Authors: Laura Glenn
DevilsHeart (28 page)
“Then what?” he asked, the edge of his tone softer.
“I was thrown into a dungeon overnight and eventually
brought into the keep.”
“Then what?” he growled, punctuating each word with
impatience. “I will have his clan know the whole of it, love. There is no
shame. You are innocent.”
Her brows drew together in confusion and she shook her head
in exhaustion. “Rathe, I don’t understand—”
“I just need to know whether I should cut off his balls
first or simply dispatch him as is.”
Her lashes flew up at the gruesome statement. But then it
finally hit her. She touched his arm and the muscle beneath her fingers
twitched. “Rathe, he didn’t. He tried but I had hidden a knife from supper in
my sleeve. I stabbed him but he choked me. I fought him off and hit him with an
iron poker when he came after me again. I knocked him out and escaped.”
The corner of Rathe’s lips twitched into a short-lived smirk
of pride. “Do you want to do the honors, lass?”
She paused, his meaning slow to sink in. But then she shook
her head in a frenzy. As enraged as she was, as much as revenge coursed through
her blood, she couldn’t do it. What she’d gone through was bad enough. She
didn’t need one more thing haunting her.
Rathe gave her a clipped nod and a wink, suggesting he
hadn’t expected her to accept his offer. “Shield her, MacBain.”
The man beside her turned her around by the shoulders,
holding on to them as he positioned himself behind her. “Cover your ears,
lass.”
But it was too late. She jumped at the grisly, dulled punch
of metal piercing flesh. A grunt and a moan. The thud of a body hitting the
earth. Her stomach lurched.
“Sorry, my lady,” the man said, walking her back toward
Rathe’s horse.
“Weapons down on the ground now!” Rathe shouted. “Take your
laird back to the keep. Lock yourselves inside. The mormaer will deal with the lot
of you.”
Leah grabbed the saddle and leaned against the horse,
closing her eyes. It was over. Finally. She bit her lower lip to stop the
tremble threatening to send her to her knees in sobs. Now was not the time. Not
yet. Not in front of so many strangers.
Hands slipped around her waist and Rathe whispered her name
into her ear. It was her undoing. With her last ounce of strength, she turned
in his arms and sagged into his chest. Her entire body shook as the sobs broke
free. He accepted the weight of her body, holding her tight and peppering her
head with reassuring kisses.
She grabbed fistfuls of his tunic, digging her nails into
the wool fabric. The world around her fell away, leaving only Rathe’s steady
heartbeat to guide her through the storm. And she surrendered. Finally allowed
her body to release the tension and fear, release her grip on returning home
she’d buried deep inside. She was safe. This was home. Right here in his arms.
It was all worth it, every last bit of fear and pain.
And then it eased. Slipping down her arms, draining through
her feet into the earth below. Her breathing calmed, the tears finally spent.
Then words she’d once longed to hear tumbled forth from his
lips. “If you wish, lass, I will take you to find the stone.”
She released her grip, yanking her head backward. Her chest
tightened as she stared at him, speechless. His features were drawn tight, the
normal liveliness missing from his eyes.
“Rathe,” she breathed, shaking her head. “Don’t.”
“I failed you.”
The pain in his voice tore open her heart. “No.” She grabbed
his chin, forcing him to look her in the eye. “You didn’t. You didn’t know.”
“I should have,” he whispered. “You would be safer at home.
Away from all of this.”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head, the tears
welling up once again. “No, Rathe. It is over. It was all Andrew. All of it.
The man who attacked me on the way home while you and your men were fighting
off those warriors. It was a ploy to make me vulnerable so I would turn on you.
Or just to hurt you, maybe. I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter now.”
His brow furrowed and he shook his head. He cupped her face
in his palms. “I love you, lass, but I will not stop you from leaving. I know
this place frightens you. It always has.”
She grabbed his wrists, warmth surging though her heart and
strengthening it. This man loved her. This sexy, arrogant, impossible, brute of
a man with the biggest heart she’d ever encountered loved her.
Her.
There
was no way in hell she was giving that up. Not for the illusion of safety in
the twenty-first century or for antibiotics or hospitals or cops or firemen. Or
hazelnut lattes. None of it was worth it if he wasn’t with her. Here she was
loved. Here she was
alive
.
“I am not going back,” she insisted with a fierce whisper. “I
love you.”
And then his lips were on hers, hungry, desperate, healing.
She closed her eyes, welcoming the sweetness of his mouth. God, how she’d
missed him. Her belly warmed and the kiss turned tender as though he was
savoring her taste.
“God, lass, I do not deserve you,” he whispered.
“Yes, you do,” she promised, placing a kiss at the corner of
his mouth. “You are so good. You just don’t see it.”
A soft chuckle escaped his lips. “Or you are touched in the
head. But either way I will take it.”
She rolled her eyes. That old witch had warned her that her
love would be a bit of a devil.
“Or I will spend my life trying to prove you right,” he
added with a smile. “Our babe will be born into a contented house. With a
family who loves him.”
Her lashes flew upward. His smile turned into a knowing
smirk.
“You know?”
“I suspected before I left, but Màiri confirmed it.”
Of course she did. Leah laughed.
“Come, my love.” He pulled his hands away from her face and
placed a foot in the stirrups. He swung his leg over until he was seated on the
saddle and then extended his hand toward her. “We will not reach home tonight,
but we will find some shelter under the stars so you can rest easy for a bit.”
She grasped his hand and allowed him to pull her up onto his
lap. She curled into his chest, laying her head at the base of his neck. “I am
already home,” she whispered.
Rathe’s tongue slithered down Leah’s neck to the base of her
throat. He nipped at her skin, sinking his teeth into her flesh and pulling
back just enough to send a pulse of dark pleasure searing through her skin to
pool in her abdomen.
She clawed at his back, craving his flesh, needing the heat
of him. He bent his head, capturing one swollen nipple in his mouth, flicking
his tongue over it. Her pussy pulsated, moistening and aching. She locked her
ankles behind his back, threading her fingers through his hair as he swung his
feet to the floor. His fingers kneaded the tender flesh of her backside,
thrusting her toward him until his hard, elongated cock pressed into her belly.
“Touch me,” she begged in a breathless whisper. “Please I
need to come.”
His soft chuckle sent thrilling vibrations through her
breast and she bit back a moan, not daring to utter a sound. She must not break
the silence. She needed him too much.
“Damn, I love having such a randy little wife,” he breathed
into her ear as he slid a hand between them, arching away from her.
No fumbling, no feeling around to get it right. He knew
exactly where to touch her. Blood surged through her clit, pulsating hard as he
pressed into it in tight, fast circles. A weighty fullness entered her core,
erotic waves of building, rhythmic sensation coursing through her abdomen. She
opened her hips, thrusting toward him, her head falling back as her muscles
seized, holding her on the precipice.
Spinning, vibrating, and finally her pussy convulsed,
sending sharp, shooting twists of raw pleasure through her body. She gasped and
pressed her lips together. His chest rumbled with a growl as he gave her a
rough pull back up to face him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as
the tip of his cock pressed against her pulsating folds.
He grabbed her hips, firelight dancing in his smoldering
eyes, and drove his shaft deep inside her in one quick movement. She whimpered,
dropping her forehead to his shoulder and shuddering. Her core convulsed around
him, stretching and undulating. His fingers dug into her flesh, his pelvis
rocking, pounding into her as though desperate for release.
She bit his shoulder, kissing and sucking on his skin. He
ground into her, bringing her clit alive again. Rebuilding the lustful tremors,
winding them deep within her abdomen until they sprang forth, sending her
writhing. Two hard, direct thrusts, her core stretched to its limit, and he
stilled. His shaft pulsating within her, his body vibrating.
And then he exhaled falling back onto the bed. She giggled
and squeezed the muscles of her pussy around his still-hard cock and he
shuddered.
He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her down on top of
him, dislodging his shaft from her. “I have nothing left, lass. You got it
all.”
She kissed his cheek and slid down to his side, throwing an
arm and a leg across his torso. He smacked her backside and captured her lips
for a long, slow kiss.
“I guess this morning was not enough to slake your lust,” he
commented with a smile.
“I’m just making up for lost time.”
He chuckled. “And I do appreciate it. I enjoy having my
patience so greatly rewarded.”
A whimper and then a fussy cry carried over from across the
room. He kissed her on the forehead and arose from the bed as she scooted back
to the headboard. The mattress sank and he settled next to her, cooing at the
little bundle in his arms.
She smiled. This big giant of a man was actually cooing. She
reached over and caressed the baby’s head. He turned toward her hand, his face
screwing up to release a lusty cry.
“All right, all right,” Rathe assured him, handing him over
to her. “Guess Daddy still is not good enough.”
She laughed, positioning the child at her breast. He was a
hungry little thing. “Soon enough, I’m sure, Mommy won’t be good enough. Then
I’ll never see Lucas because he’ll always be running after you.”
He kissed her cheek. “We will not run far, I promise.”
She rolled her eyes and caressed her child’s back. She had
been so lucky. The birth was perfect. Anna MacAirth had stayed with them for
two whole weeks, preparing Leah and then delivering Lucas. Anna had become such
a good friend and Leah missed her presence. Now the baby was two months old, she
hoped Rathe would agree to take them for a visit to the MacAirths soon.
“It is the equinox tomorrow.”
Her gaze darted back to Rathe. “Is it?”
He nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you
regret not going back to find the stone?”
She sighed and shook her head. “No. I’m home now, remember?”
He grinned, his eyes sparkling in the dim light. “Just
checking, lass.”
“I do miss my sister though. I wish I could get word to her
I’m okay. Happy, you know?”
He kissed her on the temple, covering her hand with his as
it lay upon the baby’s back. “I know, love.”
* * * * *
Calum MacBain cast his eyes to the sky just beyond the
mountains spreading out along the loch on the other side. He would be losing
light soon. He’d best be getting back.
He sighed. Why had he let the mormaer talk him into this? He
had no interest in such a young bride. The lass was barely fourteen, far less
than half his age. Hell, she was younger than his son. He was a man and he
wanted a woman, damn it. A woman who would welcome his lusts instead of fear
them. One he could be himself with and actually talk to at the end of his day.
He’d never considered those things before. Not until both of
his friends netted such fetching, strong, intelligent lasses. He often made fun
of how smitten Galen and Rathe were with their wives, but deep down he envied
them, wanted something like that for himself.
And it certainly wasn’t going to happen with the near child
who’d screamed at the sight of him that morning in the Graham’s great hall.
Right then and there, he told the mormaer in no uncertain terms he would not be
marrying the lass. He didn’t care how far her father had traveled from the
border regions or how much money and land was attached to her dowry. He didn’t
need a miserable marriage following the cold and awkward one he’d experienced
with his son’s mother. Not when marriage could be something more than just an
alliance or exchange of money. He already had everything he needed along the
rocky strip of Highlands bordering the sea he called home.
He kicked a rock and something glinted up at him. He stooped
to retrieve it. Dusting it off, he flipped it over in his hand. A faceted,
amber-colored stone.
He glanced around, something triggering a memory. Wasn’t
Leah somehow involved with a stone such as this? And wasn’t this similar to the
legendary Campbell stone which had ended up bringing Anna here?
Perhaps this was even the same stone Leah had lost. Rathe
had made Galen promise to take her to find it if he died and she wanted to go
home. Neither of which had come to pass. The quiet, skittish little lass seemed
to be contented staying with Rathe despite the fact the man was an unbearable
ass at times.
Calum tossed the stone into the air and caught it with one
hand, snapping his fingers shut. Maybe it would bring him a bit of luck and
fetch him one of these otherworldly lasses who had so bewitched his friends. He
chuckled to himself at the fanciful, unlikely notion, but then stopped as a
strange mist swirled around his feet.
“What the devil?”
Laura Glenn, pseudonym for the feisty and imaginative, wine-
and chocolate-loving romance author, is an unassuming archaeology student
during the light of day. When she is not chasing after her two highly
intelligent but equally mischievous children or discussing the social and
political state of the world with her husband of eleven years, she can be found
daydreaming.
These daydreams are the fare from which she spins her tales
of love and lust. The seed for such an impish hobby was planted at the tender
age of fourteen after she read her first romance novel, much to her mother's
horror. Soon thereafter, she began to weave simple romances, quickly jotted
down in various notebooks during boring high school classes. Years of stories
and fantasies later, she hopes that the pastime she has always enjoyed in
secret might now bring others some happiness and a little bit of naughty fun.
Laura welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and email addresses on her
author
bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
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Laura
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Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Devil’s Heart
ISBN 9781419993046
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Devil’s Heart Copyright © 2015 Laura Glenn
Edited by Susan Edwards
Cover design by Allyse Leodra
Electronic book publication March 2015
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