Midnight’s Lover

by Donna Grant

  “And if my god wins?” Ian demanded.

  Charon glanced away before he said, “Then I’ll be the one to take your life.”

  It was all Ian could ask for. And when Charon held out his arm, Ian didn’t hesitate to clasp his forearm. “I wish you would reconsider joining the MacLeods. They need Warriors like you.”

  “Keep Danielle safe,” Charon said, instead of responding to Ian’s comment.

  Ian released his arm and turned to walk to the inn with Danielle on his left. Charon fell into step beside him on his right.

  “We’ll be departing at dawn,” Ian said. “Danielle’s need to get to MacLeod Castle is great.”

  Charon looked to Danielle. “What is your magic?”

  Danielle glanced at Ian before she looked at Charon. “Ian may trust you, but I don’t know you. Just know that getting to the castle is very important.”

  “Fair enough,” Charon said as they reached the door to the inn. “Until next time.”

  “Until next time,” Ian repeated and watched Charon walk away.

  “You like him,” Danielle said.

  Ian frowned. “He could be a friend, but he chooses to keep himself apart. While we were in the Pit, a last resort Deirdre used to turn the Warriors to her side, we suspected Charon was a spy for Deirdre. It was Marcail, Quinn’s wife, who had gotten him to admit the truth.”

  But none of them had been prepared to learn that Deirdre was using something against him. Hatred burned bright in Charon’s eyes each time he spoke of Deirdre.

  Whatever Deirdre had used to get him to spy must have been great. Ian had no doubt Charon would help the MacLeods when the time came to battle Deirdre.

  It was enough that the Warrior would battle against Deirdre. If he was setting up men in the village to learn about the wyrran in order to combat them, then whatever hold Deirdre had on Charon was long gone.

  A wave of magic engulfed Ian. He inhaled deeply at the calming, peaceful, seductive feel of Danielle’s magic.

  And Ian enjoyed it. Entirely too much.

  He looked down at Danielle as they entered the inn and made their way to their chamber. Once inside the room, he bolted the door and let out a sigh.

  Ian leaned his head against the door and simply listened to her and let her magic envelop him. With every breath he could feel Farmire begin to calm and the need for battle and blood ease from within him.

  He placed his palms flat on the door as he remembered holding Danielle’s naked body next to his as he warmed her. He recalled the way she fit against him. He remembered the touch of her skin and the way his body had responded to her.

  Even now he hungered to touch her. Craved to feel her against him. Yearned to taste her lips.

  And he would do it all in a heartbeat if he had control of his god.

  Ian closed his eyes and sighed. He’d never wanted something as desperately as he did Danielle.

  CHAPTER

  FOURTEEN

  Camdyn leaned against a wall in the great hall, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Charlie talking to the Druids. It was Reaghan Camdyn watched the closest however.

  One thing her magic could do was detect when someone was lying. There had been a few times the Druid had frowned at something Charlie said. But in order for Reaghan to fully use her magic, she had to see into a person’s eyes.

  Charlie managed to look anywhere but directly into Reaghan’s eyes. It was as if he knew what Reaghan’s magic was.

  “Still think there’s something wrong with him?” Hayden asked as he came to stand next to Camdyn.

  “I have no explanation for it, I know. But I have a bad feeling about him.”

  “Now, if you were a Druid and told me that, I’d believe you,” Hayden said with a chuckle. “But we doona have those kinds of powers. Or do you?”

  Camdyn rolled his eyes and looked at Hayden. The big blond Warrior leaned one hand against the wall and watched Camdyn with laughing black eyes.

  “Nay, my god doesna give me that kind of power. Just the ability to move the earth if I see fit.”

  Hayden threw back his head and laughed. “And everyone thought you didna have a sense a humor, with you always frowning.”

  “I doona always frown.” Camdyn was taken aback by Hayden’s words.

  Hayden raised a blond brow. “Aye, my friend, you do. I was once like you.” Hayden then turned his gaze to his black-haired, blue-eyed wife. “Until I found something that made me smile.”

  “You are a lucky man to have Isla.”

  “Aye. Verra. I nearly lost her because I was so stubborn. All I’m saying, Camdyn, is that sometimes there is nothing to be suspicious of. We’ve been waiting for months for Deirdre to make a move, and she hasna. It’s left us all on edge.”

  Camdyn flattened his lips as he realized the truth in Hayden’s words.

  “And we have another Warrior for our fight. You should be rejoicing. If nothing else, you should get to know Charlie,” Hayden said, and clapped Camdyn on the shoulder before he walked away.

  Camdyn rubbed the back of his neck and pushed off from the wall. Hayden was right. He did need to get to know Charlie. Because if there was something to find out that Charlie wanted kept hidden or something that could harm those at the castle, Camdyn was going to discover it.

  He had barely taken two steps toward Charlie when he stopped in his tracks and looked to the stairs. Magic, gentle yet powerful, soft yet strong, mysterious yet unguarded, washed over him.

  Saffron.

  In less than a heartbeat, she appeared at the top of the stairs. If he hadn’t known for himself that she was blind, he would never have been able to guess it by looking at her.

  She was slowly descending the stairs with one hand always on the stone wall next to her. Her walnut-colored hair was pulled away from her face at her temples, but hung straight and glossy to her shoulderblades.

  Camdyn had been the one to carry her out of Declan’s dungeon. He’d also been the one to hear her screams in the middle of the night.

  Try as he might, he’d been unable to stay unaffected by her. He’d gone into her chamber the night before when her screams from her nightmares grew too much for him to listen to. Her body had been drenched in sweat as she shivered from the hold the nightmare had on her.

  Upon Camdyn touching her shoulder, she had begun to calm. Only when she slept soundly once more did he leave her room.

  Thankfully, no one had spotted him in her chamber. He knew how Cara and the others liked to play matchmaker, and Camdyn wanted no part of their schemes.

  Besides, he would make a poor husband. He had demons of his own that invaded far more of his life than just in nightmares.

  * * *

  Danielle’s stomach fluttered when she saw the hungry look on Ian’s face that had nothing to do with food. When his lids opened and his sherry eyes focused on her, Danielle’s breath left her in a whoosh.

  She’d never seen such desire, such yearning before. It made her feel alive. Aware. Vibrant.

  As if she had been waiting her entire life for Ian so she could be who she was meant to be. It didn’t make sense, but then it didn’t need to. Not to her.

  What she felt when she was around Ian was what she had been looking for. She’d thought it was something she’d only find in her dreams.

  Instead, he stood before her like a mythical warrior, brave and strong and full of longing so deep she felt it to her very soul.

  “You shouldna have left the inn,” Ian said.

  Danielle shrugged and took a step toward him. “I saw you struggling with your god, and I didn’t know who Charon was.”

  “So you would have protected me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even though I have evil inside me? Even though my god could overtake me?”

  “Even then.”

  Ian looked away and swallowed. “Why?”

  The fact he couldn’t look her in the eye and ask that question nearly broke Danielle’s heart. She closed the dista
nce between them and laid her hand upon his heart. “Because of this.”

  His gaze swung back to her. “What?”

  “Because of your heart, Ian. You may have evil inside you, but you aren’t evil. Despite battling your god, you have promised to take me to MacLeod Castle. You’ve put my needs and everyone else’s above your own.”

  “I’m doing what I think is right.”

  She smiled. “Exactly.”

  “Charon could have killed you,” Ian said, his brow puckered in a frown.

  “He could have tried. You wouldn’t have let him.”

  Heat spread over Danielle’s body when Ian’s hands rose to lightly grasp her arms. She had never been tempted so by a man before. Oh, she’d given in to desire before, but no man had ever made her … burn … as Ian did.

  And did she ever burn.

  Ian’s gaze held hers, smoldering with a dark intensity that took her breath away. Time stood still, their hearts beating as one. Danielle’s breath quickened when his head tilted toward her, slowly, gradually.

  Her lips parted and her heart leaped when his gaze dropped to her mouth. Of their own accord, her eyes slid shut as she waited to feel his mouth on hers.

  His cheek brushed hers, smooth from the recent shave. She lifted her face, anxious to taste him, to know the Ian she sensed was locked away.

  And then his lips found hers.

  Danielle leaned into him as his hands slid around her back and his arms held her in a tight embrace while his lips brushed hers once, twice.

  She held her breath waiting for more. And he didn’t disappoint.

  Ian tilted his head and took her mouth in a kiss meant to savor, to explore. A kiss that began soft and eager turned hungry and demanding. Ravenous.

  A shudder of pleasure deep and true raced through her to settle between her legs. No one had ever kissed her so thoroughly or with such yearning.

  He deepened the kiss while their tongues continued to duel. Urging her desire onward, compelling her body to open for him. Danielle had no thoughts of turning him away. She wanted all of Ian.

  A gasp tore from her lips as Ian spun them so that Danielle was against the door, the hard sinew of his body pressed against her front.

  Her breasts swelled, her nipples tightened when his hand moved to her side and his finger grazed the bottom of her breast. Danielle had held on to the front of his shirt, but now her hands drifted upward and around his neck.

  He moaned when her fingernails gently scraped his scalp. Danielle was consumed by his frantic kisses full of sensuality and need that matched her own.

  When his hand shifted to cup her breast through the thin cotton of her gown, Danielle moaned into Ian’s mouth. But that moan became a gasp when his thumb brushed over her nipple.

  “By all that’s holy I want more of you,” Ian said as he kissed down her jaw to her neck.

  Danielle leaned her head back, her eyes closed, while his mouth and tongue left a trail of heat to her collarbone. She clutched his shoulder tighter when he turned her away from the door and bent her back over his arm.

  She opened her eyes to find him watching her, his mouth hovering over her breast. “Yes,” she said, her voice breathy and low. “Please.”

  A slow, masculine smile graced his mouth a heartbeat before his lips clamped over her nipple.

  Danielle cried out from the exquisite pleasure. His tongue dampened the cotton, but not even the thin material could take away from the delight he was giving her.

  Her hips rubbed against his as the desire pooled low in her belly and steadily grew to a blaze that consumed her. Devoured her.

  Engulfed her.

  Ian knew he should release Danielle, but he couldn’t. After one taste of her he’d been powerless to walk away. He had to have her now. She was in his blood, in his soul.

  Her hands jerked at the buttons on his shirt as she struggled to get it off him. Ian smiled at how her hands shook, because his did as well.

  And then her soft hands touched his bare chest. Ian moaned and suckled her turgid nipple even harder. Her breaths were coming quicker, her cries of pleasure louder.

  Ian raised his head for another kiss as he lifted her in his arms. He groaned in torment when her legs wrapped around him so that the heat of her pressed against his aching arousal.

  He walked to the bed, amazed to find such a beautiful, special woman in his arms. A woman who had opened up a new world for him. A woman who had brought him out of his seclusion and his cave to a new time.

  Ian stopped when his knees hit the bed. Danielle dropped her legs from around his waist so that she was kneeling on the mattress.

  She pulled back from the kiss and let her hands caress his wide chest exposed by the open shirt. Need and lust pounded through Ian in such a rush he could barely stand.

  But the desire darkening her emerald eyes caused his heart to pound faster.

  He didn’t know how he kept his hands from her when she pushed his shirt off his shoulders and to the floor. Ian closed his eyes and bit back a groan when Danielle’s fingers grasped the waist of his jeans and unbuttoned them.

  Ian grabbed his pants to pull them down himself, but she stopped him. His eyes flew open to find her smiling seductively.

  “Let me,” was all she said before she placed a kiss over his heart and climbed off the bed.

  She turned him and gave him a slight push until he sank down on the mattress. Then she proceeded to remove his boots. When the second one hit the floor, she took his hands and pulled him back to his feet.

  Danielle would never grow tired of watching him. Ian was perfection in every sense of the word. Every muscle in his body was honed, sculpted. He was a work of art, something men spent hours a day in gyms trying to achieve came naturally to Ian.

  She leaned up on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his while her hands grasped the waist of his jeans. The kiss was quick, and when she moved away, she pulled his pants down with her.

  He jerked off the jeans before she could, and Danielle smiled as she ran her hands up his muscular legs. His chest narrowed to a V with a tight waist and a bum she had discovered for herself looked perfect in a pair of jeans.

  The sinew of his arms matched the rest of him, toned and powerful. He took a deep breath and watched her, his sherry eyes darkened by desire. His large hands gently caressed down her back, a small smile playing upon his wide lips.

  Ian could only watch her in amazement. A woman had never tended to him with such care or attention before. Every stroke of her flesh against his only made him crave her more, his hunger deepening until he ached with a need so great he shook with it.

  Ian could stand it no more. He took Danielle into his arms for another hard, demanding kiss. She opened for him, welcomed him. When he asked for more, she gave it willingly, as if she were as ready as he. As if her need were as great as his.

  Ian grasped the hem of her gown and began to gather the material in his hands. He broke the kiss long enough to pull the nightgown over her head and toss it on the floor along with his own clothes.

  He’d seen her with naught but her bra and panties before, but now she stood before him bare and beautiful. For a moment, he couldn’t find words to express what he thought of the stunning woman before him.

  “My God, you are the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Danielle’s shy smile told him he’d said the right thing. He pushed her against the bed until she fell back with a startled laugh, her knees dangling from the side.

  He had her just where he wanted her. Ian gazed down at her with her silver hair spread around her and her body flushed with desire.

  His hands caressed up her legs to her hips and then to her breasts. He fondled her nipples, pinching and rolling the turgid peaks until her hips were rising from the bed seeking him.

  “Ian, please,” Danielle begged.

  It had been a long time since he’d had a woman, and though need burned bright within him, he had no wish to hurry. He wanted to savor every momen
t, to prolong the ecstasy he knew would take them both.

  But more than that, he wanted to burn Danielle’s image into his mind. Her every smile, every look, every sound.

  Ian knelt down on the floor between her legs. With a soft nudge, he pulled her thighs wider so he could see her sex. Danielle’s legs fell open to expose the silvery curls, and Ian’s cock twitched when he saw how wet she was for him.

  He groaned, needing to taste her essence, to hear her scream in pleasure. Ian gripped her hips and pressed his mouth to her softness.

  Danielle’s hands fisted in the bedspread when she felt Ian’s tongue on her sex. She had barely pulled a ragged breath into her lungs before that wicked tongue of his began to tease her clitoris.

  He was merciless, ruthless, as he licked and sucked and excited her. The need humming through Danielle coalesced in a raging inferno that burned bright and fiery. Her nerves were stretched taut, her body shuddering from the sweet torment.

  The pleasure was intense. Ian swept her away on a tide of unending pleasure. The bliss was almost too much to take, but it never entered her mind to turn away.

  This, this wondrous, incredible desire was what she had always hoped to experience. What she had always thought she never would.

  Ian lifted her hips and moved his tongue back and forth over her clitoris. Danielle whimpered as the desire intensified within her, drawing tighter and tighter until she thought she would burst from it.

  With one flick of Ian’s tongue, he sent her over the edge.

  Danielle screamed as the pleasure rocked her, shook her … consumed her. She rode the waves of ecstasy as they pulled her deeper into the flames of desire.

  Dimly, she was aware of Ian’s weight shifting the bed. Danielle opened her eyes to see Ian’s hard body braced over her. His sherry eyes burned bright with need, and his arousal stood thick and heavy between them.

  She reached for him, a contented smile on her face she knew she had never experienced before. Ian brushed his lips over hers and settled between her legs. She inhaled deeply as the wonderful weight of him sank atop her. He hooked an arm beneath one of her knees before he leaned down.

  A groan tore from her lips when his chest rubbed against her aching nipples. Then the broad head of his cock pushed against her softness.