“Aye, lass. We’ll show you a lot of things when we get tae the keep.”
The keep. Now that was an antiquated phrase she didn’t think people, even in the highlands of Scotland, used anymore. She wondered just what the keep was. Was it some old, broken-down shack, a manner house on top of a hill or an ancient castle that was falling down around their ears? Whatever it was, Lara was certain that it wasn’t what sprang to mind when he first said the words. What sprang to mind was a glorious castle kept in its glory for hundreds of years. Since she knew how impossible that was, especially in Scotland after all its wars, she dismissed the idea as ridiculous.
“I could be less than a gentleman and take ye up on that offer, but tae be fair, ye won’t hae much time tae think on it.” He pointed to a place over her head. “The keep is just over the hill.” Duncan sat up behind her. Reaching down, he pulled her back against his chest. “Ye might as well take a good look now, lass. We’ll be there in less than five minutes and ye may as well get your screams out afore we arrive.”
What screams? Lara frowned as she looked up at him. “I don’t—”
Gently, he turned her head forward. In front of her, the top of the hill gave way to a vision of beauty below. A large castle loomed up out of the misty darkness, lights in nearly every window as the people inside obviously awaited the arrival of their missing men. The moon shone down onto the stone, making it gleam in the silvery light like a glowing mountain of gray-white stone. A chilled breeze ruffled Lara’s hair and she shivered. No longer sandwiched between Duncan and the animal they rode, her upper body was exposed to the weather and the moist air bit through her clothes and chilled her to the bone.
With a triumphant grin, Lara turned her gaze to the animal beneath her and gasped. “Oh, my God! It
is
a giant polar bear. What…how?” She glanced up at Duncan who stared down at her with an amused expression. He smiled, showing her gleaming-white teeth that, at least in her mind, elongated to that of a large predatory animal. At that point, Lara had had too much. “Holy smokes, Santa! I’m riding a frickin’ polar bear.” She barely felt herself pitch forward as she fell into an embarrassing faint.
Chapter Three
Duncan looked down at the girl in his arms and smiled. She was a bonny lass, indeed. She hadn’t even screamed when she got a good look at Jamie in his animal form. Duncan had even tried to make her scream when she looked at him. He had partially shifted, showing her his elongated incisors. They needed to know just how strong willed she was. There were legends about shifters taking humans as mates, but every one of them told an exhaustive tale about the human’s bravery before being confronted by their shifter mates.
He looked down, brushed a stray lock of hair from her face and stared at the long lashes making golden crescents on her cheeks. She was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined and she was strong. Even her fainting had little meaning. Humans lost consciousness when they reached a point where their brains couldn’t process the information given to them, but the weak
always
screamed. Of that, he was certain.
She’s a strong one, isn’t she, Duncan?
Aye, Jamie. That she is. She’s not one tae run away from the things that frighten her.
What do we tell the others?
Jamie continued to walk toward the keep.
We tell them the truth. We found an angel in the woods and we intend tae keep her.
Duncan wasn’t about to let anyone chase her off. She may be human, but what she said, a mere hour and a half after meeting them, was proof enough that she had the courage to face all of the clan without backing down. He had no doubt she could and would do it, just as soon as she came to grips with the fact that they were shapeshifters.
They continued slowly toward the keep, Jamie’s large feet padding over the newly fallen snow. The men at the gates gaped as they walked through. They must have made quite a sight, Jamie in his animal form with what appeared to be an injured Duncan riding on his back.
“What happened tae ye, Duncan?” His mother raced from the keep, worry in her eyes. A wounded man was the only reason any of them changed outside of the safety of the keep. No one would risk discovery otherwise.
“I’m fine, Mother.” He sat up, revealing their precious cargo and his mother gasped, her eyes wide.
“What are ye doing?” She studied the girl for a bit before she whispered. “She’s a human, Duncan. Have ye both lost your minds?” She waved her arm toward the girl. “The lass could leave here. She could tell others of Jamie now.” She crossed her arms and frowned.
“Dinnae fash yourself, Mother.” Duncan sighed as he slid from Jamie’s back and gathered the lass in his arms. “She was freezing tae death in the woods. Would ye hae had us leave her there tae die?”
His mother sighed. “Now, ye know I wouldnae.” She turned to Jamie who still had not shifted back to his human form. “Change yourself back, man, afore the lass awakens. Perhaps we can salvage the situation and make her believe she dreamed the whole thing.”
“It’s too late for that, Mother. We’ve shown her what we are. We dinnae want her tae believe it was a dream. We want her tae know what we are, tae choose tae stay here with us.”
“With who, Duncan, you or Jamie?” his mother asked, her arms still crossed.
“The both of us, if she’ll hae us.” Duncan met his mother’s gaze without flinching. He wasn’t a boy any longer. If his mother didn’t approve, it was just too damned bad. They needed mates, all of them, and if she couldn’t understand that they intended to grab onto this girl and hold on tight, she would just have to go on not understanding.
His mother raised a brow, her blue eyes gleaming. “It’s a wonder ye finally found a lass that interested ye, Duncan.” She grinned, slapped Jamie on the ass and laughed. “Change tae your human form, Jamie, before I give ye a real lashing for scaring half my life from me when ye carried Duncan through the gates.”
In a flare of blue-white energy, Jamie flashed back into his human form and grinned sheepishly at Duncan’s mother. “I’m sorry, Mam. It was Duncan’s idea after all. Besides,” he paused to wink at Duncan, “as your son says, the girl was dying in the cold. We couldnae just leave her there.”
“As ye both say.” She sighed and shook her head. “Bring her inside. She needs some hot soup and a warm bed.” Turning, she scowled at the two men. “A warm bed that doesn’t include two randy men waiting tae make her theirs.” She lifted her skirts a bit, revealing her bare feet and led them into the castle.
Duncan followed his mother up two flights of stairs and into Jamie’s room. It seemed his mother was behind his decision to keep the girl after all. The chamber was connected to his by a shared bathroom. A few girls followed them in, changed the sheets and placed a thick velvet mantle on the bed. Gently, he rested her on the bed after Moira, his mother’s dressing maid, pulled the thick mantle back.
“Now leave us,” his mother said as she pushed them both from the room. “We hae tae undress her and while ye wish tae lay claim upon her, the lass has a right tae refuse and it’s not fair tae her tae hae ye kenning
all
of her secrets this early in your relationship.”
That his mother alluded they may have a relationship in the future was a good thing. Along with being the caretaker of the castle, she was also a seer. She foretold his father’s death three hundred years ago. Any sign of their future success was a good thing. Smiling, they both left the room.
* * * *
Blessed warmth seeped into Lara’s bones. She stretched, reveling in the heavy warmth that surrounded her. On her back, she realized she was in a real bed, not on the back of a swaying animal.
Cracking her eyes open, Lara looked around the room. It was beautiful! Sky blue walls gave way to dark walnut trim. Large windows graced the walls on two sides of the room and a hand-carved bureau and armoire sat side by side on the other, a door set between them. A large dresser that matched the other two pieces of furniture sat opposite the foot of the bed with a large beveled mirror over it. Oil lamps, strategically set on furniture throughout the room, provided light through the darkness.
Lara turned her attention to the huge bed where she rested. It matched the other furniture in the room. Four high posters supported a large canopy draped in rich blue velvet. It was like something out of a fairy tale.
Like something from a children’s story where the damsel in distress wakes up in a king’s castle surrounded by luxuries she hadn’t dare dream of before. Large logs burned merrily in the deep fireplace between the windows, keeping the room warm as toast. Lara couldn’t help it. After her experience the night before, she snuggled down into the warmth of the soft mattress and closed her eyes. She was dreaming, that was it. This was her last dream before she died out in the cold, sitting on a tree stump beneath the starry night sky.
A click caught her attention and she turned toward the door. “Hello.” It was the blue-eyed stranger again. Hadn’t he said his name was Duncan? He whispered as though he wasn’t certain she was awake.
Lara turned toward him. “Hello.” She smiled and sat up, the sheet falling in a puddle around her waist. Any other time she would have snatched it up and pulled it to her bare chest, but this
was
a dream after all. What could it hurt to allow one of the two most gorgeous men she’d ever met see what he had so obviously come to see? She could tell by the expression on his too-handsome face that he wanted her. He practically devoured her with his gaze as she allowed him to look at what, at least for a little while longer, was one of her best attributes. Lara had worked long and hard to keep her breasts high and firm. She’d done push up after push up along with other numerous exercises to keep them as perky looking as they could possibly be on her almost-middle-aged frame.
She let him look as her nipples grew tight in the cooler air of the room. She looked down at herself, then back up at him. “Can I help you?”
“Ye have no idea how ye could help me.” He swallowed visibly. His Adam’s apple bounced up and down in the thick column of his neck. She watched him move across the room, like the predator she’d dreamed him to be. Every part of his body move synchronously as he moved closer and closer.
Liquid heat pooled low as she watched him move. She didn’t care if it was only a dream. She didn’t care if it made her seem like a loose woman. She wanted this man and his friend like she had never wanted any man in her life. Now, it was her turn to swallow thickly as he approached. The expression on his face left little to her imagination. He wanted her at least as badly as she wanted him.
Never in her life had Lara been so bold. Never in her life had she ever wanted a man so much and never in her life had she ever bared her body to a man she’d just met. Throwing the covers back, Lara patted the bed next to her and gave him what she hoped was a sultry look. “I don’t care if this is a dream or not. I have never wanted a man as much as I want you.” She felt her face heat. “And your friend.”
White teeth flashed in the tan of his face as he continued his slow approach. “Ye want Jamie, too?” He stopped for a minute to study her, his head tilted to the side.
Please don’t let him stop. I don’t want to lie to him, though I fear I will if it will get him moving toward the bed again.
What was it about the man and his friend that had her throwing caution to the wind, even in her dreams? She lifted her chin, deciding that she had never been a liar and she had no intention of becoming one now, even if it meant losing the opportunity to have the night of her life with one of the most handsome men she’d ever met. “I won’t lie to you.” She met his gaze squarely. “I want him just as much as I want you.”
“If ye had tae choose between us, which of us would ye choose, lass?”
Lara tilted her head to the side and bit her lip. “Is this some sort of test?” If it was, she had the feeling she was about to fail, miserably. She raised her chin again, still determined to tell the truth if it killed her and it just might. It sucked that she couldn’t get away from her penchant for telling the truth no matter what, even with a figment of her imagination. “I wish you hadn’t asked me that.” She shook her head and sighed. “You see, there’s something about me that makes me tell the truth no matter what I think you might want to hear. It doesn’t matter that this is nothing more than a dream. If I can’t hold onto my values all of the time, what’s to stop me from dropping them at the first opportunity when I’m awake?”
“Are ye saying you’d rather have Jamie than me and ye fear it will hurt my feelings?” He finally stepped up to the bed and sat next to her. Reaching out, he brushed the hair from her face.
She wanted to say he looked disappointed but felt as though that would make her conceited and goodness knew, at her age, she had little to be conceited about. “No.” She shook her head. “I’m saying that since I try to always be truthful, you can believe me when I say that I couldn’t choose between you two if I had to. Why?” All at once, she became hyper aware of her nakedness and wanted nothing more than to cover herself up, but he was sitting on the thick comforter, making it impossible for her to do so.
He just grinned at her and shook his head. “No reason.” Crossing his arms, he covered his mouth with one hand, making Lara wonder if he was laughing at her. “Are ye cold or something?” One of his perfect, dark brows arched.
“No.” She covered her breasts with her crossed arms. “I’m just feeling a bit self-conscious. After all, you’re fully dressed and I’m sitting here with my chest exposed.” Her face burned and she looked away.
Without warning, Duncan removed his shirt and threw it across the room. “Better?”
“Not really.” If anything, it made matters worse. Now, she could see the hard, defined muscles she’d only imagined before. Liquid heat pooled low, then slid sinuously from her channel to wet her inner thighs. She tried not to stare at all of that tanned skin he so casually exposed but found herself failing miserably.
“Ye want me.” He didn’t ask her. He stated a fact. He knew it as well as her that she wanted him and Jamie so bad, she was almost willing to parade naked through the halls of the castle she’d gotten a glimpse of before she fainted. He glanced toward the door, stood, then strode over to it to turn the key in the lock. When he turned to face her, his expression unreadable, he slowly stripped his jeans from his hips.