Page 27 of Taken by the Highland Villain (Breaking the Highland Rules #2)

The sky was heavy and gray with clouds, the air full of moisture, and a brisk wind was ruffling the grass in the moors. Jude watched it with a casual eye as he limped through the corridors.

His knee always ached in weather like this, but that was far from the most important thing on his mind.

Valerie was leaving. He had one last chance to convince her to stay. He’d hoped their intimate night might convince her, but Lady Ailsa’s arrival had changed things. There was, however, still one thing he could do.

He reached Valerie’s door and lightly knocked on it. He waited for her call, then entered. He found her packing her bags, the blue-green silk dress folded and tucked almost reverently on the side.

“Ye really are leaving.”

“Aye. My work here is done, and I cannae stay.” Her voice was as solemn as his own. “Ye ken it as well as I do.”

“I dinnae. But even so, if I cannae convince ye to stay, can I at least convince ye to delay yer departure?” He stepped closer. “There’s a place I want to show ye, afore ye leave.”

“Somewhere ye want to show me?” Valerie’s brow creased. “Moira’s shown me most of the castle already…”

“It isnae in the castle. It is about an hour northwest.” Jude offered her his hand. “I want to show it to ye—I think ye’ll like it.”

Indecision flickered in her eyes, and Jude stepped a little closer. “If ye willnae stay, at least make one last memory of beauty and joy?”

Valerie hesitated, then relented, “All right. I will go with ye.”

Hand in hand, the two of them made their way down to the stables, where Valerie’s mare and Jude’s favorite horse were waiting. Jude started to help Valerie into the saddle, but she gave him a raised eyebrow and a smirk, then swung herself up smoothly into the saddle without any assistance at all.

Jude chuckled and followed her, swinging himself up into his saddle with a slight grunt of effort as he bent his injured knee.

Together, the two of them rode out of the gate, then Jude took the lead, guiding her down a narrow track toward the hills. The path was a thin, faint one, but he was familiar enough with it that he could have navigated it in his sleep.

The path wound on, into the hills, then deeper, to where the hills began to rise higher into the craggy cliffs. Jude turned his horse to follow the path, then through a gap in the cliffs. Once they emerged on the other side, he stopped.

“Here. This is where I wanted to bring ye.”

He heard Valerie’s soft gasp of wonder as she dismounted and took a few steps forward. “Och, it is beautiful.”

He nodded in agreement, then dismounted, looking around with a sense of nostalgia.

The valley wasn’t large—it could be crossed in a quarter of an hour or less at a swift walk—but it was filled with flowers, grass, and heather like a thick green carpet on top of which a riot of color bloomed.

A single cascade of crystalline water fell down the far side of the bowl and into a shimmering, perfectly clear riverbed, filled with pure mountain water.

The sides of the small stream were lined with moss nearly the same shade as Valerie’s eyes, and the air was filled with the sweet fragrance of heather and various flowers.

It was the most beautiful spot in MacFinn lands, and it had once been a favorite destination for his mother and sister to have picnics, especially in the spring and summer months when the flowers were in full bloom.

Jude hadn’t been back since his sister’s kidnapping and his mother’s passing. At some point, he’d thought that he’d never come back here—not unless it was to drink himself into a stupor or burn the entire place to ash so he wouldn’t be reminded of the happiness he’d once shared with his family.

Now, he was glad that he’d never given in to that impulse.

Seeing Valerie, head tilted back and eyes sparkling as she trailed a hand over the flowers, was wondrous. The whole world seemed brighter, despite the gray skies and the lingering scent of water in the air.

A moment later, Jude jumped as a drop of water hit his cheek. The water was cold, and the impact was far more noticeable now that he lacked the cover his beard had provided.

Another drop hit his forehead, and Valerie yelped, her eyes turning skyward, just as the rain began to fall in earnest.

“Bloody…” Jude bit back the rest of his curse, then limped forward to take Valerie by the arm. “Come. I ken a place where we can wait out the rain.”

“We could try to ride back…” Valerie trailed off as the rain began to fall harder.

“And we’d be drenched to the bone and beggin’ to catch a summer sickness if we did.” Jude shook his head and began to lead her to the far side of the meadow. “Doesnae look like it is more than a summer cloudburst—should be over within thirty minutes or so. Ye can wait that long, can ye nae?”

“Aye. But where…” Valerie trailed off again as she spotted their destination.

It was a modestly sized cave, almost a crack in the cliff face.

“And ye’re sure there are nay animals using it?”

“Shouldnae be.”

There was no track or sign of any beast, but even if there was, Jude was confident in his ability to drive them away.

Inside, the cave was dry, somewhat cooler than the air outside. Jude scarcely minded the temperature, but Valerie was soon shivering in her damp clothes. Jude considered giving her his riding cloak, but she took the decision from him by stepping close and burying her face in his shoulder.

Jude wrapped his arms around her at once. “Valerie…?”

“It is nothing. Only that ye’re warm and I feel cold.”

She started to step away, but he pulled her closer, drawing her to where the two of them could sit most comfortably against the rocks.

It was a simple matter to arrange them, with him leaning against the stone, his legs outstretched, and Valerie on his lap, both of them wrapped in his cloak. The warmth between them was pleasant and comfortable.

For several minutes, the two of them sat in silence, soaking in the warmth of each other and watching the rain outside the cave as it fell in a silvery-gray curtain.

Jude scarcely noticed when Valerie’s hand came up to toy with the laces of his shirt, loosening them so her fingers could glide through the hair on his chest and tease his nipples.

The sensation was interesting, but it seemed idle amusement, and Jude was content to amuse himself in turn by stroking a hand across her belly, his thumb brushing the already taut peaks of her breasts, which stood out clearly against the damp fabric of her blouse.

He did notice, however, when her hand slid lower, across his stomach to his belt, then lower to caress him through the fabric of his riding trews—riding trews she had made for him.

Jude’s breath hitched, hissing out between his teeth as she slid her hand lower to stroke the growing bulge beneath the fabric.

“What are ye…?”

“Hush.” Valerie stretched up and kissed him, the kiss light as a butterfly’s wing against his jaw, before she cupped his face in her free hand and kissed him more firmly on the lips, claiming his mouth as he had often claimed hers.

Her lips were soft, the kiss gentle but demanding, her tongue sweeping into his mouth and dueling with his with a skill he hadn’t imagined she might show.

Somehow, she undid the laces of his trews, her hand parting the fabric to grip his swelling member. Jude grunted as she stroked him, freeing him from the confines of his trews so that his erection was between the two of them, pressed against the soft fabric that covered her belly.

It seemed impossible not to respond—mold his hands to her narrow waist, then slide them up her sides to cup her breasts. The laces of her bodice came loose so easily that it almost seemed she might have planned it, her blouse sliding down her shoulders to bare her bosom to his touch.

It was the most natural thing in the world to cup her soft, pillowy mounds, to roll her sensitive nipples between his thumbs and forefingers until she shivered against him. To kiss her, his breath coming in harsh pants as every movement made his erect manhood brush the fabric.

Valerie reached lower to caress his bollocks, and his hips bucked upward, seeking more, wanting her… needing her…

His head thudded against the stone of the cave wall, not hard enough to truly hurt, but certainly enough to get his attention—and to make him bite his tongue in surprise. The pain cleared some of the pleasure-induced stupor from his head.

Jude reached down and caught Valerie’s hand, pulling her back. “We cannae.”

Bright green eyes looked up at him with surprise and a bit of hurt. “Why nae? Ye…”

“That was afore. But this… if we continue, I willnae want to stop. I willnae be able to stop.” Jude shook his head, trying to clear the haze from his mind.

“And if I dinnae want ye to stop?” Valerie continued to look up at him, her full and kiss-swollen lips curled into a pout. “If I… want more as well?”

Jude shook his head again, then carefully tucked himself into his trews. “Nay. I’ll nae compromise ye that way. I was happy to bring ye pleasure afore, and to receive it from ye as well, but what we’ve done is enough. If ye’re nae plannin’ to stay, then I cannae allow this to go further.”

For a moment, he thought she might fight him, might argue further, and he wondered if he’d have the will to truly resist her. But then she sighed and climbed off his lap. She was still wrapped in his cloak, but instead of sitting atop him, she curled into his side.

A part of Jude was grateful for the change in position, but he couldn’t help the pang of disappointment that darted through him as she leaned against his shoulder.

“I suppose ye’re right. Even so…” she trailed off.

Jude waited for a moment, then prodded, “Even so…?”

Valerie sighed again and inched a little closer.

“I cannae help but wish that I’d never met Laird MacOlley, that I’d met ye much sooner.

Before my first husband. If my faither offered me to a man like ye, rather than a brute like him…

well, I wouldnae have had the urge to play tricks on ye, and I certainly wouldnae have gone through with it! ” She laughed a little.

Jude blinked, intrigued despite the melancholy that filled him. “What sort of trick did ye play on yer first husband?”

Valerie smirked, a wicked smirk that reminded him, very abruptly, that she was, among other things, a pirate’s daughter and a pirate lass herself.

“I didnae want him to claim me. I was sixteen summers old, and Archibald Firebrand—that was the name he insisted on using, though many of the men called him Archie for short—was a ham-fisted brute with coarse language and coarser ways. I’d seen the way he handled the tavern wenches, the bruises he left sometimes, and I wanted none of that, especially since I kenned he was likely to be drunk and worse mannered than usual after the wedding feast.”

“So ye drugged him?”

“Of course nae. He and Faither were scheduled to take the crew raiding the next day, and Faither wouldnae have held the ship for a drunk or laggardly second-in-command. If I’d drugged him, he might have missed the ship, and then I would have been stuck with him, and his temper would have been all the worse for missin’ the voyage.

” Her tone was so matter-of-fact that Jude found himself chuckling along with her.

“So what did ye do?”

“I went to the gardens—my maither and my sister Lily had large gardens—and I searched for my maither’s reddest roses.

I took two of the blossoms, cut them up fine, and steeped them in water with a few drops of sheep’s blood for the smell.

Then, I spread the mix on the sheets, and when my husband came to bed me, I told him it wasnae possible because I was menstruating.

I showed him the sheets as proof, and he left me alone, none the wiser. ”

Jude choked, then doubled over, laughing harder than he could remember laughing in seasons. “Ye… ye tricked him… with rose petals? And he never…?”

Valerie shook her head, a wicked grin on her face.

“He never guessed. Of course, I made sure to look pale and sickly when I saw them off the next day. And the ruse would have been up when he came home, but as luck would have it, he was killed by a stray musket ball durin’ the raid, and I was a widow afore I had to reveal the truth. ”

“And nay one ever guessed?”

Valerie snickered. “Och, nay, my faither guessed soon enough. But instead of punishin’ me, he praised me for bein’ so quick-witted, and when I asked if I could travel with him, he agreed.

Said if I could keep my head, then I was a valuable asset—and better served as a member of his crew than a bargaining chip for marriage. ”

Jude shook his head, still chuckling. “I’m glad to ken I’m nae the only one ye’ve played yer tricks on—though ye wouldnae have needed to play that one on me.”

“Nay?” Valerie quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Aye. Ye ken… we cannae… I cannae…”

“I ken.” The mirth in Valerie’s expression turned into melancholy. Then, her gaze drifted past him, and she smiled sadly. “Och, the rain is ebbin’. We’ll need to head back now.”

Jude wanted to protest, wanted to pull her closer and tell her there was no reason to go back. But Valerie gave him no chance to do so.

With a single, soft, chaste kiss on his cheek, she rose, untangled herself gracefully from his cloak, and was gone, hurrying back out into the meadow and toward the waiting horses before he could gather his wits or his balance to make a single move.