Chapter 8
Laura was so startled that she froze for a moment, but the pressure of Nicholas’s body against her soon made her melt into him.
She unconsciously wound her arms around his neck and thrust her hips forward against him, feeling the long ridge of his arousal pressing against her belly.
It sent a jolt of desire through her that was so strong that she let out a long, trembling moan.
He smelled of leather, ale, and something else—the essence of his masculinity, and every womanly instinct within her was telling her to give herself to him.
For a few glorious moments nothing else existed but the two of them. The world had condensed to the size of their bodies, which were pressed against each other in clenched, heated passion.
After a moment, the kiss became gentler, and Nicholas caressed Laura’s lips with his own, then parted her lips and stroked her tongue with his. She responded in kind, and soon they were fighting a sensual duel as they drove each other further and further into a sensual daze.
Laura’s whole being was throbbing with desire as she thrust against him, moving her hips from side to side, hearing Nicholas moaning with pleasure.
Then, abruptly, awareness slammed into her.
‘What am I doing? I cannot be kissing this horrible man!’ she thought angrily, then she pushed Nicholas away as hard as she could and wrenched herself out of his arms.
“Do not touch me!” Laura’s voice was high and furious, her eyes blazing with rage, and she only just managed to stop herself from slapping his perfect face. “You have no right!”
“I did not hear you complaining a moment ago,” Nicholas growled, then he gave her a strange look that was half-smile, half-frown.
“And I would have every right to hold and kiss you if you were my wife. The baby needs both a mother and a father, after all. I could give you my name, security and safety.”
“I do not want a man who only marries me out of duty!” Laura yelled furiously. “I want a real husband, a man who loves me and whom I can love in return. And you are certainly not that man!”
She pushed past Nicholas then opened the door and left, slamming it behind her. He could have stopped her easily, she thought, but he had just stepped aside without even trying.
Laura was almost stamping down the corridor to the nursery, so blinded by fury that she did not see Charlotte coming towards her, and only realised she was there when she heard her name being called.
“Laura!” Charlotte stopped a few feet in front of her and looked at her quizzically. “You look dreadful! What is wrong?”
Laura had been lost in angry thought, and now she jerked to a stop and looked around her, then sighed with relief as she saw the woman who had become her friend gazing at her with concern in her eyes.
“I just had an argument with that infuriating man Nick,” she said furiously.
“He wants me to marry him, not because he loves me, of course!” She barked out a cynical laugh.
“But because he thinks he should protect the baby.” She deliberately refrained from telling Charlotte about the kiss, reasoning that it would only make things even more complicated.
“That is an honourable thing to do, surely?” Charlotte asked, frowning. “He is taking responsibility for his child.”
“I don’t care for him,” Laura replied. “I hate him! And he certainly feels nothing for me. If we married, there would be no love between us and he would simply go back to doing what he does now—bedding any woman who takes his fancy. I don’t want a marriage like that. I want to love and be loved.”
Charlotte studied her for a long moment. “Laura, for someone who claims not to care about Nick, you seem very affected by him. I advise you to think over his proposal. Perhaps you could find a way to make it work.” She patted Laura’s shoulder then smiled and walked away.
Laura watched her until she turned a corner and passed out of her sight, then sighed deeply and continued towards the nursery, feeling angry and confused. She was utterly helpless in this place, and for the hundredth time she asked herself how she had managed to make such a mess of her life.
When Laura reached the nursery she carefully took the baby out of the crib.
Little Andrew settled immediately into her arms at once as if he knew how much she needed his comfort, and for a few moments perfect peace settled over her, soothing her troubled spirits.
Then she looked down into the tiny face and realised that if she stayed in the castle this little boy would be her responsibility, and she would have to look after him forever.
But how? She had hardly any resources and she could not depend on the charity of these good-hearted people forever.
She needed to earn a living somehow, and she could not do that if she stayed in Cairnlochan unless she became a chambermaid or something similar.
She had no objection to hard work, but she doubted that she, an upper-class Englishwoman, would ever be accepted by the ordinary people of Cairnlochan.
As well as that, Laura knew that she was becoming too attached to little Andrew.
He had stolen her heart, and she would be infinitely sad to leave him, but leave she must, she realised.
He deserved a better mother than Laura Whitcombe, a sad creature who had been rejected by those closest to her and had nowhere to call home.
Laura realised that leaving without the baby would be one of the hardest things she had ever had to do, but it had to be done for the good of the child and for her own sake.
She simply could not bear to be around Nicholas Munro any longer: her feelings for him were too conflicted.
On one hand her body longed for him—he was temptation personified, but he had reviled and insulted her, offering her marriage on the most demeaning of terms.
Now, Laura realised she could not put her departure off any longer.
She had delayed long enough, and the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to go.
She blinked tears out of her eyes, then, with one last loving look at the tiny face she had come to love, Laura whispered: “Goodbye, my lovely boy. Have a good life.” Then she kissed his forehead and stood up.
She placed him back in his little crib and left without looking back.
She went to her chamber and pulled on her cloak and stuffed the last gold jewellery in her pockets.
With nothing else, she slipped into the corridors looking around her to make sure that Nicholas was nowhere in sight.
The last thing she needed now was to be confronted by him again.
However, the thought of him brought back the sweet sensation of his lips on hers, and her steps faltered before she pulled herself together.
She had more important things to think about, such as where she was going to stay overnight, where she was going to sell her remaining jewellery and how much money she was going to get for it.
‘How long can I go on like this?’ she thought desperately, but she could see no answer. The future looked infinitely bleak.
When she reached the stables, Laura strode inside and looked around.
It seemed luck was with her when she found a horse that was already saddled.
She was infinitely relieved, since she had not wished to attract attention by asking for a mount to be prepared for her.
The horse, a big chestnut mare, looked powerful.
Laura had seen her galloping around the castle and knew she had a turn of speed that few of the stallions could match.
It was this quality that Laura valued most at that moment.
She had decided not to go to the village, since she reasoned that it would be the first place anyone would think of searching for her—if they bothered to search at all, she thought cynically. Why should they? She was of no earthly use to anyone.
Laura had decided to head for the nearest big town, which was Inverness, but it was all of thirty miles away, and she knew she would have to spend the night in a tavern.
The thought of this terrified her after her experience with Crowley, but there was nothing else she could do.
It was either that or sleep in a barn or under a bush.
Laura urged the mare into a gallop as soon as she left the castle; she needed to cover as much distance as she could as quickly as possible. Hopefully the further away she went, the less her heart would ache for the loss of little Andrew and a certain despicable captain.
Nicholas was too angry to sit still, so he decided to take out his rage on the person whom he deemed to have caused it—Laura’s champion. Accordingly, he ordered one of his men to summon the man to the courtyard, where he would hopefully show him who the real champion was!
As soon as he saw Nicholas, the young man’s face fell. He was not sure what he had done wrong, but from the thunderous look on his Captain’s face, he knew it must be something dire. He saluted, then waited while Nicholas looked him up and down, frowning deeply.
“You won the bout you had yesterday,” Nicholas said. “To impress the ladies?”
“Aye, Sir,” Duncan replied, puzzled. “I did.”
“You were training,” Nicholas said angrily. “You should not have been showing off!”
Duncan shifted uneasily. “An’ what was I tae dae, Sir?” he asked. “I couldnae disobey the ladies, an’ ye didnae tell me no’ tae fight. I was just followin’ orders.”
Nicholas realised that he was right, and felt utterly foolish.
He had not countermanded Fenella’s and Eleanor’s instructions, and now he had made himself look like an idiot.
He glared at Duncan, but even though he knew he ought to have been acknowledging that the fellow was right, he could not bear to say it out loud.
“Fight with me,” Nicholas ordered. “We have never had a contest before, and you are obviously a worthy opponent, so don’t hold back. Fight as hard as you can and I will do the same.”
Duncan nodded. “I always dae, Sir,” he said.
A moment later they were facing each other, each looking into the other’s eyes fiercely in order to intimidate their opponent before the first blow was struck.
Nicholas was the first to move, charging at his adversary with both fists upraised, but Duncan, although not so powerfully built, was nimble and quick. He sidestepped so that Nicholas’s blow went wide, then swung around and attempted to strike him on the point of his jaw.
Nicholas ducked at the last second, his rage rising to boiling point. A few of the guards had gathered around to watch, and he was determined not to disgrace himself, so he righted himself and faced Duncan again, his face set in lines of grim determination.
The first blow that landed came from Nicholas, a swift, hard uppercut that caught Duncan under the chin and sent him reeling backwards into the arms of two of the other men. They caught him and saved him from collapsing to the stone flags, then let him go, dazed and stumbling.
Nicholas felt a surge of triumph and was about to take advantage of his enemy’s weakness to strike again, but at that moment he was distracted by the thunder of hoofbeats.
A horse was galloping over the drawbridge and out of the castle.
Later, he would not know why he had done it, but some instinct made Nicholas whip around to see who was riding out.
His eyes widened in shock when he saw Laura, her cloak flying behind her in the wind of her speed, and he let out a roar.
Then, for a few seconds he froze, staring after her, then he turned and pushed his incredulous opponent out of his way.
Fury and fear lent him speed as he bounded along the corridor and sprinted to the stables to fetch his mount.
“Get my horse!” he yelled to the nearest stable hand.
The boy rushed away to do his bidding, terrified by the look of rage on Nicholas’s face.
He was back in less than a minute, leading the big stallion by its reins and carrying a saddle, but before he could put it on, Nicholas leapt onto the horse’s back.
He kicked the horse’s sides, urging him into a gallop, and was thundering out of the castle before anyone could stop him.
As he watched Laura’s distant figure, Nicholas’s heart was hammering, not only with rage because she was trying to escape from him, but with fear for Laura’s safety.
She was the mother of his child, but that was not the only reason he had to bring her back: she had rejected him, and his pride was hurt - he was not accustomed to being pushed away.
But there was another cause for his need to possess her, although he could hardly bear to admit it to himself.
He spurred the stallion on until they were going at breakneck speed. Laura was not going to get away while he was alive to stop her!