Chapter Eight
The next day of travel was uneventful, and they arrived in Crichton to find the keep locked tight. Magnus surveyed the surrounding area before nudging his horse forward. He led the trio to the portcullis where a guard yelled down to him. As Magnus went back and forth with the guard and then Lord Hay, Ceit noticed movement coming from the left. She looked over and saw a billowing skirt and two legs hanging over a window ledge on the second floor. Just as she was about to signal Tavish, Magnus reached behind his back and gestured to the left. Ceit stared at Tavish when he swore under his breath when he, too, noticed a woman who must only be Deidre Fraser.
Magnus’s exchange with Lord Hay finally gained them entrance. Ceit edged her horse as far to the left side of the bailey as she dared. She placed Whisky in the shadows and cast Tavish a glance. He was watching her and nodded when he saw her move to what he assumed was a hiding place. Instead, once Ceit was sure that Lord Hay would not notice her movement, she dismounted. She ran through the shadows to just below the window. She did not want to startle Deirdre, so she remained quiet and watched as the woman descended, hand over hand, using tied together bedsheets. As Deirdre alighted, Ceit spoke.
“Deirdre, wait here. Ye canna go to Magnus yet. Ye canna distract him.”
Deirdre spun around and covered her mouth with her hand to trap her startled squeal.
“Ceit? What’re ye doing here?”
“Long story, but ye need to stay hidden. I dinna trust Hay nae to attack ye to distract Magnus. Ye mustnae reveal yerself. Stay hidden. Do ye have a knife?”
“Aye. They didna search me well, thank heavens.”
Ceit was about to edge back around the corner to see what was happening. She listened the clash of metal on metal and recognized Magnus and Hay were fighting. She just was unsure whether it involved Tavish. Her heart leapt into her throat when she imagined Tavish fighting, or rather Tavish being injured. Ceit had an unreasonable desire to cry when she contemplated that. She blinked several times and tried to take a deep breath, but the weight pressing onto her chest was overpowering. She bent over to catch her breath and forced herself to breathe.
Calm yerself. Ye arenae any good to anyone if ye’re a sniveling mess. Tavish is a warrior. This wouldnae be his first fight and willna be his last. He would fight whether ye were here to whittle or nae.
Ceit slid her body back toward Deirdre’s window. She looked around to see if anyone else might be lurking. She saw a young boy of ten or eleven summers. He was one of the stable boys. She reached into her pocket and pulled a small cloth covered object she unwrapped. She reached forward to offer the boy the candy she kept with her. Few people were aware she had a sweet tooth and craved her favorite candy, almost always carrying some with her. The boy peeked at the honeycomb and then looked up at her with eyes wide. She nodded her head and used her other hand to press a finger against her lips. He reached a tentative hand out and nodded his head but stared at the candy.
Once the boy had the candy in his mouth, Ceit continued along. The rumble of voices carried towards her, and she guessed they must have been coming from the kitchens. They were men and agitated ones.
“We canna let Lord Hay lose. We willna have aught to eat and willna get paid for keeping the lass in her chamber. She is a hellion. He’d be better off sticking with that bitch Lady Mary. At least she doesnae kick and bite.”
“She also wasna kidnapped by her own parents. Bluidy hell! Look! In the shadows across the way, isnae that the lass?”
Ceit listened to the men’s conversation and drew the dirks from her pockets. She held her sgian dubh in her left hand and her full-length blade in the other. She had sharpened both that morning after the knives’ encounter with the wolf. She pressed her back against the wall until she made out the running footsteps of the two men. She thanked the heavens that the space where the keep formed a U was so narrow that the men had to go single file. They were not looking in the shadow but rather racing towards the fight, so neither noticed the woman lurking there. Ceit waited for both men to pass before she leapt forward. She used her above average height to give her the advantage of wrapping one arm around the guard’s neck as she raised her other arm and stabbed the sgian dubh into his neck. Blood shot from the wound and spattered across her face and the walls. At the sound of the death gurgle, the guard in front turned and looked over his shoulder. It left the opening Ceit needed to plunge her dirk into the hollow at the base of his neck. She wiped both knives on the dead guard’s doublet. She returned the knives to their home in her skirt pockets and used the bottom of her skirts to wipe her face, neck, and hands clean. Deirdre was watching and Ceit had a moment of panic, but Deirdre’s attention shifted back to Magnus and where Lord Hay lay sprawled on the ground. An ear-piercing screech came from the other side of the wall, and Deirdre surged forward with her own dirk pointing forward. Ceit watched as Deirdre collided with Lady Mary Kerr and thrust her dirk into the woman’s belly. In the confusion that followed the end of the fight and Magnus running to Deirdre, Ceit rushed back to stand next to Whisky. She hoped that Tavish’s attention remained fixed on Magnus and that he would not have noticed her absence.
The shade of red that Tavish’s face took on was almost the same shade as the Comyn’s hunting plaid. As she approached, she noticed the vein throbbing in both his temple and his neck. She also observed sweat beading on his forehead. His sword was drawn, and it wobbled as his body vibrated anger. He stalked over to her and stopped close enough for their toes to rub. Ceit opened her mouth to explain.
“Dinna. Dinna even try.”
Tavish yanked her against his body and buried his nose in her hair. He breathed in the spicy scent, catching rosemary the most. He ran his free hand over her arm and back before cupping her jaw. He brought his mouth down for what Ceit expected would be a tender kiss, however, it was anything but. It was hard and punishing. It was demanding and unrelenting. She gripped his leine partially to keep her balance but largely to pull him closer. She walked them back into the shadows until her back hit the wall. Tavish sheathed his sword by touch and then used both hands to cup her breasts. Ceit tore at his leine and pulled it loose from his plaid and belt. She slid her hands under his leine and ran her fingertips along the ripples of his abdomen, moaning at the pure strength contained throughout his body. She scored her nails down his back as a draft swirled around her ankles. His hand glided up her calf to her thigh before he lifted it to rest on his hip. His fingers were on a merciless quest to find her core. He teased the outer lips of her sheath and sensed her dew on his fingers. He pulled back to look at her.
“Do ye ken what I want to do? Do ye understand that I want to make ye come apart in ma arms?”
Ceit searched his eyes and saw desire but a hardness she did not expect.
“Are ye doing this to punish me?”
“What? Nay. I’m doing it because I thank God ye are in one piece. I looked for ye and couldnae find ye. I’m doing this because I want ye all around me after fearing I lost ye. Again.”
His answer surprised Ceit but a warmth unrelated to her arousal surged through her.
“I dinna ken what ye will do, but I ken why ye want to do it. Is there aught I can do for ye?”
Tavish almost released her when her naïve question brought the reality of her innocence crashing down. He did not want her first experience at love play to be against the wall of a strange keep.
“Why do ye look like ye dinna want to do this anymore? Did I say the wrong thing?
“Nay. I dinna want to take advantage of ye. And if ye did aught for me it would be over before ye kenned what happened. Ye have me hard as a poleax.”
Tavish’s words built a fever inside her and an itch only he could scratch.
“Tav, dinna stop. I want this with ye. Only ye.” They had been whispering, but she finished so softly, he almost did not catch the end.
He scanned her eyes again and relaxed for the first time since he realized she snuck off. His fingers ran along her seam, and he dipped one finger into her entrance. She moaned as she rested her head against his shoulder. When she did not reject the intrusion, he slid two fingers in to his knuckles. Her hips bucked forward as her hands gripped his ribs. Tavish’s thumb found her hidden button that appeared as her arousal increased. He ran the pad of his thumb over it, and she sucked in a breath. He added pressure as he hooked his fingers forward to rub the spot within her he was sure she never realized existed.
Ceit was shocked how her hips moved of their own volition. They rocked against Tavish’s hand as her mound sought the hardness pressing against it. She had not even noticed when Tavish must have spun his sporran out of the way. She understood what was there. She grew up in the Highlands in a large keep where couples often mated at night within the Great Hall. She learned the noises coming from them, and her mother explained the mechanics of the act. She already understood it was meant to be pleasant for both parties, only she had not anticipated how much she would enjoy it. She rubbed hard against Tavish wishing to climb onto, into, him. She experienced a hollowness, an ache, that his fingers helped sooth, but it was not enough. She craved something she did not comprehend but imagined only his cock would satisfy.
“Tavish, more,” she breathed near his ear.
Tavish groaned as he slid a third finger into Ceit and circled her bud harder. He worried that he would hurt her if he was too rough her first time. He did not want his fingers to breach her maidenhead either. But Ceit’s insistence had him pressing his own hips forward as his fingers pistoned within her. His release built at the base of his spine. He refused to climax before her, and he counted having his thick plaid as a blessing to disguise the outcome of their tryst.
An unexpected tightening low in her belly sent a wave of sensation growing from the sensitive skin Tavish continued to rub with his thumb. His fingers satisfied her as her body tensed. The intense wave of pleasure crashed over her, and her mouth searched his. She wanted every part she reached to connect to him.
Tavish did not need further invitation. The hand he did not realize was still clutching her breast slid up to tangle in her hair. He cradled her head as their tongues battled one another, Ceit winning as she sucked on his. The sensation shot straight to Tavish’s cock causing him to erupt in a release more intense that any he had with another woman or with his own hand. He freed his hand from her hair and braced himself against the wall. Once his other hand was free of Ceit’s skirts, he turned them, so his back rested against the wall since he worried he would not support himself much longer and did not want to crush the treasure that hung limp against him. He held Ceit against him as they both continued to shake from the exertion and intensity of emotions. Neither was ready to admit to them, but both accepted they would have to explore them on their own.
“I didna ken that’s what happened when people coupled. I understand now the noises I’ve overheard.” Ceit looked up at Tavish who kissed her nose. “I hope I wasna that loud. I dinna want anyone coming to check on us.”
“Nay, ye were vera quiet. Ceit, I—” Tavish was not sure what he wanted to say. His emotions were so heightened that he wanted to declare himself, but he discerned it was not the right moment, and he was not even certain if they were genuine or just the aftershocks of euphoria. He looked at her and tried again, “Ceit, I didna ken it could be like that either. It’s never been like that before.”
“Did something different happen? I didna realize aught might happen differently for men. I assumed it is what it is.”
Tavish was unable to keep from chuckling at her practicality.
“It’s different because it was with ye. I—I care for ye.” Tavish held his breath to see how she would react before he was willing to put himself out further. When her chest pressed against his, he was ready to continue. “I care for ye in a way I have never cared for another woman. This had emotion. This was not just a passing entertainment or just about physical enjoyment. I want ye to ken that. I want ye to ken I wanted this, I did this, because of what ma heart tells me.”
Ceit was silent for so long that Tavish became afraid that he had scared her off. Just when he was about to set her back and slide from the wall, her hands crept up to cup his face, and she pulled him for a tender kiss.
“I wouldnae have let ye do that. I wouldnae have let maself do that if I didna care for ye too. I wanted this as much as ye. Dinna doubt that, Tavish Sinclair. I want ye, too.” She pressed another swift kiss before backing away.
She reached out her hand, and Tavish took it as they went in search of Magnus and Deidre. When they entered the bailey, they realized that their tryst had not taken as long as they assumed. Deidre was in Magnus’s arms, and he was checking her over and over, not convinced that she was as well as she looked. Convinced that his bride was in one piece, the group turned towards the horses.