Falling in Deep Collection Box Set

by Pauline Creeden

  “No, I use it to drive into that thick head of yours that I do love you, you are my family, blood or not, and I beg you to let go of this obsession. Let me love you as family and help you through it.”

  He clutched my hands, his expression pleading. “So if I promise to let ye help me and I change my ways, will ye promise me ye’ll no’ marry that man down there? Please, Jinny, don’t make me live without ye.”

  I turned my gaze again to Douglass, standing beside the buggy, petting the horse and talking to it.

  “I cannot promise you that, Lachlan,” I whispered, and returned my gaze to his.

  His beseeching look leveled and he dropped my hands. “Then I can no’ promise ye what ye want from me either.” He studied my face another long moment. “Don’t convince yerself that because I’m leaving we are over. I simply was no’ prepared for all this, or for Douglass McGrail.”

  He turned and headed for the door.

  I said, “Please, Lachlan, heed my warning. Leave this alone and walk away with your life.”

  He never looked back. I waited a moment and ran to the door to make sure he had left from the back stairs and not the front. I caught sight of him just rounding that corner. Thankful, I ran back to the window. A gentle breeze chilled my skin as I opened it, and called softly. “Douglass, I’m late. Give me half an hour, and then come up for my trunk. I’ll have Fern let you in.”

  He nodded with a thin smile.

  I closed the window and grabbed the light green day dress I’d chosen the night before—the only gown I’d not packed away.

  I’d wanted to soak in a nice hot tub on my wedding day, but there was no time. Opting for a brisk wash, I filled the basin with cold water from the pitcher.

  Fern opened the door, and I yanked the towel against me—I still could not allow her to see the permanent scar on my shoulder that was in the shape of Lachlan’s teeth.

  “Another minute, Fern, and I’ll be ready for you. In the meantime, could you go and let Mr. McGrail into the parlor? He’s out front.”

  “Aye, love.” She closed the door.

  I rinsed my mouth, washed quickly, and tugged a clean shift over my head just as the door opened again.

  Fern popped her head around the corner. “Yer beau is in the parlor. Are ye ready for me yet?”

  “Yes, come in.”

  She entered and helped me dress. I sat down at my dressing table, and she moved behind me to do my hair.

  “Ye’re a lucky lass to have that fine man so crazy for ye, Miss Fairchild.”

  I studied Fern’s buxom reflection in the mirror, her frizzy red hair glowing with the morning sunlight streaming through the window now. “You think he’s crazy for me?”

  “Oh my goodness, aye, I do. No doubt the poor man does no’ get a wink of sleep the way he shows up here so early each day, at nearly an indecent hour—today more so, as it is an indecent hour.”

  My cheeks flushed at the truth in her comment. Douglass did come early each day. I knew to watch for him at a quarter to ten and I’d learned he was a punctual man. But I didn’t mind. I wanted to drink in every moment with him. But today he was here to take me away from all my troubles and keep me safe in his world.

  There was a light tap at the door, and I realized my half hour was gone. Fern went and answered but turned to me with an unsure look when she discovered it was Douglass.

  “Fern, please let the man in and close the door.”

  Her brows went up but she said nothing and did as she was told.

  “Please do not mention it to my aunt or uncle, but I’m leaving to marry Douglass today.”

  Fern’s expression lit. “Oh, well done, miss. I told ye he was crazy for ye.” Beaming, she looked at Douglass. “I told her ye were crazy for her, sir.”

  “Ye told her true,” Douglass said, looking at me most seriously.

  He pointed at my trunk. “Is that everything?”

  “Yes, I’ll bring my bag.”

  He hoisted the heavy trunk onto his broad shoulder with ease.

  “Fern, get the door, and see him to the carriage. Take care not to wake my aunt. I’ll be right along.” I hurried over to my desk and pulled out the letter I’d written to Uncle before I’d gone to bed. I had been honest and simply told him I would marry Douglass. I was of age and he could not stop me. In my heart I didn’t believe he would try, but just in case, I would not risk his refusal. I straightened the covers and laid the letter on the pillow.

  With one last glance, I stepped into the hallway and closed the door on that chapter of my life.

  Chapter nineteen

  October 9, 1829

  Douglass McGrail

  The wedding had been simple, with the clan’s aged priestess performing the ceremony. Jinny had looked so damn pretty in her light green dress with her golden hair piled loosely onto her bonnie head. And my clan accepted her, although I’d no’ cared for the way a good number of the males watched her. But I supposed I could no’ blame them. They faced the same dilemma I’d faced before meeting Jinny—we had no females among us to mate.

  Though there was shouting and laughter, I’d seen longing in their faces when I’d scooped Jinny up and carried her from the great hall to come here to our bedchamber. I would imagine that they were wondering if they, too, might find happiness with human lassies. For me, that longing was over, though, and I was the lucky one laying the lass in a bed I’d always slept in alone.

  I crawled beside her and looked into her amber eyes. “I love ye, my mate, my bride. My heart is yers.”

  “And mine is yours, Douglass. Truly yours.”

  I touched her lips with my fingers, and then my mouth, forcing myself to be gentle. Though my cravings urged me to take her as I wanted, she deserved tenderness, no’ some rutting stag atop her having his way. She was no’ here for my pleasure only, I was to be hers, also.

  I kissed her face and neck slowly, wanting her to know I cherished her, and I felt it to my core when her hands roved along my body in exploration.

  ’Twas unbelievable how my life had changed, beginning the moment I’d seen her all those months ago. Her innocent face had turned me hungry—to the point I was prepared to wage war on a neighboring clan to try and sate my wanting of her. Now I was married to the lass. My hands were on her, and hers on me.

  I tucked my fingers into her shift—the only garment I’d yet to remove—and slid them over one breast. She was soft and filled my hand. Clamping her rosebud between two knuckles, I pulled gently toward me, remembering how it felt yesterday when she bit me there—it had stirred up a terrible aching.

  Her groan vibrated the hollow of my mouth and I swept my tongue around hers. Touching and tasting her this way, my hunger grew, and I could no’ help that my kiss turned a bit unruly.

  Her fingers dug into my flesh, covering me in tremors from head to toe.

  “I want to feel you in me,” she whispered against my lips.

  I pulled back with a frown. “Yer ready now?”

  “Yes.”

  I’d been afraid she might no’ want me inside her again after my roughness yesterday. Now I would treat her like the virgin she was then. I started to move over her but she stopped me.

  “No.”

  “Jinny, what—?”

  “Shhh … I want to ride you, Douglass—sit atop your lap the way I sat atop your back yesterday.”

  Bloody hell! I swallowed.

  At her urging, I rolled onto my back, as she climbed atop me and straddled my abdomen. She bent and kissed my chest, and I felt my cock standing tall in the crack of her spread arse cheeks. Holy shit. I nearly lost myself.

  She pushed up and scooted back. Her opening was right there calling to me and my heart danced a wild number. I guided myself in and rocked up between her thighs, pushing in slow and undemanding until my curls met and rubbed against hers. I pulled out the same way and repeated, filling her again and again as I breathed through it. I could truly feel her softness now, yet that supple flesh was cinc
hed tight around me. I wanted to live there and never leave her warmth.

  We worked into a smooth rhythm and I memorized the feel of her around me … the pleasured look on her face … the silky rippling of her body as we gained speed. I moved against her as ech-ooshkya. She sat atop me well, riding the wave of my motion.

  I’d seen Jinny just like this many times in my dreams. Feeling it now was like … like … God, I didnae even know how to describe it. But it felt damn good, and made me feel damn good.

  I squeezed her breasts and circled her nipples with my thumbs. My gut tightened at the sound she gave when sinking with each thrust into the pleasure of the ride. I had to unclench my jaw to speak.

  “Have mercy, Jinny. Ye’ve got me too hard. I’m going to shoot before I even get to really enjoy ye.”

  Though I loved having Jinny atop me that way, there was something protective in me that demanded I be over her when I marked her the first time. I felt driven to cover her like a shield.

  Knowing I could no’ last much longer, I flipped her onto her back and sunk into her, rocking slowly, my gut tightening at the sound of pleasure resonating from her throat when her head pushed into the pillow. I was making this woman mine, and she would be mine forever.

  I felt every movement heightening my senses as she rocked with me, one thrust at a time.

  Remembering how I hurt her when I took her virginity, I now watched the pleasure on her face and kent she liked it as much as I did—I was no’ hurting her now. With her thighs cradling me through every wave of motion—as I’d known they would—I felt the arousal to my bones.

  I didnae have to read her mind to know she, too, felt it as her lungs fought for air—no’ from exertion but arousal.

  Her pounding heart sent a surge of blood through her body, and her fingers dug into my shoulders with a cry on her breath. I felt her cinch and release around me over and over. She was at her prize.

  I fucked into her faster and deeper, until my thrusts became urgent, my heart now thrashing against the walls of my chest as the tension swelled.

  Fuck oh fuck!

  More intense than any surge of pleasure I’d known, it came on me because I was inside Jinny. I watched her face and with a great roar drove in one last time, my seed laying claim to her.

  It was done. She was mine.

  ***

  The full moon was luminous as I walked alongside my bride. Like a small sun, it lit the clear night sky to a mystic blue and shone bright against the sandy beach and ocean. I was mesmerized at how its reflection shone off Jinny’s hair, glowing golden against our azure surroundings.

  We were wed before morning closed, and spent half the day in bed. I’d then fed her and cleaned her and done it all again, spending the other half there. Like an opium eater, I was addicted to her already, and knew I’d no’ be able to leave her alone for any amount of time as long as we were in our chambers.

  She needed to rest and I didnae feel like sharing her just yet with the clan since they were mostly other males, so I’d brought her here to the beach where I loved spending time visiting with her. We were talking of love and fate.

  “Is it all ye thought it would be, Jinny—being married to me?”

  Our fingers were laced together, and she squeezed. “I hadn’t allowed myself to even imagine it before yesterday, Douglass. It’s like I didn’t know heaven was falling until it closed around me. What about you?”

  “Ah. Knowing ye’re mine feels better than anything I conjured in my—och!” A piercing pain burned through me and there was a loud popping in my ears.

  I went down face first. Jinny screamed and came down with me. I was numb and could no’ move. She dug my face out of the sand and turned it toward her so my cheek rested on the shore.

  “Douglass! Douglass! What happened?” She checked my body. “Ahhhh!” she screamed. “Douglass, your back—it’s bleeding so badly. Oh my God, you’ve been shot! Lord, please help me!”

  Shot? By whom?

  “Lachlan! What are you doing?” Jinny’s frantic voice cried.

  Lachlan? I tried to get up but I still could no’ move. I wanted to tell Jinny to run but I could no’ open my mouth to do that. I could no’ move a muscle in my body except my eyelids, although I was certain my heart was going to hammer out of my chest. I could hear it.

  I could just see Lachlan as he walked slowly up to Jinny.

  Epona’s wrath! Don’t let him hurt her!

  Though she was sobbing I heard his sarcastic voice. “What? Look at that Goliath lying there. Do you really believe I could get away with letting him live while I took you back? He’d kill me.”

  Jinny was arched over me protectively, crying, and I was sure she was holding me. Lachlan pulled her away and her gaze met mine. Using my eyes, I pleaded with her to run—to get the hell to safety.

  She flailed against him, trying to reach for me. “Douglass!” I could no’ help her and it was destroying me.

  “Lachlan! What have you done? What have you done?” She wailed, still fighting to reach me, she broke free.

  Lachlan grabbed her arm and yanked her back, but she came around with a blow to his head. He slapped her face so hard she went to the ground.

  “Don’t challenge me, Jinny!”

  She got to her feet and ran toward me, screaming when he wrestled her to the ground right beside me and straddled her. “I’m taking back what is mine. I told ye it was no’ over.” He bent to her ear. “And since the man who stole ye from me is no’ dead but still gawking at us, I think I’ll like doing it in front of him.”

  Lachlan sat up, but looked at me as he continued holding Jinny. I saw the malice in his face and kent he would be even crueler to Jinny to hurt me more. My eyes told him I’d kill him if it was my last act on earth.

  Lachlan came over her, with her throat in one hand and yanked her skirt up with the other. She twisted her body this way and that, tugging at the fingers that were squeezing her jugular, and fighting for breath. Why had she no’ run away? I had to help her, but goddamn it I could no’ move.

  “Damn you, Jinny, stop fighting me! It’ll do ye no good, and only makes me hold ye tighter.” He slammed a knee between her legs so hard I thought it must have broken the bone there.

  She cried and her gaze shot over to find the suffering in my eyes. She pursed her lips and balled her fist and hit him hard … and again until she was beating him in the face and head.

  He released her throat and grabbed her arms. She arched up and bit a chunk out of his face.

  “Why, you mean little whore!” Lachlan yelled. “I’ll beat the hell out of you!” I kent he was no longer battling her out of desire to hurt me only—he wanted revenge on Jinny now, too.

  She did no’ listen and bit any part of him that came within reach. She was doing it as much for me as herself.

  She got her hand free and flung sand into his eyes. He yelled and rolled away, wiping at his face.

  Jinny scurried toward me on her knees and I groaned, trying to get her attention. She bent and set her tearful gaze on my eyes. I cut them sharply toward the water.

  “Your feet?” she said.

  I was lying with my head inland and my feet near the sea. I blinked several times.

  She said, “You can blink! Blink once for no, twice for yes. Something’s wrong with your feet?”

  I blinked once and cut my gaze to the water.

  “Not your feet?” She looked that direction. “The sea?”

  Two blinks.

  “You need to get to the sea?”

  Two blinks.

  “Yes, of course—it will help you.” She jumped up and though I could not feel it, I heard pebbles crunch beneath me as I began inching very slowly through the sand toward the water. She groaned and heaved against my heavy weight. I was ech-ooshkya—a changer—and though I was paralyzed and unable to shift on my own, if I could join the water, it would start the metamorphosis and restore my severed nerves.

  Jinny had no’ pulled me far whe
n I heard Lachlan. “What are ye doing, ye stupid bitch? Do ye think ye can escape with him?” He started toward us.

  I slid another inch and another before Lachlan disappeared from my view and I heard Jinny scream. I could no’ see what was happening, but there was a harsh slap followed by her sharp cry. And then another, and another, that turned into so many I didnae think he would ever stop. He would beat her to death. Why hadn’t I killed him the night before?

  There were splashes in the water, and I suddenly had feeling in one foot. The water had splattered onto it. There was more splashing and more feeling that came into my feet and legs. I still could no’ move, but I could feel.

  “Get off me, you bastard!” Jinny said, and I realized now what was happening.

  “Och! Damn you, Jinny! Stop biting me!”

  I felt two small hands grab one of my ankles and pull.

  “What are you planning?” Lachlan gave a mocking laugh. “Are you intent on drowning the helpless lump of nothing? Now that would give me a thrill. Allow me.”

  Jinny fell hard onto her arse at my side where Lachlan shoved her. I saw her mouth and nose were bleeding, and her face was swollen and beginning to bruise. Lachlan would pay for every last wrong he’d done her. His hands went around my ankles, and three strong tugs had me in the water.

  He straddled me and took my hair into his hand, shoving my face into the wet sand. I pushed up beneath him so he was astride my back.

  At first he was confused. “What the—”

  And then came his screams as the manly back he sat atop broadened and elongated beneath the spread of his thighs. I grew tall and reared high with the great loud shriek of the ech-ooshkya and slammed down, stomping the ground and water. His screams grew more frantic as he tugged at his legs, trying to dislodge himself from my back.

  He would go nowhere until I was ready for him to look into my eyes. Which part of his body would I rip from him first? I didnae yet know, but what I did know was I would no’ do it in front of Jinny.

  Through swollen yet panic-stricken eyes, Jinny watched with her hands over her bleeding mouth as I turned and lunged into the sea, jumping through the waves until I reached a depth that would allow me to dive with my tailfin and take my prey to the deep with me—the same predator who’d preyed on Jinny.