She groaned when he took one of her nipples into his mouth, tugging lightly at it as he gently sucked. Her back arched and had he not had his arms around her she would have fallen back.
Abby felt the cool stone behind her back and watched in hunger as he knelt before her and began removing her boots and then he slowly and seductively removed her pants.
He trailed light kisses up her thighs and a moan escaped her mouth as he ran his hands down her legs. When his mouth found her, she desperately clung to his shoulders. Her entire body trembled and when he drove her to the edge with his tongue and she cried out in ecstasy.
“Aengus, I need you.” She groaned and wrapped her legs around his waist as he drove into her. She clung to him, her fingers digging into the taught muscle of his shoulders. They climbed together and when they came, she felt as if the world had surely shattered with them.
They made love two more times, once in the water that was warmer than it should be, and once in the grass beneath the enchantingly bright blue sky. Aengus looked over at the sleeping Abby cuddled under one of the wool blankets he had brought. He was amazed that even in her slumber, she managed to look impeccably beautiful. As if she had been carved from sheer perfection. Then again, she had always looked like that it was what had drawn him to her at first as a lad. He had been intrigued by the beautiful daughter of the maid his parents had hired. When they began to spend time together, he became enamored by the woman she was becoming. She had been so smart, knew how to read and write although that wasn’t common for girls of her status.
Aengus stood and pulled on his pants. Movement caught his eye at the woods edge and his body tensed, ready for a fight. The voice sounded in his head just as he saw the cloaked figure standing at the edge of the clearing.
“Relax boy. I am not here to harm her, yet.” The cool voice had always held a hint of madness, but now it dripped with it.
Aengus walked towards the figure and kept his voice quiet. “You will never touch her you bastard.”
“Oh, I will, boy. Many times over I will have her. She will writhe with pleasure under me while you watch.”
Aengus felt his blood heat and clenched his fists at his side. “I will never let you touch her Caipre.”
“Oh you silly, silly boy. You haven’t realized it yet have you?” Caipre laughed madly. “You will not have a choice. I will destroy all that you are. I will slaughter your sister and that farm boy she toys with and then I will have Aine. And once you have watched us together, I will tear you apart.”
Aengus began to see visions of his sister falling, blood spilling from her chest. He saw the blankness in her eyes that only death could bring. Sheamus lay crumpled on the ground, his body twisted in impossible ways. He watched as Abby was drug away by a laughing Caipre. He shook his head and forced himself to focus on the madman who stood before him.
“If you give her to me, I might spare you and your sister.”
Aengus didn’t even hesitate. “I will end you if it takes every last breath from my body you sick bastard. You will never harm what is mine.”
He smiled from under his cloak and Aengus felt a gust of wind so strong it pushed him back. “We will see, boy.” He sneered and as he disappeared his laugh rang in Aengus’s mind.
He could never allow Caipre to harm his family. He would do whatever it took to stop him before those horrific images became reality. What had his sister done to deserve such a fate? All she had ever done was care for him. She had given up her soul in order to give her brother another chance at love. She had never harmed anyone. And Sheamus hadn’t even been a part of this at the beginning.
He should have listened when she had warned him. Should have paid closer attention to the way Caipre had watched Aine, then maybe he could have had him removed from the land and kept his family safe.
“Aengus?” Abby’s voice tore him from his thoughts. He turned to face her and sucked in a breath. She was a vision, her hair tousled around her perfect face. The blanket was pulled up around her shoulders, and he knew she wore nothing underneath. If it hadn’t been for the threat, he had just received from Caipre he would have made love to her again.
“We need to head back home. It will be getting dark soon.”
They rode in silence. What had changed in him? Abby wondered. How did he go from the laughing, passionate man to one who sat about his horse so rigidly? He was even more on edge than he had been that morning. She hadn’t seen any sign of Caipre or Annie, no looming sense of danger overwhelmed her so what could it have been? Maybe going back to the waterfall had held too many sad memories for him? But she was with him now, wasn’t she? Even if she didn’t remember everything yet, she was working on it so wasn’t she enough?
She could feel the tension in the air as they dismounted at the barn.
“Go on inside and let Myria know we are back. I'll handle the horses.”
“Let me help, Aengus.” She began to unsaddle Caley but stopped when his hand covered hers.
“Please, Abby. Go on in the house and let Myria know we are back. She will be worried if we wait much longer.” He knew that his sister would have sensed their presence the moment they approached the house, but he so desperately needed to know that Abby was safe, and he knew that Myria had protected the house from Caipre’s physical presence. He couldn’t lay a hand on her as long as she was within its protective walls.
Something in his eyes had her complying and not pushing anymore.
“Okay.” Was all she said as she turned and headed towards the house, she could feel his eyes on her until she closed the door behind her.
“Myria won't you help me?” Abby pleaded later that evening. “Please help me to remember everything.”
“Abby it's not as simple as it sounds. Even if I was able to come up with some potion to help you remember there’s no telling whether your mind would be able to handle it all at once.”
“I don’t care anymore. I need to remember Myria. I need to know who I was before, who Aengus and I were.” She looked back at him. He still wore the same expression as he did out at the barn and stood in continued silence staring at the fireplace.
“Abby, I—”
“Please, Myria. I’m begging you.”
Myria sighed, she knew when to accept she had been beaten. “Very well. I will work on something. But no promises.” She added on a laugh when Abby embraced her.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Don’t be thanking me yet dear. It may not work.”
“Just the thought that you are willing to try is enough for me.” She beamed at Myria. “Aengus isn’t this fantastic!”
The smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Yes Abby, thank you Myria.”
A knock on the door had the three of them tensing.
“Oh relax, I know who’s on the other side of it this time.” Sheamus smiled and they followed him as he all but ran to the door.
When he pulled it open, Abby was surprised and relieved to see her assistant standing on the other side.
“Molly!” Sheamus exclaimed and pulled her in for a hug.
Abby didn’t quite know what to make of what was happening. She stood back as all three of them greeted and hugged her assistant who seemed eager to accept such attention.
“I’m confused.” They had all but forgotten her in the excitement. Shouldn’t it have been her who introduced them?
Molly turned to look at Abby and smiled widely.
“I am so glad to see you, Abby, there are some things we should probably discuss.” Abby gaped at her. All pretenses dropped, Molly spoke with an Irish lilt. It appeared she was just as Irish as the rest of them.
“Wait a minute, you sent her to spy on me?” She was finding that she was getting rather irritated with the amount of spying that had been done on her. “Seriously! Was anyone in my life not a plant by someone!” She turned and ran up the stairs and to her room.
She was fuming. Probably more so then she should have been given that she didn’t give anyo
ne the chance to explain. But what was there to explain? Not only had Caipre sent two people to watch her, but Aengus and Myria had as well! Why couldn’t they have just left her alone? It seems she would have ended up here anyways! She felt betrayed on so many levels and the latest one somehow stung the worst.
Molly had been the only person in her life that she had considered somewhat of a friend, a confidant. True, they hadn’t ever gone out together other than to events that had to do with work but still! She had confided in her multiple times about Emit and the things he was doing to frustrate her and now come to find out she had probably relayed everything back to Aengus and Myria! How could she ever trust anyone again? “Chill out Abby.” She said to herself.
She took a deep breath and went to sit on the bed. No one had come to see her and it was probably for the better. She was in no mood to talk to anyone at the moment.
Chapter Seventeen
Aengus stood staring into the fire. The flames were warm, but he was still chilled from that afternoons encounter. Molly’s return had been a welcome distraction, but now alone with his thoughts, all he could see was his sister's death. He would do anything to prevent what Caipre had shown him, he knew that one of the bastards best tricks was his ability to manipulate and dammit he was doing a damn good job of manipulating Aengus.
He would have gone and thrown himself at Caipre’s feet willing him to take his life instead of Myria’s or Abby’s if he thought it would make any difference. He knew it wouldn’t though, he had expressed that he wanted Aengus alive to see what he was going to do to them. Aengus just had to make sure he never got the chance. How would he even have believed for a moment that Aengus would have given Abby up? That showed right there how crazy he was. Aengus wouldn’t give Abby up for anything in the world and knew that his sister would feel the same.
All they had to do was keep Caipre away until after the handfasting, then it would all be over and they would be free to live their lives in peace. Didn’t they deserve that after all, they had been through?
Myria stood and regarded her brother for a moment. She knew something was wrong, could feel the tension in him and yet he hadn’t spoken to her of it. They had never kept anything from each other and it worried her that he was hiding this.
“Wonderful isn’t it that Molly has returned?” Sheamus’s sister had volunteered to go to America and watch over Abby and ensure Caipre wouldn’t try to harm her or persuade her to come to Ireland before she was ready. They didn’t think that Caipre could leave Ireland, but since they weren’t sure of the power he possessed, they assumed it would be safer to have someone there.
Turns out that they had been right, not only had he fathered a child without them knowing but he had also sent that child to America to try and keep Abby away until after the anniversary.
“Yes, it is. Going to be difficult to explain to Abby why we sent her there, she seemed rather upset.”
“She will come around.” Myria moved to stand next to her brother. “How was your afternoon?”
“It was fine.” His voice taut he continued to stare into the hearth. “I showed her the waterfall.”
“Aengus that’s great. That’s not what I was talking about, though, what happened?”
“What are you fishing for Myria?” He snapped at her and finally turned to look into her eyes. She knew of only one person who had the ability to put that look in her brother’s eyes.
“Caipre.”
“I don’t want to talk about it Myria, stop pushing.” He turned and began to walk away when she grabbed his arm.
“Aengus, if you saw him today-,”
“What part of I don’t want to talk about it are you having trouble understanding?” He tore his arm away from her and stalked into the kitchen. She heard the door slam behind him and knew he was headed for the barn.
Sheamus emerged from the kitchen and saw Myria standing in front of the hearth with her arms crushed to her chest.
“Everything okay?”
“I don’t know Sheamus. Everything has gone so horribly wrong.”
“How do you figure that?”
“We should have been able to hide her here, Caipre never knowing she had arrived, then she and Aengus could have fallen in love without all the added danger. We would have had a handfasting ceremony on the anniversary and everyone could have lived happily ever after.”
“Oh my love, what a flawed outlook on life you have.” He laughed when her eyes snapped to his in shock. “Nothing worth having ever comes that easy. I knew Caipre would find a way to track her, that’s why I pushed for you to let Molly go, I knew she would do well in blending in and keeping an eye on things. Not for one second did I ever have the impression that this was going to be easy.”
“Sheamus you almost died.”
“Almost, Myria. That’s the key word there.” He rubbed his hands on her arms. “You have to stop bearing all of the weight, none of this is on you. And look around you! Aengus and Abby are in love, Molly is home safe and currently getting settled into one of the rooms upstairs, and best of all, I have the opportunity to hold the most beautiful woman in all the land in my arms every night.”
She blushed and smiled at him. “I am lucky as well.” She paused to look back at the flames and then again at him. She knew he was right, he had the amazing ability to always see the best in situations, it was one of the things she loved about him. “Sheamus won't you hold me?”
He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. “My love, I will hold you for the rest of my life.”
“I need you to love me Sheamus, I need to feel you.”
“Your wish is my command.” He smiled and lifted her to carry her into her bedroom.
Four hours had passed before Abby decided she was ready to talk to someone. Except, when she went downstairs no one was there. She had checked Aengus’s room and it was empty, his bed still made. She knew it was late, but it still seemed ridiculous that she couldn’t find anyone.
She almost gave up when she saw him stalking back from the barn. She ran to the door in the kitchen and flung it open before he reached it. She met him with a seductive smile and while he smiled back at her, she knew something was bothering him.
“Come here often?”
“Only when beautiful women greet me at the door. Which as of late has been quite often.” He reached for her, but she moved just out of reach.
“I’ve decided I’m not going to be mad at you anymore.”
“Oh?” He shut the door behind him and crossed his arms over his chest.
“But there are a few things I want to clear up first.”
He leaned back against the counter and waited for her to start speaking again.
“First off, I want you to promise you will not be planting anyone else in my life.”
“Well, I’m hoping that wouldn’t be necessary anyways since I don’t ever plan on letting you out of my life.” He moved towards her and placed both hands on the counter on either side of her.
With him standing so close Abby could hardly think.
“I, I also want to know if anyone else was sent to look after me.”
“We only sent Molly to make sure Caipre didn’t try to harm you or keep you from coming here when you wanted.” He kissed her cheek and then pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat.
“Aengus.” She whispered and gripped his hips.
“Yes, love?”
“Oh never mind.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled his mouth down to hers.
Chapter Eighteen
“This is awful.” Abby scrunched her nose and did her best to choke down the green liquid.
“Sorry, I know it's not pleasant. I told you it might take time.”
It had been two weeks since Abby had asked Myria to try and bring back her memories, and while none of the potions had made her sick yet, they hadn’t helped her either.
“Anything?” Myria prodded as Abby finished the drink.
She closed her eyes and tried to
think back on her past, but nothing came. When she opened her eyes, there were tears in the corners. “Nothing. Oh, Myria this is hopeless!”
“No it's not Abby, it will just take time. You have to be patient.”
“I’ve been patient. Now I’m ebbing on frustrated.” But she smiled at her friend. “I’m still appreciative, though. I know this must be irritating for you as well.”
Myria smiled. “Not as irritating as you might be thinking.”
The two women had become close over the last two weeks. Working together to try and find a potion to bring back Abby’s memories may have come up fruitless so far, but at least they were trying.
“We will give it another shot, but you need a day to recover. To get this one out of your system.”
It had been their usual pattern so Abby had been expecting it, but after each failed attempt she was chomping at the bit to try again. The wait was driving her crazy.
“Thank you so much Myria.” Abby reached for her hands and held them a moment. “I really appreciate you helping me.”
“Abby it's no trouble at all.”
“Why did you believe I would come back?” Abby asked her.
She squeezed Abby’s hands and released them, then smiled at her.
“There’s an old legend about souls, Abby. A story that my mother used to tell me whenever I was young.” She paused and stood to move to the window. “’Tis said that we each have an equal partner and that once we find that partner, our souls becomes tethered together with a bond that is unbreakable by man or magic. “Tis believed that once the souls have found their match, that they will continue to search for it until the end of time.”
“You bet a lot on a legend,” Abby stated referring to the curse.
“I wasn’t betting on the legend, Abby. I was betting on you and on my brother. Your love for each other was the purest thing I had ever seen and it gave me hope that one day I would have it as well.” She looked out at Sheamus who was working with Aengus in the yard. “Who would have thought that it would have been that wager that brought me to my partner.” She turned and smiled at Abby. “Well, it's time to get dressed!”
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