Redemption (Book Two of the Shipwrecked Series) (10 page)

The boy swiftly
translated Quinn’s words and Adahy’s eyebrows knit together into a scowl. 
Quinn watched as Inola’s eyes flittered across the ground.  Her grip was
tighter on Adahy’s knee and this indicated to Quinn that she was very
uncomfortable with their topic of conversation.  She knew that Mairi was not
her baby and Quinn was certain that he saw the distinct shadow of guilt on her
face.

“Inola is her
mother now,” Adahy said sternly and placed his hand atop hers in reassurance.

“Nay.  Sarah is
her mother.  Sarah doesna want her baby to be an outcast as she has been.  She
has lived her life not belonging with your people and also not belonging with
her own mother’s people.  She has been an outlier and doesna want the same fate
for her baby.  She wants her daughter back.”

The boy translated
Quinn’s heated words into the Cherokee language and Quinn waited.

“She wants to stay
with my people,” Quinn added softly.

“Your people are
murderers, takers of life.  We should kill you now,” Adahy said angrily,
scowling with hatred as he regarded Quinn from across the fire.  His body
language had changed and his muscles were tense now with anger.

“The English are
not my people!” Quinn asserted firmly, his expression of anger now mirroring
Adahy’s.  Adrenaline coursed through his veins as the conversation now turned
towards dangerous territory.

“
My
people
have much in common with your people,” Quinn began with restrained rage evident
in his trembling voice.  “The English bastards took everything from me.  They
killed my woman,” Quinn said, his voice trembling with rage.

His eyes followed
Adahy’s as they flashed protectively towards Inola.  He loved her and Quinn’s
words made him contemplate this love.

“They killed my
people, slaughtered my family and burned down my home.  They put me on a ship
and transported me here tae yer lands as a slave.  I am NOT English,” Quinn
affirmed, eyes wild now.  “I understand the plight of yer people because they
have done tae me what they are doing tae ye now.  I live and breathe tae seek
revenge on them. Tae pay them back for all that they have taken from me.”

The boy began to
translate Quinn’s heated words and as he spoke, Adahy nodded in seeming
approval.

“They have taken
much from us,” Adahy admitted.  He was pleased to discover that the bear killer
was not English.

“Heal this injury
between my family and yours.  Give me the babe,” Quinn demanded.  “We can move
forward as allies against the English if ye will heal this wound.”

Adahy’s eyes
flashed to the boy, who moved quickly to translate.  Inola looked up at Adahy
now and whispered something into his ear.

Quinn began again,
not wishing to lose the momentum of his argument.  “In my homeland of Scotland, the bear is a symbol of strength and virility,” Quinn lied handily.  There were
no bears in Scotland. “My people believe that if you eat the heart of the bear
and sleep beneath his skin with your woman, you will have many sons.”

The boy translated
Quinn’s words.  Adahy raised an eyebrow.  He looked interested.

“I have killed
this bear for ye, for ye and Inola as a gift.  I mean it as an offering of
peace between our people.  Give me the baby and I will lead ye tae the bear so
that ye can take his hide and make many sons with yer wife.”

Adahy nodded in
understanding and looked down tenderly at Inola.  Tears had spilled from her
almond shaped eyes and now stained her round cheeks.  Adahy looked at her with
great love in his heart.  He knew that she wanted children.  She wanted her own
children.  The bear killer was offering her another chance.

“We accept your
gift,” Adahy said as he reached over and took Inola’s hand in his.  “Tonight
you will stay in our village and tomorrow you will take me to the bear.”

..ooOoo..

Inola placed Mairi
gently into Quinn’s arms and smiled softly as she watched the look of love
spread over the massive warrior’s face.  It had been wrong to take Sarah’s
baby.  Inola’s heart was happy that this wrong had been righted.  She was
content now that the baby was in the hands of this man who loved her so much.

Quinn’s heart
bloomed with joy as he held tiny Mairi in his large, work-hardened hands.  She
was so small and fragile and yet she held such great promise for the future in
her tiny being.  Her eyes were closed in tranquil slumber and her dark
eyelashes rested on her round cheeks.  She was beautiful.  She was perfect. 
And, she was his. 

Quinn placed a
light kiss on Mairi’s forehead and tucked her into the crook of his arm. 
Moving towards his warmth, Mairi cuddled into his chest and began to nuzzle
him, searching for food.  Quinn chuckled softly and brushed the side of her
lovely face with his index finger.

His eyes flashed
to Inola and he raised his eyebrows in question as he pointed down at the
nuzzling infant.  Unable to communicate in the Cherokee tongue, Quinn shrugged
his shoulders to indicate that he could not help Mairi with her predicament.

Inola nodded and
smiled in understanding.  She reached out to take the baby from Quinn,
indicating that she would take the baby to be fed.

Quinn hesitated
and placed his hand protectively over Mairi, not wishing to let her out of his
sight.  He had just recently gotten her back and could not bear to go through
the torment of being separated from her again.

Inola smiled
knowingly and motioned for Quinn to follow her.  They ducked into a dwelling
that was filled with women and children.  Quinn immediately felt out of place. 
The women began to chatter and giggle, causing Quinn to smile nervously.  He
wished that he could understand what they were saying.

One of the women
reached for Mairi and Quinn hesitantly relinquished her to the woman’s waiting
hands.  She loosened the tie that secured the top of her buckskin dress and
bared a pendulous breast.  In one swift movement, she brought Mairi to her
breast and the tiny mouth found what it had been searching for.  Mairi latched
onto the woman’s breast and began to suck hungrily, making small sounds of
suction with her tiny lips.

Quinn felt color
rise on his face.  He knew that breastfeeding was perfectly natural, but here
he was with a group full of women that he did not know, staring at a woman’s
breast.  This was too much.  He cleared his throat and ducked out of the
dwelling and into the crisp night air.

Taking a moment to
collect himself, he raked a hand through his unbound hair and let out the
breath that he had been holding.  He looked up at the night sky and said a
quick prayer of gratitude.  He prayed to God, to Mairi, to whoever would
listen.  He had Sarah’s sweet baby back and he could go home tomorrow. 

Quinn felt alive
and full of purpose for the first time in a long time.  He felt as though his
heart was beginning to mend.

..ooOoo..

Sarah trailed her
soft black hair down Quinn’s taught abdominal muscles.  She tormented him with
the sweet feeling of her warm breath and placed kisses against the sensitive
skin of his belly.  It had been so long since someone had touched him.  It had
been so incredibly long since he had allowed a woman to touch him like this.

The rabbit skin
blanket felt lavish against his skin.  It was completely divine against his nakedness
and caused shivers of pleasure to resonate down the length of his spine.  Quinn
growled with pleasure as Sarah’s hot breath inched deliciously down his
abdomen. Lower and lower.  She was inching dangerously close to his manhood. 
Quinn took in a breath sharply and held it shakily in anticipation.

He threaded his
fingers through her soft black hair, palming her head lovingly in his hands as
she continued her sweet torment.  Her lips were soft against his burning skin
as she placed light kisses down the rippled muscles of his belly.

Sarah was
everywhere, kissing his abdominal muscles lightly, trailing her lovely hair
over his abdomen.  She nuzzled his neck and nipped playfully at his ear.  Quinn
tried to sit up, tried to take control of their lovemaking, but he was in a
trance from her touch.  Her hand quelled his efforts and she pressed him firmly
back down onto the cot.

“Ye want tae play
that way do ye?” he muttered as he relaxed against the bed.  He knew that when
Sarah set her mind to something, resistance would be futile.

Quinn wanted to
bury himself inside of her.  Now.  He fought his urges and let her take
control, let her torment him as she desired.  He would get what he wanted one
way or another.

With her hand
still firmly in place on his muscled chest, holding him down on the bed, Sarah
giggled beneath the rabbit fur blanket and kissed the tip of Quinn’s arousal.

His fingers dove
into her hair as he shuddered from the pleasure of feeling her soft, sweet lips
on his cock.  He called out loudly and clenched his teeth together, fighting
the urge to flip her over and take her, claim her.

When she took him
fully into her mouth and teased him with her wet tongue, Quinn almost spilled
his seed.  Her hand held the base of his cock firmly as she took him into and
out of her decadent mouth.  He groaned with pleasure and raised his hips to
thrust gently into her sweet mouth.  Quinn drove into her, fingers holding her
head lightly as she made love to him with her mouth.

“Sarah,” he
moaned, lost in the throes of his pleasure.

Sarah giggled
softly.  Quinn knew that she must be taking great joy in unnerving him so.  He
was so strong, he had such steadfast willpower except for when it came to his
beautiful Sarah.  With one touch Sarah could disarm him completely.

She continued to
make love to him with her mouth and she nibbled playfully at his ear.  She
giggled softly as she nipped his earlobe between her teeth.

Quinn’s eyes flew
open and he jerked himself up into a sitting position.  How could Sarah have
her mouth in two places at once?

Shit!  I was
dreaming.  Shit!  Shit!

The Indian girls
giggled in the darkness of the dwelling and worked together to push Quinn back
down onto the cot.  Still disoriented from his pleasurable dream and abrupt
waking, Quinn’s eyes struggled to figure out what was going on.  He felt the
soft lips surround his cock again and a pair of large, naked breasts pressed
against his chest.  He struggled to sit up again and suddenly his hazy brain
awoke fully and he realized what was happening.

“No!” he shouted,
jumping from the cocoon of the rabbit skin blankets. “No. No. No!  I canna have
ye doing that!” he exclaimed, still shaken by the fact that he had been
dreaming about Sarah and in reality two Indian women were pleasuring him while
he slept.

The women regarded
him dourly in the darkness.  He could barely make out the outlines of their
naked bodies as they sat on his cot.  They giggled amongst themselves and
reached out to Quinn, beckoning him back to the bed so they could finish what
they had started.

“No.  I canna.  I
told ye!” Quinn stammered, searching for his pants in the darkness and pulling
them up over his pulsing manhood.  “Get ye out of here!” he insisted, ushering
the disappointed women out into the dark night and out of his borrowed
dwelling.

“Lord have mercy,”
Quinn murmured into the darkness.  He kept his pants on and crawled back
beneath the rabbit fur blanket.  He brushed his disheveled hair back from his
face and shook his head from side-to-side in disbelief.  It had been so long
since he had been with a woman.  His cock pulsed painfully in response to this
thought.

“Sarah,” he
whispered into the darkness.  He longed to be in her arms, to hold her and keep
her safe so that she could sleep soundly.  His heart thundered in his chest as
he thought of the other things that he wanted to do with Sarah.  He imagined
what it would feel like to make love to her, to feel her trembling with need
for him as he showed her how much he wanted her, how much he needed her with
his body.

..ooOoo..

Sarah ran as fast
as her feet would carry her down the road.  Her beautiful face beamed with a
wide smile and her dark hair cascaded out behind her as she ran.

Even from this
distance, she could see that Quinn was clutching a bundle against his chest.  It
had to be Mairi.

My daughter is
safe!  Quinn is safe!

Upon seeing Sarah,
Quinn kicked the horse into a gallop to close the distance between them.  To
see her beautiful face so full of joy, so full of relief caused his heart to
swell.  He had done this for her.  He had made her this happy again.

He had not failed
her.

“Oh my God! 
Thank-you!” Sarah cried out, tears of joy streaming down her olive skin.  “Can
I see her?  Please?” she stammered, her hands already reaching up to take Mairi
from where she slept secure in Quinn’s arms.

“Aye,” Quinn
smiled proudly.  He handed Mairi down into her mother’s waiting arms.

“Is she alright?”
Sarah asked, now worried as her hands cradled the sleeping baby.  “Did he hurt
her?”

“She’s fine,
Sarah,” Quinn said reassuringly.

Sarah unwrapped
the baby quickly, needing to see for herself that he daughter was indeed
uninjured.

“Ye doona believe
me?” Quinn chuckled as he slid down from the horse and stood beside Sarah.

“Of course I
believe you!  I just needed to see for myself.  I just needed to make sure.  Oh
Quinn…thank-you!” she said earnestly as she paused and looked up into his
steely gray eyes.  What she saw there made her breath ragged.  Quinn’s yearning
played openly across his face as he studied her.  There was love in his gray
eyes.  Love for her.

He reached down,
catching Sarah by surprise and placed his hand behind her head.  He pulled her
towards him and captured her lips in a hungry, passionate kiss.  Oh how he had
missed this woman.