Damn. Luke knew he’d better rein it in. Kiernan had already told him that he and Gairlich had petitioned the church for a rushed marriage and for him to not try to persuade Amileigh into anything until they heard back. Luke hadn’t answered, so technically he wasn’t breaking his word by what he was about to do.
“No, sir,” he answered.
Now it was Kiernan’s turn to frown. “Sir?”
Luke shrugged. “Just a show of respect in my day.”
“Ah. Well, I wanted to tell you that Gairlich has been summoned to the monastery and I believe it would be a good idea if I escorted him.”
Nodding slowly, Luke covered his mouth with his hand, hoping it looked as though he was thinking and not covering a chuckle, which he was. Inside he was pumping his fist and jumping in the air. This was going all too well.
Kiernan went on to tell Luke that Auley would be available to him once the lad, as Kiernan called him, had completed his post meal duties. Kiernan didn’t elaborate on what Auley had been commissioned to do, but that didn’t matter. Luke already knew exactly what the lad would be doing during his duty time today. The men parted company with Luke claiming he thought he might spend some time resting in his room.
Luke did go to his room, but only long enough to freshen up. He didn’t really want to share space with the prim, little blonde smelling like the men on the training field or with pottage in his teeth. If he’d been back home, a hot shower and a toothbrush would have done the trick. Here, he had to settle for a pitcher of tepid water, some strange but appealing smelling herbs, and a cloth with something akin to peppermint oil rubbed across his teeth. At least there was some form of hygiene. The thought of Amileigh’s cranberry rose scent had him groaning, his cock pressing at the hand sewn seam of his borrowed pants.
“Not yet, boy,” he mumbled to it. “You need to let me use the head on my shoulders to get us there.”
Amileigh’s eyes pivoted to her door, and she quickly pushed herself to a standing position next to the small writing desk in the corner. Her hand on her chest, she stared, wide-eyed at the man now leaning against the inside of her closed door.
“Wha… what are you doing? You can’t just barge in here! I can’t be alone with a man in my chambers. You’ll ruin me. You’ll…” Amileigh had found her voice as she skirted around her bed and headed toward the most irritating man she had ever encountered in her entire life. All twenty-three years of it.
She squinted, her head cocked slightly as she neared, making sure to stay just beyond an arm’s length away, his lack of words unnerving her. He was simply watching her, leaning against the plank, his palms against the wood.
“Are you not well? What has happened? Where’s Kiernan?” Her voice rose with each question. Unfortunately, so did her rate of breaths when he still did not answer.
After a few more seconds, he stepped forward. Amileigh stepped back.
“What are you doing?” she whispered when he reached out and, taking hold of her upper arms, pulling her closer, though leaving some distance between them. “Tell me.” Her demand was weak.
Her eyes locked with his, she frowned, unsure of what she saw in their depths. He looked almost pained causing her heart to clench. She watched, mesmerized, as he licked his lips.
“I need,” he said at last, his voice soft as he gently pulled her closer to him, one hand slipping down around her waist, the other snaking up to the back of her neck beneath her long hair. “I need to sleep with you,” he whispered, practically against her slightly parted lips.
“You what?” She pulled away, ignoring the surprised raising of his brows. “You have your own room in the guest wing,” she scoffed. “Go and sleep there.”
Pushing him away, Ami began to retreat further into the room, only to be stopped by his hand on her arm. She looked at his hand and then at him, her lilac eyes filled with annoyance, especially when Luke chuckled.
“You don’t understand. I need to sleep with you.” He stared at her as if his inflections should impart complete understanding.
She shook her head. “Are you mad? I do not wish to sleep, especially with you.” Having jerked away again, she glared at him with her hands on her hips. “Besides, you shouldn’t even be in here. Where’s my guard…”
Luke grabbed her again when she moved toward the door, turning her to face him. “Look. I need you. I mean, I really, really need you. I’ve tried everything, baby. Believe me, I’ve tried, but there’s just no release. My damn dick’s so hard… it’s like all the effects of Viagra without the little pills. Geez!” He released her and ran his hands through his hair. “All the damn commercials say to go to the doctor if general stays at salute for more than four hours. Whatever this is…” He waved his hand between them. “It’s not going away. Kiernan says you’re the only one who can unlock my dragon, and I’m guessing this damned hum isn’t going anywhere either until we do the big dance.” He pulled her close again, his gaze shifting between her eyes and her lips.
“Let go of me.” Her demand was weak.
“I can’t,” he whispered. “Not now. Not ever.”
When his mouth descended on hers, Amileigh felt her knees go weak. Good Lord, this couldn’t happen. The this he was talking about wasn’t just kissing her, or even fondling her breast as he had in the cave. The thought had sparks exploding inside her every bit as much as his tongue sliding between her lips, and the thought of his hand on her at dinner… those feelings were why she had been doing her best to stay away from him.
“Ami,” he moaned against her mouth. “Sweet Ami. You,” he said breathlessly. “You were meant for me.”
“Meant,” she whimpered back. Yes. She’d crossed time, and so had he, just to be together. When his hand slid down her back to cup her rear and press her against him, Ami moaned at the ridge she felt against her lower belly. Without ever having been told, she knew exactly what it was and what it meant, especially when he began to move against her and she felt her very core reaching out, yearning for him.
When he turned them and began moving toward the bed, she let him for the first few steps. It would have been so easy for her to have fallen back on the coverlet, to have let him lift her skirts and plunge deep inside, satisfying them all… woman, beast, and man.
But she couldn’t.
“No,” she whispered weakly, then more forcefully when she pulled out of the kiss. Staring up at him, certain the smoldering desire in his eyes was reflected in her own, she swallowed the knot in her throat. “If you care about me at all,” she croaked out, “you’ll not do this. Because if you do, know that it is completely against my will.”
Reality soaked Luke like a bucket of ice water and he stopped immediately. Against her will, his ass. She wanted him. He knew it. In fact, he knew she wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her, and that if he could get his hand beneath her skirt, he’d find her wet and ready. But damn if he was going to take a woman who claimed she didn’t want it. Even if he knew she was lying.
Moving his hands to her upper arms, he put her away from him. Her lovely face crinkled in confusion. Why, he thought, staring at her? Had she honestly thought he would ignore her comment? And if he had, what then? Would she have seen him confined to the dungeon again?
Luke shook his head and turned away, walking to the door without saying a word. Before turning the knob, he looked back to where she still stood watching him. His ethereal vision. Perhaps Kiernan would return with good news from the monastery. Otherwise, he might never have the opportunity to truly make her his own.
Quietly, he opened the door, closing it softly when he was on the other side. If you change your mind, you know where to find me, he thought as he walked down the hall to his own room. Nothing came back to him. Perhaps she hadn’t heard. Or perhaps she had simply decided to ignore him. Either way, Luke slipped into his room wishing like mad for the ability to take a cold shower.
Chapter 11
Luke chose to stay in his room during dinner that night. He�
��d heard Kiernan and Gairlich had not yet returned and, truthfully, the idea of small talk with the rest of them was more than he could bear. He’d eaten what they’d sent up and settled in for an early bedtime. Hopefully Kiernan and Gairlich had had a better day and would return with news tomorrow. Though, if she didn’t want him, could Luke bring himself to marry her knowing that? He shrugged against his pillow. He needed her to unlock his dragon. They still didn’t know what was going to happen when Sunday rolled back around, but Luke felt certain he needed to be ready, and that included allowing the beast his freedom.
She does want you, the voice inside rang out.
Luke thought of the fire in her eyes. Physically, she did. But he wanted her to want him in every way. He was willing to give her every part of him… his body, his dragon, and his heart. She was his key, his Prihom. Was it too much to ask for her heart as well?
Luke fell asleep with way too many thoughts running through his head, but only one that mattered. Luke Tavish was afraid he had finally fallen in love.
Amileigh paced around her room not too unlike the caged animal she had become. When Luke had left her earlier she had collapsed on her bed, sobbing until her tears would come no more. The door closing behind him felt like a weight slamming against her heart and she didn’t understand why. What he was asking of her wasn’t right. Ladies went to their marriage bed with their virtue intact, and gentlemen understood that, taking mistresses when necessary, to assure such indiscretions did not arise.
But this was different. Luke wasn’t of her world and there was no guarantee he would remain there. If she awakened the next morning to find him gone, what then? Could she bear the thought of going through her entire life not having known the love of the one man she knew had been created just for her?
With her heart slamming against her chest, Amileigh set into motion the plan that had begun to hatch in her head. As she pinned the scrawled note to the pile of clothing she had placed beneath the covering of her bed, she heard the same words she had heard before she’d climbed from the pit. She’d been uncertain then as well.
Opening her door just a crack, Amileigh looked for the guard, motioning him forward when he stood from the large chair positioned next to the table across from her room. She’d implored him to get her maid, praying Abigail would read the note and understand, doing all that she asked. The guard hadn’t wanted to leave, but she’d finally convinced him, stating she wasn’t well and needed her servant’s ministrations. Reluctantly, he’d gone off, and Ami had counted to a patient ten.
Don’t think. Act.
Amileigh slipped out of her room, knowing there would never be another man for her. Not now. Not ever.
When Luke felt the softness of a warm body sliding up next to him, he was certain he was dreaming. Having Amileigh climb into his bed had been a recurring fantasy pretty much since he’d been at Somerled. But when cold hands touched his skin, he opened his eyes to see the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen—Ami staring back at him, her dilated eyes aglow in the moonlight.
“Good Lord, what…”
“Shhh.” She pressed her fingers against his lips “Don’t speak,” she whispered, “Just make love to me.”
Dear God, Luke suddenly couldn’t breathe. Was this for real? He’d already determined that, and yet… he wrapped his arms around her naked body, rolling her to her back and crushing his lips to hers in fear she would evaporate.
“You changed your mind,” he told her, pulling back, trying to rein himself in so he could savor every moment.
Ami shook her head. “I didn’t change my mind, Luke.” He frowned and she smiled. “I wanted you from the moment I first laid eyes on you… six hundred years from now.”
“And four days,” he added, unable to suppress his grin.
“Technically,” she added with a chuckle, using the word she’d heard him use, “Three days now. It’s well past midnight.”
“Past midnight?” When she nodded, he continued. “Well, then we’d better get busy here.” He pushed up so that he could look down the length of her beneath him. “You’re beautiful,” he told her.
“And you have already begun to see in the dark.” They laughed softly before the seriousness of the moment took hold.
“Are you sure?” he asked, staring into her eyes, pleading with her to say yes.
Ami nodded. “More certain than I’ve ever been… oooh!” Her affirmation dissolved into a moan of pleasure as Luke moved with dragon swiftness and she found his head positioned between her legs, his mouth firmly over her wet, swollen bud. “Luke.” Her hands in his hair, knees falling wide, she squirmed beneath him. He hadn’t meant to start there, but after days and nights, imagining the sounds she would make, he needed to hear it, and fast. As he circled the folds with his tongue that he knew would make her scream, he savored her taste—sweet mountain cranberries, with just a hint of rose scent.
Amileigh wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but this had not been it. Not that she was complaining. Her head and her world were spinning way too fast for that. When Luke had first descended on her, she’d had concerns. Her knowledge of relations between men and women were limited to what she’d seen in the animal world, and of course the statues in the king’s forbidden garden. That day in the cave when he’d suckled her breast… she’d thought she would explode, but even that did not compare to this. The more he licked and taunted her with his mouth, the higher she felt. Her body thrust itself toward him of its own will, her back arching, hips bucking. When he slid a finger inside her, she thought she might scream, or perhaps she did. She’d felt him chuckle and add another one, stroking her insides with a rhythm that matched her thrusting dance.
“Luke,” she called out, her hands grabbing for the mattress beneath her. He had his free hand beneath her hips, pulling her back to him every time she tried to squirm away. It wasn’t that she wanted away, it just… God, she had never felt anything so intense.
With every thrust and every lick, the need inside her rose until she was certain she could take no more. And then something glorious happened. Luke’s face was again even with hers and she could feel him pressing into her. She pressed back and he slid deeper and deeper still. Ami moaned and he growled, gently nipping her lower lip. Their eyes locked, it was obvious he was remiss to miss what was happening.
“Luke,” she whispered as he began to move inside her.
“Yes. Oh, Amileigh.” He was almost as breathless as she was. “Look at me, baby. I want to see your eyes when you shatter. Keep climbing, love. Climb. That’s it.”
Coaxing her with his words and his body, Ami clung to him, her nails raking down his back, digging into the hard muscles as she let them slide lower. Nothing had ever felt so good, so right. She slipped one hand over his hip, pressing it between them, wanting to feel their union. Luke let her, slowing down only for a second until her fingers touched his engorged shaft plunging in and out of her. Ami had never sexually touched a man’s naked body. She’d never seen one, actually… except on one of the statues in the forbidden garden, and that only briefly before her brothers had pulled her away saying it was something she should not be looking at. She would look at Luke, once they were finished because she wanted to see, wanted to know of this thing that he had used to make her feel this way. Surely it must be beautiful, because their union was, and after she looked, she would trace her tongue over every line of his ink.
When she pulled her hand away, Luke grabbed it, bringing it to his mouth where he kissed her fingers, licking along their undersides much as he had with the custard from the Dariolles at dinner. Just as it did then, it took her breath away and her insides clinched, tightening around him. Her breath coming in quick gasps, she wrapped her legs around his waist just as Luke reached for one of the hardened peaks of her tight breasts. Ami screamed his name as he rolled it between his thumb and finger, her hips bucking violently against his as wave after wave of earth-shattering pleasure exploded at the depth of her core and she watch
ed all control leave him, just before the hot liquid, his very essence, poured into her. Luke collapsed on top of her—both of them breathing hard, her body still tingling, her sex still pulsating around him. They were one now in every way and he’d been right. She was his key. When his seed had begun to flow into her, she’d stared into his eyes, and in that moment, she had seen his dragon.
They made love several more times throughout the night, exploring and learning one another as new lovers do. After the last time, Ami nuzzled his chin and kissed him soundly before sitting up. “I have to get back to my room before the household begins to wake,” she told him, looking at the window where the sky was maybe only a hint lighter than it had been in the hours before. She laughed when he groaned. “Abigail can’t lure the guard away forever. I can guarantee he will return well before the sun begins to rise.”
Luke nodded even though he still didn’t like the idea of her leaving. So, she’d enlisted the help of her maid to get her to him. Inside, he’d chuckled. He supposed he should have wondered, but hadn’t. With Ami’s body next to his there was no way he’d been able to think about anything else. But she was right. There was no need for anyone else to know how the two of them had spent their night. At least not yet.
He watched her slide from the bedside and reach for the gown she’d discarded—the one he’d not even seen. She smiled as she stepped into it, though he thought he saw a spec of sadness in her eyes.
“You’re free now… you and your dragon. You’ll be able to change now and do whatever it is you’ve been called to do, whether in my world or yours.”
He understood her fears because he had them too. There was no certainty in any of this, and yet she’d given herself to him freely, providing him with such special gifts. He slipped from the sheets to stand beside her.
“You are my key, my Prihom, Ami. You unlocked the world for me.” He kissed her on her shoulder before pulling the gown up to cover the spot. “In exchange, my heart, my body, my dragon will always belong to you… no matter how much time separates us.”
On Wings of Time (Lochlainn Guardians Book 1) Page 11
