The Laird's Future Bride Read online

  Magan spent the day showing her every little in and out of the castle. Magan started with the eating hall, then the rooms off the eating area, including a library so big, Holly thought she was in heaven. She couldn’t wait to see what they had. In the library, Magan showed her a secret passage to use if in danger. The next room was like a family room, with chairs and a rug on the floor, and tapestries covering the walls. Fancy knick-knacks sat on the elaborately carved tables and hung on the walls. Magan showed her a secret door in that room also, telling Holly that almost every room had a way to escape to safety if under attack. The next room was the solar where a bunch of women sat chatting and doing needlework, sewing, and tapestries. Magan told her that she and Holly would spend a lot of their time in this room. The last room on the bottom of the castle was Duncan’s study, the room they were in the day she arrived.

  Holly followed Magan up the stairs. The first four rooms were small like the ones she’d been put in last night. Magan skipped some rooms and went to the rooms Holly now shared with Duncan. Holly was surprised to learn that an escape door was hidden behind the bed. They left her rooms and walked across the hall.

  “This is me and me husband, Robert’s, chambers. He’s at court in Edinburgh right now. I used to go with him, but court just is nay for me. Most of the women there are conniving, and it gets exhausting, always watching yer back.”

  Holly knew nothing of kings, queens, and courts, only what she’d learned in history class. Holly was more worried over the fact Duncan’s parents had the room across from them. She prayed the walls were thick and sound proof.

  “Ye can stop yer blushing. I dinna hear anything. Come. I’ll show ye me chambers.” Holly didn’t want Duncan’s mother hearing her last night, or ever. “Ye’ll meet Robert in a couple of weeks. It takes a good six days to ride to Edinburgh castle. I miss him when he’s gone.”

  “I bet you do. It must be hard with him away, especially with your children all grown up.”

  Holly walked into Magan’s chamber and looked around at the elaborate furnishings. Big beautiful tapestries hung from the walls, and desks, tables, and carved velvet-cushioned chairs adorned the sitting room. The rug looked expensive, and she couldn’t imagine how much time had gone into making it. Holly stared in wonder at the furniture.

  “Wow. This is amazing.” Holly ran her hands over a table with a forest carved into its sides. Duncan’s rooms had been nice, but Magan’s room was like what Holly imagined Rapunzel’s or a princess’s room would look like.

  “Thank ye. It’s taken me some time to get my chambers the way I wanted them.”

  Holly glanced at Magan as she opened the bedroom door, and Holly fell in love. A huge four-poster bed carved with a gorgeous design, topped with a gold bedspread with silver lacing and embroidery. They didn’t make things like this anymore in her time. At least, not that she could ever dream of affording.

  “Would ye like to have a cover made like this? I made this one meself.” Magan touched the bedspread.

  “This looks like it took a long time. I don’t even know how to sew, let alone embroider like that.”

  “Ye mother dinna teach ye to sew to fix ye clothes?”

  Holly shook her head. “No, in my time we just went out and bought more clothes.”

  “I’ll teach ye, then. I always did want a daughter.”

  Holly smiled at Magan. “I’d like that, thanks.”

  “Come now, lass. We have six more rooms to view. If we dinna hurry, we’ll miss the evening meal. I’ll have to show ye outside on the morrow.”

  Holly nodded. She hadn’t realized how late it was. She’d been occupied since she awoke, meeting people and being shown the castle. The afternoon had slipped away quickly, and with no electricity, not much got done after dark.

  The last six rooms didn’t take long. One was Callam’s room, and another two were for when special guests stayed. Holly had only enough time to have a quick look at the last room, and learn where the safe doors were before they had to get to evening meal.

  When they walked into the dining hall, it was full of people. Duncan sat at the head table, Callam beside him talking. Holly hadn’t seen Duncan all day. She knew he was a laird and very busy, but it felt weird to be married to a man she not only barely knew, but after being married less than twenty-four hours, hadn’t seen him all day until now.

  As she walked to the head table, she studied her husband. He was a commanding figure, with his back straight against the chair, his hair in two braids, his thick muscular arms crossed over his chest, and his strong build. She doubted many defied him, if any.

  Callam saw Magan and Holly coming, and moved down a seat. Duncan looked up, and a small smile came to his face. Duncan stood and pulled out the chairs on either side of him. Magan sat, and Duncan moved the chair in. Holly walked around and sat in the chair between him and Callam. Duncan pushed the chair in and surprised her by holding her hand and bringing it to his lips where he brushed a kiss to her knuckles.

  “Did me mother show ye around?”

  Holly loved how the deep sound of Duncan’s voice sent delicious shivers through her. “Yes, she did. Magan showed me around the castle and introduced me to everyone. I have no idea how I’m going to remember all the names.”

  A serving girl placed a plate of food in front of her. Holly thought her name was Amy or Alice, or something beginning with an A. “Thank you,” Holly said to the girl, who gave a nod and walked away.

  “Ye'll eventually remember them the more ye see them. So, what do ye think of the castle?”

  “The inside is amazing. It’s more welcoming than I thought it would be. Not dark and dreary, or cold and unhomely. I have a feeling your mother helps keeps it feeling the way it does.”

  “What was yer home like?”

  “It was nowhere near as big as this. My parents lived near the water. Our town…village is called Caves Beach. The house I grew up in was a neat four-bedroom home. My mother and I are avid gardeners. I remember, since I learned to walk, I helped her with the veggie patch and the flowers. We had a balcony around the top of our house, and we sat out in the summer mornings and ate our breakfast. We had an awesome view of the sea. I love the sound of waves crashing. They are so soothing. I love the beach, the sand between your toes, and the water falling over your feet. One thing with being here, I will miss being able to go for a swim. I love to swim.” Holly looked at her food, and after thinking of home, she didn’t feel very hungry at all.

  Duncan gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “There is the loch nay far from here. It is private. I can take ye if ye like on the morrow?”

  “I would love that, if you’re not too busy.”

  “I will always make time for ye, Holly.” Her name on his lips made her forget her homesickness as images of last night flashed before her.

  Feeling the heat creep up her cheeks, she put her head down, slipped her hand out of his, and moved her food around her plate. Knowing she had to eat something, she ate some bread and other vegetables, but couldn’t bring herself to eat the meat. Holly wasn’t a big meat-eater.

  Duncan spent the rest of the meal time talking to a man she’d seen about, who had strawberry blond hair and a build similar to his own. Holly glanced at Magan to see her talking to a woman about the same age as her with dark brown hair and green eyes. Holly couldn’t remember if she’d been introduced.

  “That’s Blair, me mother’s best friend. When they are together, Duncan and I stay well away. They’re always getting into mischief.”

  Holly turned to Callam and smiled. “My mum had a friend like that, and Jane, she was, is, my friend who I get into mischief with. I’m going to miss her so much.” Holly felt a tear slide down her cheek.

  “Dinna cry, lass.” Callam wiped his hands on his shirt, then used his thumbs to wipe her tears away. “I’m sure ye will find a lass ye get along with and can cause mischief with.”

  Holly giggled. “You want me to find someone I can get into fixes with and gos
sip with?”

  Callam shrugged. “Is that nay what all women do when they get together?”

  “Ooh, you are cheeky. I’ll have you know, we do more than that when we get together. We plot.” Holly grinned. “Usually we try to see what best way we can to make men’s lives harder.”

  Callam burst out with a big belly laugh. “Is that right? I kenned there was a reason I only seek women out for one thing.”

  Holly shook her head and chuckled. “Ha, we women know what we want. What makes you think you’re the one doing the seeking? Remember, when we find what we seek, we always use it to help our cause.”

  Holly giggled again as Callam stopped laughing and stared at her in mock terror. “Here I was thinking what an exception to me rules ye are. Ye, Lady Holly, have just proved me wrong. I need to run and hide from women, especially when they are together in a group.”

  Holly laughed. She liked Callam. She’d always wanted a brother, and he seemed so different from Duncan. She felt Duncan’s hands on her shoulder and heard him growl.

  “The meal is finished. I was just saying our goodnights to everyone.” Duncan walked around and stood in front of Callam. “Come. Let us retire.”

  Standing, she put her hand into Duncan’s. “Goodnight, Callam.”

  “Goodnight, Lady Holly.”

  Duncan grunted and pulled her toward the stairs. Holly went willingly, unsure of what had happened. Had she done or said something wrong? She went through the conversation and couldn’t find anything to account for the way Duncan was acting. He trudged up the stairs and opened the door to their room.

  “Did I say something I shouldn’t have? I’m sorry if I did. You were busy talking to your men, so I just talked to your brother about silly stuff. I didn’t think I said anything to give me away that I’m not from this time if people were listening.”

  Duncan let go of her and went and stood by the fire. “Nay. Ye dinna say anything. I should nay have ignored ye. I’m nay used to having to talk to a woman. I talk to me men at dinner and catch up on things I have missed.” He walked to her and hugged her close. “I’m sorry, Holly.”

  Holly cuddled into his embrace. She felt safe and content for a moment. “No need to be sorry. You don’t have to baby me and talk to me the whole dinner. I know you are the laird. Your mother told me what a busy job you have. She is going to teach me all she knows. I like your mother.”

  Duncan rubbed his hand up and down her back. “Ye dinna ken how many times today I thought of giving me duties to someone else and coming to be with ye. I would have too, if it was nay the first rain-free day we’ve had in almost a sennight.” He raised her chin. “I did as much as I could today so I could spend some time with ye on the morrow. Greggor, me second-in-command, is going to take over so I can show ye around.” He leaned down and gave her a feather-light kiss on her lips, lingering as he undid her dress. “How do ye feel?

  “Fine. Good.” Even to Holly’s own hearing, her voice sounded husky.

  Her dress slipped to the ground, and Duncan gave a deep groan. “I crave ye, Holly. Ye are all I’ve thought about all day. This…” he pulled her almost-naked body to him, “is what has kept me going all day, knowing I would get to see ye like this and do this.”

  Duncan lifted her into his arms and she went, eager to have a repeat of last night.

  Duncan stretched his body and enjoyed the warmth of the body lying on top of him.

  “Mmm, is it time to get up?” Holly mumbled against his chest.

  “Aye. It is if ye want me to show ye around the keep. The sun is shining. If we get out now, we can have a wee swim in the loch. The ice has melted, but it will be cold.”

  Holly sat up and yawned, her arms reaching up as her body arched, stretching. Duncan zoned in on her breasts as they pushed forward and, unable to resist, he eased up and sucked one pointed nipple into his mouth, while his hands came up to play and tease the other. Holly gasped as his mouth touched her skin, and the gasp turned into a moan. Duncan moved her so she straddled his lap and ground his erection against her. “Ye are addictive.”

  “You are insatiable.” Holly’s voice turned him on more as her voice came out in breathless pants. He loved how she responded to his touch and how eager she was to please him. Her hands threaded through his hair holding him to her chest. “You’re turning me into a nymphomaniac.”

  He pulled his head back and looked into her lust filled eyes. “What is a nymphomaniac?”

  “It’s a person who wants sex all the time. Who craves it. You, Duncan, do this to me. I haven’t even known you for three full days, and as soon as you touch me I’m ready to jump you and rip your clothes off. That’s a big thing considering you’re the only man I’ve ever been with.”

  “I’ll be the only man ye’ll be with.” He took possession of her mouth and showed her that she was his and no other could, would, make her feel the way he did. He tore his mouth from hers. “Ye are mine, Holly. I will kill any man who touches what is mine.” He captured her lips and slipped his tongue in to meet hers.

  His fingers trailed down her back and cupped her arse before he dipped a finger into her pussy to find her wet and ready for him. Not willing to wait a moment longer, he lined his cock up with her opening and pushed home.

  Holly’s nails dug into his shoulders and she moaned into his mouth. He stilled with his dick buried deep inside her and savored the tight warm vise around him. It had never felt like this with a woman. Never been this good. Every time Duncan was with Holly he had to fight not to come like a lad with his first woman.

  Duncan stared up at Holly as he held her waist and lifted her. “Ride me.”

  Holly’s eyes lit up and a wicked grin graced her face. “I like this position. I get to be in control.” She set a leisurely pace and he let her, enjoying the look of pleasure on her face.

  Letting go of her waist, his hands roamed up to the globes that bounced as she rocked up and down on him. He caressed her breasts, loving the way she responded to him. Her pace picked up and her breath came in breathless pants. He could feel the pleasure building from his balls as they drew up, ready to give him what he wanted, paradise.

  Duncan wanted to lean Holly over and drive into her, but he knew she wanted to be the one in control. He would give her this one time what she wanted even if it killed him. He gritted his teeth as she slid him out to let the tip of his cock rub her entrance, and teased the tip of his dick, the most sensitive part.

  For the first time since he’d been with her, Holly’s lips came down to meet his as her pussy enveloped him. She devoured him, taking everything she could and more. Duncan went willingly to wherever Holly was taking them. Her hands gripped his hair and the painful pleasure of her pulls had Duncan unable to stop sitting up and lifting his hips to speed up his and Holly’s climb to the bliss that was just out of reach.

  When Duncan went he would give everything he had. He could feel the need to let go, but he wouldn’t let himself without allowing Holly to have her pleasure. Needing to let go, he tore his mouth from Holly’s and kissed his way down her neck and back up. Holding her hips, he ground himself into her and sucked on her neck just below her ear. Holly let out an ear-piercing cry of passion as the walls of her vagina pulsed and gripped him in a tight unbreakable hold. Releasing her neck, he took her mouth to his and with one last deep thrust into her he came. Wave after wave of ecstasy washed over him, and he pulled Holly down to the bed with him so he could savor the feeling.

  “Yep, I’ve become a nymphomaniac,” Holly said in a breathless voice against his chest.

  He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “If ye are a nymphomaniac, then so am I.”

  Duncan could feel the lift of Holly mouth. “Do you think anyone heard us?”

  “Nay, the walls are thick.” Duncan kenned that people would have heard them. Holly’s scream had been very loud and he reckoned that his own had been too. The walls were thick but a sound as loud as that would have travelled. He didn’t want Holly to be
embarrassed; his mother had told him at dinner she’d been blushing at the thought of his parents hearing them from across the hall.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For lying.” Holly stroked his chest. “You were very loud.”

  He chuckled. “So were ye, Lady Holly.”

  She groaned and rolled off him. “Come on, let’s get up before they come in thinking I’ve hurt you.” Holly got off the bed and went to her rectangle luggage. She put on the things she called ‘underwear’ and ‘bra’ then the dress she’d worn when he’d first met her. “If we go while it’s still sunny, I’ll clean myself in the water. Yesterday and today have been the only days since I’ve arrived in Scotland that I’ve seen the sun. I should have come in summer.” She came over to the bed. “Can you do the back up? The worst thing about these period dresses is I need help doing them up.”

  Duncan sat up and did the back of the dress. “What do ye mean, period dresses? What do woman wear in yer time?”

  “I told you the other night. You saw my tracksuit pants. That is comfortable clothes. A popular item is jeans. They’re a tough fabric and go with almost anything. Shirts aren’t long.” She pointed to her shoulder and mid arm. “We do wear skirts and tops, but our skirts are like your kilts, short, well, a lot wear them a lot shorter than your kilt. Anyway, we shave our legs and wear a lot less clothing.”

  “Ha, surely ye jest.”

  “No, I’m not. You know the bra and underwear I wear, that is similar to what we swim in at the beach. Actually, I have swimmers in my suitcase.”

  Duncan watched as she dashed back to her suitcase. Holly wiggled out of the underwear and put on purple ones with strings on each side. She struggled for a moment before she changed bras and came over to him again. “Do me up again and I’ll show you the swimmers when we get to the loch.”