A Highlander of Her Own

by Melissa Mayhue

  He laughed, a short joyful burst of air, as both the plaid and overdress hit the ground at the same time, quickly joined by shirt and shift.

  They stood in the moonlight, pressed body to body, their heartbeats echoing, as if calling one to the other. They stared into one another’s eyes until again he took her mouth with his own, his heated gaze melting any resistance she might have had.

  Not that she’d had any to begin with.

  And then she was under him, with no memory of their sinking to the ground, her back flattened into the pile of discarded clothing they’d made in their haste.

  She wanted this, no matter what else happened. Even if the magic worked, even if this were the last she’d ever see of him, she wouldn’t deny herself this time with him. She wanted to remember him this way, remember his looking at her as if he meant the words he’d said.

  He kissed her neck, slowly, as he lifted her arms above her head, running his callused hands down their length and onto her sides, sending shivers through her entire body.

  “Say you’ll be mine, love,” he whispered into her neck as his hands closed over her breasts and the pads of his thumbs rubbed slow circles around her nipples.

  She felt her body tense at the words. Love, he’d called her. Was it only a name to him or did it mean more? Was it even her he saw in his mind as he held her close?

  As much as she wanted this, wanted him, she had to know it was her he made love to, not some stand-in for the one he couldn’t have.

  She clasped his face in both her hands, drawing his eyes up to hers, holding him there.

  “I’m not Alycie. I can’t ever be like her.” Her breath caught in her throat as she said the words, fear that he would reject her spearing through her midsection.

  If he let go of her, rose from this spot and walked away from her at this moment, she wasn’t sure she could go on.

  She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  He didn’t do any of those things. He simply smiled. A slow, seductive movement of his lips.

  “I ken the truth of that, Ellie, and I’ll thank the Fae for it every single day for the rest of my life.” Holding her gaze with his own, he shifted his head in her hands and took her thumb into his mouth, nipping at the pad, sucking, shaping his tongue to the digit before releasing it. “Every single day,” he repeated.

  The smile was still there when he ducked his head, the warm mouth that had caressed her thumb a moment before now clasped to her breast, his tongue working its own brand of magic on her highly sensitive nipple.

  The breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding puffed from her lungs, and she arched into him, an unbelievable joy filling her heart.

  His hands slid down her sides, around her waist and lower, grasping her bottom and pulling her into him as his knee insistently pressed her legs apart.

  “Open to me,” he growled, and she gladly obliged, hooking first one leg and then the other over his, sliding the sole of one foot from the back of his knee to his calf and up again.

  She threaded her fingers in his silky hair, caressing his head to her as he sucked at her breast, his tongue swirling and teasing, driving her wild.

  One hand skimmed its way around her hip, across the flat plane of her stomach, his thumb tracing her belly button as if memorizing a landmark before moving on. Straight down, cupping over her mound and then searching lower, lower until a finger plunged into her depths.

  She felt herself tighten and release and a second finger joined the first, moving slowly in and out, forcing her to move in time to the rhythm they set.

  His thumb pressed against her sensitive nub and she swore electricity pulsed through her body, short pounding waves spasming around the fingers that moved insistently inside her.

  She panted to catch her breath and her pulse pounded in her ears so hard she barely heard his satisfied chuckle as his hands slid under her thighs, lifting her, opening her to him.

  The tip of his shaft nestled in where his fingers had been, nudging against her opening. A slight pressure forward and then back, almost entering. So close. She pressed into him, but he held back, teasing her body into a frenzy of need.

  Forward and back. Almost there and then denied.

  She moaned with the frustration, her breath coming in short, quick pants.

  And then his lips were on hers, his tongue plunging into her mouth as his shaft plunged into her body.

  Once, twice, three times, she met his thrusts, wanting him deeper and deeper still, wanting him to fill her completely. Needing to be so close she couldn’t feel where she ended and he began.

  Needing to be as one. Two halves made whole.

  When it felt as if time and space around her imploded, she clung to him, riding the waves of her pleasure as he drove into her once more.

  “Mine,” he shouted as he found his own release.

  How long they lay together, his face buried in the crook of her neck, she couldn’t say—only that being there, with his weight on top of her, was the only place she ever wanted to be.

  She opened her eyes, turning her head to look at him. “Mine,” she whispered as she traced the line of his cheek with her fingertip. She pushed a lock of hair behind his ear and watched the corner of his mouth turn up in a tired smile.

  It was, without a doubt, the most perfect moment of her life.

  Until she realized the darkness around her glowed, her very skin glistened with the green light that surrounded them both.

  At last she’d discovered the truth of the magic. It wasn’t about finding The One. It was, as Rosalyn had tried to make her understand, all about accepting him into her heart, into her soul.

  It had almost happened that first night they’d made love. But she’d denied it then, sent the magic away.

  There could be no denying this time. It was too late for that. Caden was too deeply connected to her now. She couldn’t deny him if she tried.

  “No,” she whispered on a broken sob, the horror of what would happen, the horror of losing Caden choking her.

  “What, love, what is it?” In an instant, he was up and crouched above her, ready to defend against whatever threatened her.

  But he wouldn’t be able to defeat the Faerie magic. It would take her any moment now she knew. Panic pounded at her, constricting her chest.

  “I’ve seen this before. It’s the Fae magic, is it no?”

  Ellie could only nod her response, tears clogging her throat.

  “It’s come to take you back to yer own time as you wanted. Back to yer land, back to yer people.”

  She nodded her head again in acknowledgment, but the thought of leaving him, of going back to the life she had known terrified her.

  What did she have to return to?

  She had to go home, didn’t she? She missed…what? She racked her brain, but truly the only things that came to mind were catsup and toilet paper. And there was no question in her mind that she’d gladly trade a forever supply of both of those things for one lifetime with Caden.

  “Will you no change yer mind?” He took her hand and clasped it tightly to his chest. “I canna give you the stars, my own Elliedenton, only my heart. And I give it freely if you’ll but send the magic away and stay with me.”

  His heart pounded under her fingertips and her resistance broke, the tears she’d held back flowing down her cheeks.

  “I don’t want the stars, Caden. I never did. I only want you.”

  “Are you sure?” His free hand stroked down her hair. “Would you give up all you had in yer world, even yer chance for revenge on the man who took yer land?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Nothing, not one thing, is worth as much to me as being with you.” She meant every word with all her heart.

  “Then send the magic away.” He pulled her close, enfolding her in his arms. “Tell them you’ve chosen.”

  “I can do that?” Her voice sounded as small and helpless as she felt.

  “Aye, love. You can do anything you want.” He kissed
her forehead before tightening his hold on her. “You’ve the power of the Fae in you. You control the magic.”

  “Then I choose you. I choose to stay here with you.”

  The glow around them sparkled, like thousands of little green lightning bugs all twinkling together.

  And then it was gone, leaving only the normal glimmer of moonlight bathing them.

  “That was it? That was all it took? Just a couple of words?” The fear of being torn from his arms still hummed in her blood.

  “Just words? Ah, love.” he wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “Words carry the power of the magic. And we have the most powerful of all magic. We have true love.”

  She laughed then, the joy of the moment, the joy of being with the man next to her, filling her heart.

  He lifted his plaid from the ground beside them and wrapped it around them, snuggling her close under his arm, and they sat together, staring into the night.

  “Are you truly happy with the choice you’ve made?”

  She heard the tremor in his voice and understood for the first time that he might feel as insecure as she had.

  “Oh yes. I made the right decision.” She knew she would never regret staying with Caden. “But you know,” she said thoughtfully as she leaned her head against his chest, “I do wish that somehow, some way, Ray Stanton would get what’s coming to him for the way he treated my mama. For the way he treated me.”

  “Be careful how you use that word wish. Dinna ever forget the power of it.” He kissed the top of her head and rearranged the plaid more snugly.

  “Maybe so. But still. I do wish he’d get what he deserves.”

  Sitting in the dark, safe in the arms of the man she loved with all her heart, Ellie thought back to another night sitting by water bathed in moonlight. Just weeks ago, the night she had sat on the bank of a muddy Texas river, desolate and alone, with no idea of what she would do next.

  She shivered at the memory and turned to find Caden watching her, his eyes filled with the look that melted her insides.

  His lips covered hers and she wanted to laugh with the joy of how much her world had changed in just a few short weeks. In her wildest dreams she never would have imagined her life would turn out so right.

  She, Ellie Denton, living the perfect Happy Ever After with a Highlander of her own.

  Epilogue

  PRAIRIELAND, TEXAS

  PRESENT DAY

  Dixielee Parker-Stanton shimmied out of her car and into the parking lot of the County Line Bar, sliding her form-fitting miniskirt down as she stood to smooth out the wrinkles. But not too far down. Long shapely legs were one of her best assets.

  Yeah, this looked exactly like the kind of place Ray would hang out.

  With long red fingernails, she popped open another button on the already dangerously low-cut blouse. Legs weren’t her only asset. And as much as she’d paid for the beauties filling out this blouse, she enjoyed showing them off.

  The smell of the place hit her on a wave as she pulled open the screen door—stale beer and cigarettes. These places all smelled the same, and she should know. She’d been in more beer joints in her lifetime than she’d care to admit.

  But that was all about to change.

  Every head in the room turned as she entered, and more than one conversation died abruptly.

  Dixielee didn’t care. In fact, it was a rush.

  And though she loved the power her looks gave her over men, the slow, predatory smile lighting her lips was for one man and one man only. And there he sat. All alone at the end of the bar.

  Ray Stanton.

  The money he’d come into must be burning a hole in his pocket because that looked like a brand-new Stetson on his head, and shiny new boots like he was wearing didn’t come cheap, either.

  She’d put a stop to that soon enough.

  Flipping a long blond curl back over her shoulder, she began a slow walk down the length of the bar calculated to have every eye in the place glued to her ass before she came to stop.

  Every male eye anyway.

  “How you doin’, Ray, honey?”

  He glanced up at her words, his eyes bloodshot.

  “Dixielee? I been…planning to call you, darlin’, soon as I got all settled. You sure are lookin’ good,” he drawled, grinning and turning on the good-ol’-boy charm that had swept her off her feet once before.

  But not this time.

  Dixielee didn’t have to be taught the same lesson twice.

  “I’ll just bet you were.” She climbed up on the stool next to him, enjoying the ruckus at the pool table behind them when her skirt slid higher and that joker in the ball cap missed his shot. “But it don’t really matter now, does it, honey, ’cause I found you.”

  She smiled at the bartender. “Just a club soda, please.” Drinks and business didn’t mix and she was all about business tonight. She’d waited too long for this moment.

  Ray continued to grin, stopping to take a swig out of his longneck. “How the hell did something as fine as you end up in a hole like Prairieland?”

  Dixielee returned his grin. She could afford to be charitable. She had so loved the way that man’s lips curled up in that sexy grin of his at one time. And he wouldn’t have much to grin about in a little while, so she might as well let him enjoy himself while he could.

  “You, honey. You’re the reason I’m here.”

  He tipped the longneck up once more and then pushed the new Stetson back on his head. “I sure didn’t expect to see you again. Not after all these years.”

  She hadn’t thought she’d ever find him, either.

  “Funny thing, Ray. I was standing in line at the grocery store, of all places, when I was just possessed with a need to buy one of those cheap gossip rags.”

  It had been the most bizarre moment of her life. She never read those things. But on that particular day, it was as if some outside force controlled her, forcing her to buy that damn paper. “And when I got home and tossed it on the table, it fell open to a story with a picture of you. A story about how you’d inherited some property when your wife died and your stepdaughter mysteriously disappeared, and then they’d found oil on that property. So I guess you’re a rich man now, aren’t you?”

  “Doing all right. Lonely as hell, though.” He leaned in close. “You wouldn’t want to do anything to help me out with that now, would you, darlin’?”

  “Oh, but that’s what I’m here for, Ray. To put a permanent end to your lonely days.”

  He blinked at her, fighting the beer buzz fogging his brain. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ve got it all planned. You and me are getting married. Again. Only this time, we’re going to sign some paperwork that gives me control of everything you’ve got. Money, land, oil, everything.”

  That got his attention.

  “You’re a goddamn crazy woman. That ain’t going to happen.” He motioned to the bartender to bring him another beer.

  “Oh, I think it is, honey.” She waited patiently while his beer was delivered, smiling at the bartender until he walked away. “See, I got me this little piece of paper. One that says we were already married. Over a year before you married that nice lady who died and left you all that land. I saw the dates in the article, Ray. You should have divorced me, honey, if you wanted to be marrying somebody else. As it is, your marriage to her isn’t legal. And if people were to find out, I’m thinking you’d have to give all that money back.”

  The sexy blue eyes went all hard, just like she remembered they could. Just like she’d expected they would at about this point in the discussion.

  “You greedy little bitch. You’d be willing to do that to me? Just for money?”

  She smiled, patting his hand. “Oh, honey, it’s for so much more than money. This is for you walking out on me. Just disappearing without a word. You and every red cent I had to my name and after running up both my credit cards to their absolute limits.” She still wasn’t sure how everything had just f
allen in her lap or how she’d managed to come up with the perfect plan, but it didn’t really matter. She’d waited seven years for this, and she was enjoying every minute of it.

  “I’ll fight you. My brother’s a lawyer. You won’t get away with it,” he sneered.

  “You won’t do a damn thing but what I already told you, Ray. You’ll marry me again and sign the papers I’ve had drawn up turning everything over to me. Or else.”

  “Or else what?”

  This time she leaned into him, close, running her hand up the back of his neck the way he used to like so much.

  “I’m betting half the people in this bar think you killed that young girl, don’t they?”

  He stiffened under her touch and pulled away.

  “I didn’t do nothing to Ellie. Last time I seen her, she lit out in that truck of hers just like I told the sheriff. She just ran away or something after I laid claim to her mama’s ranch. I never laid a hand on her.”

  “Would that be the sheriff who also happens to be your brother-in-law?” Dixielee had done her homework.

  When he didn’t answer, she leaned in again, running a long manicured nail down the side of his throat.

  “It’s like this, Ray—if you fight me on this, not only will I see you lose everything by going to the authorities with our marriage papers, I’ll see your ass in prison for murdering that poor Ellie Denton.”

  “But I didn’t do anything to her.”

  “Maybe not, honey, but I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles that you told me you did. And how you bragged about how you did away with the body so good they’d never find it.”

  She watched the blood drain from his face as the realization set in. She had him by the balls and she didn’t plan to ever let go.

  He was going to pay.

  For the rest of his natural-born life.

  Not that she really believed he’d hurt that girl. He wasn’t a violent man. But he had done plenty of other bad stuff. She was sure there was a trail of women like her across the Southwest, all with broken hearts and empty bank accounts thanks to Ray Stanton.