Broken Highlander's Blood Oath Page 5

  Donan watched Analise’s face and he was caught in the fact that she looked as if she were about to joyously unwrap a Michaelmas gift. He kept his body still, trying to find the feelings that should be terribly embarrassing, yet he felt nothing like that at all.

  He was trying to piss, by God, and he shamefully needed his woman to help him. It was not absolutely true that he needed assistance, but the helpless and emasculating act should feel humiliating and not bloody erotic and carnal. His woman? Where the bloody hell had that thought come from?

  “Oh, Donan, your cock is beautiful!”

  Analise’s spirited exclamation brought Donan’s gaze down to his flaccid shaft curled over his thigh. Bared and limp for all to see. It was then the miracle occurred. He’d never expected it again in his life and was stunned when she grasped his cock in her small hands.

  Christ’s blood, his cock responded instantly and it had nothing to do with pissing.

  “Oh, Donan.” Analise’s voice was feminine and husky as she held his stiffening erection in her palms.

  Donan tried to clear his throat. To somehow get back on the path of his plan, which was leaping wildly astray once again. But of course the lusty male rising in him was too riveted to the feel of Analise’s soft hand holding his hardening shaft. How the hell was a man supposed to think?

  A flush swept to Analise’s breasts, aching in the tips of her nipples, then down to her belly and lower, as she gazed at Donan’s cock. It was large and long, at first slack, yet when she'd bravely reached out to grasp it, it immediately began to grow in her hand. She gasped, feeling giddy and aroused. She began a downward slide with her hand, watching the velvety skin move to uncover the silken head. The thickening heat of the shaft throbbed on her palm.

  “Are you sure you wanna do this, imp?” Donan asked, through his clenched teeth.

  He'd never expected Analise to be so forthright as to lay her hands on his cock and he watched fascinated as her small hands circled his shaft. The moment she'd touched it, she moaned slightly and he could feel his erection throbbing as she brought the jug to the head and was barely able to push it inside the small opening.

  Biting down harder on his teeth, he managed to suppress a groan as Analise, who looked flushed, quite seriously asked, “Am I doing it wrong, my lord?”

  “Nay, sweet imp, you are doing it very well, exactly right and I’ll thank you kindly when I’m finished if you would shake it a bit for me.” Stroke it was what he was really thinking ... and praying for. Gone astray, was not the words for his collapsing plan.

  “Whatever for?” Analise asked as her fingers caressed his shaft, causing him to tense.

  “It’s a man’s act.” It was all Donan could answer, as he tried to keep his lips from pulling into a lustful grimace that was nothing less than pure pleasure. His erection had other ideas as it twitched and pulsed.

  Now was the most difficult part as he tried to piss through his erection's pulsating lust. He finally managed it and he wouldn't believe it, were he not living it, but even the act of pissing with Analise’s wee hands trying to circle his shaft was carnal.

  It took all of his willpower to leave his plan and not let Analise shake him off and do even more. As he wondered mightily if she would do more? Nay! He was lame and she was free. He’d not take advantage of her even though he knew he could. And she’d offered so freely. He had to make her understand. It was the only honorable thing to be doing.

  At times he despised honor, yet it was a large part of who he was and had always been. This time his plan had gone astray, but the next time this morning she had to help him, it would be glaring back at her in a long line of things Analise would have to do to help him.

  “Aye, lass, I can finish the rest,” he muttered, grasping his erection from Analise’s too eager hands. “You take the jug and empty it, and then bring back some water, using the hide pouch on my saddle.”

  Chapter Seven

  Analise was very happy, she'd been able to help Donan that morning with everything, until they came to his stallion. That was the helping Donan up on his stallion part to be exact, which she now viewed as impossible. Besides helping Donan relieve himself she'd helped him wash, comb his hair, and scrape the bristle from his face with only one nick.

  They’d eaten some bread and cheese that he’d carried in his pack, and he'd even managed to nearly smile once or twice, chiseling his dark good looks to even further handsomeness, which made her sigh, while feeling those tingles again.

  Only now ... now, it was all for naught because she was confused and twice as afraid to let Donan see how dim-witted she was.

  Donan watched Analise twist her fingers together as if she was nervous, while she unconsciously hummed a hauntingly familiar tune. Despite his attempt to force her to accept the hardships of his life, through all the small indignities and the large obstacles, she had surprised him by aiding him in every way with a beautiful smile.

  Throughout the morning she'd seemed determined to prove herself, and he was fast losing his desire to distress her with his handicap. Yet now she'd suddenly changed and become nervous.

  It was his stallion, he was sure of it. Everything had been fair, until he'd explained to Analise how he intended to get up on Xavier’s back. She stood before him quite obviously worried. Her delicate eyebrows were furrowed, while the depth of blue in her eyes held a lost look that seemed nearly fearful.

  “Little nightingale, come here,” he said with a gentle voice.

  Analise’s gaze cleared, but then she hung her head and fastened her eyes on her toes, beginning to speak slowly, “My papa used to call us that. His two little nightingales, he would say.” She took two hesitant steps forward, peeking at him from beneath her golden lashes. “I mean our real father. His hair was the color of sunflower petals. He would laugh ... I remember the rumble in my ear when he held me and laughed.” Two more steps and she was standing next to his outstretched legs, near his knees. “He told me it was all right to be afraid of his horse and he was certain with time I would grow surer of myself and cease being afraid. Only papa could never have known about Armand.”

  Donan clasped Analise’s wrist and pulled gently, until she floated down onto his lap as he tried to divine the meaning of her hesitant confession. He had inklings, but for the moment he cared more to just hold her. Aye, he wanted to hold her until she no longer looked so lost or fearful. But at the same time he had to admit to himself his plan wasn't going to work. He was going to have to help her and she was going to have to help him.

  Analise was a gentle lady who'd been forced to witness the harsh cruelty of men, and yet she remained true to her own sense of honor. Donan thought not many maids would have been able to withstand those torments, and yet Analise retained the essence of her true upbringing. It tore at his heart as he listened to her confession that she feared horses. A fear compounded by that bastard Armand.

  Donan stroked Analise’s silky golden tresses as she laid her cheek to his chest with a sigh and he rested his chin on top of her head. Then, he arrived at a purpose. “Did you know my stallion’s name is Xavier?” His chin moved with Analise’s response as he tightened his arms about her. “He bows to ladies—”

  Before he could finish, Analise responded quickly making him smile, and astutely lift his chin out of the way as she raised her head in disbelief.

  “No, truly?” Her voice held the breathless surprise of an inquisitive child as she studied his face as if by hard scrutiny she could judge the truth.

  “Aye, lass, turn and watch.” Donan helped Analise turn a bit in his lap, then he voiced the command that he had taught Xavier to approach. “S’advancer!”

  The black stallion stepped toward them, choosing that moment to snort, which sent Analise twisting and burrowing into his chest. “Oh!” she squeaked.

  Donan needed no further evidence that she was afraid of his bold stallion and he couldn't blame her, in this instance, because this type of war horse was bred for their girth and si
ze and fearsome aspect. Xavier had been trained as a warhorse and had served him well in many battles, especially the last battle where he was felled from Xavier’s back. Shancy had told the story many times of how Xavier had stood guard over his Master's broken and bleeding body, until Shancy could reach them.

  Nevertheless, since then Xavier had been retrained in a much different method, until Donan had to admit that Xavier was no more than a beloved pet. His fierceness was gone, for the sake of the more practical need to serve his crippled Master, and now he was no more than an overgrown pup.

  “Révérence!” Donan commanded.

  His voice was clear and firm, and Xavier didn't hesitate, he went down in a one legged bow placing his sable nose in Analise’s lap. She fairly choked him about the neck, but dared to peek at Xavier’s docile head bent to her purple skirts, with his big brown eyes looking so hopeful.

  “He likes you, little nightingale.” Donan unwound one of Analise’s arms, then taking her small hand in his, he drew it near to Xavier’s velvet nose. “Pet him and see. His nose is soft as silk.”

  Analise didn't protest when Donan placed her hand on Xavier’s nose, and then drawing it further over his head, her fingers unconsciously curling into his rich coat. Moments later, she was giggling from the tickle of the stallion’s tongue as Donan showed her how to feed Xavier a lump of hard sugar.

  “He really likes me,” she whispered in reverent surprise as she looked at Donan with clear blue eyes, no longer lost or confused.

  “Aye, I knew he would,” Donan agreed with a smile as he gave the command for Xavier to rise, watching Analise closely for any sign of fear, when the black stallion lumbered to his feet.

  “Now, lass, do you think you can take him to the stream for a drink?”

  Analise nodded. “Do I just take his reins?”

  “Aye, imp, he’ll follow you like a pup, while I watch you both from here.”

  Analise stood and gingerly took Xavier’s reins. Xavier obliged by nuzzling the side of her head and moved forward making her laugh and raise her free hand to pet the side of his neck. “Oh, you’re just a big babe, aren’t you,” she cooed.

  Donan rested back on his elbows, watching the huge black stallion and lovely wee maid walking together. He wondered if Analise’s supposed simple thinking had any link to fear. Fear of the unknown and fear of the real demons of her world. Although, he’d be damned if he thought of her as simple at all.

  By the time Analise came back with Xavier she was nearly dancing with delight beside the huge black mammoth and Donan had conceived of another way to get back up on Xavier’s back. Aye, and he might not make a muck of it, or a fool of himself doing it.

  Analise nervously bit at her thumb as she watched Donan use his powerful arms to pull himself over to Xavier, who was bowed down again. Grabbing the stallion’s glossy black mane, Donan rucked himself partway up Xavier’s massive front haunches.

  “Now, Analise, pull my leg up and over.”

  Analise moved quickly to Donan’s side to do his bidding. Grasping his thigh, she realized that she couldn't circle it with both her hands, and it seemed that his leg was stiffer when bound in the hide leggings as it was. Still, from his knee to heel bent when it wasn't supposed to, until she grabbed his heel to control it. Then it was a tug of war that took a few moments, before his leg slid over the hard leather saddle onto the other side.

  Donan stoically watched Analise struggling with her face etched in determination. He couldn't help but feel a certain admiration for her tenacity. Not the face of simplemindedness at all, he thought. “You’ll be needing to tie one of those straps or I will fall clear off when Xavier rises.”

  It was going to work; Donan could feel it in his bones. He should have thought of this before, but he’d only taught Xavier to bow as a trick and rarely used the feat. If not for Analise, he'd never have thought of it. Excitement rolled in his belly. It had been five years since he'd been able to mount his stallion without the help of two stout men.

  “Do you have it tied, lass?”

  “Aye,” Analise said, as she stood back to examine her crookedly tied bow. It was the only kind she knew how to tie.

  “Easy now,” Donan murmured in Xavier’s ear as he tried to turn his head to see Analise but couldn't. “Ah well then, Analise, step back and we will have a go at it,” Donan said, and his deep voice couldn't hide his excitement. Would not Shancy have been surprised to have witnessed his big brother doing this with only a wee lass' help, he thought as he gave the command.

  “Hausser!”

  Analise remained nearby, and she stood with her hands stretched outward as if she could balance the feat taking place in front of her by her sheer will alone. She seemed frozen in time as she watched Xavier rising up onto his forelegs with a smooth jerk, lifting his heavy weight and Donan’s combined. Donan stretched up over Xavier’s neck with his arms outstretched to straighten his body, as he was jostled right, then left, then—

  Analise squealed as she saw her hide bow tie tightening, then lose the battle and unravel. “Oh no, Donan! No!”

  Donan couldn't feel that the strap wasn't holding, but suddenly the inevitability of a fall he couldn't stop sent his body tumbling to the left, and it kept going. Analise’s cry warned him and luckily the buckle rings on his side loosened when the pressure came from the inside and not the outside. It freed his leg or else he’d have been hanging off Xavier’s side with a broken leg.

  As it was, he fell free and hit the compact dirt of the crofter hut’s floor with a muffled thud, landing on his left side and shoulder. He felt that, the bracing swift pain of contact, but he'd taken many falls in the past five years and he rolled onto his back.

  Jesu, he'd nearly done it, Donan thought, and then he began to laugh.

  Analise’s eyes were squeezed tight in horror and shock as tears painfully forced their way out. Donan was dead or dying! She was certain and the thought of it broke her fragile heart as a deep rumbling sound started on the other side of Xavier. Was Donan in a fit? Was he dying in some horrible twitching fit, she wondered with terror. She was afraid to look, yet if he was alive and dying slowly, she needed to hold him.

  Shaking, Analise peeked around Xavier’s tail. She couldn't see Donan’s face, but his broad shoulders were twitching. Oh no! Suddenly she felt strange, a freakishness that she'd felt many times before and abruptly her mind went starry. She began humming a tune she could barely hear in the distance. It was her papa, out in the sunflowers, and if she ran fast enough this time mayhap she would see him!

  It dawned on Donan slowly through his mirth that Analise had not moved to his side. This thought sobered him as he pushed upright calling her name.

  “The wee lass skipped out toward the stream, you great laughing goat.”

  Donan turned his dark head to see Shancy standing straight with his hands perched on his lean hips. He should have known Shancy wouldn't leave, but— “Skipping?”

  “Aye, brother, skipping in those pretty purple skirts. She’s a fey vision that one.”

  Donan swallowed back the hot flash of jealousy that suddenly gripped him. It was just his brother making a fair assessment, he told himself, and wasn’t that what was needed in the end was for Shancy to wed Analise, because he was the stronger man. Donan grimaced.

  “Fetch her back now!” Donan ordered a bit gruffly. “And be gentle. She is delicate.”

  Donan’s scowl belayed his tender words as Shancy smirked with a jaunty tilt of his tawny head. “Aye, brother, I’ll fetch the colleen. It is foolish for all of us to linger with Lord Armand about.”

  However a long time later, Shancy still hadn't found the golden-haired colleen. She'd vanished and he didn't look forward to telling Donan this. His brother might find enough good nature to laugh because he’d fell off his horse attempting to get up on him. It was to Donan’s credit that he'd learned to overcome adversity that way. But losing Lady Analise? Och now, that was a very different thing entirely.

  “W
hat do you mean you cannot find her?” Donan was roaring in a fair imitation of a cornered tiger they’d seen near Jerusalem as Shancy helped him up onto Xavier using the same trick Donan had tried earlier.

  “Just what I said, you deaf goat!” Shancy shoved Donan’s leg in place none too gently and he began to work on the straps as Donan cursed a fair bloody streak into his ear.

  Chapter Eight

  It came to Analise after a time that she was lost and cold and it had started to rain. It was raining in a gentle way that soaked her purple skirts through to her under-shift. She wondered where Donan was. Surely he wouldn't leave her? Not her beloved lord.

  It was then she remembered him falling from his stallion and she shivered anew when she recalled thinking that he was dead or at least dying.

  “How silly can I be?” she admonished, as she picked her way down a barely discernible path in the forest of trees around her. The leafy rich ferns nearly covered the trodden ground, but she walked on, hoping it would lead somewhere.

  “So silly as to believe Donan could have died over a mere fall,” Analise sang to the rain-heavy tree boughs that she passed.

  She laughed and hummed a gay tune, knowing that Donan could not have died over a simple fall. Nay, her beloved was alive and well, she was sure of it. She didn't understand where her dim-witted notions came from, yet this one she was glad to pass off into the netherworld of foolishness. Only now, she must find him because he would be warm and hold her close in his arms. Then they could laugh together over how silly she was.

  Donan held himself more motionless than all the living breathing things in the forest around him. He sat astride Xavier and let his senses expand, listening with his heart, his mind, and all his soul. It was a warrior's trick or discipline; the expanding of senses. He felt the light breeze pushing the hair on his collar. He smelled the pine and earthy moss around him. He felt Xavier’s heat, where his palms pressed into the stallion’s neck, and then he heard it. Faint, but still—