by Jo Barrett
Ian burst from the stairway and abruptly stopped. He looked at the still form lying at their feet, his jaw clenched and his hands fisted at his sides.
Crouching down beside Maighread, he closed her eyes. “Sleep, little one.”
Tuck felt a sharp pang of remorse. Ian’s joking about Maighread turning him down had been his way of hiding the pain. Apparently, he wasn’t the womanizing rogue he let everyone believe him to be. He’d truly cared for her.
Ian rose and turned to them. “I am glad to see you unharmed, dear heart.”
She nodded, standing in Colin’s arms. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say in the face of so much pain.
“I shall take her to her chamber,” he said, then lifted Maighread’s lifeless body into his arms.
As he disappeared into the stairwell, Tuck whispered, “He was in love with her.”
“Nay, mavourneen,” Colin said, squeezing her tightly to his side. “But he did care a great deal for the lass. Why I shall ne’er understand.” He guided her down the stairs.
Douglas and Elspeth arrived in Maighread’s room shortly after them.
“William said he thought he’d spied her among the crowd, but I didna wish tae believe him,” Douglas said.
Colin lifted his gaze from the shrouded body. “Nor I, but I took care tae have the larder and foodstuffs closely guarded.”
“Ach, the poor lamb,” Elspeth cried, quickly covering her mouth before burying her face against his father’s chest.
“I’m sorry tae spoil your wedding day, Da.” Although he didn’t wish for Maighread’s death, knew she would’ve been punished severely for her treachery, he could not spare any remorse in her passing. She’d wanted to end the one life he held most dear.
“’Tis not your fault, lad. She brought her end upon herself.” Douglas turned and guided a sobbing Elspeth away.
“Come. I wish tae be far away from this sadness,” Colin said.
Tuck let him lead her to her room. He bore so many things on his broad shoulders, but now with the weight of Maighread’s death, he seemed close to breaking. He stopped at her door and ushered her inside.
She turned before he could leave. “Your father’s right, you’re not to blame.”
His jaw clenched. “Aye, but it doesna make it any easier.”
“No. It never does.” She held his gaze for what seemed like ages, hoping, wishing, praying he would take her in his arms and take away the horrid chill of death enveloping her.
“I thought—” He swallowed hard. “I thought I was tae late.”
“I’m pretty hard to get rid of,” she said.
He hesitated for a heartbeat, then stepped across the threshold and took full possession of her mouth. She returned his kiss hungrily, his breath filling her with life, with hope.
Laving her neck with kisses, he said, “Ach, mavourneen, I’ve a need tae touch you, tae feel your creamy skin against mine. Tae feel alive.”
“Then why don’t you?” she breathed, her legs turning to jelly.
Never had she ever thought a man could turn her into such a malleable mound of quivering female. She felt like fine plastique being molded and shaped into a powerful explosive. And when she went off, she wanted him to go with her.
He kicked the door closed and fumbled with the bolt without removing his lips from her skin. Easing to the bed, he changed his assault lower, his lips brushing across the tops of her breasts, barely visible above her bodice.
She moaned as his tongue slid into her cleavage. Maybe pushup-bras, antique or otherwise, were a good thing after all. A very good thing.
He undid her laces as she removed his kilt. Once they were both undressed, they stood for several seconds letting their gazes roam over one another.
“I’ll ne’er get enough of the sight of you,” he whispered.
She let out a long breath of pure satisfaction. “I think I can safely say the same.”
Smiling, he hoisted her up and tossed her on the bed. Their laughter turned to heated murmurs as they came together in a raw act of possession, celebrating life at its most intimate level.
A time later they lay silently in one another’s arms once their hearts had slowed. Colin tucked his love against his side, her soft curls tickling his cheek, her long fingers sifting through his chest hair, occasionally raking her nails against his skin. It felt incredible, and he was unable to contain his moan of satisfaction.
“What does mavourneen mean?” she asked.
With a grin she couldn’t see, he said, “It means nettlesome shrew.”
Her head popped up from his shoulder, her beautiful green eyes narrowed, her luscious mouth drawn tight. “You know what I can do to you.” The corner of her mouth crept up into a teasing grin.
He chuckled at her false ferocity. “Is that a promise?”
“Looking for adventure, are we?”
By the saints, he loved this woman. He tapped the tip of the nose. “‘Twill always be so with you, but tae answer your question in truth, it means my darling.”
“Oh,” she said, turning a deep shade of red.
It would take some time to tear down the lies her father and others in her past had filled her with, but he welcomed the challenge. “Now, I have a question for you. What is this—Sasquatch?”
She bit her lip with a crooked smile. “You won’t like it.”
He peered at her sternly, then flipped her onto her back and pinned her with his body.
“Oh, all right,” she said with a sigh. “It’s a humanlike animal, supposedly larger than a man and covered with shaggy hair or fur. It’s a legend, really.”
His jaw fell slightly lax. Did she think him a beast? God in heaven, had he hurt her? What a fool he’d been! He’d taken her virginity no more than a day ago and roughly too.
“Ach, mavourneen,” he said, cupping her face. “I beg you tae forgive me. I ne’er meant tae hurt you.”
“What are you talking about? You haven’t hurt me.”
“‘Tis a beast, you described. And ‘tis what I’ve been tae make love tae you again so soon. I’m sorry, lass.” He lowered his head, resting his brow against her shoulder.
Her fingers slipped into his hair. “I’m fine, and I wouldn’t have traded a moment of it for the world.”
“Then you dinnae hurt?” he asked, lifting his head.
She shifted, just so, beneath him. “What do you think?”
He let out a hiss as his rigid shaft brushed against her moist heat.
“Think of Sasquatch as an endearment,” she murmured, nipping at his chin. “You’re big—and strong—and legendary.”
Her long luscious legs rubbed against his. “But I dinnae have fur,” he muttered, rapidly losing the ability to speak.
“No, you don’t.” She ran her tongue along his throat.
He clamped his eyes closed and swallowed hard.
“But you hadn’t shaved for a good while the first time I saw you,” she said. “And you’re the biggest man I’ve ever known.” She tasted the edge of his lips then rubbed her mouth against his with the lightest of touches.
Much more of her torture and he would be lost. “Think you can win my good favor with your kisses?”
“Oh, my arsenal is a lot bigger than that.” She squiggled lower, embracing the tip of him between her supple folds, then pulled back.
He growled low and long. “You intend tae drive me mad, woman.”
“Somehow I have the feeling…” she shifted again, pulling him in further before drawing back once more. “…that we’ll both go crazy.”
His lips met hers hard as he thrust forward, not allowing her room to retreat. He wrapped his fingers between hers above her head as she surrendered to him. It was the sweetest gift she could ever give him, his warrior woman, and he gave of himself in return, completely and with all that he was.
Chapter Twenty-three
“What think you, Colin?” his father asked, pulling his attention back to the important conversa
tion at hand.
“’Tis a sound plan. Upon our return to Arreyder, we’ll place men about the isle to keep watch. The Campbells willna set foot upon Mull without our knowing.”
The MacKenzie nodded in agreement, much calmer than he’d been at the beginning of their meeting. He’d cast threats and accusations back and forth with his father for some time before finally acknowledging they had a far more deadly enemy.
The peace between the clans had lasted for generations, but that didn’t mean his father and the old laird liked one another. On the contrary, they’d been, at best, tolerant of one another over the years, but each had the good sense not to let their personal dislike affect the clans and the safety of their people.
The meeting ended, and they turned their mounts toward home. Although the Campbells and their devilish cunning were at the forefront of Colin’s mind, another problem plagued his thoughts. A certain woman would likely try and skin him alive when he returned to the castle.
He’d spied her listening closely to the discussions between he and his father regarding the meeting of the clan lairds over the past few days, and insisted she be included. She argued that her knowledge of strategy and war would be of help, that her fighting skills alone would be of great use in case the Campbells ambushed them. None of which did he even begin to consider.
He could not allow her to place herself in danger. She, however, hadn’t taken his decision to heart. Knowing her as he did, he suspected she might take it in her female head to follow them. So, he locked her in her room before she’d awakened that morning.
Hence, he had a problem. How was he to deal with a furious female who could put him on his belly faster than he could blink? A sigh slipped from his lips. That was the smallest of his troubles, however. The image of Amelia lying peacefully in her bed after they’d made love appeared before his mind’s eye. More than anything, he wanted to stay with her, but could not. There were plans to be made, things he needed to see to.
He sniffed at the blatant lie. He was running from her like a man afraid of his own shadow. Although he’d made love to her, several times, succumbed to the intense desires that plagued him for weeks, he had yet to tell her of his love. Fear was not a stranger to him, but in this instance he felt more the fool.
She’d responded to his touch, offered her body to him in every way, but what of her heart? He grimaced at his sorry state. She’d reduced him to a sympathetic dolt. He’d never be the hard man he was before. If she were to reject his offer of love, he would be of no use to his clan. There would be nothing left of him but a shell of a man with a shattered heart.
The woman was everything he could ever want or need. She challenged him at every turn, and he enjoyed those challenges beyond pleasure. He would not let his fear of her breaking his heart rule him any longer. He would tell her of his feelings after he faced her wrath.
Lifting his gaze to the keep in the distance, he murmured a prayer for strength, nearly choking on the words.
“Daft, she is,” he said, then kicked his horse into a fierce gallop.
****
“Lock me in my room. Ha! We’ll just see about that,” Tuck murmured, locating another meager toehold in the wall.
She’d pounded on the door, screaming her lungs out for hours, but no one answered her. The beast had threatened them all with a flogging.
Damn the man! He knew she was capable, he knew she could fight and strategize with the best of them, but the stubborn ox refused to listen. Couldn’t he understand she needed to be there with him to watch his back?
“If anything happens to that big ape—” No, she refused to think that way. Nothing was going to happen to him. “Not on my watch.”
Cursing beneath her breath as her bleeding fingers struggled to keep a firm hold between the stones, she stretched out her foot, reaching for the next toehold. Why couldn’t that stupid vine have reached her window? It would’ve made the climb a snap, but noooo. She had to have the only room a cockroach would have trouble getting into.
She snarled low and long. “When I get my hands on you, Colin MacLean you’re going to wish—” She squeaked as a thick arm wrapped around her waist and plucked her from the wall.
“Damn you! Have you no sense?” Colin bellowed as he plopped her down in front of him on his horse, his heart slamming against his ribs.
“I was almost at the bottom,” she snapped. “If I hadn’t been so busy thinking up new ways to kill you, I would’ve realized how close I was and jumped down.” She squiggled in his arms. “Now, let me go, you—you blasted Scot!”
“So you can find another way tae get yourself killed?”
“I have a lot of rock climbing experience. I wouldn’t have been killed. And I wouldn’t have been scaling the damn keep, if you hadn’t locked me in my room!”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “If you ever do such a daft thing again I’ll paddle your backside.”
“You and what army?”
“You’ll do as I say, like it or no!”
“Well I don’t like it and I’ll do as I please. When are you going to get that into your thick head?”
Colin climbed down from his horse with his arm firmly around her waist. “You’ll do as I tell you, woman, and I’ll not have any of your sass.”
“Don’t count on it.” She laid him out in the mud at the base of the stairs to the main hall, flat on his back.
The men burst out laughing as they rode into the bailey. Shooting them a steely glare, they fell silent, but he knew he’d not heard the end of it.
Amelia stood at the top of the stairs, her fists on her hips. “When are you going to learn? I do not need a babysitter!” She turned and stomped into the keep.
Knowing she was ever ready to fight, not willing to give her another chance to use one of her nasty tricks, he quickly plowed forward, spun her around, and tossed her over his shoulder.
She grunted as the air rushed from her lungs. At least he’d have a few moments of peace without her harping in his ear. But he knew the battle wasn’t over.
He gritted his teeth against the sheer terror that had engulfed him as he rode within sight of the keep. Pushing his horse as hard as he could, he’d prayed she wouldn’t fall.
His steps faltered as he climbed to her chamber. It was his fault that she did such a fool thing and would have been his fault if she’d died.
He sat her on the bed without a word, his heart lodged firmly in his throat. How was he to keep her safe if she wouldn’t do as she was told?
She bounced back up, glaring hotly at him. “Your warlord tactics won’t work on me. Not this time. Now, get out of my way.”
“Not ‘till I beat some sense intae you.”
“Oh, you just try it,” she snarled.
“Blast you, woman, I don’t want tae fight you, but I’ll not have you risking your life!”
“That’s a load of bull! All you want is control. My life doesn’t mean a damn thing to anyone.” She spun away, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.
He snagged her by the shoulders and jerked her back around. “Your life means everything tae me! I love you, you stubborn female!”
Her mouth opened in a small rounded oh, but no sound came out.
Letting out a disgruntled sigh at having told her of his heart in such a way, he said, “Sit, so I can tend you.”
He eased her onto the edge of bed, hoping the next words from her lips wouldn’t break his heart. He turned to the basin by the hearth and moistened a cloth. Kneeling before her, he took her hands in his and bathed her bloodied fingertips.
“No one’s ever loved me before,” she said, staring at him as if she’d never seen him before.
He looked up into her watery eyes. “Then ‘tis way past time.”
A small smile touched her lips. “Then I guess I love you, too.”
He grinned, barely containing his immense joy. “You guess? You canna do better than that?”
She laughed. “I’m new at this so you’ll have t
o be patient.”
“I’m not known tae be a verra patient man, lass.”
Smiling, she said, “Really. I hadn’t noticed.” Her lips turned down slightly. “Colin, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to be in love.”
“Shh, mavourneen.” He rose up on his knees and kissed her. “We’ll find our way together.”
Never had he felt such completeness with a woman. The women he’d bedded before were nothing like his Amelia. The fire in her hair was in her soul as well. They would have strong children, in mind and body.
If she would have him. Her love for him was a gift indeed, but he wanted more. He wanted her forever.
“Amelia, I wish tae—I want—” He let out a frustrated breath that stirred the curls alongside her face.
She cocked her head. “What?”
She was so beautiful, her cheeks a rosy hue, her lips well kissed, and her eyes filled with warmth. He nearly forgot what it was he wanted to say.
He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I want you always by my side.” Afraid of what he would see in her eyes, he dropped his gaze to their joined hands. “‘Tis a simple thing we can do by consent. ‘Tis the old way. We’ve no need for a priest tae make us husband and wife in my eyes, but if you wish it, I will find one.”
Her silence stripped him to the core, but he had to face her decision whatever it may be. Slowly, he lifted his gaze.
“I, Amelia Tucker,” she said shakily. “Take you, Colin MacLean, to be my husband. I promise to love and honor you for the rest of my life.” She paused with a soft sniffle. “Is that what you mean?”
“Aye,” he said, his voice breaking. His eyes misted over and he blinked to clear them. “I, Colin MacLean of the clan MacLean, take you, Amelia Tucker, tae be my wife. I promise to be a loyal, faithful, and loving husband tae you for as long as I live.” He kissed her, then pulled her into his arms and held her close.
Never had he dreamed such a thing would be possible, not for him. He’d envisioned a life without emotion, without love.
“Colin? I don’t have any sort of dowry or anything.” She pulled back to look up at him. “I’m not even Scottish. Will your father approve of you marrying me instead of Aileen?”