Highland Fling (The McLaughlins)

by Shelli Stevens

  He had to pull over when he was sure he was going to get sick. He opened the door, felt the bile in his throat, but all he could do was dry heave. His eyes burned as if rubbed with sandpaper. He closed the door and started driving again.

  When he pulled up outside Kenzie’s house, he hoped like hell he’d see Delonna’s car out front. Somehow convinced himself he would. That maybe this was just some big mistake. Maybe it was a car that was the same make and model as hers.

  And the same license plate?

  He stumbled out of the car and went to the front door. He didn’t bother knocking, and realized it was unlocked anyway. He stumbled inside.

  “Kenzie,” he cried out hoarsely, moving blindly down the hall. “Oh God. Kenzie! She’s dead. She’s fookin’ dead.”

  There were soft footsteps, then, “Who’s dead?”

  When Aleck turned around to face her in the hallway, Delonna swore he went about four shades paler.

  “You’re alive,” he whispered, eyes round and pupils dilated with shock.

  “I guess that’s debatable. I mean, technically, yes. I have a pulse. Emotionally, I’m a little dead.”

  He stared at her as if he’d seen a ghost, then moved toward her, touching her cheek with trembling fingers. Smoothing away the moisture on her cheek.

  “Tears.” The word was full of wonder. “You’re really here?”

  “Yes, I’m really here. Aleck, what kind of question is that?” She pulled away, and brushed away the moisture still gathered in her eyes. “And I’m crying because one, you’re an asshole. And two, I’m out of ice cream—I had to resort to yogurt. I fucking hate yogurt…” She trailed off. “Wait, why are you crying?”

  “Because I thought you were dead,” he rasped. “Your car went over a cliff into the sound.”

  “My car? I’ve been home all night. It must be someone else. My car is right out front.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  Delonna dropped her spoon back into the yogurt, set it down on the table in the living room and then rushed to her purse, digging through it.

  “My keys are gone. After all that son of a bitch did to me, he stole my car too? Seriously?”

  She turned around, ready to run outside and check to see if her car was indeed gone, but smacked into Aleck.

  He had her in his arms before she could blink, pulled so tight she could scarcely breathe.

  “Aleck,” she gasped.

  “Please, just let me hold you for a moment.” He pressed her cheek into his shoulder as his hands moved over her back.

  So confused, she tried to put the pieces together. He’d thought she was dead. Her car was stolen by James. Had gone over a cliff?

  “Wait. James is dead?” she whispered unevenly.

  “If he was the one driving your car, then aye. Someone was killed in that vehicle. I watched it being pulled from the water. Colin was the one to tell me you’d been killed.”

  It sank in and her stomach twisted. The hair on the back of her neck lifted. “So there’re a bunch of people who think I’m dead right now? We need to let them know I’m okay, Aleck. Now.”

  “Aye. Of course.” He pulled away, visibly struggling to compose himself. “Let me call Colin.”

  She waited while he made the call, heard their low and emotional exchange. When Aleck slid his phone away a moment later, he turned immediately back to her.

  “Colin is letting everyone know you’re all right,” Aleck said unsteadily. His gaze unwavering on her. “He said they think the brake lines in your car were cut. If James hadn’t stolen your car, it could’ve very well been you. He said they’ve got a pretty good idea who this bookie is, and are sending in a team to get him tonight.”

  She could’ve been dead. Her brake lines were cut. That was enough to make her start to shake.

  “Also, the police will be over in an hour to question you. Not a minute sooner.”

  “An hour?”

  “I need at least an hour, luv.”

  “An hour for what?” She gave a small shrug.

  He closed the distance between them and lifted her off the ground in two seconds flat.

  “Aleck!”

  He ignored her panicked cry, carrying her straight back to the bedroom and depositing her on the bed.

  “What the—”

  He was on top of her in an instant, his mouth covering hers in a frenzied, desperate kiss. When his mouth left hers to travel down her neck she shook her head.

  “Aleck,” she pleaded weakly. “We can’t do this anymore.”

  He ignored her, pushing her shirt up over her breasts and making a groan of pleasure when he found them braless.

  His lips closed around her nipple a moment later and she lost all ability to protest. His hands and mouth were everything. Touching her and tasting her. His gaze, every time it moved over her, a confusing mix of agony and relief.

  When he thrust into her moments later, their fingers were laced, and she gave herself completely to him. Tears were in her eyes at knowing she was falling right back down that rabbit hole of love. Who was she kidding? She’d never gotten out.

  Soon they were both boneless and spent, bodies intertwined and hearts pounding in near unison. But nothing had really changed, she thought. Maybe this was one last, relief-filled lovemaking celebrating the fact she was alive, but it couldn’t happen again. She wasn’t strong enough to survive it again.

  She tried to pull away from him, feeling tears roll down her cheeks, but he held firm in his grip around her waist.

  “I love you,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to love you, but in the end I couldn’t stop it anymore than I could stop the setting sun.”

  She closed her eyes and her heart twisted. “You’re only saying this because you thought I’d died, Aleck.”

  “Aye, maybe that’s what finally made me say it. But I felt it long before I admitted the truth. I knew I loved you in Edinburgh.” He gave an incredulous laugh. “But I denied it to you, and to myself. Because I refused to go through the pain of losing someone again. And then…for nearly an hour, I’d thought I had.”

  She touched his cheek, touched and amazed to find a tear on it. Just like the tear on her own.

  “And denying I loved you didn’t make it hurt any less in the end,” he continued raggedly. “It hurt more, Lana, because I thought you’d died without knowing the truth. That I loved you. That I loved you so fookin’ much I didn’t even know who I was without you anymore.”

  Tears spilled down her cheek and she shook her head. “I think I knew, Aleck. That you were just afraid to love again. But I thought you’d never open up. You’d never give us a chance.”

  “I want more than a chance.” He flipped her onto her back and climbed on top of her again, his gaze holding hers. “I want everything, Lana. I want marriage, I want babies, and I want everything I’m so terrified of losing again. I want to take that chance that life will turn out okay. That we’ll have forever.”

  “It will turn out okay,” she promised, her heart so full now.

  “And, if you’ll have it, I want you to take not just my name, but half of McLaughlin’s Pub. Be a co-owner, luv. There’s no need to start your own.”

  Her breath caught and her eyes rounded. “That’s huge. Are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life,” he said thickly. “And I know you’re young, and if you want to wait on marriage and children, I’ll wait until you’re ready.”

  “I don’t need to wait.” She gave a choked laugh. “I’ve waited this long for you to come to your senses. I love you so much, if there were a minister in the room I’d marry you now.”

  She felt his body stir to life again, and a moment later he began to ease back inside her.

  “You’d get married now? While we’re doing this?”

  �
�Why not?”

  “He might be scandalized.”

  “I don’t mind a good scandal.” She closed her eyes as passion took over. “Aleck.”

  “Lana.”

  For once she let herself think beyond the passionate moment, knew that this was so much more than just sex and lust. This was the man she loved. Her future. The father of her future children.

  “I love you,” she whispered.

  “I love you more.”

  “The fook you do.”

  “Mmm. The fook I do.” He sank deep. “And veery well.”

  “Aye, you do.” She smiled and pulled his head down for another kiss.

  Never would she have thought it possible to be this happy. Brenda McLaughlin looked around the family barbeque and felt her heart swell with emotion.

  Happiness had been a constant in her life since she’d met Rodrick and they’d made their own challenging way to a happily ever after.

  But now, her happiness expanded further than her four children and amazing husband. There were still her children, grown now, but now they were all blissfully married with kids.

  There were grandchildren, one old enough to be texting her boyfriend on her cell phone, another at the age where he could run from his grandpa as Rodrick chased him about the backyard, and then a bunch of chubby-faced babies. This, being a grandmother, was Brenda’s heaven on earth.

  “Can I get you another glass of wine?”

  She smiled as her son-in-law approached. “That would be lovely, thank you, Brett.”

  When he returned a moment later with her glass, she accepted it with a murmur of thanks. He stayed by her side, lingering on the porch and staring out over the backyard as she did the same.

  “Y’all should be proud of them. You raised amazing kids.”

  “I am proud. And I must say, you all are doing a lovely job raising my equally amazing grandchildren.”

  Pride swept across Brett’s face. “Thank you. I think we’re doing all right. And it seems like your kids learned from the best, with you and Rodrick. You’re a good solid couple.”

  “We’ve had our highs and lows. Every couple does. But love, love and a determination to keep the love alive is what will keep two people together.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I couldn’t agree more.”

  She glanced first at Kenzie, who was carrying an infant on her chest, while chasing down their two-year-old, and then glanced at Delonna and Aleck who each held one of the newborn twins.

  “Brett, a little help over here?” Kenzie cried, clearly needing assistance with their preschooler.

  He grinned and dashed off, calling out, “Enjoy that wine, Brenda. We’ll catch up more later.”

  She would enjoy the wine. She’d also enjoy staring both at the picturesque island town of Coupeville that sprawled before them, and watching the generation of McLaughlins who’d all found their own happily ever afters.

  Life was good indeed.

  About the Author

  Shelli is a New York Times Bestselling Author who read her first romance novel when she snatched it off her mother’s bookshelf at the age of eleven. One taste and she was forever hooked. It wasn’t until many years later that she decided to pursue writing stories of her own. By then she’d acknowledged the voices in her head didn’t make her crazy, they made her a writer.

  Shelli currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her daughter where she writes various genres of romance. She’s a compulsive volunteer, and has been known to spontaneously burst into song. Find her online at www.shellistevens.com

  Look for these titles by Shelli Stevens

  Now Available:

  Trust and Dare

  Theirs to Capture

  Four Play

  Foreign Affair

  Savage

  Savage Hunger

  Savage Betrayal

  Savage Revenge

  Seattle Steam

  Dangerous Grounds

  Tempting Adam

  Seducing Allie

  Chances Are

  Anybody but Justin

  Luck be Delanie

  Protecting Phoebe

  Holding Out for a Hero

  Going Down

  Command and Control

  Flash Point

  The McLaughlins

  Good Girl Gone Plaid

  Kilty Pleasure

  Loch and Key

  Taking her captive could prove his innocence…or make her a target.

  Savage Revenge

  © 2013 Shelli Stevens

  Savage, Book 3

  Agent and Alpha Nathan Larson has fled his pack, his agency and Washington State on a life-or-death mission to prove himself innocent of a savage massacre he’s pretty sure he didn’t commit.

  So far he’s covered his tracks, but it’s only a matter of time. He needs a place to hunker down under the radar, and he intends to make it happen. No matter who becomes collateral damage.

  Sage Christensen knows every shifter in this small California town, and the darkly attractive, brooding alpha attempting to flirt with her stands out like a flea on a white cat. She quickly realizes she was right to be wary when he follows her home and holds her captive.

  Despite her refusal to be a compliant victim, she can’t deny their chemistry. Or the gut instinct that maybe he really is innocent. But with the trail of dead women growing longer, Sage begins to wonder if it was a mistake to trust her safety, her body—and her heart—to a man who has no idea how deep his dark side is buried.

  Warning: This book has an Alpha male on the run, and a quirky novelist destined to be his captive. There will be bloodshed, lovemaking, and excitement aplenty.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Savage Revenge:

  Sage had the door open, with one foot out, before he reached her and snagged her around the waist.

  “Son of a bitch,” he roared. “How in the hell did you get free?”

  He lifted her back into the house and slammed the door.

  She was apparently done being complacent, though. She squirmed, kicked and hit before he finally had to drop her to try and get a better grip.

  But it wasn’t that easy, because in an instant she had scurried away and grabbed any kind of makeshift weapon she could get her hands on.

  He ducked from the remote control that flew at his head and lunged toward her. He missed.

  “How did you get yourself untied?” he roared.

  “You seriously underestimate me.” She darted past him, throwing a small lamp at him in the process.

  It clipped his shoulder before crashing to the floor. “Clearly.”

  A growl of fury erupted past his lips as he threw himself at her full speed.

  He took her down linebacker style, rolling them both on the hardwood floors.

  “Get off me.”

  She slapped at his shoulders, trying to free herself, and he caught her wrists in one hand to get her under control.

  Her expression morphed from frustration to pain, and her sharp cry had his anger vanishing. Had he hurt her? He hadn’t realized his grasp was that tight.

  A quick scan of her body, though, and he dropped her wrists from his grasp after seeing the raw, red cuts there.

  “Jesus, woman, what the hell did you do to yourself?”

  She winced and gently cradled one wrist. “I cut them while freeing myself.”

  He leaned down and slid an arm around her waist, helping her to her feet. “You mind filling me in on how you even got free?”

  “I rolled myself off the bed and cut the rope on the metal frame. There’s a sharp corner that I’ve cut my foot on more than once while climbing into bed.”

  Smart girl. “So when I found you on the floor and scooped you back up, you were probably already halfway through you
r ropes?”

  “Pretty much.”

  He grunted and steered her toward the kitchen. “You’re bleeding.”

  “I’m a shifter—it’ll stop fast.”

  “Still, it wouldn’t hurt you to wash the cuts. That frame might be rusty and why risk any slowed healing?”

  “Does it matter? I have a feeling you wouldn’t mind seeing me suffer.”

  Christ. This again. “It’s not my intent to hurt you, Sage. I can’t stress that enough.”

  “Then what is your intent?”

  “I just need a place to lay low. To figure out a few things.” He turned on the sink and gently pulled her wrists under the water. “And you’re going to help me with that.”

  She winced as he added soap over her raw but already healing wrists. “Not exactly willing here.”

  Their heads were close and he was suddenly all too aware of her as a female. The wrist he held was delicate and soft, and the scent of her shampoo mixed with the citrus soap he was using to wash her wounds.

  “It would be a little weird if you were,” he finally agreed.

  Her gaze lifted to meet his. Searching. “Are you really a P.I.A. agent?”

  “Yes. And not just an agent. I’m also the commander of my unit.”

  She shook her head, her breathing not quite as steady now. Was it from the information he’d just divulged, or their proximity?

  “You sound as if you should be one of the good guys. What did you do?”

  He was a good guy. Or so he’d used to think. He shrugged, not quite ready to answer that. Not quite sure he could.

  So he changed the subject instead.

  “This could’ve been so much easier on both of us, Sage. At the bar last night I was trying to make you fall for me. Trying to gain your trust so you’d willingly take me home.”

  “I’m sorry I was so uncooperative.” Her sarcasm ran rampant. “And I don’t take men home.”

  When he glanced up at her, her gaze had slid to his mouth.

  Interesting. Maybe she was a more aware of him than she cared to admit. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and everything primal inside him responded.

  He turned off the sink and maneuvered her against it, straddling her legs with his own.