“Yes.” A simple question to answer. This place was her home. Everything she loved was here. She shrugged and drank more of the coffee, letting the heat permeate deep into her muscles. Her gaze fixed on the black spikes of a winter-dead tree. Siobhan blew out a slow breath and let go of her crappy love life. She couldn’t change the past, but she could accept it and move on.
Only two men had ever been constant. Her father…and Ethan. As now, he was there for her, even if she found him annoying, really annoying. “Why do you always tease me, Ethan?”
“I’ve always been nice to you.”
“You’ve ripped apart every man I’ve ever been out with.”
Ethan didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed. “You know they weren’t right for you.”
Siobhan glared at him. “You don’t have to point it out so enthusiastically.” She stared down at the sandwich in her hand. The trip was a mistake. Ethan could rile her faster than any man she’d ever known. Best in small doses, that’s the way she should view him... She should’ve followed her first instinct and stayed at home. A slow sigh escaped her.
“Sorry,” Ethan said. “Can I begin again?”
She laughed. “We’ve known each other too long for that.” Biting into her other sandwich, she found Ethan staring at her. So Siobhan turned his question on him. She could be the interrogator too. “D’you like being tied to the Estate? I thought you hated it here.”
His dark gaze pulled away from hers, staring out to the grey horizon. “For years I ran from it,” he said softly. “I was hardly here. I’ve been around the world more than once, seen bizarre landscapes, bizarre people.” He shrugged. “Then one day, I came here to this ruin of a temple and it hit me. I love this bleak land.” Ethan smiled, and Siobhan’s gaze dropped. Her stomach knotted at the lingering softness in his eyes. “So when my father got itchy feet I offered to take over the running of Bellingham.”
“No regrets?”
His smile turned sly as his cold fingers lifted her chin. “One. Now that I’m home you don’t stay for more than a few days in the year.”
Siobhan brushed away his hand, unnerved by his touch. “You don’t give that impression, Ethan.”
“I’ve hardly seen you in seven years.” His fingertips returned and pressed, ice-cold on her jaw. “I think you’ve been avoiding me. Have you?” His touch slid lower, edging against the warm skin of her throat. “What are you afraid of, Siobhan? Where my teasing will take us?”
Her cheeks burned at his words, at the insinuation in his tone. She couldn’t say yes to him. The insane part of her wanted to, really wanted… She stared at his mouth and that urge to taste him surged through her. Her insides tightened. If she crossed that line with Ethan, she would destroy something important. Time to be sensible. Siobhan found her voice in a dry mouth and changed the subject, “You promised chocolate.”
“I did,” he said, unperturbed. His hand dropped away and he fished around in the bottom of the bag and produced two chocolate bars. “Don’t break your teeth on them. They’re frozen solid.”
Siobhan gave him a brief smile as she took one.
“So what shall we do now?”
His insinuating smile irked her. He watched her over his coffee cup with gleaming eyes. Heat seared her skin, and she closed her eyes. Damn him, enough was enough. She’d call him on it...and watch him run screaming. “Well we’re both single consenting adults. I say we go back to the Gatehouse for some wild monkey sex.”
Ethan coughed, choked and spat coffee into the snow.
Siobhan slapped his back. “Something I said?”
He straightened and rubbed at his chest. “Yes.” His voice broke, no more than a croak. “Now who’s the one teasing?”
As his eyes held her, a truth about her life flashed through her brain. Why hadn’t she seen it earlier? It was him. Ethan. Siobhan couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t known him. After she left for college there had been a hole inside her where he’d lived. Siobhan had tried to fill it with other men…and failed. Yes, her lust, her need for Ethan was the root cause of her dire love life.
“What? Have I grown horns?”
Siobhan broke off her stare and willed herself to find courage. Lust, oh God, or was it love? She didn’t know, but she wanted the chance to find out. Her gaze lifted. She was not thinking that he might refuse. “So are you going to accept my offer?” She straightened. “And really Ethan, the constant harassment is wearing. So either put up or shut up.”
His expression was priceless. “You want us to go back to your home and have sex?”
“You understand the question. Good for you.” Siobhan put the empty coffee cup back into his hand and turned to leave. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”
Her heart pounded. This could be another of her disastrous mistakes where men were concerned. And it would be so much worse than the others, because she could be about to ruin the only solid friendship in her life. But, she knew now that she compared every man to him. Time for her to find out what he really meant to her. Her hands curled into tight fists. She had no idea how Ethan felt. Siobhan was scared shitless.
Heavy boots crunched through the snow behind her until Ethan overtook her as she walked through the break in the wall. “Are you serious, Siobhan?”
Scared as she was, she had to be truthful with him. “I’m crap at relationships, Ethan.”
“I know.”
She glared at him. “I said before, you don’t have to agree so quickly.”
He shrugged. “It’s true. How many times have we sat in your kitchen and you’ve had to tell me that another one dumped you?”
Anger bloomed in her chest. “Well, I think you’re the cause!” Something in his face changed, and he stepped back from her. Her gut tightened and the anger died away. “What have I said now?”
Ethan shrugged the rucksack over one shoulder and pulled out his car keys. “Is that what you need to do, Siobhan? Get over me.” He spoke softly, but steel lay behind his voice. His heavy gaze fixed on her. She couldn’t read the emotion there. “All right, then it’s a deal.” He opened the passenger door. “After you.”
Yes, I’m a complete idiot. What the hell am I doing? Only a couple of hours before she’d been moping on the settee, with no clue why her relationships always ended up in the toilet. Now she headed back to the Gatehouse with Ethan, and he’d just agreed to have sex with her. How freaky did that sound?
The engine rumbled into life and he turned the Land Rover. “Why are you doing this?”
Ethan glanced at her, his gaze scorching over her body. “Why would I not?”
Siobhan pulled her coat over her legs, and Ethan smirked. “That’s not an answer.”
He fixed his attention back on the straight stretch of road and his jaw clenched. “Maybe I have to work you out of my system, too.”
Siobhan blinked.
A smile twitched over his mouth, and his fingers flexed around the steering wheel. “What? I hound you for a reason, you know.”
She found her voice. “Mutual lust?”
He flashed her grin, and her heart missed a beat. “Possibly.”
He turned off the main road and drove along the cleared, tree-lined avenue, stopping the car before the great, iron gates. The Land Rover’s headlights splashed over the metal, illuminating the ambling house just inside the high, grey walls. Once the gates opened, Ethan drove through and pulled up on the narrow drive to the rear of the Gatehouse. He yanked up the handbrake and switched off the engine.
She was home. Now nerves started to bite. Was she really going to go through with this?
Siobhan scrambled out of the car. She straightened her clothes and ran nervous fingers over her smooth hair. Inhaling the cold air, she let it run through her overheated nerves, allowing it to calm her. Ethan banged his door shut and Siobhan jumped forward across the cleared path. She’d left the kitchen light on and it splashed golden light through the growing gloom. The door handle bit cold though her
glove as Siobhan twisted it and pushed the door open.
The smell of rich coffee still thickened the air in the large, homely room. Warm light washed over the wooden cabinets and the terracotta tiled floor. The iron stove Aga gleamed in its alcove. And there in front of her, stood the big kitchen table where she’d shared disaster after disaster with Ethan.
Siobhan kicked off her shoes. Her skin prickled as Ethan followed her into the kitchen and closed the door behind himself. “Alone in the house again, Siobhan.”
“Yes.” She released a slow breath and put out her hand. His warmed fingers slid easily into hers. Her heart tightened. “Did we really need to go out?”
Ethan chuckled. “You wouldn’t have propositioned me a few hours ago.”
That was true enough. Siobhan led him out into the passageway, which fed out into the hall. The house stood still, silent and smelled the same—a comforting mixture of wax polish and the rose potpourri her mother favoured. A safe smell. Breathing it in, Siobhan began to relax. The wooden stairs creaked as they climbed them. For the first time, she knew she wasn’t about to make a mistake.
Still, doubt gripped her.
She lifted the latch on her door, headed into the darkness and flipped up the light switch. Without a word, Ethan followed her. Siobhan shot back the bolt on the door and couldn’t help the smile that lifted her mouth. She had him now.
“Should I be worried about that bolt?” Ethan stalked around her room, his feet silent on the thick rug that covered the wooden floor. He stared around the white-washed walls, the worn, pine furniture, the toys and books stuffed on to the far shelves.
“Looking for an escape route, Ethan?”
“Oh no.” Her heart beat out an erratic pattern as his dark eyes turned to survey her, sliding down to the rise and fall of her breasts. “Not at all.” The desire in his voice turned her limbs to liquid. She could only obey as he guided her away from the door.
Ethan wanted her. Her mouth dried at the thought of it.
He pulled the soft wool of her sweater over her head and threw it onto the bed. Siobhan’s blood pounded though her body. His cool fingers ran light over her exposed flesh, delaying on the swell of her breast caught in her bra. “Take it off.”
Siobhan’s fingers fumbled with the hooks on her back, until they came loose. Ethan slid the straps down her shoulders, arms, letting the bra drop to the floor. The icy chill of the room caused her nipples to lift, harden. She bit at her lip as Ethan stroked a delicate fingertip over her; painful pleasure rippling in his wake. She watched him shrug out of his coat and then unbutton his shirt, his eyes holding hers. He’d hardly touched her, and yet her blood surged liquid fire through her veins.
Her hand moved to his smooth-muscled chest; her touch gliding over the rough swirls of black hair lightly covering his warm skin.
She looked up as his hand slipped around her waist. He pressed her to him. She closed her eyes at the brush of her naked flesh against his. “Siobhan?” Her eyes opened. “That’s better,” he murmured. His mouth brushed hers, slow, sure, his hands sliding over her back, caressing her spine.
Such a sweet torment. The ache, the pulsing desire could hardly be contained. She crushed Ethan to her wanting more than a simple kiss, a slow caress. “Ethan, kiss me right now.”
His smile brushed her lips. “Any more orders, Siobhan?” His tongue flickered against her softly parted mouth, and then he deepened the kiss. His breathing became as uneven as her own. Siobhan’s brain fused as his mouth devoured her. Not enough air… She stumbled, her mouth broke from his and Ethan laughed as they landed on her bed with a thump and a tangle of limbs.
“Not the most smooth seduction.”
“No.” Siobhan wriggled free of him and propped herself up on her elbows. “Are you so out of practice?”
Ethan glared at her, and his gaze fired heat under her skin. “Out of practice?”
Time to do some baiting of her own. “Well, you’re stuck up here with absolutely no one to hone your skills on.”
“Oh my skills are just fine.” She gasped as Ethan’s tongue flicked at her erect nipple, arching her body against his mouth. He looked up, a wicked smile cutting his face at her pleasure. “See?”
“Maybe.” But the word came out as no more than a gasp because he was licking his way down her stomach. Deft fingers unbuttoned her jeans, sliding down the zip and pulling them, and her panties, over her hips and legs. He dropped them in a puddle of cloth on the floor. Her socks joined them. “Much better.” He ran warm hands along her thighs, gently parting them. His fingers teased the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, and little sparks of fire had her squirming.
Ethan looked up and the wicked desire in his gaze caught her heart. His breath tickled her skin, and she swallowed. “Are you over me yet?”
“Ethan Jacoby, if you don’t—”
His hot tongue licked her, and Siobhan squealed, all argument forgotten. Oh God, Ethan’s clever, clever tongue. Light flashed behind her eyes, and pressure built low in her pelvis. Each stroke flared fire through her flesh. And then he started to hum against her. Ethan had to hold her down because her body simply wasn’t her own.
An orgasm teetered so close she could almost taste it. So close… He murmured something, his lips moving perfectly, deliberately against her delicate flesh. Her spine arched, and she cried out his name as a rush of light surged through her senses.
Siobhan sank to the bed, spent. Ethan’s soft laughter made her open a weary eye.
“Have you any idea how long I’ve wanted to do that?”
She stared at him. “What made you wait?”
“You.”
“Me?”
With a sigh, Ethan propped himself up on the bed beside her. His fingers idly traced her navel and played across her stomach. She sighed against the tingle of her skin, arching into his touch as callused fingertips caught sensitive points. “Before we go any further,” his smile turned sinful, and her heart flipped, “and we will go further, I need to tell you something.”
Siobhan stared up at him. “What?” A stone weighted her chest. Was he about to set the boundaries, state that this would be all she could get of him? Was he dumping her already? Coldness washed through her and she shivered.
“Siobhan?” He pulled her to him, warm hands running over her skin. She pressed her face to his chest and his warm, familiar scent wove through her. She breathed him in. Her arms slid around his body, holding him tight. Siobhan crushed her eyes shut. For a few moments, she let herself believe the illusion of Ethan holding her, wanting her, loving her. But even with Christmas so close, she wouldn’t be allowed that miracle. Tears pricked at her eyes.
With effort, she pulled away. She focused on the sharp line of his collarbone and the urge to lean in and kiss him had her gut in a knot. “Look, if you don’t want anything more, say so. Stop me from making a really, really stupid mistake and ruining our friendship.”
Ethan lifted her chin, and his smile eased the tightness in her throat. “I was about to say, almost, the same thing.” His mouth brushed hers in a brief caress that had her aching for more. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you to realise that you loved me.”
Siobhan blinked. “That I…”
He was right.
She’d been an idiot. It explained why she could never attach herself to another. One man already had her heart.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Even as she said the words, Siobhan realised how ridiculous they sounded.
Ethan’s soft laughter had her chuckling too. “Would you have believed me…or smacked me?”
“Definitely smacked, possibly followed by a sharp poke to the ribs. Even a good kick.”
“Now you see why I kept silent.” Ethan brushed the tangle of her hair away from her face, his hand delaying on her cheek. “Wanting you crept up slowly, so slowly I didn’t realise myself until your mother said you were getting married.” Pain surged briefly behind his eyes, and his jaw tightened. “But I had
to trust that you’d stay true to form.”
Siobhan winced. “Find myself dumped?”
Ethan sighed. “Yes, and I promised myself in that temple, that if I had the chance again I’d tell you that I loved you.”
Heat bloomed through her chest, and Siobhan willed herself not to cry. She swallowed, her throat tight. “Really?”
“Say that you love me, Siobhan.”
The warmth, the love in his dark eyes made the words she had never spoken come easily. “I love you.”
Ethan closed his eyes and sighed. A smile pulled at his mouth. “I think we have to make an offering to Mithras.”
“Right now?”
“Not right this instant. I have other plans for you.” Ethan ran a hand over her bared shoulder and eased warmth into her skin. “But that place made both of us realise what was important to us.”
“Now who’s getting misty-eyed?”
Ethan glared at her. “Do I have to take you in hand?”
Siobhan smirked at him and pushed him onto his back. Her hand snaked down his chest to his jeans. She flipped the button. “Oh, I think that would be my job, don’t you, Ethan?”
Einmal nach a Modresnach
by
Emily Ryan-Davis
Sophie Anderson closed her eyes and cuddled up in a big armchair. She breathed in the fragrance of Christmas and exhaled contentment. A fire crackled nearby, close enough to warm her cheeks and heat the fur beneath her feet. Wood smoke, coffee and apple pie perfumed the rustic vacation rental that had been her home for the past week. She regretted not seeing much of Germany during her vacation, but didn’t regret a single second in the company of four generations of Anderson women. Five. She drew a quilt over the rounding slope of her abdomen and smiled.
The floorboards in the foyer creaked, and David, her great-grandmother Matilda’s personal nurse, said, “You look pleased with yourself.”
His voice, dark and rich as German beer, made her toes curl deep into the pile of the bearskin rug that dominated the den. She couldn’t help herself; she lifted sleepy lashes so she could watch him in the doorway. David was a gorgeous man, born and educated in Berlin. He had a mouthwatering accent. Her aunts had flirted shamelessly with him all week. To his credit, he took every suggestive comment, every playful invitation, with a gracious smile and a polite compliment. If he once wished he weren’t locked up in a house full of horny and hormonal women, he gave no indication whatsoever.
Dream by the Fire: Winter Magic Page 13