by Lydia Dare
“He’s no’ dead?” She tipped her head back to look at him.
“He was nearly dead when I went back for him. Sarah and Trevelyan had done their best.”
“Ye are no’ answerin’ my questions!” she shouted at him.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know, Blaire,” he replied calmly. He wanted to rail at her, too. He’d just saved her brothers. He’d done it for her. Yet he still felt tremendous guilt at having had to leave MacQuarrie behind.
The astounded look on her face was almost his undoing. If he told her MacQuarrie would be turned into one of his kind, she’d never forgive him. If he didn’t tell her, she’d never forgive him for that, either.
He could almost feel Blaire’s heart breaking within his arms. Her friend’s health lay on her shoulders. But he’d not allow her to carry that burden. It was his. He alone would shoulder it.
“Swear it, James.” She looked up at him, tugging fiercely at the fine lawn of his shirt. “Promise me he’ll be all right and I’ll believe ye.”
“I promise,” he said. He only prayed he was right and that MacQuarrie had survived one way or the other. But James knew that, no matter what, the Scot would no longer be the man she’d once known. “But for now, lass, we have other worries.”
Blaire shook her head. “Other worries?”
“We have your brothers to deal with, and Trevelyan is still out there somewhere.”
“And the woman?”
“No longer a concern,” he grunted.
“Ye mean…?”
James nodded. “Sarah is gone, and she can’t hurt anyone else.”
***
But the man was still a worry. And if Blaire read James’ expression, Trevelyan was the more dangerous of the pair. Staying at Briarcraig was no longer an option.
Blaire stepped toward her window to peer out at the night sky. “I have ta take my family away from here, James. I have ta. I have ta take them back ta Edinburgh. My coven can keep them safe. The five of us will be together there, and we will keep them safe. Cait’s already home, and Elspeth should be by now.” She was rambling. She was certain of it. But she didn’t know how to deal with these vampyres. She didn’t know how to help Alec, whatever was wrong with him. She didn’t know what else to do.
Her coven sisters could make her feel more centered. More alert. More secure. Less off-kilter.
James gently spun her around to face him. “Blaire, I told you. He’ll follow. Here, I can keep you safe.”
But he hadn’t done that tonight, had he? She was safe and her brothers, but poor Alec… She shook her head. “I have ta go home, James,” she whispered as she rubbed a hand down the side of his face.
He sighed, and his dark eyes bore into hers. “All right. Tomorrow, Blaire. Tomorrow, we’ll go. Together.”
But that was a truly awful idea. “Nay, James. Ye canna come with us.” Her jaw quivered, despite her resolve.
“I’ll not let you go alone, unprotected.”
If only she had faith in his ability to keep them all safe, but voicing such thoughts would only result in him puffing out his chest with male pride and bravado. “Aiden willna allow it,” she said instead. “He is quite furious that I wouldna answer his questions about what happened this evenin’.”
“Is that all?” James’ dark eyes twinkled just a bit.
“He may no’ be magical, but he does have control over my future. I doona think antagonizin’ him is the best way ta go about anythin’.”
“I’ll make him forget the whole thing,” he vowed.
Blaire couldn’t help but scoff. “I think ye may have overestimated yer powers of persuasion.”
“I can enchant him, make him forget everything he saw.”
Were his powers truly that strong? Not that she could change her mind. Whatever feud raged between James and Mr. Trevelyan had nothing to do with her brothers, and she couldn’t risk their safety. If anything ever happened to Brannock or Aiden, she’d never forgive herself. “That doesna solve the problem, James. My brothers are in danger because of ye. Do ye no’ see that? Ye canna go with us ta Edinburgh.”
His dark eyes flashed with…anger? Hurt? She couldn’t tell which. “I’ll not let you go alone. The answer is no, Blaire.”
Arrogant Sassenach vampyre. “Ye doona get ta make decisions for me, James. Ye’re no’ my father. Ye’re no’ my husband.” She turned her back on him and crossed the room to escape him. If she had to look at his wounded expression for one more moment, she’d give in. And she couldn’t afford to do that.
“I could be,” he whispered. “If you’d have me. Your husband, that is.”
“Ye truly want ta marry me?” Blaire gasped as she raised a hand to cover her madly beating heart. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever expected to receive a proposal from any man. But from James… She wished beyond reason she could accept it.
“I do,” was all he said. He advanced toward her slowly, his steps nearly predatory. She wanted nothing more than to run to him, throw herself into his arms, and rain kisses across his face. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you throwing fireballs at my head.”
This, truly, was not the best time for this conversation. Brannock and Aiden were in danger. She’d only barely gotten Brannock into bed with the aid of a potent sleeping draught, and Aiden still wasn’t speaking to her. Then there was Alec. And she had no idea what had happened to him. “I need time ta think,” Blaire said as she spun away from him, pressing her fingertips against her temples.
His hands landed on her shoulders, and he squeezed gently. “Take all the time you need as long as you’ll have me.”
She turned to face him. “Ye want ta marry me. Are ye sayin’ ye love me, James?” She’d give anything to hear him say those words.
The emotion that had been evident until that moment left his face. He looked at her stoically. “I care about you, Blaire, but I don’t believe creatures such as myself are capable of love.”
She couldn’t help the sigh of sadness that escaped her.
James’ brow furrowed. “Are you disappointed, Blaire? I thought you were more practical than to believe in love.”
Practical? Is that how he saw her? “I am,” she stammered. “And, no, I’m no’ disappointed.” She had no reason to be, did she? After all, she never thought she’d find a man who could love her. Still, since he owned her heart, it did hurt a bit. “I doona need for ye ta love me.” Then she quit his chamber as quickly as she’d entered it. She had to leave before he saw the tears on her cheeks. She could hear him calling from behind her, followed by a quick curse when he saw Aiden approaching. Heaven forbid her brother catch her escaping the baron’s room.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed on her. “Has Kettering returned?”
At least he was speaking to her. Blaire shook her head. “I was just lookin’ for him.”
Aiden grunted and started to pass her, but this nonsense had gone on long enough. Besides, she needed him to listen to reason, even if she didn’t confide all to him. “Aiden, I need ta speak ta ye.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Indeed? And are ye goin’ ta tell me the truth this time?”
As little as was necessary. She nodded her head. “Aye.” Then Blaire hooked her arm with Aiden’s and leaned her head toward him, keeping in mind James’ sensitive hearing. “Can we talk in yer chambers?” she whispered. Besides, the location would give them a head start on packing his things at the same time.
Aiden looked over his shoulder as though he thought someone was watching them, and Blaire kept from glancing in that direction herself. Most likely he was right, and she didn’t think she could take seeing James Maitland at the moment. As soon as they entered Aiden’s chamber, the whole story fell from Blaire’s lips. She hadn’t intended to tell him all of it, but once she started talking, there was no stopping. Well, she didn’t mention James taking from her. Vampyre or no vampyre, James would have found Aiden storming into his room and making foolish male demands to assuage
his pride and Blaire’s honor. And that wouldn’t help their current situation at all.
Aiden sat slumped in a high-backed chair beside his bed, his mouth agape, as it had been the past ten minutes. “Vampyres?” he finally muttered.
Blaire managed to nod. “So ye see why we have ta leave at first light. Alec said Cait was home and Elspeth should already be back. With the coven complete, we can protect everyone.”
“Alec,” he muttered softly, apparently just now remembering their friend in the aftermath of the bizarre tale she’d shared with him.
Blaire’s heart ached at the thought of the noble Alec MacQuarrie, wondering what had become of him and hoping her faith in James was not misplaced. “He’s badly injured. That’s all I ken. James—er—Kettering said Lord Blodswell was seein’ ta him. Legend has it no man is more noble than Blodswell. All we can do is hope he can save Alec.”
“Trustin’ that a dyin’ and bleedin’ man is safe in the hands of a vampyre seems foolish, Blaire.” Aiden sat forward in his seat and rubbed his brow, as though the whole evening had left him with a headache.
When he said it that way, Blaire had to agree. “There’s nothin’ we can do, Aiden. Nothin’ I can do,” she clarified. “If Elspeth was here, perhaps; but I’m sadly ill-suited for healin’ anyone.”
“So we’re puttin’ our faith with Blodswell.”
“We doona have much of a choice.” Blaire dropped to the edge of Aiden’s bed, across from him so she could look him in the eye. “Will ye make sure we can leave at dawn?”
Wordlessly, he nodded.
“I love him.” Her voice cracked.
“I’m afraid no potions can help ye with that, Blaire,” Aiden said softly. “But I’m sure ye ken what’s best. Will Kettering let ye leave so easily?” He tipped his head at her and watched her quietly.
“He’s sleepin’. For the moment at least. That’s why it’s imperative that we leave immediately.”
His eyebrows rose in question. “And what will keep the vampyre from hearin’ us? It’s no’ easy ta pack an entire household and sneak out like thieves in the night.”
“I can put a magical damper on the noise. He’ll sleep right through it. At least long enough for us ta be well on the way ta Edinburgh before he wakes.”
“I doubt this will make him very happy.”
She was certain it wouldn’t. But that couldn’t be avoided. She turned to walk toward her chamber, the weight of the world sitting on her shoulders.
She kissed Aiden’s cheek and then slipped quietly from his chamber so he wouldn’t see the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. She hastened to her room, writing the spell to damper the noise out in her mind.
She shed her clothes, slipped into her nightrail, donned a wrapper, and padded down the hallway in her stocking feet. James would be hers. For this one night, at least.
Twenty-One
When Blaire slipped into his room, James felt certain he’d finally died and gone to heaven. He’d been pacing his chamber for an hour, waiting for the household to quiet so he could go to her. He needed her. He needed to hold her. To comfort her. To love her. But the sounds of the household packing and dragging trunks down the corridors had prevented him from going to her.
She softly closed the door behind her, the soft lavender scent of her reaching him from all the way across the room. She didn’t slow as she walked toward him but shrugged out of her wrapper and let it drop to the floor. He froze.
Her black-as-night hair hung like a curtain down her back. Her silver eyes flashed with something he wanted to understand. Desire? Fear? Love? She sat down on the edge of his bed and tilted her head at him.
“I was going to come to you,” he said feebly. He must sound like the worst sort of fool. But at the very thought of her in his room, of her in his life, he had no idea what to do. All he wanted to do was clutch her to himself and make love to her. He wanted to ensure that she was safe. To check every inch of her body. She hadn’t even been involved in the altercation. Yet he fretted over her like a…man in love.
But that couldn’t be. He wanted her. He trusted her. He needed her. But love? He wasn’t capable of that. Not without a heart.
“Now ye doona have ta come ta me. I’ve come ta ye.” She held her hands out wide, as though offering herself up to him.
“Did you give more thought to my proposal?”
“I’m still thinkin’ about it,” she said with a slow smile.
“What do you want, Blaire?” he asked, suddenly unsure of what she was doing there. Unsure of what he was doing there. He wanted her with an all-consuming desire. Her heartbeat hummed to him, driving him to her side.
James tugged her gently to her feet as he began to divest her of her nightrail. He tugged it quickly over her head, leaving her in nothing but her stockings and garters. She reached for him, her hands shaking only a little as she began to pull his shirt from his trousers.
“We need to talk, Blaire,” he murmured against her naked shoulder.
“We will,” she assured him. “We’ll talk about everythin’.” He heard the unspoken “later” at the end of that. He pressed his lips to her collarbone and nibbled her gently.
She gasped as his hands slid around to her naked bottom and he lifted her breast to his mouth and tongued her nipple. He tugged his upper lip down with his lower when his fangs extended. This was not the time to scare the lass.
Blaire shoved him back none too gently. “What do I have ta do ta get ye naked, vampyre?” she asked with a grin.
Blaire sat down on the edge of the bed, obviously unashamed of her nakedness in the candlelight, and slowly rolled her stockings down her slender thighs, all the way down her calves. James feared he would spend himself in the bedclothes again before he could even get his hands on her. It had been twenty years since he’d taken a woman. But more than that, it had been several lifetimes that he’d waited for Blaire. He ached to feel her pleasure swamp him as it had before, only this time he planned to be inside her, to convince her to stay with him, to be his wife.
Her gaze didn’t waver when he divested himself of his trousers and everything else, and stood before her proud and naked.
***
Blaire stood up on trembling legs and took a step forward to press her body against his, standing on tiptoe to touch his lips to hers. She’d seen the movement when he’d tugged his lip down to cover his fangs. But she loved them. Just as she loved him. “Let me in,” she whispered as she slipped her tongue between his lips and gently licked across his distended incisor. He groaned and grabbed her even tighter, drawing her naked body to him as fiercely as she’d hoped.
Blaire knew James wasn’t a man of reserved passion, just as she was coming to learn about herself. She wanted him to be as breathless and as out of control as she was.
She couldn’t hold back a squeal as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. She scooted back to where she rested on the pillows and held her arms open to him. But instead of falling into her arms as she’d anticipated, he took her hands in his and pressed them into the mattress.
“Don’t think you will be in control, here, Blaire,” he taunted as he bent his head to take her nipple into his mouth, where he drew it heavily between his lips.
“I want ta touch ye.” She was nearly appalled by the panting sound of her own voice.
“If you touch me, I won’t be able to control myself.” His words came out in a low growl.
“Who said ye have ta be in control?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he explained as he lifted his head and looked into her eyes. His fangs were no longer hidden, but the gentleness of his gaze belied the ferocity of them.
He softly kissed his way down her jaw, licking and nibbling gently as he crossed her shoulder and then down her breasts.
“Doona make me wait, James,” she begged, the need within her growing to a crescendo.
James settled himself between her thighs as his hand moved down to rub thr
ough her heat. He dipped one finger into the silky essence of her desire and then brought it up to rub her center, circling it slowly until she was a writhing mass of unfulfilled desire beneath him.
“Please,” she begged. “Please, James.”
His hardness pressed at her softness as he stared down into her eyes, his own black gaze warmer than she’d ever seen it. “What do you want, Blaire?”
“You,” she pleaded, hating the weakness in her own voice while loving that he’d provoked her enough to make her want him so badly. Only James. Always James.
“You’ll marry me, Blaire? You’ll marry me as soon as possible?”
She froze in his arms.
“Blaire?”
His blasted honor. He wouldn’t take her because his honor wouldn’t let him. She closed her eyes tightly.
“Blaire?” he asked, his voice growing more concerned.
“Aye,” she cried as he probed at her center. “Aye,” she whispered as she cupped his face with her hands and looked into his eyes. “I love ye.”
He took her in one piercing thrust that filled her completely—body, heart, and soul. He stilled within her when she felt the small pain of being owned by him. His voice was shaky when he asked, “Are you all right, Blaire? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Ye could no’ hurt me if ye tried, James.” She pulled his head down to hers and touched her lips to his hungrily, hoping to remove the fear that rested there. Yes, he feared something. Perhaps it was her. Perhaps it was their destiny. Perhaps it was the feelings she created within him. If his feelings were comparable at all to what she felt having him seated within her, she could understand his fierceness.
She adjusted her hips marginally, causing a groan to erupt from his lips. He began to move within her slowly, withdrawing from her, only to plunge back in, heavy and hard.
“More,” she encouraged him, arching beneath him.
He called her name as he surged within her, his voice hot, his arms strong as he held her.
When he finally flung her over that precipice of pleasure, he didn’t follow her. He stilled within her and breathed heavily against her ear. “That’s it, Blaire. I want all of you,” he growled.