“So I too will age. Would you get rid of me because my beauty or form fades?”
“You jest over something too serious. Each passing year sees me older and older. You will be saddled with an old woman if I were to stay.”
“Aigneis, you are being too noble in this. I need no children. I will keep you without the vows of marriage if you will stay. I will not hate you because you are older than me. None of this is a barrier to me.”
“Every man wants children, to say otherwise is a lie,” she said furiously. She had been held accountable for sins and the failings of others, too, for so long, so knew no other way. “What must I do to make you see the truth between us?”
He could see it in those luminous eyes of hers—she wanted to take what he offered but the fear and the past kept her from accepting him. Then he realized that he must offer her the same thing she offered him—freedom.
“You are right, Aigneis,” he said with more than a little fear making his heart race. He could lose her forever if she didn’t want to try to trust him. “I do not wish to marry you.”
“You do not?” Her voice shook and her face grew pale.
“I want to keep you for a year. At the end of the year, if you are not happy and still do not trust me, you are free and I will not trouble you again.”
“A year?” she asked. “Not a lifetime?”
“Aye,” he nodded. “Only pledge me a year.”
He knew the moment she overcame her fears and decided to give him a chance to prove himself. And he did not mind her doubts because he was sure of his love for her and hers for him, even if she was not . . . yet.
And Breac intended to keep her for a lifetime, no matter his bold statement. He would just prove it a year at a time until she realized it too.
Epilogue
Southwest Scotland, 1091 A.D.
He was not even certain he’d closed the door.
Breac had been traveling on Lord Malcolm’s business for nigh on a sennight now and only just arrived home. Within minutes, nay seconds he thought, she stripped him of his clothes and was having her wicked way with him. Once she straddled his hips and began inching her way down his shaft, seating him deeply inside her, he cared not if the door was open or closed.
Now he was truly home where he wanted to be.
He reached up and covered her breasts with his hands, rubbing his thumbs over the nipples until they were tight buds and she moaned. Aigneis rocked her hips, creating the most wonderful friction against his cock. He could not help but to thrust deeper into her tightness.
She enjoyed being in this position and he did too, for it freed his hands to tease and pleasure her as she mounted him. But now, after too long away, he wanted more. Before taking control, he slid his hand between the wet folds of flesh and found the small bud that would make her scream. He placed one hand on her neck and pulled her down to kiss him while he stirred her passion and rubbed that bud until it hardened as he did.
She panted against his mouth and, from the slickness between her legs and the tremors beginning deep within her, he knew she was close. Releasing her neck, he gripped her waist and rolled her under him, now able to plow her more fully. If she objected she said nothing, but only met his thrusts with a roll of her hips against his. His sac tightened and she tightened around him and then he felt his seed release and she cried out and milked him of every drop.
Breac rolled just enough not to crush her and waited to catch his breath so he could share the news with her.
“I think I will keep you for another year,” he said, laughing.
“And what convinced you to do that this time?” she pushed the curls from her face and kissed him once. Once he’d mentioned that he preferred her hair shorter, she cut it herself the way he liked it.
“Your warm welcome could have been it.”
“You are so shallow if a simple tupping will convince you,” Aigneis teased.
He leaned up on his elbow and kissed her. “And my performance was not enough to keep you in my bed for one more?” Before she answered, he continued. “Then I shall have to try to impress you with my news.”
Their search for her sons had been unsuccessful, but they’d not stopped since she revealed their existence to him those eight years ago. With no idea of where to even begin, they went back to see the healer near Dunadd, who’d told him the story of a woman caught by the Sith and taken to his lands under the fairy hill on Mull. And now, he’d learned . . .
“Tell me,” she whispered excitedly. He could almost hear the lost song of the Sith in her voice sometimes when she spoke of her sons or the Sith prince.
“A friend on Mull spoke of a young man who counsels a chieftain there. There is talk of visions and knowledge not of the mortal world.”
He watched as tears gathered in her luminous gray eyes and she tried to blink them away. “Do you think it is possible? Could he be one of the three?”
“I will send someone there to learn more before we get our hopes up again.”
She sighed loudly. “So, I guess I must keep you again for another year.”
Breac kissed her to celebrate her declaration, her eighth since that day long ago, and to mark his hopeful news. Soon they were lost in passion again. His last thought was that one day he would tell her she was keeping him forever.
Be sure to catch MISTRESS OF THE STORM, out now!
An epic struggle for dominance is ravaging the Isle of Skye.
And in its midst, a man and a woman are locked together
by fate—and fantasy . . .
Odious though it is, Isabel knows what she must do: go to
the one known as the Healer, seduce him, and recruit him
to her power-hungry stepfather’s cause. If she refuses, her
innocent young sister will pay the terrible price of her
disobedience. Yet after just one night with the man she
must manipulate, it is clear to Isabel that even if she
succeeds, the deceit will not leave her unscathed. For in the
healer’s powerful arms, her heart is lost forever . . .
Duncan of Skye knows there are those who would use his
unusual gift for their own selfish gain. Even so, he yearns
to trust the beautiful temptress who warms his bed and
fills him with insatiable passion. And when he must
choose between her future and his own, he may have to
risk everything—even his life . . .
BRAVA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2010 Theresa S. Brisbin
This is an excerpt from the Brava anthology Undone, published by Kensington in May 2010.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Brava and the B logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-7470-0
Table of Contents
MORE BOOKS BY TERRI BRISBIN
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
Copyright Page
scale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
From Undone: A Storm of Love, A Novella Page 9
