Page 24 of Alec

“What?” The hunter drew back and frowned. “Why?”

“I’m a modern man.” Desperately he tried to think of the most shocking thing he could say that would revolt the other man, but his mind blanked. “I can’t corrupt you. You’re a naïve medieval man, and I won’t interfere in your life.”

Ulf nodded slowly, as if he understood. “You wish to protect me from the perversions you enjoyed with other men in your time, aye? Such as putting your hand down my trews to fondle my cock, mayhap? Or using your mouth to suckle me? Or permitting me do that and more to you?”

Unbearably aroused, Ben nodded frantically. “Yes, now, please, let me go.”

“I’ve done those things and more than you may imagine, lad,” Ulf muttered, and grabbed a handful of his red curls. “I reckon you’re the innocent one.”

“But you take women to your bed.” He winced as soon as he heard himself say that. “I mean, gossip says that you do. You can’t want me.”

“Lasses, lads, what matters such? What I desire, I desire.” He tugged on Ben’s hair to draw his head down to his. “And I’ve wanted you since you blundered your way into the trap, you eejit.”

He didn’t mean to kiss the hunter, not here, where anyone could see them. Although the clan had been stuck in the spell trap for nearly a thousand years, he knew they still retained their antiquated attitudes toward same-sex intimacy. Yet with the hunter’s lips so near and their bodies almost as close as if they’d already been naked in bed together, he couldn’t help himself. Ulf’s taste filled his head, as dark and deep as a dive into a cool lake, and the moment he groaned the hunter invaded his mouth with his tongue, captivating him to the point that Ben stopped thinking.

It lasted as long as three weeks, or perhaps three heartbeats, and then Ulf wrenched his mouth away and stared at him for a long moment.

“You kept yourself from me for two years, pretending you didnae want nor care for me. You drink to dull the pain of wanting me.” The hunter took hold of the front of his tunic and gave him a hard shake. “You’re more than an eejit. You’re heartless.” He released him, turned on his heel and left.

Ben lifted a trembling hand to his face, and then had the sense of being watched by someone near—someone close. Yet when he looked around the lists he saw no one. Even the guards on the walls had their backs to him. Then he recalled the gallery overhead and stumbled out to see if anyone stood above him watching.

All he saw were shadows.

Elspeth stood in the darkness and waited until Ben left before she wiped the tears from her face. Never would she have guessed that the reason the two men she desired had never looked upon her as a woman they wanted, but at least now she knew. Whether or not they became lovers, she could no longer hope. She’d have to be content with continuing to take clansmen as lovers, for she couldn’t see adding to her humiliation by taking part in the binding ceremony this year.

“You should come back to my bed, lass,” a low, soft voice said.

Elspeth turned to see Kelso emerge from the next alcove. He didn’t appear disgusted, only intent as ever. In his eyes a kind of recklessness gleamed as well—or perhaps that was something she wished to see.

“Mayhap I shall, in time.” As much as she wished to she couldn’t work up a smile for him.

“You ken how greatly I please you. That I should do whatever you wish to keep you as my lover. The one you desire, he doesnae want a woman.” As if she were a poppet he picked her up off her feet and carried her from the gallery down the hall and into the laird’s chamber.

“What do you, Kel?” She tried to struggle free of his hold, but he pinned her to the wall with his weight and jerked up her skirts. “We cannae swive here.”

“Why no’?” He reached down between them and pressed his cockhead to the folds of her quim. “You’re slick, lass. You need me, badly.”

She couldn’t tell him that her arousal had come from watching the healer and the hunter kiss like sweethearts. “Aye, only ’tis the lord’s work room. He and the senior men, they’ll be meeting soon. Indeed, he may come in any moment.”

“Then he may watch me fack you against the wall,” Kelso rasped, still poised to penetrate her. “Unless you bid me stop now.”

Elspeth slowly brought up her arms and curled them around his strong neck. “Do as you want, then.”

He wanted to fack her senseless, apparently, for he thrust into her so hard and fast he knocked all the breath from her chest. His big hands cupped her buttocks as he roughly worked his shaft in and out, pumping into her so deep she felt each hammering penetration in her chebs. She had always preferred her lovers to be a little rough, but this primitive claiming made all of her senses shriek with hunger for more and more.

“I saw them kiss, the healer and the hunter,” Kelso murmured against her ear. “’Tis what made you wet, aye? Imagining them facking together.”

Elspeth stiffened. “No. ’Tis you, no’ them.”

“’Twas what made my cock hard, lass. I wished to fack you while you watched them.” He plunged his hand into her bodice and roughly fondled her. “Would you dream of such? Or mayhap imagine me with the healer?”

His wicked suggestions finally pushed Elspeth over the edge, and she exploded in a wet gush of lusty pleasure so consuming her vision dimmed. Kelso jetted into her a moment later, grunting with each burst of seed. Then he held her, both of them gasping.

“I shall tell you whatever you wish hear,” he said, rasping the words. “I shall do as you bid me. I’m yours, lassie. You’ve but to keep me.”

He humbled her with his generosity. “I dinnae wish to use you, Kel.”

“’Tis what I desire as well. Come to me after dark, and I shall give you more,” he said as he drew out of her. “I shall give you all I’ve got.” He lowered her to the ground before pulling his trews up over his still-hard cock. “Gods, but I shall have you over and again until you drip with me.”

He stepped back and strode out of the laird’s chamber whistling, as if all they’d done was speak.

Slowly Elspeth shook out her skirts, her arms and legs trembling as she righted her cap and used her kerchief to blot the sweat from her face. The guard had seen too much for her comfort, and yet while they had been in the throes she had not thought once about Ben or Ulf. She might never love Kelso, but he seemed not to care about anything but the pleasure they could give each other.

As she started to leave her left foot landed on a pebble that made her sole go numb.

“Och.” Elspeth frowned and drew back her skirts, but as she lifted her slipper she saw nothing on the stone floor. Then something crawled onto the top of her foot and glittered like a chunk of ice.

A hailstone?

Elspeth tried to shake it off, but her foot and ankle went numb, and a slow, creeping coldness moved up her leg. When she slapped at her shin that strange iciness spread to her hand. She tried to run, but the numb leg collapsed under her and she fell.

“Help.” That one word was all she could get out before the coldness seeped into her chest and sent shards of frost to still her throat.