The Savage Highlander

by Heather McCollum

  “Oh,” she said, smiling. “Did it help? I might have need of a snow bath myself.”

  “Ye’ll have no need to douse your fire, Scarlet,” he said. The air between them seemed to change, the lightness of their banter growing heavier, and her heart quickened. “Let it burn between us,” he said, a beat before his lips brushed across hers, warm and full of promise.

  He held her there in the dark, his hands resting on her shoulders. They kissed, tasting, giving, and taking, and the heat built higher inside Scarlet. “Truth,” she murmured against his mouth and parted, tipping up to find his face in the shadows. “I want you, Aiden Campbell. Tonight.”

  He grasped her hips, pulling her against him, but she held a hand to his chest. “But I would not keep this secret from you,” she said, moving slightly back and forth against the hardness she felt through his kilt. She stepped back. “I’m a virgin.”

  His breathing seemed as ragged as her own, and the ache at standing away from him nearly buckled her knees. “I don’t intend to marry, so you needn’t worry that I expect that,” she said. “But I need you to know…if I give to you my maidenhood, you…might make an enemy. A powerful enemy.”

  He reached forward, his hand stroking her cheek. “Are ye promised to someone else, lass? Is that what made ye run from England? Like your sister?”

  Promised? She almost laughed a dark, wry chuckle. She’d certainly been promised to someone, though not in marriage. “I am not betrothed,” she said. “There is no suitor contracted or waiting to marry me.”

  He stared at her in the dark for long moments. “Ye don’t need to tell me tonight.” Had he picked up the pain in her voice? “But one day, Scarlet, consider telling me about your nightmares.”

  She swallowed hard, nodding as he held the side of her head gently. “But the enemy—”

  He brushed a kiss against her lips, stilling them. “I’m a Scot, a Highlander. We are born with enemies,” he said. “Another one makes no difference to me.”

  No difference to me. She wanted it to be true.

  She stepped closer, pressing herself against him. “Know this for truth, that I give myself to you,” she said. “With no reason except that I want you, Aiden.” She needed to hear the words as much as he. Her fingers curled into his shirt. “I want you,” she whispered, rising onto her toes. “Do you want me?”

  “Och,” he said, his hands cupping her face. “I want ye more than my own breath, Scarlet.”

  “Say my name again,” she whispered, kissing him.

  “Scarlet, lass,” he said, his thick brogue wrapping around her name. “I want ye, Scarlet.” He lifted under her legs, but instead of turning toward his room, he went left toward hers. He backed in through the door and set her on her small bed, going to the embers in her hearth.

  She shivered as the cool air replaced Aiden’s body heat, and she watched him tend the fire until flames danced to life. He rose, turning back to her, and she could see the evidence of his need. He helped her up from the bed.

  “You prefer a small room?”

  “I prefer a room that isn’t soaked with Grey’s passion,” he said, using her warning from his first day. She chuckled softly as he dragged her mattress from the roped bedstead to lay before the crackling flames.

  “A nest,” she said, walking before the flames. She let her robe slide from her shoulders, the fire spreading heat along her back as she stared at the glorious man before her. His gaze raked across her, and she knew that the fire must be lighting her from behind, making her form visible through the thin fabric. She watched his broad shoulders move with his inhales, and he untied his shirt at the neck. Lord, she wanted to lay her mouth along his pulse.

  Aiden raised his shirt, peeling the garment off over his head, and Scarlet’s breath caught. Golden firelight played along the outlined muscles of his chest and shoulders, his biceps full and tight with relaxed power. Everything about him was beautifully hard and strong.

  Scarlet’s insides clenched as heat poured through her, and she swallowed, raising her hands to her breasts. She lifted under them, brushing her thumbs over her taut nipples through the fabric.

  Aiden groaned, stepping forward. “Scarlet,” he said again, wetting his lip as if tasting her already.

  “I love to hear my name on your tongue,” she whispered, his accent so very different from the voice in her nightmares.

  A wicked smile curved his lips. “I have a talented tongue, Scarlet.” His words shot through her, bringing a sensitive flush across her skin.

  Her fingers picked at the knot at the top of her smock, rotating her shoulders one at a time to lower the sleeves so the garment slid down. Heavy breasts fell out, peaked and full. She held them up and reveled in his deep groan. If he didn’t touch them soon—

  Aiden took two steps forward. His mouth descended to capture hers, stealing her breath and the faintest worry of consequences from her mind. The only thought she had was need, a deep, aching need to be closer to him. Careful not to scrape his back, she wrapped her arms around him and tilted her head to deepen their kiss. Her breasts pressed against the muscles of his chest, the fine hairs on it teasing her peaks.

  With a tug against her, Scarlet heard the thud of Aiden’s kilt hitting the floor. The heavy, hot length of him pressed against her belly, and she rotated her hips, standing on tiptoe to press him against her ache. She moaned. Aiden cupped her backside, lifting to fit her against him, rocking them together as they tasted and explored each other’s kiss.

  Wild heat coursed through Scarlet. Aiden’s hand reached in front to palm her breast, squeezing her nipple gently. He released her mouth to trail kisses down her neck, and she threw back her head, panting as he encircled her peak, teasing it with his teeth. “Bloody hell, Aiden,” she rasped, raising one of her legs to wrap around his hips.

  “Ye like to climb,” he ground out against her flesh and lifted her so that she could wrap both her legs around his middle, the V of her spread wide to cradle him. Raw need swept her along as his mouth devoured her breasts with slow, deep suction. Nerves coiled tight within her, Scarlet ground against him, rubbing, Aiden helping her to increase her rhythm. The pleasure tightened until a dam of passion broke within her.

  She moaned out her pleasure. “Aiden,” she cried, feeling the ache crash over and out through her body.

  “Aye, Scarlet, feel the fire in ye.” He raised his head, slowly lowering her along his hard body until her toes touched the blanket at their feet. Her hands wrapped around him, sliding the velvet skin over the hardness of his length. “Tha thu cho teth,” he groaned, closing his eyes. Scarlet watched, reveling in the pleasure she gave him.

  She swallowed, looking down at how thick and heavy he was. What would he taste like? She’d seen a woman take a man in her mouth, and the man had nearly lost his mind with passion. “I want to make you burn with pleasure,” she said.

  “Ye are, lass,” he said, looking down.

  “Even more,” she said and wet her lips. Before she could explain, she opened her mouth and lowered onto him. He sucked in breath, his body going rigid as if he were in pain. But his groan filled the room. Gaelic words leaked from his lips as she explored, his response making the ache within her begin to build again.

  “Scarlet, ’tis too good,” he said, his voice rough, and he gently pulled her from him, capturing her face in his palms to kiss her. He looked into her eyes. “My plan was to taste ye.” He caught her up, his mouth against hers as he lowered them to the mattress before the fire.

  Heat prickled along her skin, warring with the cool air in the room. Her skin was raw with sensation as Aiden worked her smock up over her head, ridding her of it. He sat back on his heels to gaze at her, his words tumbling in his ancient language that she couldn’t understand. But there was reverence in it.

  He leaned into her, changing his words to English. “Och, Scarlet lass, I’ve never looked upon anything so beautiful before.” The emotion in his tone caught at her heart, making it speed. She w
anted to be all for him, anything he wanted.

  Lifting onto her elbows, she cupped her breasts and smiled. “And it is all for you,” she said, her knees falling slightly apart, opening to him. With another groan, he leaned forward, lowering his mouth between her legs, his hot breath adding to the heat there.

  Scarlet’s head fell back, a flood of molten sensation taking away any rational thought. There in the embrace of passion, she only sought the fire that was Aiden, her core pulsing with need as he pleasured her, making her buck and clench. “Please,” she said, her voice fierce with need. “I want you inside me.”

  He lifted his face. “Aye,” he said, rising over her. She watched him, her lips open with ragged breath. When he braced his arm beside her head, she felt him against her.

  “I’m on fire,” she whispered as he guided himself, teasing her.

  “Aye, ye are, lass,” he said, strain in his features. “Ye are sure?”

  Panting, she grabbed the sides of his head. “I’m sure that if you don’t take me now, I will hunt you down with my mattucashlass.”

  A small grin lifted his lips. “My fierce rose,” he murmured and covered her mouth with his, his fingers teasing the most sensitive spot on her until she writhed beneath him. She moaned into his mouth, kissing him with a wildness, and clung to his shoulders, her nails curling inward.

  With a sudden thrust, Aiden pushed into her aching body, sheathing himself. Scarlet gasped against his mouth, feeling the sting she knew meant that there was no going back. Tears pressed against the backs of her eyes, not for the pain, but for…the relief.

  She opened her eyes to find Aiden above her watching, not moving. He looked tortured, and she reached up to touch his cheek, smiling. He lifted a finger to capture a tear that had escaped her eye, but she caught the digit into her mouth, sucking the salt from it. “’Tis the sting of thorns that makes the rose sweeter won,” she whispered, quoting him. She reached down a hand to slide along his tight arse and pressed upward. “Make me forget it.”

  He kissed her, gently stroking her arms and breasts, tasting and tickling a path down her neck. The heat still simmered inside her where he waited, giving her body time.

  “Aye, Scarlet,” he said. His deep voice sent another thrill through her, and she moved against him, feeling a delicious heat. He kissed a line to her ear. “Another truth, lass.”

  “Yes?” She looked at him.

  “My back is fine if ye want to hold on.” He grinned. “The sting of thorns won’t slow me at all.”

  Had he noticed how careful she’d been to avoid his burns? She slid her hand around to his back, feeling the thick lines. His mouth moved over hers, and she opened fully. Could he taste himself on her tongue like she could taste a hint of herself on his? The thought made her core contract, clenching with renewed want.

  Sliding his hand down with strong fingers, Aiden reached the juncture between them, teasing her. A surge of heat flooded back down through Scarlet, and she rocked against his hand.

  “Och, lass, ’tis hard to stay still in ye.”

  “Then don’t,” she said, pressing upward.

  He looked into her eyes, breathing through slightly parted teeth. “Hold on, Scarlet.” Pulling back, he sunk back into the pool of heat they’d created between them. Sensations ignited like wildfire through Scarlet, and she clung to his upper back as he began a steady rhythm that she met, the sting lost in the movement.

  Mouth on her neck, he tasted her skin in kisses as she tangled her legs around his, finding leverage to meet his thrusts. “Yes,” she called out, opening her legs even farther, giving him total access to her core. “Oh, Aiden. Yes.”

  His fingers continued to work down between them. Powerful, deep, filling her, branding her. Surely this was what it meant to have one’s soul sucked away.

  “Aiden,” she pleaded.

  “Scarlet!” She watched his face harden as he pulled his lips back in a roar. The look so wild, raw, and honest, that her own passion broke, making her cry out as they rode the fast cadence, crashing over like a massive wave onto the shore.

  I’d cling to him forever. The thought infused her as they moved with the natural heat, slowing as wave after wave of pleasure rolled along her limbs. No wonder women risked their reputations for this. Though she doubted the ladies she knew, those bought with pretty gems and gowns, could feel the inferno that faded slowly within her, leaving behind a languid contentment.

  Aiden rolled them together onto their sides and pulled a blanket over her shoulder. Legs still intertwined, he cradled her against his chest, and she listened to the deep thud of his heart. She felt him kiss the top of her hair and tipped her face up to meet his gaze. “Can we stay here like this forever?” she whispered.

  A grin spread across his features, not just on his lips, but all the way into his eyes, golden from the reflection of the fire behind her. “Molly will call a cleric to pull your soul back out of me.”

  She laughed lightly. “I thought I was pulling the soul out of you.”

  He kissed her, his smile growing more serious. “Aye, I think ye did.”

  She held her breath, her heartbeat a gallop. Swallowing, she finally inhaled. Truth? Had she pulled out a part of his soul? She couldn’t ask it. Their relationship balanced on the passionate thread they’d just woven between them, and she wouldn’t risk the weight of that question.

  She smiled and turned over, scooting so she could curl her back into his chest. With the warmth of the fire before her and the heat of Aiden behind, his heavy arm draped over her, she’d never felt so safe before. Could she find safety in a man? The thought had been ludicrous before, a childish fantasy shattered.

  She found his hand and threaded her fingers between his. He curled them in, clasping hers back. She stared down at the hold between them, solid and golden in the glow of the fire. Truth? Did Aiden truly care for her? Was there more than just passion between them, something that involved the heart? She hadn’t the courage to ask.

  Chapter Twelve

  Aiden glanced up through a clearing in the woods at the snow that fell from the gray sky. He smiled. Some liked the spring with all the green. Others rhapsodized about the autumn leaves. But Aiden liked winter with its shrieking wind and blinding white, crisp and always looking for a good fight. Just like his father, Jack Campbell, Aiden was hot-blooded and didn’t mind the icy sting about which others complained.

  His visit with Rebecca just now had been brief, but hopefully she could help him today without giving away all their family secrets. He filled his lungs, the cold air like ale to a thirsty man, and stretched his arms out wide. Hell, he almost whistled.

  As he walked out of the woods, he spotted Kerrick staring at Izzy’s parents’ abandoned house with the sagging thatched roof. He nodded when he saw Aiden. “We should still fix the roof, make it habitable in case Izzy and Cat decide to move back in. Or it can be used for visitors to Killin or the chapel that Grey said Evelyn wants built.”

  “Agreed,” Aiden said, stretching his arms wide again and continuing down the road toward the smithy.

  Kerrick caught up. “Embracing the cold?” he asked, his one eyebrow quirked up over a frown.

  Aiden grinned. “Aye.” He certainly had embraced fire, leaving Scarlet with a kiss when he roused her to say he had to go. It would take him most of the day to accomplish his mission, and he needed it complete by the time Scarlet retired that night.

  Kerrick narrowed his eyes and quirked his lip upward. “I’ve never seen ye smile for no reason. Has someone brought ye the head of an Englishman or trussed up Finlay Menzies for ye to slice open?”

  Aiden scooped up a handful of snow to fashion a ball. Whack! He hit Kerrick in the chest. “Nay. Just enjoying the winter.”

  Kerrick looked down at the snow print on his woolen jacket. “Ye hit me.” He looked at Aiden. “With a snowball.”

  “Ye have a keen sense of observation,” Aiden said, continuing on toward the smithy. Craig, as the town blacksmith, wou
ld have a sledge Aiden could borrow for the day.

  “Keen sense of observation?” Kerrick repeated, dusting his front. He jogged to catch up. “Truly. What’s changed your usual, I’m-going-to-spit-on-ye mood?”

  Aiden glanced at Kerrick. “I won’t be at the self-defense class today. I need to get something from my cabin.”

  “I thought ye liked seeing all the lasses in their trousers,” Kerrick said.

  There was only one woman that pulled Aiden’s attention, and he’d gotten to explore all her lovely curves last night. Aiden’s hand came down on Kerrick’s shoulder. “They are all yours today. Perhaps ask Craig here to accompany ye. His blustering could liven up the instruction.”

  “The lass’s trousers will make the old man’s heart stop,” Kerrick said low as Craig came out from behind the billows.

  Aiden chuckled, making Kerrick’s brows narrow farther in suspicion. “Cat will be there to get it beating again.” Better to have the ornery blacksmith viewing Scarlet in her black wool trousers than roguish Lawrence or William.

  Craig raised a bent arm in greeting. “Cold morning.”

  “Perfect for working over hot fires,” Aiden said.

  “Aye.” Craig scratched his full beard. “What can I do for ye today? A new dagger to keep the lasses away?” He laughed and coughed into his fist.

  “Can I borrow your sledge for the day?” Aiden asked. “The one to pull behind a single horse?”

  Craig nodded. “I keep a couple of different sizes behind the smithy. Take whichever one ye need.”

  “Much appreciated,” Aiden said, also appreciating that the man didn’t ask questions about what he needed it for. He glanced at Kerrick, who still frowned. “Also, some daggers might be needed up at the castle.”

  “Daggers?” Craig snorted. “On top of the twisty skewers?”

  “Twisty what?” Aiden asked.

  Craig raised his stained hands to his thinning hair as if making a lady’s updo. “Scarlet Worthington requested hair spikes made. Long, pointy, and lethal.”

  Hair spikes? Like the one she wore? Aiden grinned. “’Tis the perfect weapon for a lass. Hidden but deadly.”