Possessed By The Duke (Regency Romance)

by Kaley McCormick

  It had to have something to do with the animal inside him. It was bringing about these changes in me. I’d never felt so fired up that I had to have a man by any means necessary. He had obviously had this effect on me and it wasn’t like I could fight back. It wasn’t even like that I wanted to fight back. It was nice to wander down this road and reach into a part of my psyche that I thought was only for those that were comfortable in their own skin. For most things, I was, but sex was an entirely new breed of problems.

  “I love having your cock and you will surely know how to work what you’re blessed with.” I didn’t even think it was possible that I would be able to take something of that magnitude. He really did have me at a loss for words, something that had not happened in all these years that I have been living on this planet. “If you don’t mind, I would really like you to speed things along. I don’t want this to end, but I’m this close and all I need is that extra special touch to get me there…AAAHHHHHH.” I was no longer calling the shots and my body was now taken me for a ride that I did not request or even desire at the time.

  He turned me, so that I was the one in the driver’s seat. I put my hands on his chest, feeling his heart beating against my fingertips and knowing that he had nowhere better that he needed to be. I could also tell that his wounds were healing and maybe it had the influence of the wolf to feed off of, or maybe it was the sexual energy that was surrounding the both of us. Whatever it was, it was bringing him back to what he once was. There was no weakness and I saw nothing to indicate that he was in any sort of pain. He did moan, but that was because I was driving my hips down on top of him with an insistence that came from knowing that he was keeping something from me.

  “Sheila, you have been a very interesting surprise. Yes…fuck me with that sweet little body of yours. Show me no mercy.” He was obviously into this and he was meeting me with thrusts of his hips, as I was coming down for that inevitable strike against our thighs. We were both naked and in our own little world and nobody was going to pull us away from serving each other’s needs.

  “I’m going to…fucking cum.” That was the only way that I could describe it, but it was so much more than that. It was like we were connected body and soul and I could actually feel the wolf scratching to get out. It was overexcited and I could tell that a part of him had changed. His chest was now covered with hair all the way down to his belly button and it was soft to the touch. I rode him and made sure that he was well aware of the fact that I was not going to abandon him.

  “I’m so sorry I’m very sorry about this… YESSSSS.” His loins were on fire and then I felt the expulsion of his seed, as it fired from the tip and drove into me like a gunshot. One after the other, I was surprised by the force, but I was actually able to have a third orgasm during his own. It was then that the window shattered and it was lucky that the bed was not situated in such a way that it would be able to get in the line of fire of those shards of glass.

  Chapter five

  I felt myself in the air and then I landed heavily on my padded ass. It hurt, but mostly I bruised my ego. I was momentarily stunned, after such a climactic moment, but I was able to wrestle myself to my feet in time to see these two animals going at it again.

  They went through the door and they crashed through the railing and down onto the glass coffee table. I was naked and I had to grab something to cover myself, which turned out to be a white fluffy robe that was hanging haphazardly on the door that was almost ripped off its hinges.

  I took off down the stairs, moving my heavy ebony body at a speed that I hadn’t moved, since I was younger and a lot less weight.

  They were attacking each other and once again it didn’t look like it was going to end, until one of them could no longer breathe.

  “I think that’s more than enough. This has been going on too long and it’s time for the both of you to stop acting like children. The past is the past and if you can’t get over it, then you may as well just continue, until one of you are dead. Don’t kid yourself. Just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean that it’s not gonna happen.” This stopped them and they look towards me. I think that they were trying to understand what was going on. “I mean it…if you insist on doing this, then you may as well just get it over with. I don’t think that this is really what you both want. Living in harmony might not be an easy thing to do, but it only takes one person to make a difference.”

  I didn’t want anything to happen to Eric. He had been very kind, all be it in a way that was most unexpected. The passion had been unparalleled and there was no denying that the chemistry between us was something that was going to keep us coming after each other.

  I stood there and waited for them to finally come to the conclusion that this was barbaric and not necessary. They may never be friends, but surely they could leave each other in peace. They stared at each other and then the anger that I had seen earlier was now disappearing. The wolf was the first to make the first move, turning the other cheek and changing back into the human form of Eric.

  The bear shifter could have killed him in that moment of weakness, but it decided that it was better off changing back to its normal human form.

  “I don’t think that I have ever told you this, Quinn. I really do regret my part in taking away the one true love of your life. If it helps you sleep better at night, I was never able to satisfy her. I think you know what I mean by that.”

  “Actually, it does help a little. I guess we may have taken this a step or two too far. I don’t like you, but it does make me smile to think that you are not capable of giving her what she wanted. I always thought that it was me, but apparently she’s just the dictionary meaning of an ice queen.” They had found common ground and it turned out to be an unsatisfactory love life with the woman that had gotten in between them.

  “Quinn, we’ve allowed this woman to control our lives for too long. We could continue the same way, or we can walk away. I’ve never wanted to fight you, but you never gave me a chance to talk this out. You’ve allowed the bear part of you to hold you hostage. I was guilty of that with the wolf and I think that we can finally put this behind us. It’s been 50 years and it’s time that we let the past be the past.” I didn’t know that they were immortal and I guess I really didn’t know much about them at all.

  Quinn eventually left with his blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. He had borrowed clothes from Eric. I don’t think that he was very happy that he would never see those pieces again, but he didn’t lament over the loss. They shook hands and then they began to squeeze with this intense need to see who was going to come out victorious.

  “I’m through with this. This is macho crap and when you’re through measuring your dicks, then I will expect you to come upstairs and finish what you started, Eric.” I wasn’t angry and they were just doing what men do. They had this need to compete and each one was not willing to back down or concede in any way.

  “I promise that this won’t take very long. I’ll be up in a few minutes and if you want, you can always start without me.” Walking up the stairs, I purposely opened up the robe and showed my curves to Quinn. He was in the position to see me and Eric had no idea that I was flashing my wares for an enemy that turned out to be nothing more than an unrequited love triangle. “I can see that he’s waning and that eventually I’m going to be the one left standing.” The distraction of my body had certainly got underneath Quinn’s skin.

  Quinn wasn’t paying attention and his grip had lessened, when Eric’s had only intensified. He finally pulled away “Well played, but don’t think for a second that this is over by a long shot, Eric. I’ll be back and the next time, I’ll be ready for you and that grip. Perhaps you would like to meet the woman that stole my heart. It appears that we have that in common. You may not know it yet, but that girl that you have is going to twist you around her little finger and there’s not going to be anything that you can do about it.” He bowed politely, showing me respect and not letting on that I
was responsible for turning the tide against them.

  I was halfway up the stairs and then I felt a presence behind me. He picked me up into his arms and carried me effortlessly up the stairs. Nobody had been able to do that in some time and I was quite taken by the fact that he was tapping into his inner wolf.

  “Sheila, don’t think for a second that I don’t know what you did. I could see your reflection in the glass mirror behind the door. That was pretty ingenious and a little on the devious side. If I wasn’t careful, I was the one going to be falling to your interesting feminine charms.” I would say that I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar. When I landed on the mattress and I felt him ready for round two, I knew that I would be able to tame the wolf.

  It wasn’t long after that that I found out that I was pregnant with his child. I was worried that I would have this thing in my belly, but Eric was quite adamant that his condition was not hereditary. I breathed a sigh of relief with him holding my hand and placing his ear against my stomach to hear the baby’s heartbeat. We were never going to be apart and it didn’t matter if I had to contend with him running off to feed the needs of the wolf. I would be there waiting for him with open arms.

  THE END

  The Highlander’s Captive Bride

  Torra and her mother were toiling all day, carrying home food and supplies, and working just as hard as any man as they prepared for the coming ice storm. Torra was a young woman of twenty-two, but of light hair and a fair complexion. She worked hard on a daily basis, managing the family home while her father was away for the hunt, not to mention helping her mother.

  One particular day, in the week preceding the biggest storm of the year, a peculiar incident happened just as they were returning home from a trading post. The trading post always exposed Torra to strange and unusual people, from aboriginals to Spaniards and Asians. It always went down without a worry, or at least it had. This time around the visit seemed somber, probably because a warning was sent out stating that raiders were coming into smaller villages and burning them to the ground. Women weren’t safe, neither were children. But the men, the burly men always took such delight in warning the women as explicitly as possible, as if reminding the unmarried girl that the only sure way to get protection from raiders and pirates was to marry a strong man.

  But Torra wasn’t intimidated by their implications. Her father was the strongest man in the region, having killed more men than a general, all because they dared to threaten his family. The latest wild man report was of a certain Lord Emery, a deranged lunatic who pillaged villages and destroyed everyone, from man to woman to child. Knowledge of his presence in this region was becoming widespread. Of course Torra was concerned but she wasn’t about to give into fear and marry a man just as brutal.

  Along the way home from the trading post, Torra and her mother spilled some of their sacks of produce. It was an ugly scene all right and thankfully no ruffians or animals would be on hand to take advantage of the embarrassment.

  “Oh bother,” cried Muira, Torra’s mother, who quickly landed on her knees and attempted to batch up a whole sack load of fallen potatoes. “Now look what you did, girl.”

  “Me? I was holding my own, mother. You were the one slacking off.”

  “Well either way, hurry up. Your father gets worried when we don’t get home by dusk.”

  “Surely he does. After all, what person would want to be out in the cold wilderness when Emery’s boys make an appearance?”

  “Oh, don’t even be throwing his name around,” mother warned. “I don’t appreciate those boys throwing names around to scare good children into marrying too young. There will always be cruel and dangerous men. But living in constant fear of them doesn’t do us any good.”

  Torra nodded, helping her mother pick up some of the small supplies. A disaster indeed: as they were sitting on the earth to fetch the fallen supplies from one sack, their two other bags had fallen over too.

  “Hey, at least I’m not the one too afraid to even mention the infamous name. Stupid men like that don’t scare me.”

  “Aye, but they would if you didn’t have a strong father ready to fight for ye.” Muira tightened her brow and pointed. “Be careful! You’re spilling more vegetables.”

  “I’ve got it, I’ve got it…”

  “No you don’t…and look, it’s already getting dark outside.”

  Just as the frightening thought of a strange and evil man had left them, in the same moment they noticed a stranger standing to their farthest right.

  “Holy mother of…” Muira said, standing up and looking like a deer ready to gallop away at the site of danger. “Torra, be calm. Stay behind me.”

  “Oh dear…” Torra said, noticing the same one. Her heart thumped as she saw the darkness of the fellow. He was dressed in black leather, wearing a helmet and carrying a sword. If he was the first of many pirates or marauders, she and mum were surely done for.

  “No need to be afraid,” the man said, stepping out from shadowed trees to the open wilderness. “My name is Seumas.”

  “What have we to do with you?” Muira said in a panic, shoving Torra behind her. Torra looked on in terror, though she couldn’t help but notice the man was a handsome fellow. He had golden blond wavy hair and a slightly tan complexion to his skin. His body was tall and firm, no doubt with strong arms and muscles hidden under layers of warming leather. He looked to be about thirty and had a healthy, well fed appearance. His voice was also deep, just as deep as her own father – probably a warrior of similar experience.

  “Nothing. But I didn’t realize it was such a sin to be friendly.”

  “We don’t need any protection,” Muira said, holding her eyes wide and jutting her face out in pride. “My husband is Kincaid, the Great Defender. He has a reputation you know.”

  “I’m sure he does,” the man said. “Now then, can we get past this conversation and proceed to the part where I help you pick all these things up?”

  Muira and Torra looked at each other in disbelief. Surely, they heard of gentleman before, but usually such acts of kindness around here always came with a price or at least an implication.

  “Well, I won’t stop you from helping us,” Muira said cautiously. But just so you know, Torra is engaged to be married. And her husband-to-be won’t be having no extra kind gentleman showing up and causing a ruckus.”

  “Fair enough,” he said, falling to his knees and helping to pick up the fallen bags.

  “You know, fellow,” Muira continued, “as chivalrous as you are, three pairs of hands are not going to pick up this mess any faster.”

  “Well, why don’t you start with the furs over there and let me pick up the food. I have experience in cleaning, you see.”

  “Oh really?” she said, taunting him a bit. “Are you the hired help?”

  “No, he said with a smile, one he directed towards Torra. “But I have always found that good fortune falls upon me.”

  He winked at Torra. He waited until Muira turned around and then turned his head slightly, as if casting a silent spell. Within seconds, strong winds picked up and many vegetables, potatoes, fruits and other supplies went magically floating in the air and falling back into the floating sack.

  Torra stared in panic, then awe, as she realized this was no ordinary man. But keeping it a secret was all part of the fun.

  “I don’t know if you have plans to stay and…and…” Muira trailed off, as she realized all her fallen supplies were now in the bags and ready to carry home.

  “May I do the honor, good woman? In exchange for only your name?”

  “Well, I say,” Muira said in complete surprise, wondering how the “cleaner” managed such a trick. “You must surely come in handy, Mister Seumas. Whatever it is you do.”

  Seumas carried all four bags with ease, not even breaking a sweat as he walked the two women home. The only one more captivated than Torra was Muira; Torra loved his magic but Muira was doubly impressed at his capacity to be a gentlem
an.

  “You do seem like a nice lad,” she said. “Forgive me for being suspicious. I don’t take kindly to nice men who insist upon warning me of pillagers and pirates coming for me. My husband can take care of them all just fine. We don’t need any protection from this Emery creep or his gang of rapists.”

  “They’re just trying to find wives,” Seumas said with a half-smile, no doubt having heard the same stories. “Some men have nothing else to offer but strength. Imagine their surprise to learn that, not only can girls have fathers and wives have husbands, but some women can even swing a sword themselves.”

  “That’s true,” Muira said in enthusiasm. “I seen it myself. A woman not any shorter than me, hunting for herself. Sword fighting men just like she was one of them. Times are changing indeed.”

  “Times don’t change, not really. We simply go through repetitions of social evolution. Women are suppressed for a time. Then they revolt, they take back power. Then suppression again, and then revolt. And then it happens twenty times just like that. It’s just the law of mankind, restless and miserable mankind.”

  “Aye. You talk as if you’re an old man and yet you’re so young.”

  “Let’s just say I’m well preserved for my age,” Seumas said, looking to Torra and nodding, as if admitting the truth that Muira couldn’t fathom.

  “Nonsense! You look as young as a spring chicken. Handsome and a gentleman. Too bad my daughter is engaged.”

  “Well…I’m no-”