A Highlander of Her Own

by Melissa Mayhue

  He was only vaguely aware of a splash and then her hands were at his waist, sending out flickers of fire and shards of ice as they slid up his back to his shoulders.

  “I have to be here, Caden.”

  She leaned into him and he turned, grasping her shoulders as he pulled back from her touch.

  “This is no right.” It took all his strength to force the words from his mouth.

  “No, it is right. I’m supposed to be here with you. I feel it. In here.” Her fingers fluttered over her heart, lighting on the dark red mark adorning her perfect breast.

  The mark that proclaimed her a Daughter of the Fae, sent into his life by them. The reminder shook him to his very core.

  The last time he’d dealt with the Fae, they’d turned his world upside down, taking with them his dreams and his vision of what his life was to be. This time he felt as though they might very well rip his heart from his body, stripping him of his very soul.

  “Tell me you don’t feel it, too,” she whispered, pushing aside his hands, flowing toward him until her body pressed against his, her cool, wet skin igniting heat everywhere they touched. “You can’t, can you?”

  Not if his life depended on it. And at the moment it felt as if it very well might.

  She slid her hands up his chest, slowing to allow her thumbs to feather over his nipples.

  Need burned through him, swelling his manhood to the point of pain. A fact Ellie hadn’t missed if the smile on her lips was any indicator.

  She ran her hands up his shoulders and around his neck, threading her fingers into his hair, tugging his face down, down inexorably toward her mouth.

  Their lips met in a burst of heat and desire and he was lost in the magic of the moment.

  He clasped his hands about her waist and lifted her easily, bringing her tightly to him. When she opened herself to him, wrapping her legs around him and locking them at his back, any stray thoughts he might have had about stopping this before it was too late were swept away like leaves in the fast-moving current of the river flowing beside them.

  There would be no stopping this time.

  Her head dropped back, her delicate neck extended as he kissed his way down. Down to her shoulder, nuzzling aside her heavy wet hair, to follow the beads of water that rolled from her curls down her chest. Down to the mark on her breast and on until he captured the tight bud of her nipple in his mouth, rolling his tongue round and round, sucking gently, insistently, as if he could pull her inside himself.

  “Caden,” she whispered, droplets of water still clinging to her thick lashes as she looked down into his face. She arched her body into his before reclaiming his mouth with her own, her tongue working across his lips and inside, slowly, tortuously, in and out in a rhythm his body recognized all too well.

  He would wait no longer.

  He carried her back to the edge of the pool, so lost in the taste of her, in the magic of their kiss, he was barely aware of the steps he took. He knew only that she clung to him as if her need was as great as his own.

  As they reached the boulder, he braced her against the edge and she tightened her hold around his neck, shifting against him until his shaft nestled into the warmth of her opening. When he pressed against her, testing, she moaned, and seemed to melt into him, molding her body to his, forcing the tip of his shaft just inside her heat.

  He wanted to go slowly, to stretch out the pleasure of this stolen moment to last a lifetime. But once again she moaned and rocked against him, and he lost the thread of his plans.

  Instinct replaced any rational thought and he surged into her, filling her, driving deeper and deeper as she pushed back against him, meeting his thrusts, tightening around him until his only thought was to be so deeply inside her they would be as one.

  Mine. The word roared through his mind, and he drove into her again, as if he could lay claim to what he could not have.

  He felt her stiffen against him, reveled in her body’s series of contractions as they built, each pulling him farther into her heat until the breath exploded from her.

  Her sensations pushed him into his own release and he held her tightly to him as the world shattered around them in a burst of emerald light so intense, he knew he would never experience its equal again.

  Because even in the joy of this moment, he knew he could never allow this to happen again. In spite of what he might want, in spite of the primal voice screaming in his head, he knew the truth of it.

  She didn’t belong to him.

  And her whispered words, “I don’t love you. I don’t,” reinforced that fact, driving a knife of pain deep into his soul.

  Twenty-eight

  The blood drummed in Ellie’s head, pounding against her ears, all but blocking out any other sound.

  The green lightning had come for her again, surrounding her only moments before, robbing her of the joy she’d felt.

  Rosalyn must have been right. She was here to find a man.

  The man. Her one true love.

  And when she’d found him, when she’d given herself up, allowed herself the overwhelming bliss of accepting him, those damned heartless Faeries had tried to snatch it all away, just as Rosalyn had said they would. All because she hadn’t wished it right in the first place, hadn’t said the proper words.

  In a panic, she’d done the only thing she could think to do. Since they’d told her it was the words that held the power, she’d given the Fae words. She’d denied her true feelings, and the light had withdrawn, winking out of existence.

  Along with the light, Caden had withdrawn, too. Obviously he’d heard those words. She’d felt him tense, felt the connection between them shatter like an actual jolt of pain.

  The poor guy was probably terrified that what he saw as nothing more than a little physical playtime had her babbling about love, even if it was just to deny she felt it.

  Apparently men hadn’t changed that much in the last seven centuries. Any hint of commitment, and they were out of there.

  Had she at last discovered her way home? Was it as simple, and as difficult, as that? She had only to accept her true feelings for Caden and then give him up.

  Forever.

  And at that moment, after what she’d just experienced with him, leaving him was the one thing she wasn’t prepared to do.

  But it was all so confusing.

  If he were truly The One, the only man in the whole of time for her, shouldn’t he have felt the connection, too? Shouldn’t he be holding her close, trying to convince her that she did, too, love him?

  Instead he rolled off her body, moving just far enough away to avoid any physical contact. Add that to the fact that he said nothing at all, simply lay next to her without a single comment, and his actions spoke volumes. Way more than any pretty words he might have come up with.

  And what did it matter anyway? Going home was what she wanted most. It was. Being stuck in the Godforsaken thirteen hundreds, chasing after some guy who’d made it clear he wasn’t interested in anything more than a quick tumble, sure as hell wasn’t how she wanted to spend the rest of her life.

  Even if what they had just shared had been amazing, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.

  “I’m sorry.”

  With the quiet words of apology, Caden stood up and walked to the bush where his clothes hung, leaving her feeling both physically and emotionally naked. She sat up and reached for her shift, letting it drop down over her head and into place.

  “You don’t have anything to apologize for.” He didn’t. It was all her. She’d totally screwed up. It had been stupid to let herself get carried away with the idea that once he made love to her everything would change.

  Although, in truth, everything had changed. Just not the way she’d expected.

  “But I do. What we just did should no have happened. I should no have allowed you to do that.”

  “Allowed me?” She looked up from fumbling with her laces, disbelief at his comment rolling through her mind. �
�Allowed?” As if she needed his permission for what they’d done? It might have been a stupid choice, but it had been her choice.

  He kept his back to her, wrapping his plaid around his hips. “I canna even claim ignorance. I’m well aware you dinna belong to me.”

  “Exactly.” Maybe she was just being sensitive and overreacting to his words. She belonged to herself and at least he acknowledged that.

  He walked back to the edge of the boulder and reached out, locking his fingers around her wrist and helping her rise to her feet. Immediately he withdrew his hand, placing it behind his back as he continued to stare down at her.

  “I’m only trying to say that I’d no intent to dishonor you, Ellie. I accept the fact that you belong to my brother and I’ll no ever speak of this night to anyone.”

  “Just back it up there a minute, cowboy. What the hell are you talking about? I don’t belong to anybody, and certainly not to Drew.”

  Caden looked up and over her head, avoiding her eyes as if preparing to deliver a lecture. “It’s Colin I speak of. The Fae sent you here for him. When I return with him, you’ll wed. And one day, I will name yer first-born son as my heir to the lairdship of the MacKiernan, just as Blane has done with me.”

  Ellie stared at the man, only vaguely aware that her mouth hung open. Her shock quickly melted into anger. “Well, you’ve just got it all figured out, haven’t you? Planned my whole life, did you? Did it ever occur to you that I don’t even know this brother of yours?”

  He grazed her with a look, lips pressed together, one eyebrow cocked. “It’s what you’ve been sent to do. You’ll see that he’s the one as soon as I bring him back to Dun Ard. You’ll be happy together.”

  He actually sounded as if he believed that load of crap.

  Ellie stood, hands on her hips, wallowing in her building fury, letting it roll over her in great whipping waves. When he looked away again, she dropped her shoulder and plowed her body into his chest, much the same move she had perfected in moving stubborn sheep up the ramp and into the back of her old pickup to take into town.

  She found the resounding splash he made when he hit the water quite satisfying, topped only by his sputtering and swearing as he broke the surface of the pool.

  “You listen to me, you arrogant sheepherder. I’m not marrying Colin or Drew or anybody else in this nightmare. I’m going home. Back to my own time, where I belong. I’m going to get my ranch back or make Ray Stanton wish to hell he’d never been born. And if you know what’s good for you, the next time we discuss what’s going to happen with my life, you better be asking not telling, you got that?”

  Ellie stuffed her feet into her slippers and stomped back toward the campsite.

  What an idiot she was.

  It couldn’t be clearer to her right now that the big oaf sitting on his butt in the water back there couldn’t possibly be The One. What had she been thinking? Her true love, the other half of her soul, would never, ever be such a total ass.

  And it sure as hell couldn’t be his brother—the one she’d never even met—because that green light had shown up for some reason back there by the river and this mysterious brother was nowhere near here.

  As soon as she got back to Dun Ard, she and Rosalyn were having one serious sit-down. All she had to do was figure out exactly what had happened to turn the light on and then she was out of here.

  Twenty-nine

  Ellie hadn’t spoken more than ten words to him in the last two days and it was driving Caden mad.

  He glanced over at her profile, set with determination as she busied herself laying out her bedding for the night. It didn’t escape his notice that she again prepared to sleep as far away from him as possible without actually being outside the circle of the firelight.

  In truth, ten words wasn’t exactly accurate. She’d spoken hundreds that first morning when he’d told her he wouldn’t allow her to go with him, the majority of which he might not ever have heard before, but the meaning of all was entirely clear.

  If he took her back to Dun Ard, she would follow. No matter what he did.

  And he didn’t for one minute doubt her. He’d never met a woman as determined, as stubborn when she had her mind set, as Elliedenton.

  “Besides,” she’d told him, her eyes flashing emerald in her anger, “if this brother of yours is the one who can make me see stars, I want to meet him as soon as possible. I can’t wait to get out of this place and back where I belong.”

  She seemed to think finding her Soulmate would somehow send her home. But that couldn’t be. If that were the case, her being here would only make his brother more unhappy, and that certainly wasn’t his intent.

  He hadn’t denied himself the pleasure of this woman only to have his brother’s chance at happiness snatched away.

  Caden ground his teeth together in frustration at the thought. He hadn’t denied himself anything. He’d taken her, as if he had the right, as if she belonged to him.

  It was Ellie who had done the denying. Her words had been clear.

  “I don’t love you,” she’d said.

  Of course she didn’t. He’d been a fool to let the idea enter into his thoughts to begin with. He’d long ago accepted that his life would never include love, just like his cousin Blane. It was their fate, their curse, to bear the responsibility for the happiness of others but to go through life with none of their own.

  Having her angry was a good thing. It served to prevent what he couldn’t seem to prevent on his own. With her this angry, there was no chance they’d repeat their indiscretion of two nights ago.

  But he did have a real problem with her not talking to him. Fury he could handle. This was something deeper. Something he didn’t like at all. For even as he’d accepted that she would belong to his brother, the one thing that had kept him going was the hope that she would remain his friend.

  Now he’d likely ruined that chance with his rash behavior. He’d hurt her just like he’d managed to hurt everyone else in his life.

  And as long as she refused to even speak to him, he had no chance of repairing the damage.

  He stole another sideways glance her direction and decided to take the plunge, clearing his throat to see if she might look at him.

  She ignored him, turning to her side and presenting her plaid-covered back to him.

  He cleared his throat again, stalling for time as much as to get her attention.

  “You spoke of returning to a ranch.” He rolled the unfamiliar word on his tongue, testing it, before he continued. “And seeking revenge on someone named Ray. What is this ranch that it would be so important to reclaim?”

  At first he thought she might not answer, but after several long minutes she rolled onto her back, staring up at the night sky.

  “My home,” she said softly. “The house I grew up in. The land where my family raised sheep for two generations. It’s all that I have in the world.”

  “I see. And this Ray? His clan raided yer keep and occupies it?”

  She responded with a short, bitter laugh, a sound unlike any he’d heard from her before. “Something like that. He married my mother a few years back. Thought he’d found himself a sugar mama to take care of him and pay all his bills while he ran around doing whatever he wanted. He cheated on her and she kicked him out. Now that she’s dead, the bastard’s back, claiming that what was hers now belongs to him.”

  “And you want yer revenge.” That he could understand. He would be wild with the need if someone were to try to take Dun Ard from his people. “Because he threw you out with no place to go.”

  “Oh, I could have stayed.” Another bitter laugh. “All I had to do was be Ray’s latest bed partner. And that wasn’t happening.”

  Caden felt a white-hot fury sweep over him. This bastard, this Ray, had dared to dishonor Ellie? “What of the others of yer family, do they no stand up to this man?” If he could but spend a few minutes in her time, he would see to it this Ray suffered greatly for his actions.

/>   “There are no others. Just me.” She wiped the palms of her hands down the sides of her face, leaving wet trails that glistened in the firelight.

  “I dinna mean to make you cry.” Anything but that.

  She flopped over to her side again, pulling the plaid up to hide her head, Baby at her side. “Go to sleep, Caden. And don’t worry about me. You didn’t make me cry. I won’t allow any man that power over me.”

  He didn’t miss her emphasis on the word allow, the same word which had set her off before. Nor did he miss the strangled tears in her voice.

  Caden lay down and rolled himself in his bedding, knowing it would be a long time before he slept this night.

  This man, her mother’s husband, had demanded her favors in return for lodging in her own home. Was that why she’d given herself to him back at the pool? Because it was what she thought he expected? He’d certainly done nothing to convince her otherwise, completely unable to keep himself from pawing over her at every opportunity.

  For all his good intentions and great words, he was no better than that bastard, Ray.

  “That’s fair odd.” Colin perched on an outcropping of rocks at the river’s edge.

  “Are we no on the right track?” Blane waited behind him, only yards from their campsite.

  “No. We’re close now. I can feel Caden ahead. Him and…” Colin stopped, reaching out with his senses, the gift of his Fae blood. “It’s almost as if he travels with someone, but…” But not.

  “Steafan, perhaps?”

  “No.”

  He knew how Steafan felt and this was entirely different. Though Steafan would have been a logical choice for Caden to have brought along, in spite of the fact that Wodeford had ordered the MacKiernan heir to come alone with the ransom. Colin had learned that much from Simeon.

  And since he was thinking of Simeon…

  “What are yer plans for Lady Baxter and her nephew once we reach Dun Ard?” Colin turned to find his laird stroking his chin thoughtfully.

  “I’ve offered Simeon a permanent spot at Dun Ard. As far as Lady Baxter, I suppose I’ll have no choice but to wed the lady. Traveling alone with a group of men will completely compromise her honor, will it no?”