by Jones, AE
He took her other hand, too. “We both let fear imprison us.”
“Yes. Maybe that’s why we found each other.”
He reached up and used his thumb to wipe a tear that trickled down her face. A tear.
“I love you, faerie girl.”
“And I love you, demon boy.”
Before she could wrap her arms around him. He held up his hand. “I want you to know, whatever you tell the Faerie Council, I’m in it with you. If you’ll have me, that is.”
“Oh, but I already told them I don’t want to be queen. I’m a healer. That’s my calling.”
“So what important meeting are you headin’ to?”
She couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “I was going to see you. I was done allowing my heart to be a wimp. But you beat me to it.”
A cocky grin lit up his face. “Aye, I did.”
She untied her apron and pulled it off. “But you didn’t get me a T-shirt.” He looked down and read hers. Give me a chance, Demon Boy.
He threw his head back, and his laugh echoed out across the meadow.
She jumped into his arms, and he kissed her. And the fissures of self-doubt sealed while her once-craggy heart softened and bloomed again.
Cheers broke out in the woods.
“Those idiots,” McHenry groaned.
Darcinda laughed. “Are you surprised?”
“No.” He put her down and turned. “Butt out, wolves. I’ll take it from here.”
She planted her hands on her hips as he turned around. “You’ll take it from here, huh?”
His mouth quirked up. “You know what I mean, lass.”
“I don’t think I do. Why don’t you show me?”
His eyes ignited as he slipped his arms around her waist and stroked up and down her back. “I want to make somethin’ clear to you. You said earlier that you didn’t help me, and lass, that is so far from the truth. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be a closed-off, damaged male, curse or no curse. You helped me more than I can express.”
More tears trickled down her face, and he wiped them away again with his thumb. She took a step back, held out her hand, and he wrapped his large, callused hand around it as she led him inside.
He pulled her to a stop, looking around her small cottage living room. Did he see it as she did? Cozy and eclectic including a cabinet crammed with her herbs and potions along the wall.
“This suits you.”
She sat with him on the couch. After a few seconds he pulled her into his lap and she rested against his chest, his heart thumping in her ear.
She looked up at him, and he leaned down and kissed her softly. After a few more tentative kisses, they deepened, exploring with lips, teeth, and tongue.
McHenry pulled back and sucked in a breath.
“What is it?”
“You know how I told you earlier that I don’t know my way around because everythin’ is new?”
“Yes.”
“Well…the same could be said with this.”
His cheeks flushed as red as his beard.
“McHenry, are you a virgin?”
“Aye.”
“Well, you’d never know it from the way you kiss.”
He grinned. “I kissed a few lasses in my teens, before I was trapped. After that, I wasn’t goin’ to force a woman to stay with me, especially with the curse loomin’ over my head.”
How to handle this? She cupped his face, her hands caressing. “No worries, my lumberjack demon. I’ll be gentle.”
His eyes danced at her teasing. “Not too gentle, I hope.”
She got to her feet, reached for his hand, and they walked into her bedroom. She faced him and, pulling on his hand, backed up to the bed and sat down.
She reached for her T-shirt, and he growled—honest to the Fates growled.
“That is my T-shirt, so I get to unwrap you.”
She nodded, and his fingers brushed her belly as he pulled off the shirt oh so slowly. And he’d been worried he wouldn’t know what to do?
The shirt fell to the floor as his eyes caressed her. There was no other word for it.
“Damnation, you are breathtakin’.”
“Before we go further, I need to know your name.”
He grinned. “Are you blackmailin’ me?”
“Maybe.”
“It’s Rory.”
“Does it have a meaning?”
“Red king.”
“Perfect.” She ran her fingers through his beard. “Your turn to take something off.”
He pulled his shirt over his head, and she sucked in a breath. When she healed him, she spent most of the time concentrating on his back. She wasn’t surprised that his chest was glorious—and it was, like a sculpture. Honed from his blacksmithing and dusted with auburn hair.
She unhooked her bra and pulled it off, and it was his turn to suck in a breath. She crooked her finger, beckoning him.
He crawled over her and hovered, his eyes glowing with intensity. He lowered himself until they were skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat, as their lips joined. Minutes of exploring with mouths and tongues before they stripped off the rest of their clothes.
He stopped for a moment. “Stupid of me not to think of this sooner. What about birth control?”
She smiled. “Taken care of.”
He kissed her before traveling south over her breasts and stomach. Lower still, he paused and looked up at her.
“Tell me what to do, lass. How to make this feel good for you.”
And she did. Then she tunneled her fingers through his hair and guided him for a few moments until he got the hang of things. And boy, did he get the hang of things.
After her cry nearly shattered both their eardrums, he climbed up her body and kissed her before he pulled her to his chest.
“You are never allowed to cut that beard.”
McHenry chuckled. “Your wish is my command.”
She tangled her fingers in his chest hair and pulled enough to make him gasp. And then they were kissing again, and they explored with hands this time until they were both panting.
McHenry was on top of her now and she positioned him before holding his gaze and nodding.
They finally, finally joined.
He held still. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. You?”
He nodded, and then he leaned down and kissed her, so very gently, on the forehead. She moved, and he groaned as he met her with a jerky push. She placed her hand on his hip and helped him with the rhythm. She let him know that he wouldn’t break her. Quite the opposite, really.
After a few moments, by the loosening of his body, she could tell he’d stopped worrying and started to feel.
Nothing else mattered.
Just the two of them.
And this dance.
It started as a waltz and turned into a rumba. She couldn’t wait to try out every form of dance with him. The rhythm picked up, and they clung to each other as together they leaped over the edge.
She hugged him to her for a few moments, liking his weight. Too soon he shifted and lay on his side facing her.
“How was that?” he asked in a scratchy voice.
She kissed his nose. “That was good. Really good.”
“Thank the Fates. I thought so, but what do I know?”
Darcinda’s head fell back as she laughed out loud. “Oh, McHenry, you know a lot. And for the rest, we’ll figure it out together.”
“I look forward to it, Darci-girl.”
This is not goin’ accordin’ to plan…but that’s not a bad thing.
Chapter 34
McHenry was shaking in his work boots. Everything had made perfect sense when he told his nephews and then his friends what he planned to do. At least some of what he planned to do. And as family and friends do, they pitched in. Not without some grousing, of course.
It had been two months since he left his land for the first time and went to Darcinda’s cottage to ask her forgiveness, beg if necessary.
> And since then? Well, he’d turned into the opposite of the cranky hermit he used to be. Not without work. And throughout it all, Olivia had been an amazing friend and therapist, working with him to get past a lot of baggage, as she liked to call it. If he wanted Darcinda in his life permanently, he wanted to be the best version of himself.
But the true catalyst was Darcinda herself. Hells, she was magnificent, and for all that she was totally supportive, she wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion. She was who he needed and loved. Simple as that.
“Earth to McHenry.”
He looked over at Connor and Jack, who exchanged grins. “What?”
“Stop thinking about Darcinda. We have to finish hanging this door,” Connor said.
“How—”
“How do I know you were thinking about her?” Another grin exchanged with his brother. “You get this goofy look on your face.”
He smiled. “Aye.”
The twins laughed.
“She’s ruined him,” Jack said.
“I’ve seen the way you look at your wife, wolf, especially now she’s with child. I’m not the only one with the goofy face around here. But you’re right, we need to get this door hung before Darcinda gets here in a little bit.”
“I can’t believe Darcinda agreed to move in with you,” Connor said with a wicked grin.
McHenry couldn’t believe it himself sometimes. Hopefully she would like what he had done. She’d been gone for over a week at a healer conference, and she planned to move in when she got home. He had come up with the idea to build a separate, small building for her healing practice, and the team and their mates jumped on board to help. He hoped she liked it and didn’t run away because of his heavy-handedness.
The guys spent ten minutes hanging the door before they headed over to look at the inside of the new building and see how the rest of the group was doing.
Charlie and Tim had finished installing the new shelves under Olivia’s direction—who knew she was also handy?—along the one wall while Devin and Alex finished the painting. Jamie, Andrew, Selina, and Maeve were out planting the herb garden.
“This looks amazin’. Thanks so much,” McHenry said. He never thought they’d get this done in time, but Andrew had gone to the villagers in the Burrow, and they came to help him put up the walls and roof, like a good, old-fashioned barn raising.
“Let’s finish cleaning up and then eat,” Alex said. “I’m starved, and Sheila and Julia should have dinner ready by now.”
Sheila had volunteered to cook, and Julia was relegated to assistant cook, since she couldn’t be around the paint and other construction chemicals right now. Plus someone needed to keep an eye on JT, who was crawling like a maniac now, and kept pulling himself up on things. Darcinda had told them it wouldn’t be long before he was walking.
Which had freaked Devin out, although walking was the least of their worries where JT was concerned. He would be a power to be reckoned with when he got older. Hells, the tyke already was.
They went inside and found JT banging a spoon against a pot on the kitchen floor.
“Have you been causing trouble?” Devin scooped him up, blew on his belly, and then kissed him. JT squealed with delight.
“Everyone sit down while the food is still warm,” Sheila said.
Pasta with fresh vegetables, salad, and crusty loaves of bread greeted them. Everyone dug into the food except McHenry. Not because the food wasn’t delicious, but because nerves had settled in his stomach, not leaving room for much else.
After a couple of seconds he realized it had grown quiet. He looked up from his plate to see the group watching him.
“What?”
Alex reached across the table and patted his hand. “Darcinda is going to love this. How could she not? I mean, you built her a building for her healing, and a garden for her herbs, for goodness’ sake.”
Julia smiled at him. “Absolutely.”
Sheila nodded.
“I’ve always said you’re a teddy bear,” Maeve said.
McHenry felt his cheeks heat.
Olivia bumped her shoulder against him. “You’ve come a long way.”
McHenry laughed. “Okay, my friends, thank you for the pep talk.”
Connor made a gagging noise, which resulted in five females glaring at him. He held up his hands. “I can’t fight the McHenry Mutual Admiration Society.”
McHenry shook his head. “As much as I want to discuss this further, Darcinda should be here soon.”
Everyone stood and began cleaning up the meal.
“Andrew and Jamie, take your uncle outside so he can pace. We’ll be outside as soon as everything’s cleaned up,” Devin said.
McHenry didn’t fight Devin’s command. He walked out onto the porch with his two nephews flanking him.
McHenry cleared his throat. “Do you know how much I love you both?”
Andrew chuckled. “We figured when you didn’t kick our bratty butts out years ago.”
“We love you too,” Jamie said.
Andrew put his hand on McHenry’s shoulder. “And we’re so happy you found Darcinda.” Andrew looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “Are you ready for later?”
McHenry nodded. Only his nephews knew about the second part of his plan, the main reason why his stomach was twisting in knots. After everyone left, he was going to take Darcinda on a moonlit stroll and ask her to marry him. It might be fast, but he’d never been more sure of anything. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
He patted his shirt pocket and then frowned.
Andrew turned to him. “What?”
“I don’t have the ring.” The ring he’d spent the past week working on.
“The last time I saw it, it was in the workshop in the lockbox. I’ll go get it.” Andrew jogged across the courtyard into the workshop.
Before Andrew returned, Darcinda arrived.
“I’ll go get the others,” Jamie said before heading into the house.
McHenry’s heart rate picked up as he stepped off the porch and headed toward her. She smiled, and he reached for her, wrapping her in his arms.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” she said as she looked to the side. “What’s everyone doing here?”
He took her hand and walked her farther into the courtyard, since his workshop blocked the new building from where they were standing.
“They were here helpin’ with…this!”
He stopped and she looked at the building before giving him a perplexed look. “Did you add on to your workshop?”
“No. When you agreed to move here, you were sacrificin’ so much, I decided to give you somethin’. This is for you, healer.”
He opened the door and pulled her into the building, since she seemed frozen. She looked around the room and didn’t say a word. The longer she stood silent, the more his heart banged in his chest. Had he presumed too much?
“I didn’t finish the inside. I want you to be able to decorate it with your unique flair. Although we did build you a wall of shelves for your books and herbs.”
She spun to face him with tears tracking down her face. “You did this?”
“We all did it for you.”
“I love it.”
McHenry let out the breath he’d been holding and looked over his shoulder at his friends and family, who were, naturally, crowded in the doorway watching the scene unfold.
“You haven’t seen everything yet,” Jamie said.
Darcinda looked back at McHenry. “Really?”
He couldn’t stop his grin. He walked her over to a door in the side of the building and opened it so they could step outside into the herb garden they’d created for her.
She gaped, then more tears escaped. He knew without turning that everyone was peeking around the corner of the building watching them.
“Thank you. I don’t know what to say, other than I love you so much.”
“And I love you, Darci-girl.”
He turned to his friends, who were applauding, until they stopped mid-clap. What was wrong? He turned back, and Darcinda was gone.
“Down here, demon.”
He looked down. Darcinda was on one knee and his stomach dropped to the earth with her.
This was not going according to plan.
She blinked up at him. “While I was away this week, all I could think about was you, and how much I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And then I came home to find this. You think me agreeing to move in with you is a sacrifice? It’s a blessing, a miracle, a chance to live a full life. Will you marry me?”
He ignored the gasps behind him as he dropped to his knees and placed his hands on either side of her face. “I can’t imagine bein’ away from you, either. That would be a curse I wouldn’t recover from. My heart doesn’t beat without you now. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He kissed her, and cheers and catcalls burst out behind them. After a few minutes they got to their feet and turned to their family and friends. Andrew stepped forward and held out the small box. McHenry clapped him on the shoulder before taking it from him.
“After everyone left tonight, I was goin’ to propose to you. I’ve been workin’ on this for a while now.” He opened the box and held his breath.
It was one of the most intricate pieces he had ever designed. He hoped she liked it. He knew she wasn’t someone who insisted on precious gems, so he used metals to convey his love for her instead. Gold and platinum woven together in a pattern.
He pulled the ring out of the box with sweaty fingers. “It’s engraved.”
She held out her hand and he slipped it on her finger. “What does it say?” she asked.
“‘Heart above all else.’”
She rested her hand on the center of his chest and gazed up at him. He was sure she could feel the erratic thumping. Which was confirmed when she smiled.
“True.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his lips. “Very true.”
A faerie and a demon got married.
Chapter 35
Six Months Later
McHenry folded his arms across his chest and grinned like a fool. He was going to be married in less than an hour to the faerie of his dreams, and his friends were standing around him arguing over who had the best wedding.