“I appreciate the compliment but trust me, that hasn’t been the general consensus with the guys back home.” She pressed the tips of her forefingers to the back of her thumbs and formed circles around her eyes. “I’ve always worn these thick glasses that made my eyes look huge. Total turn off.”
He grinned at the goofy expression on her face. “I can think of nothing better than magnifying those bonnie eyes.”
Cassie chuckled. “You might think otherwise if you saw me wearing them.”
“Did Darach see you wearing them?”
She nodded. "He did."
“It seems he thought you just as beautiful then as he does now.”
“Yeah, I guess.” She gave a little shrug. “But I get the feeling he’s just into modern day women in general.”
“So did he desire Nicole as well?”
“Hard to know,” she murmured but he got the impression she did know and that Darach’s interest was solely for Cassie.
Either way, he was glad she had been honest with his cousin. Darach deserved nothing less. And truth be told, he was glad that any potential competition was out of the way. He and Cassie might have slept together, but that by no means meant she had committed to him. That was something he would have to continue to work toward because she would be his.
“I wanted to thank you for sharing what you did with my cousins,” he said. “About your friends that is. You didnae have to do that and I imagine it wasnae easy for you.”
“No, it wasn’t.” She sighed. “But they deserved to know and whether or not the girls initially appreciate it, I don’t want them to stress over telling whoever they might have to tell like I did with you. Erin and Jaqueline can share their specifics later, but at least the guys know something’s up.”
“I ken that.” He eyed her, words soft. “This is half the reason you created your ancestry website, isn’t it? To find those with not only a shared bloodline but a life changing event ahead of them.”
Cassie nodded. “Yeah.” She looked at him, bemused. “I always thought it was so strange how quickly they seemed to find me. Sure, I’d been having some visions but still. Then we all hit it off so well. Soon after we started planning weekly online chats and formed a little support group to help us get ready for what lay ahead.”
A small smile blossomed on her face as she gazed at the water. “We’d watch a movie, listen to songs, try different foods, read or listen to books then share our thoughts. Really what we were doing was building a network of shared things we’d be able to chat about after we faced whatever we had to face. Sort of a bond where you knew that you had three best friends in the world that could remind you what so and so sounded like when they sang. Or how hot we thought this or that actor was.”
Logan had never heard anything so amazing. “So this was your idea…because of the visions you had?”
“Yes. Ones that always seemed to have to do with Scotland, or should I say my Broun ancestry. Nothing definitive but a general sense that I would find the support I needed by seeking out more Brouns." Her eyes again met his. “I probably should have told you all of this sooner, but things have been a little overwhelming since I arrived. Yet coming here and having the visions I’ve had with Robert are starting to make me think maybe we four were always meant to come together.” She eyed the ring. “Now more so than ever.”
Logan brought the back of her hand to his lips, kissing the area just above her ring before he murmured, “Ye are here for a reason, lass and I can only hope that part of the reason is for me.”
Cassie’s breathing switched and her eyes glazed with desire for a moment. Apparently needing to switch the subject, she said, “How are the warriors doing? Machara especially?”
“Everyone is well including Machara. Game has been hunted and is roasting. I’ve set up a tent for us.” He stood and pulled her up. “Come, night’s nearly fallen. Let’s head back in that direction.”
Cassie nodded, a somewhat hesitant expression on her face as they walked along the river. “Since I was so straightforward about the conversation I had with Darach, mind if I ask you something?”
“Aye.” He led her into the forest. “Anything.”
“It’s about Brae.” Her eyes met his. “What is she to you exactly? Because it sort of sounds like you two had something going…or intended to.”
Of course, she would have been wondering about the Stewart lass.
“Brae has always been like a sister to me.” He chose his words carefully. “As you probably gathered, we spent a lot of time together as bairns. She knew of my pre-arranged marriage and always felt bad for me. Making the promise we did was really just her way of soothing a young lad’s restlessness.”
“Ah.” Cassie pursed her lips and nodded. “You do realize that she’s totally serious about fulfilling that promise.” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “And you know that she’s totally into you, right?”
He knew. Brae had not hesitated to let him know just how much upon greeting. Within the mind of course. But Logan had been clear about where he stood and it wasn’t with Brae.
“The feeling isnae mutual.” Determined that she understood how serious he was, Logan backed Cassie up against a thick tree and cupped her cheeks. “You need to ken that when I told you I wanted you, I had never said more truthful words. I didnae lay with you to slake my lust, lass. I laid with you because I’m in love with you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Cassie could barely see Logan it had grown so dark but she most certainly heard his words. I’m in love with you. While it was a serious declaration, her mind was saturated with insecurity and disbelief. Irritated with her lack of confidence that a man could love her she wished she murmured something like, “You have great taste. Makes sense.” Instead, she whispered, “I find that hard to believe.”
“Then find it hard to believe but ‘tis true.” His rough hands were achingly tender as he smoothed the pads of his thumbs over her cheekbones. “Did you hear me when you were riding Athdara through the battling? Did you know that we are far more mentally connected now than before?”
“What?” Her heart pounded into her throat. “Why?”
“Because we’ve lain together,” he said softly. “‘Tis a thing that happens with wizards.”
Cassie tried to recall all of her thoughts since last night, but it was hard remembering that sort of thing. Lord, that probably meant he knew how jealous she was of Brae. Then there was the constant stream of thoughts about having had sex with him. Super lusty ones that had no business in anyone’s head but hers. So not good. “Have you been listening to all my thoughts then?”
Logan shook his head. “Nay, I would never do that unless you asked it of me.” He cleared his throat and a smidge of desire met his words. “Though some slip through when they’re especially intense.”
Oh, God. She had been having tons of those. Rather than speculate, she blurted, “So are we talking about my fear during battle or maybe Nicole getting hurt or maybe even my concern about Athdara?”
“Nay,” he murmured, one hand abandoning her cheek to drift down the side of her neck, his fingers splaying over her sensitive skin. “More like the way you can’t catch your breath when I do this.” Then a finger trailed down her chest, skimming so softly over her cleavage that gooseflesh radiated over her. “Or the way this sends shivers through you before everything starts to burn.”
“I see,” she managed, voice raspy as she tried to stay focused on…what exactly?
“Love,” whispered through her mind.
Love. Right. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Impossible. Yet her mind was fluttering after the word like a bird taking flight. Eager. Curious. Free. His word. Entrenched within her mind.
Unlike Athdara’s voice, Logan’s seemed to wrap deep into her soul, giving her a glimpse of his own. It was made of honor and loyalty, of deep, rich feelings that he did not shy away from but embraced. As she surmised from the start, Logan knew his own heart and could n
ever, not for a moment, be persuaded by anyone not to follow and believe in it. Though she had no idea how she knew, he absolutely meant what he said.
He was in love with her.
Warm, embracing, his love showed her flickers of all the moments they had shared. The way he could not get enough of the light that entered her eyes when she laughed. The way her oftentimes blunt words stirred his emotions and kept him enthralled. How beautiful he found her inside and out.
Those were the sensations swirling at the surface of his feelings.
The deeper he took her, the more she saw. How proud he was of her courage and commitment to Robert. How impressed he was by her willingness to travel on such a difficult journey and learn how to wield weapons. Her endless concern for those around her when her own life was constantly at risk.
It was one of the final emotions he had that brought tears to her eyes.
How incredibly courageous he found her strength in facing her number one fear. Blindness. He did not see her upcoming disability as a hindrance to himself in the least. Rather he saw it as an opportunity to help someone he respected conquer and succeed at what they had to face. He viewed it not as a potential weakness but something that would only make her stronger. It didn’t matter in the least how long he had known her, he wanted to be an intimate, loving part of her life.
“You really do love me,” she whispered.
“Aye, verra much,” he murmured by her ear.
The incline of the root structure gave her a height advantage and put him only three or four inches taller than her rather than just under a foot. Still, it had become so dark that she could barely make him out. Rather she was forced to rely on her other senses. Something she would soon have to do all the time.
“‘Tis good this,” he whispered. “The darkness embraces us both.” Her breath caught when his tongue flicked just beneath her ear. “Now there is nothing but you and me, lass.”
No truer words were ever spoken. Her eyes slid shut as he kissed his way along her jawline. He fondled and explored her breasts before grasping then massaging her backside.
Their passion and need grew so quickly and with such intensity that their lips trembled against one another’s before they at last sank into a ravenous kiss. Where she had been deeply aroused but tentative the night before, now it felt like a dam broke open. Their tongues twisted and stroked, desperate to get closer. He tasted faintly of one-eighths whisky and seven-eighths hot masculine need.
Sizzling pleasure speared between her thighs and she moaned when his knee wedged between her legs. Running her hands beneath his tunic, she explored the rock-hard ridges of his abdominal muscles then higher to his chiseled chest.
Logan tore his lips from hers, muttering, “Och, lass, I need ye something fierce.” He braced his hand over her head, words so soft she barely heard them. “Tellus clamavi ad te, ut de veste carere possumus. Mother Earth I call to thee, from clothes might we be free.”
Tingles spread through her, then it was almost as if a gentle wind blew over them before she realized they were both completely nude.
“Why not just rip off my clothes,” she joked before her words were cut off by the feel of his hands sweeping over her body.
“Not fast enough,” he growled before kissing her almost savagely.
Then she could not stop feeling for the life of her. The intensity of his mouth owning hers. The hard edges of his strong body as he pressed close. The pulsing, searing heat of his thick arousal against her stomach. The feel of her nipples tightening to painful points against his broad chest.
There was no need to see him when a picture of his body so clearly formed in her mind. She ran her fingers over the width of his biceps then the chords of his forearms. Then she trailed her hands down his side, tracing the shallow dips above his hipbones and below the last ridge of his abs. That wonderful V that pointed straight down at…
He released a hiss of pleasure when she wrapped a hand around as much of his arousal as she could and squeezed. Caught by the feel of satin over steel, she barely heard him grunt out more words. “Tellus mitescere, parva quid temporis non cortice quid esse. Mother Earth soften thee, for little time might no bark there be.”
For a second she thought he was asking to lose his erection but oh was she wrong. Cassie gasped, legs widening when Logan clenched her backside and lifted her further up what was now not abrasive bark at her back but smooth softness. Her eyes rolled back in her head when he thrust up and filled her with one, long deep stroke.
Her senses burst to life as her body rippled around him and an impatient climax roared up and hovered just out of reach. He shuddered against her in pleasure but didn’t move. Not at first. Instead, he murmured soft words against her ear. The things he felt while shrouded in the darkness around them.
The way he would see her if he was to lose his sight.
His brogue was thick and husky as he pressed closer, caging her in heat and lust with his arms, hips and thigh muscles. While one hand held her backside firmly in place, the other explored her face, fingertips dusting lovingly over every inch of her. “Such soft eyebrows, furrowed as ye fight to find yer release.”
Logan’s finger trailed down her nose, slowing at the tip. “Turned up ever so slightly to suit your occasional defiance. A defiance I will push past and turn to pleasure every time I take ye.” Then he traced her cheekbones and chin. “So well formed. The perfect fit for my palm.”
His fingertip lazily outlined her lips before he thrust his hips and her mouth fell open on a sharp inhale. “Plush lips that will always open for me when I wish it.” Logan thrust again and her head fell back. He skimmed her neck before his tongue flicked, teeth nibbled and his words whispered downward. “A slender, soft neck that I cannae get enough of.”
He palmed her breast, testing its weight before he ran his tongue around her nipple then sucked it into his mouth. She released a strangled cry and dug her hands into his hair as a piercing climax ripped through her.
Lodged deep, he abandoned her breast and slammed his hand against the tree as his hoarse words rumbled through his chest. “And this feeling,” he panted. “This bloody feeling of ye drawing me into your body. ‘Tis incomparable. ‘Tis something I want ye to give me again and again.”
Give him? Heck, he was so giving her everything right now.
His body was tight and locked up against her, as though it was taking all he had to remain still and let her enjoy the orgasm rocketing through her. Yet it was clear he could only take so much because the minute her body floated down out of the clouds and spasms stopped raking her, he started moving. Hoisted against the tree, he grabbed her backside with both hands as he thrust deep and hard.
Thunder rumbled across the sky as he vigorously lost himself within her. She felt not only the rebuilding pressure in her own body but the churning depths of his unadulterated and near violent physical need to possess her. Feeding into his desire, wanting to merge with him just as thoroughly, she wrapped her legs around his waist.
Lightning flickered behind her eyelids as their bodies synchronized and became wild, as abandoned as the wind whipping the leaves above. She couldn’t stop her sounds of pleasure as her entire being centered on the feel of him moving within her. Up. Down. In. Out. Around. His astounding energy soon had her varied sounds turning into cries of immeasurable gratification.
Digging her heels into his ass, she arched against him as he drove her toward a peak that he alone controlled. She dug her nails into his shoulder while simultaneously flattening her other palm against the tree, clawing for escape from overwhelming need.
Desperate, writhing, they all but devoured each other before catapulting into the deepest reaches of passion. Thunder cracked as not only lightning flashed across her vision, but a vast spectrum of colors detonated around her. It felt like she shot right out of her body her release was so strong. When his thoughts, ones entirely immersed in lust and love, flickered rapidly through her mind, another explosion raked her.
>
This time, she took him with her.
The thunder was loud, but his roar was louder as he locked up against her, his body a powerhouse frozen in time. Their release was so ferocious that neither could move for several long moments. Then tremors started to rock them. He quaked against her and she knew he struggled to keep them afoot. Though her legs had started to slowly slide down his thighs, her feet were still off the ground. Good thing because she was pretty sure there weren’t any working muscles left in them.
Their hearts pounded as he breathed harshly against her ear. She got the sense he was trying to form words but could not. Rain had started to fall but protected by the tree it only glazed their skin in a breezy mist. Though her eyes were open, the thick darkness was only broken by occasional flashes of lightning.
Until something else caught her attention.
A glow.
Faint at first, she thought maybe she saw a fire flicker through the forest but no. Squinting, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. The light wasn’t coming from the distance but up close.
“Logan,” she whispered, not completely sure what she was looking at.
“Aye?” he murmured, face still buried against her neck.
“Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”
He pulled back enough that she could put her hand between them. “Do you see it?”
“I do.” He peered at her ring. “There’s a flicker of light within.”
A response died on her lips when Athdara’s weak voice whispered through her mind. “I need ye to come to me, lass. Logan soon suffers great loss and I dinnae want him to be without ye.”
Her eyes went to Logan’s face. He was still studying the ring with curiosity. Keeping anxiety from her voice, she said, “Athdara’s awake. She needs us.”
“Aye, ‘tis good.” Pulling away, hand still on the tree, he murmured another one of his Mother Earth chants and they were once more clothed. Though she tried to keep it from him, she knew Logan sensed her distress as they headed back.
Quest of a Scottish Warrior Page 22
