The Highlander's Secret(48)

“Ahh…Jain. What ye do to me,” he sighed. Jain smiled and lifted her head to kiss him deeply. When they parted slightly, Alan dipped his tongue inside and slid one of his hands down her waist until cresting the prominent curve of her hip.

To Jain’s disappointment, he pulled away suddenly and broke the kiss.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking up at him confused.

Alan chuckled through his raspy breathing and told her, “Nothing. Ye’re perfect. I just…I need a minute to think.”

He sat up on the grass beside her and breathed in the cool night air. Jain reached up to touch him and grazed her fingers across his back.

Jain looked to the horizon and sighed. “What about the cold?” she asked, leaning in to brush her lips across his. “I might need ye to keep warm.”

Alan sighed as Jain pressed her lips to his and kissed him deeply on the mouth. She slid one of her hands around his waist and pressed her body up against him. Her movements were slow but pleading while she tried to bring him onto the blanket of her cloak. Her tongue traced his bottom lip and she felt a low rubble in his chest as he deepened their connection.

Jain’s entire body became alive as his hands explored the curves of her waist and breasts, kneading them with his fingers. She broke their kiss and gasped. He hitched her skirts up higher on her waist and ran a hand down the sensitive flesh of her upper thigh. “Alan!”

“Ungh, Jain,” he moaned, trailing a line of kisses up her throat. “Ye have nae idea how long I’ve wanted ye.”

His lips came to hers again and Alan’s breathing grew ragged. The intensity of their kiss escalated quickly. She reached up to put her arms around his neck when Alan stopped her suddenly. His lips broke from hers and she sighed in disappointment. “Ah!”

Jain was surprised at first when he caught her by the wrist, but he chucked lightly and placed a feather light kiss against her neck.

“I love ye, Jain. I promise to have ye soon,” he said. “But not tonight. Tonight, we need to sleep. We’ll need to have our wits about us on the morrow.”

*

The next morning, Jain woke up on the ground with her cloak wrapped snuggly around her. Her back was sore from sleeping on the bank of the river. She sat up on the grass and saw Alan knee deep in the water trying to catch some fish.

“Are ye having any luck there, Alan?”

He turned at the sound of her voice and smiled. “Good morrow, Jain. I wasn’t sure how long ye would need to rest, so I thought I would catch some breakfast. Unfortunately, there’s been nae luck thus far.”

“Thank ye, that was very kind.”

Alan slowly waded out from the water and walked onto the bank beside her. “What do ye think, lass? Shall we stay here another night or go in search of another campsite?”

“I dinnae ken. What would ye do?”

Alan sighed. “I think we should keep moving. This place is not as secure as I would like. We should guide the horse on foot until we find some place better.”

Jain nodded and rose to her feet, saying, “Then that’s what we will do. And on the way we can search for berries or something else to eat.”

He dried off his hands on the edge of his tunic and untied the horse from where it was resting against a tree. Together, they headed off into the trees and Jain smiled at him.

After a while, there appeared a tiny cottage on the edge of the water. It looked abandoned and worn down compared to the other dwellings she had seen. The roof was in poor repair and the stone around the walls had begun to crumble. From a distance, it looked like the perfect place to hide out until they decided on the next stage of their plan, but a knot formed in her stomach at the sight of it and she couldn’t explain why. It was far enough from the village that she doubted anyone would come looking for them.

They approached it slowly, walking hand in hand and seeking any signs of life or habitation. The stone walls were in bad repair and parts of the thatching on the roof had fallen in. When they found the front door, Alan carefully nudged it in and led Jain inside behind him. There was a fireplace against the wall, but nae kindling for it to burn. He sighed, kissing her on the hand and then going back out through the doorway.

“Where are ye going?”

“I’m going to fetch some kindling fer a fire,” he told her. “It will get mighty cold here after dark and we have nae other way to keep warm.”

“I’ll come with ye.”

He sighed disapprovingly and glanced back the way they came. There was no sign of them being followed so he gave a gentle nod. “Aye, but ye’ll keep a wary eye out.”

They stepped out into the grass, picking up fallen branches and bringing them back to the cottage door. “That’ll do,” he told her. “It should keep us warm at least. We’ll wait till after dark to light it, otherwise they could see the smoke and find us.”

Alan knelt down in front of the fireplace and built a small campfire with some of the branches they had brought. Jain watched him for a moment and cast her eyes around the building.

“Does something about this place seem odd to ye?” she asked.

He looked back at her, then glanced around himself. “What do ye mean?”

Her eyes narrowed, standing up to look around more fully. “I dunno…it seems strange to me. Something about it is not quite right.”