by Emma Prince
He parted her slowly, his tongue teasing that spot of pure pleasure in a torturous exploration. A moan rose in her throat. Her head fell back against the stones, lashing from side to side as he teased and caressed, tasted and delved with his tongue.
His other hand rose and skimmed over her thigh, then hooked under her knee, hoisting her leg over his shoulder. With her even more exposed to him, he deepened the strokes of his tongue, drawing a whimper from her. Her back arched off the wall, her hips beginning to undulate.
His hand slid up along her bent leg once more and joined his mouth on her sex. One finger circled her entrance slowly, tormenting her with the yearning for more until she found herself begging him.
“Please,” she panted. “Now, Callum. Please.”
He abruptly jerked to his feet with a groan, one hand flying to his trews. When he yanked them out of the way, his cock sprang free, thick and rigid with need.
He lifted her leg once more, hooking it over his hip, then took himself in hand, guiding the head of his cock to her entrance.
But then he froze, his manhood nudging but not entering her.
“Tell me ye want this,” he breathed.
“Yes. I want this. I want you.”
With a feral growl, he drove forward, taking her fully. She gasped as he filled her, stretched her, claimed her.
Suddenly he lifted her fully off the ground, his hands splayed over her bottom to hold her up. She looped her other leg around his waist, latching her ankles behind his back and sinking her fingers into his taut shoulders.
He pinned her against the wall, holding himself deep within her for a long moment. And then he began to move, drawing out and plunging back inside her with slow, deliberate thrusts. Each one stole a little gasp from her, coiling her need tighter and tighter.
“I have wanted this—wanted ye—from the first moment I saw ye,” he ground out. He began driving into her faster. “Wanted to make ye mine.”
“I am,” she moaned. “I am yours.”
His control began to slip. He thrust harder now. With each pounding invasion of his cock, his chest rasped against her bare breasts, shooting pleasure through her. Her hands turned to claws on his shoulders as the sensations spiraled higher and higher.
Her breath hitched, and suddenly she shattered into a thousand shards of pure ecstasy. She cried out his name, clinging to him as the storm of pleasure broke over her.
A heartbeat later, he thrust hard and deep once, twice, and then he was tumbling over the edge with her, grinding into her and growling her name.
As they drifted back to earth, he pressed his forehead to hers, their hearts thudding and their slowing breaths mingling.
Gently, he lowered her to her feet, letting her skirts fall back around her ankles. But instead of stepping away, he gathered her in a tender embrace, nuzzling her ear through her hair.
“Caroline,” he murmured. “Dinnae run away from me. I…I ken ye still wish to go home to yer sisters.”
The words made her chest compress painfully, squeezing the air from her lungs. “Yes,” she whispered, fresh tears pricking her eyes.
“I will see ye safely returned to them—or at least to Leannan Falls. But please dinnae try to go just yet. Let me have whatever time I can steal from ye.” He touched her cheek, her hair, brushed her lips with his thumb. “Let me call ye my own until I settle matters with MacConnell. Then I’ll take ye to the falls myself.”
“And…and what of the marriage alliance?”
“I meant what I said before—I willnae marry Aileas. Even after…” He swallowed, his throat bobbing. “Even after ye leave, I cannae marry another when I love ye. I will just have to find a different way forward with Laird MacConnell.”
Stealing time. That was what they were doing. Even without the marriage alliance, they didn’t have a future. But whether they had a day or a week or a month left together, she wanted to give it to him—wanted to give all of herself to him.
“Yes,” she murmured again.
She gazed upon the solid line of his jaw, softened only slightly by the touch of moonlight, his warm, firm lips, the muscular column of his neck. His eyes burned into hers like glowing shards of amber.
She was dooming herself to a shattered heart.
But if it meant she could hold on to this beautiful, strong, honorable man for a little while longer, so be it.
* * * *
Eagan watched from his chamber window as two figures shifted and emerged from the shadows at the back of the garden. The Laird and Caroline stepped into the moonlight and strode toward the garden’s open gate.
Callum carried the rope and satchel Eagan had given Caroline in one hand. His other hand was entwined with the woman’s.
Eagan hissed a curse. How could his plans have crumbled yet again?
What a disaster this day had been.
A sennight past, he’d composed an anonymous missive to Laird MacConnell. In it, he’d warned the Laird that he ought to mind his alliance with the MacMorans more closely instead of taking it for granted. And he’d added that MacConnell might not be pleased to learn that another woman had been occupying Laird MacMoran’s attentions of late. If he still hoped to marry his daughter to Laird MacMoran, mayhap Laird MacConnell ought to remind him of their agreement.
He hadn’t intended for the hotheaded Laird MacConnell to come barreling straight for Kinmuir, feathers puffed out with threats of breaking the alliance all together. What was worse, he hadn’t realized until that morning that Callum was intending to return Caroline to her home that very day.
If Callum had left a few hours earlier, or if Laird MacConnell had arrived a few hours later, then Caroline would effectively no longer be Eagan’s problem. But Callum had never made mention of escorting Caroline personally to the Lowlands, and MacConnell was quick to anger—and even quicker to arrive at Kinmuir.
And Eagan still hadn’t gotten rid of the damned woman. When he’d seen her slip into the garden earlier that night, he’d seized the opportunity to right his failed plans. She’d been ready to leave, too, damn it! She’d only needed a few words of encouragement and the supplies he’d thrown together, and she would have been gone from his life for good.
But somehow only moments after Eagan had slipped back into the keep and quietly closed himself into his chamber to watch her scale the wall and disappear into the night, the Laird had shown up. And judging from the way they walked shoulder to shoulder, their fingers intertwined, they were more intimately entangled than ever.
Blast it all! At every turn, his plans had gone awry. It was almost as if fate was taunting him with his inability to be rid of the interfering woman.
But why did he deserve fate’s wrath? He only sought what was best for his clan. Caroline was blinding the Laird, making him selfish and short-sighted. Someone had to remind him of his responsibility.
Eagan had tried. He’d sent the missive nudging MacConnell to take heed when it came to his alliances. He’d urged the Laird to allow Caroline to depart on her own, or to send her with a contingent of men in order to permit Callum to remain with MacConnell. And he’d all but opened the castle gates for Caroline, giving her everything she’d need to leave.
But it hadn’t been enough. He’d been thwarted by bad luck and poor timing every step of the way.
He swiped a hand over his face, stepping back from the window as Caroline and the Laird continued toward the keep’s doors and out of his view. He had tried to be subtle, tried not to act too brashly for fear of overstepping his role as seneschal.
Mayhap that was the problem. He needed to be more decisive, take a bolder course of action.
He moved back to the window, staring blankly down at the darkened garden below. Aye, it was time to become more brazen. As a gentle breeze ruffled the plants under his gaze, he began to formulate a new plan.
Chapter Twenty
Callum clenched his hands against the desire to reach across the high table and pull Caroline into his lap.
They’d agreed that when they were in Laird MacConnell’s presence, it was best to pretend that naught had changed, that Caroline was only Callum’s guest and that he was still negotiating in good faith with MacConnell about their alliance.
But everything had changed last night. He loved Caroline. She loved him. And when they had been joined as one, he knew he could never let her go.
But of course he would have to, once matters with MacConnell were settled suitably enough for him to take her to the Lowlands. Frustrated bile burned up the back of his throat at the thought.
He took a bite of porridge and swallowed against it. He would deal with that when it came. For now, he had to convince the recalcitrant Laird MacConnell to let go of the notion of a marriage between Callum and Aileas to seal their alliance.
Except for the clatter and noise of the morning meal being served, the high table was silent. MacConnell sat next to Callum, his daughter on the other side of the table. And because he had wanted to maintain the appearance that Caroline was his guest, Callum had seated her next to Aileas.
“I trust ye slept well, Laird?” Callum broached.
MacConnell’s only reply was a grunt. He kept his head lowered over his bowl of porridge, a scowl pinching his grizzled features.
Callum glanced at Caroline. Her lips were pressed together and her brows lifted with uncertainty. Hell, there was no point in dancing around it.
“Dinnae ye think it striking that Girolt MacBean was in all likelihood the one to send ye that missive, Laird?” Callum began pointedly. “It makes perfect sense, of course. Kenning that our clans’ union is strong and solid, he seeks to undermine it by causing discord between us.”
“The only thing causing discord at the moment, MacMoran, is yer resistance to the most obvious course of action—the one yer father and I agreed upon three years past.”
Callum gritted his teeth. Bloody hell, would the man make him rehash their entire argument yesterday?
“Mayhap a marriage—or several marriages—between our clans would indeed help us both feel more…confident in our alliance,” Callum tried again. “We might host a tournament together. Men and women of both clans could mingle that way. And many a match started at a tourney leads to—”
MacConnell pinned Callum with a fierce stare. “Is there something wrong with my daughter, MacMoran?”
Across the table, Aileas’s eyes rounded. “Father, please, dinnae—”
“Is that what all this hemming and hawing is about?” MacConnell went on, ignoring his daughter’s rapidly reddening face. “Do ye find some fault with my bonny, sweet Aileas? If so, speak, man, so that I may set ye straight with my fists!”
“Nay, Laird, this has naught to do with yer daughter,” Callum said.
But even as he spoke, Aileas pushed back from the table. Her cheeks had suddenly gone starkly pale. She pressed her fingers over her lips and lowered her watery blue eyes, then hurried toward the hall’s doors.
MacConnell harrumphed at her abrupt departure, shooting daggers at Callum with his eyes as if he’d been the one to embarrass her so.
Hesitantly, Caroline rose from the table. Her gaze shifted between Callum and MacConnell. She seemed to decide something, for she gave a little nod. “I’ll go speak with her.”
With a swish of blue skirts, she was gone, leaving Callum alone with the obstinate Laird.
* * * *
Caroline found Aileas in the garden. She was bent over beneath one of the plum trees, spitting and wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her gown.
“Are…are you all right?”
Aileas straightened, kicking dirt over the ground where she’d just been sick. When she faced Caroline, her skin was pale and clammy, and her eyes brimmed with tears.
“Forgive me for leaving so abruptly, Mistress Caroline. I hope I didnae offend ye or Laird MacMoran by—”
Aileas cut off abruptly, pressing a hand over her mouth and swallowing hard.
“You can just call me Caroline,” she said as the younger woman fought to regain her composure. “And are you really all right? I could send for the village healer. She might be able to—”
“Nay, that isnae necessary,” Aileas replied. “I am merely worked up, is all. My nerves have been wound too tight ever since my father declared we were to ride immediately to Kinmuir to settle the matter of the marriage alliance. All this arguing and strain puts my stomach in knots. When my father is in a state like this, he willnae listen to anyone.”
The girl’s voice broke on the last word, and she choked back a sob. A few tears slid down her cheeks.
Caroline approached slowly. “He certainly isn’t listening to Callum, that’s for sure. Your father is no doubt chewing him up right now. I hope there’s something left of him when we get back inside.”
At Caroline’s awkward attempt to lighten the mood, Aileas gave a weak laugh, but then her pretty features fell once more. “If his own daughter cannae get through to him, I dinnae see what chance Laird MacMoran stands.”
Caroline stilled. This whole time, she’d been thinking of Aileas as…if not her enemy, then at least an adversary. Aileas was beautiful, sweet, and meant to be Callum’s wife. Jealousy and pain had burned in Caroline’s gut with that knowledge.
Yet now she realized how small and petty she’d been to direct such feelings toward the other woman. Aileas didn’t seem to want this marriage alliance either, and was so distraught over her father’s behavior that she’d made herself sick. But as a woman of her time, Aileas had no say in the matter, no voice. No choice.
Caroline laid a gentle hand on Aileas’s arm. “Maybe it would help to talk about it?”
Aileas hesitated, but then she fixed vibrant, tear-filled eyes on Caroline and nodded.
Caroline led them to a wooden bench that sat against the garden wall beside the climbing rose. Warm morning sun drenched them as they settled next to each other.
“What do you wish your father would listen to you about?” Caroline began.
“It’s this marriage alliance.” Aileas shook her golden head, her brows knitted. “It is obvious that Laird MacMoran doesnae wish for it to go forward. But Father willnae drop it. To be pushed onto the Laird when he clearly doesnae want to marry me—it is humiliating. But that isnae even the worst of it.”
“What is?”
Aileas lips trembled. “It is…kenning that there is someone who does want me more than aught in the world. And I want him, too. But…but we will never be…”
She dropped her face into her hands as quiet sobs shook her shoulders.
Caroline was stunned into silence for a long moment. Belatedly, she looped her arm around Aileas and squeezed her shoulder, as she would have done for one of her sisters if they were upset.
“You’re…you’re saying that you’re in love? With someone you can’t be with?”
Though Aileas was from a different century and country, that was something Caroline could relate to. Her heart ached in sympathy, an echo of Aileas’s pain.
“Aye,” the girl said shakily, lifting her head from her hands. She dashed the tears from her cheeks, but more flowed down. “My love longs to marry me, but my father would never allow it.”
“Have you told your father about this man?”
“Nay!” Aileas squeaked. “He would likely kill him, and start a clan war in the process—my love is from a different clan, ye ken. And even if he werenae, my father is too fixed on this marriage alliance.”
Caroline frowned. From what little she knew of Laird MacConnell, she could understand Aileas’s trouble in getting the stubborn, bull-headed man to listen.
“What if you found a way to delay the marriage alliance? It could give you and Callum time to figure out an alternative that would work for both your clans—and keep your father happy.”
“I already have. A year past, my father thought to make the arrangement official with Laird MacMoran, but my mother and I managed to convince him that I was still too young. I’d hoped that in time
, I would come up with a solution to this muddle, but I havenae—and now my father willnae be delayed any longer.”
Caroline let a long breath go. For all of her frustration and grief over the predicaments facing her—her longing to return to her sisters, her growing love for Callum, the increasing rift she felt inside as she was pulled in two different directions—Aileas’s struggles were worse. How harsh it seemed to force two people to marry when neither wanted it. And how cruel that Aileas got no say in her own future, her own life.
She’d been wrong in making Aileas out as some sort of rival, even only in her own head. But now she could make it right. She could stand up for Aileas, fight for her the way she’d fight for her sisters.
Caroline took Aileas’s hands in hers and gave her a little squeeze.
“We’re going to figure this out,” she said. “I promise. You shouldn’t be forced to marry Callum. There has to be another way to join your clans without a marriage. With you, me, and Callum all working on it, I’m sure we can find a solution.”
Aileas blinked back some of her tears. “Truly?”
“Yes.”
“But…why? Dinnae think me ungrateful,” Aileas said hurriedly. “But why are ye helping me?”
Caroline smiled faintly. “You know your ‘someone special’? The one who wants you more than anything in the world, and you want him right back?”
Aileas nodded.
“Well, I think…that’s how Callum and I feel about each other.”
Aileas’s big blue eyes went round. “There is something between ye! I kenned it.”
Heat crept into Caroline’s face. Her gaze drifted to the spot against the back wall where only a few hours ago, Callum had told her he loved her, driven deep inside her, claimed her heart, body, and soul.
