by D. K. Combs
“What?” That was it? He was just going to show up, tell her that he knew who she was, then leave? No threats? No forcing? Nothing? Connor had been more adamant than Brodrick was, and Brodrick was Kane’s closest friend. He should have been more furious than even Connor had been at her deception!
“I—I think I’m going to be sick. Ye’ poor lass, I just—my God, Saeran. My God.” Then he left, leaving the room as quickly as he came into it.
She stared after him, wondering what in all that was Holy had just happened.
Kane looked around and decided that now was the time to leave. Brodrick had disappeared to God knows where, and that meant he was free to leave without a problem. He would get to the bottom of Alice’s pain, and then kill anyone or anything that caused it.
Aye, killing the problem cured it.
He shoved away from the table, threw his payment for the lone ale he’d had on the table, and practically ran to the door. Alice had been left alone for far too long. He would be amazed if she did not hate him for his negligence. He frowned as the cold air blew his hair away from his face. Alice was not a hateful person. She would be upset with him, but her heart was too kind to hold hate.
“Kane.” He nearly groaned at the sound of Brodrick’s voice from behind him. The one man he did not want to see. Of course. “Kane, ye’ canna go.”
“How do ye’ ken where I’m going?” he asked, raising a brow—then he got a good look at Brodrick. His face was as pale as the moon and his eyes…he looked like he’d seen a ghost. Kane took him by the elbow, drawing him to the side of the pub. “What the hell happened to ye’?”
“I—Kane. Donna go to Alice.” He shook his head, avoiding Kane’s eyes completely. “She is—“
“Is she hurt?” he demanded, feeling fear rise inside of him. He had known better than to leave her alone. He had known. Shame and fury attacked him like a wolf, digging sharp, angry teeth into his heart and pulling. Alice was too gentle. Too sweet. She should never have been left alone in her misery. He was so furious with himself that he did not think to ask Brodrick how he knew something was wrong with Alice.
“Kane, listen to me. Alice is no’—“
He shot off toward the inn before Brodrick could finish. Time spent talking to Brodrick meant time that Alice could be hurt. Feeling like he was choking for breath by the time he reached the inn, he threw open the doors, racing up the stairs.
She had been in the room with the lone window on the east side of the building. His feet thundered over the wood as he stormed through the hallway. There was a soft sound from inside of the room he suspected was hers, and then a cough and a thump. It was dainty and sweet—completely Alice. With a growl, hating himself more than he ever had before, Kane wasted no time in knocking or waiting for her to answer. He shoved the door open, then froze. Stared. Felt as if his heart had fallen to his stomach.
The delicate figure was bent over the edge of the bed, blonde mop of hair spread over tangled blankets. He surged forward, instinct the only driving force through his fear. There was something wrong with her. No normal person sat like that.
Kane didn’t breathe until he had her in his arms.
“Alice,” he said raggedly, smoothing back her hair with a trembling hand. “Alice, damnit. What happened? Why are ye’—“
“Wait a moment.” The muffled voice was accompanied with a shove to his shoulder. Stupefied, he let her crawl out of his arms so she could resume her position on the floor.
“What are ye’ doing?” he said, dazed as he watched her. She did no’ move like she was upset, nor had she sounded like it. He recalled the thumping sound. “Did someone attack ye’?”
If someone did, he wouldn’t mind taking his confusion out on them by slicing their heads off. His hopes fell when she shook her head, back still turned to him.
“I was trying to walk,” she said with a grunt, her voice muffled from her face being pressed into the edge of the bed. He realized that her hands were moving underneath it, searching for something. He frowned. “And I slipped on the corner of a blanket. Then this,” she said, pulling out a cup from under the bed triumphantly, “rolled right on under it.”
“Ye’ were trying to retrieve a cup,” he said drolly.
“Aye.” Wide, confused eyes lifted to his. “I could not just leave it there. Then Mabel would be missing one! Why, what did you think was wrong?”
“I…” He narrowed his eyes on her, having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that there was no attacker he could kill. “Brodrick came to me.”
She stiffened. Like that, all of the innocence and confusion dropped out of her face.
“He did no’ say what was wrong, but I figured ye’ were hurt. Then I heard the thump, thought you were being attacked…wait. So ye’ really just lost yer cup under the bed? There is no one here. At all.”
Alice shook her head.
“Is that the only reason why you’re here?” she asked, a note tinging her voice that he couldn’t stand to hear. He knew she tried so hard to hide her disappointment, but Alice was an open book. The hurt was in her eyes.
Kane reached for her hand. She immediately twined her slender fingers with his, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He sat on the bed, gently tugging at her until she was sitting on his lap, his arms around her waist.
“Nay, lass. I was worried about ye’.”
A flush came over her cheeks. That’s what she had wanted to hear, he thought, smiling. She liked to know that someone was thinking about her. Kane was definitely thinking about her—hell, she was the only thing in his mind as of late! Not even the MacLeods were thought of as much as she was, and to a normal man, they were more pressing an issue than a woman was.
But Alice was not just a woman. She was his woman, and as his woman, she deserved all of the thoughts and attention he had—which was why he wanted to know why she had been in such distress when he’d first come upon her.
“Ye’ were crying earlier. I demand to know why.”
The shy pleasure on her face turned into dubiousness. “You demand?”
“Aye,” he said firmly, taking a stray strand of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. “I donna want ye’ to cry again. If I can stop it, I will.”
The shy pleasure returned. His heart warmed when she leaned into his touch, like a kitten preening under the caress of her master. “It’s nothing,” she said lightly, kissing his palm. The action was so surprising that he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her closer against him. Kane buried his face in her hair, breathing her in.
He had thought that he would not be seeing her for weeks, months. To be holding her in his arms right now felt like finding an angel in hell.
“It’s no’ nothing, love. Ye’ can tell me. I’ll always listen to ye’.”
“I…” Indecision warred on her delicate features. As she struggled to speak, he gave her the time she needed while rubbing the creases out of her brows, trying to sooth her aches as best he could when all he wanted was to make her speak. Kane had never been a patient man. Aye, he could play at it for the sake of his clan and his status as chieftain, but the truth of the matter was, he liked things to happen the second they came up—like finding out what had distressed his Alice.
“The move—it was so sudden, and I do not entirely understand it. When Connor sent for me, I did not know this was what he planned.”
“I just wish ye’ would have said something.” His heart physically hurt to think that she could have been harmed on her journey, when she could have easily travelled with him. Connor had known of it. Why hadn’t he said anything to him? Kane growled low in his throat. He would beat Connor into the ground for his carelessness over Alice the next time he saw him.
“Our destination was kept from me until we arrived,” she said quietly. He felt her turmoil in the trembling of her body. Kane moved them farther onto the bed, keeping her tight against him, until he was leaning against the headboard with Alice’s cheek pressed against his chest.
“I�
�m sorry, love,” he said, and truly, he was. “I ken how it feels to be taken out of yer home and thrust into something different.”
She tilted her head up, meeting his eyes. There was such sadness in them, such desolation. He had a feeling that it went deeper than what she had gone through today.
“When my father died, the McGregor took me away from Shaw land. I had to stay in the barracks with his men and learn what it took to be a leader. It was different from the coddling I was used to,” he said quietly, tensing when her soft lips brushed against his neck. His hand tightened on her hip.
“I’ve had a lot of changes recently as well,” she murmured. “It’s hard. One moment, everything is going perfectly and you have a nice, warm, loving family—and then it’s all ripped away from you and you’re left wondering ‘why’.”
Kane tangled his hand in her hair, hating to see the sadness there. She was filled to the brim with it, and he hated himself for only now noticing it. She had entranced him with her beauty and fire, but he hadn’t bothered to see the darker things lurking beneath the surface. Now, he couldn’t stop himself from seeing it, and all he wanted to do was sooth her.
So he did.
With his hand in her hair, he tilted her head up, leaning down.
His lips covered hers with a groan. When her hands slid up his chest with feather light touches, he knew he had done the right thing. This time, when he took his Alice, it would not be out of anger—but out of the tenderness he felt for her.
She pulled away from the kiss way too soon. Her eyes were lowered, a blush on her cheeks.
“What’s wrong, love?”
“I…you do enjoy my kissing, correct?”
The question was so out of the blue that he couldn’t stop the laughter that burst from him—until he realized she was serious and looking like she was humiliated. He sobered, taking her face in his hands, and smoothed his thumbs over her warm cheeks.
“I’ve never enjoyed a kiss as much as I do yers, lass.”
“Are you sure?”
He answered her by taking her lips in a hot, passionate kiss. When he was done with her, she would have no doubt in her mind that he enjoyed everything about her.
THT | 35
He undressed her slowly, taking his time with every inch of her body. All she was wearing was a long shift, and when he began pulling it up her body, revealing her skin, he would kiss the bare flesh, loving it with his mouth and teeth. Saeran shivered, one hand threading into his hair, the other grasping the bed.
She didn’t want him to stop, and he didn’t. With painstaking slowness, he finally dragged the shift above her head, throwing it to the side. She laid there in the hot room, breast bared, legs parted around his knees. He knelt in front of her, running his eyes over her. Like fingers made with fire, she felt every glance as if he were caressing her with burning touches, imprinting himself onto her skin and stealing all of her thoughts for himself.
“God, lass. I’ve never seen ye’ look so enticing as ye’ do now.” She shivered at the growl in his voice, closing her eyes when he leaned down. His body was braced above hers, his face so close she could feel his breath on her neck. “Yer legs open...Cheeks flushed…” He nuzzled her breast, blowing hot air over the pink tip. “Hard nipples…wet cunt…” Every time he growled a word, he would touch the part he was talking of.
He wasted no time in touching the latest body part. Saeran cried out, shocked from the quick intrusion, as his fingers slammed inside of her. It didn’t hurt, as she would have thought—Nay, it felt amazing. Kane slowly worked his fingers inside of her, swirling his thumb over her clit.
“I want to taste ye, love.” The sensation of his stubbled jaw against her breast ceased. She opened her eyes in time to see him sliding down her body, his hand and mouth touching every part of her that they could on his descent, until he was taking his fingers from inside of her and holding her thighs open.
“Nay,” she cried out, despite the need she felt for him thrumming through her. He scowled at her. “I want…I want you naked as well, Kane. I want…want to touch you as you touch me.”
His eyes darkened—but not with angry. Desire unlike anything she had ever seen came over his face, and before she could ask him again, he was pulling away from her, shucking everything off of his body until he was as bare as she was.
Saeran couldn’t help but stare at him. This was her man, standing before her. Despite the claim that she couldn’t rationalize or verbalize, Kane was her man, and he was…glorious. His body was perfect, the scars and healing wounds creating a story too painful to believe, the tenderness running through his strong body at odds with who he was. He was pure masculinity, and his length was proof of that. She crawled onto her knees, taking his member into her hand.
She met his eyes. They were dark and swirling with passion, and it spread through his entire face. It was amazing, the way he reacted to her. Saeran shivered, biting her lip, unsure.
She wanted to taste him, as well, but she did not know how to ask.
The gentle hand smoothing over her head told her that he knew without asking, and her heart pounded with love for this man. He understood her when she couldn’t speak, cared for her as no one else had before, and she felt…connected.
Saeran shouldn’t be encouraging this, but she knew that she would never find the strength to deny him, not when she craved him so much.
“Move back, love,” he commanded. She did as he said, trembling. He laid down beside her, then took her by the hips. Her eyes widened when he moved her.
“Kane, this is—“
“Yer not going to hide yerself from me, are ye’, lass?” he growled playfully, biting the inside of her thigh. He had pulled her legs over both sides of his head so that she was straddling him, and she was holding herself up with her hands on his thighs. “I told ye’ last time. I donna like that.”
“Aye.”
He nuzzled the inside of her thigh, groaning, “Damn, my cock is hard for ye’,” then attacked her core with his lips, tongue, and fingers. He pushed two fingers inside of her, taking her clit between his lips and sucking. His tongue licked at her, wringing a cry of shocked pleasure from her lips, and she jerked, upper body strength giving out.
She caught herself against his legs, shuddering, rocking against his face. One of his hands slid up her back, pressing her down, an invitation for her to do what she had been wanting to do for a while. Tentatively, trembling as Kane began pumping his fingers inside of her, she wrapped her hand around his cock and gently began to move her wrist. He reacted to her touch almost immediately.
Saeran felt a moment of exhilarated empowerment as pleasure ran through her. He sucked harder, moved his fingers faster, even added another one, until she was crying out. Instinct and pure desire for pleasure drove her to what she did next.
She took him in her mouth.
Kane went stock still as his cock thickened in her mouth, becoming harder and hotter. Saeran knew without asking that he liked what she was doing, and Saeran only wanted to please him. Following her body’s response to his ministrations, she took him deep, laving the length of his cock with her tongue.
He groaned against her clit, then continued. The mix of giving and receiving pleasure was incredible and drugging, making a fire rage inside of her. She kept her hand around him, moving it as she sucked delicately on the thick head of his cock. By the never-ending growling coming from him, she knew he liked it.
Saeran could have sobbed from the pleasure, the sensation of the man she was coming to love making her feel a way she had never felt before. Though they were not face-to-face, she felt closer to him, drawn to him. Nothing in the world could make her regret this, regret him. Kane was perfection. He was her perfection. He was the prayer she had been searching for her whole life.
Fire wrapped around them, binding them together. The connection went deeper than the physical pleasure—it warped her mind, destroyed any resistance she would have had to him. It made her realize that Ka
ne was hers, and always would be, no matter what anyone said.
Then, all too soon, she felt the first stirrings of release. He moved his fingers and mouth in a rhythm that drove her to near completion, and it wasn’t until his cock started to pulse in her mouth did she give in to her body’s demands. He tongued her clit hard.
The binding of fire became hot enough to scorch her to her very soul, but before it could completely burn her, he stopped. Stopped and moved her by her hips. His cock slid out of her mouth, wet and angrily pulsing, and then they were face-to-face, Kane rolling her underneath him, his leg holding hers open.
She shuddered, already feeling the pleasure she knew she would. He leaned forward, taking her nipple into his mouth, then slammed home.
Saeran screamed at the burst of ecstasy that rushed through her, the orgasm never coming to an end as he moved inside of her without mercy. The love making was rough and soul-consuming. There was no breath left in her body that wasn’t crying out Kane’s name and that was exactly how it should have been.
He moved from her breast to her neck, only pausing to give her a breath. She could only shudder in his arms, begging him with her eyes to continue. She would have demanded he did, but the only thing that came from her was, “Kane, Kane, Kane,” a reverent chant that darkened his eyes to the point of being black with his need.
Her release finally ended, but Kane wasn’t done.
“I’m not letting ye’ go until yer screaming my name again,” he said, his voice a dark promise in the heated room. “Screaming my name and begging me for more until ye’ canna speak.”
Saeran turned her head on the bed, shaking it at him.
“Nay, Kane, I cannot handle—“ He pulled his hips back, then slowly pushed inside of her. She moaned, unable to finish her sentence. It shouldn’t have felt as good as it did with her body coming down from the orgasm, but it did. It felt so good that when he did it again, this time pulling her legs up so he could go further inside of her, tears sprang to her eyes.