by Mia Pride
As her mouth melded with his, she hoped for some memory of their past to spark, but this kiss felt like the first, which made it all the more intense as her heart rate quickened and a sob caught in her throat. Home. Her soul had found its home right here in the embrace of Liam Mac Cuill. Her husband. She nuzzled further into his chest as her hold on his waist tightened and his kiss deepened.
That was all it took, that one small sob escaping from her throat, and Liam was lost. Any semblance of control he harbored was washed away in a wave of longing. Too many years he had been denied the feel of her. No more. She was his and had always been.
She will hate you when she learns the truth.
His conscience was breaking through to his lust driven body. He ripped his lips away from Gwynneth’s, feeling the loss of her keenly. It was as if a part of his soul had stayed upon her now swollen, well-kissed lips. He would never be whole again, not unless this woman was by his side.
But try as he did, he could not clear his aching guilt. She was not his. He could tell himself she was all he wanted, but she was another man’s wife. And that child was not his to claim, either. Life had been cruel to their love, and the cruelty only increased as a look of pain and confusion washed over Gwynneth’s flushed face.
With a low growl, Liam abruptly pulled away and released his grip on the back of her head. His own head hung low in shame. He had shamed her. She would never have allowed his advances if she knew the truth. In five years of marriage to Baine, not once did Gwynneth stray. She was a loyal woman who, even though forced to marry a man she did not love, took her vows to heart. And he had just caused her to inadvertently betray those vows. Liam had never been more disappointed in himself. He was a trained warrior, a man of discipline. And now, he was a king. And yet, this little wisp of a woman had brought him to his knees. He had thrown away all his honor, just to taste his forbidden fate.
The truth. She deserved it. Now.
“I love you, Gwynn.” Propping himself up above her on one elbow, he ran his finger down the long white column of her neck, feeling the rushing pulse against her throat. Her voice choked as if she were torn between words and tears, but he silenced her with the tip of his finger against her lips. “Nay. Do not speak.”
The scent of lavender surrounded him as he ran a hand through her silky waves of hair, inhaling deeply of her essence. How her locks could be as golden as the sun, and yet as silver as the moon all at once was only one of the mysteries of Gwynneth’s beauty. Her lips were always plush and enticing, but now that they had been ravished by his kiss, their swollen redness was positively taunting.
Liam ran his hands down the length of Gwynn’s body, from those full lips, down her milky white neck and over her slender collar bone. Her mother’s old ruby brooch was pinned over the left shoulder of her blue dress, the only barrier between Liam and her bare skin. Stopping to rub his thumb gently over the brooch’s smooth surface in deep thought, he examined the details of this exquisite piece of jewelry, a clear status symbol of Gwynn’s high rank within their tuath.
The circular ruby was large and bright red, like the eye of a serpent winking at him in the light of the hearth, daring him to bare his soul. It was set into sparkling gold with a knot design expertly engraved into the precious metal. He remembered the first time he saw this brooch. Her father had proudly clipped it on to Gwynn’s light blue wedding dress the day she married Baine. It was a family heirloom passed down from bride to bride, rumored to have been created by the Tuatha De Danann, a tribe of god-like people who once ruled Ériu.
He was stalling, and he knew it. The words were stuck in his throat, defiantly refusing to be spoken. His heart was pounding in his chest and he hesitated to look into her eyes. He did not wish to see the moment when her heart physically broke. Could he survive that? His ears buzzed with the rising of blood to his brain as he tried to convince himself that continuing to deceive her was the best choice. It would destroy her to learn that her true husband wanted her dead.
Nay. Nothing but the truth would do. She would find out one way or another. And when she did, what would she think of him and his deceit? Would she despise him? Mayhap. But wouldn’t she despise him right now once he spoke the truth? Wasn’t it better to enjoy their time together for as long as possible?
By Cernunnos’s horns! He was pitiful! “Liam?” His name whispered upon her lips instinctively redirected his gaze to hers. By the gods. He was a ruined man. He would never be able to live without this woman, whose very breath fed his soul. She was beginning to quiver as tears welled in her eyes. Och, nay! He had made her cry again! He was a beast. Truly. He hadn’t even said the words and already, she knew he was about to break her heart.
Clearing his throat, he cupped her face in his hands and wiped her tear away with his thumb. “Gwynneth, I have not been completely honest with you…” As he breathed deeply in preparation for confession, he heard a shuffling sound outside and shouts in the distance.
“LIAM!” There was more shuffling, followed by a grunt of pain. “He’s here, he has found ye!” Duncan’s voice was strangled, but determined to be heard. Liam released Gwynneth and bounded off of the bed, taking three long strides across the room.
He instinctively became territorial, ready to attack and protect at any cost, years of warrior training springing into action. “Stay there and shut the bed curtains. NOW.”
Without hesitation, Gwynn sat up on her knees and gripped the hanging red curtains, pulling them closed to envelope herself in blackness. Sitting back down on the bed, she wrapped her arms around herself tightly, partially to try and keep her shivering body at bay, and partially out of maternal instinct for the child in her womb.
“Stay here, Gwynn. Do not come out, nay matter what you hear.” And before she could so much as utter a response, Liam was out the door, slamming it so hard she swore the old thatched roof was starting to fall down around her.
Chapter 4
Storming out the door, Liam immediately saw what was causing all of the commotion. Duncan was bleeding from the lip, looking even worse than he had when they met earlier. He was scuffling on the ground with a much larger man. Dry dirt kicked up into a cloud of haze all around, blocking Liam’s full view of the scene, but he did not need to see the man brawling with Duncan to know exactly who he was. Liam cursed under his breath, striding over to the fighting men.
Ready to defend his friend, Liam cursed and yanked at the dirty red tunic of the larger man, pulling him up to his feet. The man continued to swing his arms furiously into the wind, desperate to make contact with anything until the haze of dirt settled into the earth and he could see who was holding his tunic by the collar. Yanking himself out of Liam’s grasp, he tugged on the bottom hem of his tunic to adjust himself, slapping the dirt off of his filthy brown trousers. The front of his tunic was ripped open, and his strong muscles glistened with sweat in the setting sun light.
Standing at an equal height to Liam, Baine was also his equal match in strength and just as skilled a warrior. They had always been evenly matched in size and strength, even as young lads training with weapons in the fields. Neither lad could ever best the other and it had been a point of contention between the two for the majority of their lives. But once Gwynn came into the picture, that healthy competition between two young men became a lethal dose of hatred neither man could quench without spilling the other’s blood.
Baine sneered at the man he despised more than anything as he sized Liam up, hatred gleaming in his hazel eyes. He was a large, strong man with a broad chest. His usually well-groomed shoulder length blonde hair was now hanging about his face as a result of his fracas with Duncan.
Baine was heaving, still regaining his breath from the scuffle, as he continued to stare at Liam and wonder why he was hiding out here alone. Or was he? Had Liam found Gwynn and hid her here with him? He took his chin in his hands, running his fingers back and forth through the itchy new stubble growing from his cleft chin. The thought of Liam touching Gw
ynneth made bile rise up in Baine’s throat.
“Well, well. If it’s not the new King of Iverni, himself.” Baine sneered with distaste as he bent in a flourishing bow. “As your humble servant, I have offered to seek you out and return you to the tuath, where you can finally begin serving the people you have abandoned…unless you prefer to continue living in this little rundown house with only your cattle to keep you company. I know you are much more at ease living with the animals in filth.” Spittle flew out of Baine’s mouth, contempt flashing in his eyes.
Liam, always ready for a challenge, smirked with a gleam in his eye. “Och, Baine, after all of our rivalry, it warms my heart to see you graciously stepping aside and accepting your new role as my humble servant,” he placed a dramatic hand over his heart, in mock gratitude. “I know tis not easy for you to accept me as your new king, but it pleases me to see you try…” Liam’s voice was dripping with sarcasm as he flashed his winning smile and show-stopping dimples to the husband of the very woman he was prepared to ravish just moments ago. With new levels of rage boiling in his blood, Liam was as determined as ever to make Gwynn his. This man was unworthy of touching a single hair on her precious body.
Torn between his need to keep Gwynn’s honor and his need for revenge against his enemy, he internally debated the morality of finishing what he started with Gwynn. The possessive creature lurking inside Liam took control and he vowed to make Gwynneth his at his next opportunity. He wanted it, more than he had ever wanted anything in his life and would no longer hold back for the sake of her already ruined marriage. Baine would no longer play a role in any of Liam’s decisions where Gwynneth was concerned.
Liam thought of the life growing within Gwynneth and an intense jealousy came over him as he stared at Baine, the bastard who stole her from him, planted his seed, and then tried to kill her. Suddenly, Liam wondered if Baine even knew that Gwynneth was with child. The thought caught Liam off guard. If Baine knew she was carrying his child and hurt her anyway, he was an even greater monster than anyone could have imagined.
Baine’s voice snapped Liam back into the present. “If you have nay more business out here in the wilderness alone, may I escort you back to your awaiting people, chief?” Liam knew Baine was testing him, trying to see if Liam would twitch at his emphasis on the word, “alone”. Liam had left the village on the same day as Baine, only he never returned. Baine was wondering if Liam had found Gwynn and was housing her, or if he was out here alone, sulking over the loss of his life-long love.
“As ever Baine, ye are the snake in the grass, always slithering about like the reptile ye are, playing innocent until ye have caught your prey.” Both Liam and Baine turned swiftly to look toward the voice. In their stubborn resolve to verbally abuse one another, both men had forgotten that Duncan was still there, listening to their banter. “We know why ye are here Baine. Ye came to kill Liam, not bring him back, and ye would have attempted already if I did not find ye first.”
Baine tilted his head back and let out a roar of feigned laughter. “Bravo, little man, clever as ever. But then, any man would want to kill the bastard who has lusted after his wife for half a lifetime, would he not? The man that she loved in return? You ruined my marriage and my life. Gwynneth was incapable of loving me because of your existence.” His face switched instantly back to one of pure loathing. “So tell me, King Liam, did you find her? Or, at least…what was left of her?” The admission of his attempt to harm Gwynn sent Liam into an instant rage and he launched himself at Baine, taking him off guard and knocking him to the ground.
“I knew it! Why would you do it, Baine?! Tell me why!” Liam’s words were coming out of him in winded gasps, as he struggled with Baine on the ground. Liam’s right fist connected with Baine’s jaw and he grunted as his head snapped violently to the left from the blow. Blood trickled out of Baine’s lower lip.
“Trasna ort féin!” Liam cursed as Baine flipped over, slamming him into the ground. Liam’s fury was supplying him with the extra strength that only adrenaline and the instinctive need to protect the woman he loved could provide. Both men meant to kill the other, and neither man was the weaker.
Duncan, trained from a young age to never interrupt a fair brawl between two men, knew in his core that these two were bent on death. This would lead to murder and he could not stand back and watch it happen, especially with Gwynn still inside the house. Duncan mustered all his strength, knowing he was the smallest of the three, but just as strong, and bent over the two men, dodging the violently swinging appendages. His right hand grabbed onto a chunk of Baine’s sandy blonde hair as his left made contact with the back of Liam’s blue tunic. Using all of his muscles, he pulled back as hard as he could, flinging both men in opposite directions, leaving them rolling in the dirt and out of reach of one another.
“Enough!” Duncan shouted, but both men were temporarily mad with bloodlust. A lifetime of hatred bottled up inside these two men was now boiling over and nothing short of death was going to end this war of egos. Liam and Baine both started scrawling back up to their feet, primed to lunge once again, two panthers ready to pounce.
As if on cue, the door of the house swung open and Gwynneth’s golden hair caught their eyes as it glittered in the setting sunlight, gleaming like a fire in the distance. Both men stopped in their tracks, covered in dirt, blood, and sweat. She stepped outside looking like a goddess in her soft blue gown, the golden threads on the hem catching in the fading light of day as wind caught the skirt and caused it to billow all around her slim legs.
She first focused on Liam’s agonized face, disappointment weighing heavily on his features. She frowned at him as her head slowly turned toward Baine and she let out a shriek, backing up slightly with a protective hand over her abdomen as she retreated.
“Gwynneth?” Baine shook his head in disbelief. He took a step toward her, but Liam was quickly at his side, roughly gathering the red fabric of Baine’s tunic sleeve in his hand so he could not take another step.
“Who…who are you?” her voice sounded angry and confused as her head became dizzy and her temples started to throb. Her trapped memories were aching to burst forth. This man was familiar and she recognizes his voice. As realization dawned, her mouth dropped open and she recoiled in fear as a stifled scream escaped her lips.
“Who am I? Now, now, do not play games, Gwynn. Has it really been all that long since you shared my bed?” His eyes scrolled down her lithe body, noticing that her breasts appeared much larger than he remembered, and Baine gave his most seductive smile. “We will need to remedy that, I think. You look lovely, glowing even.” Utter revulsion sent waves of nausea through Gwynneth’s body.
Who is this man? When did she share his bed? Her brain throbbed and she held her head while she absorbed his words. She had no memory of him, but she was quite certain he was the man from her dream. He meant to harm her. Instinctively, she ran over to Liam and wrapped her arms around his waist, shaking in fear as her legs gave way beneath her. Liam released Baine’s tunic sleeve as he wrapped his arms around Gwynn to catch her before she collapsed. She had not swooned, but she was in a state of shock, starring up at Liam in confusion as he moved her away from Baine, who was staring at her clinging to Liam with clenched fists and seething eyes.
“Liam, who is this man? Why is he saying such things? I was surely never unfaithful to you.” she rubbed her hand over her abdomen looking between the two men, both claiming some sort of possession over her, yet she had no memory of being with either one of them. Memory loss was never less convenient than in this moment.
Surely she never would be with any man, other than her husband? Yet, Liam did not seem shocked at the other man’s admissions of having lain with her. Her heart started pounding wildly as she waited for someone to speak.
Liam took a deep, steadying breath and sighed in resignation. Closing his eyes tightly shut, he waited for the response from Baine that was sure come, exposing his own lies and omissions. He wrapped his arm
s even tighter around Gwynn’s waist and stared dejectedly into her eyes, quite sure he may never hold her again after this moment, once the truth was revealed.
With a rude uncontrollable snort, Baine started to cough and wheeze as if choking on his reaction to the scene, Gwynneth clinging to Liam as if he were her husband. “Unfaithful? To Liam? How is that possible when you are mine, Gwynn? MINE.” Baine growled as he strode over to Gwynn and put both of his hands gently on her face, forcing her to look into his features. He had small flecks of gold in his hazel eyes and a cleft in his chin. He was an immensely handsome man, yet when he touched her, a cold shudder ran through her, as if her body remembered something her mind could not.
His voice was soft, almost a whisper, as he placed his forehead against hers, “You unfaithful bitch. I always knew you would go running into Liam’s arms someday, but I did not expect you to be so bold as to do it in my presence.”
Gwynneth’s arms tightened further around Liam as he stared icily at Baine, ready to strike if he made a move to hurt Gwynn. Baine was breathing heavily, contemplating what to do with his wife, who was holding tightly to Liam. Losing all control of his jealous rage, Baine moved forward swiftly to grab Gwynneth’s forearm. He ripped at her violently, trying to dislodge her from Liam’s possessive grasp as she yelped in pain. Gwynneth heard a growl from behind her ear as Liam whirled her body away from Baine and Duncan came in close to catch her, swiftly moving her away from the two men, ready to continue their brawl.
Liam swung his fist into Baine’s stomach with all his force, causing him to stumble into the dirt with a groan of pain and surprise. “If she means…that much to you Liam, you can…have her.” Baine was on one knee in the dirt, doubled over holding his stomach. “I am through with her anyhow. The barren bitch is…of nay use…to me.”
