“I’ve been holding you all night,” he said. “‘Twas no hardship.”
No hardship? That had to have totally sucked. Sure, he was muscular but sitting up without leaning against something for that long took perseverance. Curious, she asked, “So where are we now?”
There was a touch of nostalgia in his response. “Actually, ‘tis the verra spot the Baby Oak once grew.”
“Oh,” she murmured, privileged but wary. “It’s sort of a sacred spot then, eh? Should we really be sitting here?”
“It is as sacred to the MacLomain clan as you are, Cassie.” He cupped both cheeks. “So, aye, we should be sitting here and I know for certain that the Mother Oak agrees.”
“How would you know that,” she started but stopped. His magic. Mother Earth. “Wow…really?”
“Really,” he murmured. “How are you feeling now? Any less frightened?”
Cassie considered his question. How was she feeling now? Scared? Yes, somewhat. But she realized it wasn’t quite as terrible as before. Not entirely sure how she knew it, she whispered, “You absorbed some of my fear, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did,” he murmured. “As you did for me when Ma died.”
Cassie fought a wave of emotion. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I would always do that for you.” His words grew huskier. “As I said before, I will always be there for you whether or not you’re fighting difficult times.”
With a small nod, she realized that though she might have lost her sight, few were so lucky.
Logan stroked her cheeks and while he had always invoked immediate feelings with his touch, this time she nearly jumped out of her skin. Intense. Profound. Every miniscule slide of his weapon-roughened fingers made her flesh come alive. She shivered, lips trembling in sudden anticipation when she felt the whisper of his hot breath close to her mouth. The heat of his words. “I’m going to kiss ye now, lass.”
“Okay,” she whispered with an unexpected thrill of anticipation. It was different knowing she was going to be kissed without seeing it coming, to be both vulnerable and eager at once.
When his lips closed over hers, it almost felt like she was being kissed for the first time. Delicate, searching, he pressed and molded and shaped, allowing her to feel the contours of his lips.
As he might have intended, she didn’t picture his lips as she had seen them even a day ago. No, he was creating a new visual of them with his actions. The way their fullness worked against hers. The way the bristle of his unshaven facial hair created a delicious friction against her skin. Not enough to be abrasive but enough to let her feel his masculinity, the difference between his hardness and her softness.
Her hands went to his face, eager to search out the rest of the picture. She traced her fingers along the slight arch of his slashed eyebrows. They almost seemed to mimic what she had learned about him. That he was a stern man with a heart eager for humor, something to lighten his way in a homeland fraught with unrest.
Then she trailed her finger down his straight nose as he had done to her. When she came to a slight bump, a miniscule ridge, she smiled. God, the smile felt good. So good. “You’ve broken your nose.”
“Several times in battle.” She heard the smile in his voice. “You’re only just noticing?”
Her smile widened and she murmured, “Yeah, I guess so.”
Amazing how she seemed to be opening her eyes now that they were permanently closed to sight. Cassie continued exploring the strong edge of his jaw. Not quite square but by no means weak….then the alcoves of his cheeks before she skimmed his lips, feeling their curvature. “I knew you were hot as hell but had no idea how much so until now.”
A low chuckle rumbled in his chest, spreading up through her inner thighs, belly, and breasts until the vibration ran up her neck and made her lips throb. The hitch of his breath and the twitch of his steely erection sparked a brash rush of desire. Cupping his cheeks again, she made sure she knew where his lips were and kissed him.
The taste of him nearly made her come undone. Warm, male, scrumptious, there was no more tentative exploring, but the blazing hot heat of tongues twisting. Starved, determined, his hands cupped her cheeks even as hers cupped his and they struggled to get closer, to become one.
He yanked up her dress and pulled her until she straddled him. Cassie groaned and thrust her hips against the abrasiveness of his wool plaid. Forget focusing on being blind, there were far better ways to push past the unknown and relieve stress.
“Use your magic,” she rasped. “Lose the clothes.”
“Och, nay, no magic, just the feel of us getting closer the old fashioned way,” he muttered tearing his lips from hers. He released a frustrated grunt as he arched and yanked off his plaid. The scratch of the fabric between her thighs made her yelp with pleasure.
Totally lost in passion, their lips were about to lock again when shadows started to form and she saw the outline of his face. “I thought you said no magic.”
“I did.” He hauled her tight against him, his throbbing arousal eager. “I do.”
“But, but…” When his lips crashed against hers, Cassie didn’t care what the hell she thought she saw. Their tongues began to dance again, so eager she honestly wasn’t worried about coming up for air ever again. Only when he tugged impatiently at her dress, apparently wanting it off, did they separate long enough for her to clearly see what had been flickering in her vision before.
Vision!
But not the normal sense by any means. He almost appeared ghost-like as a light blue light flickered over his face. His face. In and out of shadows and darkness but somehow there. Though beyond desperate to have him inside her, Cassie shook her head and put a hand to his chest, panting, “I don’t get it. What’s going on?”
Logan shook his head, brows drawn together, lips open, breath harsh as his eyes devoured her face. Everything she could make out, no, somewhat see was glowing blue… “Holy shit.”
His eyes dropped to what she was staring at and a slow smile blossomed on his face, brogue as thick as the magic she must be witnessing. “Yer ring glows for me, aye?”
Blazing, a shining light within her darkness, the stone nestled between the hands on her Claddagh ring glowed the color of Logan’s eyes. A beautiful pale blue with gossamer threads of gold that lit him up.
And her.
She could see her body when close to him.
Tears didn’t just come to her eyes but overflowed as she looked at him... as she again saw his face, all the more handsome for having seen it when blind. While somehow she knew— whether by the magic of the ring or by her own special vision—that though her sight was gone she had been gifted with this.
The ability to see him.
Logan MacLomain.
As she stared at him, her mind went back to the moment she had pulled into the Colonial’s driveway back in New Hampshire. The intent look in his eyes when he rode Athdara. Someone, somewhere, either a god or a wizard or maybe even a motherly witch had given Cassie an amazing gift.
Him.
This Highlander with his heart in his eyes.
A man she never would have imagined she was good enough for. But she realized as he gazed at her so lovingly that not only was she lucky to have found him but he was just as lucky to have found her.
Yes, his strength and support gave her courage but something about this moment, knowing that she was willing to accept his support and that she was stronger for it, was eye-opening. It was almost as if he lit the spark beneath a strength she had been working toward for years but only now acknowledged.
Not his strength but hers.
A strength found because she was finally willing to see that it was there.
That it had always been there.
“Do you see the glow as well?” she asked, voice not wobbly in the least. No, she was done with insecurity. In fact, she was done with being blind to what mattered most.
The woman she had become.
&nb
sp; The woman she intended to live her life being.
“Aye, I see it,” he whispered, such pride in his eyes as he gazed at her.
“Good.” Cassie tore off her dress. Then she didn’t use the ring’s glow to guide her way but tucked it between them, flicked her tongue over his lips and sank into him. When he groaned in pleasure and clasped her waist, she let her head drop back and reveled in the feel of him. She rolled her hips and trembled at the undulating flutters shooting through her.
“Och, I love ye, lass,” he whispered as he trailed kisses everywhere.
Hips rolling and grinding, she gave into being a desired woman. A loved woman. Things that had never been hers. Within not only the newfound confidence but the deep-seated pleasure, there was a complete lack of fear.
Yes, some might say she wasn’t completely blind as long as she was with Logan. She would always see him. But there was still such closure. No more sunrises or sunsets. No more gazing at the ocean off the coast of Maine. No more eying her little Chevette and patting her on the hood.
That was all behind her.
Cell phones, television, technology, modern day…that was all behind her. Now it was something entirely different. Logan. Medieval Scotland. A king to keep safe. A friend to possibly save.
A new life.
Just not the one she planned for.
When Logan grabbed her backside and thrust especially deep, she cried out and pressed close. Any thoughts after that became null and void as they moved against one another. Frantic, heaving, they thrust again and again, painfully desperate to not just climax but be one. They nearly climbed one another they were so impatient, so out of control.
There was no darkness here but pure feeling, pure passion.
Pure love.
When her body seized and movement became impossible, he pulled her so tightly against him that she gasped. Apparently it didn’t matter if she was blind or not, a rainbow of colors burst across her vision as she quivered almost violently.
“Bloody hell,” he murmured over and over right before her sharp climax ripped him along for the ride. With one hand gripping her shoulder, he pressed his cheek to the top of her head and groaned, “Cassie,” with so much possessive passion another intense orgasm lashed through her.
They held one another for a long time, completely absorbed in how good they made each other feel. Time was completely lost. What was not lost to her were his words whispered against her ear, “Be my wif. Marry me, lass. ‘Twould make me the happiest Laird in all of Scotland.”
She smiled against his neck. “Wif?”
There was a definite grin in his response. “Wife.”
Finally able to muster the muscles to move, she pulled back enough to cup his cheeks. Though she felt the first rays of sunlight warm her back, she saw only the blue glow of his face as she gave him her heart. “By truly realizing how much I love myself, I can now easily recognize and tell you without a shred of doubt that I love you, Logan MacLomain.”
Then she braced herself, wondering if she should be honest. Because the old ‘her’, who she was prior to coming to Scotland, might have agreed to marry him in a heartbeat. After all, a girl like her wasn’t about to get many more offers, especially from a guy like this. Yet she wasn’t the old her anymore. Not in the least. It didn’t matter if the revelation had happened in such a short time…it happened.
So she went with honesty. “But I won’t marry you.”
Cassie didn’t miss the pain that flickered in his eyes but as was Logan’s way he nodded and kissed the back of her hand. The man truly was unendingly noble. So she finished her sentence. “Yet. I won’t marry you yet.”
“Yet?” he murmured, lips lingering on the back of her hand.
She nodded, trying not to drown in the adoring way he looked at her so she could say what needed to be said. “I’ll be staying here. Based on what I’ve seen, the shit’s not nearly done hitting the fan and my friends are likely heading this way.”
Cassie licked her lips and stuttered, “A-and I should b-be here when they go through that,” when he shifted his hips, apparently springing back faster than most men.
"And?” he whispered, trailing his lips up the underside of her arm.
“And I…um…” Cassie closed her eyes and pulled her arm away from his distracting lips. When she opened them, that same look of pride had returned to his eyes.
A small smile came to his face. “Go on, lass.”
Right. Go on. Cassie caught her breath and nodded. “I need to learn how to live my life blind. I thought it was going to be in the twenty-first century, but I was wrong.”
“Aye?” He quirked the corner of his lip. “So ye’ll be staying but not marrying me then?”
Cassie nodded then shook her head when he shifted just enough to remind her how intimate their position still was. But what she meant to say was important so she cupped his cheeks and narrowed her eyes. “You are without question the most incredible man I’ve ever met and I can say with all honesty that I don’t want another. But I need to learn about the new me for a little bit.”
“The new you?”
“The blind me.”
Logan nodded.
“I need to acclimate and learn my way around your castle,” she said. “I don’t want to be the twenty-first century girl ‘saved’ by the Highland Laird. I don’t want to be the ‘oh poor her’ story.”
Logan said nothing, but that same look of pride was still on his face as he nodded for her to continue.
So she did. “I want to learn my way around and earn your clan’s respect not because I’m Lady of the Castle but because I’m me.”
“And who are you?” he murmured, watching her closely.
Cassie thought about it. Who was she? Was she the twenty-first century girl who needed to learn the ropes in medieval Scotland? Was she the girl who might’ve helped save Robert the Bruce?
Or was she the blind girl?
Their eyes held and she realized that while she was a little bit of all of those things she wasn’t really any of them. No, at the root of her, broken down into this singular moment, she was someone entirely different.
Someone she would enjoy getting to know better.
Leaning close, she whispered exactly who she was before kissing him. “I’m just a girl who believes that a woman can find ‘Happily Ever After’ by embracing and loving who she’s become.” She deepened the kiss then murmured against his lips, “And I suppose I have you to thank for that.”
He whispered, “Nay, lass. I couldnae have loved ye so thoroughly if ye were not exactly who ye were from the verra start.” His hands wrapped into her hair. “‘Tis good though that ye can finally see what I’ve seen all along.
What an absolute sweetheart.
“I really do love you,” she murmured, so astoundingly glad that they had made it to this moment. That she had found such an incredible man to share her life with. She was never more hopeful and eager for what lay ahead.
Though the enemy was not defeated, Logan and Cassie did get what they set out for.
The wee king was safe and the future of Scotland secure enough for now.
As it turned out, the quest of her Scottish Warrior had never been entirely about saving a young boy or even protecting his country but finding a love he deserved.
A love they both deserved.
So when their lips locked and the world faded away, they reveled in the end of a successful journey. After all, their ending, one built on acceptance, respect and true love, was by far the very best beginning.
The End
With two evil enemies lurking in the Celtic Otherworld, little Robert the Bruce’s life remains at risk. Who better to protect him then spunky Nicole and the exasperated Highlander honor-bound to keep her safe? Continue the series with Niall and his 21st-century lass in Honor of a Scottish Warrior.
Interested in what happens to Cullen Stewart? Read his novella-length tale in Yule’s Fallen Angel. Here’s a sneak peek at what you
can expect from this shunned Scotsman…
Banished from both Heaven and medieval Scotland, fallen angel turned warlock, Cullen Stewart embraces a solitary 21st-century life with nothing but his motorcycle and the open road for companions. Though he has no use for the protection of the Worldwide Paranormal Society, he soon has no choice. Summoned by Treasa Yule, a witch caught between life and death that haunts a tourist attraction called, Realm of Christmas Magic, Cullen is forced to remember his past. The woman he loved. The choices they made. After all, her petulant ex-boyfriend, the Angel of Death, wants her back. Now the clock is ticking down to a mystical yuletide curse with a midnight deadline of December 25th.
The MacLomain Series
Later Years
Quest of a Scottish Warrior (Logan’s story)
Honor of a Scottish Warrior (Niall’s story)
Oath of a Scottish Warrior (Rònan’s story)
Passion of a Scottish Warrior (Darach’s story)
Previous Releases
~The MacLomain Series- Early Years~
Highland Defiance- Book One
Highland Persuasion- Book Two
Highland Mystic- Book Three
~The MacLomain Series~
The King’s Druidess- Prelude
Fate’s Monolith- Book One
Destiny’s Denial- Book Two
Sylvan Mist- Book Three
~The MacLomain Series- Next Generation~
Mark of the Highlander- Book One
Vow of the Highlander- Book Two
Wrath of the Highlander- Book Three
Faith of the Highlander- Book Four
Plight of the Highlander- Book Five
~The MacLomain Series- Later Years~
Quest of a Scottish Warrior- Book One
Honor of a Scottish Warrior- Book Two
Quest of a Scottish Warrior Page 26
