Chp 10

Bare

Author Note: I want to thank everyone who reads and comments on this story :) I do truly love that you all like my story and dare say I hope some of you love it :). Thanks so much to all my readers, I love you all and hope you will keep enjoying this story as I have. Now onward! Also you awesome for reading this note :)

The sun was rolling on the horizon and leaving a red glow in its wake. They were still about 2 days from their first village and Blair was enjoying the quiet for the moment. She had never saw landscapes like this before and she soaked in all the beauty she could. She mostly rode in the back and usually by herself. She didn't mind, she knew they trusted her not to run off since she showed no incline to. She loved to watch the men interact with each other and loved the Gaelic language. It was soothing and she didn't mind they spoke so she couldn't understand. After all, Blair was still a stranger to them. Blair honestly didn't know if she'd be seen as anything other than a stranger but she had found peace with it. Deep down she still questioned if she made the right decision, but she didn't allow herself to dwell on it too much.

"We will rest here for the night," Dougal said as the sun dipped lower in the horizon.

Blair stopped Grimm and slid off, she was still getting use to spending all day on a horse and it still left her sore but she hide it well. Soon everyone was setting up the tents and Blair mention to Dougal she was just doing down to the stream to freshen up and he just nodded, it wasn't too far. Blair pulled out a small cloth from her bag and headed down to the stream. The light was fading from the sky but she could still see the fire from camp, so she wasn't so far from them just in case. She dipped the cloth into the stream and rung it out before wiping her face and her neck. The cool stream made Goosebumps appear on her skin, and she let out a content sigh. She pulled down the front of her dress a little and began to wash down her neck and the tops of her breasts before opening her shirt and cleaning her stomach. She then sat down at the stream edge and pulled up her long skirt and exposed her legs which had started to get dirty as well and she leaned over and washed then as well. With the skirt around her waist Blair was concentrated on cleaning that she didn't hear footsteps approaching.

"Oh I am soo sorry!" Willy said quickly as Blair let out a small yell and quickly picked up one her discarded layers to cover herself and another pair of footsteps was heard.

"Blair!" Jamie said and saw Blair red faced and Willy backing up. He then grabbed Willy by the arm and pulled him back to the camp and was yelling in Gaelic at him as the others turned and Dougal smacked him upside the head and kept yelling. Jamie made his way back to Blair and saw she was finishing fixing her shirt with her back to him. "You alright?"

"Yes I'm fine, he just startled me is all," Blair said as she turned to Jamie "I don't think he saw anything."

"Good," Jamie said and walked closer to Blair and noticed her top had missed a spot "You laced it wrong," Blair then looked down but couldn't see where.

"Where?" Blair asked as she tried to look and Jamie just smiled "..Could you fix it since I can't see it?"
Blair's face got a little redder at Jamie just chuckled and took a step closer to Blair.

"Ye turning red Blair," Jamie teased and before she could retort he started to unlace the top "Yes I will fix it for ye," Jamie carefully unlaced the strings down to the one where she missed and slowly started to lace them back up.

Blair could feel Jamie's hands working so close to her breast she could almost swear he was taking his sweet time, since she felt him brush her more than once and not just because he was lacing it back up. Soon Jamie's hands got near the top of her breast and he fished lacing them up and looked at her with a smile which just caused her blush to go deeper. Jamie didn't remove his hand however. He took one his hands and gently brushed some hair off of her face while the other brushed across her front and made it way down to her waist. Jamie leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips before leaning back and grabbing her hand and leading them back to the fire.

Willy had apologized a few times and the guys were keeping a closer on him to make sure he doesn't try anything again. Blair felt slightly bad for Willy but also was glad he stayed away from her. Blair was just very happy he didn't see anything, like her scars, she kept that close and didn't want anyone to know. Jamie sat across the fire and smiled at Blair. His face was lighted by the ember glow and it seemed to make his smile brighter and warmer.

Silence was what woke Blair in the middle of the night. She lay awake looking at the top of her tent. She couldn't shake this feeling, this dread. She loathed it. Blair had an arm over her eyes and let out a quiet sigh and rolled over to her side in an attempt to get back to sleep, however it didn't come. Blair sat up and walked towards her tent entrance and poked her head out and saw everyone was sleeping, but Dougal who was up by the fire.

"Ye still awake Mistress," Dougal said from the fire hearing Blair open her tent and looking out.

"I couldn't sleep, or rather get back to sleep," Blair said as she stepped out of her tent and pulled a coat closer around her and walked towards the fire as Dougal motioned for her to get closer. "It's odd for me I usually sleep well."

"I noticed something seemed on your mind," Dougal said and looked at Blair "Ye have a look of dread on your face while others don't look."

"It's just a stupid feeling," Blair said as she looked into the fire.

"Don't think too much on it lass," Dougal said "You have nothing to worry about."

Blair looked at Dougal for a moment and smiled "Thank you Dougal," she then got up and headed back to her tent.

"Sleep well mistress," Dougal said with a nod as Blair stopped for a moment in front of her tent.

"Thank you Dougal," Blair said and vanished inside of the tent and sleep found her quickly and silently.

"I thought you said no pigs?" Blair said to Ned as she watched him take payment and write it down and gave a receipt to them. They had reached the first town and Blair was seated a little behind Ned as he took payments.

"I did," Ned said with a small smile to her and Blair knew he wouldn't turn it away.

Blair kept watching then pick up different animals, before she decided to get up and walk around the little town. She looked and saw a lot of children playing and she let out small laugh when they were running around and jumping over a few things. Blair was gone for a bit and she came across a younger man working on some blacksmithing.

"Hello milady," He said and Blair gave him a small smile.

"Hello," Blair said and walked off since she started to get an odd feeling from the man and as she was walking away from her she felt an arm on her hand and saw Angus was gripping her arm.

"Where were you?" he said harshly.

"Looking around, would you please let go?" Blair said and tugged her arm out of his grip "I will not run so you don't need to teach me as such."

"You alright, milady," the younger man said as he put down his tools and looked at Angus and Blair.

"Yes fine," Blair said and headed back to where everyone was.

Darkness soon crept in and they were all inside the tavern. Dougal started to talk in Gaelic and Blair couldn't make sense of what he was saying. She notice Jamie was sitting towards the center and Dougal was speaking passionately about something. She could tell from his expressions that it was heartfelt and something that deep down he cared for. Suddenly Dougal walked over to Jamie and ripped the back of his shirt off, showing everyone his scars. Blair tried to hide the expression of shock on her face, as Dougal finished and Jamie headed out into the night. Blair quickly got up and followed Jamie out who had discarded the remains of his shirt.

"Jamie," Blair called after him, but he kept walking and Blair stopped and realized he probably didn't want to talk about it. She made her way back to the tavern and headed upstairs to the room where Dougal told her earlier she would be sleeping for the night.

Blair walked into the room and saw the fireplace going and poked it before adding another piece of wood to warm the room up more. Blair had removed her coat and rested it on a chair in the corner. She hoped that Jamie would come back soon, even though she didn't agree with what Dougal did, it had an impression on the people.

Blair took off her shoes and started to undo her dress as she sat at the edge of the bed. She then leaned back and fell against the bed leaving her front untied and just looking up at the ceiling. Her legs were hanging off the bed and Blair closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could guess how Jamie felt about being used like that, for show. She felt herself frown as she let her arms rest next to her head. Blair was in such deep though she didn't hear the door open or footsteps towards the bed.

A slight breath was on Blair's face and she opened her eyes to stare right into Jamie's. He was sitting sideways on her bed and looking at Blair's eyes. She couldn't recognize the emotion in his eyes. Blair reached up and gently stroked Jamie's cheek softly which caused Jamie to let out a small smile towards Blair.

"I'm sorry," Blair said quietly.

"For what Blair," Jamie replied just as quietly with confusion in his eyes and leaned closer down to her.

"Your pain," she said and Jamie just bent down and kissed Blair on the bed before he started to pull her back up and soon she was sitting sideways next to Jamie kissing her.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Jamie said as he broke the kiss and reached his hand up to his face where Blair's hand was gently stroking his cheek still. "I needed time alone; I should apologize for running off."

"It's understandable," Blair said as she felt Jamie's hand run up the back of her neck, before it rested behind her head. "You don't have to apologize to me."

Jamie just stared at Blair for a moment before pulling her forward into his arms and leaning back on the bed so he lay down and Blair fell on top of him. Blair hand her hand on his chest to steady herself as she looked down at Jamie with questions in her eyes. He pulled away and looked at Blair's hair up, till he pulled out the tie and it fell down around him. He pulled Blair in for another kiss as he moved her leg so she straddled him on the bed. His hand ran down her neck to her back pulling her further down.

"I shouldn't be in here," Jamie said as he kissed Blair again who responded with as much fever as Jamie had given her.

"Probably," Blair said as she took a breath and Jamie pulled her in for another kiss as her hands wandered around on his chest.

Jamie's hand found its way into Blair's top and he massaged her breath before he traced the scar on her chest and followed one on her back that ran down.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Jamie said as he pulled back from the kiss and looked at Blair and then ran one of his hands down to her waist and gently squeezed it and pulled her forward so she was pressed again him causing sweet friction.

"You're right," She said softly and looked at Jamie. Her hands were on his chest, one of his hands was on her waist and the other was underneath her shirt gently stroking a scar on her back.

Jamie then suddenly flipped them and rested between Blair's legs and kissed her again. He then pulled back and landed back so he sat on his knees and Blair remained still on the bed. Jamie looked at Blair on the bed. Her hair was all around her, her shirt was almost all the way open and her skirt had ridden up to her thighs. Her lips were swollen from their kissed and her eyes were watching his every movement.

"Goodnight Blair," Jamie said as he got out of bed and gave Blair one last kiss and left the room.

Blair lay still in the bed with her heart still beating hard in her chest. She couldn't believe that he had stopped. She knew deep down she couldn't get that close without fears creeping back up from deep inside.

"Breathe," Blair told herself as she rested a hand on her chest in an attempt to help still her heart beat. "Just breathe."

They were so much alike, that Blair knew that it wasn't the scar that bothered Jamie, it was how they happened. It bothered Blair as well, but no matter how they happened, they had to live with them. Now they both had to decide something important. Do they hide them, or wear them proudly to overcome the fear that the scars caused. Blair wasn't sure, she wasn't sure if she would ever get to that point. However Blair knew something, Jamie had caused parts of her body to yearn for him which she didn't knew could yearn. His touch sent her skin on fire. His kisses made her ache for more. Blair didn't know that she could feel this way about someone, and the feeling never went away, it only got more intense.