by Donna Grant
A light shone from beneath the door, but no sounds came from within. For several minutes Tara battled with herself over whether to proceed or leave before she could make a fool of herself.
But Isla’s words came back to her about Ramsey discovering news of his past.
Tara gave a quick knock before she changed her mind. To her disappointment there was no response. She tried the handle and found it unlocked, so she opened the door and poked her head inside.
Ramsey sat on a stool facing one of the windows, his feet braced on the sill as he stared outside.
He looked so forlorn that Tara was walking toward him before she realized it. She had a view of his profile, and the stark desolation she saw tugged at her heart.
“I’m no’ fit company.” His voice suddenly rang out in the tower.
“Maybe that’s when you need someone the most.”
“Nay, Tara. No’ this time.”
She licked her lips. “I—”
“I need to be alone,” he interrupted her.
Tara’s blood pounded in her ears as her embarrassment increased. She should have known better, but she’d listened to Isla. Isla knew Ramsey better than she did, which was the only reason she was here.
But she’d done the one thing she hadn’t wanted to do—make a fool of herself.
Tara turned on her heels without another word and left the tower as quietly as she had entered it. If she needed proof that Ramsey wasn’t interested, she’d just gotten a huge dose of it.
Her feet flew down the steps as she hurried to her room. She wasn’t used to feeling so idiotic. She wasn’t used to having so many people around worried about her.
Maybe it was a mistake to think of staying at the castle. And with Declan thinking she would stay there for safety, maybe it was the right time to leave Scotland altogether.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ramsey heard the door close and squeezed his eyes shut. He’d hurt Tara. He knew it as surely as he knew her touch would have soothed him.
But he didn’t want to be soothed.
He needed to feel the pain welling within him. Because if he didn’t, he was going to go insane with the rage he was barely keeping under control.
His advanced hearing allowed him to hear Tara’s feet as they retreated down the stairs. He gripped the stool so he wouldn’t go after her.
All it took was thinking of Tara and he could taste her kisses, feel her silky skin beneath his palms. With just a thought he had her bare breast in his hand as she straddled his lap.
Ramsey had wanted to be alone, to go over the scanned pages from the book Galen had studied. Ramsey had wanted to delve into his memories of his childhood and recall his parents’ faces.
But Tara had changed all of that just by coming to him.
In a blink Ramsey was off the stool and out of the tower.
* * *
Tara reached her chamber to find the door not quite closed. For a moment she hesitated, fear spiking through her. Then she remembered where she was. It would take a lot for Declan to get past all the Warriors and Druids.
She shoved aside the lingering fear and walked into her room. The door was yanked out of her hand before she could close it. Strong fingers spun her so that she was against the wall.
And she found herself staring into amazing silver eyes.
“You shouldna have come to me,” Ramsey whispered, his face breaths from hers. “You shouldna have cared.”
Tara, still shaken from his sudden appearance, lifted a trembling hand to his arm.
Before she could utter a word his mouth was upon hers. The kiss was long and slow, seductive and erotic. She tasted his desire, the hunger burning bright inside him. That passion grabbed her, took her. Seized her. And she was powerless to do anything but succumb.
Tara tried to get closer to him, but he held her still and ended the kiss. She searched his gaze, trying to determine what he was thinking. Ramsey was such an enigma. Every time she thought she knew who he was, he revealed something else.
“It was a mistake to kiss you that first time,” he said as he rubbed his smooth cheek against hers. “The second kiss only made me hunger for you more. And this third kiss was my undoing. I’m holding on by a thread, Tara. If you doona want this, then you need to leave now. Because I can no’.”
Leave? Did he really think she wanted to? All she’d thought about was him and his kisses. All she wanted was to be in his arms.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
Satisfaction filled his eyes before he was kissing her again. Tara wrapped her arms around Ramsey’s neck as he swept his tongue into her mouth. This kiss was fast and fierce.
The kiss stole her breath away. It took her, swept her along a tide of desire so intense she knew she’d never be the same. It was Ramsey’s kiss, his touch. He was the reason she could already feel herself changing.
She gave a frustrated moan when he pulled away from her long enough to yank off her sweater. The ribbons of magic she saw winding around them when she opened her eyes shocked her.
“I’m drowning in your magic,” Ramsey whispered before he took her mouth again.
Item by item, they left a trail of clothes and shoes to her bed. By the time they reached it, both were completely naked and standing toe to toe, hip to hip.
The passion was high, the need urgent. His arousal, thick and hard, stood between them, but it was the hunger she saw in his eyes that made her stomach flip.
“My God, you’re beautiful,” he said as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Tara rose up on her tiptoes and threaded her fingers in his hair. She couldn’t get enough of his body. She’d never seen muscles so toned or a body as cut as his. Though she’d seen him without his shirt before, seeing him without clothes only made her want to touch him even more.
She ran her hand over his thick shoulders, down his back to his buttocks and trim hips. Her fingers skimmed the dark hair on his legs before his hands captured hers.
His lips moved over hers skillfully, slowly. Each nip and lick only added to the desire pumping through her veins.
“You make me feel beautiful,” she said.
“And I’m just getting started.”
A shiver of anticipation raced through her. The promise in Ramsey’s eyes made her stomach feel as if it were filled with thousands of butterflies.
With the back of her knees against the bed, Tara gave herself over to Ramsey as he slowly lowered her to the bed kissing her all the while.
The kiss grew, deepened as if a dam had broken inside Ramsey. He moaned deep in his throat as he angled his head and kissed her as if there were no tomorrow. As if they only had this one night.
Tara lost all train of thought when his hands began to roam over her body. Her back, her hips, her buttocks. Everywhere he touched burned for more.
She felt his arousal against her stomach and yearned to touch him. Her breasts swelled and ached for his touch, and when his hand reached between them and cupped her breast, her entire body trembled.
As much as she loved his hands on her, she couldn’t stop touching Ramsey. Her hands roamed over his thick shoulders and arms, and the contours of his back down to his firm buttocks.
“I cannot think with you touching me,” Ramsey said before he rolled them to the side and scooted her up.
Whatever Tara had been about to say evaporated from her mind when his hot mouth fastened onto her breast. She gripped his head, her hips rocking against his chest in time with his tongue that laved her nipple.
Tara was floating, her body swimming with pleasure, as magic wound around them. She’d never felt such bliss, never known a touch as seductive as Ramsey’s.
Her legs parted on their own when his hand skimmed over her curls. The desire throbbing within Tara surged when his finger slid inside her.
Ramsey smiled against Tara’s breast when she whispered his name. He switched to the other breast and laved her nipple as he moved his finger in and out of
her.
He was fast losing control. He wanted inside her right then, but he could feel how tight she was and he didn’t want to hurt her. But he needed inside. And soon.
Her sheath was wet and scalding hot. And suddenly, he couldn’t wait any longer. He’d wanted to make love to her for hours, but he hadn’t counted on his craving for her.
Ramsey rolled her onto her back and knelt between her legs. With his arms on either side of her head he looked into her blue-green eyes darkened by desire.
He let his gaze wander over her full breasts and pink nipples to the indent of her waist and her softly flared hips. Between them was a triangle of golden-brown curls that hid her sex. His fingers itched to hold her buttocks again, to run his hands over her sleek legs.
“Don’t make me wait,” she said as she took his aching cock in hand and guided him to her entrance.
He clenched his jaw when the head of his rod slid inside her. Ramsey made himself enter her slowly, but when she wrapped her legs around his waist, his control snapped.
With a groan, he gave a hard thrust and seated himself fully inside her. Her nails dug into his shoulders as she arched her head back and cried out.
It was all he needed to see. Ramsey began to move with slow, hard strokes and then fast, short ones. He found himself looking into Tara’s eyes, found himself falling into her depths.
She met him thrust for thrust. Gone was any illusion Ramsey had of seducing Tara. Gone was any intention he had of taking control.
Desire had them in its grip, and it wasn’t letting go until both had given themselves over to it.
Tara held on to Ramsey as if her life depended upon it. Never had anyone touched her as he did. And now, he was taking her to another level she hadn’t known existed.
With her ankles locked at his back she could feel his hips shift as he plunged inside her again and again, harder and deeper.
Tara felt the magic sharpen around them as her body began to tighten within. Ramsey caught her gaze and held it.
And then the climax struck. It was powerful and consuming as it devoured her. She screamed as she was taken away on a wave of pleasure that hurled her over a precipice of unending bliss.
He continued to move within her, prolonging her orgasm until the second hit before the first finished. Ramsey’s thrusts grew quicker as he pumped furiously inside her.
She opened her eyes and locked with his silver ones.
“Tara,” he whispered before he threw back his head and gave a final plunge.
With his body straining from the force of his climax, Tara could do nothing but hold on to him. As his body relaxed and he looked down at her, they both noticed the threads of magic not just floating around them, but through them.
She smiled against his lips as he kissed her long and slow, the power of their lovemaking still holding them in its grip.
In the next moment Tara found herself lying upon his chest when he rolled onto his back and pulled her over him. He had one arm thrown over his head and the other he moved lazily up and down her back.
“Do you feel the magic?” he asked.
Tara nodded her head. “I do.”
“Has this ever happened with anyone before?”
She lifted her head to look at him. “No. Only you. Are you worried?”
“I just wish I knew what it was. I want to make sure this is no’ harming you in some way.”
“Harming me?” she repeated. “I feel … different, yes, but stronger. I feel my magic even more.”
Ramsey smiled at her. “Does nothing worry you?”
“Everything worries me. But this,” she said as a ribbon of magic went through her hand into Ramsey, “is beautiful.”
“And if what we’ve just done endangers you somehow?”
“Then I’ll deal with it.” She ran her finger over his furrowed forehead. “I’m not worried, Ramsey.”
“I’m supposed to protect you.”
“You did, remember.”
“I knew the moment I first saw you that I wanted you.”
Tara couldn’t hold back the smile. “Is that so bad?”
“In a way.”
This time she was the one with a furrowed brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I learned things today about my past.”
“Will you tell me?” she asked.
His silver eyes slid away from her. “There are things about me no one knows, Tara.”
“Then tell me what you can.”
Ramsey sighed as his arm gripped her tighter. “You know I’m part Druid, but what you doona know is I’m from Torrachilty Forest.”
Tara’s brows shot up. “I’ve heard those were powerful Druids.”
“Powerful male Druids. The magic couldna be held by a female. It passed only to the males.”
“Only? I find that hard to believe.”
“Occasionally it would pass to a female. We learned the hard way that women couldna hold the magic. It drove them daft, so any female born with the magic was killed.”
She winced. “That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”
“No’ when those females went on a killing spree that would begin with their family. No’ when they would leave the forest and go into any village they found and kill everyone.”
Tara looked away and laid her hand upon Ramsey’s heart. “Only the men, huh?”
“Even then it wasna easy to hold back the magic. Especially for me.”
Her gaze shot to his. “What do you mean?”
“If my people were known for how powerful their magic was, mine exceeded theirs ten times over. I was supposed to be their next leader, the one who a Seer foretold could never be defeated by magic.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Ramsey wasn’t sure why he’d told Tara his biggest secret. It seemed right though. As if she needed to know.
He looked away from her steady gaze to the wisps of magic floating around them. Except they weren’t really moving around them more than through each of them now.
Almost as if the magic were connecting them.
Ramsey couldn’t feel the magic as it entered and left his body, but his magic sensed it. And the longer he touched Tara the stronger the ribbons became.
“I don’t think I understand,” Tara said into the silence after his statement.
Ramsey smiled wryly. “What? That I’m supposed to have all this magic and yet I couldna defeat Declan?”
“No. If you have that kind of magic why didn’t you fight Deirdre? Why didn’t you destroy her when you could have?”
Ramsey raised his gaze to the ceiling. “It is a question I asked myself every hour of every day I was held in Cairn Toul mountain. But I doubted myself. I doubted the prophecy of the Seer. Magic has to be certain, and if it’s not, only catastrophe awaits.”
“Why would you doubt what was foretold? Seers don’t give voice to their visions casually.”
“I might have learned spells easily. I might have gained unique control over my magic earlier than any Torrachilty Druid before me, but that didna make me the man foretold. That Seer never saw my face, never spoke my name. It could have been anyone.”
Her hand caressed his chest as she laid her cheek over his heart. “True, but the rest of your people must have thought you were the one.”
“Actually, no one knew.” When her head jerked up Ramsey chuckled as he glanced at her. “I surprised you?”
“Yes. If this foretelling took place how could no one know?”
“It was told only to the elders who passed it down to the next elders. They didna want our people putting thoughts into the head of someone that couldna be the one.”
“Then how did you know?”
Ramsey released a long breath. “My uncle was one of the elders. They told my father when it seemed that I could be the one. I was then pushed harder than any others. I never failed a single mission they gave me.”
“I gather they were difficult,” she said.
“More than dif
ficult. Some nearly killed me, yet I never gave up. I kept going. I had no idea why they were pushing me so hard. For years they kept it to themselves. And then the MacLeod clan was wiped out in a single day.”
Tara shivered. “I know that story. My mother thought it was a great show of Deirdre’s power to lure the MacLeod brothers away, then come in and destroy the clan. Every last man, woman, and child.”
“Deirdre didna even leave an animal alive,” Ramsey said. “The horses, the chickens, the sheep. All were slaughtered without thought. Then she set fire to the castle. Time has weathered the burn marks, but they can still be seen.”
“You say this as if you saw the destruction yourself,” Tara whispered.
Ramsey looked into her blue-green eyes. “Because I did. I was sent here to see if the rumors were true, to see if the MacLeods had been murdered.”
“Why? I mean, why you? If you were so important to your people, why did they send you?”
Ramsey shrugged one shoulder and played with the ends of Tara’s hair. “Because of what I could do. You know if a Druid’s magic is strong enough they are given a gift.”
“Like Sonya can heal.”
“Exactly.”
“Then I suppose if your magic was as strong as they said, you could do something wondrous.”
“Wondrous,” Ramsey repeated softly. “No’ really. I can determine if magic was used and what kind of magic.”
Tara whistled low and turned so that she rested her chin on the hand atop his chest. “No wonder they sent you.”
“I didna even have to reach the MacLeod lands to feel Deirdre’s black magic. By the time I ventured to the castle, the brothers had already been tricked into going to Deirdre’s mountain a few years before. I quickly began my journey back to Torrachilty Forest.”
His voice died as he recalled the night he was taken. The shrieks, the screams.
“Ramsey?” Tara whispered.
He mentally shook himself and forced a smile. “Just remembering.”
“You don’t have to tell me.”
But he did want to tell her. He didn’t understand why he had such a fierce need to have her know about this critical part of him that his friends had only just learned.
