He laughed. “I said don’t ask questions, didn’t I?”
Fear and panic began to build. “Camden isn’t waiting for me, is he? Because I swear I will freak out, Lachy. This isn’t right. I want you to take me home right now.”
“Haud yer wheesht McCreadie.” Lachlan demanded as he pulled the car to a halt outside the cottage. He nodded toward the house. “Go on in. No questions, remember?”
She snapped her head around to face him and glared. “But ... you need to tell me—”
He sighed. “Sheesh, Catriona McCreadie, for once in your life would you not try to be in control of everything little thing and just go with it, eh? I wouldnae steer you wrong, lass.”
With an indignant huff and a great deal of trepidation she climbed down from the car and slammed the door, expecting him to follow her. But before she could even consider changing her mind, her ride disappeared with a screech of tyres down the lane.
“Bloody charming.” She hesitantly walked toward the door but the cottage was in darkness. Was this some kind of sick joke? Was it a surprise birthday party a week early to really throw her? But if it was, why here? It didn’t seem right. The memories she had of this place were simultaneously too painful and too beautiful to recall.
She twisted the door handle and pushed the door, and as it creaked open she glanced down at the floor which was a carpet of multi-coloured leaves and petals that scattered with the slight evening breeze that followed her through the door. The scent of fresh roses filled the air of the room and all at once she was captivated by the romance of the scene before her.
The place was almost as it had been left when Nick had gone and her stomach knotted with a combination of fear and a flutter of hope. The warm glow of candles flickered from every elevated surface and she gasped at the beautiful sight.
Placing her hand over her thumping heart she begged in a whisper, “Please don’t let this be Camden’s doing ... please.”
No one came to greet her and so she followed the lit candles which seemed to be leading her in the direction of the living room. As she approached the doorway the opening bars of “Stay” by Black Stone Cherry began to play. Her lip began to tremble as she gazed around the room and was greeted by the most wonderful sight yet.
“I was terrified you wouldn’t come.” Nick’s eyes sparkled in the candle light. He stood barefoot, wearing jeans and a fitted T-shirt that exposed some of his bicep tattoos. His hair tied up in the knot she had showed him and his hands wedged in his pockets as if he didn’t dare move them.
He looked amazing. As he always did. And it appeared that her wish had somehow come true.
“Nick,” she breathed as tears escaped her eyes and drifted down her cheeks. She couldn’t move in case she realised this was a dream and she was still at home on her couch, sleeping.
He stepped toward her and swept his thumbs over her cheeks, the touch sending shivers of awareness over her skin, and he tenderly kissed her forehead.
“Don’t cry, Cat for short. I love you so much. I’ve missed you more than words can begin to express and I just want to forget the last month ever happened. I just want to be us again. Is there any chance you might still love me?”
No words were possible. She simply pulled him down so their lips met and she kissed him like they had never been apart and they had been apart for too long all at once. He slipped his hands around her and picked her up, holding her close enough to feel his heart pounding against hers.
He laid her down on the couch and climbed on beside her, pulling her against his body. He kissed her once more before pulling away and gazing lovingly down at her. “I need to ask you something.”
She smiled up into the familiar, cerulean blue eyes she had grown to love. “And what might that be?”
“Would you mind if I stay?”
Epilogue
One year later ...
Catriona
Fluttering her eyes open, Cat stared up at the ornate cornicing above her and for a moment confusion set in. A hand swept from her belly up to her breast and caressed her nipple, causing her eyes to drift closed and a soft moan to escape her parted lips.
“Good morning, Mrs Dacre.” A deep, husky voice came from her side and melted her insides as warm breath teased the sensitive skin of her shoulder. She opened her eyes once more and turned her face to find the sleepy, half closed eyes of the man she loved gazing at her. Despite their late night Nick’s arousal pressed into her hip and she could read his thoughts with a single glance.
“Good morning, Mr Dacre, you handsome devil.”
A lazy smile tugged at his lips. “Hmm ... I bet you say that to all the hunky rock stars you wake up with.”
She giggled lightly at his mock arrogance and shook her head slowly from side to side. “Nope. I only have eyes for one and I’m wondering ... ”
He propped himself up on his elbow. “Wondering what?” he asked as he traced circles over her skin.
“I’m wondering if he’s going to make love to me before the day gets crazy.”
He manoeuvred to settle between her thighs and bent to place feather-light kisses from her breast to her neck. “I will always make sure that you and I have time for each other. I promised that in our wedding vows, didn’t I?” He suckled on the skin just below her ear and she gasped, grazing her nails down the muscled plains of his back to his taut bottom.
She opened her eyes and fixed him with a look she was pretty sure expressed her desire for him. “You did ... and I’m waiting.”
With one long slow thrust of his hips he entered her and a growl of ecstasy erupted from his chest. “My sexy, gorgeous as hell wife. I’ll never get enough of calling you that, or of making love to you.” He kissed every available inch of skin he could reach and she lifted her legs to wrap them around him.
She swept his long, dark waves back from his forehead so she could lock her gaze on his as he moved inside her, connecting with him not only physically but emotionally too. Their intimacy had grown and grown since that day he returned to the little cottage in Gairloch and she had vowed to trust him as he had vowed to be honest with her ... always.
He took her lips in a soul searing kiss and she clung to him as the pleasure increased right at the point they were so intimately connected. He bent to pull her nipple into the warmth of his mouth and she gasped at the spike of pleasure that struck at the junction of her thighs.
Rolling in one swift movement, he lifted her to straddle him and the look of pure adoration in his eyes as she ran her thumb along the fullness of his lower lip caused her breath to catch in her throat.
“I love you so, so much, Nick Dacre,” she whispered as she linked one hand with his, fingers entwined just like their hearts.
He sucked her thumb between his lips and thrust up into her as his own thumb teased her sensitive nub of nerves.
“I hope you know I feel the same. You’re everything to me, Cat. Everything.”
Unable to get close enough, she lowered her body to cover his as his hips moved in perfect sync with hers, faster ... faster ... Their breaths hot and mouths connecting, tongues dancing. Her eyes fluttered open to lock on his once more for as long as they could before the sensations shooting through her body spiralled to the most mind-blowing climax she had ever experienced.
Nick
She cried out his name as he rolled her beneath him again, claiming her and marking her as his and following her into their own wonderful oblivion of connected bodies, linked hearts and combined souls.
From the moment he had returned to Gairloch he had vowed to never be away from her again and she had promised to follow him to the ends of the earth if necessary.
Once his breathing calmed, he stroked her mass of auburn hair away from her face and kissed her tenderly as she smiled up at him.
“So what’s on the agenda for today, Mr Dacre?”
“Well ... the soundproofing is being improved in studio four and I think Liam is coming in to help out. His apprenticeship st
arts in about a month but you know what that kid’s like when he gets here.”
“Kid in a candy store,” they quoted simultaneously, and then laughed that they were clearly on the same track.
“I think it’s awesome that you offered him that apprenticeship, Nick. His face when you told him. He really looks up to you.”
“Well, he’s got so much potential. The mixes he did for me on that little four track were fantastic. He’s a future Butch Vig, that kid.”
Cat held up her hand. “Hang on ... don’t tell me ... he was the guy who produced Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, yes?”
Nick pulled her into his arms. “God, you make me so proud, Dacre. You’re really learning.”
She laughed out loud. “Well, it’s hard not to when I live in a mansion that’s been converted into a recording facility.”
He kissed her forehead and sat up. He glanced around the large plushly-decorated Edwardian room with its huge floor to ceiling window that overlooked the grounds of their home and sighed in utter contentment. The purchase of the old place had been so easy and the staff he had kept on were fantastic. It was all a dream come true.
He shook his head in disbelief. “I bloody love this place, you know?”
She sat up to join him and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Yeah, who’d have thought that Rockhill Cottage would lead to the discovery of Rockhill House and the birth of Rockhill Records, eh?”
Whatever the hell they had been through it had most definitely created a foundation that no one could rock. And he was now a great believer in things happening for a reason. So much in the last two years had brought him to this place and made him who he had become. Someone who valued what was right and true in his life.
“I think that almost nervous breakdown I had was a Godsend. Not only did I meet the woman of my dreams but I realised something I never thought I would achieve. Somewhere stunning to call my home. To put down roots. Somewhere to record in the peace and tranquillity of the countryside and somewhere to bring up our kids eventually.” He turned to her and kissed her forehead again.
She took his hand and rested it on her belly, and with a beautiful smile she gazed up at him. “Oh, yes ... about that ... ”
The End
Acknowledgements
As always there are a gazillion people I want to thank and I'm always terrified of missing someone. These thanks are in no particular order and I wish I could list everyone by name but I think I might need another books worth of pages!
I want to start out by saying thank you to 5 Prince Publishing because without Bernadette and her team I may have given up writing long ago. They gave me a chance in the beginning and supported this change of direction too and I appreciate that so very much.
Thank you to all the amazing people who rushed to my rescue when I decided to try self-publishing for the first time. I think I may have done things back to front but with your help I get there.
So the team who helped get things done ... Tammy (aka Author J C Clarke) of The Graphics Shed for the amazing cover, Grace Harper Author for the formatting and tons of advice and Karen Sanders (aka Kyra Lennon Author) my long suffering editor who put up with my overuse of 'very' and my inability to spell 'anymore'. Our telephone chats were awesome! I'm eternally grateful to you three magnificent people and I think it turned out fabulous but only with your expert assistance.
Thank you Craig of Craig Spawforth Photography for taking my author pic and some of my teaser pics. I appreciate the fact that you made me look human—in spite of the fact that you've known me since I was two and the temptation to give me a beard and moustache through Photoshop must have been almost overwhelming.
There are so many bloggers out there who I absolutely adore and who have supported me from day one. Along with some who have supported me since they started blogging. I will list some of them but if you don't see your blog here please don't take this as me being ungrateful, simply take it as me being the scatty, disorganised author that I am, with a garden shed for a head.
Thank you: 2 girls who love books, Bad Boys and Bedtime Stories Book Previews, Blissfully Bookerized, Cheekypee reads and reviews, Clare's Mad About Books, For the love of a good book, Jo&Isalovebooks, Kelsey's Korner Blog, Ladies Living in Bookland, Leave Me Alone I Am Reading, Maddie's One Read In Heaven, Orchard Book club, Our Kindle Konfessions, Reader's Heaven, Red's Midnight Readers, Relentless Book Chics Ramblings & Reviews, Rock Hard Romance, Roxy's Reviews, Surrender to Books, The Cosy Reader, The Hopeless Romantics Book Blog, The Wandering Bookaholic, TotallyBooked Blog, United by Books, Tracey's Vampy & Racey Book Blog, Verna Loves Books, Wickedly Devine Divas and Your Next Hot Read. Please know how grateful I am for your continuous support.
Massive hugs and thanks to Christine F, Louise H, Ali S, Rich H and Shona R – my beta team on this book who read the story and loved it before anyone else set eyes on it :-D I love that you are always so willing to read what I write and I love that you are my friends.
Finally I want to say a mega thank you to my wonderful family and friends. You continue, year on year, to listen to me ramble about bookish stuff without so much as an eye-roll. I appreciate this more than you know and I'm very much aware that I must drive you all potty!
I'm very much aware that I must drive you all potty!
The Worst of Me Page 27