Eskine was readying himself for bed, his shirt unbuttoned, he took a swig of ale from his glass. And as his mind was wont to do, whenever it was bedtime; it tortured him of thoughts of Grisell. Her long blonde hair, alluring stormy eyes; those luscious lip ___ his body groaned with aching need.
Then he was instantly alert to the movement behind him. With lightening speed, his arm circled the throat of the intruder, ready to end his life, when he realised it was a woman. The scent of her body, tinged with a hint of fragrance and her curly red her, relaxed his arm.

'Sorcha Lees! I could have killed you, woman!'

She laughed that flirtatious laugh. Her fingers running down his chest provocatively and tellingly.

'It is many months since you invited me to your bed,' she whispered against his ear.

He'd made love to her more than once in the recent past, but since his new-found obsession with Grisell, it seemed his interest had waned in sampling the abundant talent within his clan. Sorcha was beautiful, buxom and confident of the appeal of her vital assets in front of a man ___ and he was human.

His hands moulded her buttocks to his groin, as his mouth possessed hers hungrily. Sorcha's kisses tasted like ___ nothing. His eyes closed, he saw Grisell's smiling eyes, her inviting lips, her long blonde tresses. What would her lips taste like? His hands raked through Sorcha's hair, pinning her closely against his body. He ripped her clothes off and carried her to his bed. Hurriedly undressing himself, he lay down beside her and with the patience of a saint, made love to her slowly and tauntingly, until she begged him to possess her.

'Eskine,' she laughed throatily. 'Good heavens, you were like a man possessed,' she slid atop him, planting slobbery kisses on his face. Gently, he pushed her away, wanting her out of his bed.

'Are you complaining?' You came to me, he reminded her.

'No. Not at all,' she purred delightedly. 'I could go another round,' she invited. Her hand reaching down, to stroke his member again.

'Sorcha, I have an early morning tomorrow.' He removed her hand. He found the after taste of their sex distasteful.

'That's never stopped you before,' she pouted.

'I'm going to shower. I'd like you to leave.' He gallantly strode to his bathroom, not bothering to cover his masculine naked body.

When he returned, he was pleasantly surprised to find his bed, neatly dressed in clean sheets and absent of his lover. Whilst women appealed to his basic needs and he treated his lovers with respect and gentleness, he did not like clingy women. Nor did he like any woman, spending the entire night in his bed. He did not want any woman assuming, she had a permanent position in his life or expecting exclusivity.

Surprisingly, he'd slept well and before the sun was up, he took a troop of men and departed on a long voyage to procure additional stocks of arms and ammunition.

Grisell felt a migraine threatening. Her head was pounding. The loud voices screaming over each other in the board meeting she was chairing. Some women folk were demanding more budget, to build infrastructure they needed. A growing group of the menfolk, were arguing that they needed an additional ship and arms for more protection, was of higher priority. Some folk wanted more money to preserve food security. Grisell had a reliable, trustworthy woman, Iona Ruadh who held the purse and managed it exceptionally well. Iona slipped a paper to Grisell, who studied it. There was sufficient money to put down for the purchase of a new ship. There was also a fair portion to appease the womenfolk's project. Their finances would look very good when the one ship returned with monies from its lucrative trade. Grisell stood up, expecting the noises to quieten down, so she could announce her decision. Still the voices consumed the air like noisy activity on the trading floor at the stock exchange. She poised her gun in the air, over her shoulder, safely away from everybody and fired a shot and instantly got the silence she wanted.

'I have made a decision,' she announced. She informed them of the monies she would apportion for a new ship to be built, and some for the building of new infrastructure. She was adamant that they always maintained a reserve of thirty percent of their funds.

'When our ship returns from its trade. The first priority will be to increase our agricultural reserves. That's it. Meeting over.' She walked out, ignoring the questions that were thrown at her.

Macrae inspected the cache of rifles, whilst Eskine negotiated prices with their supplier. He was impressed with the quantity he could procure, expecting the prices to be much higher. Eskine wasn't a man who haggled prices. He believed in paying the prices, suppliers requested. He didn't look for favours or discounts; but he expected the best quality and honesty. He valued that more than money.

'All good Chief,' Macrae nodded to Eskine. 'We can take the lot.'

'Pleasure doing business with you.' Eskine nodded to his financial man to pay the supplier. 'Have the men load the crates on,' Eskine instructed to Macrae.

Eskine took the supplier aside and handed him a thick wad of notes.

'What's this for?' the man grinned happily.

'For your good services,' Eskine smiled. 'Can you do a delivery?'

'Um ___ yeah. If you give me advance notice.'

'I want double the shipment, I bought today. Will three weeks be enough notice?'

'That should do,' the man nodded vigorously, mentally calculating the future revenue he would be getting. This was his best customer. He accepted that he received the best quality and asked no questions. He was honest and straight as an arrow. He wished all his customers were this virtuous.

'The price the same?' Eskine queried.

'For you, yes sir.'

'Prepare the order. In three weeks, arrangements will be made for payment and delivery.

'Chief, all done and loaded,' Macrae tapped Eskine on the shoulder.

Eskine nodded. He shook hands with his supplier and turned to leave.

'Say Chief,' Macrae grinned. 'Do we have time for some beer and women?'

'Why the hell not?' Eskine winked; his mind instantly imagining sultry grey eyes, luscious red lips and ash blonde curls.

Grisell wondered if Eskine was away on a voyage. She had last seen him about eight days ago. Not that she was counting. Her sorry heart felt the ache and disappointment of his absence. God she had a death wish! Her tribe would regard her thoughts and actions as treason, punishable by death! What was wrong with her? But the heart wants what the heart wants. She sighed and yearned for a mother figure she could talk to. The pain cut like a knife, she had no recollection of her mother wishing her happy birthday or merry Christmas. She had no recollection of her mother every presenting her with a gift. It shocked her that she still yearned for the mother that had never shown her any love or attention. How she wished she could talk to her mother about the conflicting emotions she felt for one Eskine Aird, Chief of the mighty DeMartino clan. Skene Blane had known many of the opposite sex, surely, she would be able to give Grisell sound counsel. Frighteningly Grisell acknowledged, her enemy was not the neighbouring tribe beyond her border. The enemy was within... in her heart.

It was the next day then, when she was pleasantly surprised, when Eskine accosted her on her early morning walk. The sun was just beginning to rise. An orange glow lit the coastal sky above the azure sea.

'Eskine___' she clutched her heart, but instantly smiled.

He held his breath. How he longed to take her in his arms, crush his mouth against hers.

He swallowed, crossed his hands behind his back. 'You look lovely, Lady Dalmahoy.'

'You've been at sea,' she smiled again, observing his skin looked sun drenched and he looked so adorably irresistible. She wanted to wrap her arms around him, and lay her face against his chest.

'Grisell?'

'Yes?'

If he asked if he could kiss her, she was going to say yes.

'I have made arrangements for you.'

'Excuse me?'

'A vessel will arrive in two weeks with a shipment of weapons. He is my supplier and is reputable. Your head of security must procure the lot.'

She raised her eyebrows. 'So I should tell my head of security that DeMartino is arranging weapons for us! Like they going to believe that! I will probably get shot in the head first.'

He placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently. 'You need to increase your weaponary and surveillance. Nobody needs to know I mediated the purchase. Just receive the shipment and pay. You got it?'

'Fine,' she mumbled, wondering what the costs were going to be, as it is, she was being hounded by all and sundry from her tribe for more resources, like she manufactured money.

His thumb tipped her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his. He smiled. Took the liberty of allowing his thumb to caress the milk white skin of her cheek.

'Will you meet me tomorrow at midnight?'

'The devil's hour?' she grinned

'Say yes,' he ordered.

'You know you shouldn't order me,' she admonished.

'Grisell!'

'Fine,' she capitulated.

'At our place,' he stated and noiselessly disappeared through the canopy of trees.

                                                                            -end chapter 5-