Page 17 of The Shadow of a Laird
“I know,” Maura studied his face for one more moment, then gently pulled him down to her. The moment his mouth touched hers again, she felt the same thrill as before, but threefold. She had not expected his lips to be so soft, and as she allowed herself to sink into his embrace, it was glorious to be surrounded by the musk of his body as he pulled her yet closer.
She could taste wine on his lips, and briefly wondered where it had come from. However, she was too busy enjoying him, becoming lost in him, allowing herself the delight of letting him give her so much pleasure to give it any more thought. There might never be another moment like this, Maura thought. If this was going to be her first and last kiss, she wanted it to be forever etched in her memory.
She felt a plunge of disappointment as he drew away from her, but it was only to look into her eyes for a moment. Then he wrapped his arms more tightly around her and his mouth descended on hers again.
He parted her lips with his tongue and began to stroke hers, and Maura gave a little whimper of delight. She could feel the hardness of his arousal against her; it inspired her body to react in its own way, and she felt a sweet, pleasant fluttering between her legs.
Maura sighed into his mouth and completely abandoned herself to him as she felt his hand on the back of her head, holding her to him. He became more insistent, his lips caressing hers with more force, increasing the passion until Maura felt as though she might burst into flame at any moment.
It was like lying in the sunshine on a balmy summer day, the kind rarely seen in Scotland, soaking up the rays of the sun and bathing in the warmth of love, and she never wanted it to end. Inevitably, though, it had to, and they reluctantly drew apart.
Gavin hesitated, then caressed Maura’s cheek gently with one hand before whispering, “Goodnight, Maura.” With one last lingering glance, he picked up the barrel and walked away back into the bar.
Maura felt bereft and overjoyed at the same time. The kiss had been everything she imagined; tender and passionate, with Gavin taking the lead and showing such gentleness she could hardly believe it.
Now she felt annoyed because he was gone, and she could no longer feel the warm hardness of his body. Moreover, although she did not regret a single moment of their encounter, how was she going to face Gavin in the morning?
Little did she know that exactly the same thought was going through Gavin’s mind. Maura knew little about men, he could tell that by her response to him, but he loved that. He would teach her, but then he realised that she might not want him to; perhaps tonight had been their one and only kiss.
8
Gavin would probably never speak like the villagers, who all accused him of having a toffee-nosed accent and made fun of him about it. However, he took this in good part, since he knew that they had accepted him as one of their own. There had been a short period, while they decided whether to trust him or not, when there was some hesitation and wariness on both sides, but now Gavin was one of them, and he was loving it.
He often helped Maura tend to the children too, and cursed the fact that he could not get into his castle or access the wealth there to improve their lives and welfare. He did what he could, however; he was currently teaching the oldest boys and girls to read, write and count.
Gavin was often to be found sitting in one of the church pews holding one of the children in his lap as the others sat at his feet, reading them a story. There was a lot of competition for the seat on his lap, so he had been obliged to start a rota in order to accommodate them all.
He was of the opinion that it was not only their bodies that needed nourishment, but their brains too, and he was feedingthem as well as he could. He had borrowed books from Maura’s precious little hoard and was making good use of them.
Maura came into the church with food one cold afternoon near Christmas, and heard a deep male voice reading a fairy tale to a rapt audience of eight children, who were hanging on his every word. There was absolute silence except for the sound of Gavin’s voice.
She sat down behind them to listen for a while, and realised that all of them absolutely adored him.Who could blame them?she thought, as she looked at the innocent little faces, then at Gavin’s. He looked at each of them in turn and adopted the voices of the characters in the story as he read it, and they were enthralled.
“And the prince said, ‘Princess Rose, will you marry me?’” he said, and looked around at his audience. “‘Yes, Prince Peter,’ the princess answered. ‘I will marry you.’ They were married by the Wise Old Owl who dwelt on the mountain and lived happily ever after.”
When he finished the story, he allowed himself to be hugged by every one of them. When he looked up and saw Maura, his expression brightened and then pointed to her.
“Look who is here!” he said, grinning. He was immediately abandoned as they all rushed over to her, but he was happy. He loved the look of joy on their faces, but felt ashamed that it was people like him who had allowed this situation to happen.
He knew that when they were not at the church, the orphans lived in an abandoned barn just outside the village, but it was infested with rodents, which was why Maura never fed them there. It was the best she could do for them at the moment, but she was actively trying to find somewhere else for them to live. Gavin swore that he would help her with the limited means he had at his disposal.
Since their kiss, Gavin has sensed a change in him. He was more light-hearted, and his easy-going manner endeared him not only to the ladies, but to the men of the village, too, who had embraced him as one of their own.
Gavin had impressed them with his skill with a slingshot by hitting targets on a tree, but had not ventured further than that. He had begun training with the weapon as a boy, and could hit and kill small animals like rabbits at a considerable distance.
This was not unusual for boys of any stratum of society, but swords and bows were weapons of the nobility. Although Gavin spoke with an upper-class accent and had often been teased about it, he had never experienced more than a healthy curiosity from the people of Carmalcolm. However, he had no wish to give them anything more to speculate about, so although he could have fashioned a bow with materials he had at hand, he never did so.
Now, as Gavin watched Maura doling out food to the orphans, he felt a warmth seeping throughhim that he had not been aware of before their kiss. For a few days afterwards, he had actively avoided her because he felt awkward and embarrassed in her presence. Whenever he walked past her or came close to her, he avoided her eyes, and their conversations were restricted to necessities and conducted in monosyllables.
After a while, their interactions had become a little less strained, but he was still unsure if they were merely friends. Perhaps the kiss had been caused by Maura’s unusual tipsiness; after all, he had smelled whisky on her breath, and she was clearly not used to drinking it.
Yes, he told himself, that must have been what happened. People often did strange things when they were drunk or half-drunk. He smiled as he thought of her piqued expression just seconds before that kiss. Maura was adorable in every way, he thought, and therein lay the problem.
He had toyed with the idea of simply staying where he was and pretending to be an ordinary villager, but that idea was impossible. He was too near his home in Duncairn to stay invisible for much longer. The story of the handsome man with the strange accent was bound to spread more, and Gavin knew he would not be safe for much longer.
He decided to go back to the tavern to have a wash in the stream that ran behind it. He had become accustomed to the water that was so cold it burned and froze him at the same time, so he was no longer scared of it. However, just as he was leaving the church, the town blacksmith, a little man called Brodie Johnstone, came up to him, grinning in his toothless fashion.
“Hey, big man!” he called. “Time tae catch some rabbits. Ye comin’?”
