“Only when it comes to you, love.”
She took another step back, gathering her hands behind her. “I can’t. I shouldn’t. Swimming...with no clothing.”
“I suppose if you’re feeling shy, you could wear this,” he whispered, pulling the wet shift off the branch and holding it up. The setting sun shone clearly through the translucent material. “And I promise, I won’t watch you put it on.”
Wide-eyed, Fiona took in his hopeful expression and snatched unsuccessfully at the chemise. As she did, she saw his other hand, with a flourish, come away with his belt.
Tempted as she was to see if his kilt remained on his hips, she whirled and started quickly for the rock trail leading up from the pool.
“Where are you going?” he asked, grinning.
“I’ll see you up at the tower,” she called back to him.
Lifting her skirts she clambered up the rocks, pausing halfway up to glance back at Alec. He was hanging her chemise on the branch again, and his wedge-shaped back was to her. The sight of his naked body jolted her like a bolt of lightning, and Fiona gaped at his flawlessly powerful physique, at the muscular curves of his buttocks and legs. As he started to turn, she whipped around and scampered up over the top of the rock face.
Fiona made her way along an overgrown path the short distance to the ruined tower above. Reaching the landing, she saw Alec’s horse, Ebon, grazing the soft grass in what seemed to have once been an enclosed garden. On seeing her, the massive charger moved in her direction and nuzzled at her palms softly.
“Some warhorse you are,” Fiona whispered, stroking the soft mane of the animal. “The size of a giant, but the gentleness of a lamb.”
Fiona made her way through the overgrown gardens toward the entrance of the keep. From where she stood, her view of the pool was blocked by the giant weeping elms that surrounded the outer parameter of the glen.
Entering the dark tower, she could just make out the flights of stairs that ran up, along the stone walls.
She ran all the way to the top, breathless when she reached it. The views from the top were spectacular.
Alec had been correct in saying that there was only one easy way up to the tower. Perched atop a peak with steep bluffs and rocky cliffs on three sides, the edifice commanded panoramic views of the Great Glen and the lochs that traverse it. The sun was resting in a notch beside the magnificent profile of Ben Nevis, and with every turn, Fiona felt her heart flutter at the beauty of the scene.
Moving to the edge of the tower, Fiona stepped out between the high block of the outer wall. Peering down into the glen below, she felt a pang of disappointment that Alec was nowhere in sight.
I should have gone swimming with him, she thought with a sigh. I should have.
Suddenly Alec’s swimming form moved casually into the center of the pool. Fiona grasped the stones beside her, steadying herself against the sudden quiver that threatened to buckle her knees. He was truly beautiful, and she could no more tear her eyes from him than she could lift this tower from its foundation. Perched on the ledge, the breeze lifting her fiery tresses, Fiona watched as he slowly emerged from the pool and disappeared beneath the leaves that overhung the bank.
She took a deep breath and sat back against one of the great blocks, closing her eyes momentarily. All she could see, all she could feel, was him. She wanted him. She needed him.
She was a woman now, and she would have him.
His hair dripping down his back, Alec looked up through the darkness from the ground level of the ruined tower. Sections of the two burned-out floors were dangling precariously above him. Strangely, only the top floor of the structure seemed reasonably intact. The stone stairs that ran upward hugged the outside walls of the keep.
Fiona was nowhere to be seen.
“Fiona!”
At first, only silence answered the resounding echo of his call.
“Here, Alec,” she answered from somewhere above.
Holding their cloaks and the packet of food under his arm, Alec started the long climb up the four flights to the roof.
The swim in the cold water below had done a lot more than just cool Alec’s burning desire. It also had cleared his thoughts, his mind. One of the things that had nagged at him from the moment he’d discovered Fiona’s true identity was the inevitability of having to reveal his past relationship with Kathryn, her cousin.
Lazing in the pool, the sunlight flecking the surface, Alec had come to a decision. She had to know, and he was going to be the one to tell her.
He loved Fiona, and it was important that the trust she put in him not be unjustified. He was certain that, knowing everything, she would understand, before the truth of what had occurred was twisted into another lie.
Climbing through the murky shadows of the last flight of stairs, Alec looked up at the light streaming like a mist through the opening to the tower’s roof.
Momentarily blinded by the brilliance of the setting sun, he shielded his eyes as he stepped into the fresh air.
Straight ahead of him, standing on the parapet of the crenelated tower, a vision eclipsed the blinding rays. Her red hair was flying about her in endless waves, framing a face of angelic perfection.
Alec could just make out her eyes, but they were clear and warm. Dazzling. Radiating a warm invitation. They drew him to her with a promise of fulfillment. He moved silently toward her, suddenly feeling as if his entire life had been one steady movement toward this moment. Toward this woman.
This angel.
“Alec,” she said softly, closing the distance between them. Lifting her arms and encircling his neck, she smiled up at him. “I’ve never seen a place more beautiful.”
“It suits you,” he whispered huskily, gathering her in his arms.
She looked around them while still holding him, not letting him go. “I feel as if I am perched on top of the world.”
“You are,” Alec whispered.
Fiona gazed at him steadily. “Is this the way a falcon feels?”
“Aye, I think it is,” he murmured. “Just before she takes flight.”
“Then I know why she comes back.” She reached up and pushed back a tendril of hair that had fallen across his face. “Why she always will.”
“And why is that?”
“Love,” she said simply, warmly, her hand delicately tracing the line of Alec’s jaw, his chin, his full lips.
Alec shuddered involuntarily at the erotic sensation of her touch. He couldn’t wait any longer. He knew something within him would burst if he didn’t tell her how he felt. About what her simple touch did to him.
“I love you, Fiona.”
At the sound of his words, her heart took flight, soaring above into the golden heavens.
Their lips met, and hers parted as his tongue penetrated the soft recesses of her mouth. Her own tongue swept against his, matching his actions, learning and loving the taste of him. As they clung together, she could feel the breezes lifting her, lifting them, higher and higher into the evening sky. Taking them aloft to a realm, a sphere, no two mortals had ever reached.
Alec broke off the kiss, looking deeply into her shining hazel eyes. His hands reached up, his fingers lacing through her silky hair. “Fiona, I love you. I want to be with you...today, tomorrow, forever. Walking through that door, seeing you here, I knew you already. You were in my dreams before I ever met you. We are meant to be together. To be one. Marry me Fiona.”
“I love you, Alec,” she responded, her heart bursting with joy. Emotions surged up within her as she gazed into the face that had become the whole world to her.
Fiona raised herself as far as she could, pulling him down to where she could kiss the skin of his neck where she could see his quickening pulse. One hand pulled at the collar of his linen shirt, and she caressed his hot skin with her lips. She heard the growl from deep in his throat and understood his unspoken approval.
Alec’s hands stroked her back, fitting her slender frame tightly to him. Sli
ding ever lower and onto the sensuous curve of her backside, his fingers pulled her hips hard against him.
His lips found hers again, grazing against them with a tenderness that jolted Fiona, causing the warmth within her to burst into flames.
“But, Fiona,” he whispered. “There are things I need to tell you. About the past.”
She put her finger to his lips. “Not right now,” she murmured raggedly. “Now is all that matters. I have no past. We have only this moment.”
“And the future,” he finished.
“And the future,” she answered, grasping the front of his shirt with both hands and pulling it up. Her fingers slipped under the garment and spread across his abdomen and chest. She could feel his pounding heart beneath the taut skin of his body.
“Fiona, you’re driving me wild,” he rasped. He was truly losing control. “If we don’t stop now...”
“I don’t want to stop, Alec,” she whispered, pushing the shirt up and kissing his chest.
“Are you certain, my love?” he asked again, his hands coming up and his thumbs circling the hardening nipples of her breasts.
“Tell me what to do.” She shuddered as his fingers stoked the flames within her.
Alec peeled off his shirt and dropped it beside them.
A hunger swept through her. Her hands and her lips were all over him, feeling, touching, exploring his shoulders and chest.
He, too, felt the hunger. He stepped back, spreading with a single motion his cloak on the windswept timbers. Encircling her waist again with one arm, his fingers gently pulled at the laces of her dress while his lips again found hers.
Pulling open the dress front, Alec went down on one knee as his tongue traced an erotic trail from her chin to the valley between her full, round breasts. He heard her gasp as he pushed the material aside and kissed the soft flesh.
Fiona felt his hands pushing the dress from her shoulders, and she shook her arms free as he pulled the garment down over her hips.
She stood in the last rays of sunlight, and, still on one knee, Alec gazed lovingly at her, the warm summer breeze licking her ivory skin. His eyes swept over her perfect form, the glowing beauty before him.
“You are an angel,” he whispered raggedly.
“I am your angel, my love.”
Alec drew her to him, laying his head against her full breasts while his hands caressed her back, the soft curves of her backside, the firm flesh of her legs. His fingers explored the contours of the backs of her thighs and gently entered the moist recesses between her legs.
Fiona gasped in surprise as Alec’s hand slid to the junction of her thighs. Her body arched against his hand as his fingers softly stoked the raging fire within her.
Alec’s mouth moved over one breast. He felt her hands grip his hair and his back as Fiona unconsciously pulsed her hips against him.
“Alec!” she gasped. His fingers were sending waves of heat upward through her in rivers that threatened to burst out through her.
“Let go, my love. Let go.”
His ragged words sent her soaring.
She rolled her head back as a pressure began building in her that she had never before experienced. Her breaths were getting shorter, and suddenly Fiona felt her body shuddering uncontrollably and she curled inward over him,
Alec felt her body shudder and lock against his as her nails gripped his hair.
She clung to him, clasped him to her breast as the throbbing release slowly ebbed.
Holding Fiona tightly while her mind regained control over her body, Alec crushed her thighs and belly against his abdomen and chest. When he heard her breathing grow more regular, he eased his grip on her and reached up for her hand.
She knelt before him. Her passion-clouded eyes spoke a thousand words. “Alec,” she whispered. “I never thought...I could feel this way.”
“There is more, my love...more.” His mouth moved over hers. Teasing, tasting.
“I want to touch you...to feel you,” Fiona whispered as she moved her trembling hands down in front of his hard abdomen, lower. She traced his upraised knee until her fingers reached the end of his kilt and moved under.
She heard his swift intake of breath as her fingers encircled him. A savage desire filled her with new courage. She used her other hand and pulled at his belt, tugging the kilt open.
“Fiona,” he groaned as if in pain when her soft hands stroked him.
He throbbed against her touch. She moved her hands over his buttocks, down between his legs, and back up, caressing. His skin scorched her hands. He was on fire.
“Fiona, I can’t wait any longer. I need you,” he whispered hoarsely.
Fiona sat on the cloak and pulled him down with her.
Alec’s hands were at her waist. He gently laid her down and lifted himself onto her body. Instinctively, her legs opened to accept him. He wanted to go slow, to be gentle. But she wouldn’t let him.
Fiona squirmed beneath him. She wanted him. There was no holding back. Her body shook in anticipation of what was to come. She reached up and took hold of his neck, drawing him close, so close that she could hear the pounding of his heart.
“Fiona.” He had to ask. Even though he knew he could not stop, Alec needed to ask. Looking into her passion-filled eyes, he knew her answer before she even spoke.
“Alec, make me yours. Take me now.”
He entered her in one swift motion, penetrating her maidenhead. Fiona cried out, digging her fingernails into his shoulders, shuddering at the sudden pain. Alec buried himself deep within her and became still. He waited, straining to control his own body, a body on fire.
“I’m sorry, love,” he rasped. “I’m sorry about the pain.”
Fiona clung to him, the shock of the stroke numbing the rending sense that tore through her. Then, gradually, she felt herself begin again to breathe. She grew aware of his quick, restrained breaths on her ear, of the faint tremors running though the muscles of his back, of his throbbing member deep within her.
“Alec,” Fiona breathed, smiling and kissing the skin of his neck, his shoulder. She already was centering her concentration on the pleasure as the pain receded.
Deep within her, another being was forming. Her hips moved ever so slightly, pulsing to a beat that Fiona knew from instinct. The pulsing life beat. The pressure within was growing again. She could not believe that this was happening to her again. Surely this was not what should be happening. She arched her back and drew him in more. Her need was urgent now. Overwhelming, pounding. She strained to take him even deeper.
Alec felt his discipline crumbling. It was growing physically impossible to hold back any longer. He withdrew and plunged back into her again. Holding her warm flesh, he kissed her hungrily as their rhythm took over all conscious thought.
When at last their climax erupted, two souls took flight, two bodies whirling in an aerobatic dance, spiraling ever upward. Two falcons soaring heavenward in an eternal love gyre. Curling, bending, bursting forth into a crystalline sphere. Far above. Distant. Illuminated by love.
The purpled blue of the deepening sky was stretching into the golden west. As the darkness settled around them, Fiona lay with her head nestled warmly on Alec’s bicep. Alec gazed down into her contented face, his fingers absently stroking the silky red hair that flowed over her shoulder and onto her breast. As his hand moved slowly and lovingly through the soft tresses, his fingers from time to time touched lightly on the warm skin that lay beneath it. The mere contact of his skin with hers began the stirring in his loins. He filled his chest with air, thinking there would be time enough.
He loved this place. Here in this tower, so high above the world, they were safe. Protected from the world. Protected from the past and from a present that Alec would just as soon avoid. If only they could take this place, he thought, the essence of it with them. He smiled down at Fiona. As if a mere tower could hold her from experiencing the world.
Far above, a bird wheeled, one last ray of light reflec
ting off the ruffle of some plumage, or on a talon or beak. Fiona caught a glimpse of the bird and marveled at its ability to rise above the whole earth. She wondered what it could see as it circled so high above. Snuggling closer to Alec, she looked tenderly into his face, knowing that she would not exchange this view for that of the falcon above them.
“This is a wonderful place, Alec,” she whispered, her fingers caressing his hand as it rested lightly on her breast.
“It is Crown land,” he answered, softly adding, “It was built by your father.”
Fiona shivered slightly as an evening breeze swept coolly across their naked skin. Alec reached down and drew her cloak over their entwined bodies.
“I thought it was old,” she said, snuggling closer.
“Nay, it was just left like this after the abbot’s alchemy works exploded and burned.”
“What?” She smiled, looking at him skeptically. “Are you making this up?”
Alec laughed. “Me? Make things up?” He leaned down and kissed her, pausing to look menacingly into her face. “I don’t make things up.”
“Very well, I believe you.” She laughed. “So tell me about it.”
“Well,” Alec said, rolling onto his back and grunting with pleasure as she immediately pounced on his chest. “Your father built this place as an outpost during the Western Revolt. We’re just beyond the reaches of the Macpherson lands here, and he needed someplace that could monitor the movements in the Great Glen below and to the west.”
“It sounds impressive,” Fiona interrupted, resting her chin on his chest. “But I think he just put it here for the view.”
“No question you’re right.” He nodded, reaching up and pushing back a tendril of hair that had fallen in her face.
“Tell me more, Alec.”
He tried to force his concentration back to the tale, but it was difficult. All he could think of was how incredible their lovemaking had been and how soon it would take her body to get over the soreness, so they could—
“Alec!”
“I’m sorry, love, but you’re a great distraction,” he continued, trying to ignore the smooth-skinned body that rested so comfortably on his. “After things quieted down in the Highlands and the Western Isles, James let the Abbot of Tungland live here...until he nearly blew the damn thing right off this peak.”
Angel of Skye Page 22
