Chapter 12
Angus covered Carmen’s hands with his own. He squeezed them to warm her frozen fingers. “Are ye awricht now, lass?”
She shook all over so she could barely nod. “I’m all right. I’ll stop shaking in a minute.”
“Ye saved all our skins another time, lass.” He no longer cared about calling her that. He was too glad to see her again.
“I couldn’t let her destroy you. I couldn’t stand there and watch her kill you, too.”
“Tell me again what ye saw inside.”
Her teeth chattered so she could hardly get the words out. “The King…. he looked just like you, only much older. At first, I thought he was someone else, but when I saw him up close, I wasn’t sure.”
“And the Throne? Tell me about that.”
Her shoulders shook with racking tension, but she never shrank from his questions. “It was all carved out of this jet black wood. It must have been ebony or something, and the dragon sat behind it, all curled around it. Its head stuck out over the top so its eyes stared right down at anybody standing in front of that Throne. The painting I told you about made it look like the dragon was alive. I could almost believe it standing in front of that throne. You could see how that dragon gave its power to the King. It all came together. It only needed a man sitting on the Throne to make it real.”
“It must be the Phoenix Throne.”
“That woman told you that?”
He nodded. “The hag you mentioned sounds lik’ her, but the one I saw dinnae ha’e green skin. She were a mite ugly, though.”
“And you say she changed into that beautiful maiden before she gave you the book,” Carmen returned. “How could she be the same woman, if she gave you the book and then attacked you with the wraiths?”
Angus gazed into the fire. “I dinnae understand it a’tall, but I dinnae understand ought in this jobby business. She mun’ ha’e some reason for ought she does. All this magic—it’s beyond the ken o’ a simple mon lik’ me.”
Carmen smiled up at him. “You’re not that. I’m sure of that now. You’re part of this, and if your line used to sit on the Throne before you, you’ll wind up there in the end.”
“I’ll wind up there if I dinnae get me ‘ead cut off beforehand. Ye should get some rest now, lass. Ye’ve been awa’ the other side o’ the world and back in a single dee.”
The firelight glowed on her cheeks, and she started to relax. “It’s you who needs rest. You don’t look so good, you know. You’re wearing yourself out with this.”
“I cinnae rest since you went awa’. Ye cinnae ken how I dreaded that I’d ne’er see ye again. That would be worse than ought the witch could do tae me.”
She squeezed his hand back. “I felt the same way. Ross told me I would go back where I belong as soon as I broke the curse. I thought I would die in there or go home. I didn’t want to leave—I mean, I didn’t want to leave you. I did it for you, to help you and give you some peace from this curse.”
He cast a quick glance around the circle, but no one paid any attention to them. Robbie knelt over Brody’s broken leg. Brody fought like a lion, but the wraiths caught up with him in the end. Connal, Fergus, and Jamie already stretched out on the grass by the fire, and Callum and Ewan were too polite to notice what went on between Angus and Carmen.
Angus settled into himself. Every man in his party already accepted as inevitable whatever was going on between Angus and Carmen. They already understood it, perhaps better than Angus did himself.
How did that happen? Did they see him brooding more than usual after Carmen disappeared? Did they see the way Angus confided in her after they picked her up? How it happened no longer mattered. It happened. Now they sat close—too close—by the fire in the clicking night.
No one could sleep after the wraith’s attack, and Brody kept groaning every time Robbie did something to him. Angus’s instincts told him to get the party on their feet and moving. That policy always worked before, but it wouldn’t work now. For one thing, they already sat under the witch’s very window. They had nowhere to go and no way to fight her. If they sat out here for much longer, she would cut them down one by one with her wraiths.
Angus took one last look around and found Carmen watching him. He wanted her back. He wanted to confide in her and trust her. He wanted a strong woman at his back, and now he had one. What would he do with her, now that he had her? How could he make use of this golden resource dropped into his lap?
The fire died down. Ewan and Callum went off somewhere into the trees with their weapons. They didn’t have to search the perimeter now. The witch wouldn’t attack again in the same night.
Carmen’s presence hovered so warm and close and inviting next to him. He couldn’t ignore her, and he didn’t want to. He wanted to solidify his hold on her so she would never slip away again.
He slipped off the log on which he sat and crossed his legs on the ground by the fire. He extended his feet to the warmth and held out his arm to Carmen. “Come ‘ere, lass. Come.”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t argue. She must have sensed the same inevitability surrounding everything they did. They might as well fall into it and accept the new rules. She slid down at his side, and he draped his arm over her shoulders. He guided her down to his chest, and he positioned her head in the crook of his shoulder.
Once he got her into that position, she sank into him like she belonged there all along. Ross must have seen this a long time ago. Angus had to lose her to see how much she really meant to him.
Angus closed his eyes against the fire’s heat. Fatigue and exhaustion flooded him, and he leaned his head against the log. He could sleep like this. She wasn’t going anywhere. She was his. Whatever happened, they would face it. He didn’t have to carry the burden of leadership alone. He could ask her questions and get her help to make decisions. He didn’t have to keep his guard up around her or make her think he knew what he was doing when he didn’t.
Not that he ever did that with Robbie or Ewan or anybody else. They all knew better. They knew he didn’t have the first clue what he was doing or where he was going, and they didn’t care. None of them understood these magical forces coming after them. They were only too glad to leave the hard decisions to somebody else.
Her soft body against his wiped all that out. She was here. She made him soft, too, but at the same time, she made him stronger and harder than he ever thought possible. He never wanted a woman before—not like this. He never imagined needing one for anything more than one night of insane passion.
He leaned his head to one side and brushed his mouth and cheek against her hair. Did she feel the same way? Of course she did. She told him she did everything in that castle for him, to help him and give him some relief from this curse. Now she was back, and she never balked at showing him how glad she was to see him again.
He closed his arms around her. Everything was okay. Tomorrow would bring another day of challenges, but he didn’t dread them now. He settled into a comfortable position and fell asleep.
He startled awake sometime during the night. The others slept all around him. Carmen stirred in his arms and sat up. Her eyes gleamed down at him. “Are you all right?”
He nodded. “I thought I heard summat comin’ in.”
“I didn’t hear anything. Don’t you think we better be moving?”
His hand trailed across her back. “I thought, but I dinnae lik’ to say ought in front o’ the lads. We’ve naught to go nowhere, and we’ve no way tae get inside the castle tae fight the witch.”
“I can get inside,” she told him. “I didn’t have any trouble crossing the river. I saw my friend running around the forest trying to distract me, but that was just a diversion. We can ignore that. Maybe if we go to the river together, we can get across.”
“We ken try it,” he replied, “but if that monster comes back an’ threatens us, we’re fallin’ back. Understand? I cinnae risk another life on this foolishness.”
She smiled down at him. “Of course. What do you want to do about Brody? We can’t take him with us, and we can’t leave him alone out here.”
Angus glanced over at Robbie asleep at his friend’s side. Angus didn’t want to think about Brody. If Robbie chose to stay behind to protect Brody…. Angus shook the thought out of his head. He couldn’t lose Robbie. He couldn’t face this without Robbie at his right hand.
He turned back to find Carmen staring down into his eyes from above. The faint starlight glistened on the moist surface of her eyes. Her breath breezed into his face. His fingertips trailed up and down her back. His heart ached for her.
Before he could make up his mind what to do, she bent down and kissed him once. She pulled back to check his reaction. She did it. She crossed the unbridgeable gap between them. They both wanted this, but of the two of them, only she had the courage to make the first move.
Angus pressed his flat hand against her back to bring her in, and her butterfly lips landed on his mouth one more time. He didn’t try to stop the flood of passionate desire sweeping all over him. He wanted her. He wanted her like that, and in every other way.
She melted at his touch, and her delicious petal lips over around his mouth. She tasted more divine than he ever imagined. She opened her mouth to let his tongue in, and her scent filled his head with all kinds of wild ideas.
He caressed her cheek, back to her hair. His fingers clamped around the back of her head to hold her mouth against his. His blood sang in his veins, and her breath caught in her throat. Tingling energy danced all over her skin where he touched her.
Her hand rested on his chest and stroked him through his shirt. He wanted her all over his skin, in every crevice. He wanted to inhale her into himself where he could get her whenever he wanted.
He brought up his other hand to her face. Their lips mingled and danced in every direction, but he couldn’t hold her in place anymore. His hand slipped down to her chest. Her vest got in the way so he couldn’t touch her, but she took hold of the clasp and slid it down. Her shirt covered her curvaceous chest underneath.
He caught sight of her eyes sparkling above him. She watched the nuances of his expression. She wanted him, too. He tucked his hand inside her vest, and his fingers closed over her breast.
She panted for air against his kiss, but she never pulled away. She squirmed at his touch, and her body rippled against him all the way down to her hips. His blood rushed to his crotch. He wanted to take her right now, in the chilly dark by the dying fire. He wanted to see her naked and exposed and quiescent in the night.
He pushed the vest back and pulled up her shirt. She didn’t fight it. She helped him bare her white skin to his touch. She did something behind her back to free her breasts into his hands. He massaged them and rolled them until she gave little soft squeaks of suppressed desire.
He hitched both hands under her armpits and lifted her up so she towered above him. She shucked off her shirt and vest, and her bare breasts fell into his mouth. Oh, God, she tasted so incredibly sweet. She breathed into his hair and hugged his head in close. Her pearl-white arms surrounded him dreamy delight.
He touched her all over. He fingered her between her legs, but he couldn’t figure out how to get her pants off. He sucked her nipple and nibbled it between his teeth until she gasped in his ear. Her every breath sent a lightning bolt of streaking fury to his crotch. His balls ached, he needed her so bad.
He guided her hand down to the spot where his sporran covered the throbbing bulge under his kilt. She needed no instruction. Her delicate hand slid up his leg to the nest of heat underneath. His head swam when she touched him.
The next thing he knew, she stroked him in expert movements that quickened him faster than he ever thought possible. In an instant, she tossed his kilt aside so his length pointed straight up at her.
He didn’t know what to do with her, but she knew. She unfastened her pants so fast he still had no idea what she did or how she did it. She shifted off him just long enough to peel them off. When she came back, she sat down to straddle his lap.
He quaked to his roots when her warm insides closed around his straining shaft. Her dark outline blocked out the stars. She filled his whole world to overflowing with majestic, mind-altering sweetness.
He caressed her curving sides, up to her breasts and down to her hips spreading over him. She rocked her juicy leaves against him until their steamy cocktail mixed to creamy goodness all around him.
Her breath matched her strokes. She dug her fingernails into his chest, but he didn’t try to stop her or slow her down. He bucked her to greater speed until she collapsed in fragrant sweat over him. Her hair tussled in his face, and he held her close until the last spasm died away. He filled her to overflowing again and again with his own passion, but he could never get enough.
He cupped her chin and raised her face to kiss her mouth. She dissolved in his hands to perfumed bliss. He never experienced anything like this in his life. His heart overflowed with emotion for her. It all came out in their kissing, in their skin, and in the spicy mixture of their vital essence flowing back and forth from one to the other.
When was it ever like this? Why had he lived all these years without this? He had to go through the nightmare of the last two months and the deeper anguish of the last few days to appreciate this moment with her. He could never get this with anybody else. He knew that now.
She fell off him onto the ground at his side, still all warm and naked and delicate. He protected her in his arms. He wanted to get rid of his clothes so he could be naked with her, but that would never work—not here with all these men asleep on all sides.
He rolled up on top of her and covered her all over with kisses. He mouthed down her neck to her collar bone and lower to her breasts. Passion surged all through her and down to her legs entwined between his knees. Her moisture tickled him awake. He wanted to take her again, but she gave him a quick bite on the cheek and wriggled away.
Chapter 13
Carmen snatched up her clothes and bolted into the dark. Just before she darted away, she gave Angus a squeeze around his genitals. She giggled and leapt clear before he could grab her.
He muttered a curse, but she already left him far behind. She dashed into the trees, and the dark enveloped her. The starlight gave her just enough light to find her way down to the stream. She had to get dressed before she froze her naked tuchus off.
Muffled footsteps followed her into the woods. Her heart fluttered in excitement. Angus was coming after her. She tossed her clothes aside and plunged into the frozen stream water. It sucked the breath from her lungs, but she submerged until its icy grip filled every pore and opening.
Strong hands found her under the water, and Angus’s bare arms closed around her. She came up spluttering for air to find him standing next to her. The water streamed off his shoulders and down his hair and chest.
Carmen gasped in the cold and rubbed the freezing water all over her. She floundered out of the stream, but he followed her every step of the way. She struggled up the bank to her clothes, but he stopped her from picking them up.
He turned her to face him, and the stars glistened in a thousand prismatic droplets all over his skin. He panted for breath, but his hands felt warm when he touched her. Her teeth chattered, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He looked regal and grand cut out against the stars. His skin shone silver all over, and the dark orbs of his eyes caught her in their hypnotic power.
He eased closer to her, and his arms closed around her shaking body. He hugged her against him, and his lips commanded her to respond. They stood kissing and trembling in the cold, but that kiss ignited the blazing passion lying latent in her soul. She couldn’t pull away. She didn’t want to.
His muscles tightened all over him. His shoulders expanded until he towered over her. She never felt smaller and more vulnerable than she did right now, but she wanted him like this. She wanted him to dominate and rule and protect her from eve
rything.
He crushed her against him, and his member swelled stiff and hard between her legs. He lifted her off the ground still devouring her mouth. He caressed her dripping insides with that hot shaft of his.
Every kiss drew a gasp from her. She hung onto his shoulders and grappled her arms around his neck for shelter from the raging storm coming at her from inside him. Before she knew it, he steered her legs around his waist, too.
He pushed her back against a tree and sat her down on his thrusting hips. She never knew what hit her until another unstoppable wave of explosive pleasure burst through her. She moaned in deepest ecstasy. She didn’t have to worry about anybody hearing her out here.
He growled into her mouth. That pulsing wave translated down his rigid frame to the pumping tool between her legs. He nailed her to the tree, but she experienced only rapturous bliss at every stroke. She cried out each time he slipped inside her. She sensed the cataclysm approaching, but instead of resisting, she sipped it higher, stronger, deeper. She wanted every drop of it she could stand.
He called back and forth to her. His hands clenched around her to support her. He would never let her fall or let her go. Their answering cries bounced from one to the other in rising chorus until her teeth sank into his ear in torrential screams. She impaled herself on that wicked spike and drank him in to her very depths.
Angus tensed all over. The next moment, a burning jet of fire seared Carmen’s insides. He howled into her ear, and their blissful harmony touched the stars. They remained locked in eternal bliss until they both slumped to the ground steaming and throbbing all over.
Carmen’s legs clamped around his waist, and his meaty arms held her close in the warmth radiating off his chest. They lay still for what seemed like hours until the night breeze cooled them.
A chill shivered through Carmen’s wet hair, and she curled close around Angus, but it couldn’t last. They both cooled until the cold bit their skin. She trembled, and her muscles tensed.
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