Dark Sword 05: Shadow Highlander

by Donna Grant

  He never uttered a sound, but Reaghan turned her head and looked at him. He didn’t move, afraid he would scare her off.

  “Galen.”

  Her velvety, gentle voice whispering his name left him struggling to pull a breath into his lungs. It was the way she said it, breathily, sensuously, with a hint of surprise, that had his blood burning and the passion he struggled with roaring to life once again.

  “I often come to listen to the music,” she said when he didn’t speak. “Have you ever felt so isolated from the world that you wanted to scream?”

  Galen knew exactly how she felt, had experienced that emotion many times in his two hundred and fifty years of immortality. “Aye.”

  “What do you do about it?” She turned to him, her gaze searching his.

  “Pray that I can make it through.”

  Her brow furrowed and the tip of her tongue peeked out to lick her lips, sending a jolt of longing shooting straight to Galen’s cock.

  He bit back a moan, thankful he was sitting down because he feared his legs wouldn’t have held him. His fingers bit into the bark, and he felt the tips of his claws sink into the tree.

  “I fear I will succumb to this feeling,” Reaghan said. “My past is blocked to me. I know nothing of my family or why I’m here. Mairi knows. Yet she will not tell me.”

  Galen tamped down his passion and focused on anything but the lovely beauty standing with the moonlight shining upon her auburn curls. “Mairi must have a good reason for keeping your past secret.”

  “I found a parchment with ancient writing on it, writing that I can read.”

  Galen raised a brow. “I doona understand.”

  “The writing is in Gaelic. I’ve never learned it, yet I can read the parchment as well as the pillars.”

  “What did the parchment say?” he asked.

  “My family is in Foinaven Mountain. I want to find them.” She walked to the tree and squatted down beside him. “I was to leave today while everyone was occupied with you and Logan.”

  Even though he knew he shouldn’t ask, the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. “What made you stay?”

  Her hand reached out and touched his cheek. “I’m not sure.”

  Galen bounded to his feet and stepped away from her, praying her small touch wouldn’t give him entry into her mind. Thankfully there was nothing, but he needed distance. She was too close, too alluring. Too damned beautiful.

  If he didn’t get away from her he wouldn’t be able to hold back the tide of yearning that gripped him.

  “Galen? Did I do something wrong?”

  He fisted his hands. They itched to reach out and stroke her face, to smell her hair and feel the heat of her skin. He shook with need, a burning that threatened to set him ablaze if he didn’t taste her soon.

  “Nay,” he finally managed. “You did nothing wrong.”

  He groaned when the first sounds of music reached them again. The melody was slow, the beat rhythmic, seductive. Erotic.

  It mixed with Reaghan’s strong magic and swirled around him, enticing him to give in to the yearnings of his body, urging him to heed the passion that Reaghan stirred to life.

  He burned. He desired. He needed.

  “Do you feel it?” Reaghan asked as she rose to her feet, her face tilted to the moon. “The music. It always makes me feel as though it is calling to me.”

  Galen couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was swaying again, her arms held away from her body. Her eyes were closed and she tilted her head to the side, exposing her graceful neck and skin that begged for his touch.

  He tried to keep his feet rooted, but his body had other ideas. He was powerless to fight against the lure of Reaghan’s magic. It was the music that called forth her magic.

  And Galen couldn’t fight her magic. He didn’t want to. It felt too good as it caressed his skin, heating his blood and making his heart pound in his chest.

  He stopped in front of her, awed by the pure joy on her face. Then she opened her silver eyes and looked at him. The smile faded and desire sparked in her gaze.

  “Reaghan, I cannot fight this.”

  Her head cocked to the side, auburn curls spilling over her shoulder to dance about her arm. “Cannot fight what?”

  “This attraction I feel for you.”

  “You want … me?”

  She said it with such confusion that Galen almost laughed. “Aye, but I shouldn’t. Mairi warned me to stay away.”

  “Forget Mairi. What do you want?”

  “God’s blood. I want all of you. I want to kiss you, to have you against me so I can feel every inch of you. I want to lay you down and sink my rod inside you.”

  He knew he was being crude, but he did it in the hopes she would run away since obviously he couldn’t. When she stayed her ground, her breath quickening and her pupils dilating, Galen knew he had made a dreadful mistake, but it was a mistake he couldn’t regret.

  This craving, this hunger was too strong to walk away from, and whatever might happen, Galen would endure it. He would endure it because he had to know what she tasted like, had to know what it felt like to stroke her creamy skin and hold her.

  It had been so long since he’d had contact with a woman that he was almost afraid to touch her. But he had come this far. There was no turning back now.

  He moved closer until he had her backed against the tree. The sensual melody only added to his desire, exciting him, imploring him. Teasing him.

  Reaghan was his for the taking. He could see it in the way she watched him with wide eyes, her lips parted and her pulse beating rapidly at her throat.

  Galen leaned toward her, but before he could allow his hands to touch her, he slammed them onto the tree. The bark bit into his flesh, but he felt nothing through the haze of his desire.

  He let himself sink into Reaghan’s silver gaze and allowed her magic to encircle him, stroke him. It was as beautiful and fascinating as she was, and it proved to him that he would never encounter another woman like her for the rest of his days.

  When he was breaths away from kissing her, he paused, steeling himself against the images and feelings that would assail his mind as soon as he touched her.

  His body shook with the need to taste her. His breathing was ragged, harsh. Every part of his body was attuned to Reaghan. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and that’s all it took to send him past the point of no return.

  He placed his lips on hers in a quick, hard kiss and waited for the inevitable deluge of images and feelings. Only there was nothing. No visions, no voices, no emotions.

  Shaken to his core and too afraid to rejoice, Galen kissed her again, this time longer, softer, his tongue sliding past her lips to delve into her mouth.

  She sucked in a startled breath. Her tongue hesitantly touched his before she moaned and returned his kiss. It left him reeling, his body ablaze with need.

  Galen was sinking. Spinning. Reeling.

  He deepened the kiss as a low, satisfied moan rumbled within him. He needed more of her sweet lips, more of her exciting, fascinating taste. It had been so long since he’d felt something besides another’s emotions or thoughts when he touched them that he never wanted to let her go.

  His hands sank into her curls, awed at the cool, soft texture of her hair. Her arms wound around his neck, bringing her body closer so that her breasts rubbed against his chest.

  Galen moaned, his balls tightening in response. He ached to pull her against him, to grind his arousal into her softness. Pleasure swam through his veins, begging for more. Demanding more.

  He couldn’t deny it, didn’t want to. He let his hands wander down her back to her trim waist and the swell of her buttocks. He tried to be gentle, but his hunger was too great. She was his at that moment, and he would take all she had.

  His arms tightened around her, jerking her body against him. Their kiss was wild, reckless … exhilarating. She offered all of herself, holding nothing back. She was everything that was innoce
nt, but a profound, enduring passion smoldered within her.

  When her body rubbed against his throbbing cock in time with the music, Galen could think of nothing else but having Reaghan. He wanted to lick every inch of her, touch every part until she trembled with need. Burned with it.

  He kissed down her neck, bending her back over his arm. Her breasts thrust forward, her nipples straining against the material of her gown. Galen scrapped his teeth over a hard nub and smiled when she sank her nails into his neck.

  “Galen,” she whispered, her eyes closed and her lips swollen from his kisses.

  She looked more stunning than ever. He never stopped to wonder why he couldn’t see or hear her thoughts, he was just delighted for once that he had control over his power.

  He put his hand beneath her knee and pulled her leg up against his side. He tugged at her skirts until his hand touched the bare skin of her thigh. He marveled at the feel of her warm, smooth flesh. When her skirts were bunched around her thighs, Galen sank to his knees and then leaned back on his calves. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist.

  Galen groaned and licked the side of her neck. She fit snugly against him, her hot sex pressed against his cock. He shifted his hips so that his arousal rubbed against her sensitive flesh. A soft cry fell from her lips as her eyes widened.

  “Don’t stop,” she begged. “Please, don’t stop.”

  “Never,” he promised.

  How could he when his hunger demanded so much more and there was also her magic and the music? It was all too heady to resist. And he certainly didn’t want to resist Reaghan. Not now. Not ever again.

  He cupped a breast and pinched her nipple while he continued to grind against her. She whispered his name, the sound as amazing as the siren in his arms.

  No one had ever made him feel so alive, so desired, until now. Until Reaghan.

  There were no thoughts of tomorrow, no worries about the artifact or Deirdre. Only Reaghan and the passion that held both of them enthralled in its flames.

  NINE

  Reaghan’s body was on fire. Every place Galen touched, kissed, caressed set her ablaze. She was excited, and eager to discover more of the thrilling passion Galen created.

  She threw caution to the wind and pressed herself against him. Her mind spun as the wondrous feel of his rigid arousal teased and stimulated her sex. Each time his rod stroked against her, an astonishing new sensation stirred within her, centering low in her stomach and tightening, making her limbs heavy and her breathing ragged.

  No man had ever touched her like this, but she knew the release, when it came, would be glorious. How she understood what to expect she didn’t know. And at the moment she didn’t care.

  She wanted more of Galen, more of his hands, his mouth, his hard, muscular body against hers.

  His fingers fondled her breasts, tweaking her nipples until her hips were moving against him in a rhythm that was as old as time itself.

  The music drummed in her ears, the cadence enchanting. Just like Galen. Arousing. Exhilarating. Stimulating.

  She never wanted this night to end.

  His large hand splayed against her bottom and held her still as he ground against her. She moaned, and his lopsided grin was all pleased male.

  It made her heart skip a beat. She lifted her face and kissed him. She loved the taste of him, his scent of pine, of the forest.

  “God’s teeth, you feel so good,” Galen whispered in her ear just before he nipped her earlobe.

  Reaghan shivered against him. “I’ve never felt anything like this.”

  “There’s so much more.”

  “Show me.”

  His stunning cobalt eyes caught and held hers. He gazed deep into her eyes, as if he searched for something. “I should no’ be touching you at all.”

  “Maybe not, but tell me if this doesn’t feel right to you. Tell me you don’t want me, and I’ll leave.”

  His fingers dug into her skin as he clutched her tighter. “I’m afraid I willna ever be able to let you go.”

  “Then kiss me. My body is on fire, and I need more of you.”

  His mouth slanted over hers, his tongue mating with hers in a frenzied, passionate kiss while his hands roamed over her body, learning her.

  All Reaghan could do was hold on to him. She learned the feel of his thick shoulders, the way his muscles moved and bunched in his back beneath her palms.

  She was breathless, her body flooded with passion. The tightening inside her continued, until she didn’t think she could stand another moment.

  Then, his hand cupped her sex.

  Reaghan gasped at the pressure he applied to her swollen sex. His fingers tangled in her curls, pushing them aside so he could fondle her.

  She held still, afraid he would stop. And afraid he wouldn’t.

  When his finger dipped inside her, she sighed, the pleasure so intense she couldn’t breathe. But then he pulled his finger out of her and began to slowly, gently, rub against her clitoris.

  Reaghan’s eyes rolled back in her head as she savored the sheer delight that slowed her blood and sped up her heart. Each stroke of his finger was like lightning through her body.

  Her hips moved of their own accord, seeking more of the pleasure that was building, steadily growing, swelling inside her. Small cries fell from her parted lips as his strokes grew faster, sending her spiraling down a path of potent pleasure.

  Until the climax claimed her, dragging her into an abyss of never-ending ecstasy.

  She cried out, Galen’s name on her lips, but he took her cries into his mouth with a scorching kiss. He held her against him as she slowly came down from the exquisite orgasm.

  Reaghan could feel his heart beating as rapidly as her own, could hear his harsh breaths. When the kiss ended she opened her eyes to find him watching her.

  “That was glorious,” she whispered into the silence. She didn’t know when the music had stopped, only that it had.

  He smiled and tugged at one of her curls.

  “Galen,” she said, and rubbed against his hard cock.

  His eyes closed as he groaned. “Doona do that. I want you too desperately as it is.”

  “And if I want to feel you inside me?”

  Galen’s eyes snapped open. “You doona know what you are saying.”

  “I do. I want all of you.”

  She saw his need warring with what he somehow thought he should do. For too long Reaghan had watched as others experienced life. She wanted this, and she wasn’t about to let Galen go without a fight.

  “Please,” she whispered, and kissed him.

  He reacted instantly, the kiss deep, hot, and frantic. All of his passion, all of his longing, was poured into that kiss. And it left her breathless.

  She reached and unfastened the brooch that pinned his kilt over his heart. Her hands eagerly lifted his saffron shirt and met warm skin and solid muscle.

  He broke the kiss long enough to tug off his shirt, and then he took her mouth again. Reaghan’s sex throbbed, eager to have him touch her once more, to take her on that incredible journey over and over.

  “I want you naked,” he said between kisses.

  Reaghan pulled off her gown, her hands tangling with Galen’s as they each tried to rid her of her clothes. They shared a laugh, their eyes locking.

  In the next moment he shifted them so that she was on her back. She felt something soft beneath her and realized it was his kilt.

  While he removed his boots, Reaghan quickly shed her shoes and woollen hose. And then he stood staring down at her. She gazed up into his face now cast in shadow. The moonlight bathed his skin and hair in a bluish glow.

  She was able to see the magnificent muscles of his chest and abdomen in all their defined glory. She marveled at the corded muscles in his arms and neck and legs. His wide chest tapered into a vee leading to his trim waist and hips.

  And jutting out, hard and thick, was his arousal, the very thing she yearned to feel inside her.

>   Galen had never been so entranced. The woman lying on his kilt, the woman who now offered herself to him, was the most stunning creature he had ever encountered.

  She had thin shoulders, delicate wrists, and long, slim fingers. Her breasts were small and firm, the nipples pink. Her waist was narrow, her hips gently flared. Her legs were long and lean, and Galen hungered to feel them wrapped around him again.

  But it was the auburn curls that hid the most precious part of her that held his attention.

  He knelt between her legs and ran his fingers from her ankles to her hips. Her breath hitched and shivers raced over her skin.

  Galen still couldn’t believe he wasn’t seeing into her mind. He had touched her repeatedly and yet it revealed nothing. He didn’t understand it, but he wasn’t about to turn away from this precious gift. After being without human contact for so long, he couldn’t get enough.

  Now, as he slid his hands up to her small waist, all he thought about was filling Reaghan, stretching her until he was deep inside her.

  He cupped her breasts and held her gaze as he bent and took a tiny bud in his mouth. She groaned low in her throat. Her hands stroked up and down his back, spurring his desire with every beat of his heart.

  When he reached between them, she was still wet. Galen wanted to take it slow, to savor every moment with her, but it had been too long since he’d had a woman, too long since he’d been able to make love without reading another’s mind.

  He guided himself to her entrance and pushed inside her. She was incredibly tight and startlingly hot. He leaned over her, his hands on either side of her head, as he thrust inside her slowly.

  She gripped his hips, her back arching, as he filled her. Her lips were parted, her breathing erratic. Galen couldn’t take his eyes off her, watching every fascinating emotion that crossed her face.

  When she bent her knees and wrapped her legs around him, Galen gave a final push that seated him to the hilt. She felt so good that for a heartbeat he stayed as he was, reveling in the exquisite feel of her.

  His tempo was slow, steady as he began to move within her. His yearning, his hunger wouldn’t be denied though, and soon he was plunging hard, deep, and fast inside her. She matched his thrusts, her glorious curls spread around her.