by Imani King
We finally got to the room but there was no time to even glance around - Darach had me pushed against the wall, my wrist pinned up above my head, as soon as the door was closed behind us. We were ravenous, starved for each other. When he yanked at the zipper of my dress too hard and I heard the sound of ripping fabric he pushed my hand away:
"Fuck the dress, Jennifer. I'll buy you another one."
As soon as it was off he was pushing me towards the bed, his head bent down so he could kiss my breasts as he went. Then I was on my back and he was between my legs, pushing them open as wide as he could and tearing my flimsy panties off. I pushed my fingers into his hair as he kissed down my belly and felt my muscles starting to tense with anticipation. Right on the edge of my clit he looked up at me:
"I think I could eat you, Jennifer. I think I could just eat you right now."
But I couldn't respond because his tongue was on my clit and I had my hand pressed against my mouth, stifling a small scream as he used his big shoulders to open my legs even further.
"Darach...Darach..." My voice was quiet as I fought to stay in control. I was no match for him, though, or his tongue. He slid it up and down the side of my clit gently - not too gently, until my hips were rocking up against him and my breath was coming fast and hard. But he didn't let me come. At the very last moment he pulled away, smiling wickedly up at me as I begged and pleaded and tried to push his head back down between my legs.
"No." He said, looking me right in the eye. "Not yet. You come when I'm ready for you to come, Jenny."
Being talked to like that - in that stern tone of voice - just made me more desperate. I was almost incoherent:
"Darach, no, please...please, I need you."
He moved up and put the weight of his body on mine, kissing my mouth hard and grinding down against me. "I know you need me, Jennifer. I love the way you need me."
He made me watch him take his time unbuckling his belt and undoing his pants - there was a light sheen of sweat on his forehead - I could feel the effort it was taking him to stay in control and I knew it wasn't going to last for long.
My legs opened themselves when Darach took his cock out, holding it in his hand and guiding it between my lips.
"Roll over."
"What?" I asked, completely distracted.
"Jennifer, roll over."
I did as I was told, rolling over onto my tummy and pushing my hips - my ass - up into the air.
"Oh, Jenny. Yeah. You look so good like that, baby."
I looked back over my shoulder and watched his eyes close when he pushed himself into me and grasped my hips, pulling me all the way back against him.
Neither of us could last long. Within a few strokes I was right back where he'd brought me with his tongue, skating along the edge of an orgasm I could just feel was going to shake me to my core. I buried my face into a pillow when I felt it about to break over me and balled my hands into fists as Darach held himself all the way up inside me, moaning as my sex started to spasm around him. It was such acute agony coming for him like that, shoulders on the bed and my body arching itself back to him over and over, needing everything he could give me. The sweet little tightenings inside me didn't have time to subside before I felt Darach's fingers digging into my flesh.
"Oh Jenny, Jennifer, you're going to make me come, oh God..." he trailed off into a loud groan as he started to climax, forcing me to brace myself on the bed with my arms so he didn't push me over. It made me crazy the way he sounded when he came, the depth in his voice as he moaned my own name into my ear and kissed the back of my neck.
"Fuck!" Darach swore as he thrust into me one last time, hard enough so it was on the verge of being painful, making sure I took all of him.
We were both damp with sweat in spite of the air conditioning. Darach pulled himself out of me and leaned down to kiss my back before lying next to me to catch his breath. Needless to say, we did not get much - if any - sleep that night. We were both sore the next day - there was a certain not unpleasant tenderness between my legs and I kept catching Darach wincing slightly. He caught my eye once when it happened and winked at me, chuckling:
"Woman, I'm going to need hospital treatment if we keep this up!"
Chapter 15
We flew back to the UK two days later and I finally got a ride in Laird McLanald's helicopter when it brought us from London to the castle. Darach pointed it out when we got close enough to see it:
"Look, there it is. Cameron is going to be losing her marbles waiting for you to get there."
I watched Castle McLanald emerge out of the rolling hills that stretched out on all sides of it. How did it feel so much like coming home after spending such a short time there - and then only a few days away? I spotted Cameron's blonde head as the helicopter landed - she was being held back by a struggling Mrs. Clyde.
"Miss Robinson!"
I didn't even have time to get out properly before she was throwing herself on me, kissing my cheek and giggling.
"Cameron, let Jennifer get out for God's sake." Darach affectionately chastised his daughter but she wouldn't let go so I just walked with her wrapped around me.
From the delicious smells emanating from the kitchen I could tell Mrs. Clyde had something wonderful for dinner. She hugged me tightly and then, just as I was about to go and have a quick shower, she gently pulled me back, looking slightly worried.
"Och, Jenny, if it's not too much trouble Mr. Clyde would like to have a word with you."
I looked up and saw Mr. Clyde standing in the kitchen doorway. He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together nervously. I felt bad for him and part of me wanted to spare him the apology, but at the same time I knew I deserved it.
"Jennifer," he started, coughing again before continuing. "Jennifer my deepest apologies to you, dear. I wasn't thinking straight. I should have waited for the Laird's word before doing anything. I've offered to resign my position here at Castle McLanald if you feel you would be more comfortable without me here."
I hadn't been expecting Mr. Clyde to offer up his job - his lifelong job - working for Darach, but I could see that he was deeply ashamed.
"My wife had nothing to do with this, I hope you understand, Jennifer. I sent her out to get groceries in town that morning so she wouldn't be here to stop me. I should have let her try."
Darach had already told me Mrs. Clyde was blameless but I understood that she probably needed to hear her husband tell me herself. I wasn't even angry with Mr. Clyde - I had been angry at Darach, when I thought it was his doing, but I understood that Mr. Clyde had a duty to his Laird and to Castle McLanald and not one to me, although he'd always been kind. I knew he must have thought he was doing the right thing. I even knew it was probably very hard for him.
"Mr. Clyde," I started nervously, "I accept your apology. I understand why you did what you did - I understand you were misled. It was very painful for me having to leave here under those circumstances. But I want you to know that I forgive you and I don't want you to leave your job."
Mrs. Clyde had her arms around me before I could finish.
"Thank you, child," she whispered in my ear, "thank you, you have a good heart."
"Aye, she does have a good heart!" Darach walked in, then, and I realized he'd been waiting just out of sight with Cameron in his arms, so Mr. Clyde could get his apology out uninterrupted. When I looked at him I actually think I caught a slight glassiness in his eyes - and in Mr. Clyde's. But the McLanalds - and their employees - were not ones for public displays of heightened emotion. Darach clapped Mr. Clyde on the back and grinned at him.
"What's your wife got cooked up for us tonight then?"
We ate dinner together, all five of us sitting around the long table in the kitchen, not in the more formal dining room. Mrs. Clyde had prepared a whole salmon en croute, caught in one of the rivers on the McLanald estate. No one said anything - no one needed to say anything, because we all felt it - but there was a certain mood in the kitc
hen, a feeling of family. Of a patchwork family made up of people from different lands and different classes and different bloodlines, but a real, whole family. Cameron looked up from her salmon at one point and said:
"I am bursting with happiness!"
Darach leaned down and kissed the top of her head, looking at me and then at the Clydes before answering his daughter: "So am I, little one."
Chapter 16
Darach didn't leave Castle McLanald for the rest of the summer, deciding it was in Cameron's best interests to have him around - as well as mine. She also didn't end up going to therapy. Nothing heals like love does - I already knew it was true in my head but that summer with Darach and Cameron and Mr. and Mrs. Clyde gave me a very tangible - and familiar, due to my grandmother - understanding of what it means to care and be cared for. We spent most of our days outdoors, just watching Cameron as she explored the land she would one day inherit and lying in the heather enjoying each other's company.
My relationship with Darach deepened as well. We found ourselves at the top of the Treacle-Eater's Tower one evening just as the sun was starting to set, bathing the landscape in golden light. Cameron was picking wildflowers around the base of the tower and shouting the names of each species up to us as she picked them - she was developing into a small botanist, always carrying her 'Native Plants of Scotland' reference book around under her arm and checking new discoveries with a serious look on her face. It was a week before I was due to return to New York for my final year of college.
"You could finish your degree here, couldn't you?"
I turned to look at Darach, squinting in the evening light and not sure how serious he was.
"Well...I suppose I could. Why?"
"Why?" Darach repeated my question back to me, scoffing and grinning. "Why do you think, Jennifer?"
I didn't know what I thought. I know what I wanted to be true. Before I could say anything else Darach bent down to kiss me and then pulled away only far enough to look me in the eyes.
"I love you. I love you, Jennifer Robinson, and I don't want you to leave."
My vision blurred with tears almost immediately. It was what I wanted. I think I already knew he loved me but I wanted to hear it from him, I wanted to really know it.
"Yeah, this is the usual reaction I get from women when I tell them I love them. Crying."
I laughed through my tears and took a handful of his shirt in my hand, shaking him gently.
"You better not be lying, Darach. I'd rather live with you never loving me than you telling me you loved me and not meaning it."
He raised his eyebrows at me and tucked a long, dark curl behind one of my ears. "Jenny, are you completely insane? Is this a surprise to you? If it is I have to say I'm very disappointed in your powers of perception - I'm pretty sure it's obvious to everyone within a hundred mile radius that I love you,"
For some reason the image of my grandmother's face popped into my mind at that moment and I started to cry harder, pushing my face into Darach's chest for comfort and leaning against his tall, strong body.
"Hey, Jennifer. What's wrong? Why the tears?"
I took a few minutes to compose myself and looked up at him:
"I was just thinking of my grandmother."
"Were you? Why? Would she be happy that a strange Scottish Laird who lives in the middle of nowhere loves her granddaughter?"
I nodded, trying desperately to blink tears away but they kept coming. "Yes, Darach. That's why I'm crying. No one ever really loved me except her. When she died it felt like no one ever would again, and now you say you love me."
"I do love you, Jenny."
"I know you do. I don't even know why I'm crying. I'm happy. I'm so happy you love me, Darach. Of all the people on earth I could choose to love me, it would be you."
He pulled me tightly in against his chest but I wasn't finished:
"I love you, too, you know. I think I loved you within a twenty four hours of meeting you, actually."
Darach laughed at that. "Yeah, I think I did, too."
"Then why the hell did we wait so long to say it?"
He kissed the top of my head. "Because we were both afraid it wouldn't be reciprocated."
There was a small sound behind us and we both whirled around to see Cameron standing behind us. She was smiling and holding a handful of greenery and flowers.
"I knew you two were in love a long time ago. Grown-ups are silly."
I loved the way she referred to Darach and I as "you two".
Chapter 17: Epilogue
Three weeks later after a trip he told me was to Dubai, Darach marched into the kitchen where I was eating dinner with Cameron with a huge grin on his face.
"Daddy!" Cameron jumped up from the table and threw herself into his arms. He kissed her cheek and sat down next to me.
"Eat fast, Jennifer, there's something I want to show you."
I could tell something was up from Darach's buoyant tone of voice. When he rushed me out to the Land Rover as soon as I was finished eating, leaving Cameron with Mrs. Clyde, I couldn't contain myself.
"Darach! What's going on?"
"Just wait, you'll see soon enough."
So I decided to go along with whatever it was he had up his sleeve. Soon, we were pulling up to the field that contained the Pictish stone.
"I've already seen the stone..." I said, confused. But he ignored me, coming around to the passenger side and helping me out, leading me down the path to the little hill and up to the stone itself. When we got there, the sun was just setting. No one else was around. I looked at Darach with my eyebrows raised, waiting to find out just what it was that has gotten him into such a state.
"So," he started, looking me in the eye, "now comes the time for Jennifer Robinson to prove all the nice things she says to her Laird."
'Her Laird.' I liked that.
Even as I watched him get down on one knee I was still unsure about what he was up to. It only sunk in when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.
"Darach..."
"Shhh, Jenny," he shushed me, looking up at me and taking my hand.
I always thought I would cry. I'm a cryer. Perhaps the happy summer, full of love and new-built family, had changed me. Whatever the reason, I surprised myself by not instantly bursting into tears. Instead I just looked right back at Darach as the feeling of my heart filling right up to the brim spread out through my body.
"Jennifer. My beautiful Jenny from America, my big city girl. I love you. You make me happier than I've ever been. The only thing I want to do is spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you've made me. Will you marry me?"
He opened the box and I gasped at the ring. A flawless, Asscher cut diamond surrounded with a halo of rubies sat in a cloud of black velvet. I must have stared for a little too long because Darach gave my hand a little squeeze.
"Well? What do you say? Will you have this Scottish idiot?"
I reached down and very gently took the ring out of the box, handing it to Darach.
"Yes. Yes. Darach, a billion million times yes. I love you."
He pushed the ring onto my finger and admired it for a few seconds before standing up and pulling me into his arms. It was there, with my face pressed against the familiar warmth of his chest, that I remembered Diane.
"What about D-"
I didn't even get to finish.
"I wasn't in Dubai, Jennifer. I was in London. She's made a deal with my lawyer - I get full custody of Cameron and an immediate divorce. It should come through within two months but I wanted to get a ring onto your finger before you had a chance to escape.
So that was it, my happy ending. Our happy ending - mine, Darach's, Cameron's and all of the babies I wanted to have with him.
We spent the next few days telling everyone. Darach's sister Anne came back from her summer vacation and, when we told her, just shook her head and smiled.
"I knew it. I knew it. I could see it on both of your faces tw
o days after you met. Congratulations."
We got married on a clear, frosty day in January. My friends Amy and Simone sat in the front row beside the small photograph of my grandmother, whose presence I could feel all around us in the church. I wore a white Valentino couture gown that had involved three trips to Paris to get right and Darach held his daughter in his arms as he watched me walk down the aisle with Mr. and Mrs. Clyde on either side of me. When he kissed me after our vows had been taken and we had been pronounced man and wife, the whole church stood up, clapping and whooping.
Darach looked me in the eye and bent down to whisper in my ear through the din:
"You're mine now, Jennifer Robinson. And I'm yours. Forever."
OTHER WORKS BY IMANI KING:
British Billionaire: A Second Chance At Love
Secret Billionaire's Vacation
First Act with the Billionaire
The Billionaire's Prescription
A Baby for the Billionaire
Author Bio
Imani King is a small town girl with a big imagination. She nurtures a passion for yoga and can often be found in the studio when she's not writing.
In her fantasies, she and her billionaire Mr. Right travel the world, exploring different cultures and each other! These daydreams are the inspiration for her sizzling stories, so what are you waiting for? Give one of them a try and let her know what you think.
Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/imaniking
Facebook: https://www.facebook...576103915864425
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7