Chapter 5 #2
“After you”, she said with a gesture towards the entrance.
There was no way she was going in first so he could block her way out.
Come to think of it, what was she doing going into a cave at all with a man she didn’t even know?
But she knew he wouldn’t hurt her, well, at least not physically.
She had always had an innate ability to read most people, and their intentions, whether good or bad.
It was part of her heritage on her mother’s side, along with a few other minor abilities.
Nothing compared to what her grandmother had been able to do, though.
She knew Eian wanted her, but she also sensed he wouldn’t force her if she told him no.
He might be a womanizer, but he was at least honorable in that regard.
All she had to do was control her own hormones, and she’d be fine.
But oh, God she was sorely tempted. When he brushed past her to enter the cave, (on purpose, the bastard) her whole body tingled at the contact, and a warmth spread from deep in her belly, causing a throbbing sensation to start between her thighs.
Hoping he didn’t notice the hitch in her breath, Allia turned and followed, lifting her skirts out of the way and ducking into the narrow opening.
For the first twenty feet or so, they had to crouch down as they moved through the low ceilinged passage.
Eian held the torch in front of him and the shadows danced and flickered on the jagged walls of the cave.
Allia fervently hoped the light wouldn’t go out, because she had always been a bit claustrophobic, and she didn’t want to end up panicking in front of Eian if it went dark.
She looked furtively over her shoulder. As long as she could still see daylight from the opening, she was OK.
The tunnel narrowed even further, and it started to feel as if the walls were closing in around her.
Maybe she should go back. What if they got stuck?
No one would ever find them… she stopped in her tracks, suddenly afraid to go any further.
But then she saw Eian stand up to his full height not far in front of her, his head and shoulders disappearing from view.
“Bloody hell”, he mumbled under his breath, holding the torch higher to look around. The words echoed dully in what must be a much larger space than what she could see.
A few more steps and she reached the cavern. “Oh my God…”
It was beautiful! If she had had the nerve to go just a little further when she was a child, she would have known…
The passage opened up to a large room with a ceiling that soared thirty or forty feet overhead.
A narrow fissure high above let in a dim glow of daylight.
The floor was smooth and hard with packed dirt and gravel, with a few smallish boulders strewn around.
And at the far end… she drew in a reverent breath…
a clear, shimmering pool. And above it was a cascade of water flowing out of the stone, hugging the wall and slipping almost silently into the pool below.
It was as if they were in another world.
They both stood there silently for a moment, looking around in wonderment. Then Eian carefully wedged the torch between two rocks and began exploring in earnest. Dipping his hand in the pool, he turned to Allia and grinned wickedly.
“What do ye say lass, we take off all of our clothes and go for a swim?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t think so. At least not with you here.”
He laughed. “I swear that one day, I’ll have ye in that pool naked with me, and I’ll…”
“In your dreams”, she interrupted.
“Oh Aye, there too. But in my experience it’s usually much better when I’m awake.” Though not recently, he thought… for the past two nights his dreams had been so much better than anything he’d ever known… how was he supposed to go back to ordinary tupping now?
Allia desperately needed to change the subject.
“Didn’t you come here to collect some rocks?
No wait, ‘rare stones’, you said.” She watched him carefully and caught the brief look of confusion crossing his face.
He hid it so quickly that a less perceptive person would never have noticed.
Just as she thought, he had lied about the rocks.
But then why bring her into the cave? And why did he happen have a torch with him, if he didn’t intend to go in? It didn’t add up.
“Oh. Aye. The stones.” He crossed the length of the cavern and studiously knelt to gather a few stones, his long hair falling over his face. “I have them.” he said a bit too brightly as he stood up again.
“Let me see…” she reached him just as he was about to slip the stones into his sporran.
She caught his hand, and a jolt of awareness ran through her at the contact, almost taking her breath.
She knew he felt it too, because he flinched and stiffened ever so slightly.
Ignoring it as best she could, she pried open his fingers, then looked up at him accusingly. “These are just ordinary limestone.”
Damn, the lass knew about rocks. What were the odds?
Eian shook his head and gave her his best crooked smile.
“No, they arena. Only look like it.” He closed his fist around the rocks and put them in his sporran anyway, then stepped away as if he were still looking around, annoyed to have been caught in a mistruth when he wanted the lass to trust him, at least until he had tupped her once or twice.
She was too smart for her own good, but thankfully she didn’t argue further about the stones.
The torch was burning low, and they needed to leave.
He would have to come back here later to search more closely for the charm, because he couldn’t really do so with Allia here.
And he couldn’t even try to kiss her before they left because he had said he wouldn’t touch her while they were in the cave.
He hadn’t said anything about after they came back out.
“Are you ready to go lass?” Eian pulled the torch from between the rocks, and as he did so, he caught a glimpse of something shining in the flickering light.
It was lying on the floor of the cave, half covered in a layer of dust. He kicked it loose with his boot, and saw that it was some sort of amulet…
or charm. Glancing nonchalantly over his shoulder he saw that Allia had yet to turn away from the pool, so he leaned over and picked up the object.
It was warm and heavy in his hand. And more than that, it felt almost alive with a soft hum of power.
Magic. Someone, at some time, had cast magic into the small metal object.
He slipped it into his sporran with the useless stones, his heart beating faster.
Was it the charm he had just found? Did it really exist, after all?
If so, he could go home now. Home… the thought tore at him, and he turned to look at the lass, who was dipping her fingers into the water, looking for all the world like some otherworldly water nymph contemplating a swim.
Or a Siren, by the way his cock swelled even further at the sight of her like that.
Perhaps he could stay at Lochain just a little longer…
Back at the entrance of the cave, Allia stood and looked down the hill to the castle in the near distance.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at it with a weary sigh.
She wished she could stay away longer, but she had probably already been missed and would be in enough trouble as it was.
She wasn’t looking forward to going back.
She looked to Eian, who had followed her out and was now watching her with that same hungry gaze.
She had another crazy urge to throw herself into his arms and kiss him senseless.
Now where did that come from? The impulse felt almost…
instinctual. Maybe it was just her fertile time of the month.
Hormones and a super-hot guy could definitely do that to a girl.
And there was also the fact she was currently way out of her comfort zone.
She shook herself, glad she was informed enough about biology and psychology to know what must be going on.
He reached up and wiped at her cheek with his thumb. “Ye have a smudge of dirt, just there.”
She took a backwards step away from him. “Thank you.”
No doubt that wasn’t the reaction he expected from her, because his lips pressed into a line as if he was trying to figure out her game, and the rules were unfamiliar. Well, her rules would be, wouldn’t they?
“You’ll have to wait for me to get all the way down before you follow”, she told him. “I don’t know what will happen if we’re seen together.”
Eian shrugged and gave her another one of those knee-weakening smiles. “Everyone will assume we were up here making love in the heather, of course.”
He was trying to fluster her, and damn if it wasn’t working.
“I know that. What I don’t know is what my uncle will do about it, and I’m not sure you want to find out.
Now do as I say and wait here. I mean it!
” God, her nerves were making her much bolder than she would otherwise be, but she kind of liked it.
Just as she liked the bewildered expression Eian couldn’t quite hide.