A Proper Scottish Wife Ch. 10

"No. He saw her being mistreated and wanted to get her out of there. Her husband, in addition to beating her, would force her to have sex with people he owed money to for gambling. He was starving her as well. She was skin and bones when she came, though she's gained some weight back since she's been with us. McTavish has to grant her a petition of annulment as part of the agreement. She's no place else to go. I think that Frang has a soft spot for her, but I don't know how that will work out. She may not be interested in any man after what she's been through."

"And he won the McTavish property as well?"

"Aye, we'll be taking possession in less than a week."

"Go ahead and take three of the oranges. Take some lemons too, if you want. I'm told that English navy gives lemons to it's sailors to keep them from getting scurvy. If you put a slice in some spring water, it's not so sour and gives the water a pleasant taste."

"Thank you. I doubt that any but Frang and Bjarkë has ever tasted a lemon and the orange is new even to me. I can look forward to your coming to the Midsummer Festival?" Thorburn asked.

"I'd not miss it. Give me a kiss before you go."

Thorburn leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, patted her bare bum and went downstairs to dress. He looked around to see if anyone was watching before slipping out the door and going to meet the others. Meeting his guards across the street, they proceeded to the meeting place.

They were all waiting by the wagons.

"You're late, Thorburn, and we didn't see you at the Inn for lunch," Stuart said.

"Aye. Lady Mackintosh fed me at her home. She felt we would have a better opportunity to get to know one another at her home, than at the Inn."

"And did you get to know her much better, big brother?" Frang asked.

"A most pleasant and gracious hostess, brother." He tossed Frang one of the oranges, Frang snatching it out of the air with a juggling catch. "She gave me these to share with the likes of you. I'm sure they cost the better part of an arm and a leg."

Frang looked at it quizzically, showing it to the others.

"What is it?" Isobel asked.

"An orange."

"I can see it's orange," Frang said. "Still doesn't tell me what it is."

"That's it's name. It's an orange. It's a fruit. Nice and sweet."

Frang tried to take a bite out of it, getting a big chunk of peel in his mouth. He spit it out.

"Ugh. Bitter. I thought you said it was sweet. Isn't it ripe yet?"

"You don't eat the outside. You cut it open. Cut some slices and pass them out. Eat only the flesh in the middle. Have you never had a lemon, Frang?"

"Aye, but that was very sour."

"Lady Mackintosh believes this is of the same family, but much sweeter. I had some of the juice from the inside and it's very refreshing," Thorburn said. He got a distant look on his face, remembering his own taste of the juice.

Frang took out his knife and cut the orange into several slices, the juice running down his fingers and hand. He licked some of it, then licked some more.

"You're right. It's very sweet, but a hint of tartness." He passed out the slices to the women, Stuart and Bjarkë.

They all took bites of the soft inner flesh.

"Mmm. It's delicious," Ailene said.

"I agree," Isobel said, wiping some of the juice dripping down her chin with her hand. "I've never tasted anything like it."

"Not like lemon at all," Bjarkë agreed.

"Where would one get these oranges?" Stuart asked, licking his fingers.

"If they're like lemons, they only grow in warmer countries. I've had lemons in Spain, Italy and Egypt. They cost a great deal to import to other countries. It's why I say it probably cost an arm and a leg. That one may be worth it's weight in silver. She gave me three of the oranges and several lemons as well. She said that a slice of lemon in water isn't as sour as the lemon alone, and makes the water more refreshing. She informed me the English navy is giving lemons to the sailors to prevent scurvy, so it must have some medicinal property as well."

"Why don't you pass out the rest of the oranges, Thorburn? Let's eat the rest of them," Frang said.

"I'd like to wait until we get home. Take our time, savor them. Besides, you'll find your hands will need to be washed before we go. It gets very sticky as it dries. We need to get going. Going to be dark before we're back at the Keep as it is."

Ailene said, "I see what you mean by being sticky. My fingers are sticky right now."

"Pour a little water on them, rub them together. It comes right off," Thorburn said.

They all washed their hands and faces, climbed into the wagons or on a horse and started off for home.

"Why don't you tell me what you were all about today while I was gone?" Thorburn asked.

"I found another card game," Frang said. "Guess who else was there?"

"McTavish," Isobel said. "That's easy."

"Aye. Losing again. I don't know how much debt he was wracking up, but I'm sure it was substantial."

"Did you win any more off him?" Stuart asked.

"A little, when he had a bit of coin. I refused to take any paper from him as he has nothing to back it. I expect any IOU is going to be as worthless as he is within the month, maybe the week. He said that he'll have the deed transferred by Tuesday next, four days from now. He'll be off the property on Wednesday. We may want to be there when he leaves, make sure he doesn't make off with everything as he leaves."

"Stuart, do you know of anyone who can manage the property until we can integrate it into our own?" Thorburn asked.

"Aye. Before I began running things for Da', he had a manager who helped him, William. He retired to his own farm when I took over, but he's still capable. As long as he we provide someone to assist his wife, he'll probably be happy to help us out."

"Why don't you check with him by Monday, and if he's available, he can come with us on Wednesday. We'll be sure that everyone knows that he's in charge for the next few weeks," Thorburn said.

"Sure."

"What about you ladies. How did you spend the day?"

"I went with Isobel to the milliner and we found a beautiful green fabric and a pattern to make a dress for the festival," Ailene said. "The color is perfect for her. Sets off her eyes. You'll see when the dress is done. She'll be the prettiest one there."

Isobel snorted and Ailene laughed. "You will look positively beautiful, Isobel. I only exaggerate a wee bit. Now that you're gaining weight again and no longer skin and bones, you're more beautiful than you give yourself credit for. You're eyes are lovely and even your hair has more luster and shine."

"I shall be happy if I look even a tenth as beautiful as you, Ailene. The dress that we've made for you is exquisite. The men shall all make fools of themselves over you."

"Hmm," Stuart said, "I still haven't seen you in this dress."

"And you won't," Ailene said. "I want to surprise you. If you see it before Midsummer Festival, I shall be heartbroken. After Stuart returned with the money from the sale of the wool, we bought items that we will need for the next month and the festival. Given that we've given much of our homespun to people on the McTavish property, we bought substantial amounts of that. We ate at the Inn, chatting with a few of the wives who are invited to the Festival. We had a lovely day and I am becoming very excited at our plans."

They kept busy talking about the balance of their day until they arrived back at the Keep after sunset but while the last light of the dying sun left a faint edge of light on the western horizon. Busy hands made short work of putting all of the acquired purchases away. Ailene accompanied Isobel to her room to stow the new dress material away. Ailene held up against Isobel's face again, marveling at the way it both accented her hair and made the color of her irises stand out.

"This really is the perfect color for you, Isobel. I can hardly wait to see you in the dress we make from this," Ailene said while helping fold the fabric.

Isobel began crying. Ailene dropped her end of the fabric and took her in her arms.

"What's wrong, Isobel? Have we hurt you in some way?"

Isobel sobbed even harder. "Nay, lady, no harm nor hurt. I can't begin to thank you for buying it for me. You are so caring to me. You didn't know me. We weren't friends before. I am a stranger to you, yet you welcome me into your home, feed me, clothe me. No one has ever been this nice to me before. I will never be able to repay you for your kindness."

She clung harder to Ailene, who could do nothing more but gather her head to her shoulder and let her cry. She patted her back, rubbing it as she cried herself out.

"You're like the sister I've never had, Isobel. You're kind and loving and haven't deserved the life you've been given. I can see how good you are by the way you care for your former tenants and the servants who no longer serve you. You were away from McTavish and your old home, but you still cared what transpired in your absence. Stuart said that many of them spoke highly of you while they were there. They asked after you. I'm sure they'll not care a whit what happens to McTavish when he's gone. I should do for you out of plain Christian duty, but I like you. You're smart, funny, pleasant to be around and much stronger than I might have been should I be in your circumstances. You work hard, and do all you can to help around here. My work load has been halved by your presence. I could not wish for more from a sister."

Isobel snuffled. "You care for me a little, then?"

"I care for you a great deal, Isobel. You are very dear to me."

Isobel lifted up her face, red from crying, and suddenly kissed Ailene. It was sudden and startled Ailene and she found herself responding automatically, before she realized that she was kissing another woman and that this was not a sisterly kiss. She pulled away and turned her back to Isobel.

"I'm sorry," Isobel said. "It was wrong of me to do that. I'm so grateful for your affection, I was overcome. Please forgive me."

Keeping her back to Isobel, Ailene, still confused, said, "It was not proper. That was not the kiss of a sister. I'm married. I love my husband. It can't happen again. Do you understand?"

"Yes. It won't happen again. Please forgive me. I really was overcome with gratitude, you must believe me. I meant nothing more than that," Isobel said, hesitantly reaching out a hand for Ailene's arm, then pulling it away, afraid to touch her.

"I'm going now. I'll see you tomorrow. We'll not speak of this again."

Ailene left without looking at Isobel again. Isobel sat down on the edge of her bed and cried into her hands. What have I done, she thought. I may have ruined the only friendship that I've ever had.

******

Ailene joined Stuart in their bedroom and started removing her clothes, still confused about what had just happened. There was a sudden knock on the door and Ailene held up a nightgown to cover herself.

"I wonder who that is?" Stuart said going to the door.

He cracked the door and Frang was staring earnestly at him.

"Sorry to bother you, Stuart," Frang said, loudly. "I know it's late now, but I was wondering if I could speak to you about the McTavish property and how we're going to join our estates together? It might be something we should discuss before you speak to William about managing the McTavish land."

"Give me a moment so that Ailene can put on some night clothes."

He closed the door while Frang stood outside.

"Throw a robe on, Ailene, and I'll let him in, but I wager he's not here to discuss the McTavish property any more than he is to talk about the price of tea in China."

Ailene put on one of her heavier robes, but nothing beneath it and after a decent interval, he let Frang in. Ailene was in the bed with the covers pulled up to her chin.

"Thank you, Stuart, for speaking to me at this late hour," again speaking a trifle more loudly than necessary.

After the door was closed and bolted, Frang whispered, "Thank you. I know that Thorburn did more than chat and share oranges with the charming Teárlag this afternoon, and Isobel has been around Ailene ever since she got here and I'm a desperate man. If I don't get some relief soon, I'm like to burst like an overripe plum."

"I figured as much. You might care about what happens to the McTavish place, but not so much you'd lose even a minutes sleep over it," Stuart whispered back.

Frang began shucking his clothes and Stuart joined him, and both men climbed into the bed, naked, both with their stiffening cocks dangling from their groins.

"So now you're going to share your marriage bed as well as your wife, Stuart?" Ailene said, low voiced.

"Aye. If I'm sharing the wife, I don't see how the other matters at all," he whispered back.

Frang pulled the covers down and her nightgown up, exposing her legs and the lovely delta of dark hair gracing her cunt. Frang's head lowered between her legs and his hands started to part her legs. Ailene acquiesced with a sigh, sliding further down the bed and spreading her legs to grant him access to her cunt. Frang's tongue found her furrow and began to explore it's warmth and softness.

"So what do you want me to tell William when I speak to him?" Stuart asked, louder than he had to be.

Frang lifted up his head and whispered, "I'm rather busy here. You don't really expect me to carry on a conversation, do you?"

Stuart whispered back, "Just mumble loudly. They don't have to hear individual words, just sound like there's some kind of conversation going on in here."

"Aye. I suppose I can do that." He lowered his head and gave several low growls and mumbles that Ailene felt go straight to her core.

"How long before we can get the two properties merged then?" Stuart said.

Frang mumbled again, and Ailene moaned low and deep. She pulled Frang's head against her sex. What a wonderful thing his tongue was, she thought.

"Will the people on the two estates be interchangeable then?" Stuart asked.

Frang growled again and Ailene felt herself shiver, close to the cusp of her climax.

"I suppose that we'll have to train the new retainers to fight as we do ours," Stuart said.

His lips locked onto her clit and Frang began to hum, not a tune, just random sounds and her legs began to shake as she released into a strong orgasm.

"Mmm. That feels so good, Frang," she whispered. "Keep doing that."

Stuart said, "I suppose that we could send Bjarkë over there to get started on the arms training. Ours are pretty well trained and Thorburn can keep them tuned up." One of his hands was stroking Ailene's head, smoothing her hair as tremors shook her body. His other hand was caressing and kneading one of her breasts, stopping to occasionally pinch and pull her throbbing nipples.

Frang raised her legs more so that he could lick the rosebud of her ass to prepare it for his cock, now stiff and hard. Each time that Stuart spoke, he'd mumble or growl some low pitched noise. When he felt that he'd laved the puckered muscle enough, he put her on her knees and rubbed the head of his prick against her nether hole. He began pushing his way past the tightened sphincter and his shaft began to disappear into that warm cavern.

Ailene buried her head into the goose down comforter to smother the sounds of her moans as she felt her ass part around his cock. Stuart pulled her head up and she faced his cock, hard and ready. Her mouth opened and his cock slipped inside, going down her throat as she opened it for him. She no longer needed to worry about any sounds that she might make as his prick filled her oral cavity. Frang was fully buried in her ass and Stuart was entombed in her mouth. She felt like a roasting pig, spit on both ends, with the fire building inside of her. Frang started to move, slowly fucking her ass, giving her time to acclimate to his thrusting, Stuart moving in counterpoint, using her mouth.

"It's a lot to get accomplished in such a short time," Stuart said, thrusting in Ailene's throat.

"We're hard workers. The work doesn't scare us," Frang replied, drilling her ass like he was drilling for water.

"That's true. With the proper planning; anything may be accomplished," Stuart said. "We've got good men and some of them are certainly ready for more responsibility." Moving faster now, Ailene having to suck in quick breaths on each out stroke before he was filling her throat once more.

It was unreal. She realized that it wasn't a real conversation, that they were only speaking to keep up the pretense that they were carrying on a business conversation while they skewered her between them. The actual words became a meaningless drone as she felt another orgasm begin to rise at the double fucking of her ass and mouth. She wondered if they even knew what they were saying as they babbled on, the words incoherent blather to her. Frang was getting a little short of breath and beginning to pant more as he plundered her ass, his sentences and phrases shorter and shorter. Stuart was doing a little better. He was still getting sex regularly, Isobel's near presence not deterring him from his husbandly rights in the slightest. He had nothing to hide. Everyone expected him to be fucking his wife.

Frang sped up and she felt his cock swell in her ass just before he made one last thrust, holding her hips tightly against his as he filled her rectum with his seed in an endless stream. He had been right about his need for a release. He began thrusting anew almost as soon as he filled her up, as if he had still more to give her. Almost as soon as he began fucking her again, she climaxed for the second time herself, her moans of pleasure stifled by the cock plunging into her mouth. Frang never really shrank. He got slightly less hard before his renewed thrusting had him fully filling her ass again. They continued to spout nonsense above her. Stuart became slightly less vocal and she knew why when she felt his cock throb between her lips as he spewed his cum down her throat. When she felt the last of his cum dribble onto her tongue, she lovingly cleaned his cock of her saliva and his release. Frang continued to punish her bottom as he fucked her ass and even as she orgasmed again, she felt the soreness increase from his continued thrusting. It reached the point where she was going to ask him to stop when he pulled her against him again and another flood of his cum inundated her ass.

"Thank you," he whispered, wiping his cock on her upthrust ass. "I was in desperate need of that."

"Believe me. My ass can tell. It's a wee bit sore right now," she whispered back.

"My apologies, Lady Cameron, Stuart. I'm sorry to have intruded," back to normal voice, putting his clothes back on.

"Frang, before you go, Stuart; I have a question," Ailene said.

"What?" They said near simultaneously.

"What can you tell me about men who love other men and women who love women?"

"Why do you ask that, dear heart?" Stuart said.

"Humor me. I know nothing about it and I have questions."

"Okay. What do you wish to know?" Frang asked.

"Is it common for a person to love another person of the same sex?" She asked.

"It's not common," Stuart said, "but it's not unheard of."

"Not all the camp followers around military camps are women," Frang added. "There are always a few men there."

"Would I know any around here?" Ailene asked.

"There are rumors about some folks, nothing known for sure. As it's a crime against God and State, and punishable by prison if you're caught, I imagine most would try to keep it secret," Stuart responded. "There's rumor that some English kings have been a ponce. Some Frenchies, too. Apparently, it was somewhat common in Ancient Greece and not much remarked upon, the sex acts anyway. I think even the Greeks were supposed to procreate with women, but wouldn't turn down a muscular ass if presented one."