Page 7 of Seduced By the Squire (Diamonds in the Rough #1)

“What is that?”

Llinos bit back the sarcastic answer already on her tongue. It’s a pigeon, as you can see.

“It’s a dog I found trapped in the forest, next to the lake,” she told Lord Masterson in a mild voice. In truth, this graciousness cost her little. After making love to Duncan in the woods, she felt better than she had ever felt. “I will look after him.”

“Not here you won’t. He looks terrible.”

She barely repressed a sigh of irritation, her good mood fast evaporating now that she was back to reality. Couldn’t anyone see past appearances? Saying that the dog could not be accepted into the castle walls because he was dirty was much akin to saying a man could not be a guest at a banquet because his clothes had got muddied on the road. Ridiculous.

“By tonight he will be thoroughly clean,” she assured him. “And he will not bother you.”

Lord Masterson made a face. “If he’s presentable tonight I might, just might consider allowing you to keep him. But he will sleep in the stables. I’m not having an unknown dog wandering around the castle at night causing chaos,” he ruled. “During the day he will be under your responsibility. If there is any trouble — ”

“There won’t be,” Llinos cut in. “I will bathe him immediately.” She had left Duncan at the gate and was eager to go back to see him.

“Did you find your earring?” Lord Masterson enquired before she could leave.

“No. I’m afraid it is lost.”

He made a sympathetic noise. “Did you at least get the thread you wanted at the village?”

Thread? Llinos blinked. What was he talking about?

“Erm… no,” she said when she finally remembered the lie she had made up that morning. In light of all that happened since then she had forgotten all about it.

“Then you went all the way there in vain.”

Well, no, not in vain. Never had an errand been more worthwhile. A burst of heat exploded between her legs when she remembered what she and Duncan had done.

“Let me go and find everything I need to wash the dog,” she said to hide her embarrassment. “I saw a bucket by the stables earlier. It will do very nicely. ”

Just as she had hoped, Duncan was busy grooming his master’s horse. Once the bucket was filled with water she placed herself so that she could keep an eye on him while she washed the pup – and was gratified to see him glance her way every so often. It was as if an invisible thread stretched between them since they had joined their bodies.

Not that she would not have looked at him otherwise.

Everything Duncan did mesmerised her. The way the muscles of his legs tensed when he bent down to pick the horse’s hooves, the gentleness with which he ran his hand along the animal’s flanks, the little reassuring pats he gave it on the rump. She had the absurd impression he was lavishing on it the attention he wanted to lavish on her, that he stroked the stallion because his fingers were itching to stroke her . In response, her own gestures became slower and more languid. She caressed the dog’s back as she would have Duncan’s and allowed her fingers to weave into his fur in the same way she would have liked to play with his hair.

Had played with it, while he teased her innermost folds with his lips and tongue.

At that precise moment the dog gave her a lick and she almost jumped out of her skin.

“Not now!” she whimpered, desperate not to be reminded of another tongue lapping at her. She was in full view of everyone!

Eventually there was nothing for either her or Duncan to do. The horse was gleaming and the dog had been restored to his normal colour, a thoroughly unremarkable shade of brown. Llinos smiled. Indeed he looked nothing like her beautiful, silvery greyhound had.

When everyone left to go have their evening meal, she remained behind under the pretext of having to dry the dog. As she rubbed the cloth over him she gave a him a pat on the head, gratefulness swelling in her chest. He had already repaid her a hundred fold for saving him, by allowing her time alone with Duncan and giving him the opportunity to make a woman out of her.

Once the bailey was almost deserted Duncan leaned against the stable door and crossed his arms over his chest. “Ye stand by yer decision then?” he drawled. “Ye will adopt the wee beastie?”

“Of course. I am not the changeable sort, and the ‘wee beastie’ as you call him has won my heart,” she said, ruffling the hairs between the puppy’s ears. The dog would always remind her of what had happened that day in the clearing, of her first encounter with a man. “I think I will call him Cwtch. ”

“What does that mean, I wonder?” Duncan arched a brow. “Dirtball? Monster?”

Llinos gave a giggle. The man was impossible. She would never have suspected this dry, mischievous side to him. He looked more prone to skewer you with a dark stare than make you burst in laughter. “Stop it! It means hug.”

“Och!” He winced. “The poor bastard. Such a manly name for him!”

“Leave my dog alone.”

“Certainly I will. I have no intention of going anywhere near him.”

“Afraid, are you?”

“Aye.” Duncan leaned in and bared his teeth. His white, perfect teeth that had nibbled at her. “Afraid of catching fleas and spending the next few nights scratching myself raw.”

Llinos rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. “Well, I’m not afraid to hug him. He’s just had a bath, what more do you want?”

“A thorough dousing in the river? Or three? And some flea powder?”

“Do you mean that you don’t believe dogs can be loved despite a lack of breeding? That because they’ve been dirty and neglected once it is too late for them?”

Duncan pierced her with his stare. Oh no. He had understood she was not really talking about dogs.

“I believe that… dogs ,” he placed special emphasis on the word, “should know their place. Ye might cuddle the laddie but everyone else will kick him out of their way. Ye showing him the same treatment ye did yer silver greyhound will only confuse and hurt him in the end. He won’t understand when someone else treats him as he deserves.”

“No one deserves to be humiliated. And dogs are not stupid,” Llinos said roundly, looking him straight in the eye. “Cwtch will understand perfectly that some people are just cruel, prejudiced idiots who should be avoided at all costs. If other people cannot see him for the marvel he is, then he will just stick to me. It will be their loss.” She stood up and lifted the cuff of her dress to expose her wrist. A series of silver dots in a crescent shape marked the place where the greyhound had bitten her all those years ago. “I still have the scars to remind me not to judge people by their appearance. I told you, I know a good dog when I see one. And a good man.” She tilted her head and favoured him with an impish grin. “It’s hardly surprising. Men are nothing but dogs on two legs anyway.”

In response Duncan barked a laugh. “Are they now? ”

“You told me so yourself. All they are interested in is mounting women.”

“Aye, they are.” He suddenly sobered as if he’d remembered something unpleasant. She braced herself. What now? What had she said? “That man…” he started.

“What man?” The change of topic threw her.

“The bastard who tried to rape ye before Sir Benedict proposed.”

Sir Huw, he meant. Her heartbeat went wild at the memory. “You remember that?”

His nostrils flared. “Of course I do. How could I forget something like that! Is he here at the castle? Is it someone I ken?”

“N-no,” she stammered, taken aback by the hatred in his voice. “Why do you ask?”

“So I can ram my fist down his throat, that’s why, and see how he likes it!” Duncan roared. “How can he think he can get away wi’ something like that?” His green eyes glittered with barely contained fury.

Heat spread through Llinos. No one had ever sprung to her defence with such vehemence. “You don’t think I only got what I deserved for my — ”

“Lass,” he interrupted her. “Ye just said that no one deserved to be humiliated, regardless of their origins. Weel, no woman deserves to be raped, regardless of what she says or does. Ye refusing his offer of marriage is absolutely no excuse for him to pounce on ye. And I really doubt ye said or did anything that would justify him pretending ye were willing when ye were not. A man kens when the woman in his arms doesn’t want him.”

His absolute confidence and support shook her to the core. Llinos knew there and then that having him surge inside her in the meadow had created less of an indissoluble bond between them that having him spring to her defence so readily had. Duncan MacQuarrie had made a woman out of her and, even more importantly, he had made her see that, instead of being threatened and used because she was weaker, she should be respected and appreciated because of it.

“Now that Cwtch is clean I think I should go and eat,” she murmured, knowing she was in danger of doing something foolish if she stayed here any longer.

“Aye, ye should. I will go and get something at the tavern.”

“Why?” She didn’t want him to leave.

“I think ye ken why.”

Llinos slowly nodded. He was afraid he was about to do something foolish too.

*

As he watched Llinos leave, Duncan tried to make sense of the feelings agitating him.

Anger, desire, powerlessness, and the need to pummel someone to the ground warred inside him.

The idea of a man forcing himself on her was enough to send his blood to boiling point. Even the idea of the pain she had endured when that hound of hers had bitten her was unbearable. He didn’t want her to experience anything other than joy and pleasure. Today that dirty little mongrel of hers had brought her joy and then he himself had brought her pleasure. It had been beautiful to see and he didn’t want to leave it at that.

The first thing she’d said after he’d withdrawn from her sated body was that she wanted to do it again. So did he. Although the purpose of their meetings had been fulfilled, it was not over between them.

It had only just started.

Kicking a stone with the tip of his boot, he set off for the tavern. He didn’t really want to go but it was better than going to the great hall and seeing Llinos sat on the dais like the lady she was. He would have to watch from a distance and behave as if he did not know the heat of her embrace and the taste of her pleasure. He wasn’t sure he could do it tonight, not when his body was still humming from the pleasure she had wrung from him earlier.

Damnation, that wouldn't do at all she was the one supposed to appear like a lust-governed creature, not him!

He pushed the tavern door open with decision.