Damn them all and their ridiculous Highland pride. That’s what had started this entire roller-coaster ride of sheer idiocy in the first place. Kenna gripped the carved finials atop Trulie’s and Gray’s chairs until her knuckles ached.
Colum lunged forward swinging his broadsword across his body in a lethal downward arc. The nerve-shattering clash of steel against steel echoed to the rafters as Ronan leapt to one side and deflected the strike with his own upward thrust.
Colum turned with a deft rolling spin, slashing back across his path with enough force to cleave Ronan’s head from his shoulders. Ronan crouched just in time to miss the glinting edge of the well-honed blade as it whizzed within inches of his head.
Ronan roared as he clutched his sword in both hands and hefted it upward in a powerful lunge. His blade sang along the edge of Colum’s weapon as Ronan muscled forward.
Colum teetered off balance, stumbled back, and nearly went down. He recovered the attack with a diving roll that moved him just inches away from the path of Ronan’s blade.
Ronan’s taunting laugh drowned out the collective gasps of those gathered in the hall. “Ye grow weak already? I would ha’ thought a man able to survive the cruelties of the Highlands would surely consider this bit a swordplay as easy as tumblin’ a maid in the gardens.”
Colum didn’t respond, just bared his teeth as he labored to his feet and heaved his sword over his head.
“ ’Tis about t’end.” Gray spared a glance back at Kenna. “Ye best be ready.”
“Ready? Ready for what?” Kenna nearly choked on the words as Colum split the air with a bloodthirsty roar and charged Ronan.
Ronan raised his sword and met Colum head-on, but the combined force of Colum’s rage and his massive frame toppled Ronan backward to the floor. The weight of the men’s crashing impact against the stones clattered Ronan’s weapon from his fist and sent it spinning out of reach.
Colum reared back, then hammered the pommel of his sword downward. Ronan twisted, deflected the blow, then shoved Colum off balance and bucked him off his chest. Colum labored to his feet and charged forward before Ronan could rise from the floor. Colum’s chest heaved with ragged breaths as he kneed Ronan backward and pressed the glinting tip of his blade to the base of Ronan’s throat. Crimson pooled where steel met flesh, then slowly trailed down the sides of Ronan’s neck.
Ronan’s eyes narrowed. His tensed hands opened and closed as he glared up at Colum. “Finish it.”
Kenna couldn’t take it anymore. She rushed out from behind Gray’s chair and ran to Colum. “Stop this right now. This must stop.”
Neither Colum nor Ronan acknowledged they’d heard her.
Colum slowly lifted his chin. The bulging muscles of his arms glistened beneath the dancing flames of the torches. He slowly turned the blade the barest bit against Ronan’s throat as he hitched his massive frame into a wider stance. The trickle of blood down Ronan’s flesh grew heavier.
This had gone too far. A frustrated growl tore from her throat as Kenna slammed both fists against Colum’s chest. “Stop this lunacy right now. Don’t you dare spill more blood because of me.”
“If I kill him…” Colum never took his gaze from Ronan’s expressionless face, just resettled his fingers across the worn haft of the sword. “If I kill him, he’ll ne’er hurt ye again.” Colum’s chest rose and fell like a panting beast crazed from the hunt. Bloodlust shone in his eyes. All reason had left him.
Kenna dropped to her knees beside Ronan, wrapped her hands in the tail of her skirt, and grabbed hold of the blade now aimed at Ronan’s heart. It was no use. Colum’s strength had the blade locked for the final thrust. No matter how hard she yanked, the steel wouldn’t budge. “Colum…no. Please. I am begging you. Please. You must spare him.” Panic closed icy fingers around her throat and choked off her words. “Please don’t do this.”
“Chieftain Sutherland. Do ye renounce yer claim on m’wife’s sister?” Gray’s resounding voice cut through the oppressive silence of the room and rang out across the rafters.
Ronan’s face darkened into a scowl as he glared up at Colum. He bared his teeth like a cornered animal before he spit his reply. “Nay.” The word sounded like the enraged growl of a trapped beast challenging the killing blow of the hunter.
“Good,” Colum rumbled. “I’ll break the claim when I send ye to yer place in hell.”
“I nay renounce m’rights or claim on this woman, but I do proclaim this sham of a marriage to the vile woman null. Unconsummated.” Ronan hitched his chin upward in a silent dare, all the while glaring at Colum. “Take this useless female back into yer clan. Ye’ll find the icy wench the same as she was before she left here. She is unable to properly perform her marital duties. I’ll get no heir from one such as her.” Ronan’s glare slid to Kenna, then moved back to Colum. “I canna fathom why ye want her. That one’s more frigid than the deepest loch in the dead o’ winter.”
The hall buzzed with whispered rumblings and the excited shifting of the crowd. Kenna rolled back on her heels and bit the inside of her cheek to keep silent. Great. To save the pride of two stubborn-ass men, she would now be known as Queen Frosty-Thighs of Clan MacKenna. But two men’s lives and senses of honor had also been saved, so it was well worth the price.
Colum blinked as though awakening from a spell. His gaze slowly shifted from Ronan to Kenna, but he kept the tip of his sword pressed to Ronan’s breastbone. “What say ye, Kenna?”
Kenna pushed herself up from the floor and shook broken bits of dried rushes from her dark skirts. “His words are true. Please. Just let him go so we can be done with this mess.”
Reluctantly, Colum retreated a step and yanked the sword away.
Ronan sprang to his feet and edged back to his sword without taking his gaze from Colum’s face.
“So ye dissolve and deny this verbal union here in the witness of kith and kin?” Gray said, stepping forward as Ronan jammed his sword back into its sheath and shrugged his plaid back in place.
“Aye.” Ronan barked out the word as though biting through steel. He swiped the back of one hand across his bloodied throat.
Gray turned to Kenna. “From this moment forward, yer no longer the Lady Sutherland.” He raised his voice to all in the room. “The Lady Kenna Sinclair has returned home.”
The ear-splitting clatter of mugs banging against tables filled the room.
A sense of gratitude filled Kenna as she watched Ronan quietly fade to the back archway and slip from the room. All things considered, he’d not been such a bad man. Hopefully, she could repay him someday.
She turned in time to catch sight of Colum striding toward the arch leading to the outer courtyard. “Wait!” She raised her voice above the din in the room and bellowed with all her strength. “Colum Garrison. You will stop. Right now.”
All went silent as Colum halted, straightened his shoulders, then slowly turned and stared back at her down the length of the room. Resignation hardened his features to stone.
“I am wife to only one. I am wife to you, Colum Garrison.” She’d be damned if she’d return to Colum’s stupid game of I’m-not-good-enough-for-you. That’s what had started all this mess, and she was going to end it right now.
Colum stood silent. Unblinking. If not for his thumb worrying across the handle of his sword, Kenna would’ve sworn him to be a statue.
“I will e’er be yer champion. Yer protector. Guardian. But I dinna deserve ye as wife. I am beneath yer station, m’lady.” Colum jerked his head forward in a dismissive nod and turned back to the door.
Plaids and skirts rustled as all in the room shifted on their benches and turned back to face Kenna.
“Bullshit!” Her rage shot the word down the length of the hall. “You are mine, Colum Garrison, and I will always be yours.”
Colum didn’t respond. Nor did he turn to face her. All he did was lift his chin, square his shoulders, and stride from the room.
Kenna gathered up her skirts and ran
for the stairs leading to her chambers. Enough of this crap. Time to settle this damn battle.
Chapter 37
Colum stirred the glowing red coals of the brazier, but even the fire’s radiating heat did little to purge the chill from his bones. Tomorrow, he would leave and seek the blessed solitude of the wildest parts of the Highlands. It was well past time he be on his way to a solitary life. His duty was done here. He’d saved Lady Kenna and ousted Sutherland’s darkness. A snort escaped him as he shook his head. Damn, I wish Kenna wouldha allowed me to kill the bastard.
He palmed the cool weight of a swollen skin in his hands, then uncorked it and pressed it to his lips. The welcome burn of a well-aged batch of MacKenna whisky seared a fiery trail to his gut. He forced the memory of Kenna’s shouted oath to the back of his mind and sucked down another long draw of the spirits. A few more swallows and perhaps he’d be blessed with dreamless sleep in preparation for his travels. ’Twas time for both of them to move on and put aside all that had come to pass.
The outer door to the stables rattled a quiet thud. Colum ignored the sound and settled more comfortably on the bench lining the meager confines of the tack master’s room. Old Roarke had shaken his head and clapped a hand to Colum’s shoulder when he’d offered Colum his room in the stable for the night. The man didna agree that Colum should go. In but a few words, he’d made it quite clear that Colum should pull his head out of his arse and take that fine woman t’be his. Colum took another drink and rested his head back against the wall.
Unwanted opinion or no’, Colum was thankful Roarke had offered his room. He’d be damned if he’d stay in the keep this last night and tolerate the stares and whispers of the nosy servants.
Footsteps rustled through the scattered leavings of hay tossed about the hard dirt floor of the stable. Colum took another deep draw of the whisky, held the liquid fire in his mouth, then let the burn trickle down to his stomach. He wiped the back of his hand across his lips and leaned forward to call over the half door leading out to the main aisle. “Roarke! Come. Share a drink wi’ me. Toast m’safe travels.”
The half door creaked open. A cloaked figure, face hidden in the darkness of a hood, stood in the doorway.
Colum smacked his lips and peered closer at the mysterious visitor. Either he’d already had a bit too much whisky or the spirit of death was a great deal shorter than legend would have had him believe. Colum belched an eye-watering vapor and sat a bit straighter on the bench. “If ye’ve come t’gather me t’the other side, ’tis about damn time ye got here.”
The hooded figure didn’t say a word, just stepped deeper into the room and firmly closed the door.
“Would ye like a drink?” Colum belched again, and proffered the gleaming skin of whisky.
“Maybe later,” Kenna replied as she yanked loose the ties of the cloak and shrugged the wrap to a velvety pile at her feet.
Holy Mother o’God. The skin of whisky slid through Colum’s fingers and splatted against the floor. Kenna patiently stood before him in all her naked glory.
Her ivory skin flushed a tempting shade of pink in all the right places. Kenna lifted her chin and her full round breasts tightened beneath Colum’s stare. The tempting rose of her nipples darkened into excited peaks straining toward him.
Colum’s gaze slid lower, down the alabaster silk of Kenna’s stomach to the delightful dark vee between her thighs. Take her. His bollocks tightened with the primal command. Take her now. His cock echoed with a hardening roar.
“I’ve come to claim my rights as your wife. I demand you fulfill my needs.” The tip of Kenna’s tongue raced across her upper lip and she clasped her hands behind her back.
Colum’s heart pounded, drowning out all other sound as Kenna’s words pushed him to his feet. A weakening shred of reason pinched him. His waning conscience struggled against the raw, burning need triggered by the temptation before him. “Ye deserve—”
“—I deserve to be loved—to be satisfied.” Kenna closed the distance between them and smoothed her palms up his bare chest. The coolness of her silky skin burned against his flesh. “I deserve to be taken—to finally be sated by the only man I have ever loved.”
Colum slid his hands up the luscious curves of her tempting backside. He pressed against the small of her back and crushed her beauty to him. The scent of her set his mind to reeling as he claimed the sweetness of her mouth.
Mine. His body roared into the softness of her curves. Mine alone. Colum groaned as he hefted her into the crook of his arm and lowered her to the pallet.
As Colum quickly undressed, Kenna’s dark eyes flashed and she wet her lips. Colum sat back on one heel and stared down at her. So much beauty. All his. How could it possibly be so?
“What?” Kenna whispered as she squirmed beneath his gaze.
“Are…ye…certain?” Colum choked out. “Once I start—” Colum swallowed hard as he trailed a fingertip along the curve of her breast and down the silk of her stomach. “—I’ll ne’er be able to stop.”
“I’m counting on that.” Kenna smiled as she leaned up and pulled him down to her.
“I ache for ye,” Colum whispered, groaning as he nuzzled the sweetness of the tender skin just beneath her ear.
“And I you,” Kenna gasped as Colum hungrily nibbled his way lower and found her nipple.
“Lore, lass. Ye’ll surely kill me with the wantin’ of ye.” Colum bit back a guttural moan as Kenna arched her back and ground her enticing curves against him.
“Then take me and keep us both from dying.” Kenna tightened her legs around Colum’s hips and urged him forward. She slid her hands down his back and pressed harder against him. “I’ve waited as long as I can wait, Colum. Please…take me. Now.”
Colum rolled to the side and pulled Kenna alongside him. Kenna drew in a sharp intake of breath and opened her mouth in protest. Colum pressed his thumb to her tempting lips as he cupped her face in his hand. “Shh…ye’ve ne’er known a man before. I must ready ye first.”
Kenna’s knotted brow immediately smoothed as she pulled herself closer and hooked one leg over Colum’s flank. The tip of her tongue tickled up his throat as she trailed her hand down between them and encircled him with her fingers.
Colum hissed in a sharp groan. Lore a’mighty. The silk of her fingers around his cock nearly undid him. He’d given up hope of e’er feeling that touch. He greedily covered her mouth with his as he slid a finger up into the heated wetness of the pleasure waiting between her thighs.
Kenna gasped and squirmed beneath his touch. She whimpered against his mouth as she ground herself hard into the heel of his hand. She deepened her kisses and suckled his tongue as he slid another finger inside her.
“Oh my God.” Kenna broke the kiss and groaned as she shuddered beneath Colum’s gyrating touch. “Oh my God,” she gasped again as she bucked hard against his hand.
Her gushing wetness filled his palm as she panted and moaned against his chest. He ached to bury himself inside her. Now. Now that the way was well warmed and wet. Now he could open her to the most ancient of pleasures.
Colum rolled atop her, edged his way between her thighs, and slid no more than the barest tip of his cock inside her burning wetness. He nuzzled against the crook of her throat and concentrated on gentling his way deeper. Lore a’mighty. Let the pain no’ be too great for her.
Kenna arched upward. “More, Colum,” she panted. “Please…more.”
“Slow, mo chridhe. I nay wish t’hurt ye.”
Colum slid deeper still. Kenna’s wet heat tightened around him, dared him to throw caution to the wind and bury himself to the hilt. Nay. Slowly…for her sake. But Lore the exquisite burning tightness would surely be the end o’ him.
Kenna gyrated against him, raking her hands down his back and mewling wet kisses against his chest.
He could take no more. Colum raised up over her, trembling with the barely contained ache to pound into her depths. “Open yer eyes, Kenna. Look at me.”
>
Kenna’s eyes fluttered open. She cupped his face between her hands and arched harder up against him.
Colum lost himself in her trusting gaze as he shoved quickly through the taut membrane and sank deep into her pleasure. Kenna tensed, holding her breath, her eyes wide and unblinking. Colum steeled himself to remain still as he mouthed gentle kisses across her forehead and down to her mouth. “Breathe now, lass. The worst is o’er.”
Kenna opened wider to his kiss and tightened her embrace around him. Slowly, matching the rhythm of her movements to his, she rocked up against him as he slid in and out of her. Her breathing quickened, and she moaned against his chest as all reason left him. He closed his eyes and gave himself to the delirium of finally possessing Kenna and all the pleasure she held.
Colum caught a fold of the pallet between his teeth and bit down hard as he rocked faster into her. His muffled roar filled the stable as everything else ceased to exist but the ecstasy of spilling himself into Kenna’s heat. Lore a’mercy. Even Paradise itself couldna compare with this.
Chapter 38
Inch by inch, Kenna slowly eased out from under Colum’s arm. She froze as Colum shifted in his sleep and rolled over to his side. He mumbled something unintelligible and rootled his head deeper into the blankets of the pallet. The scowl smoothed from his forehead as he settled into the hissing click of soft rhythmic snoring.
Good. He needed to sleep so she could sort through the craziness clouding her mind. Soundlessly, Kenna rose and retrieved the heavy velvet cloak from the floor. A smear of dried blood across her upper thigh caught her attention. Well, if she needed it there was the proof. She’d finally divested herself of her virginity. Lordy, she hoped it hadn’t been in vain.
Kenna watched the slow rise and fall of Colum’s side as she donned the cloak and wrapped it tightly around her. What would he say when he woke up and remembered what they’d done?
My Highland Bride (Highland Hearts #2) Page 25
