“We gave up waiting for you, Meg,” Trevor said, patting the table next to him. “Come and sit.”
She blew a strand of hair away from her face, barely able to meet her husband’s glance. Surely he’d know why she’d been in bed so late. Surely Campbell’s smell was all over her. She’d been lying against his chest most of the night. Her gaze drifted toward Sam. He winked at her and poured some tea into her cup, then nodded toward the hearth.
“Campbell’s taken it upon himself to do the cooking this morning,” Sam said.
Campbell laughed. “You’re not the most patient man when you’re hungry, Sam.”
Hesitantly, Megan’s glance fluttered toward the hearth. The view of his ass was one she was thoroughly familiar with. Campbell was bent over the grates, flipping pieces of thick bacon like a tavern cook, and as usual the breeches molded to his perfect muscles. A blush spread across her cheeks, and she took a deep breath, determined to get over her ridiculous inability to confront him in daylight. She took another calming breath and several steps toward him, but when he suddenly turned, holding the fork pointed toward her like a weapon, she cried out and jumped back.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “Didnae know you were there.”
“I hope that’s the case,” she said. “I’d prefer not to be skewered by my own fork.”
His hand dropped to his side, and bacon grease oozed off the tip and dotted the floor. He grabbed a rag, then motioned to the table.
“Have a seat. We don’t want a repeat of last night. When we’re both standing, disaster follows.”
Sam laughed and nearly spit his tea. “Standing’s not the usual position for disaster. I’ve known a great many couples with no choices left because of a baby and…” His eyes darted toward them, then he covered most of his face as well as he could with the teacup. “Not that I meant anything and was even thinking of babies. I’m just talking, like usual. Don’t know enough to shut up half the time.”
Megan’s stare shot toward Campbell, and he shrugged, raising those huge shoulders like she’d let the comment go because of his simple gesture.
Her face burned with heat. They’d been discussing her life like she was part of the livestock. She leaned closer and whispered furiously, “Were you discussing babies this morning?”
“No, lass, we discussed the possibility of a baby.”
She grit her teeth to hold in the scream she felt building inside. He ignored the glare she focused on him, leaned down, and began to spear pieces of bacon, dropping them onto a serving dish. She tried to steal the fork from his hand, but he refused.
“It’s my responsibility.” She heard the irritation in her voice too late to temper it.
“Responsibilities change. I know how to cook. I was on my own for years and often not in the company of women. If men in the Highlands don’t learn to cook, we starve. You’ll not see many skinny Highland men.”
“He’s right, Meg,” Trevor said. “It willnae hurt you to sit one morning. Besides, you’ve been looking a bit pale. Have you been working too hard? Would you like me to inquire about a woman to help around the cottage? With the accounts and the house and—”
“I’m fine, Trevor,” she snapped. “I hardly need another body in my way around here. Why doesn’t everyone just leave me alone once in a while?”
She plopped down onto the bench and reached for her cup. As she raised it up, she glanced over the rim. Three pairs of eyes stared at her, each more incredulous than the last. She let her gaze wander in Sam’s direction. He watched her like her head might literally explode and he couldn’t wait to see it. Trevor was a little more concerned, peering at her intently, his gaze sliding from her face to rest somewhere in her lap. She wiggled self-consciously on the bench. When she finally looked toward Campbell, he held the platter gingerly and looked a little ambivalent about approaching the table.
“What is everyone looking at?” She put her cup down on the table and ran her hand through the snarls of her hair. “I know I look a mess, but I slept so late.”
“Do you feel all right, Meg?” Trevor asked.
“I feel fine, Trevor.” She glanced at Campbell, but he was ignoring her for the first time since she’d known him.
“Then we’ll not bring it up again,” Trevor said.
* * * *
Alex waited until Sam and Trevor were safely in the shop and the door closed after them, then he opened her bedroom door. Megan was preoccupied, bent over a trunk, searching through her belongings, and obviously looking for a dress as the one she’d been wearing lay on the floor. She was completely naked.
“Holy Christ,” Alex whispered.
She froze and glanced over her shoulder, her hair sweeping across her face, but he had a clear enough view to see those beautiful blue eyes peeking at him between the strands. Her teeth tugged on her lip. That was all it took. He went into the room and closed the door, leaning back against it.
She started to reach toward her discarded dress, and her fingers had snatched at it, when she stopped cold. It must have been his voice, although he had no idea what he said.
Her fingers continued to inch toward the fabric, dragging it toward her. Alex raked his hands through his hair and thought he’d actually like to pull a little out just to make himself feel better. This little conspiracy he’d gotten himself into was going from bad to worse. It was supposed to be easy. Fuck her, make a baby, and get back to the Highlands. MacGregor had promised it would be easy. With her erratic behavior, MacGregor had asked this morning if perhaps Alex had already succeeded, but Alex knew better. He was the cause of her erratic behavior.
“Christ, Meg, I cannae take this anymore. What is happening here?”
“I’m changing,” she said softly. “That dress had wine on it.”
“I’m not talking about the damn dress!”
She snatched it up in her hands and lurched upright, holding it against her like a shield. Her hair flew around her, draping over her body like a net, hiding parts, exposing others. It didn’t help. Between the dress and the hair, most of her was covered, but he still saw the creamy shoulders and the fragile bones between them, the smooth dip of her waist where it curved into her hip, the slightest glimpse of her breast, and a pair of incredibly beautiful legs.
“Then what are you talking about?” she asked.
He wished he knew. He pushed himself away from the door and ran his hand along the back of his neck. He thought the best idea right now would be to turn around, go to the shop, and just do his damn job, but, of course, the best idea was often the one that was thrown aside in favor of selfish pursuits. He’d learned that about himself in the last few weeks. He had to get his head on straight and his priorities in order.
Do what he wants, and get it bloody finished! You’re wasting valuable time worrying about her feelings, her words, her future.
“Drop the dress, Megan.”
She shook her head and glanced toward the door as though trying to gauge an escape route.
“Don’t even think about running from me.” He walked slowly, but for each step he took, she backed up two. “I told you to drop the dress. I want to see what I’ve bargained for.”
Christ, Campbell, watch your words. Don’t keep reminding her of this impossible situation. Make her want you, fuck her, steal her heart, whatever it takes. Just get it over with, and you’ve guaranteed yourself a place on a ship out and in the hierarchy of hell.
The confusion on her face mirrored his own turmoil. “I told you I didn’t want to think about that bargain.”
Alex shoved his hands into his pockets. For some reason, now that he’d confronted her, he was sorry because he wasn’t sure what he’d come in to say. Conversations with MacGregor swarmed through his head. How was he to rationalize what he’d said to MacGregor with what he’d said to her last night? He squeezed his eyes closed, trying for one minute to get her image out of his head so he could think. It wasn’t working. There was only one way to deal with a woman like this. He’d
have to talk about feelings.
“Have I done something? Should I have stayed with you this morning? Was it the cooking?”
“You’ve done nothing,” she said softly. “I just don’t want to talk about this bargain, Alex.”
“Then let’s forget the bargain.”
How to get out of this impossible situation was the only thing on his mind. After that he’d concentrate on the vision before him, if she was still speaking to him, because for some reason he thought he might be making it worse.
Think, Campbell. Find a way out, or you’ll regret it because you will have lost both her and your bleeding future.
“You said you’d be my lover. ’Tis what you said last night. Have you changed your mind?” He rubbed his hands over his face. “’Twas the cooking. I knew I should have—”
She shook her head.
“Then did I not understand? Why have you changed your mind?”
The dress slipped in her hand, exposing her breast. The paleness of her skin didn’t surprise him, but the perfection of it amazed him—so smooth, not a blemish, not a flaw. Her breast was a perfect shape he’d held in his hand but not yet seen, pure white until the center, where a dusty circle surrounded the rosy tip. The nipple was hard, probably from the slight chill in the room, but he supposed it could be the sight of him. He’d know soon enough.
“Did I say that?” she asked.
“Not exactly, but you said you’d wait, by the loch, on a—”
“I remember,” she said softly.
For some reason, his heart beat far too fast. “So what did that mean, Megan?”
Why was he asking her these questions? What possible difference would her answers make? Why didn’t he just fuck her and walk away? Come back tomorrow and do it again, and the day after that, and the day after that until he got her with child? Why did he torture himself with the emotion of it all when it should mean nothing? How this girl felt about him and how she viewed their relationship had no bearing on any of it.
And what if it did?
Oh, don’t bring what-ifs into it now, Campbell.
Part of him knew he should discuss this with MacGregor. If his tincture worked, MacGregor might become well enough to service his own wife, get his own child. He should go to the man and tell him the bargain should be ended until they could see the results. If he did that, he’d have no chance with her at all. Ending the bargain could mean he’d be condemned to live the life of a servant in their household for the next seven fucking years, without her touch, without her kiss. Surely if the bargain ended, Megan would be off-limits, and if he told her everything he was thinking…What would happen if he was honest? Christ, if he told her everything he felt, everything in his heart, he could ruin the future he tried to give her. She’d never look in his eyes again.
But she looked in them now. The deepest blue eyes he had ever seen were focused on his with enough power to take his fluttering heart and make it beat like a battle march. Locked inside her eyes was a trace of suspicion, a little bit of fear, and something he couldn’t comprehend at all because he was not sure he’d ever seen a look like that in a woman’s eyes. Was it understanding? No woman had ever understood his motives, had never wanted to understand him because Alexander Campbell was not a good man to welcome permanently into a life. He never stayed long.
“What did it mean?” he asked again.
She dropped the dress to the floor, and he was forced to close his eyes.
“Fuck,” he whispered. “This cannae be happening to me. I cannae be getting a conscience. Not now.”
When he found the strength to open them, she hadn’t moved. His gaze wandered over every inch of her. Her pale skin seemed to glow silver in the soft rays of the morning sun. Tiny flickers of light skittered over her breasts, her belly, her thighs, dancing across the shadows of her throat, beneath her breasts, between her legs.
He wanted to follow the light with his hands, with his mouth, but he had asked a question, and he still wanted the answer. He brought his gaze back to her face. She offered him a small smile.
“It means I want to be your lover, Alex. I will take whatever you offer, for however long it lasts.”
His heart sank into that bottomless pit. Falling in love with her had not been part of the bargain. He should never have gone to her last night. All he’d wanted was to feel her arms, maybe hear some nice words. Christ, he couldn’t take this.
“I want to belong to you, Alex Campbell, in all the ways I’ll never belong to another man.” She tugged her bottom lip into her mouth, chewing nervously. “If you really want me. Do you, Alex?”
“Jesus, Megan,” he groaned.
His eyes swept down the length of her again, and he watched as she moved toward the bed and tossed the covers down. When she bent down, her small breasts dipped away from her body begging for a touch of his hand, and her round bottom rose slightly, beckoning him toward her, but he couldn’t seem to move. The sight of her had already given him a raging erection, but seeing the motion of her body, knowing that she could be his right now, made his cock ache with a fury he’d not ever felt before.
She fluffed the pillows, then reached up to draw the curtains across the window. Watching her stretch on her toes, her legs tense and her breasts lifting, made him want to race across the room and run his hands down the entire length of her body, over curves, into hollows, past dips and swells, muscles and tendons, over the sweep of her neck and the arch of her foot. She turned to him then, and he thought of all the things he wanted to do to her, but first he needed to fuck her. Not for MacGregor. For himself.
She lowered herself to the bed and leaned back on her hands.
“Lock the door, Alex.”
He didn’t have to be told twice. He threw the bolt into the lock. When he started toward the bed, she shook her head. He stopped dead in his tracks. She tilted her head in such an adorable way he wanted to grab her.
“Take off your clothes,” she said.
He never undressed faster, and she watched every movement of his hand, every stretch of fabric, every inch of flesh that he uncovered. Something sparked in her eyes, and it made him move even faster, stumbling as he tore the boots from his feet. When he finished and approached the bed, he was breathless, both from his frantic movement and the look in her eyes.
She sat up and held out her arms.
“Come here, Alex. I want to feel you against me.”
He lowered himself down and slid up the length of her, inhaling her smell, sweeping his tongue across her skin, rubbing his body against hers until their faces were close. Her hands hooked over his shoulders, then swept across his back in long, smooth strokes, over the curve of his buttocks, to linger on his thighs.
“You feel wonderful,” she said. “I knew you would. I wish I could lie here all day exploring every inch of you. I want to touch everything.”
She reached between them, and he lifted slightly to allow her access. She wrapped her hand around his cock, and her breath exploded in a shuddering gasp that made him tighten in her hand. She gripped him tight, sliding her hand up and down to feel him. Her touch was incredible, hard enough to make him feel, soft enough to show how tenderly she wanted to treat him.
He wanted to touch her too, but he thought to give her a chance to discover what she’d not ever had. Instead he brushed the hair from her neck and planted kisses there, gently moving up her throat to her mouth. He thought to steal her lips when she sighed.
“Oh, Alex, are you what I’ve needed? Am I doing the right thing?”
“You’re doing the only thing, lass. ’Tis all that matters between us. Don’t think right now. You’ve said you want to belong to me. Was it the truth?”
“Aye,” she said. “I can think of nothing I want more.”
He cupped her face, and when her mouth opened to say more, he covered it with his own. She didn’t wait. Her tongue pushed into his mouth, and he pulled it deep. He shifted slightly, maneuvering his body perfectly on top of hers wh
ile he pushed his knee between her legs. She opened them wider, instinctively wrapping her legs around his.
She pulled her mouth away from his and pulled herself up to whisper in his ear. “Fuck me, Alex. I can’t wait any longer.”
When she dropped back down to the pillow, he smiled down at her. “You’ve got my cock in your hand. Do what you want with it.”
“But I’m not sure what to do.”
“Aye, you are. ’Tis natural. Pull it toward you, open up, and I’ll slide right in. Believe me. It will go exactly where it wants to go.”
She lifted against him, and the tip of his cock touched the warmth of her. Her pussy was wet, slippery, and she moved him back and forth for a minute against her skin, moaning softly at the feel of it. He watched her face. Her eyes fluttered closed, and her tongue swept across her lip. Her head arched backward as she quivered slightly beneath him. The sight of her moist lips and silky tongue were too much. He finally had to kiss her. He captured her mouth, teasing her with his tongue, nipping at hers when she dipped her tongue into his mouth. His cock throbbed and ached, wanting nothing more than to be enveloped in her warm folds and wet hollows. He waited, enjoying the feel of her mouth, the soft flesh cradled against him.
She finally positioned the tip of his cock against her slit and lifted her hips. He took that as a sign and drove into her. Her legs tightened around him, and her pelvis curled up toward him.
“Oh, Alex, deeper, please go deeper.”
He slammed into her harder, and she rose higher, clutching his shoulders, raking her nails down his back. Her muscles clenched and tightened around him, already searching for her orgasm. The little wench was greedy and very sensitive, already on the verge of coming. The tiny pulses against his cock told him. He knew exactly what to do. He plunged into her hard, just to appease her, and himself, then he withdrew and entered slowly, rubbing his thickness against her. She lunged against him, trying to pull him farther, but he held her hips and pressed his cock against the spot he knew would drive her to madness. He stopped moving above her.
Loving Two Highlanders Page 15
