IntoEternity (6 page)

The shore along this part of the coastline was rocky with a
few interspersed stretches of sandy beach. She made her way down to where one section
of white sand extended out to greet the rushing waves. As she reached the water’s
edge, Gusty kicked off her shoes and ran into the shallow water to meet the incoming
tide. She hitched her skirts up around her knees to keep the hem from getting
wet as the water rolled in around her. She gasped as the cold water whirled
around her bare ankles and shrieked as she ran back up the beach. Gusts of wind
blew in from the sea, taking hold of her long black hair and whirling it up and
around her shoulders like a soft, dark cloud. She hugged the wool shawl she
wore tighter across her breasts in an attempt to stay warm. Her dark woolen
dress whipped about her body. Her bare feet peeked out from underneath the hem,
a sign of just how rebellious she felt.

“Well it’s now or never,” she muttered as she moved back up
the beach. Once she reached a dry spot, she dropped her shawl onto the sand and
began to undo the fastenings of her bodice. Soon her dress—followed by her
undergarments—lay in a pile on top of her shawl. It took only a matter of
moments for Gusty to strip down to her bare skin. She stood hesitantly, staring
out over the sea. The water sparkled with golden and fiery-red swells as the
sun dropped behind the hill at her back. She mentally prepared herself for the inevitable
shock of the cold water. Tossing her head, she inhaled the sharp tang of the
salty sea air.

“No more stalling, you coward,” she said, chiding herself.

Gusty stood on the edge of the water, her arms thrown wide
as she worked up the courage to take a dip in the cold sea. The air chilled her
skin, leaving her covered with goose bumps. She felt more alive than she ever
had before.

“
Oh!
”

Strong, muscular arms wrapped around her, pulling her back
against a hard chest of a male body.

“Hey!” She cried out.

Survival instincts kicked in. She thrashed and screamed, fought
to get loose, but the arms around her only squeezed her tighter. With no air
left in her lungs, she struggled to breathe. Her vision blurred and darkness
descended over her.

“Are you finished then?” a deep voice in her ear demanded
softly.

Gusty nodded and fought for one good breath. She recognized
the voice so close to her ear, shocked to find she was again in the arms of the
one man she had thought about for so long. This man had been in her dreams
nearly every night for the last six months, his voice and his touch, and now he
held her captive once again. As he loosened his hold on her and she looked up
to meet his eyes, her forehead knocked into his strong chin. She winced.

“What are you doing here?” She queried breathlessly, her
heart beating so hard she feared he could feel it knocking through her chest.

“This is my land.”

His grip tightened around her once again as she attempted to
wriggle away from him. For a moment Gusty wondered if he intended to crush her
to death but then he eased up.

“You own this land? Then you are one of the Sutherlands?”

“I am
the
Sutherland.”

“The? You mean to say you are the chieftain of Clan
Sutherland?”

“Aye that I am,” he stated with pride. “What are you doing
here?” He turned her question back upon her.

“Swimming,” she informed him.

He dropped his gaze down over her body, a devilish twinkle
in his eyes, and she flushed hot with embarrassment as she remembered where she
was and why she was there.

Oh God! Oh God! I’m naked!

She had momentarily forgotten her clothing lying on the
beach behind them. Her long hair gave her little covering and the wind tossed it
about brazenly. His muscular arm clenched about her naked waist and he slowly
moved a large hand up to cup her breast, kneading it slightly with his long
fingers. The caress brought a moan from her lips. Embarrassed that such a sound
came from her throat and shocked that she wanted more of his touch, Gusty
pushed at his hand but he refused to release her. If anything, his grip seemed
to tighten. Her bare back and buttocks were plastered against his chest and the
hard bulge beneath his kilt. This was not good! She took several deep breaths
to quiet her racing heart and over-zealous libido.

Oh God!

Gusty had always been sensible, modest and she’d sure as
hell never thrown herself at a total stranger. This barbarian might be too
gorgeous for words but he was presenting a huge danger to her ability to think
clearly.

Help!

“Were you perhaps thinking of escaping back to your Isle,
beautiful selkie?” His unexpected question brought her attention back to the
problem at hand.

“Isle? What the h—? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.”

“What are you doing here on my seashore? Do you think to
taunt me deliberately with your womanly wiles?”

He turned her in his arms and Gusty found her breasts
brushing against the wide expanse of his massive bare chest and her belly
pressed against the hard swell of his erection, with only the cloth of his kilt
between them. Her nipples tightened at the contact. A shiver coursed through
her body and she bit back a whimper of pleasure. She placed her hands on his
bulging arms and pushed, trying to put some space between them. Her body was
not cooperating with her mind. She did not want him to know just how much she
wanted him to take her in his arms and kiss her the way he had those many
months ago.

“We were just…passing through the area. My…grandparents and…I.
I didn’t realize we were…trespassing.” Gusty did not sound at all like herself.
Her voice had grown husky and breathless at his nearness.

“To where do you travel, my little selkie?”

“My name is…Augusta. I am no selkie…and I am on my way to
be…married.”

“Married?” He roared his question, nearly parting her hair
with the force of his breath. He gave her a good shake as if to gain her
attention. “You are betrothed? To whom?”

“To a chieftain of a very powerful clan. Or so my
grandparents tell me.”

His sudden anger at the announcement brought her instantly out
of her lustful stupor and she decided a little lie would not be out of place
under the circumstances. She could use all the help she could get right now.
She realized just how precarious her position was as she glanced around at the
deserted seashore. The sun had dropped behind the treetops and the beach looked
different, more sinister in the lengthening shadows. Maybe if this man thought
she was truly engaged to someone else, he would honor her commitment and leave
her alone. Alone with the embarrassment of what she had just done. Wasn’t this
the age of chivalry?

“Pray you are speaking of me, selkie. For you will wed no
other.”

His hands moved down her back to cup her bare bottom and she
found herself lifted off her feet to have her very naked body crushed against
his massive, granite-hard chest. Her arms moved up and around his neck as her
legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, the most intimate part of her
pressed tightly over the hard bulge of his erection. But even as she worried
about the vulnerability of her position, his outrageous claim brought on a
burning anger. No man told her what to do.

“Now just a minute, buddy. Just back off.” She pushed
against him helplessly. “You have no right to tell me who I will or will not
marry.”

“I am the Sutherland and while you are on my land, my word
is law. I claimed you months ago, lass, and what I claim…” He paused as his
gaze dropped to her naked breasts. “I keep.”

Gusty wanted to argue that she didn’t remember the moment
when he had claimed her as his own. But to do so would have meant telling
another lie. His every word from their first meeting was engraved forever in
her brain and each night in her dreams he had repeated them again and again.
But the best part of her dream was the kiss that had sealed his declaration.

“I see you remember that night as well as I do.” His silver
eyes grew intense and his grip on her increased. “Never again… You will never
disappear from me as you did then.”

Alexander set her back on her feet, still keeping one arm
about her waist. She watched as he worked at his plaid until he managed to rip
a strip of the sturdy fabric from the hem. When that was accomplished, he
proceeded to bind her right wrist to his left. He gently took her hand in his
and raised it to his lips and kissed it.

“You are truly bound to me now. We are pledged. From this
moment on, you are my wife and I am your husband,” he stated loudly.

“My
husband
!” She bellowed. “Why you…!”

She opened her mouth to let loose a string of the most
vilely creative oaths she had heard since her return but he clamped his large
hand over her mouth, effectively shutting her up. She glared up at him in a
vain effort to intimidate him with a scathing stare but he wasn’t even looking
in her direction. He had turned his head to look over her shoulder. Gusty
followed his gaze.

“It is done then?” He called out to someone who had stepped
out of the shadows of the trees that bordered the beach.

Her eyes widened as Hagen moved toward them from the tree
line.

“Aye, Sutherland. It is done. She belongs to you now—for a
year and a day. But remember, if by the end of that time she has not conceived,
she is free to leave.”

Alexander nodded.

“Grandfather, what is going on?”

“Handfasting is a common tradition many young people adopt
when there is no priest available to bless a marriage. I remember Maeve telling
you of such a practice. You only have to call him ‘husband’ in front of a
witness and you are the same as married. The ceremony is accepted by both the king
and the church.”

Swamped with anger Gusty did remember that particular
conversation. She had made a crack about how she would never be foolish enough
to find herself in such a situation. But now? Now she found she had been
tricked. Shocked that her beloved mentor could betray her in such a way, she
stopped listening to his explanation. She wrapped her arms about herself,
freezing in the cold ocean breeze as he droned on. It was not until she heard
him mention the possibility of her having a baby that she began to listen
again.

“If by the end of the allotted time you do not get her with
child, she is free to return to us. No argument, no war. That is the only way I
will agree to this.”

Hagen turned his attention back to her and sadness showed in
his eyes.

He’s
not happy with the situation.
So why was
he doing this?

“This tradition has been a means for a couple to wed without
a priest’s blessing but understand, lass. The ritual sets a time limit. If the
woman conceives by the end of a year and one day, the couple says their vows in
the presence of a priest. Do not conceive and the common-law marriage ends,
similar to a divorce but without the paperwork.”

“Oh no…no…no!” She pulled at her bound wrist, trying to put
some distance between her and the large Highlander claiming to be her husband. “
What
have you done?
”

The question left her mouth in a roar. She could not believe
her grandfather had just given her to a barbarian with no consideration to her
sensibilities. Gusty had always considered herself to be a quiet, reserved
woman. Some even suggested she was the most even-tempered person they had ever
met. But as she stood between these two men and listened to them, she swallowed
hard as tears threatened to fall. If she weakened, she would throw herself into
her grandfather’s arms and beg him to take her home. But the callous way in
which he had informed the Scottish laird that he now owned her—for a year and
day, no less—left her numb. Anger was the only emotion she had left to use as a
weapon.

“I have put up with a lot in the last few months.” Her voice
cracked with emotion. The tears she fought to hold back spilled down her cheeks
and she swiped at them furiously. “I will not let this happen. I refuse to let
this happen. My life is just beginning to make sense to me and I refuse to
stand here and let two barbarians from the Scottish boonies dictate my future.
I will not—”

Gusty broke. Unable to finish her tirade, she dissolved into
a fit of sobbing, weeping uncontrollably all over the muscular chest of the
Sutherland laird. His warm, strong arms drew her close and held her quaking
body gently as she wept herself dry.

Above her head, Alexander Sutherland looked at the old man
who had brought Augusta Sinclair into his life. A silent understanding passed
between them. With no need for words, they nodded at each other. A moment
later, the older man faded back into the trees and disappeared. Gusty still had
her face buried against his chest and she shuddered in his arms. He held her
close. A precious treasure had been entrusted into his care and he would guard
her with his life.

“Easy, love.” He whispered in her hair, holding her as she
cried.

* * * * *

The hour had grown quite late by the time Gusty pulled
herself together. She tried to ease off his lap but he tightened his arms
around her.

“Stay. There is no need to hurry.”

Alexander was not ready to give up the soft body he had held
as Gusty sobbed out her anger and fears until only a shuddering hiccup escaped
her. The time had given him an opportunity to think. A boyhood memory came to
mind as he’d held his new bride and listened to her weep. A memory of another
time and place, long ago, and a pair of children who’d played together and wept
together over childish insults. He was a boy when his true love had been stolen
away before he could say goodbye. She also had black hair and golden-brown
eyes. And she’d depended on him to take care of her. Alexander glanced down at
the woman resting so trustingly in his arms.