“My son, Manus, has some innovative ideas you might be interested in.”
Keefe had been in too many business meetings not to recognize a sales pitch when he heard one.
Marcus nodded at his eldest son and Manus took up where his father left off. “Like Dad, here, I know we don’t acquire enough small, producing mines. Not nearly as many as we’d like. But we also don’t invest resources in mentoring start-up miners. I believe there’s a way we can…”
Meadow was pretty sure where her brother was leading this discussion. It was a sound idea. But her three-year old niece was clamoring for her attention, again. “Yes, Mara,” she whispered in consternation when the tiny, fair-haired girl tried to hoist herself onto her lap. Meadow hadn’t been home since Christmas and her nieces and nephews were overexcited to see her.
“Aunt Med,” Mara repeated with rising urgency. Meadow bent over to pick her up, but not fast enough for the girl, because she started slapping Meadow’s shoulder, even though she’d been expressly told that Meadow had a sore chest and wasn’t to be mauled.
One of Mara’s slaps went wide and came down on Meadow’s fresh Mating bite. Meadow yelped in pain and, instinctively, dropped her head over Mara’s and growled. She fastening her teeth on the back of the child’s neck and held her, just held her, not pinching and not pressing. She held her just hard enough that the child could feel the edge of her teeth touching her skin. It was enough and Mara froze, understanding instinctively that she was being punished for her thoughtlessness. She was released just as quickly. Mara was contrite and sat up on her knees on Meadow’s lap. Meadow ran her scent glands over Mara’s to reaffirm the bonds between them. Then Meadow held her niece and focused her full attention on what Mara had been bursting to tell her about the penowberries she’d helped Grandma pick yesterday.
Keefe watched his new Mate with pride and approval. Meadow would make a fine mother. She would discipline their cubs appropriately, swiftly but fairly, then let the matter drop without resentment.
“Will you want children right away? Or will you wait?” Marcus Quinlan’s voice broke into Keefe’s thoughts. Keefe smelled the challenge behind Marcus’ question and knew there was nothing casual about it.
Keefe offered Meadow a slow smile. “We will wait,” he said firmly. “Meadow must finish her schooling first.”
“Hmmph,” Marcus snorted. “You say that like you two haven’t even discussed it.”
“We haven’t,” Keefe admitted and lifted a dark eyebrow in his new father-in-law’s direction.
“We came to visit you and Momma first, Daddy,” Meadow picked up, shooting her father a discerning look. “Before we took the time to plan our lives out in minute detail.” She slid her fingers onto Keefe’s knee. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “We’re Alpha. We often act before we’re consciously aware it’s the right thing to do.”
Her father’s mouth thinned and she could see the challenge rising in his eyes as he glared at her. But it was quickly replaced by love and a wry shake of his head. “True,” Marcus Quinlan admitted. “Well, I suppose you won’t be working for me this summer. And I suppose you’ll be Meadow Rand now,” he sighed.
“Quinlan-Rand, actually,” Keefe said, and grinned at Meadow as she brushed a speck of dried mud off his cheek. He’d cleaned up as best he could but still felt bits of the stuff all over. “That we have discussed. She was adamant.”
“And you agreed?” Marcus asked in disbelief.
“Yes. I know better than to argue with a woman like her over a point of pride. Besides, the Quinlan name carries a lot of weight in our industry. As does Rand. My Mate now carries both and I’ll reap the benefits of that.”
Marcus chuckled with grudging approval, then suggested his son, Manus, take Keefe outside and tell him more about his theories on acquisition.
Chapter Seven
“Well the last two days weren’t as awkward as I thought they’d be.” Meadow Quinlan-Rand unlocked her dormitory door, waved on a light switch and led her new Mate inside. Keefe set her bag down and shut the door behind them.
“It’s neater than Killian’s anyway,” Keefe offered dryly, looking around. “Although with what this place charges in tuition, you think they’d give you more than an oversized closet with a bed and a desk.”
They’d just had coffee with Killian. The three of them together was still uncomfortable but it would get better. Killian was going to finish out his third year of Second-Schooling with Meadow then he was going to take the summer off. He’d declined his summer co-op job at Rand Mining Concilium and was going to travel for two months. After that, he’d decide what he wanted to do with his life although judging from the enthusiasm in his son’s voice when he talked about it, Keefe was pretty sure it would involve sculpture.
Meadow opened the window to let in the night air. “I suppose you’re flying back home tonight,” she said wistfully, not liking the plaintiveness in her voice but unable to hide her disappointment. She and Keefe had been Mated less than forty-eight hours. They’d spend the next six weeks apart.
“Actually, no,” Keefe said. His voice was deep and sensual and he reached behind him and locked the door, pulled off his shoes then slid his hand beneath Meadow’s short skirt and stroked her ass. “The sky flyer’s standing down for the night and I’m staying here. With you.” He grinned when Meadow threw her arms around his neck. Then he winced. “Hey, take it easy,” Keefe laughed. “We’re both still pretty banged up.” He rolled his left shoulder gingerly then hugged his wife’s body to his.
“Hmm,” Meadow purred and nuzzled the base of Keefe’s throat, nudging his shirt-collar aside with the tip of her nose. “Maybe we shouldn’t make love then. I don’t want to risk your—” Meadow didn’t get a chance to take her tease any further because Keefe’s mouth was on hers. His tongue moved over her lower lip then pressed inside…hungry, deliberate. Meadow caught the scent of Keefe’s rising hunger answering hers and she swept her tongue over his before drawing him deeper.
Keefe growled sensuously. He pulled back for a second and grinned down at her. “My Mate is impatient.” But the hard cock nudging Meadow’s belly told her that she wasn’t the only one, that and the palpable restraint in his hands when he lifted them to her face. Slanting his mouth over hers, Keefe claimed Meadow’s mouth like he claimed every other part of her—with a confidence and desire that made Meadow groan.
He tasted her deeply, his tongue sliding over hers, caressing and loving, then withholding just enough to make her dig her claws into his shoulders and drive her tongue into his mouth. Keefe sighed, a deep, satisfied sound, and Meadow knew he cherished this claiming as much as she did. She knew he liked the fact that she had the strength to come at him as hard as he came at her, that she wanted him just like he wanted her.
In seconds, Keefe had stripped off Meadow’s cotton sweater and her short, flouncy skirt and pushed her back onto her single bed. The perfection of her soft, pale breasts swaying gently with the movement of her body was only emphasized by the square of gauze taped to the upper left side of her chest. It was a smaller bandage now, like his, and one she likely could dispense with the day after tomorrow. He pulled the tape back gingerly and lifted the bandage, his dark eyes calming with a reverence that stilled Meadow’s breath as he looked at the mark of his claiming. She was bruised with spreading clouds of green-black, violet and cobalt from her collar bone to the tip of her breast. The four puncture wounds were puffy but not as puffy as the harsh lines drawn between them where his upper and lower incisors had ground into her without breaking her skin.
Meadow looked up at him with such love, such joy that Keefe knew she bore the mark of his claiming as proudly as he bore hers. His touch delicate, Keefe caressed Meadow’s bruised skin and kissed it reverently.
Propped up on her elbows, Meadow dropped her head back and sighed. Who knew touching a bruise could be erotic? But it seemed Keefe could turn the simplest of caresses into a sensual delight. She sigh
ed again when he knelt between her legs and ran his hands over her waist as his mouth moved on her, his touch more breath than substance. Her sigh turned into a gasp when he smoothed his lips over her nipple then nudged the bottom of her breast with his nose and feathered kisses over her ribs. Keefe’s long, rough fingers slipped around the bands of her thong and pulled.
Lifting her ass obligingly, Meadow grinned ferally as she felt the warm satin slide down her body, followed by Keefe’s mouth. His lips traced the curve of her hip, his tongue moistened the long line of her thigh. With stinging nips of his teeth on her knee, he slid her panties off one foot, leaving them to dangle from her high heeled, strappy sandal then straightened.
“Lie back, Meadow,” Keefe said quietly. He pulled her pillow out from beneath the light coverlet, fluffed it obligingly then set it against the headboard. “Make sure you’re comfortable. You’re going to be on your back for a while,” he added with a wicked gleam in his dark, shining eyes. His grin widened when his young bride chuckled and did as he asked. Keefe ran his hand over the bulge in his slacks as he watched Meadow stretch out, displaying herself provocatively for him. Then he ran his fingers through the summer brightness of Meadow’s hair, combing through strands that were gold, red and bronze. He picked up a thick tendril and ran the ends across her nipple.
Meadow sighed, looking down at the erotic sight as Keefe teased her breast until it tingled with pleasure before turning his attention to the other. Her back arched lightly as her body sought a deeper stimulation but Keefe held it back from her until the cool caress of her hair was torture. Trembling, she licked her lips in anticipation when Keefe smoothed her hair back, laid it on the pillow, then lowered his mouth to her breast. She groaned softly when the warmth of Keefe’s mouth soothed her breasts, misting her with his breath then swirling the point of his tongue around her nipple. Not touching it yet, he painted her, then stabbed at the peak sensuously, until Meadow’s groan turned into a warning growl and she thread her fingers into his short, dark brown hair, pulling him to her.
But Meadow’s strength was no match for Keefe’s and he shook himself free, laughing. “Patience, beloved,” he chastised her and ran his rough palms over her waist, her hips and her thighs. “Although we have a lifetime of loving ahead of us, we’ve only got tonight before we’ll be separated for six weeks. I’ve got no intention of fucking you quickly then snoring the rest of the night away. I’m going to make love to you for hours,” Keefe kissed her navel, the inside of her elbow, “and hours.” He kissed her brow, rubbed his scent glands against hers then leaned back and looked down at her, just looked. His head tipped a little to one side. A very male, very self-satisfied smile shaped his full mouth as he knelt between Meadow’s knees. Keefe was still fully dressed in a spring weight, linen-and-wool blend suit and a tailored soft-as-silk cotton shirt. He was the only man she’d ever met who could wear elegantly constructed, custom clothing with the same ease as jeans.
But right now, having Keefe fully clothed while she was naked was making Meadow crazy.
“Take off your clothes, lover,” she purred, then reached between her knees and flicked open the top button in Keefe’s shirt. “Your Mate wants to feel your body next to hers.”
Keefe chuckled lazily and pushed her hand away firmly but gently. “Soon enough, Meadow. I’m your Alpha, remember? It pleases me to have you naked…naked and spread for me.” He put his hands on her knees and pushed, easing them fully open. His lips pulled back from his teeth and his cock, trapped inside his pants, jumped visibly.
It took a moment for Meadow to find her voice. “And I am your Mate, Alpha. I demand the same pleasures as you.”
“Hmm,” Keefe ran his fingernails up the inside of Meadow’s thighs then caressed the hollows immediately below her pussy. He trailed his hands back down her legs. “And you’ll have them. If you ever learn to be patient. Or do you want me to drive you to your knees, woman?” He raised Meadow’s leg into the air, opened his mouth wide and bit down on her calf, hard enough to leave white impressions where his teeth sank in then laid it back down. “Use my strength against you and hold your neck in my jaws. Bend you to my will and force you to lift your ass in the air for me? Offer it up to me like I own it? Like I own you?” Keefe leaned forward, inhaling deep. The heat rising off Meadow’s pussy caught him full in the face. He inhaled again and smiled, baring his teeth. “Make you scream and beg when I stick my cock into your cunt? Drive into you so hard you think your neck’s going to snap in my jaws? Hmm? Is that what you want, Meadow? My love? My Mate?”
“Yeah,” she blurted out excitedly then blushed. They both laughed quietly.
“Out of consideration for the other students—the ones with rooms on either side of this one,” Keefe whispered firmly, “and the one below who probably don’t want to be kept up all night by our howling, we’ll save that for your summer vacation. If you meet one condition.”
Meadow’s brow came up and she looked at Keefe imperiously. “And that is?”
Still smiling, Keefe ran his big hand over Meadow’s belly with a gentleness at odds with the harsh scars that marred his skin. He combed the tips of his fingers through the silky curls on her mound. “The marks on your final exams must be spectacular. Not good. Not even great. Spectacular, Meadow Quinlan-Rand. Do I make myself understood?”
Her brow furrowed even more and Keefe explained. “You’re Mated to the head of a multinational mining conglomerate. Which means, if you choose, you could do nothing for the rest of your life but push out pups and shop for shoes. I Mated with you, Meadow, because of who you are. Part of that is a very intelligent woman with a hell of a head on her shoulders for business. You may be Mated to me but you’re also going to work with me. And work for our Pack. I chose a phenomenal woman, Meadow. Not just another Alpha. You will not disappoint me or yourself by being anything less.”
Her brow came down but only a little. “You know you’re awfully sexy when you get all Alpha,” Meadow growled then nodded. “Fair enough, Keefe. But I want more.”
“More than just great, nasty, dirty, mind-blowing sex?” Keefe asked incredulously. He kissed the soft skin between Meadow’s breasts then straightened and looked down at her haughtily, except the grin sitting just inside the corner of his full mouth ruined the effect.
“Hmm, yes,” Meadow murmured seductively and traced the jut of his hard cock with the tip of her fingernail, glancing it across the straining fabric. “You’re incapable of giving me anything but great sex, Keefe. So that’s no bet.” He inhaled sharply and rolled his head back as her finger continued to tease him. “How about I get spectacular marks and we spend one half of my next spring break with my family at their compound on the Southern Islands? You play a little beach volleyball with the rest of the boys and I lie back in the shade shamelessly ogling your naked body—all sweaty and golden and hot in the sun.” Meadow gave the pronounced head of Keefe’s cock a gentle tweak then lay back and ran her palm over her belly. She combed her pubic hair and teased it into tight curls around her finger with his eyes glued to her. “With our first cub not even a bump in this soft, lickable stomach of mine. Hmm?” She pouted deliberately. “Just half the week, lover. The other half we’ll spend alone, fucking ourselves silly.”
“You keep this up, woman,” Keefe growled and leaned over her, stopping when the hard tips of her breasts nuzzled the hair on his chest. “And you’ll spend the rest of your life pregnant.” He kissed her, hard and possessive, his tongue driving deep and demanding the same from her. He growled again when Meadow snaked her tongue over his then buried it so deep in his mouth that Keefe groaned with the pleasure and possession of it.
Despite his need, he held his weight back from his Mate and didn’t let himself crush her fresh Mating mark. When he finally broke the kiss, both he and Meadow were panting. “Deal,” Keefe pronounced solemnly. “Phenomenal marks for great sex and a half-week with your family.” He grinned and leaned back on his heels. “I always was a sucker for a woman weari
ng hot shoes and tiny panties,” Keefe plucked Meadow’s thong, still dangling from her four-inch heel, off her foot, held it up for her to see then tossed it aside. “And speaking of sucking…” Without preamble, he fit his hand around Meadow’s uninjured breast, plumped it and lifted her nipple to his mouth.
Meadow’s back arched and she cried out softly. Keefe’s loving was so intense. His lips moved over her hotly, pulling tight with the suction of his mouth. His tongue swirled over her as the pressure drew her in deep, sucking and laving, and Meadow ran her hands over his head, shoulders and back, squeezing then driving her nails into him through his clothing. Her knees came up, cradling his body, but he pushed them back and lifted his mouth from her.
“Spread, Meadow,” Keefe growled fiercely. His voice was so deep and commanding Meadow felt it more than heard it. “I want your legs spread. Don’t defy me, woman, or I’ll tease you for hours and not let you come.”
Meadow’s breath caught and she stared up at Keefe, at the determination in his black, narrowing eyes and the flexing of his jaw. She nodded jerkily. “Yes, beloved,” she breathed and lay back, opening her legs fully, offering herself for his pleasure, Meadow understood that, if she could just make herself be patient, for a while at least, Keefe would offer himself up for her pleasure after. When he gripped her breast again and flicked his tongue against her nipple, Meadow felt that about six or seven hours from now would be plenty soon enough.
Her Mate spent a long, long time pleasuring himself at her breasts. His caresses were gentler at her bruised nipple but no less intense, no less loving and when he finally lifted his mouth from her breasts and leaned his chin on her abdomen and looked up at them smugly, they were swollen. Her nipples were a dark burgundy, hard and distended, spit wet and shining.
“Now that’s a great set of boobs,” Keefe pronounced happily, kissed her belly then slid his tongue into her navel. He loved the taste of her, the softness of her skin, and he turned his head, smoothing his cheeks over her. His fingers wrapped around her taut waist. He licked at her playfully, lapped up her scent, then sucked her navel into his mouth. Pulling then releasing the pressure of his mouth, he sank his tongue deep like he was fucking her belly, making Meadow squirm and drive her nails into his scalp, telling him without words how much she loved the feel of his mouth on her body.
Seduced by Silver Page 8
