I grinned. “You left out the opportunity for me to respond.” I swallowed as hard as he had, then dove in, eyes wide open, hoping the water in the deep end of this pool wasn’t a mirage. “Hellion, Son of Markalon, you are my daily sun and my nightly moon. You are the complement to my gravitational pull, so much so that I’m not sure who orbits whom.”
He nodded slightly, solemnly.
“You are the first face I want to behold when I wake and the last I want to see when I close my eyes at night.” The burn of tears in my throat made it hard to get my words out. “Your soul speaks to mine, and I rejoice in the sound of your voice. From the moment I first met you, I wondered if we were lovers in a former life, so strongly did I feel about you. But you know me, Hellion. You know me. I doubted. I fought. I railed against a prophecy that would dictate my actions and emotions.”
Watching him emotionally withdraw, slowly, was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to endure. “And when Micah told me I could have my choice of men, I panicked. I didn’t want anyone else, Hellion. All I wanted was you, and it dawned on me then that, prophecy or no prophecy, you are my other half. You are my one, my beloved, and I cannot begin to live without you.” I took a shaky breath and Hellion watched me carefully, his grip on my hands tightening so much that bone ground on bone. “I’m keeping my last name.”
“Yes?” Hellion whispered, hope trembling with an anxious need at affirmation.
“Hell yes,” I whispered back.
Hellion let out a wild whoop and scooped me up, spinning me around. Tears poured down my face and I laughed with him, shocked at my answer. I’d been so sure it was too early, but listening to him…watching him…knowing how much I loved him… How could it be wrong?
Bahlin, my mind murmured. “Is gone,” I breathed.
Hellion set me down, laughter dancing in his eyes. “What’s gone?”
“Any reservations I might have had.”
Chapter Thirteen
Hellion and I were both reluctant to give up the bliss of the moment. Intimacy wrapped around us, as physical as the blankets we tucked up under as we again lay on the lounger. Innocent, soft kisses were exchanged. Hellion breathed deep, his sigh of satisfaction rumbling under the ear I pressed to his chest so I might listen to his heartbeat—slow, steady. I could have lain there all day, basking in the glow of a joy that felt fundamentally right. But reality was on the other side of the patio doors, and planning and progress waited for no one. I knew life would demand more from me because nothing seemed simple anymore, not even happiness. I sat up and scrubbed my hands over my face, the warm weight of mutual commitment a comfort.
I looked at the ring, watching it wink at me in the bright morning light. “You shouldn’t have.”
“Then give it back and I’ll exchange it for something smaller.”
I clutched it, hand and all, to my heart. “No way. You bought it for me with this in mind.”
Hellion chuckled and squeezed me tight.
I thought back and remembered an entry I’d seen in Hellion’s ledger after he had been arrested weeks ago. Mark, the young butler, had warned that Hellion wouldn’t want me to know about it before the time was right. I had paled, and he’d said he hoped my response to Hellion would be better than my initial reaction to seeing that ledger entry. Mark had known then that Hellion intended to propose and had warned me to be prepared. The reality made me close my eyes as a small smile played around the edges of my lips. I owed the butler an immense debt of gratitude and an even larger apology. Punching him in the back of the head hadn’t been one of my finer moments.
Hellion had prepared to propose to me well before it became a necessity, which meant far more than the value or size of the diamond on my hand. Hellion had asked me to marry him because he loved me. His decision had been made before the choice became a burden of honor.
Realization of that simple truth had every hair on my body standing to attention. A tender trembling took up in my fine muscles. Breathing around the burning lump in my throat left me oxygen-deprived, and I gasped.
“Maddy?” Concern laced his voice, clouding the contentment of moments before.
I shook my head and pressed my face into his muscled side. “Nothing…it’s nothing.”
“It’s obviously something, a mhuirnín. You’re trembling as if you were cold.” He pulled me in tighter, rubbing his hands up and down my back and arms.
I clung to him, breathing more and more rapidly until black dots danced in my vision. Gasping, I drew in his scent, wood smoke and fresh earth overlaying a denser, musky smell that clung to his skin. Mine, my mind hummed, and I nodded in agreement. Consciously slowing my breathing, I bit my bottom lip hard. No matter what else might come, I had the knowledge that of all the men in my life, Hellion’s motivations had been the least influenced by recent events. Still…
“Why did you ask me?” I needed to know with some amount of certainty that this wasn’t going to be yanked out from under me. Life gave no guarantees. I knew that. But I sought the meaningless reassurance of words all the same.
Hellion’s work-roughened fingers traced my jaw and lifted up, pressuring me to tilt my head back and meet his gaze. He leaned in and laid his lips against mine, the kiss soft but insistent that I respond.
I did.
Breaking away minutes later, he watched me quietly. Emotions swam behind dark eyes, secret thoughts and immeasurable love raced across his face, one expression after another. Finally he rolled onto his back and pulled me on top of him so that I straddled his hips. Lacing our fingers together, he silently encouraged me to prop myself up using his hands as my pivot points. We stared at each other, our heartbeats dancing across our joined palms. Just when I thought I’d not get my answer, Hellion spoke.
“I would have thought my proposal spelled it out quite clearly, but I realize now that maybe I should have been more direct.”
My brows drew together of their own volition.
Without warning, he yanked me forward as he surged up to meet me. Our mouths crashed together in an almost painful collision. Tongues delved and stroked, teeth nipped and breath intermingled while his hands wound through my hair to direct and control the violence. He kissed me as if he would solve all the world’s ailments with this one desperate show of love.
I stretched out on top of him, purring as Hellion’s hands worked their way through the front of the robe and around my back, until we were as close together—skin to skin—as we could be without shedding all our clothes. Even caught up in the moment as I was, I hadn’t forgotten we were in the courtyard. I pulled away, panting, to find him watching me with the most serious look.
“Why did I ask you, Maddy? The simplest answer is also the truest. I can’t live without you.” A faint blush stole across his cheeks.
I found myself charmed. “What is it?”
He started to shake his head, then stopped. “I bought the ring before you’d officially made up your mind, between me and…” He jerked his head back toward the house. “I thought to beg you if need be, to convince you through whatever means necessary that you were meant to be mine forever and always because I loved you that much already.” He shifted me around so I was more evenly distributed then locked his hands behind his head. “Then the mess with Bahlin happened, followed immediately by Agares, and I wondered then if you could love me. But when Micah delivered his path for your life… Maddy, I couldn’t lose you. I love you too much, mo shíorghrá, to contemplate even one day without you in it. I’m lost to you.” He grinned, pulling one hand around to rub his nose.
Impossibly touched, I leaned forward and kissed him again. “I never thought you’d best the proposal, but damn if that didn’t come close.”
“But it’s all the same as what I said before.” Curiosity had him shaking his head. “I don’t understand women, but you? You’re the greatest enigma of them all.”
“May it always be so.” I tucked my robe around me and rolled off of him to stand. “I was caught of
f guard earlier—”
The patio door opened and Bahlin stepped out. Cool blue eyes wandered over my body and I shoved my hands in my robe pockets. His mocking sneer and tight jaw told me he’d seen the ring.
The dragon rocked back and forth on his boot-clad feet, looking Hellion over warily. He seemed to size the magus up and decide him a fair opponent because, in a gravelly voice, Bahlin said, “It’s hard enough to see the two of you together, and to watch you canoodling on the patio furniture even harder.” He picked at a loose seam on his shirt, eyes heavily lidded with angry indifference. “To see you propose, though? That seems to tread the line between simple punishment and sheer cruelty.” He gave a tight-lipped smile when I gasped.
“The shadow…” It had flown over earlier and scattered the birds, then again later as Hellion had pulled me into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Bahlin.”
Hellion stepped up beside me. “We were friends for too long for me to wish you heartache now, Bahlin Drago. I’d ask for your blessing, if not for the sake of the friendship that was, then for the sake of the woman we both love.” The formal words were laid at Bahlin’s feet, an offering of peace that he could do with as he would.
“Don’t ask this of me. Not now.” His harsh voice held the pain of centuries. He’d lived with the prophecy for lifetimes and had believed we’d somehow triumph. But the Fates had rejected our efforts, feeble as they were. Whether that was a matter of free will or destiny, no one knew.
I stepped toward Bahlin, the weight of the ring heavy on my hand. Not necessarily a burden, but less a joy now than it had been moments ago. “I wouldn’t have you hurt, Bay.”
“Then forsake your pledge to him and marry me.” His voice was hard, tinged with anger and desperation. “Change your mind, Maddy.” Bahlin looked up at Hellion, a grim smile on his face. “I loved her first, Hellion. Me. I.” He pounded his chest with his fist to punctuate the words. “She was my heart, and you’ve taken her from me. No friendship can survive this.”
Hellion only nodded. “It’s your choice.”
“Bahlin—”
“No, Maddy. Think it over before you answer, because I won’t ask again.” He backed away from me. He blinked slowly and his eyes shifted from deep to icy blue, and I knew the lower part of his thought process—his dragon’s mind—warred with the man for control. “The others are in the dining room eating breakfast. We need to talk about what we’re going to do about Agares. Even though my experience with demons is seriously limited, it’s reasonable to believe he’ll be back with a really bad attitude tonight.”
“That he will.” Hellion watched Bahlin for a moment before turning back to begin quietly gathering the blankets from our makeshift nest.
“Maddy.” Bahlin’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat. Staring at me, ignoring the man who he used to call friend, Bahlin took two deep breaths—in, hold it, out…in, hold it, out. “You have options. You don’t have to marry him. We’ll come up with something, anything, but it doesn’t have to be so permanent as marriage to him.”
“I don’t understand…” Marriage vows were a commitment, true, but they sadly weren’t a guarantee of forever anymore.
“You didn’t tell her?” Bahlin’s voice shook with rage. “I should kill you where you stand, but I believe I’ll leave it for her to do.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Bahlin took a wider stance and stared hard at Hellion’s back.
The magus stood and turned back to us.
“Hellion?”
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and opened them again. The whites were gone, that deep presence there again. I’d never seen it come on so quickly. “He’s right, Maddy. I intended to discuss this before we were interrupted this morning.” He shifted bottomless eyes to Bahlin. “Even so, I would have told you this long before any vows were exchanged. You are the Niteclif. Your oath cannot be foresworn. Once you’re wed, there’s no undoing it except by death.”
My stomach crashed. Death. “So no divorce?”
“If you’re going into a marriage already thinking of an out, you’re marrying the wrong man.” Bahlin grinned fiercely at Hellion, his shape shimmering slightly, as if the haze of the dragon was superimposed over the physical form standing in front of me. “She’s accepted, but you’ve not exchanged vows. Don’t expect me to let this go until it’s done.” Turning on his heel, he slammed the door behind him as he headed back into the house.
I watched him stalk through the study and disappear around the corner. A kernel of distrust flared, and I couldn’t help but wonder what else Hellion hadn’t disclosed. Turning back to him, I found he’d discarded the blankets and stood squared for confrontation. There would be none—at least not until I’d sorted this out in my head and, more importantly, my heart. I wrapped my arms around my cramping stomach and took a step away to steady myself.
Misunderstanding, Hellion said, “Maddy, wait.”
With a shuddering breath, I turned back to him. “What?”
He stepped toward me, steps slow, body tense. “It’s worse when he says it that way. Do ye no’ see that?” The familiar, heavy brogue decorated his words. “What would ye have me do, then? Provide ye a disclosure that says ‘Here, here are all the negatives tae marryin’ me?’” Frustrated, he shoved his hands through his hair for what seemed like the hundredth time in only a handful of days. “Ye make it impossible tae make the right choice sometimes, Madeleine.” He scooped the blankets up from where he’d dropped them and made to move around me.
I shoved his shoulder so it was either face me or stumble. He chose to face me, though he growled low in his throat and his eyes pulsed black.
“What did I just say to you?” I asked calmly.
His brow furrowed and he shook his head, cascades of hair moving around his shoulders.
“What did I just say, Hellion?” The demand was there, stony.
“Nothing but ‘what’.”
“Exactly.” My hand landed on my hip involuntarily. “So stop putting words in my mouth and making me out to be some irrational, illogical imbecile. Bahlin just said he was going to fight to have me. Yes, what he said might be true, and yes, you should have told me before he did. But did he give you the chance?”
His eyes, still moving with an energy of their own, narrowed. “He didn’t.”
“Then let it go. The ring stays on my finger and the answer doesn’t change. I can’t help the doubt it creates, no matter how insignificant, but you can. Help me dispel the doubt. Help me, Hellion.”
Blankets hit the stone yet again as he tossed them in order to draw me into his arms. His lips crushed mine in a kiss meant to drive out the memories of every other man who ever attempted to stake his claim. I breathed his air, tasted the lingering hint of Irish coffee he’d had at some point this morning and allowed my body to respond in whole to his insinuations. Mere moments later his engorged erection thumped against my belly, my hands tracing down his chest to thrum the head. Hellion moaned into my mouth and I swallowed the sound, hand working to his benefit.
Dropping his mouth to the juncture of my neck and shoulder, he bit me, hard, and I gasped, arching into him, animalistic. “Ye’ve got three minutes to get upstairs and get those clothes off yerself before I catch ye and take them off wherever ye are.” Spinning me around to face the house, he pulled me back into his chest, caressing my nipples with broad strokes and little tweaks before he licked the bite on my neck. “Three minutes, love. Startin’ now.”
I stood on wobbly legs, caught my breath and dashed into the house. Micah called out a greeting as I sprinted by the dining room, and Bahlin called out for me to wait. The study door was a muted boom as it slammed shut and I knew he was after me. I pushed harder, reaching the stairs and taking them two at a time. I grabbed the handle to the bedroom door before his hands grabbed me around the waist. My thrilled scream was cut off when he clapped a hand over my mouth and pressed me face-first into the wall.
“I told ye what would happen,” he growled. Hot breat
h danced across my ear, my nipples so distended they ached. The plaster was uneven and scratched at them through the thin silk of my robe. Hellion’s hands snaked to my hips, fingers digging into the soft flesh in front of the bone and my hips shot forward. He chuckled darkly, pressing his weight into my back even more firmly and grinding his erection into my ass.
“Oh shit.” I couldn’t stop the epithet murmured against his hand any more than I could help the moisture that pooled between my legs. Cool air hit my bared cheeks and I whimpered at the feel of Hellion’s furious cock rubbing against me, satin and steel.
“Ye’ll take it here, in the hallway, where I caught you, because ye weren’t fast enough.” He shifted, lifting one of my legs so my inner thigh pressed against the wall and my knee was bent at a ninety-degree angle. It left me pinned against the wall, exposed, helpless. “You’ll remember me claiming you here, Madeleine Niteclif, and you’ll remember to whom your heart belongs.” He sheathed himself in one aggressive move and I cried out as the thrust lifted me to the toes of the one foot I had on the ground. His hand slipped from my mouth to gently grip me by the throat. “You’ll remember. Always.”
Hellion’s motions were rough, bordering on violent, as he took me. The slap of skin on skin, the sounds of our harsh breathing and mingled curses fouled the silence in the hallway. He smelled of the morning air and sex. I couldn’t stop the mewling that grew in the back of my throat. Houseguests be damned—they could all hear us no matter where we were, so this was as private as anything. Or so I thought as I turned my head and found Micah standing in the middle of the hallway. I struggled some and Hellion bit the back of my neck, humming into the muscles along my spine.
Micah’s eyes blazed to life at the same time I felt my orgasm building. No, I shook my head, fighting, but Hellion hadn’t seen our observer. My magus slid his free hand around and found that bundle of nerves at the apex of my cleft and pinched it hard, flicking the end of it as he powered into me. I screamed and my eyes fell to half-lidded wonder as the orgasm crashed through me. Powerless to stop it, I rode it out in front of Micah, my own moisture slicking the insides of our thighs. Hellion roared and shook, his release crashing into him with the same force mine had taken me. It went on and on, seemingly unstoppable, a vortex of pleasure dragging us to our knees, my cheek scraping down the rough wall.
Vengeance: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 3 Page 18
