by Willa Blair
Nessa lost herself in the strength of his arms as she heard the others rustling through the shattered room. She could stay in the loving warmth of his embrace forever and ignore the rest of the world. However, the others might be hurt from the energy storm that had released Latharn from the crystal orb. Her conscience nudged her. She couldn’t enjoy her flesh and blood lover until she was sure her friends were okay. “Maybe we should unearth Trish and your cousins, since the two of us have caused a bit of a mess.”
With an arched brow, Latharn tore his gaze away from Nessa and looked about the room. Flexing the corded muscles of his right arm, he stretched his hand out over the carnage of broken furniture and shattered glass. An aura of purple light surrounded his body and culminated into a solid beam flowing from his extended hand. As he guided the energy beam around the room, everything returned to its undestroyed state.
“Damn. Can you teach me how to do that?” Trish gazed around the room.
“He’s more powerful than all the others,” Fiona whispered, huddling against Brodie’s side.
“I am the highest trained master of the ancient ones still physically walking upon this plane.” Latharn’s voice rang with sorrow as he faced the present day MacKays. “When all the others passed to the next level of existence, they willed their powers to me.”
Brodie stretched out his arm and waited to grasp Latharn’s forearm in the ancient greeting of another member of the clan. “I’m proud we were the ones to finally see ye free, Cousin Latharn. Welcome back to our world.”
Latharn nodded and his smile returned as he accepted Brodie’s proffered arm. “Aye, I canna thank all of ye enough for the role ye played in helping Nessa break the curse.”
With a fiery spark in his eyes, Latharn turned and swept Nessa up into his arms. “Now I must ask ye to forgive me but I’m sure ye’ll understand that I’ve quite a bit of...catching up to do with my future bride.” Then he turned and strode through the doorway to the bedroom, kicking the door shut with a purposeful slam.
Chapter Twenty-One
With a sultry smile, he lowered her to the bed, his eyes never leaving her face. He claimed her mouth. He nuzzled at her lips. He whispered his love to her in husky Gaelic phrases. Latharn grabbed her blouse by the front, ripped it aside, buttons popping across the room. With one quick motion, his mouth never leaving hers, he slid her pants to the floor.
Nessa pulled his plaid from about his shoulders and tossed it to the floor. She wanted her body melded against every inch of his skin. She wanted his hardened muscles playing beneath her fingertips. She wanted to memorize him with her touch, his velvety hardness pressed against her belly. Pulling him closer, she raked her hands down his back. “Latharn, please,” Nessa panted. Arching her back, she pressed against him. Why didn’t he just dive in?
Nipping a blazing trail of kisses down her jaw, Latharn’s voice grew hoarse as he nuzzled at her ear. “We need to slow down, Nessa. I mean to pleasure ye well. I’ve been waiting for this moment for centuries.”
Nessa moaned as his mouth trailed down her throat, then worked its way even lower. She bucked against him, pressing even tighter, nudging impatiently against his erection. She gasped when he took her nipple into his mouth, and cupped her breasts with his delightful hands. His thumb teased at her other nipple until it peaked, hard with need. He nipped and suckled at them both until she writhed beneath his touch. She tickled her fingers down his chest, encircling his shaft until he shuddered within her stroking hand.
She moaned when he left her breasts, his tongue burning a teasing trail down her stomach. She caught her breath as he cupped her buttocks in his hands, and lifted her to his mouth. He traced the valley of her inner thigh with his fingertips and teased his breath against the dark curls of her inviting center.
A satisfied laugh rumbling from deep within his chest, he smiled as his eyes locked with hers. With his eyes never leaving hers, Latharn lowered his mouth to suckle her awaiting folds. As he tongued her aching nub deep into his mouth, he buried a rapturous finger into her depths.
“Latharn!” Nessa moaned in ecstasy and buried her hands in his hair. She clutched his head against her body and wriggled beneath his mouth. Head thrown back, back arched in delight, Nessa lost the ability to do anything but feel. She screamed as she exploded with delicious rapture, not caring if her cries shook the house.
Latharn raised his head. He used his tongue to tickle delicious circles on the skin running up her side. He turned her. He took his time and licked his way up her back, reaching around to cup her breasts in each of his hands. He pulled her back against him, nuzzling her neck as his hands once more tantalized her nipples into aching peaks. His inviting erection prodded against the back of her thighs, a promise of what was to come.
As she turned in his arms, Nessa nibbled at his throat, her voice a husky whisper. “Now it’s my turn.” She ran her fingers down his chest joining them with her tongue. She nipped and teased until Latharn groaned and struggled to catch his breath.
She worked her way down to his straining shaft. She cupped him with one hand while circling his tip with her tongue. She glanced up at the tortured look of pure bliss on his face. Nessa purred with satisfaction. She licked and teased the length of his erection, then swallowed him down to the hilt. Latharn clutched the sheets of the bed as he gave himself over to the delicious magic of her mouth.
It was time. Latharn grabbed Nessa and rolled her beneath him.
“Now, Nessa. ’Tis time for us to be truly joined as we were always meant to be.”
He slid into her welcoming depths; her wet folds guided him to her heated center. As Latharn slid his arms beneath her, he settled his hips and groaned, “By the goddess, I’ve waited for this moment forever. I love ye, Nessa, with all of my soul.”
Her breath coming quicker, Nessa smiled into his eyes as she wrapped her legs around his body. “I love you, Latharn, my Highlander of my dreams. I’ve loved you since the first time you came to me.”
Nessa arched her back and matched Latharn’s slow grind, thrust for delicious thrust. The rhythm quickened; they drove into the dance. The bliss heightened into a luscious frenzy.
His head thrown back, Latharn’s throaty roar mingled with Nessa’s ecstatic cries. His release found, he poured into Nessa, shouting out her name.
All mine. Latharn raked his gaze over her shuddering body. Forever, all mine. The connection he’d sought, the elusive joining he’d needed, Latharn felt a melding of his soul. He groaned with the contentment he’d never hoped to find and curled his arms tighter about her. Taking care to stay deep inside her, Latharn rolled and pulled Nessa to lie atop him. Collapsing back against the pillows, he ran his fingers through her short curls, as she lay snuggled against his chest.
“I love you.” Nessa exhaled with a contented purr, wriggling even closer against his body.
“Love doesna begin to describe this feeling,” Latharn murmured, kissing the top of her head. “Holding ye in my arms is tonic to my verra being. Finally joining with ye has healed the rift in my soul.”
Nessa propped her chin on his chest and traced a finger across his lips. “I never thought something like this would ever be possible. I thought you’d only be in my dreams.”
A contended smile tickled at the corners of his mouth as Latharn exhaled in pure satisfaction. “’Tis taken quite some time to make it to this point. There were times when I thought madness would surely take hold, especially after I found your melody dancing in the mists of time. It seemed an eternity for your soul to decide to join me upon this plane.”
He captured her hand and placed a kiss in her palm, pausing to add a seductive tickle with the tip of his tongue.
Nessa gasped as his passion returned to an inviting hardness inside her. Her own heat answered in more than willing reply and she slid up to straddle him. She moaned with abandon, blissfully gyrating as Latharn continued to grow.
“I’m glad I found the way to you. If I’d known about this, I think
I would’ve tried harder to find you before now.”
Latharn wrapped his hands around her waist and stroked her body with his heated gaze. “We’ve only just begun, my dear, sweet Nessa. I’m about to show ye all that ye’ve been missing.”
Nessa didn’t hear anything else he said after that, she was too busy groaning in mindless release.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Coffee. The rich aroma of a fresh brewed pot wafted across her nose. Nessa inhaled; her stomach growled. “Latharn. We have got to surface. I need coffee.”
Latharn pulled her closer against him, spooning his knees into the back of hers as he nuzzled the back her neck. “We’ve only been in here for three days, Nessa. Have ye tired of me so soon?”
Three days. Nessa couldn’t resist his lips against the nape of her neck and snuggled tighter against him. “The others must think we’re dead.”
Latharn chuckled and cupped her breast as he suckled at her earlobe. “I think we’ve been loud enough for them to know we’re still verra much alive.”
Oh, great. She’d never hear the end of that from Trish. She did seem to remember a few times when she’d gotten a little loud. Nessa groaned and unwound herself from Latharn’s arms. “I need coffee. And if this is day three, we need to emerge because there’s no telling what’s being said about us.”
Pulling her back down into the bed, Latharn kissed the end of her nose. “First of all, I dinna give a damn what anyone says about us and neither should you. Second, I know exactly what they’re saying. I can hear them and I can allow ye to see and hear them as well. Watch.”
With a wave of his hand the bedroom wall wavered, then became clear as crystal. He and Nessa had front row seats of everything going on in the other room.
“They’ve been in there for three days. Ye’d think they’d surface by now for a bit of food and drink.” Fiona fussed about the table to set the steaming scones on the trivet and turned to fetch the pot of coffee off the warming plate sitting on the back of the buffet.
“You put a fully stocked refrigerator in there, remember?” Trish shot her a knowing look above the rim of her coffee cup as she tried working the kinks from her neck. “By the way, I think it’s somebody else’s turn to take the couch in the drawing room. That thing’s just for looks. It’s definitely not for sleeping.”
Brodie winked at Fiona as he held out his cup for a refill. “Have ye already forgotten our honeymoon, dear wife? The only time we saw the lobby of the hotel was when we arrived and when we were checking out.”
Fiona clucked her tongue as she filled her husband’s cup. “Aye, my love. Don’t be distressed. I promise ye, I’ll ne’er forget those days. But we had room service, full meals at our beck and call, in order to keep up our strength.”
“This isn’t right, Latharn.” Nessa waved at the wall as though she were shooing flies. “Make it go away.” There was just something weird about watching your friends as though they were in a fishbowl.
“As ye wish.” Latharn waved his hand and the wall darkened, resuming its inherent state. “Then we’d best be joining them to get your coffee. I’m a bit hungry now myself.”
Latharn emerged first, his arm curled around Nessa’s waist, nodding a solemn greeting to the trio at the table.
“Good morning,” Nessa murmured with a yawn. “Is it okay if we join you for breakfast? The coffee and scones smell fabulous.”
“I’m surprised you’re able to walk to the table,” Trish retorted under her breath. With a wicked grin, she slid the plate of scones down the table to Nessa.
“Trish!” Nessa scolded. A surge of heat flushed to color her cheeks as she accepted a cup of coffee from Fiona.
“Trish,” Latharn intoned, with a nod of his head. “I apologize for keeping ye from your bed.” Then with a steaming look his gaze slid back to Nessa as he reached over to caress her cheek. “But I’m sure ye understand Nessa and I had a calling we couldna possibly ignore.”
With a giggle, Trish lifted her cup in silent salute and gave Nessa a saucy wink. “Oh, I’m not angry, Latharn. I’m just jealous. She’s topped any record I ever held.”
“Record?” Latharn gave Nessa questioning look.
“Never mind.” Nessa handed him a well-buttered scone and kicked Trish under the table. “Don’t you want me to fix you some eggs or something?” Maybe if she plied him with food, he’d ignore Trish’s banter.
“No thank ye. Fiona’s scones are fine,” Latharn responded with a perplexed frown. “Brodie, I’ll be needing the paperwork for the trust. I’m anxious to return to my home.”
Setting his coffee aside, Brodie rose from the table to access the safe on the wall. Within moments, he’d returned with a worn leather envelope bound with a cord of shimmering gold.
Latharn accepted it and pulled out a weathered parchment clipped to a sheaf of more recent-looking papers. His eyes scanned the pages and he turned each one, checking to ensure nothing was amiss.
“You can read?” Without thinking, Nessa said the words, regretting them as soon as they left her mouth.
Latharn slowly raised his head from the papers he held in his hands as though struggling to control his choice of words. “Ye will discover that I am not an uneducated man, Nessa. I’m quite learned in a great many things.”
Regret swelled in her throat like a lump of rising dough. She’d unintentionally wounded his Highlander pride. “Latharn, I didn’t mean that I thought you weren’t smart. It’s just that most men from your era, most lairds, didn’t know how to read.” Nessa tapped on the thick sheaf of papers. “Especially not legal documents like those.”
“My mother ensured we all knew how to read. She understood the power of the written word.” Latharn flipped back another page, his shoulders still held stiff as he resumed his reading.
“What sort of trust?” Nessa asked. She had to change the subject. Men were so sensitive. She’d never hurt him for anything in the world. Leaning over his shoulder, she looked over the papers in his hand. They appeared to include the deed to some land.
Fiona emerged from the kitchen with a fresh pot of coffee and inclined her head toward the papers Latharn held. “MacKay Castle and all the surrounding lands have been kept ready for Latharn’s return. His father proclaimed it so centuries ago, when his mother found the way to break the curse.”
Fiona made her way around the table and refilled everyone’s cups. With a proud smile, she gave Latharn a gracious nod of her head and hastened to add. “Latharn will now be the first real laird of clan MacKay since the Battle of Culloden.”
“These look to be in order. Ye’ve done well, Brodie. Surely, you and Fiona will come and live with us at the keep?” Latharn grimaced as he tasted the coffee. He preferred mulled wine or ale.
“Us?” Nessa repeated. “As in you and me?”
Latharn’s smile disappeared and he pulled her closer, hugging her to his side. Cradling her chin in the palm of his hand, he held her in his gaze. “Aye, us. We’ll be married with the next full moon and we’ll move into the castle as man and wife.”
“Married on the next full moon? Now wait just a minute. What are you talking about? I can’t think…could you please stop touching me for just a minute. I can’t think when you’re touching me! I need some space.” She pulled her face out of his hand and backed a few feet away. “You haven’t even asked me, and all we really know about each other is that we’re good together in…there.” Nessa waved in the direction of the bedroom. “Why do we have to talk about this now? Why don’t we clear this up, um, later?” Married? She hadn’t thought anything about married. She hadn’t thought past the mindless bliss of his arms. She wasn’t ready for reality. Breathe, Nessa. Got to remember. Breathe.
Latharn rose from his seat so fast, he knocked the chair halfway across the room. He closed the space between them and grabbed her by the shoulders. He searched her face as he spoke. “That we’re good in there, as ye call it, barely begins to scratch the surface of the bond you and I share. I�
��ve been walking your dreams for ten long years. I searched for your soul eons longer. Now that the curse has been broken, it’s time for us to live as one. And as for me asking ye to be my wife, have ye not been listening to me for the past three days, for the past six hundred years?”
Nessa shrugged his hands off her shoulders. The more he talked, the wilder her emotions churned. “We haven’t done much talking these past three days. Maybe I just didn’t hear what you were saying.”
Latharn stared at Nessa in open-mouthed amazement, then rolled his eyes to the ceiling. With an exasperated growl, he threw his hands in the air and turned to shout at Brodie. “Are all the women of this century so stubborn? How do ye ever get anything done?”
Brodie risked a glance at the threatening look on Fiona’s face and backed away with a shake of his head. “I am not saying a word. Trish already has the only couch we have. If I lose my bed, I’m out on the floor.”
Latharn scrubbed his face with a rumbling groan. He’d waited nearly six hundred years for this woman. He’d traveled the hallways of her mind, soothing her in her dreams. He thought she loved him. She had freed him with her love. What held the woman back? He dropped to one knee and spread his hands, searching her eyes for the love and commitment he knew she held in her heart.
“Nessa Buchanan, I am asking ye now. I am begging ye to make my life complete. Would ye do me the honor of becoming my wife and spend the rest of your days by my side?”
Nessa bit her lip, hand to her throat, staring down into his eyes.
“Say yes for Christ’s sake!” Trish shouted from across the room.
Nessa ignored Trish and with a hesitating touch, reached out to cup Latharn’s face between her trembling hands. “Latharn. You’ve got to know how much I love you.”
Latharn sensed a hint of uncertainty in her voice. His hands tightened about her waist. “I don’t like the tone ye’ve suddenly taken, Nessa. Surely, ye canna mean to refuse me?”
Nessa shook her head. She glanced around the room at all the shocked faces turned in her direction. “I’m not refusing. I’m just not saying yes. At least, not right now.”
