Taken by surprise, Raelynd instinctively clutched Crevan’s shoulders as he carried her to the soft grass where he had placed his plaid. His strength belied the fact that while she was not large, she was tall and far from being considered lightweight. And yet he moved as though she were weightless. In a handful of steps, they were by the fire and she felt her slippered feet once again touch ground. Apprehensive he might change his mind and try to send her away again, Raelynd threw her arms around him and kissed him with renewed eagerness, relieved when he returned the embrace.
Crevan had no intention of sending Raelynd away. Short of her ordering him to stop he doubted he could end what he had started. He was clinging to the fleeting remnants of his self-control just enough to keep things slow lest he frighten her away. Burying his head once again in her nape, he reassured himself that Raelynd really was in his arms, wanting him, desiring him just as much as he did her.
Returning to her lips, he kissed her, lingering, savoring every moment as he began to untie the laces of her bliaut. Once loose, he drugged her with a mind-numbing kiss and then quickly pulled the heavy gown over her head. Then, not daring to raise his mouth from hers for fear that he might somehow lose her, he pushed the chemise off her shoulders and finished undressing her. Naked in his arms, she was perfection and Crevan knew he would never again see another to compare. Gently, he picked her up again and settled her on his soft, worn plaid. A moment later, he reclaimed her mouth as he lowered himself along the length of her.
Raelynd moaned with partial comprehension of her undressed state. Crevan was kissing her with an intimate aggression that seared her senses, making her think only of what her body was telling her and that it wanted more, not less. Whenever he started to stop and pull away, her fingers clenched around his shoulders and kept him from leaving.
Wanting to touch and caress him, Raelynd reached and tried to pull free his leine. Need, not experience, caused her to release his buckle, freeing his belted plaid from his waist. With a groan, Crevan tore his mouth free from hers and sat up, causing the cool night air to tease her overheated skin. Quickly he stripped off his leine and carelessly tossed it aside. For an instant, he stood naked in the moonlight and black hair formed a triangle on his chest, accentuating the muscled breadth of his torso. Her eyes scanned downward to rest on his lean hips, long powerful legs, and what was between them. Raelynd’s pulse increased, running hotter and faster. She wanted him. God, she wanted him. She closed her eyes, afraid he might see her blatant lust for his body.
The feel of his weight let her know that he had rejoined her side. When his fingertips lightly stroked her cheeks, her eyes fluttered open and were captured by the intensity of his gaze. Her heart raced. Blue pools burrowed deep into her, communicating directly to her soul. I know you. I know you as no one ever has. I want you. I will have you. And offering no resistance, she pulled his mouth down to hers. His kiss held so much tenderness she thought her heart would swell in her chest and choke her.
Crevan slowly lavished kisses over every inch of her face. As he did so, his thick mat of hair rubbed against her nipples, causing her to moan with true pleasure. He had intended to be gentle and slow, knowing Raelynd was riding on a river of emotions and sensations that he had created, but her jutting breasts and narrow waist were playing havoc with his remaining self-control.
His eyes became shadowed with excitement as his mouth trailed down her throat and his hand found her breast, cupping it gently, almost reverently. Sexual tension seized his insides and he allowed his thumb to slide over the hardened nub. Slowly he made his way down to her breasts.
“You’re so beautiful . . . so incredibly beautiful,” Crevan whispered, just before he took the nipple into his mouth. The taste of it sent a shudder of excitement through him and he thought he would go out of his mind with the steadily growing craving to know every morsel of her delectable body.
At first, Raelynd thought she was in heaven as Crevan held her between his lips, flicking his tongue over her sensitive flesh, but then he began to suckle. The added stimulus was too much, and Raelynd lost restraint and began to writhe beneath him. A wanting so intense pulsed throughout her body causing her most secret place to dew. But he was not done. Turning his attention to the other breast, his tongue was velvet torture. She twisted and moaned while her hands clung to his shoulders as Crevan transported her to a realm where torture and delight were one.
He kissed the curve of her breast and she felt his hands encircle her slender form, clinching her, and then slowly slide downward. Lost in a liquid fire, Raelynd held her breath as Crevan began an intimate caress of her thighs. Remembering what he had done before, she found that it was exactly the relief she had been wishing for and arched her back in eagerness for his touch.
Up and down, closer, closer, his fingertips teased her until the blood pounded in her veins and she felt her knees tremble. Her entire body began to shake as his hands finally drifted over her mound and his fingers laced through the soft thatch of hair between her legs. They stilled and soon the pressure of his palm was not enough for her. Raelynd crushed his plaid in her grip as her hips lifted involuntarily off the ground in demand of more.
“Crevan, please,” she pleaded.
“Shhhh . . .” he whispered in her ear, but complied with her demand and touched her in that most intimate of places.
Raelynd sucked in her breath. Desire scorched through her, igniting sensations he had only just begun to introduce to her and she longed to experience them again. Slowly he parted her with one finger, then another, opening her as she rocked against his hand.
Crevan smiled, letting his finger tease the rim of her melting wet core. Her uninhibited response was more than he could have ever dreamed. He languidly explored her with a deliberate possessiveness, finding all the secret, hidden places and making them tingle with need. She was hot, wet, and more than ready. And it all belonged to him.
Her female scent filled his senses, making Crevan only desire her even more. He continued to tease, touch, and play, stroking the flames of her heat until she was writhing, crying out in demand for more. The overwhelming invitation was one he could no longer deny. With the increasing urgency of her body’s unconscious demands, he was at last close to the prospect of his own satisfaction.
Settling himself between her legs, he continued his attentions until she cried out in a desperate plea, “Please . . . please, Crevan.”
Crevan grinned and began to move his hips, allowing his arousal to rub against her. Cupping her breast with his hand, he kissed her deeply. “There is nothing to be afraid of,” he whispered in her ear. “Trust me, love. Never doubt me again.”
Raelynd was drowning in a world of sensations, her mouth, her breasts, everything was competing with her lower body, and they were losing. She heard him talking, making promises, but all she could say was please. She was on the brink of something and Crevan was the only one who could give it to her. Without it, she was sure she would perish.
She felt his hand on her thighs, urging them to part as he slowly lifted her hips and began to penetrate. Then he stopped. “Raelynd . . . open your eyes.”
The tip of his manhood was just touching her sex and yet he refused to continue. “Raelynd . . . look at me.”
The request finally penetrated her passion-filled senses and she did as requested. At the same time, instinct took over and she twisted, forcing Crevan to drive forward and slide into her in one swift thrust. Sharp pain enveloped her. Raelynd closed her eyes and she cried out in astonishment, despite being foretold years earlier by her chambermaid of what to expect. But what her maid had failed to account for was Crevan’s size. He was big. Very big. He was opening her, stretching her, making a place for himself in the very heart of her.
Crevan gathered every scrap of his remaining self-control and paused, allowing her to adjust before going any further. The pain, so evident on her face when he entered her, soon disappeared and Crevan could refrain no longer.
Maki
ng love to Raelynd was like entering the gates of heaven. She was so warm and soft, the throbbing in his loins was near unbearable. He could not stop himself and tried to slow his pace, but with each thrust she greeted him more eagerly.
“Put your legs around me.” Crevan groaned the barely audible instruction. His face fell against her neck. When he felt her legs gather to obey him, he began to move, with each thrust growing in need and force.
Crevan rose to see her face. He was close, but Raelynd was even closer. Her eyes were wide open, iridescent-gold-ringed peridots brimming with love. Then with a loud cry, she began to shake with pleasure as it engulfed her body. With each shudder, her velvety tightness gripped him. Exquisite, intense, primal pleasure—it was so much more than he had imagined.
Delirious, she lay beneath him, her body still quivering from pure sensation and yet she refused to let him go. He could not recall a single time he had been with someone who held on to him the way she was and he knew why. Raelynd would never let him go.
With that knowledge, Crevan drove into her one last time, filling her completely, and in that instant his entire body suddenly became rigid. He felt himself disassembling as his passion raged beyond his control. He buried his face in the pillow of her hair to filter the savagery of his cry. Ecstasy met sensation in a way he had not thought possible.
Long minutes passed and gradually Raelynd came back to earth. Crevan had done the impossible. He had gained her trust, so completely that she let go of every bit of control and gave herself completely. She was now his. He had taken her, possessed her, claimed her, in ways she had never dreamed. She had not thought it possible to love him more, but she did.
Crevan didn’t have the strength left in him to roll away and he was unfazed by the prospect of staying right where he was forever. Raelynd was the perfect lover. She was natural, unself-conscious, and incredibly seductive. Just then, Raelynd pulled away and fear struck his heart in that half second before she moved to curl into the curve of his body. Safe in his arms, she gazed up and traced a finger along his jawline.
He gazed down and his arm stole protectively around her. Need tore through him, ripping away all of his carefully constructed defenses. Raelynd had become the fire in his blood; she was now as necessary to life as the air he breathed. Which made the agony of knowing she could never be more to him than she was at this moment all the more painful.
Crevan lightly kissed her and in that small touch Raelynd knew something was wrong. Once again, he was withdrawing from her. “Don’t,” she ordered in hushed tones against his chest. “Don’t you dare tell me to leave, that you don’t love me and that this meant nothing. You’ve never lied to me. Do not start now.”
Crevan’s arm squeezed her as his free hand raked his hair. “I won’t.”
Raelynd lifted herself onto her elbows and looked down at him. “I love you.”
Crevan tucked back the thick strands of her hair behind her ear before tenderly caressing her cheek. “And I love you. I didn’t know it was possible to love someone this much.”
Raelynd swallowed and closed her eyes. Crevan had just uttered the very words she had longed to hear and yet something was wrong. “But . . .” she added for him.
“But there are things you do not know. Things that cannot be changed by what we shared or admitted tonight.”
Then the reasons she had snuck out to see him came rushing back to the surface of her thoughts. “Craig spoke with Meriel. What he said, what he asked didn’t make sense.”
Crevan’s brow wrinkled. “Craig came to you?”
“No, he saw Meriel. He wants me to handfast with him and my sister with you.”
Crevan lay completely still with the only exception of his hand absentmindedly stroking her arm. He had not considered handfasting. It was not permanent like marriage, but Craig’s idea had merit as for at least one year both women would be protected.
“Tell me,” Raelynd pleaded.
“I promised that if ever you needed to know I would no longer keep the truth to myself. Everything you suspected was correct. There was another reason behind your father sending you away and it was tied to why your departure had to be under the umbrella of impending marriage and not visiting neighbors.”
Feeling the need to hear this without distraction, Raelynd sat up. The breeze was light but without Crevan’s warmth, it chilled her skin and she reached for her chemise and quickly pulled the item over her head.
Crevan knew why she was taking such action but the thin material did very little to hide her form as the firelight lit her up from behind.
“What was the reason?” she asked.
Startled, Crevan realized it was the third time she had asked the question. He grabbed his leine and yanked the shirt on, needing any type of barrier to prevent him from ignoring her request and taking her again. “Your cousin Cyric.”
“Cyric?” Raelynd echoed, clearly unable to place the name.
“Your uncle’s only son, who until nearly a month ago lived in the Lowlands. He is now with your father, who is discerning whether or not he is a fit leader for the Schellden clan and a potential husband for either you or Meriel.”
Raelynd’s jaw dropped. She shook her head with increasing vehemence. “No,” she murmured. “My father would never do that. He would never make us marry. . . .”
“He might not, but the king would and there is not many a man who would defy King Robert, especially as your father happens to agree with him.”
“But . . . but . . . you . . . I want you . . .”
“Craig is right. The solution is for you and he to handfast and I with Meriel.”
Raelynd lifted her hand to stop Crevan from continuing. “Why is that the solution? Why can we not continue as we are for another month until my cousin leaves? Then we can do as we please.”
“If Cyric learns you are not married, he will come demanding his rights. Especially now.”
“What do you mean? Why now? Why not before?” Raelynd demanded.
“Because your father was trying to prove him to be unfit to lead a clan the size of his. Rumors arrived this morning that the outsider who at one time was ridiculed is now being reconsidered by all those in the castle, as well as the soldiers in the field.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that if Cyric wins over the people, which it sounds like he is close to doing, he will be positioned to be the next Schellden chieftain.”
Raelynd’s shoulders sank. “And my father expects me to wed the chieftain. But why Meriel then? Why do you have to handfast with Meriel and not me?”
“If you were not available, who would Cyric choose to solidify his rights to the title?”
Raelynd’s mouth slackened. “Oh.” He would choose her sister and then she would be in jeopardy of becoming mistress of Caireoch.
“If Meriel was willing to take on your responsibilities, then handfasting with Craig would be a possi—”
Raelynd waved a hand. “It is not. She made me swear to do whatever is possible to keep her from such a fate.” Silence filled the small area as Crevan gave her the time to digest what she had learned. “I understand that if Craig and I handfast, he would be positioned to be laird. I would retain my position as Lady of Caireoch and Meriel would be protected, but what about you? You gain nothing from this plan. Why would you agree to something you do not want?”
Crevan leaned forward and held her chin gently in his hand so that she could not look away. “For you. To ensure your happiness or the closest thing to it. You are destined to be Lady of Caireoch and my brother desires the title of laird. I will not take that dream away from him nor deprive you of what you do so well. Could you be happy if your sister is miserable? Could I if Craig was?”
Raelynd began to breathe heavily as full comprehension of her potential future became clear. Then fear took over. “Is it for certain then? Do we have no choice? Is Cyric truly a threat as was told to you?”
“I do not know,” Crevan replied, pul
ling her into his arms, regretting that they were in such an unwinnable situation. “But I will find out.”
Raelynd held on to him. “Maybe you heard wrong. Maybe Father found my cousin incapable of leading anyone and forced him to return to his home.”
Crevan held her and said nothing. For even if Cyric did leave, he knew he could not seize the title his brother had craved for so many years.
Chapter 18
Crevan watched as Craig urged his horse ahead, quickening their already fast pace. The sky had turned cloudy once more and the way was poorly lit, forcing their already tired mounts to work even harder. Soon they would have to stop for the night.
After Raelynd and Crevan had left the loch to tell Meriel about Cyric, the three of them found Craig to discuss the situation. Coming to no other solutions, both men left just before dawn for Schellden lands to determine if the rumors about Cyric were true. Raelynd and Meriel had never met their cousin and the few stories they had heard were not flattering. Regardless, both women were vehemently against the idea of being coerced into a lifetime commitment with someone they did not know, let alone love.
That left the options of marriage or handfasting.
Crevan knew that if Craig agreed to handfast with either of the Schellden twins, Rae would put his brother in the role of becoming the next Schellden laird. So did Craig. And while he loathed the idea, he absolutely refused to force Crevan, quiet and reserved, who refrained from speaking unless necessary, into such a role. He also could not leave Meriel vulnerable to Cyric if at all possible, despite his vow against relationships that lasted any enduring amount of time. So when Raelynd again suggested her sister handfast with him, Craig rejected the possibility before Meriel could.
Meriel had her own reasons for refusing to handfast with her friend. First, her father would expect her to assume at least part of the role as Lady of the Castle and the prospect of doing even some of Raelynd’s responsibilities for a year filled Meriel with abject horror. But that paled to knowing that by being with Crevan, Raelynd would be tied to someone with whom she fought so often. The only possible, survival, arrangement for all four of them was the one Craig had proposed earlier. He would handfast with Raelynd and she would agree to do the same with Crevan.
Tempting the Highlander Page 26
