God’s bones! The world around her swayed. What was he saying? She could not make her mouth work to form the question. He stepped directly in front of her, dropped to his knees, and wrapped his thick arms around her legs. Her heart thundered as she looked down at him.
“Are ye turning away from me, then?” she whispered.
“Nay, Bridgette, nay!” He buried his head against her legs for a long spell, then finally tilted his head back to look at her. “I kinnae turn away from ye.”
The anguish in his eyes did not give her the solace she sought. She was destroying Lachlan and Graham with her selfishness. Why could she not find the strength to make herself simply go away from them? She could easily return with Alex to the MacLean hold, but her heart wouldn’t let her.
Lachlan slowly stood and pulled her against his hard chest. His arms came around her and rested heavily on her shoulders as he dipped his forehead and pressed it to hers. “Graham told me I am nae his brother any longer.” Guilt drenched Lachlan’s words and ripped at her heart. “He absolved me of my vow to keep him safe and said that I’d nae ever been good at it anyway. I did nae argue because I ken his words have the ring of truth.”
“Lachlan, nay!”
He shook his head. “He spoke the truth,” he said again with more force. “My teasing him when we were young about nae being a good hunter led him to leave Lena, and that’s when she drowned. It was nae his fault nor Atholl’s, who tried to save her. I failed Graham then, and I fail him now.”
“Nay!” she cried, cupping his face.
“Aye!” he argued, his eyes burning with what he thought was the truth. His guilt and pain broke her heart, and she could think of no way to convince him he was wrong. His gaze pierced her as he spoke. “He said our mother told him after Lena died that if I’d been Lena’s defender, our sister would still be alive.”
“God’s bones!” Bridgette moaned. How horrible for Graham. “Why would yer mother say such a thing?”
Lachlan’s face set into hard lines. “Grief, I suspect. And anger. I dunnae think she meant it, but she was nae one to offer apologies. She was loving, for certain, but a hard woman.”
“Poor Graham.”
“Aye, and I made it worse.”
“How?” she demanded sharply, angry that he wanted to heap all the blame for Graham’s problems on his shoulders.
“By teasing him and making him feel worthless with my need to keep him safe, and now I am hurting him yet again. And—” Lachlan squeezed his eyes shut, and his voice dropped to an agonized whisper “—I hear a voice in my head telling me that I must save him from himself, but I dunnae ken how to do it without giving ye up, and I won’t do that. Nor am I certain it would matter anyway. I feel as if I’m being cleaved in two.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “If something happens to him, ye might begin to hate me…”
He slid his hand to the nape of her neck and stared into her eyes. “Nay. Never. I love ye. I just wish I kenned a way to ease his pain.”
“I do, too,” she whispered. “Perchance I should go back home for a spell.”
“Nay!” he said vehemently. “I need ye here.” And as if to show her, he ran his fingers in a slow, sensuous circle on the nape of her neck, under her hair, and if she could have thought of any argument for why her going might be best, she certainly could not now. Her blood hummed in her ears and her breasts grew heavy with the need to feel his fingers and his mouth on them.
“I like verra much when I touch ye and can see yer desire for me on yer face.” A carnal smile came to his lips. “If we’ve settled our problems… He grasped his sword and quickly sheathed it.
“I kinnae think properly when ye touch me,” she admitted.
“I ken it,” he replied. “And it pleases me greatly.”
He looked so arrogant that she laughed, but she also had the sudden urge to remind him that they were equals. She boldly cupped his manhood. He growled in response. She slowly licked her lips while massaging his staff.
“What of ye, Lachlan? Are ye able to think when I touch ye?”
“Oh, aye.” In the blink of her eyes, he had scooped her up and into his arms. “I’m able to think about how I want to plant myself deep within ye. But beyond that, all I can think of is how fast I can remove our clothing.” He leaned toward her and feathered kisses down her neck and over her collarbone until she shivered in his arms and caressed the length of his back in return. He raised his lips to hers as he slid his hand under her legs to lift her up, snug against his chest.
She gasped. “Where are ye taking me?”
“To the cave where we may have privacy,” he growled. “I want to forget everything but us for a while.”
She wanted that, too, but even as she acknowledged the desire, she also knew their problems would not go away. “Tell me of the king and what he said,” she asked as he walked.
He strode into the dark cave, lit only by moonlight, and told her of all the king’s suspicions. “I need ye to be cautious,” he said. “I will watch over ye, but please dunnae go off alone. Ye ken there are men who would wrongfully force an alliance from yer brother by trying to take ye as his wife. If ye were my wife…”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “We both ken why we must wait. Let us nae talk of that again. Let us seize this moment alone while we have it.” She feared with all the turmoil and the need not to hurt Graham further, the moments would not be many for some time.
He nodded and then divested himself of his weapon, his plaid and other clothing. Her body burst into flames at the memory of their joining, but even as her desire burned, a thought occurred. When Lachlan stepped toward her, she stopped him with a palm to his bare chest. The contact of his skin singed her, and a fierce craving for his body rose in her. “I’ve something to ask of ye.”
He pushed her hand aside and tugged her to him. She was keenly aware of his hard thighs brushing against hers.
“Aye?” His voice was low and seductive. He brought his hands to her shoulders and, with a deftness that amazed her, relieved her of her gown and undergarments. She did not protest. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. She needed to feel him and to assure herself that their love could not be destroyed. She suspected, by the way he stared at her with raw need, that he felt the same. Yet, she could not succumb until he promised to treat her as his equal always.
His hands slid from her shoulders to her breasts, and he cupped them before lowering his mouth to one and then the other. Between the wicked slide of his tongue around her bud, he paused and then, without looking up, said, “Tell me what ye wish to say.”
“I need ye to allow me to fight by yer side if a battle comes here.”
His response was to suckle her breasts until her knees gave and he was holding her up.
“Lachlan,” she groaned, “yer pledge!”
He straightened and stared into her eyes. “Ye are my equal always, m’eudail. And I will do all in my power to ensure other men understand ye are their equal as well. I kinnae lie and say I want ye fighting by my side.” She glanced away, hurt, but he cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Ye are the fiercest woman I’ve ever met, and ye are more skilled than most men with a bow and arrow, but ye’re nae as strong as most men. It’s a fact that kinnae be changed. If a battle rages and ye wish to shoot from a distance, then so be it. But if ye are in the thick of the battle, my mind would be on ye and nae on what I must do. I kinnae cut down my enemies as I must if I am only thinking upon keeping ye safe. Do ye ken what I mean?”
She wished she didn’t, but she did. Reluctantly, she nodded. “I ken ye,” she grumbled.
He nodded but did not release her chin. “I want ye to vow something to me now.” Instead of waiting for her answer, he lowered his head to one of her breasts and circled his tongue around her bud, once, twice, three times, until she moaned and arched toward his mouth, greedy for more of him. When he pulled away and stood to face her again, her body screamed a protest.
He s
lid both his hands to her breasts, and his thumbs worked their magic as he spoke. “I want ye to vow that ye will listen to me and obey me when it comes to a battle being safe for ye to fight.” When she opened her mouth to object, he gently pressed a finger to her lips. “Please, m’eudail, I need this from ye. I vow to always explain if I say nay, and I vow to relent to ye in other ways.”
With how he had pleaded and his vow to explain himself and relent in other ways, she thought that, in this moment, she might vow anything he asked, God help her.
“I pledge to listen to ye when it comes to my joining a battle,” she agreed. “Now, in what ways will ye relent to me?” She instilled a husky, teasing note into her question.
The lines of worry that had marred his face disappeared immediately, and a wicked gleam filled his eyes.
Eighteen
The trust and desire that shone from Bridgette’s eyes filled Lachlan with such love that his body trembled. He spread out his plaid for them to lie on and then guided her to the ground. He laid her on her back with her hair spread around her face and simply stared at her. She watched him intently but did not speak. That she knew him so well already filled him with happiness unlike anything he’d ever known. She understood he was feasting on her, memorizing her every detail to keep with him not only during the day when they were parted but if a time came that they were parted for a great while. He prayed such a time would not come, but who could say for certain with King David and his nephew possibly warring with each other.
He leaned over her and ran his hands through her silken tresses, over her brow, and down the slender nape of her neck to her collarbone. He slid his thumb to the shadowy hollow between her collarbones and pressed his finger lightly there. Her heart thumped under the pad of his skin, and for a long spell, he counted the beats, which picked up speed and willed his own heart to match hers. Soon, within himself, he felt his pace and breath quicken, too.
He took her hand, guided it to his chest, and placed her palm over his heart. He didn’t explain. He wanted her to feel it before he said a word. They stared into each other’s eyes, and when hers widened and she gasped, he spoke. “We are one, m’eudail. Our hearts now beat as one in time. Distance kinnae change that. And we will nae let the seer’s prophecy change that. We will find a way to save my brother and have each other. Ye will always be mine as I am yers. Wherever ye may go, I will always find ye. Do ye ken?”
Her fingers curled into his chest, and she nodded. “We belong to each other,” she whispered throatily.
“Aye,” he said and leaned down to possess her mouth and seal the vows they had just made. His kiss was not gentle, and it pleased him greatly that her passion matched his. As he ravaged her mouth, she ravaged his. But when he pulled away to feather kisses down her belly, she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Tonight,” she said, her green eyes growing dark and slumberous, “ye will yield to me and my wishes.”
Desire flared within him. “What do ye wish me to do?”
“Lie down,” she commanded. “I wish to touch ye, to bring ye pleasure as ye brought me pleasure before.”
“Ye dunnae need to ask twice,” he teased and scooted beside her to lie on his plaid. She had sat up and moved to her haunches beside him to look down at him. Her thick red hair hung heavy on both sides of her face. When she reached behind her and gathered it into her hands to twist it behind her back, his mouth watered at the way her body moved with such grace and unintended seductiveness. “If ye mean to do with me what ye will, ye best make haste. I’m nae far from flipping ye on yer back like a rutting beast!”
“Fiend,” she said on a chuckle while she moved to straddle him. She ran her hands up his chest, stripping him of his control. When he groaned with pleasure, her smile widened and took on a mischievous twist. She leaned forward, kissing him fully on the mouth and brushing her chest against his. The featherlight friction drove him to grasp her by the hips and heave her up with only the thought of plunging himself within her.
“Nay,” she said sharply, stopping him mid-motion. “Ye vowed to acquiesce to my wishes.”
“Aye,” he said hoarsely, “so I did.” He lowered her back down and moved his hands to his sides, where he fisted them. She scooted lower on his legs and then ran her hands up the length of his thighs to the juncture between. She took his manhood in her hands and caressed him. He grew instantly harder, and the blood pounded from every part of his body to there.
“B-Bridgette!” He struggled to say her name. “I dunnae ken how long I can withstand this.”
“Ye will endure it until I say,” she ordered firmly.
Sweat dampened his brow, his back, and his chest, but he gave her a reluctant nod. “Aye.”
Chuckling, she dipped her head to where her hands had been and took him fully into her mouth. The pleasure was so great, so intense, that guttural cries ripped from his throat. She stroked him with her mouth as she had with her hands until his body tightened like a bow and he thought he may die of bliss.
“Bridgette!” he growled.
Her answer was to swiftly rise up, straddle him, and lower herself over his hard staff. She slipped him into her slowly. The farther she buried him in her hot, welcoming body, the closer he felt to losing the little bit of control he still possessed. The desire to clutch her hips and drive into her hard and mindless pounded at him relentlessly. He gritted his teeth to keep from doing exactly that.
She took his hands, moved them to her breasts, and then began to ride him, slowly at first, then faster until her pace almost matched what his body was crying for. He closed his eyes, wanting to absorb the moment, her scent of heather, and the consuming warmness of being inside her. When he opened his eyes, her head was thrown back, her hair cascading over her shoulders. The vivid shade of red contrasted sharply with her creamy skin. Her full, high breasts looked even fuller, swollen from desire and his earlier ministrations. He ran his hands up her flat abdomen to her soft breasts, and he gently caressed her until moans came from her. He knew the moment she found her release. Her core tightened around him and snapped his control like a stick underfoot.
He gasped. “Now?”
“Now!” she answered on a pant. “Take me.”
He grasped her hips, rolled her onto her back, and plunged so deep within her that he worried for a moment he might have hurt her. He stilled as she opened her eyes and a smile pulled at her lips.
“That is the best feeling in the world,” she said and then wiggled, which made him growl. “Dunnae move,” she commanded.
He wanted to cry out the agony that command would bring, but he clenched his teeth until she giggled. “I’m just teasing ye. Move now and move fast, aye!”
“I’m but yer servant, m’eudail.” He grasped her hips tighter, and together they found the perfect rhythm that drove them both to screaming and ended with him exhausted and winded on top of her.
For a moment, they simply lay there, their bodies still joined in the most primal way possible. He whispered his love into her ear, and as he did, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and whispered her love to him in return. He rolled onto his back and drew her to his side, slipping his arm under her neck to support her.
She nuzzled against him, draping one leg over his and trailing her fingers up and down his chest. “I’m afraid,” she said.
He glanced at her, a shaft of moonlight shining bright on her face. Worry danced in the depths of her beguiling eyes. He was afraid, too, but he would not voice it and worry her more. He stroked his hand down the length of her hair. “Dunnae fash yerself, m’eudail. I will nae let anything happen to ye, to us, or to Graham.”
“Ye ken ye kinnae vow such things, as do I, but I will take the pledge anyway and cloak it around myself.” She lay her cheek against his chest, and his hand found its way to her back where he traced the curve of her body down to her waist and over her lush hips.
The moment was perfection, and he prayed it was only the beginning of a thousa
nd more to come.
The next morning in the great hall, Lachlan glanced at Bridgette after the king finished speaking of fealty, and Graham glared at them both. Bridgette gave him a look that plainly said she thought her greatest fears were coming true. The worst part was he could not immediately deny it.
Iain’s gaze, darkly serious, met Lachlan’s, and then he spoke. “Ye’ll be laird while I’m gone.”
Lachlan nodded, recalling the last time he’d been laird in Iain’s absence—when Marion had been taken and Graham hurt—and he winced. Iain moved from in front of Lachlan to Graham. “I expect ye to make peace with Lachlan and keep the clan safe together,” he said in a firm tone.
Graham jerked his head in a nod. “I’d nae ever let my dislike of Lachlan hurt the clan.”
Lachlan gritted his teeth, fighting back the urge to respond. Iain sighed but said nothing, either. When he turned, Lachlan thought he would dismiss them all, but he motioned to Cameron, who came forth while slipping a satchel from his shoulder. Iain spoke quietly with him and he nodded at whatever he’d been asked and then reached into the satchel and withdrew three gold cuffs.
Iain motioned the brothers together with Cameron in the middle and Lachlan and Graham on either side of him. “I asked Cameron to make these several days ago. It’s been in my mind to do it for quite some time, and now seems the perfect moment to give them to ye.” He held the cuff up, and as Lachlan surveyed it, he realized the cuff perfectly matched the one Iain wore, the one their father had given him long ago. The cuff had been passed down from laird to first son for as long as anyone could remember.
Iain touched the cuff on his forearm. “All three of ye ken that Father gave me this cuff, which was once his, as is custom for the laird to give to the son that will next be laird. It’s true I am yer leader, but I’m also yer brother, and I’d nae be able to lead this clan without each of ye. So I want ye all to wear a cuff that matches mine. Let us start a new tradition and show that we are our most powerful when we are treated as equals.”
Wicked Highland Wishes (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 2) Page 21
