Highlander's Rebellious Love

by Donna Fletcher

  She chuckled. “You do recall that you are naked?”

  “The perfect way to confront the rain,” he said with a playful wink. “Now sit while I see to getting our meal.”

  She pulled her hand out of the bucket and he grabbed her wrist. “Keep your hand in the water.”

  “I want to get my shirt first.”

  He circled her one breast with his finger before giving the hard nipple a squeeze. “I prefer you naked.”

  “I am chilled.”

  “I could keep you warm.”

  She looked past him at the meat on the spit. “After we eat, you can warm me as much as you please.”

  He frowned, though with a laugh said, “You prefer food over me making love to you.”

  She nibbled at her lower lip for a moment, then said, “Aye, at the present moment I do.”

  He pressed his hand to his chest and staggered back as if struck. “You wound me, wife.”

  She grinned. “But not fatally.”

  He walked to the bed and retrieved her shirt, returning with it to slip over her head and gently guide her arm through the sleeves. Then he gave her a quick kiss. “It was, however, a near fatal climax I lovingly endured.” He placed her hand back in the bucket of water.

  Her grin grew. “You enjoyed it.”

  “Immensely, but what of you? Did you enjoy it?”

  “I loved the taste of you and look forward to feasting on you often.”

  Hunter groaned. “Damn it, Patience, you will grow me hard again.”

  “Good, then you will be ready to satisfy this wet ache between my legs after we eat.”

  His fist came down on the table. “If you continue to talk wickedly to me, you will be eating later rather than sooner.”

  Patience clamped her lips tight, though only for a moment. “I like being wicked with you.”

  Passion sparked Hunter’s blue eyes and he placed his hands flat on the table, then leaned close to Patience’s face. “You have yet to taste wickedness, though you have my word that you will and soon.”

  She was glad he turned away from her to see to the meat so that he did not see how his remark made her whole body quiver with anticipation. She decided it would be wise to temper her remarks concerning intimacy, at least until they had eaten.

  They were soon enjoying the tasty meat done to perfection.

  “I have been thinking,” Patience said.

  His brow knitted and his look was one of caution.

  Patience shook her head. “I do not only think of—” She shook her head again, knowing it was futile to deny that since being intimate with him she thought of little else. So, she continued proving to herself that she could think of something else, while refusing to admit that the thought of making love with him again intruded on her every thought. “The Dark Dragon did not fear entering the woods.”

  “I doubt the Dark Dragon fears anything.”

  “Everyone fears something, whether they will admit it or not. And then there was Elspet’s warning in my head, ‘he comes’ as if she spoke of someone she knew. Do you think it is possible that Elspet knew the Dark Dragon?”

  “She never mentioned him, though anything is possible.”

  “He walked with knowledge of the land and the shadows themselves seemed to embrace him. I would say he is no foreigner to this place, which would mean he spent a good amount of time here to know it so well.”

  “I imagine he knows a good portion of Scotland well with all the fighting he has done for the King.”

  “I suppose, but if Elspet was truly a witch perhaps she—”

  Hunter shook his hand at her. “You cannot possibly be suggesting that she taught him magic and that is why his ghost warriors are so skilled?”

  Her eyes turned wide with excitement. “See you have thought it yourself.”

  “I have not,” he insisted. “The thought is ridiculous. Elspet was no witch. She was a learned woman like your sister Emma. And because she was wiser than most, she was claimed a witch.”

  “Then where did the ghost warriors get their skills?”

  “That is a question many would love to know, though seeing them myself I would tend to believe that it is speed and precision that set them apart from other warriors. With their faces painted white and their infamous reputation, they instill fear on first sight and fear alone can immobilize. They are nothing more than highly skilled warriors.”

  “Who possess a touch of magic, and do not scoff at me,” she warned as his brow arched. “We both know the old myths and the magic within them. So, do not easily dismiss the possibility.”

  “I do not dismiss it. Many believe in magic, I simply do not and that is due to Elspet. She taught me to keep my eyes open and my ears attuned to all around me, and that I would learn the truth of things. And she was right.”

  “And you never saw her perform any magic the whole time you knew her?”

  “Every day.”

  Her eyes turned wide.

  “Every day she would smile and speak kindly, whether to animals or people and such unfettered kindness is true magic.”

  He spoke with such reverence of the woman that it touched her heart. “Elspet sounded like a remarkable woman.”

  “She was, and if she had given the Dark Dragon the gift of her friendship, then you can be sure that there is some goodness in the man.”

  “I truly hope that is so.”

  It was some time later that Patience went outside to see to her nightly need. Hunter had objected to her going alone and a brief debate had ensued. She had assured him that she would remain close to the cottage, since the woods were foreign to her and with it being dark she could easily get lost. Besides, she took her sword with her.

  Wearing only her shirt and boots, and with sword in hand, she left the cottage. She intended to be quick about it, since she was eager to go to bed with her husband, though not to sleep.

  Night had fallen hours ago, making the dense woods more difficult to navigate. But she kept the cottage in sight and found a quick spot to see to her needs. She was done in no time and when she turned to return to the cottage she halted and stared at the trees that lined the side of the cottage. There were several white carvings in all of them and she stepped closer to take a look.

  They symbols seemed familiar, but where had she seen them? She ran her fingers over the straight and angled lines carved smoothly into the bark and highlighted in white and the more she did, the more her mind worked to recall where she had seen them.

  She shook her head and walked around the tree, making her way back to the cottage. She halted again a few feet from the door and swerved around, her wide eyes settling on the trees.

  She remembered where she had seen them. They were similar to the symbols that had been on the Dark Dragon’s helmet.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Patience hurried into the cottage, grabbed Hunter’s hand, and hurried him outside and over to the trees. “What are these?”

  Hunter stood naked, staring at the carvings as his mind drifted back to the day he had first seen them and asked Elspet the same thing. And he said what she had told him. “They keep evil at bay.”

  “Similar symbols were on the Dark Dragon’s helmet. Where do they come from and if the symbols can be used to fight evil, then there must be symbols that can be used to engage evil’s help.”

  “You are talking magic again.”

  “What else am I to believe?”

  “That the Dark Dragon is a man of great skills, one of those skills, putting the fear of the devil into his opponents.”

  “A fear that is all too real for all too many and for good reason.”

  Hunter started them back to the cottage, his hand strong in hers. “Granted, but it has nothing to do with magic or Elspet. If the Dark Dragon practices the dark arts, then he learned them elsewhere, not here.”

  Once inside, Patience walked away from him to place her sword against the wall with her other weapons. She turned to her husband. “Wha
t if those symbols that ward off people from this place were not meant for Elspet? What if evil came here and Elspet knew it and that was why she carved the protective symbols in the trees and perhaps she herself hung those charms in the trees to protect herself?”

  “What is truly troubling you?” he asked, approaching her slowly.

  Patience sighed and stepped toward him, relieved when his arm went around her waist and she eagerly rested against him. “The more I learn about the Dark Dragon the more he seems a myth to me rather than a man. And so I find myself looking for a way to make sense of him.”

  “Or is it that you fear you will not find a way to defeat him and thus fail your sister?”

  Her eyes glistened with tears that she refused to allow to fall. “I cannot leave her with such a monster.”

  “You sound as if you are ready to give your life for her.”

  “If I must; I will without hesitation.”

  He took hold of her chin. “Hear me well, mo chridhe, I will not allow that, but even more so, Heather would never forgive you. Do not be discouraged. We will find a way to best the dragon.” He kissed her lightly as if sealing a pact.

  She should be annoyed that he dared to dictate to her, but instead his caring remark had touched her heart as did the fact that though he did not know her sister, he understood how she would feel. He also reaffirmed as he had done many times that he would stand beside her in her efforts to rescue her sister.

  “You are a good husband,” she said, laying a tender hand on his cheek.

  “Then you do not regret marrying me?”

  “No, you have proven to be more of an asset, rather than the hindrance I had expected,” she said with a soft chuckle as her hand fell away from his face.

  He kissed her quick. “And you have proven to be—the woman who has stolen my heart.”

  Her heart quickened at his words.

  “I have a question for you, wife,” he whispered. “You remarked that everyone, men and women, fear something. What is it that you fear?”

  She touched her lips faintly to his, then whispered, “You not making love to me tonight.”

  “Then you truly have nothing to fear.” He hastily slipped her out of her shirt, then scooped her up and carried her to the bed.

  He intended to take his time, but Patience, as usual, did not live up to her name.

  He barely stroked her and teased her hard nipples, when she pushed him off her onto his back and climbed on top of him.

  “I cannot wait,” she said and let out a gratifying yelp when she impaled herself on him. “That feels so good.” She began to move. “And that feels even better.”

  Her actions, the passion in her eyes and in her every movement pushed him to the edge of climax. He feared he would lose control at any moment and that he could not do.

  She bounced up and down on him with the abandonment of a child just discovering the thrill of a new game. And when she grabbed his hand and plastered it against her breast, he thought for sure that was the end.

  Sweat broke out on his brow as he fought against the climax that was so close to consuming him. He had to make her come and fast. He would not come before her. He never came before a woman. He had always seen to their pleasure first.

  He teased her nipples with his fingers and her lingering groan and the way she tossed her head back only made it worse for him. Good lord, but she was so snug and the way she squeezed him.

  Damn, he was going to come. He could not stop it.

  “Patience, if you do not,” —he groaned as her movement turned more frantic— “I’m going to come if you do not slow down.”

  She moaned deep and long, her finger going to her mouth to bite on it.

  That was all he needed.

  “Good Christ, Patience,” he cried out as the climax claimed him in an explosion that sent him tumbling through a void of never-ending pleasure. And the more she rode him, the longer his climax lasted.

  He did not know when his hands had gripped her hips, but her hands where now on top of his squeezing as she screamed out his name over and over and joined him in a blinding climax.

  When he was finally able to focus on her, she gasped and rode him even harder, screaming out, “Good God, I am going to come again.”

  He shuddered as a strong tremor rocked her body and she finally collapsed on top of him. She laid so motionless that he feared something had happened to her. Then she spoke, though he could not understand her, since her lips were plastered to his chest.

  Gently, he eased her off him, tucking her body along his side. “What was that you said?”

  She dropped her arm across his chest, as if she had not the strength to hold it. “I want to do that often.”

  He had to chuckle for that had been his first thought when he had first been with a woman. “We can do it as often as you like.”

  Her head shot up to look at him. “I will not tire you out, will I?”

  He chuckled again. “Never.”

  She rested her head on his chest. “Good.” Her head shot up once again. “Once we reunite with my troop there will be no privacy for us to be so intimate. We cannot even sneak into the woods for ghost warriors or your brother’s men may be lurking nearby.” She sighed as she lowered her head to his chest once again. “You have given me a good reason to return home sooner rather than later.”

  “I will make sure that we always find a private place no matter where we are,” he said, stroking her arm.

  “I will think on it myself, for I do not think I can go a day without making love with you.” She yawned, reached for the blanket to toss across them, and then snuggled close to him.

  Hunter lay listening to his wife’s even breathing. She had fallen asleep so quickly and he had hoped to do the same, but he found that he was not as tired as he had thought. The day had certainly been exhausting in more ways than one and had given him much to think about.

  That he loved his wife had been a shock to discover, but to realize that his love for her could grow ever stronger was even more of a surprise. She was a remarkable woman. She was not afraid to defend herself or him and she embraced intimacy with an overwhelming passion. And that she should even think of giving her life to save her sister... he felt a stab to his heart.

  He was familiar with the pain of losing a loved one, but this pain he felt with the thought of losing Patience was beyond anything he had ever experienced. He would do anything to keep her safe. And now that he knew Greer intended her dead as well as him, it added even more to the score he needed to settle with his brother.

  He lay there, his thoughts hopping from one thought to another until sleep finally intruded and he drifted off.

  ~~~

  Patience woke suddenly from a dream, her heart beating madly. She had been in a dark forest and Heather was calling out to her for help, but no matter how hard she tried she could not find her sister. It was when her sister’s voice faded that she woke. Thinking on it now, she wondered if she was being shown that she would never find Heather. She was lost to her forever.

  The thought unsettled her and she eased herself out of her husband’s arms and carefully left the bed so as not to disturb him. She scooped up her shirt and slipped it on. She added more logs to the fire, then paced in front of it. She could not get her sister’s voice out of her head or the thought that she would never find her. Heather had to know that she would never give up, not ever. But the longer it took Patience to find her, the more Heather suffered at the hands of the Dark Dragon.

  Her chest felt heavy with the pain of her sister’s suffering and with the need for a fresh breath, she hurried out of the cottage.

  Hunter stirred, thinking he heard a sound, though he much preferred not to be disturbed, feeling much to content in bed wrapped around his wife. That was until he realized he was the only one in bed. His eyes sprung open and when he saw that the cottage was empty, he did not even bother to grab his shirt, he rushed naked out into the night.

  Relief soared i
n his heart when he saw her standing only a few feet away, staring into the woods. He approached her with quick steps.

  Patience heard the cottage door creak open and his swift footfalls approach and at that moment she wanted nothing more than to get lost in her husband’s arms and not think another thought on how she was failing her sister.

  She turned and spread her arms wide.

  Hunter saw the need in her glistening green eyes. She never let her tears fall. She battled them as intensely as she would a foe and from what he had seen, she always won, though it was far from a victory.

  He did not hesitate. He had her up in his arms in an instant and just as fast he had her in the cottage.

  After he shut the door with a shove of his shoulder, she said, “I do not want to think anymore tonight.”

  He lowered her to the ground, latched the door, striped her of her shirt, then hoisted her up by her waist to plant her against him. Her legs tightened around him. “As you wish, wife.”

  He kissed her with a hunger that surprised him. You would think that he had not had a woman in weeks the way he fed on her and how hard he grew. He ached for her, but he also ached to free her of her troubling thoughts. And for that she needed more than a gentle loving. She needed a driving, relentless loving.

  He was glad nothing was on the table, for he dropped her bottom down on it and took her face in his hands. “I am going to make you come again and again and again.”

  “Promise.”

  He kissed her again, tugging along her bottom lip with his teeth as he ended it, and she whimpered. He took hold of her chin. “I hurt you?”

  She took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. “No, it is that I fear I will never get enough of you.”

  He ran his thumb tenderly over her lower lip that had plumped from his loving bites. “I share your fear, for the more we make love the more my need for you grows.”

  She rested her brow to his and with her mouth nearly on top of his, whispered, “Then do as you said and make me come again and again and again.”

  Hunter slipped his fingers between her legs.