Questions for a Highlander

by Angeline Fortin

  “I just told you, I cannot stay!” he repeated without looking at her.

  For a moment, Moira thought he was rejecting her once more but then she realized he had misunderstood. “No, Vin. What if I wanted you to give in to your urges?”

  It took a full minute for her words to sink in before he turned slowly to face her, a frown marring his brow. “You don’t know what you’re saying, lovey.”

  “I think I do.” Though she was trembling with nerves, Moira thrust her chin up stubbornly.

  “You don’t need to do such a thing,” Vin shook his head. “It’s just lust, Moira, and wrong at that.”

  “Why is it wrong?” Moira asked, desperately grasping at straws. “You were…alone for a long time. I think it’s perfectly understandable that you don’t want to be alone any longer.”

  “I’m not talking about having company, lovey,” he grunted, turning back to his packing certain that despite their impulsive kisses and such, Moira truly had no idea what he wanted to do to her.

  “I didn’t think you were, Vin.” Moira couldn’t help it. Her temper was beginning to simmer. Never had she met a man who could drift so easily through his life in a constant state of denial. He’d been comfortable with the practice before his departure six years before but now seemed to have gotten it down to a science. Couldn’t he see what everyone else considered so obvious? Or was it just that he didn’t want to?

  “Bugger it, lovey!” he barked at her, finally reaching the edge of his patience as well. His brogue, which had subsided over the years, burst forth with the strength of his anger. “Dinnae ye realize that I want to fook ye so badly I’m ‘bout to die from it? I cannae stay here wi’out thinking of fooking ye, dreaming of all the ways I could fook ye. I cannae even take another woman because it’s ye I’ve got to have!”

  Desire washed over Moira in a shudder that ran from head to toe. Oh, yes, she had known he wanted her, but not like that! Though he wanted her, she thought in the end any woman would do. Never had she imagined that his lust was only for her. By God, she wanted him as well; had only wanted him over the course of her entire life. “Then take me, Vin!” she blurted out.

  “Aye, and have Jason’s ghost haunting me for the rest of my days for more reason than he has already?” he gritted out, not truly absorbing her words. “He’d rise from his grave and kill me if he had any idea the thoughts in my head! Yer my best friend’s wee sister, Moira! I’m going to burn in hell for wanting ye so!”

  “Jason’s dead, Vin!” she yelled back. “He’s not here anymore, especially not to haunt you for being human! He would not care about this! He’d forgive you!”

  “But I canna forgive myself!” Vin roared, his words meaning more than Moira could know.

  “Bloody hell, Vin! Look at me!” she shouted but Vin shook his head and pushed around Moira determined to get as far away from her as he could. “Jason isn’t here anymore! This is about you and me! Look at me! I’m not a little sister anymore. I’m a woman with her own wants and needs!

  “Vin! Get back here! We’re not finished!” she screeched as he left the room without remarking on her words. “Don’t you understand at all that I want you to do it? I want you to do all those things you think about to me. I want you! Argh!” Moira picked up a candlestick and flung it as hard as she could into the fireplace. With the rattle and clang of the metal against the bricks, all the anger and frustration fled as quickly as they had come and she stared dejectedly into the ashes left from the last fire that had burned days before. Like those ashes, her life would be cold and empty when Vin left. She’d never even have a chance to hold him in her arms if he were gone.

  “What did you say?”

  Moira jumped at the softly spoken words and turned to find Vin in the doorway. One hand was propped high on the jam as he leaned there watching her. She drank him in from his shaggy dark hair and whiskered jaw to his casual appearance. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow and his shirt open to midchest in the front. He was even barefoot. Though his lips were set tensely, his dark eyes were burning hot. Never had Moira seen him look more appealing. “I said I want you, Vin.”

  “To do what?”

  Her nerves skittered but Moira met his eye softly admitting, “I want you to make love to me so badly I’m about to die from it.”

  Vin shuddered hearing his own words turned back on him and stepped into the room determined to take Moira in his arms and spare them both the wanting. To finally have done with this mad passion. He would have denied himself infinitely to spare Moira, but if she wanted him as well…

  To his surprise, Moira met him halfway throwing her arms around him and drawing his mouth down to hers. She met his lips passionately parting her lips to invite him in, but Vin drew back and looked down at her lovely face feeling surprise that she could kiss him so. Hadn’t she always thought of him as a brother as he had so long been determined to see her as a sister?

  “Are you certain, lovey?”

  “I’ve never been more certain.”

  “Why?” he had to ask.

  Because I love you, Vin. I have always loved you! her heart begged her to tell the truth but instead answered, “Because for a long time I have been as alone as you, Vin, and I don’t want to be alone any longer.”

  Chapter 24

  There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make.

  - James M. Barrie

  “Och, lovey,” Vin gathered her slowly into his arms, brushing the auburn hair back from her temple with a gentle hand. “Are you sure?”

  “You need to stop asking me that,” Moira teased, running her own hands up and over his shoulders. When he still made no move to continue, she added, “What do you want to do first?”

  “Endure long enough this time to pleasure you as well,” he said only half-teasing as the shame washed over him once more.

  “Anything you do will please me as long as it involves touching me,” she told him. “Please touch me, Vin. I’ve wanted you to for such a very long time.”

  “God, I shouldn’t,” Vin wavered torn between guilt and need.

  “Yes, you should,” Moira whispered.

  With a low moan, Vin pushed his misgivings aside and covered her lips with his, tenderly exploring with the softest of kisses, tasting when before he had only plundered. Moira parted her lips once more welcoming his tongue with her own, drawing him closer, but once more Vin pulled away. “Seriously? Again?” She couldn’t bear it if he left her now.

  A low, seductive chuckle escaped Vin as he moved behind her. Pushing her hair to the side, he teased the side of her neck with his lips and tongue as his arms slid around her to open the buttons on the front of her dressing gown one by one. “You asked me what I wanted to do first,” he reminded.

  Moira shivered as he warm breath teased the damp skin before he fastened his lips to the back of her neck once more. “And what is that?” she asked breathlessly.

  “I want to see you.” He pulled the dressing gown off her shoulders and let it fall between them. “May I?” he whispered in her ear.

  She could do little more than nod and she heard that low chuckle once more. A moment later, she jumped when she felt his hands under her nightgown’s hem and then on her ankles. He pushed the gown up, running his hands up her calves and then thighs. His lips followed trailing kisses in their wake making Moira’s knees turn to water. When his hands cupped her bottom, his moan matched hers.

  Vin’s hands slid to her hips as he pressed kisses against her bottom, nipping and sucking on the flesh there. If Moira hadn’t been so lost to desire, she might have thought to be embarrassed. His hands continued upward to span her and he scraped his teeth against the sensitive flesh on her side. “You have the tiniest waist I’ve ever seen,” he whispered against her. “But these,” his palms grazed her ribs until they cupped her breasts, “these have tormented me from the first moment I saw you again.” He squeezed them as he rose again sliding his lips back to her neck.
r />   “Th-they have?” Moira stuttered.

  “Aye,” he whispered gruffly. “I think they’ve tormented me since you were but seventeen.”

  “You noticed?”

  “How could I not?” he admitted at last accepting that his attraction to her was nothing new. He had wanted her years ago but denied it all for the sake of friendship. Yet, now, he couldn’t deny it even for the sake of friendship. It was a harsh irony. “Turn about, lovey, so I might see them at last.”

  Moira turned as Vin pushed her gown up and over her head. He looked down at her so intently that Moira almost felt the need to cover herself but then his hands came up once more to reverently cup each breast. He lowered his head and kissed each one before drawing one nipple into his mouth and sucking lightly. Moira gasped and captured his head in her arms drawing him closer, keeping him there as he laved and suckled the sensitive peak.

  “Well?” she asked in a shaky voice.

  “Everything a man could possibly desire.” He gave it one last kiss before rising to his full height, running his hands up in her hair to tilt her head back. “You are so very beautiful, lovey,” he murmured as he kissed her once more. Vin pulled her body against him but then it was Moira’s turn to pull back.

  “Wait!” She pushed her hands up under his shirt determined to feel the heat of his skin against hers. Vin blocked her efforts for a moment and Moira instantly knew why. “It’s nothing I haven’t already seen, Vin. Please! I want to feel you against me.”

  With a low moan, Vin threw off his shirt and gathered her in his arms until their flesh met heat against heat. “Och, lovey! My God!”

  Moira felt as if her body were on fire. Her tender nipples rubbed against the coarse hairs of his chest sending bolts of electricity through her. She couldn’t get close enough. Could not have enough of his skin touching hers. Years of wanting boiled up in her, suddenly it seemed she could not have him quickly enough. “Oh, Vin! Hurry!”

  Skimming his hands down her hips and around to her bottom, Vin pulled her body flush against his then urged one leg up to wrap around him, then the other. Bending, he scooped her bottom up in both hands and lifted her off the floor. Her limbs wound around him of their own will. Kneading the soft flesh cupped in his hands, Vin ravaged her mouth with his as he carried her to his bed. He lowered himself down keeping her tightly pressed against him until he settled between her widespread thighs. Running his hands up underneath her, Vin hugged Moira to him.

  He couldn’t get enough of the feel of her against him. Felt as if he could not get close enough. He wanted to melt into her and become one. An emotion unlike any he’d ever known rose up in Vin. Warmth and tenderness.

  Vin pulled back and looked down at Moira lovely face. Her lips were red and swollen from his kisses. Her eyes were bright and alive.

  He felt alive as well for the first time in years.

  He smiled down at her feeling that warmth spread when she smiled back.

  Moira could feel the joy in Vin’s smile; see it in his eyes for the first time since his return. He looked happy and she was glad it was because of her, that what they were doing together was giving him that feeling. She urged his lips back to hers whispering, “Make love to me, Vin. Make love to me as if you’ve wanted to do it forever.”

  She felt his chuckle as he kissed her again more urgently now. He trailed kisses down her throat and over her collarbone as his hands once again scooped her breasts into his palms. The rough skin of his palms set her on fire and sent gooseflesh racing across her. Helplessly she arched against him running her hands down his back and back up to his shoulders as his lips descended blazing a path across her stomach and hip.

  Pushing her legs farther apart, Vin lifted himself on arms weak with desire. Shifting, he ran a hand up her thigh to tease the thatch of red curls between Moira’s legs. Her breath caught and Vin felt the thrill of it race through his veins. Sliding a finger through the curls, Vin captured her next gasp in a kiss while stroking her tender flesh. She was so hot and wet already that Vin closed his eyes, fighting the urge to just take her and have it done. No, this time Moira would find her pleasure before him lest he explode quickly once again.

  Already he was shaking with need. Hard and more desperate than he could ever recall being. The feel of her wet, hot flesh was almost enough to send him over the edge.

  Moira felt his arms tremble and felt an answering quiver in her own limbs as he skimmed his fingers across her, circling a particular spot that swiftly had her convulsing with need. She panted his name over and over as she clung to him. Tension was building in her, tightening low in her belly. He kissed her, plunging his tongue into her mouth as his finger slid slowly into her. With a moan deep in her throat, Moira arched against him shuddering in pleasure.

  “Ahh, lovey!” he murmured hoarsely against her lips. “Aye, do you feel it? You’re so hot. So wet and tight. I can’t wait to…” he swallowed with a quake.

  “Don’t wait,” Moira gasped. “Please, Vin! I want you to.”

  “Not yet,” he returned through gritted teeth and plunged another finger in deeply with the first, reveling in Moira’s cries of ecstasy. He glided his digits in and out wrenching cry after cry from Moira as she pressed herself against his hand. Tossing her head from side to side, she begged him to take her but Vin held himself in check. Bending his head, he caught her nipple between his teeth and circled her most sensitive nub with his thumb as he fingers continued to drive her higher and higher.

  “Vin!” Moira cried out as she felt the tension in her belly knot with near painful intensity. She dug her fingers into his arms when the pleasure broke suddenly. She screamed hoarsely into the room. The pleasure washed over her in waves as she writhed beneath his hand sobbing with the intensity of her release.

  Vin almost came himself when he felt her body clench around his finger. She was so passionate, so lovely in the furor of her climax. He rested his forehead against her shoulder panting as heavily as she while she recovered herself, her body still shuddering from the force of her passion.

  She ran a hand up his back. “Come to me, Vin,” she whispered breathlessly.

  Shucking his trousers quickly, Vin eased himself between her thighs once more, wanting nothing more than to plunge into his depths. Still, he remained poised at the entrance to her paradise. “Are you a virgin still, lovey?”

  Moira met his gaze, her face flushed and dampened by a sheen of sweat. “What else would I be?”

  A groan of pleasure escaped him. She would be his. He would be the first one to take her. Possessive glory washed over him. “Are you sure you want me to…”

  “I only want you to.”

  Her words sent Vin over the edge of insanity and he drove into her with slow, agonizing determination. She was so incredibly tight around him. Her body wet and welcoming, still pulsing from the strength of her release. Gritting his teeth, he pushed on feeling Moira clasp him tightly, her fingers digging into his flesh. “Are you all right?”

  “Just do it, Vin! Please!”

  “My God!” Her desperate plea sent him over the edge and Vin reared back before plunging to the hilt. Moira gasped and clenched him to her. Vin withdrew and drove into her once more.

  Her head fell back with a moan. “Ohhh.”

  He repeated the motion, holding back the lust that screamed for immediate release.

  Again, she moaned. “Oh, Vin. Again. Ohhh, again!”

  Vin gathered her in his arms and thrust into her over and over on her command, glorying in the rapture that transported them together into ecstasy. He pressed his face into her shoulder as he moved over her, felt her wrapping her longs legs around his hips as she urged him on.

  Her moans were echoed by his own as Vin strove to hold back his desperate release. “Come for me, lovey,” he whispered. “Let me feel you around me when you come.”

  The frantic heat was building in her core once more and Moira knew that she could not deny him what he wanted. She let it go with a sob tha
t followed on the heels by Vin’s strangled cry as he thrust fiercely into her, once again driving as deeply as he could.

  Vin collapsed on top of her and Moira cradled his head in her arms listening to their harsh breathing break the silence of the room. Never had she imagined that it would feel this way. It was as if every feeling she’d ever known in her life had been balled up and broken within her at once.

  It was glorious. Overwhelming.

  The weight and feel of him over her was as well. She felt as if she could hold him there forever and never get tired of it. Stroking her fingers through his hair, Moira savored the feel of his body pressing her down. The thunder of his heart pounding against hers. It was on the tip of her tongue to confess her love, but she held it back.

  This was but the first step. He wanted her. Only her, by his own confession. Lust and love might be two different things now, but they had lust in spades. Heart-wrenching lust. Love would come. She was sure of it now.

  Chapter 25

  All human actions have one or more of these seven causes:

  chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

  - Aristotle

  Vin eased off her and rolled on to his back pulling her into his arms while dropping a kiss on top of her head. He felt wild, mad and foolish for taking her so. She’d been a virgin. A prize that should have been gifted to her husband one day, but Vin could not feel regret for his actions. Couldn’t even summon the guilt that would surely come. Instead, he felt peaceful and relaxed but not drained. Already his body was responding to the press of her skin on his. His member stirred restlessly.

  A low chuckle of self-depreciation escaped him. He was insatiable but what could one expect? Either the length of his abstinence or the feel of Moira’s lithe, naked body would have been enough to rouse any man, but together were beyond denial.