surely join her in the bowels of purgatory.
Maddie quickly tore off her wet dress and threw it on the floor. She placed a dry nightgown on and knelt before the bed.
It would take a thousand prayers to save Connor for what she did to him.
One…
“Lord…please forgive Connor for my actions this night…please save him from purgatory…”
Two…
*****
“Come in. I’ve missed yer company,” she said. The door creaked as it opened wider.
He nodded and entered. She closed the door and leaned back against it, her eyes taking him in.
“I’ve been away for too long. Forgive me, Connor, my mother was ill.”
“I doona care for explanations, Maura,” Connor said and turned. “We are nothing more than friends who seek comfort and carnal delights with each other. We owe each other nothing but a good experience.”
Her lips settled into a straight line. He didn’t know what to make of that.
Connor looked at her up and down. She was nothing like Maddie. She dripped with promiscuity. He had never cared before because he hadn’t known different. Now, having spent time with Maddie, it was like drinking bitter ale after having tasted the sweetest nectar.
Maura was tall and pretty, with blond hair and brown eyes. He once thought her attractive and beautiful, but after having seen the light within Maddie, the moon paled in comparison.
A smile stretched across her face and she prowled seductively forward. She stopped right in front of him, placed her hands around his neck, and kissed him. It was a hot kiss, but the passion Connor once felt for her was lacking. She reached down and touched his cock.
“Ye are verra excited to see me! Let’s see how frustrated ye’ve been without me here.”
Maura started to kiss his neck. He didn’t feel one flame lighting. His passion was deflating, literally. When she reached down again, she pulled away and smiled.
“Well, it seems like I have to work harder tonight,” she said smilingly coyly. She wrapped her hands around his neck and slowly moved towards him for a kiss. He moved his head back and away from her searching lips, and reached behind his neck for her hands. He brought her hands down, and as he did, her smile faded from her face.
“What are ye doing?”
He shook his head.
“I doona want to do this. I thought I did.”
Maura reached down and grabbed him. He was no longer hard and throbbing. She fondled him in the hopes of exciting him.
“Stop, Maura. I’m leaving. I’m sorry. I shouldna have come.”
“But I can make ye feel good, Connor.”
Connor had made his way to the door and stopped when she said that. He turned around. He looked straight into her brown eyes.
“Maura, this ends now. I will nay be visiting ye any longer.” She gasped and he nodded his head. “Aye. Find a good man to marry and settle down. Have bairns and a good life, Maura.”
“Ye canna be serious, Connor! Why? What has happened? Things couldna have changed over night in the time I was gone. Did ye find someone new?”
His stance told her she had guessed right.
“That’s it, isna it! Who is she? Lina, Teiken’s daughter? Hailey, Thomas’ daughter? Who?” she asked frantically. She ran over to him and grabbed his shirt. “Just because ye’ll be with one of them doesna mean it has to end between us!”
He shook his head.
“Enough. It is over, Maura.”
“But Connor, we’ve had many good times. Only I can make ye feel alive! Ye told me so.” She wrapped her arms around his neck again.
“Nay, Maura, now stop.”
She smiled seductively and stood on her tiptoes. When she moved to kiss him, he grabbed her hands from around his neck again, and stepped away.
“Nay, enough, I said! It is done!” Connor snapped.
Her eyes hardened as she grew angry. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her legs were braced apart. Without a look back at her, he left.
Connor strode back to the castle, anger and frustration grating on him. It beat through his body like the steady cadence of a drum. Damn it all! He ran up the steps and began heading towards his room. Despite his better judgment, he switched directions and headed towards Maddie’s chamber. When Connor reached her room, he stood before it for several minutes trying to picture her sleeping.
What the bloody hell am I doing?
Connor shook his head and started to walk back to his chamber when he heard her muffled voice. He inched closer to the door. Maddie was awake, but what was she doing?
“Please…forgive him for my sins…save him from purgatory and my evil presence…Save him…”
Him who? Me?
She was praying for him. But why? Evil presence? Sins?
He had to put a stop to this.
Saved? What did she mean?
He raised his hand to open the door but suspended it a few inches away. His open palm curled into a fist, and he raised his hand to knock. Again, he hovered his hand in the air. His fist briefly shook before he brought it down to his side. He unfurled his fingers, fisted them again, and then inhaled a strong lungful of air. After overcoming a strong urge to barge into the room and take her into his arms, he turned and walked to his chamber. He closed the door and stood there for a moment.
Connor looked over to his table in the anteroom. On its surface was the letter she wrote to her father. He hadn’t taken it. Why bother? It wouldn’t have served a purpose. He had gone to Wynton under the pretense of a ransom, not to deliver a note.
Connor yawned. It had been a tough night. He looked at his bed longingly, wishing she was here with him. Although the rain was cold, it wasn’t cold enough to extinguish the fire Maddie had lit.