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“Of course!” he replied at once, laughing. He looked down at his traveling clothes. “Good enough for riding,” he observed, then he grinned. “Lead the way, Milady.”
They mounted their horses, continuously, looking around for Lady Gibson, who would definitely have ordered a groom to ride with them, but they could see no sign of her anywhere.
They exchanged glances. “We looked for her,” Grace said, shrugging. She smiled innocently. “She didn't tell us we had to have a groom with us, so how were we to know?”
Fergus gave her a wicked grin. “Let’s go, then!”
Grace laughed, then urged her horse into a canter. In a few minutes, they were out of the castle and into the fresh air. They both whooped and howled, rejoicing in the cold, fresh wind and the taste of freedom.
They were unable to talk because of the rushing of the wind in their ears, but after they had leaped over a tiny burn and come to the top of a low hill, they stopped to rest the horses and look back at the castle.
Unlike Inverleck Castle, Dunisaig Castle looked like something out of a fairy tale. It was perfectly symmetrical, with a high, straight, tower in the middle, as well as one pointed tower at each corner. The crenelated outer walls of the castle, which were twenty feet high, kept any outsider from seeing the fortifications inside.
The castle had no moat, only a deep ditch impregnated with sharp wooden spikes, which would have been lethal to any enemy soldier or horseman. The drawbridge pulled up behind a mighty portcullis made of wide bands of thick iron and wood, each metal strip having sharp arrow-shaped points at the end.
It was a beautiful building, but it was also a mighty fortress.
“It’s so lovely,” Fergus observed. “But I would not like to be anyone trying to attack it!”
“It was besieged once,” Grace told him, “about two hundred years ago.”
“How long did the siege last?” Fergus asked curiously.
“Six months before the besiegers gave up,” she replied. “This castle was built for a siege; it has enormous stocks of food that will not spoil inside its stores, its own well, and twelve escape tunnels which run for a quarter of a mile outside the castle walls. The defenders were able to keep the castle supplied with fresh food through those tunnels, and many of the women and children managed to get away.”
“Fascinating,” Fergus said, gazing down at Dunisaig Castle in wonder. It was surrounded by trees on three sides, which faded into gentle green pastures where sheep and cattle grazed. They turned to the other side of the hill, where they saw more peaceful green fields, but these were interspersed here and there with small stone-built cottages. A stream ran along the foot of the slope, glittering in the sunlight.
Fergus dismounted from his horse, and reached out for Grace, intending to help her, but she had already climbed off. Just as her right foot touched the ground, however, her ankle turned on a sharp loose stone that was sticking out of the ground. She cried out in pain, and Fergus rushed to her side.
“Grace! What did you do?” he asked anxiously as he watched her agonized face.
Grace was standing on one leg, clutching her ankle, holding onto the saddle of her horse for support. “I turned my ankle on that stone,” she replied, grimacing as she pointed to it.
Fergus picked up the stone and threw it away, then knelt down to touch her ankle gently. “This might hurt,” he warned.
“Just feel what’s wrong,” she answered, tears of pain running down her face.
Fergus pressed as lightly as he could on her flesh, making a thorough examination of her ankle, but he could find no sign of a broken bone. He stood up and put an arm around her waist to support her. “I think it’s just sprained,” he told her. “You will have to ride home with me; you can’t ride sidesaddle with a bad ankle.”
Grace glared at the offending object. “That is the last time I use one of those silly things!” she growled. She hated the clumsy, unbalanced sidesaddle.
After tying her horse behind his, Fergus lifted her almost effortlessly onto his own horse so that she was sitting across the saddle in front of him. It was the most comfortable way for her to sit, he thought, almost the same as sitting on his lap.
She tucked her face under his chin as they rode along, savoring the warmth and security of his body. Her ankle was aching, the pain shooting up to her knee, but she tried her best to concentrate on leaning against Fergus and enjoying these few moments of peace and closeness.
Fergus knew he should be worried about Grace, and of course, he was, but he too was savoring her nearness, the gentle pressure of her soft womanly body against his. He was becoming uncomfortably aroused, and even though he knew it was selfish, he never wanted the journey to end.
They stayed silent, the only sound being the occasional moan of pain from Grace. At last, they arrived at the castle, however, and Fergus helped Grace off his horse and swept her into his arms to carry her up to her room.
The sensation of being rocked up and down in his arms was soothing in the extreme, and Grace was almost sorry when they entered her chamber, and Fergus put her down beside her bed. Grace was surprised that he had not laid her down on it, and was about to ask him why, but at that second, she found that he had something else in mind, something she had been dreaming about for years.
Fergus could not wait a moment longer. All during the ride home, he had been tormented by a desire so fierce and urgent. He had to put an end to his torment. Now he pulled Grace towards him, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her, not passionately, but gently, knowing that it was her first-ever kiss.
She tasted of wine and smelled of fresh air, a scent he loved. He gently inserted his tongue tip between her lips to stroke hers and felt her body jerk a little in surprise. Then she began to respond, imitating him, as she put her arms around his neck and pressed herself even closer to him.
Grace was in heaven. The moment that she had longed for, for years, had finally come, and it was even better than her fantasies. She had not expected his lips to be so soft, to caress hers so gently, and she had certainly not expected his tongue to be in her mouth! She wanted it to last forever, but of course, it had to end, and as they drew apart, she looked up into his deep blue eyes and shook her head in wonder. “Thank you, Fergus,” she whispered, then realized that she had completely forgotten about her pain.
“No, thankyou, Grace,” he replied, smiling at her lovingly. He leaned his forehead on hers for a moment, then picked her up and laid her tenderly on her bed. He took her boots off, then stood up. “I can’t be seen in here. I’ll go and fetch Crissy, and if you need more kisses to speed up your recovery, I’ll be here.”
