Page 17 of A Two-Faced Laird
Quick as a flash, Edina dove under the dust sheet that hung over the side of the bed on the furthest side from the door. There was not enough space for her to crawl under the bed itself, but she curled up and made herself as small as she could, slowed her breathing and waited. Her position was incredibly uncomfortable, but it could not be helped. Hopefully, she would find something extremely useful.
Presently, she heard the sound of Lewis pacing across the room, muttering to himself. Edina could only make out an odd word here and there, but those she could hear were not the kind he would have spoken in the company of ladies. She had never heard him utter such foul profanities before, and she was shocked, although she told herself that he was just like any other man. His clothes might be more expensive and his manners outwardly more refined, but inside he was just like any of the labourers or farm-workers.
Suddenly, he let out a roar and banged his fists on the desk, almost knocking off the toy soldier on top of it. Edina looked up tentatively and saw that Lewis had his face buried in his hands, and was moaning piteously.
She sprang to her feet without thinking, then rushed over to him and pulled his hands away from his face. His eyes opened wide with shock, then he pushed away from her and growled, “What are you doing here?” He backed away from her and stood behind a chair as if to put a barrier between them.
If Edina had not known better, she might have thought he was afraid, but Lewis could not possibly be scared of her. She was no threat to him at all.
“I-I came to see if I could find out a bit more about Aidan,” she answered.
“If you wanted to know more about him, you could have asked me,” he said irritably. “I am his brother, after all.”
“I have tried asking you,” she pointed out, “but you will not talk to me, and neither will anyone else, except the people in the village, who do not seem to have liked him very much. Is there a secret I am not party to? I wanted to give him a celebration when he came home to welcome him back. I would really love to be on the quayside at Dundee when his ship arrives.”
Lewis sighed heavily, shook his head, and sat down on a chair beside the fireplace. He put his elbows on his knees and restedhis chin on his hands. He waited to speak for such a long time that Edina felt like shaking him.
“There is no secret,” he replied at last. “My brother was a drunkard. At first, we both were, then I realised that I was ruining my life. I succeeded in stopping, but he just couldn’t. It started when we fell in with a few louts in the village, and we thought at first they were our friends. They always invited us to join them, and we had a lot of good times together, especially when there were some pretty girls around.”
He sighed and ran his hands back through his hair in a gesture of agitation. “But people have different ways of getting drunk, Edina. Some are funny and merry, some fall asleep, and some become aggressive. I used to become drowsy, but Aidan became aggressive and often started fights with some other men, especially the customers of the Fatted Calf.
Aid-…my brother was too blind to see it, but those thugs were taking advantage of him because he was the Laird’s son. It took me a while to see it too, but when I did, I could not believe how stupid we had been. Everything became clear to me suddenly one night when I heard two of them talking about us, not knowing I was within earshot.
They were laughing, and congratulating each other on how well they were manipulating us. Their eventual aim was to win our confidence and inveigle their way into the castle to steal whatever they could. I said nothing but dragged my brother home.
My father forbade him from having any alcohol and locked him in his room for three whole months, but he managed to bribe one of the guards to bring some in for him. When my father found out, he sacked the guard.”
He paused and stared into space for a moment, looking back into the past, then he covered his hands with his face again. When he spoke, his tone was bitter.
“After that, he seemed to be cured, then for a while there were no problems, and life went back to normal, or so we thought. Then we heard that he was going out to the tavern again, causing trouble. My father forbade him from going into the village at all, then he locked the wine cellar and kept the only key.”
He stood up again and paced over to the window, and now his anger was palpable. “One morning he was late for breakfast, and I came up to rouse him from bed, only to find that he had already risen. Then I saw the letter on his bed. I read it and showed it to my father. It said that he was going to sea, and would be back when he was ready.”
“Ready for what?” Edina asked, frowning.
“God knows,” Lewis replied dully.
“Did he tell you the name of the ship he was going on?” Edina asked. “Perhaps we can enquire about it.”
Lewis had had enough. “I think it was the Fair Queen, but do you know how many ships embark from Dundee?” he asked angrily. “Hundreds every month. Even if I knew the name, which I don’t, I would never be able to find it. Leave it, Edina. There will be no feast.”
“But, Lewis, do you not care?” she asked desperately. “I know you do. I know how much you loved each other—still do. Do you not want him back?”
For a moment they stared at each other, then he strode across to her in four long strides and did the last thing Edina had expected.
Lewis looked down at Edina’s full red lips, and his body stirred and stiffened. He could no more control his response to her than he could hold back the tide. Yes, he wanted to distract her and stop her talking about Aidan, but he would be lying if he told himself that was the only reason.
He wanted to kiss her because he needed to feel her pliant woman’s body pressed against his; because of the sweet musk that wafted from her skin; because he craved the taste of those tempting lips.
Yet, that was not the only reason either, and as he stepped forward and drew her into his arms, he realised that he was too weak and he simply could not help himself. The moment he felt the softness of her breasts pressing against his chest, he was lost. He had imagined that moment so many times, but it surpassed his expectations tenfold.
He could tell by her startled, untutored response that he was the first man who had ever kissed her, and if he had been aroused before, he was doubly so now. Those were virgin lips, and he was the first to taste them. He pried them open with the tip of his tongue, and began to stroke her tongue, and in a moment she began to copy him, tentatively at first, then with more confidence. He groaned with pleasure and began to rub his hips against hers, hearing her whimper helplessly.
Edina had fantasised about this moment ever since she returned from Inverness, and in her mind, she had imagined a pleasant experience of her mouth being pressed against Lewis’s, but nothing more. She certainly had not expected this sensual assault, the softness of his lips, and the strangest but most sensual experience of all; his tongue stroking hers.
She felt again the pleasant fluttering and moisture between her legs that she associated with Lewis, since he was the only person who ever made her feel this way. God, it was glorious!
She plunged her hands into his hair. It was thick, luxuriant, and as she felt it run between her fingers she imagined that this was what strands of silk must feel like. Lewis smelled of leather, sweat, and something indefinable and carnal that was all his own. Was there anything about this man that was not infinitely desirable?
