Chapter 4

They faced each other across the rug, dropping into a fighting stance a couple of yards apart. Kira knew she had a hard fight on her hands because he was so much bigger than her, but she had brought down other big men before, and this time, she had better reason to ensure she was victorious.

However, as soon as they began to circle one another, she realized there was no possibility of a fair fight while she was trussed up in her wedding paraphernalia.

“I cannae fight in this outfit,” she said, stopping what she was doing. “I can hardly breathe, let alone fight. It’ll nae be a fair contest unless I get out of all this flummery. But ye’ll have tae help me.”

Alec looked at her doubtfully. “Is this another of yer ruses?” he asked.

“’Tis nae ruse, ye big fool. Maybe ye’d like tae wear me dress and see how ye get on fightin’ in a woman’s stays,” she shot back.

“Ach, very well, I’ll help ye, but I warn ye, dinnae try tae trick me.” He gave her a hard look, reinforcing his warning words. “Come on then. Nae time tae waste.” He gestured for her to approach him.

“Wait.” She took off her shoes, then unpinned her headdress and took off her jewelry, placing them carefully on the dressing table. Finally, she approached him and turned her back so he could undo her dress.

She reminded herself how much she hated and despised him when she felt his warm breath upon her neck, fighting back the tingling sensation it evoked. He deftly worked upon the intricate fastenings of her gown as if he had done it many times before. For some unknown reason, the notion increased her anger.

Too quickly, the gown loosened, and his hands brushed her hips as he pushed it down to pool around her feet. Again, tingles shot though her, but she dismissed them.

’Tis the chill in the air, ’tis all.

She had to grit her teeth and patiently stand still to allow him to loosen her stays. It did not take long before they joined the gown on the floor.

“There,” he said, stepping away. “Can ye fight in yer petticoats? Ach, only the Wee Man kens why ye women have tae wear so many of the damned things.”

“Tae keep out wolves like ye,” she replied scathingly, untying the strings and shucking off two of the three lace petticoats with impatience. The last, she kilted up into its waistband. “Now, I’m ready.”

“All right.”

Once again, they squared up to each other across the rug. Kira felt liberated and much lighter than before as she dropped into a soft-kneed fighting stance, rolling her shoulders and tensing arms in the correct position, ready to block his feints. She planned to use her speed to slip beneath his guard and, she hoped, put him on his back.

He came at her suddenly, his left arm darting out in an obvious feint, while directing his right at her waist, as though to seize her there. But she was prepared and blocked his left arm with her right, ducking and dodging backwards, slipping out of reach. He laughed as if he was enjoying himself and advanced again, moving nimbly from side to side, surprisingly light on his feet for such a big man.

“Ach, nae too bad,” he said tauntingly, “but that’s nae gonnae keep me off for long.”

“We’ll see,” she promised, giving him a thin smile.

They continued circling each other like two knife fighters locked in combat, their breathing growing ragged as they danced back and forth. Alec, with his superior height, had the longer reach and step. Kira found she had her work cut out merely keeping out of his grasp, for he moved fast. Several times, his lightening advances threatened to overcome her, but she avoided his grip, skipping away at the last moment, always staying out of reach.

She knew she could not attack him directly for he would soon overpower her. She had to use her speed and lull him into a false sense of security by drawing him to her, making him think he could catch her. Then, she would deliver the coup de grace.

“Ye’re slow,” she panted.

“I’m nae even started yet,” he answered with a grin, feinting with his right arm again, attempting to seize her left. She ducked away, at the same time blocking the snaking inroad of his left arm and turning it aside, creating an opening. Before he could regroup, she balled her fist and punched him right in the solar plexus, winding him.

“Jesus,” he wheezed mildly in obvious surprise, stepping back, “ye pack quite a punch, lass.”

“I havenae even started yet,” she said, repeating his own words in mockery. Her success increased her hopes of victory.

He’s nae so invincible.

But hardly had the thought formed than Alec took advantage of the tiny distraction to drop low and swing out his leg, knocking hers out from under her.

Before she could even breathe, he had her pinned to the floor with his body, laughing.

“Damn ye!” she hissed, the wind knocked out of her as his weight pressed her down. She tried to throw him off, but it was useless. She beat at him with her fists, but he merely caught them easily in one hand and pinned them to the floor above her head. As she struggled to take in air, Kira realized he had been toying with her. She had never had a chance of beating him.

“My, that was fun. It seems I’ve won,” he whispered, his face so close she could feel his warm breath tickling her skin as he panted slightly. She began to tremble as his green eyes bore in to hers, his white teeth flashing in a grin of triumph. “I think ye should pay a forfeit.”

“What forfeit, ye great dummart?” she muttered angrily, secretly fearful of what he might demand of her. He lingered, suspending himself above her with one powerful arm, their faces inches apart, his eyes traveling leisurely over her face. His scent enveloped her, a mixture of fresh air, woodsmoke, and… bergamot? It was quite dizzying. He seemed to come closer, their noses almost touching. Kira thought for a moment he was going to kiss her.

“Dinnae come too close,” she hissed in warning. “Ye might lose yer nose.”

Suddenly, in one fluid motion, he rose, pulling her to her feet by her wrists at the same time. He released her wrists, and while she steadied herself, rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Let me think.” He looked her up and down speculatively and then said in a commanding voice, “Take off the rest of yer clothes.” He grinned at her as he backed into an armchair and sat down. He settled into it, crossing his long, muscular legs, looking as though he was about to watch a performance.

“I will nae!” Kira shook her head, secretly horrified.

“Ye refuse tae pay the forfeit, yet I won the challenge ye set. I’m disappointed. Daes yer word mean naethin’ then?” he asked, raising his eyebrows and still grinning provokingly. He steepled his fingers and rested his chin upon them.

“I wish I had me dirk in me hand,” she hissed, sure she would have stabbed him if she had had it, he was so vexing.

“And I’m awful glad ye dinnae. Now, are ye gonna keep yer word or nae?”

Kira’s shoulders sagged. She knew she was defeated. There was no way out of it; she had set the challenge, and he had won fair and square.

“I never back down once I’ve given me word,” she told him through gritted teeth.

“Well, then, get on with it.”

With the greatest reluctance, she untied her remaining petticoat with shaking fingers and let it fall. She stepped out of it, now clad in nothing more that her shift, stockings, and lace garters.And the scarf around her neck she had no intention of removing.

“I swear I’ll pay ye back fer this, Alec Mackintosh!” she spat, but her words had no effect.

“Hmm,” he murmured, rubbing his chin as he eyed her insolently. “What next? Shift or stockings?”

“I’ll kill ye, just ye wait and see,” she threatened again, vibrating with a mixture of fury and fear.

“Stockings, I think.”

Curling her lip at him, she bent to roll down the stockings, as slowly as she could. She threw them in his face, but he caught them and laughed.

“And the shift. Let me see what I got in this bargain, eh?”

“Why, if I had a blade just now, I’d—” she began, but he cut her off.

“Off with it, woman!”

Feeling more vulnerable than ever before, Kira swallowed hard as she gripped the hem of her shift and, painfully slowly, lifted it.

“Off!”

“Damn yer soul tae hell, Alec Mackintosh!” she cried, pulling the shift over her head and hurling it at him. Naked but for the silken scarf, she stood quivering before him, sticking her nose in the air to try to give some appearance of dignity.

There followed a few agonizing seconds of complete silence as he stared at her, his eyes traveling up and down her body as if drinking her in. How she stood there and did not fly at him, she did not know. In truth, she could hardly think, feeling her skin ablaze with a strange heat as his gaze raked over her.

“Ye forgot the scarf,” he murmured, his voice thick. “Take it off.”

She shook her head. “I’ll nae take it off, and ye cannae make me,” she told him, prepared to fight him again if he tried to force her to remove it.

More silence as he regarded her, a strange gleam in his eyes. “Ye really think I cannae make ye take it off?”

“I’ll nae take it off, I tell ye. I’ll die first!” she shouted from sheer panic, clutching at the material.

“All right, all right, calm yerself. Keep it on if ye feel so strongly about it,” he told her more gently, raising his brows. Her panic receded somewhat in relief, her fingers brushing the silk as if for reassurance that not all was lost.

Suddenly, he reached out and gently caught her wrist, pulling her to him until she was sitting in his lap. One arm clamped her there by the waist, while the other buried itself in her hair and cradled the back of her head.

“Get off, let me go, ye brute,” she cried, flailing at him with her arms, in an attempt to get loose. But he merely imprisoned her wrists again, the grip of his large, rough hands like iron bands. She continued to wriggle and kick at him.

“Be still!” he suddenly said loudly, in a voice so commanding, Kira immediately froze in fear. “That’s better,” he said more softly, but with an edge of mockery to his voice. “Now, let me look at what’s mine,” he said. She was forced to suffer his gaze raking over every inch of her nakedness for what felt like an eternity, utterly humiliated and fearful.

“Hmm, seems like I did quite well with this marriage,” he murmured eventually, pinning her with his gaze. He stared into her eyes searchingly for a few moments. Then, before she could do anything to stop him, his lips descended on hers and forcefully took possession of them, prising hers apart with his tongue and plundering her mouth.

Screaming into his mouth, she started fighting again, but he merely held her head more tightly, his hands twined in her hair. She could not move her head an inch. She wanted to bite him again, but he seemed to sense her intention and pulled her head back by her hair.

“Dinnae even think about it. If ye bite me again, I’ll just bite ye back,” he growled. Kira sobbed helplessly with frustration, giving up the fight she knew was pointless as he forced her lips apart once more with his own, devouring her hungrily.

What was worse even than him kissing her was the rush of heat slowly taking hold of her body, as if a fire had ignited deep inside her in response to his mouth ravaging hers. She struggled to hold it down, determined not to give way to this urge to kiss him back. She would rather die than let him know how he was affecting her!

But as his explorations intensified, his tongue toying with hers and sending tremors of excitement shooting through her body, her resolve began to weaken. Dizzy with the thrilling sensations he was eliciting from her, which she did not even understand, she let out a small, involuntary moan as his free hand wandered from her waist to her naked breasts, cupping them and squeezing them gently, making her gasp as the tips stiffened under his firm caresses.

“Ye like that, dae ye?” he asked huskily, his lips trailing from her mouth to her throat, then following a tantalizing downward path that filled her with alarm.

“Nae! I dinnae. Unhand me, ye beast!” she shouted against his lips, trying to get free again.

“Why would I dae that? Yer body is mine now. ’Tis mine tae enjoy,” he murmured, his grip only tightening, cutting off her struggles. Then his warm mouth closed over her breasts, sucking and licking at the hardened peaks. Pleasure such as Kira had never experienced lanced through her, rocking her to her core. Panicking at her body’s response, she desperately fought down the sensations threatening to overwhelm her.

“Let me go!” she whined, pulling away as far as she could but unable to stop another moan of pleasure falling from her lips as he continued to tease her flesh at his leisure.

“Ach, come on, admit ye like it. What if I do this?” he asked, his voice husky as he ran his fingers down her belly. Kira tensed as they brushed the soft nest of hair between her legs. She clamped her thighs together.

“Let me go, please,” she begged, fighting a losing battle with the compelling forces gripping her.

“Nay, lass, I’ll nae let ye go. If I thought ye really didnae like it, I would. I wouldnae violate a woman, my wife or nae. But I can see ye are lying tae me as much as ye are lying tae yerself. I can feel that ye enjoy this, admitting it or nae. I only want tae give ye pleasure, tae show a wee maid like yerself what it can be like with a man.”

“I… I dinnae understand this,” Kira hissed softly, throwing her head back as the inner heat surged through her veins. Alec chuckled deep in his throat as his fingers parted her legs slightly. She tried to keep him out, but he easily forced them apart and stroked the secret flesh where no man had been before.

“I ken ye must like it when I dae this,” he whispered hotly in her ear, causing her to tremble even harder.

“Ahh, ye’re the devil!” Kira hissed, struggling to fight the desire he was provoking inside her and loosing. Despite all her efforts not to give in, Alec’s touch was so beguiling, she could no longer fight against it. She felt a rush of hot moisture pooling between her legs, beneath his questing fingers, and a powerful yearning for him to go further seized her.

“Ahh!” she moaned when his fingertips found her sensitive bud and began slowly teasing it.

“Mmm, ye are even wetter fer me than what I thought,” he murmured in her ear, his mouth devouring her lips once more. Swept away, she returned the kisses fervently as his fingers continued to toy with her bud, strumming at it faster and faster until she feared she might swoon. In a daze, her hands snaked around his broad shoulders and tangled in his hair as waves of intense bliss began moving up the length of her body.

“Say me name,” he whispered, his fingers moving ever faster.

“A… Alec,” she breathed, starting to buck against his hands as the waves intensified, taking her over, everything else forgotten.

“Again.”

“Alec.”

“D’ye want more?”

“I… I–”

“Ask me.”

“I want more, Alec, please,” she panted, close to the edge of something she could not name for she had never known it existed.

Then, everything suddenly stopped.