Wedded to the Highlanders by Katie Douglas

Chapter 15

After the village fete was over, the real revelry began, as the apple ringey was brought out of Andrew Callanish's still, and passed around far more liberally than it ought to have been, for a spirit that was 50% proof. Lucy, Hugh and Steen stood together, sipping the strong alcohol. Lucy was very impressed with how well-groomed her two men looked today; Hugh was wearing a dashing blue tartan kilt that made his tanned skin look even deeper, and Steen wore a dark green tartan kilt, complementing his dark hair and lighter skin. Neither man wore a shirt, as it was the twenty-first of June—midsummer night, and the shortest night of the year—and more to the point, this was the Circle Dance.

"How's your ankle?" Hugh asked.

"Well, I've been standing on it all day at the bake sale, so it's sturdy enough. Just a bit sore."

"D'ye ken the meaning of the word 'rest', woman?" Hugh asked in exasperation.

"Aye. It goes in a sentence like this: The rest o' the world disnae stop just because I've hurt myself." She giggled and winked at him cheekily.

"What are we tae do with her?" Steen asked with a chuckle.

"I can think of a thing or two." Hugh's words held so much promise, Lucy shivered with excitement.

The drums began to play. It was said that no two people heard the same music at the Circle Dance, but nobody really knew for certain. What was known was everyone danced differently, because everyone's dance was created from what was in their heart. As the fife began its reedy solo, Lucy felt a strange tingle in her ankle, and she shrieked.

"My ankle! The ache has gone!" She reached down and touched it. It didn't hurt, and it wasn't swollen. "It's impossible!"

"Perhaps it was a wedding gift from the spirit world," Hugh remarked. Lucy giggled, as a silence fell upon them. It was their moment of truth. Would the spirits bind all three of them together, for all eternity, or would they be matched with other people?

Steen was drawn into the circle first, and for a brief moment, Lucy worried he was going to get bound to Millie, after all. But then Hugh was pulled in. Lucy's legs began to move of their own accord, taking her to Hugh and Steen, and she felt an incredible sense of elation that, after all they'd been through recently, they were getting bound together by the spirit world. She'd been almost certain, but there had always been that slight, niggling doubt, borne of the sense she wasn't good enough to be one man's wife, never mind two.

She couldn't help smiling as they began to dance together. Hugh simply swayed from side to side, occasionally turning in a circle, barely in time with the music, while Steen clapped his hands a lot, tapping one foot all the while, and sometimes stepping around in a circle to exchange places with Lucy or Hugh.

Lucy wove between them, holding her skirts firmly in her hands. She knew it was scandalous to reveal her knees, but this was the Circle Dance and she knew, at some point soon, there would be several people having sex on the field where the dance was taking place. Children, of course, would have all been shepherded home long before now.

She skipped to and fro, and inside her heart, she felt the threads of herself, Hugh and Steen, as they began to intertwine. They had already been close, and Lucy didn't know how it was possible for any of them to feel more deeply about one another, but this would certainly bring them even closer together.

As they danced around one another, Lucy felt a growing sense of heat coming from her belly. This was followed by a liquid trickling down her thigh, and for the first time in weeks, she regretted her decision not to wear any underwear. She hoped none of the onlookers would notice, but they didn't seem to have done.