Prescribed for Love (14 page)

Maybe this is the ‘later’ to which he had been referring.
“I think I remember saying something
earlier
about accommodating your desire for a kiss,” suggested Cat.

Waiting for her opportunity to sneak by the guard, Cat let her mind wander. She could not believe how quickly the last
few days
had passed
.
Each morning,
Cat
had left
with Lainie and Ailsa to
check on her patient,
always accompanied by either Branan or
Alasdair
. Then
, she had
join
ed
the women as they attended to the
daily
mending. Catriona no longe
r felt out of place among them—
not now that she had her crocheting. Initially, she had tried to teach them the skill, but
they had quickly lost interest. T
hey thought their current
skills
were sufficient. Realistically, this was for the best since she did not need to change history. After all, it would be the Irish that would become the most famous for the craft.

After the mending had been completed
each day, Cat had
help
ed
Ailsa with random tasks around the keep. Sometimes she
had
help
ed
gathering herbs. She was actually decent at this after
her time spent with Elspeth. Other times, she had
help
ed
with tasks such as planning meals and taking inventories. While Cat did not fully comprehend all the nuances, her math skills
had
still allowed her to be useful.

These activities had filled their days until it was time for supper and then
bed. Each night, before clim
bing under the covers, Cat had
pull
ed
out the book and ask
ed
to be sent home.
H
er wishes had obviously
not
yet been successful.

The only non-routine parts of her days
had been
her en
counters with
Alasdair
. He had
randomly appear
ed at some point each day and snuc
k her off to engage in a little funny business. Catriona had to admit it was a lot of fun.
She felt like a teenager—
sneaking off to
find a private place to
make out. Bu
t sadly,
he had not yet come through with his promise of ‘later,’
these encounters had
only
been for a few minutes each day.
She was even beginning to wonder if she had read too much into his comment.

The monotony of the past few days was what had actually brought her here.
Now, if only the stupid guard would stop paying so much attention to the gate!
No sooner had this thought gone through Cat’s head than another guard called out to the man in her way. Knowing this was
probably her best opportunity—
Cat tucked her purse close to her body and made a break for it.

Cat was annoyed she had
had
to resort to sneaking out of the castle. She had tried leaving by herself, but had been denied. She had been given some bullshit line about women being incapable of defending themselves blah blah blah.
Somewhat surprised she had escaped unnoticed
after the earlier lecture
by the guard
,
Cat hurried to her destination.
Once there, she began to strip out of her
dress.

The night after
Alasdair
had shown her this pond, Cat had
begun to formulate a plan. When
she
joined the women as they worked on their mending each day,
she had been working on a secret project. After some trial and error, she had successfully managed to crochet
a bikini. Cotton would have been
ideal
, but the linen thread she found worked well enough.

Now fully out of the
fif
teenth
century garb, Cat reached into her purse to pull out one of her most prized possessions
from the future
—her disposable razor. She had always kept one in her bag for emergencies
. She was once again beginning to feel like a wild yeti since she had not been able to shave sin
ce the day of graduation. This
time period
just
did not offer
the opportunity for many baths, or the desired privacy for her current endeavor.
Cat just hoped the
single blade was up to the job.
I swear, if I get through shaving one leg, and then the
single
blade craps out, I’m quitting
on life
!

Testing the water with her toe, Cat was pleasantly surprised. Yes the water was cool, but she was from Massachusetts, it’s not like she had grown up used to warm beaches.
Knowing
from experience the best way to adjust to the temperature
, Cat ran in and
dove
below the surface as soon as the water was deep enough.
Once acclimated
, Cat began to rid her
legs of their unwanted growth.
Each swipe of the blade made her feel a little more connected
with the
twenty-
first century
.

Fortunately, the blade held up, but she doubted it would be good for another use. Vowing to get back before she was in need of another shave, Cat tossed the piece of plastic next to her purse. Not knowing when her next bath would be, she swam aro
und until the cold finally beca
me too much. Scotland was not very warm, but she found
a sunny spot where she could lie
down to dry off. Content for the moment, she fell asleep.

***

“Any other signs of Camerons?” asked
Alasdair
.
He wanted to know if the patrols had found anything else concerning.

“Nay,” replied Niall
.

“I cannae believe it.” When he saw the man stiffen he said. “I dinnae doubt ye lad. Ye are the best scout we have. I wouldnae have put ye in command of the patrols if I did. I just simply cannae believe
we have nae
seen another sign of
the Camerons.
I ken
their laird is planning
something.”

“I agre
e. He wouldnae have sent the lad out for nay
reason. I will
increase
the patrols,” replied Niall, somewhat mollified.

“See that ye do. And come to me
as soon as ye find something, nay
matter how trivial.” With this order, the man
left. He looked as if he
planned to increase the
patrols this very instant.

Alasdair
sighed;
he wondered if he was overreacting to his recent encounter
s
with the Cameron clan. But, the attack in which Catriona had been injured had just seemed so vicious, even though it was poorly attempted.

Needing to mull over his thoughts, and to decide how best to proceed,
Alasdair
left for the
pond—he always seemed to be able to collect his thoughts and decide on an action when he visited the area.

However, he had not expected to
find the area already occupied.
Before him lay Catriona,
he
r
skin glowing in rays of sunlight that were breaking through the surrounding trees.
There is nary a stitch
cov
ering the lass!
Alasdair
had no idea what could have inspired the wom
an to
come here so scantily clad. But as his loins responded to the view before him, he found he did not care why she was here—he only knew he was
glad she was
.

She must have heard his appr
oach, for
Catriona
suddenly rose
and tried to cover herself
, unsuccessfully,
with
a small piece of cloth
. “Oh,
good, it’s only you,” she said, lowering the fabric as she spoke.

“If ye were worried about someone coming upon ye,
maybe
ye should
nae lie about naked,” replied
Alasdair
.
“Although I will grant ye, I have
nay
complaints.”

“I wasn’t covering up for my sake. I was covering for who
m
ever was approaching.
I didn’t wa
nt to shock anyone
.”

“
Do ye do this often
?” he asked.

“Yes. Well, no—not here.
” Growing defensive, she added, “
I’ll have you know, this amount of clothing is perfectly acceptable where I’m from.”

“And where are ye
from, that nakedness is common?
” he asked.

“Oh please, I’m not naked—eve
rything important is covered up.” S
he
further emphasized her point by letting her hands pass before her body
. “And
,
it doesn’t matter where I’m
from;
it’s too far away for me to go home currently.”

Hearing the melancholy in her voice as she bemoaned the distance of her home
Alasdair
suggested, “Well, I ken
a way to get yer mind off yer troubles.”
He waggled his eyebrows to further illustrate his point.

Laughing, Catriona replied, “Oh no you don’t, not that easy—you’ll have to come and get me.” Before he could stop her
,
she
ran
into the water
until she was submerged to her neck
.

“If ye think I am going in there
after ye
…”
Alasdair
’s
rebuttal
was stopped when she
untied the garment around her neck and threw it at his feet. “
Nay
Catriona, the water is too cold, that willna
e
work.”

“Are you sure?” She threw the second part of her
garment at his feet and then dove fu
rther away from him
.
Ach but
the witch has a beautifully round arse.
Resurfacing, she
suggest
ed, “We could keep each other warm.”

Unable to resist any longer,
Alasdair
began to disrobe.
While he was annoyed
her teasing had
him so readily doing her bidding, he was somewhat mollified when he
witnessed
her
gasp
of appreciation
at his manhood
.

***

Catriona watched, entranced as she saw
Alasdair
for the first time in all of his glory
. When she had first seen him, she was struck by his utter perfection.
Well, that perfection grew to even greater proportions as the rest of him was revealed.
Both literally and figuratively.
He o
bviously knew his own magnificence.
He strode forward, completely comfortable with his own
nakedness. Catriona felt a warm sense of anticipation overcome her as he
drew closer
.

However, Cat still had no intention of making this easy on the man, teasing him was too much fun. When he was ju
st out of arm’s reach, she dove
back under the water away from him. “What are ye, a wee water sprite?”
laugh
ed
Alasdair
as he followed
after her. This cat and mouse g
ame continued a few more times
until
he finally caught her ankle as she tried to dive away.

Now captured
, Catriona did not
resist
as
Alasdair
pulled her closer
.
With her back to his chest, he pushed her hair to on
e side,
placing
kisses
along
base of her neck to her shoulder.
She shivered, but not from the cold.
Wrapping one arm around her wa
ist, he pulled her even
clos
er; she could feel his obvious arousal
.
Knowing it was too late for second doubts, Catriona gave herself to the moment.
It
seemed
like
‘later’
was going to
be well worth the wait.