by Lia Lee
They ended the dance facing one another, deeply bowing as the music faded, and Donovan took her hands in his. At first she thought he would pull her in for an embrace, but instead, he turned them up so that he could kiss her warm palms. His mouth was sweet, and his kisses sent a deep tremble through her body.
“What do you want?” she asked again, her words sounding foreign in her ears. There was a resonance to the question, and she knew that Donovan could feel it as well.
“To be away with you,” he said, never taking his eyes off of hers.
Something inside her broke. It was not the snapping of a branch, but instead the breaking of a wall. She could only hold back the tide of emotions she had for him for so long, and she was tired of it. So tired.
She took his large hand in her small one, and she followed him into the night.
Chapter Seven
Carly had felt giddy in the dancing hall, but when she walked out into the cool summer night with Donovan, she felt a strange calm settle over her. They had both driven to the event, a short distance away from the town itself, but now by silent mutual accord, they walked out over the fields hand in hand.
Carly had never felt the silence so purely and so wonderfully. She was usually one prone to simply chattering away when she was nervous, but right now she wasn’t nervous. There was another kind of energy animating her instead, and when Donovan led her into the fields along a wide worn path, she followed without hesitation. They walked for some measureless time in the deepening night, and all Carly knew was that each moment was more lovely than the last.
It was Donovan who broke the silence first.
“See that peak over there? The dark bit that blots out the stars?”
“I do.”
“That’s Anwynn’s Tears. That’s where we met that day.”
“That day...” She remembered of course. She suddenly wanted to apologize for everything that had happened, but there was nothing to apologize for, she knew that. Instead, she stood a little closer to him.
“Why do they call it Anwynn’s Tears?” she asked instead, and he smiled at her.
“I was told the story not long ago. Shall I tell it to you?”
“Please. I would like to hear it.”
They continued their walk through the night, and Donovan started to speak. “Once there was a fine and pretty girl named Annwyn, long and long ago. She was born of poor stock, but she was a skilled weaver. People came from all around to buy her wares, and so she prospered.
“Some of those people wanted to marry her as well, to buy all that talent for their own clans, but she refused them all. She would have no man who only saw her as a pair of weaving hands, she said, and she kept herself chaste.”
Donovan looked down at Carly in surprise. “You shivered. Are you all right?”
“I am,” she said, though that was not the whole story. “Please, go on with the story.”
“Well, man after man was turned away, but then came to her door a fine fighting man by the name of Keldric the Eagle-Eyed. He was one of Fionn Mac Cuhal’s men, that brave band of soldiers, and he was known for his vision. He had come for her weaving to take to his mother, but then he laid eyes on Annwyn herself.”
“And what did he see?” asked Carly, her voice catching slightly in her throat. It was just an old story, but she found herself getting caught up in it nonetheless.
“He didn’t see weaving. He didn’t see a pretty girl with fine hands and dark hair that called to a man’s eyes. He saw the heart of her. He saw fate, he saw destiny, and she knew it.”
“So she married him?” Carly asked, and she blushed a little at how childish she sounded. Donovan only nodded however, grave in his role as storyteller. She knew he was a billionaire, she knew that he was a modern man and a modern woman, but somehow, now in the dark, she felt as if they were loosed from time, that Annwyn and Keldric were not so far removed from them after all.
“They say he met her in the morning and married her in the afternoon. He wasted no time. He made her his wife, and for a short while, they were happy.”
“What happened?” she asked, and Donovan paused for a moment. There was something darker about the night now, as if there were fewer stars in the sky.
“Keldric was called away to fight for the Ard Rig, the high king, and of course Annwyn could not follow. She cursed the fact that she was only a weaver and not a shield maiden, but nothing could make him stay, and nothing would allow her to go. He kissed her gently on her closed eyes, and he said that he would always return to her so long as he had breath in his body, so long as he had a single leg to walk on, so long as he had honor in his heart, and with that she had to be content.
“It was all she had to be content with, for three years and three months. She waited, she wove, she watched, and then word came back. Her husband was dead.”
Carly knew it had been coming, if only for the ill-omened name of the peak, but she still sighed sadly.
“She went up to the peak, and for a day and a night, she thought to throw herself over the edge. Then, she decided to wait, weeping all the while.”
“Wait?”
Donovan smiled, a fleetingly sad thing that made her heart ache.
“Aye. She remembered that he had said that he would come to her if he had breath in his body, a leg to walk on and honor in his heart. He had no breath, and he had no leg anymore, but he had honor in his heart, and so she waited, and waited, and waited, crying all the while.”
“What happened then?” Carly asked, her voice tremulous. She had always thought that she was proof against stories of sadness and woe, but somehow she was caught up in the life of this ancient woman, one who might never have existed, but which tonight was real and close.
“Well, she died, and because he was of the dead, Keldric came to find her. He lifted her up by the hand, he kissed her on her closed eyes as had been their way, and he smiled at her as he always had. ‘Come with me, dear, and leave your sorrow behind you,’ he said, and that was what she did.”
Carly caught her breath at the last words of the tale. “So the peak, it’s not named for the sorrow she experienced, but for the sorrow that she left,” she said, and Donovan smiled at her.
“Because she found the one she loved, and she needed that sorrow no longer, yes.” In the darkness, it was impossible to tell what Donovan was thinking. She wished for light so that she could see into his pale eyes, but instead, she reached up to touch his lips. He made a soft sound when she did so, but then he held himself still, allowing her to run her fingertips over his lips. They were warm under her touch, and when he parted his lips slightly, Carly sighed with pleasure as his tongue flicked out to taste her.
“What do you want?” he asked. “I was honest with you.”
“I want you,” she said with a sigh, and then the heavens opened above them.
A bolt of lightning turned the sky as bright as day, so bright that she could see the dark centers of Donovan’s pale eyes, the slightly shocked expression on his face as he looked up. A few moments later, there was a boom of thunder, and then the sky was drenching them with frigid cold water.
“Oh! Oh my God!” Carly squeaked. The cold was shocking, and for a moment, she thought she had been paralyzed by the surprise. Then Donovan was snatching up her hand, pulling her along as he ran.
“Come on!” he shouted. “I know where we can find shelter.” She would always remember that run as being enormously long, taking forever in the sleeting water, the sky lighting up with flashes of terrifying brilliance. In reality, it took less than ten minutes before they came to a large wooden structure at the center of the field.
Donovan threw open the primitive door hastily, and dragged her inside. She saw quickly that it was an old barn, though it seemed one that had not been used in quite some time. It was warm, and the air was redolent with the ghostly smell of old hay. Donovan bolted the door behind them, and then turned on the light on his smartphone, using it to investigate their surroundings
.
“Is someone going to be angry we’re here?” she asked, her teeth chattering together.
“No, I own this property,” Donovan said absently. “Have for a while, it was one of the first ones I bought.”
“I see.”
He spared her a wry glance before he went back to exploring. “The old man who owned it was more than happy to let me take it off his hands, if that’s any consolation for you. He’s off living somewhere much warmer and more comfortable these days.”
Carly sighed, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to warm herself. She still didn’t know what she thought of Donovan’s plans, and right now she was too cold and wet to think about it. Instead, she followed Donovan through the barn, his phone’s flashlight showing the way. After a muttered ‘aha’ she heard a match strike, and suddenly there was a glow from a fat candle set in a little tin dish.
“Well, they do say the old ways are sometimes the best ways,” Donovan said with a sigh. “I think we’re here while the storm’s on, unless you care to take a run back to our cars.”
“No, I think being out in that downpour once was enough for me,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m ready to wait.”
He looked at her. “Not like that you shouldn’t,” he said at last. “Your clothing’s drenched and cold. You’ll catch your death. Here, take it off, and I’ll see if I can find you something else.”
She might have accused him of planning this, but he turned away from her almost immediately, examining their surroundings for anything that might help. Before she had done much more than unbutton her blouse, he returned with a slightly dusty blanket that smelled of hay.
“I think that MacGregor stayed in the barn from time to time,” he said. “There’s a room in back with a cot and some more candles. Head back when you’re decent.”
There was nothing salacious at all about the way he left her with the single candle and the blanket, and as she stripped, Carly found herself feeling oddly regretful.
Come on, dummy, he’s a billionaire. One glimpse of a naked thigh isn’t going to undo him…
She sighed, and soon her thoughts were focused on stripping out of her damp clothes and draping the blanket around her shoulders as neatly as she could. Her own clothes she hung over the rail of a stall in the hopes that they would dry a little before she had to put them back on.
Almost shyly, she ventured back to the room Donovan had indicated, candle in hand. The door was open, and there was a light on. She pushed the door open farther without thought and gasped slightly. Donovan had stripped and found an old pair of trousers from somewhere. He had his muscled back to her as he bent down to pull the trousers on, and she could see a flash of his rear, a bit of thigh and that gorgeous back before he turned around to face her. She was certain that her face must be flaming red, but he only smiled at her.
“So this is cozy then,” he said, and she was able to look around at their surroundings.
It was cozy, in a way. There was a bed that was somewhere between a single and a double pushed against the wall and a rudimentary desk made out of old crates close to the door. There were some rustic tools hanging on the shelf, and a few books stacked carefully on the desk, along with the lit candles.
“I like it,” she said. “Beats being out in the rain at least.”
“You still look as if you are half frozen,” he said. “Come here.” She went without question, and he sat her on the bed as he knelt in front of her. It was strange to be able to look him in the eye, and he ran his hands up and down her arms, bringing a little bit of warmth back to her body.
“Oh, that feels amazing,” she murmured, almost guilty about how good it felt.
Donovan chuckled. “Good. I want you to feel good, Carly, I always do.”
Later on, Carly could not figure out who had started it. Had she leaned forward? Had Donovan tilted his face just an inch closer to hers? Either way, their lips met, and that fire that she had felt before was no accident or single incident.
Outside the rain pounded the roof, but it felt like the small room in the barn was oddly silent, barricaded from the rest of the world by candlelight and the smell of old hay. The kiss went on for some eternal moment, and Carly lost herself in it. It wasn’t even that she was getting something she had always wanted; it was more as if she was seeing a color she had never noticed before. There was a capability in herself to feel things that she had never explored, and Donovan was lighting up her world.
“So beautiful, so beautiful to me,” the man was crooning. “So lovely and perfect.” After the initial onslaught, his touch gentled, and his kiss traveled from her mouth to her cheek, to the corner of her jaw and up to her ear. He took his time playing with her lobe, tracing the whorls of her ear as he did so. Carly had never thought of how sensitive she might be there, but when the very tip of his tongue traced the rim of her ear, she shuddered, the sensation running through her body.
She felt like she was at sea in a boat that was too small. She hung on to him as if he could steady her, and Donovan chuckled.
“Do you have any idea how enticing you are, little one?” he asked. “Do you have any idea how much I want you?”
Summoning all of her courage, Carly bit her lip and slid her hand down between their bodies. Twice she almost chickened out, but then she folded her hand over his manhood through the course fabric of his borrowed trousers. Underneath her shy fingers she could feel the tensile strength of him. She could feel the way his body coiled at her touch, and the gasp that Donovan made was music to her ears.
“I might have some idea,” she said, her voice small and shy, and the noise that Donovan made in response was really no word at all. There was promise and lust, and just a slight hint of menace that made her shiver at the sound.
“God, I need you.”
He hooked his thumbs in the edge of the blanket, and with a soft tug, it fell down to pool around her feet. Startled, Carly raised her hands to cover herself, but Donovan caught her wrists, keeping them down.
“No. Do not do that, do not hide yourself from me.”
The gaze that he raked over her was fierce and scorching; she could feel it almost like a real touch. Under his eyes, her dark nipples tightened. She knew he could see her large breasts, her soft belly, the curvy weight of her thighs, but she could see no disdain in them. There was nothing there but a hot appreciation and need, and she shuddered.
“You are lovely,” he murmured, and he pushed her back onto the bed.
It was an old bed, but once upon a time someone must have scattered it with lavender. The smell, soft and ghostlike, rose up around her as Donovan placed his weight on top of her. She had thought before that a woman would certainly be crushed in this position, but instead it was delicious, the feel of skin on skin, his warmth enveloping her.
Donovan started to kiss her again, and she gave herself up to the pleasure he was giving her. His hungry mouth traveled down her soft and sensitive neck to the very tips of her fingers. She never realized that her palms were so very sensitive before, or her fingertips. When he gently ran his tongue along her white forearm, she nearly curled in on herself with sensation, but that was far from the end of it.
He toyed with her breasts, his gentle touch far different from the incidental groping and furtive squeezes that had seemed part of living in the city. He somehow managed to erase all of the touches that had come before with the heat of what she felt now. Now there was only his fingers, teasing her nipples erect, sending goosebumps dancing down her arms. When he first lowered his mouth to one nipple then the other, Carly seized large handfuls of the blanket underneath her, arching up towards him.
He made his way down her body, laving her skin with his tongue and kissing her as he went. She shook when he came to the delicate juncture between her thighs, but though he ghosted his palm over the thin patch of dark hair there, he continued on, showing her how sensitive and erogenous her thighs were. She was shaking when he stroked the back of her knees, and without thi
nking of what she was doing, she threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging gently.
“Yes, love?”
“I can’t wait much longer,” she whispered, and she could hear how tremulous her own voice was. “Please, Donovan.”
The smile he gave her was devilish, and perhaps just a bit vengeful. “I rather think you’ve been making me wait for quite some time,” he said, but then he moved up a little, parting her legs with firm hands.
Carly covered her face with her hands. She knew she had asked for this, but no one had ever looked at her like this before. No one had touched her as intimately as he was doing. For a moment, she thought she might die of embarrassment, but then he was stroking his palm down the very core of her, passing twice and then three times and then pressing upwards. The pressure made her gasp, and instinctively she bore down on his palm. His soft laugh made her pull back, her cheeks flaming. Had she done something wrong? Had he realized that she had never done this before?
“No, never fear, my little love, I only wanted to see if you might enjoy that.” At her shy nod, he grinned again and stood from the bed briefly. She watched, wide eyed, as he pushed the borrowed trousers down to the ground, stepping out of them and rejoining her on the bed. He moved with an utter lack of self-consciousness, and when she saw his manhood jutting out in front of him, she gasped a little. He was longer and thicker than she thought he might be, and it was strangely hard to catch her breath.
He came rise over her again, but this time his weight was canted to one side. It brought his bare muscled thigh right between her legs, and she shook to feel both his manhood snugged intimately against her hip and the warm flesh pressed against her core. She started to ask him what he was doing, and then he flexed his leg, pressing down against her.
The surge of pleasure that shook her made her gasp, and she clung to his shoulders. She started to apologize for the way her nails dug into him, but then he pressed his thigh against her again, making her shudder.
