The Warrior's Salvation (Warriors of Eriu Book 1)

by Mia Pride

  Jeoffrey shattered inside watching this strong woman break apart right here on his lap. He had to end her misery and make her see how much he believed her, how much he trusted her. Making shushing noises, he cradled her quivering body against his chest and felt her tears soaking into the fabric of his white tunic. “I believe you, Clarice. I believe everything you told me. My father was a vile man. You say he threatened to kill you for loving me? I believe you. He threatened to kill me not long ago over a woman…I do not doubt he did it to you, as well.”

  She pulled away from his embrace and frowned at his words. It only took him a moment to understand what he had said to make her react so. Aye, he had told her a little about Treasa while she had her fever, but he wasn’t sure how much she remembered. Certainly, him bringing up another woman right now was the very last thing she had expected…or needed. He cursed himself for a fool.

  “T-Treasa?” she croaked as she wiped her nose on the long white sleeve of her gown. So, she clearly remembered what he had said to her while she was ill in bed.

  He supposed if they were to move forward, she needed to hear everything. “Aye, Treasa,” he confirmed with a nod. He was shocked that saying her name out loud held none of the pain it had held in the past. He had recently understood that what he felt for Treasa was a strong lust and a stronger need for reciprocated affection, but it was not love. He was still so broken over his loss of Clarice that he clung to the first beautiful woman he felt a connection to.

  “Your father threatened to kill you because of her, as well?” she asked. The hurt on her face made him cringe.

  “Aye. Tis a very long story. Do you really wish to hear it all?”

  “Aye, I do. We need to do this, Jeoffrey.” She sniffled and tried to climb off his lap, but he held her firmly by the hips, refusing to let her retreat.

  “I will tell you all, but only if you promise to sit here with me. I cannot have you second-guessing my feelings for you.” He gripped her hard, willing her to feel his love for her in this moment, even though he did not think telling her he loved her right before he told her a story about another woman was wise. She nodded and settled in his lap, so he continued.

  “War was imminent. My father was certain to lose. Tuathal Techtmar had been in exile for twenty years, here in Alba, where his mother was the daughter of a king. He spent his entire life training to one day take back the High Throne of Ériu. My father did not make it all that hard, seeing as how he had left the land in a famine and most of the tuatha were against him. Have you heard of the Sisters of Danu?” he asked carefully, wondering how much of the legend she knew.

  She nodded. “Who has not heard of the three Sisters of Danu?” she breathed in awe. “They are rumored to be the most beautiful women in all the land and to have powers to control the elements. Is it true?” she questioned.

  “I have never met them. I know they do have powers. But nay…they are not the most beautiful women in all the land.”

  “How can you know such a thing if you have never met them?” she scoffed and gripped his arms playfully.

  “Simple. The most beautiful woman in all the land is currently sitting upon my lap.” Leaning in slowly, he could not help but steal a soft, lingering kiss from her shocked, parted lips. She sighed into his mouth and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue between her lips, twining it around hers. Her grip on his arms grew tighter, as did the fabric of his trousers near his groin. With a groan, he pulled away, but not before taking a handful of her brown waves and breathing in her sweet floral scent.

  “Continue your story, Jeoff,” she whispered but he did not miss the breathlessness in her voice or the healthy pink flush of her cheeks. She wanted him. He prayed that she still did when he was done confessing all the terrible things he had done.

  “The Sisters of Danu and their powerful husbands were my father’s main threat. With them, they brought an army that doubled Tuathal’s. When we received word that they had gathered their troops and traveled to meet up with Tuathal, my father grew desperate to gain more followers. He learned through his spies that the Sisters of Danu had traveled with their entire family, well…all but one daughter whom they left behind. She had just become handfast and they wanted to leave her and her new husband behind to establish their lives.”

  He swallowed uncomfortably, knowing the next part of his story would reveal to her far too many of the dirty deeds he had once done while under the cruel thumb of his father. “My father ordered me to abduct her, to force her to marry me, and to claim her forcibly if necessary.”

  Clarice gasped and tried to scramble out of his lap again. He held her firm, not allowing her to break free as he continued with his story. “If I failed, he would have killed me. His hope was that if I married the daughter of the powerful family, they would switch allegiance from Tuathal to my father. After all, our marriage would have made her the High Queen of all Ériu, eventually. It wasn’t a bad plan, in truth. I loathed to do it, but my father was my commander and failure was death. Besides, I had nothing else to live for, no other woman to be bound to. It took more ale than I can even remember, but I did manage to abduct her…straight out of the arms of her husband.”

  “Nay!” Clarice screeched and turned away from him in disgust. This was exactly what he had feared the most. Her disgust at his actions could never match his own, but she had to understand the level of desperation surrounding the situation.

  “Aye,” he growled lowly, obviously frightening her with his suddenly aggressive grip and voice. “I did it. This was war, Clarice! War! I was the cursed heir to the cursed High Seat of Ériu and my father gave me an order. I obeyed. I even forced her to marry me! I knew her husband would come after me and she wouldn’t be mine forever, but I did what I had to do…all except the bedding. She would not bed me and I would not force her. I could not.”

  Clarice said nothing, but tears started rolling down her face as she listened to his confession. “We became companions, Clarice. Och, she hated me at first for stealing her away. I hated myself for doing it. She was a kind lass with a good heart. She loved her husband fiercely and I was so very jealous of that love. Here I was a broken man whose intended bride had fled the country with my own cousin, and now I had a stolen bride who was devoted to her true lover. I felt like I would never be good enough for anybody…like I did not deserve love.”

  Clarice’s sobbing increased and she began to shake violently in his arms. His heart felt like it was on fire and melting out of his chest with each shutter that wracked her body. “I did love you, Jeoffrey! I did! I swear it!”

  “Shush, mo chroí. I know that now. Then? Nay. I was broken. I did what I had to do because I was asked to do it. Treasa made me see that I was better than that. She made me see that I did not have to blindly follow my father’s commands. We made an agreement. She would play the role of the loving wife in front of my father and when battle commenced, I would see her safely back to her family and to her husband. I never touched her.”

  “But, you loved her?” she questioned, clearly hesitant to hear the true answer.

  Jeoffrey signed deeply and placed his forehead against hers. “I thought I did, right up until you returned to me. Now I know what I truly felt was loneliness and a deep need for affection, even just companionship. She gave that to me, in the oddest way. I was her captor, and yet she saw the true person I was. She knew I would never hurt her, so I became more of her protector at that point. We protected each other from the wrath of Elim. But nay, it was not true love.”

  Clarice pursed her lips and closed her eyes, letting his answer sink in. “What happened?”

  “My father, crazed man that he was, became angry when I tried to convince him that his plan was flawed. Treasa’s family was loyal to Tuathal. They would never have switched sides. They would have found her and slew my father. He did not like me standing against him, so he set his guards on me and ordered me killed so he could claim Treasa for his own, believing he could convince her family to
fight for him if they knew she was married to the High King. Treasa panicked when they dragged me away, confessed she had never bedded me, and that our marriage was not valid. She saved me with that one confession, yet it put her in peril. Elim spared my life but planned on marrying her after the battle. I could not allow that.

  “Her family did come. And her husband did find her. When he tried to free Treasa from the binding my father had put her in, Elim tried to kill Treasa’s husband and was very close to succeeding. That’s when I killed my father. I had promised Treasa that I would reunite her and her beloved…and I did. With Elim’s death, the war was over and I was free. There was nothing left for me in Ériu except bad memories and even worse decisions, so Alastar and I headed for the coast and after a few days of travel we found a man with a boat who agreed to let us on board if we helped him get across the sea and trade his goods.”

  “And so you ended up here, in this coastal trading village,” she murmured and nervously chewed on her nails. Her tears had ceased, but her frown only deepened with every new breath she took.

  “Aye. I still see that old man with the boat from time to time. His name is Caithin. I help him unload his goods and trade them on market days whenever he arrives. He is how we got chickens here,” Jeoffrey said with a smile thinking of his son, who so loved the chickens and eggs they produced.

  “I see,” Clarice whispered and averted her eyes. The comfort they had begun to share suddenly felt lost in the sea of emotions swarming between them.

  “Look at me, Clarice. Please,” he implored. She began to look up, then hesitated and pulled away. “Nay. Do not pull away from me, my love.”

  With those words hanging between them, she did look up, her large blue eyes filled with questions and perhaps a touch of hope. “Everything I ever did was for love of you. I was nothing when you left me. I had nobody…except for cursed Alastar and his unbreakable cheerfulness and his ridiculous grin. Most of the time, I wanted to pop him one in the mouth for always being so happy.” Jeoffrey half laughed and half sighed. “I love you, Clarice. And if you can forgive the terrible actions of my past and forgive my treatment of you when you arrived, I would very much like to be a true family with you and our son.”

  A huge smile spread across her face, knocking the wind out of his lungs. By the gods, she stole his breath with her smile. Her face lit up the room, his entire world. “Truly?” she asked and began to squirm in his lap with excitement.

  He stifled the groan in his throat and gripped her hips tightly to stop her from grinding her perfect round arse into his groin. “Clarice…I asked you this question once and I pray I never have to ask it a third time. Will you wed with me? Will you be my wife?”

  She squealed and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him to her tightly and sprinkling him with kisses all over his face and neck. He laughed and pulled her closer to him. “Is that an aye?” He smiled against her lips as he locked his mouth on hers for a searing kiss. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest. He needed to hear her answer.

  “Aye! Och, Jeoffrey! All I have ever wanted since I was a wee lass was to be your wife. To be Clarice Mac Conrach,” she laughed and kissed him again.

  “Nobody shall ever pull us apart again,” he growled as he repositioned her on his lap, placing her legs on either side of him so she was straddling him.

  “Never,” Clarice responded breathlessly. Her eyelids fluttered shut and her breath hitched in her chest. That tell-tale flush took over her cheeks and neck again, and he knew she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. “I love you, Jeoffrey.”

  That was all he had ever wanted to hear from her sweet mouth. “I love you more,” he whispered as he bit her lower lip before sucking it into his mouth. He wanted to devour every inch of her sweet flesh. “I cannot wait to make you my wife. I cannot wait to plant my seed in you and watch you grow round with my many children,” he panted as he thrust his hips upward into hers. “I want all of you, Clarice.”

  “Aye,” she sighed and tilted her head back as he ran his tongue down the long column of her neck. She pushed back into him and he knew she felt his hard length straining against his trousers.

  He couldn’t take it anymore. Nights of sharing her bed, of feeling her warm body so close to his, of only receiving small tempting kisses in the night and mayhap a shy run of her palm up and down his length before she pulled away in fear of his rejection, had left him half mad with lust for her. He would wipe away any remaining fear of rejection she owned…right now.

  “I want you…so bad,” he groaned through his gritting teeth.

  She did not say a word, but her actions spoke loud and clear when she pulled the string on his trousers and reached inside to wrap her hand around his throbbing rod of flesh. He hissed at her touch. It felt so good he was worried he would lose himself right away. This isn’t what he had planned for them after all these years, but he would have to make this coupling fast and hard, or else he was going to spend himself in her palm. They had the rest of their lives for slow love-making. Curse it, they had the rest of tonight. But for now, he needed to be inside her.

  With her still straddling his lap, he yanked the fabric of her nightdress off her shoulders, exposing her round, firm breasts to his hungry gaze. Without hesitation, he took one in his mouth and latched on, feeling her shudder against him and sigh as he tugged and on her sweet flesh. His other hand came down to her thigh and tugged the hem of her dress out from under her bottom. She lifted slightly to aid his efforts and her dress came up around her waist.

  “I’m sorry, Clarice. I cannot be slow,” he said when he released one breast and moved over to the other. She arched her back, forcing more of her breast into his eager mouth and he willingly complied. She moaned and wriggled her hips against his, bringing her entrance against his hard manhood, the heat of her slick flesh almost more than he could take.

  Lifting herself off his lap slightly, Jeoffrey felt her small hand grip his hard length firmly and fit herself against him. With one swift move, she came down hard on him and he groaned low, reveling in the feel of being sheathed deeply in her warmth. “Clarice,” he whispered and nibbled on her ear lobe. “You feel so good.”

  She responded by rocking her hips back and forth, arching so her breasts rose high as she let out low, breathy moans. The flicker of the dying fire cast shadows across the room, highlighting every sensual curve of her perfect body as she sat astride him and took from him what she seemed to need as desperately as he did.

  Gripping her firm bottom, he dug his hands into her skin and brought her down harder on to him, feeling himself lose control as the woman he had loved his entire life took his breath away. She was more beautiful than ever, and she was his forever.

  “I love you,” he whispered in her ear and nuzzled her neck as he pulled her close, crushing her chest to him and feeling their hearts beat as one as the slick sheen of their sweaty bodies made them seem to glide against each other.

  “I love you, Jeoffrey,” she breathed against his lips, taking his mouth with hers and using her tongue to mimic the movement of their connected bodies.

  Gripping her hips harder, he slammed her down on him again and again, feeling himself ready to release and hoping she finished soon, so she would also be fulfilled. Just then, her entire body stiffened and shuddered as she bit down gently on his shoulder to stifle her moan of pleasure just before she went limp.

  His shoulder throbbed from the mark he knew she had left and something about that primal action sent him spiraling over the edge with pleasure. He shook as his long pent-up desire for her finally released and spilled into her violently. He wanted to roar with the release but knew he must be quiet, so he buried his face into her mass of wild waves and let his groan escape slowly against her neck.

  She felt like home as she lay limp and sweaty in his arms, clinging to him as if he were her lifeline in a storm of emotions. He felt the storm as well, brewing deep within his chest and threatening to burst forth with love for this
woman.

  “Och, woman,” he laughed quietly against her ear and felt her begin to shake with repressed laughter herself. “That was unbelievable.”

  “I have waited four long years to feel you inside me again, Jeoffrey,” she panted and quickly laughed again as she clung tightly to his neck.

  “Keeping talking like that, lass, and I will be inside you again in nay time.” He meant it. He remembered Clarice’s dirty wee mouth while they made love, and it had always put fire into his blood…and other parts of his body. And now was no different. He could already feel himself stirring to life again just from her playful words.

  “Well then,” she purred as she purposely stretched her arms above her, pushing her perfect breasts against his lips and then pulling away before he could successfully capture her nipple in his mouth. “Mayhap we can try this again in our bed, with nay clothes on at all. And this time, I want to feel the weight of your body as you lay atop me.” With a sly wink, Jeoffrey watched in rapture as she gracefully rolled off him and swayed her hips all the way to their bed, slipped out of her night dress, and bared her entire luscious body before his gaze. Kneeling on the bed, she reached up and grabbed both sides of the blue bed curtains in her fists and shut them quickly, leaving him nothing more than a gawking fool.

  She had always had that effect on him. She was a bold lover and now that they had reconciled and found their way back to making love, he knew his nights would never be dull again. With no other thought than getting over to his bed as swiftly as possible, Jeoffrey held up his loose trousers with one fist and swiftly tip-toed over to where he knew his beautiful intended bride would be sprawled out and waiting for him behind those curtains.