by Anna Durand
If I got him relaxed and well sated, he might confide in me why he'd been so quiet for the past few days. Sure, that explained why I wanted sex. It had nothing to do with how much I wanted him every minute of every day and even while I was asleep and dreaming. His voice, his body, his tongue, every part of him had invaded my dreams since the night we'd met.
He nuzzled my cheek and groaned. "How badly do ye want me?"
"I'd let you push me up against the wall and take me right here in the hallway."
A chuckle, deep and dark, resonated inside his chest. "That's why I love you, Miss O'Shea."
He dragged me to the end of the hall and into the bedroom, slammed the door, and backed me up to the wall. With his entire body molded to mine, he caged me against the wall. My pulse accelerated, excitement zinging through me. He collared my wrists in one hand and pinned them above my head.
"Yer a drug," he rumbled. "Cannae get enough. Ahm addicted to yer scent, yer flavor, the feel of yer body around me."
My breaths shortened into gasps, and I couldn't tear my gaze away from his. Even the glare on his glasses couldn't dampen the fire that raged deep within his eyes. The silvery blue blaze made me ache all over, from my breasts to my rigid nipples straight down my belly and into the cleft between my thighs. The intensity of his need tightened his body and throbbed in his cock where it pressed into my belly. That same intensity infused his voice with a rough, carnal tone.
He unzipped my jeans and shoved them down until they slid down to pool around my ankles. His lips twitched upward. "No panties?"
"You've been insatiable lately. Had to be prepared."
"What about your bra?" He thrust his hand under my shirt and up to my breast, squeezing it before moving his fingers until he found the front clasp of my bra. His smile was wicked. "I love it when you wear this one."
He freed the clasp one hook at a time, grazing his fingertips along my skin as he worked to free my breasts. When he undid the last hook, my tits spilled out. He caught one in his hand, rasping his thumb back and forth over the nipple.
My back arched, my neck too. My mouth fell open, but the only sound I made was a breathless little "uh."
While his hand kneaded my breast, he kissed me. Hard. Rough. Demanding. I gave him what he wanted, what we both wanted, with my tongue and my teeth and my lips. He scraped his thumbnail across my nipple at the exact moment he flicked his tongue across the roof of my mouth. I moaned, but he swallowed the sound. Prevented from touching him by his hand around my wrists, I tried to hook one leg around his hip but tripped over the denim lumped around my ankles.
His hands kept me from falling.
"Bod an Donais," he hissed and dropped into a crouch to rip my shoes off, followed by my socks and jeans.
My tennies whacked onto the floor on the other side of the room. My jeans flumped onto the bed.
He sprang up, released my wrists, and tore my shirt off over my head. His toss sent it flying, and my bra went sailing a second later. While I leaned against the wall totally naked, he unzipped his pants to liberate his cock.
"On your knees," he growled.
Without a second's hesitation, I dropped to my knees.
He knelt behind me and shoved my legs apart with his knee. "Hands on the floor."
I obeyed.
He rubbed his erection along my cleft and groaned deeply. "So hot, so soft, so wet."
"Oh God, please."
"I need ye so much." He bent forward, his shirt tickling my naked backside, and sealed his mouth over my throat in an open-mouth kiss, nipping lightly at my skin.
Someone knocked on the door. "Keely, are you in there?"
I muttered something very unladylike under my breath before calling out, "Yes, Iain."
"We have news. It's urgent. Meet us in the dining room."
"Shit," Evan snarled.
"Be right there," I told his cousin.
Footsteps assured me Iain had left the vicinity.
I ground my ass against him. "Please hurry."
Evan pulled his hips back and impaled me with his cock. "Yer driving me mad."
He grasped my hips and thrust with frenetic need, pounding into me again and again, our bodies slapping and instigating a wet sound every time he drove into me. I dug my nails into the rug and let him do whatever he wanted with me. We both needed this release and the deep connection only sex could give us right now. Stress and fear had merged into a desperation that kept us both on edge all the time. But when he took me, when our bodies merged and the pleasure blanked out everything else, nothing mattered except the love that intensified every sensation.
Evan latched his arm around my waist and pulled me up, clasping me to his body. Even as he kept thrusting, he slid his hand down my belly to slip his fingers between my folds and find my rigid nub. His fingers rubbed and pinched it.
My climax struck like a lightning bolt from a clear blue sky. I threw my head back, about to unleash a wild cry.
He slapped his hand over my mouth.
I screamed against his palm, the sound muffled.
A second later, he blew his top. I cradled his head with my hand when he buried his face against my neck to muffle his own agonized shout.
We huddled there for another few seconds, panting, needing a moment to regain our wits and our breaths.
At last, he pulled away from me.
"Well," I said, "I think we're ready to go."
I heard the sharp, metallic sound of him zipping up.
He patted my bottom. "Might want to dress first."
"Right." I scurried around the room gathering my clothes and shoes. Once I'd gotten them on again, I kissed his cheek. "Feel better?"
"Aye, much better."
Hand in hand, we hurried down the hall to the dining room where Rory, Emery, Iain, and Rae waited for us. The women had taken seats at the table. Iain leaned against the sill of the tall window, half sitting on it. Rory stood between the window and the table, arms at his sides, shoulders back, a look of stoic resolve on his face.
"You might want to sit," he told us.
I took his advice and pulled out the chair beside Emery's, settling onto it with a growing sensation of acid burning in my gut.
Evan positioned himself behind my chair with his hands on its back.
Rory looked me square in the eye for a heartbeat before he switched his attention to Evan. "The situation has changed. The IP address from the Internet provider proves it's Tulloch. Emery and her friends got into the GPS on his phone. He's left Inverness."
"Where is he?" I asked.
"In Loch Fairbairn. And he's on the move, traveling in this direction."
Evan moved his hands to my shoulders, his fingers tensing. "You think he's coming here. How could he know where I am?"
"He's not working alone," Rory explained. "We know he has at least one accomplice, the man you battered last year. It's safe to assume that man still works with Tulloch. You noticed someone watching you and Keely on the beach last week. I think Tulloch's man has been keeping an eye on you, to let the mastermind know where you are at all times."
"They knew when I was in America, took a picture of me with Keely there." Evan's fingers tightened over my shoulders. "Tulloch must have sent someone to America to track me. Why is he going to so much trouble? It seems excessive for a wee bout of jealousy."
"It's more than jealousy, Evan. Tulloch wants revenge for whatever imagined wrong he blames you for. Vengeance can be a powerful motivator."
Evan pulled his hands away from me. "If he's that powerfully motivated…"
"We need to take defensive action."
"He must know I'm here at Iain's house. What do you suggest we do?"
Iain slid off the windowsill. "Batten down the hatches and prepare for the storm."
"Thank you for the vague suggestion," Evan said through clenched teeth.
I didn't need to see him to know his jaw was tightly clenched. I h
eard it in his voice.
Rory waved toward the table. "The women will go to Lachlan and Erica's house where they'll be safe."
I shook my head. "I am not leaving Evan."
"Go, Keely," Evan said.
"Not following your orders this time. I stay. No arguments."
I craned my neck to look up at him. He was, of course, giving me a tight-lipped expression that told me he did not approve of my decision. I raised my brows at him. "Want to argue right here in front of your family? Besides, Tulloch might track me down wherever I go in hopes of using me as leverage. I'm safer with three brawny men around."
He mumbled something that was probably Gaelic but caved with a sharp nod, then surveyed the room. "Where is my mother?"
Rory answered. "In the kitchen with Malina. We haven't told Aileen about the danger yet."
I got up. "Aileen should stay with us too. Tulloch already used her as leverage once. We're safer together."
"Then may I suggest," Iain said, "we relocate to Dùndubhan. It is a fortress after all. And that ought to give us time to prepare while Tulloch realizes we've gone somewhere else and reassesses his next move."
Evan grunted. "If he reassesses. Clearly, the man is delusional."
Rae and Emery rose from their chairs. Rae said, "We'll get Malina and head to Lachlan and Erica's."
"Yes," Iain said. "I'll send Aidan there too. We'll need Gavin and Logan with us at Dùndubhan. An ex-Marine and a former spy could be useful in a situation like this."
The plan sounded good, but the acid in my gut had spread up into my throat. Swallowing twice did nothing to rid me of the sour taste in my mouth. We had no choice other than to confront Tulloch and his cohorts. Calling the cops wouldn't do. Evan had broken the law to comply with the blackmailer's demands, and we had hacked the bad guy's phone and probably broken several more laws in the process. Besides, if we called the police Tulloch would know about it. He'd known when Evan went to the police station in Loch Fairbairn.
"Do you think the phones are bugged?" I asked. "Will Tulloch hear us sharing the plan with the rest of the family?"
"No," Rory said. "We haven't discussed our plans over the phone. At most, Tulloch would have overheard us asking various people for their assistance. All reports were sent via Emery's secure email account and everything was encrypted. Trust me, she knows how to protect her data."
Emery approached her husband but spoke to me. "We checked for listening devices and other types of surveillance, anyway. Evan let us borrow his equipment."
Ah, yes. The suitcase of spy gadgets he'd brought with him.
Logan might have been the official James Bond of the family, but Evan had all the toys a spy needed.
"All right," I said. "Off to the castle."
Chapter Thirty-Six
Evan
I leaned against the windowsill of the sitting room in Dùndubhan and gazed out at the forbidding gray clouds that threatened to close in around the house as fog. We wouldn't see much through the soup if it descended on the castle. Were the elements conspiring with our enemy? It seemed like an idiotic thought, but then, I had started to believe in fate since meeting Keely. Maybe karma existed too, and the weather was my punishment for being arrogant and self-contained, refusing to ask for help when I needed it because I was too proud to admit I couldn't do everything on my own.
Keely walked into the sitting room and stopped beside me. "Are your security men settled in at Lachlan and Erica's place?"
"Yes, they texted me using Emery's secure method." I held my arm out, and she moved under it so I could hold her against my side. "I asked Duncan if he could send more men to guard Dùndubhan, but he has no one available—at least not for three hours or more. I doubt we have that much time. I don't trust anyone else to supply security for us."
"You have trouble trusting people. I get that." She laid a hand on my chest. "You've always felt like you had to be in control of every situation since other people let you down too many times. When that happens to a child, it leaves bigger scars."
Sometimes I wondered how anyone could know me so well after such a short time together. My mother had been with me all my life and didn't know me half as well. Before Keely, I'd never let anyone get close enough to understand me.
Keely managed a small smile. "At least Aileen agreed to go to Lachlan and Erica's too. She'll be safer there."
"I hope so." I rubbed my eyes. "I've made a right mess of things. You wanted to know what was happening, but I refused to tell you, refused to trust you. How can you trust me after everything I've done? Too many mistakes, too much pride, not enough good sense."
"That's crap, Evan." She aimed her emerald eyes at me, and they were full of love and determination. "How could you trust me with a secret like this when I wouldn't even admit we were dating? I told you I wanted your body and nothing else."
"I pushed you into a relationship. I brought you into the disaster I've made of my life. You deserve better."
Her lips crimped at one corner, a sign she was chewing the inside of her cheek. I'd seen her do that before when she was anxious. Another thing I'd done to her.
"If we hadn't gotten together," she said, "would you have ever confided in your cousins? Would you have ever tried to get someone to help you? Or would you have bumbled along on your own?"
"Bumbled? I suppose that's an accurate assessment." It was what I'd done all my life. Getting by but never overcoming the fear of losing everything.
She raised a hand to my cheek. "I'm worried about you. About what you'll do to stop these creeps. You've got a lone-wolf complex, and you haven't promised not to go off on your own to deal with Tulloch and his men."
"Don't worry." I pulled her closer. "No one will hurt you. I won't allow it."
"Not concerned about my own safety. I'm afraid for you."
Of course she would be. I'd been a selfish bastard yet again, seducing her at every opportunity to satisfy my own desperate need to keep her close in any way I could. I should've been comforting her instead.
I studied her face but couldn't find the answers I needed there. "Why did you let me keep using your body for my own selfish needs? I've barely spoken to you, much less anyone else, for days. You should've castigated me for the way I was behaving."
She fiddled with my shirt collar, her attention riveted to the movements of her fingers. "It's not as much fun to chastise you when I can tell you're desperate for sex because you're in pain."
"That's no excuse. I'm sorry, Keely."
"For having sex with me?" She clearly aimed for a playful smile, but her lips couldn't quite achieve it. "In case you haven't noticed, I love making love with you."
"But I used you to—"
"You have never used me, not even in Paris. I understand that now. We had this instant connection that shocked us both, and we each reacted to it differently. You ran because you were scared, not because you had used me to slake your lust."
She believed that. I could tell by the way she looked at me, by the tone of her voice, by the way her fingers had stopped their anxious movements. If she believed I wasn't selfish…
A figure stepped into the open doorway.
"Is there news?" I asked Iain.
"Yes. Tulloch is close, possibly at the end of the drive. We can't pinpoint it too closely, but we need to assume he could be here at any moment."
"Then we move to the main hallway and wait." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called up the app that let me monitor the cameras, motion detectors, and infrared devices I'd set up all around the castle, as well as the drone that was ready to take off whenever necessary. "It's time to assume battle stations. Full red alert."
"You've been talking to Emery too much. You're starting to sound like Captain Kirk."
No one was in the mood for much joking, so the conversation dwindled as Keely and I followed Iain down the hallway of the guest wing, through the dining room, and out into the main hallway of the
ground floor. The castle featured four levels and a tower, not to mention windows designed for easy defense. It made the structure darker inside but safer during a battle.
Dùndubhan hadn't seen a battle in centuries. I had brought danger and violence back to the building that had been peaceful for a very long time.
No, Ron Tulloch had brought this to Dùndubhan. If any blood was spilled today, it would be his.
We met the others in the main hall. Rory, Gavin, and Logan had taken up positions on the three sides of the castle's front walls, each staring out at the darkening weather. Gavin had brought a baseball bat, which leaned against the wall beside him. Rory had a cricket bat he held in his hand.
A display along the rear wall featured replicas of medieval weapons of various types. Glass cases enclosed them—everything from daggers like the sgian dubh and the dirk to a pair of swords, one a claymore and the other a basket-hilt sword. This was a working museum after all.
"Where's Lachlan?" I asked.
Logan turned his head and shouted, "Are ye done in there, Lachlan? Evan thinks you're lying down on the job."
A toilet flushed further down the hall.
Lachlan emerged from the bathroom. "I was sitting down, not lying down. Nature doesn't wait for a good time to issue the call."
Keely glanced at Lachlan, her brow furrowed. "Who's taking care of the ladies and the babies? I thought Lachlan was staying with them. Not that women can't take care of themselves, but…"
I pulled her against my side and kissed the top of her head. "Relax, mo leannan. Randall and Howard, the security men, are there, remember? Lachlan made his own arrangements too." I gave him a sharp look. "Right?"
"Aye," he said. "Tavish, Angus, and my da are on duty at the farm."
"That would be Lachlan and Erica's farm," I told Keely. Then I realized what my cousin had said and snapped my attention back to Lachlan. "A gardener, a former inept burglar, and a retired butcher? Where's Iain? I thought he was doing…something."
"And an archaeologist is more qualified than my father?" Lachlan pretended to take offense, but I knew he was really trying to distract me from the reason we had all gathered here. "Iain is watching from the walls."