The Magic of Highland Dragons (14 page)

“Let me kiss ye Faith”, he said in a husky whisper. “Just one kiss.”

Faith thought for a moment, as much as she could think with her heart throbbing and her mind enveloped in a sudden lust-filled haze that was all at once completely unfamiliar and completely disorientating. She wanted badly to kiss him, but then he would think he had won. She couldn’t let him think he had won. She searched for a compromise, a trade that would put her on more equal footing, one that might just allow her to keep her dignity.

“Will you teach me to ride a horse, if I give you your kiss?”

“I will teach ye to ride, and I will give ye the best mare in the stables for yer own. All that and more for just a single kiss.” His hand came up to trace the line of her jaw, his thumb followed the outline of her bottom lip, as all the while he watched her with dark eyes, waiting, leaning closer, needing.

“Just one kiss then, do you promise?” She turned in his arms to face him, finding it hard to breath.

He would do just about anything in this moment for just one kiss. “Aye, I promise, though it will likely as no’ kill me to end it there.” His own voice was growing harsh and sounding breathless.

“All right. You can have your kiss, Laird.” Faith smiled, drunk on music and dancing and the night, enjoying herself and the power she had, at least for the moment, in bartering a kiss to Bren when she knew he wanted so much more. Damn it all, she was beginning to suspect she wanted exactly the same things he did. Her body grew heavier, warmer, her heart would not stop racing, and she began to tremble in anticipation.

She turned her face up to his, watching him. His thumb traced the delicate line of her jaw once more. Aye, she was a rare beauty, and for this moment, all his. He thrust his fingers gently through her silken hair, holding her captive as he lowered his mouth to hers. She had willingly ceded one kiss, and though he knew it wouldn’t be enough, knew that it would more than likely leave him aching even more than he already was, he fully intended to savor every moment of it. He had meant to begin with a light touch of the lips, then gradually work his way up to the deep and passionate kiss he had craved from the first moment he saw her. A kiss that would burn and tempt and consume, and leave her wanting so much more, just as his body wanted so much more. He had promised it would be just one kiss, but he hadn’t said anything about how long that one kiss would last. He had all evening free, after all.

All of his previous intentions, good or otherwise, left him though, the moment his lips touched hers.

It was like fire, lightening in his veins, stealing his breath, stopping his heart. She made a small sound, a whimper or a sigh, and pressed closer to him. He took her mouth hard, in a wild, hot kiss that was more than just a little out of control. With every thrust of his tongue, his hands tangling in her hair, he walked her backwards a little, until he had her back pressed up against the thick trunk of a tree. He kept her there, pinned, crushing her mouth to his. He leaned his body into hers, helpless to stop himself, shifting until his cock was pushing against the top of her thighs.
Oh God, right there
. It felt impossibly good, incredibly right. He moved against her, just a little, and chills of pleasure ran down his spine, centering where their bodies met. His heart pounded in his chest, his breath came short and fast. All this and just one kiss. One kiss, he had promised just one kiss, some part of his mind remembered. He had to stop, or break his vow. How had he lost control so quickly? He never lost control with a woman. He could always stop, always walk away if he needed to. But right now his body wasn’t listening. He wanted to keep kissing her forever, he wanted to be inside her, he wanted, no needed, to have all of her. But he couldn’t, not tonight. His word… her trust… his mind-numbing need.

With every ounce of his strength, he broke the kiss and pushed himself roughly away from her with a groaning sob, stumbling a few steps back. He could see her face in the dim moonlight. Her eyes were wide with a mix of fear and wonder, her mouth red and swollen from his brutal assault. Her hand went to her face and her trembling fingers touched her lips. He drew in a shaky breath, he would take her… he would take her if she didn’t run…

“Go. Now. Run away from me!”

She hesitated. Did she not know what he was capable of? “Go! Before I have ye flat on yer back beneath me, because right now I want ye more than my next breath!”

She lifted her skirts and ran then, looking back only once, her hair flying out behind her, the moonlight picking out shining highlights of gold. Bren leaned against the tree and sank slowly down to the ground, trying to still his body, calm his heart. After a while, unable to bear the terrible ache anymore, he took himself in his own fist to find some small measure of relief. Though it took no more than a few strokes of his hand to find release, it did nothing to sate the lust still running like a wild river of fire in his veins.

Later, he would wonder why it hadn’t even crossed his mind to seek out another willing woman, with so many, after all, running through the woods all around him. But it hadn’t. He knew with a cold, hard certainty that only one woman would ever be what he needed. Only one could ease the agony of his hunger, and slake his need. He didn’t know what it was between them, but his body craved hers with a fierceness that he could not have imagined was possible, before. As if he was starving for her.

Faith ran back to the keep, and straight up the tower stairs to her shared chamber. No one else was there, of course. They were all still out at the celebration, or in the woods with lovers, perhaps, and that was just as well. She needed a moment to herself, to come to terms with what had just happened. Because she was pretty damned sure she would have let Bren break his vow, and not uttered a word of protest against him. She was also pretty damned sure she would have let him take her innocence, just like that. And up against a tree. Not that she had been keeping her virginity for any special reason; she just hadn’t had a steady boyfriend before, or any relationship that had gotten quite that far. She had never even met a guy she was particularly physically attracted to.

What frightened her now was the power Bren seemed to have over her body, and her resolve. Did he really have such absolute control over her will, so much that she had almost given herself to him without a second thought? That wasn’t normal, was it? She really had no basis for comparison, but she suspected there was something unusual about Bren, and about the two of them together. There was undeniable chemistry between them, but where would that leave her, if she gave in and he eventually lost interest? He was obviously just too much for her to handle. Too much passion, too much intensity, too much raw sexuality. Too much man. As much as she was inexorably drawn to him, she didn’t want to lose herself in what felt very much like a growing obsession. She didn’t have obsessions with men! Not her, not ever. And she didn’t want to end up head-over-heels over someone who had no real feelings for her, other than lust, of course, even if it was a mind-blowing amount of lust. She knew that she could very easily get in too deep, and that Bren Mac Coinnach could seriously break her heart, if she let him.

***

The very next morning, Bren found her in the kitchens yet again. He frowned irritably at her. “I told ye I dinna want ye working in here anymore.”

“Well, I wanted something to do.” There, she had managed to bravely look him in the eye, even after what had happened the night before. He didn’t seem at all bothered by it, as if he very nearly took advantage of virginal women every night of the week. No big deal.

He met her eyes and she knew at once that she was wrong; he was thinking about last night even now. She felt as if she were falling, spinning, so much so that she had to look away.

“There are other things ye can do, besides work in the kitchen”, he said more evenly. “But right now I’ve come to give ye yer riding lesson, as promised. I’ve made my men wait and condemned Drust to hearing disputes in the hall all morning, but that is a worthy price for a kiss, is it no’?”

The way his broad mouth curled up at the corners with that devilish look made her want to beg him for yet another kiss. But she knew now where that would lead, and how quickly. Her knees went a little weak. “Oh. Right now?”

“Aye, are ye ready?”

Was he up to something? She eyed him suspiciously, and he sighed as he turned toward the door and said something under his breath that she didn’t hear.

“Come on then, lass. We will be in the paddock, in broad daylight, with many other people around. Ye will be safe enough. For now.”
It’s later I’m not so certain about…

Faith walked out from behind the table, looking back at the other women working in the kitchen that morning. They all wore identical foolish grins, as if witnessing some tenderly romantic scene between two lovers. For goodness sakes, did they act like this every time the laird took an interest in a woman? Because she had already heard from more than one source about the castle that he was a man of prodigious sexual appetite, well known for it, in fact, and she could easily believe every word of the rumors. They must, therefore, stand about grinning like idiots most of the time.

She followed him out to the stables, nearly running to keep up with his much longer stride. He already had the same bay mare that she had ridden to the hunt brought out and tacked for her. She smiled and went to greet the horse, whom she had learned from the groom was called Rose. He lifted her easily into the saddle, and led the horse into an empty paddock. After just a little instruction, he had her walk the mare around the fence, then trot, and before long she had mastered the canter as well.

He smiled at her as she came to a halt at the gate. “Ye are a natural, lass. Are ye sure ye’ve not ridden before?”

“Quite sure. I think I would remember”, she said pertly. “But it’s certainly not as hard as I thought it would be.”

“No, ye only have to feel the horse beneath ye, and it will listen to what ye tell it with yer body. A good horse will come to anticipate its master’s every command.” He grabbed the halter, leading the horse back to the stables. “This mare will be yers, until ye feel ready for a faster mount.”

Until
… Faith choked back a small sound of disbelief that threatened to escape her lips. The way he said that, it was as if she would be here for a long time. Would she live and die here, then? Would she ever be going home? With every day that passed, it seemed less likely that she would. And… less likely that she wanted to. Bren’s next comment drew her abruptly back to the present, and she nearly fell off the little mare.

“Perhaps one day ye will have a stallion to ride. A lass such as ye needs a beast between her thighs as will give her the ride of her life and yet make her want more again.” He was looking at her with the very devil sparkling in his liquid brown eyes, and the corner of his mouth turned up wickedly.

She threw him an admonishing look. “I will keep the mare, thank you. I doubt such a hot-blooded stallion is worth the trouble he will cause.”

Bren threw back his head and laughed. But true to his word, he returned her to the keep. “Stay out of the kitchens lass, and away from the laundry and god help me if I find ye scrubbing anything I’ll take a switch to yer behind.”

“Then I’ll take a strap to yours!” she fired back without thinking.

She saw his eyes grow dark, and another wicked smile touch his lips. “Anytime ye like lass, anytime.”

Chapter 8
҈

Bren glanced out the window of the study and saw the messenger riding through the gates, one of the guards escorting him towards the keep. “Aw damn.”

Colm looked up from the ledger he was studying, raising a questioning eyebrow at the sudden curse.

“Messenger”, Bren told him in terse explanation. “I hate messengers. They never bring good news. I dinna think I’ve
ever
had a messenger bring me good news.”

“Canna be that bad”, Colm mumbled absently, returning his attention to scrutinizing the rows of numbers on a page of the thick book.

“Canna be that good, either.”

A few minutes later the knock at the door came, and Bren opened it to let in a lad of not more than seventeen, along with a guard, and his brother Eian, who always had to be in on everything.

Bren crossed his arms over his chest irritably. “Well?”

The boy looked rather panicked by the sight of him, which only irritated Bren further. For God’s sake, he wasn’t that frightening. Most of it was purely reputation and tall tales. He had never actually killed ten men with one blow, or set the woods ablaze with a sweep of his hand. Though that he could actually do, if he was ever so inclined, which he wasn’t.

“The… the Laird MacDonald of Sleat is passing through Mac Coinnach lands with twenty of his men and begs yer hospitality this night, my laird.” The boy backed up several steps immediately after he finished speaking.

Bren sighed. Bloody hell. Company? Tonight? “When will he arrive?”

“Within the hour, my laird.”

“Tell him he and his men are welcome at Creagmor; we will be awaiting their arrival.” He waved a hand, resigning himself to providing hospitality to the MacDonalds, though he was in no mood. “Ye are dismissed”, he told the boy, who was hovering nervously in the doorway.