by Donna Grant
Her hands ran over his shoulders to his neck before her fingers intertwined in his hair. She tugged on his hair and ran her nails lightly over his scalp. It sent chills racing over his skin, but it also reminded him that he wore his hair longer than fashionable.
“I suppose I need to have my hair trimmed.”
“Don’t you dare,” she whispered. “I love it just as it is. And I love this.”
Fallon placed his hand over hers, which held the boar’s head of his torc. “Do you?”
“It is from an era of a time long ago, but one you belong in. You are the essence of the Highlands, Fallon. Everything about you lets people know you’re a true Highlander.”
His fingers tightened on hers. He didn’t know if she understood the significance of what she had said, but he did. She had helped give him back a piece of himself that had gone missing when Deirdre unbound their god. She helped him remember who he really was.
A Highlander.
Fallon rolled her onto her back as he kissed her deeply, showing her without words how much he wanted her with him. His lips left hers and traveled down her neck to her breasts. He ran his tongue around a nipple before softly nipping it.
She cried out, but Fallon wasn’t nearly done. He moved to her other breast and flicked his tongue over the already hard bud before he closed his mouth over it and suckled deep.
He ached to be inside her, but he wasn’t done pleasuring her. Fallon moved down her stomach, stopping along the way to kiss her navel and nip at her hips. He moved his arms beneath her hips to hold her steady before he bent and licked her sex.
Larena had never felt something so wonderous before. The moan was locked in her throat, her body unable to move as Fallon continued to move his tongue over her sensitive flesh. With his hands holding firmly on to her hips, she could do nothing but pray he continued the unbelievable pleasure.
She cried out when his tongue began to tease her clitoris. She could feel herself swell as her need grew. Her hands gripped his forearms and her hips rocked against him.
As if he knew she was close to peaking, Fallon took her clitoris between his lips and sucked. Her body bucked and she cried out his name as she convulsed with her orgasm, leaving her panting and her body still throbbing.
He continued to stroke her with his tongue until the last of the tremors left her. Then he rose up and flipped her onto her stomach. He lifted her hips into the air, and in one thrust, he seated himself inside her.
“Fallon,” she whispered as her fingers clawed the linens.
Fallon knew just how she felt. He wanted to prolong their lovemaking, but he couldn’t wait any longer. Fallon began to pump his hips slowly at first, then faster as her moans grew louder.
He loved to watch Larena as she peaked. And to know he had given her such pleasure made him swell with pride. He pulled out of her until just the tip of him was inside. Then he plunged inside her once more.
His need built fast as it always did when he was with Larena. He was able to keep it at bay while pleasuring her. It wasn’t until he felt her body tighten around him in another orgasm that he lost control.
“Larena!” he yelled as his seed burst from him with a climax that left him dizzy.
The orgasm left him weak and sated. As he rolled them to the side, still deep inside her, he knew he would never grow tired of Larena’s body and the satisfaction she brought him.
Larena woke in the warm embrace of Fallon’s arms, their legs entwined and his face turned toward hers. Dawn was just breaking, giving off a faint light in the chamber through the open window so she could see his face. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so soundly or had been so content. It was all because of Fallon, she knew.
Fallon, who had shown her just how much he desired her. She had felt it in his kiss, seen it in his eyes. He had held nothing back.
And last night, neither had she.
For once, she wanted to be the girl who had found a man who pleased her and made her feel like the woman she was. Fallon had given her all that and more.
A tear leaked from the corner of her eye and trailed over her cheek to land on Fallon’s arm, which was cradling her head. She wished she could stay with him, just as they were, forever. But she knew better than anyone that nothing lasted forever.
Larena slowly pulled out of his arms and rose from the bed. More tears threatened, and she didn’t want him to wake and find her crying for a future that could never be.
What made it worse was that she feared she had already fallen in love with Fallon. If he were to wake in that instant and ask her for the Scroll, she would give it to him and pray he didn’t hate her for keeping it from him.
She reached out to stroke his face, but stopped before she did. He might wake and pull her back into his arms. She wouldn’t be able to resist him then. She had never been able to resist him.
Take him. Take the future he offers.
And if he ever discovered what the ring on her finger was? He would hate her, and he would have a right to, despite the oaths she had taken. Fallon valued family and honesty. She could give him neither.
All they could share was the passion that neither could deny. She hoped it was enough because that was all she could allow herself to give him.
Larena took a step away from him toward the window she had come through the night before. She called forth her goddess then made herself invisible. For long moments she stared at him, half hoping he would wake.
When she could stand it no more, Larena climbed out the window. She returned to her chamber and transformed before she curled up on her bed and let flow the tears she had been holding back.
With the unbinding of her goddess, she had been surprised, scared, and more than a little excited. She hadn’t comprehended the danger that lay ahead of her. Or the loneliness that would be her constant companion.
It was only after Robena’s death and her father’s murder soon afterward that Larena came to understand what her future held for her. She could trust no one.
Robena hadn’t cared that Larena was a female Warrior. For all the Druid had known, there could have been other females. Nay, what Robena worried about was the Scroll. She had drilled that concern into Larena until it was all she thought about.
Larena wanted to take off the ring and toss it into a corner to forget it ever existed. She would throw it in the sea if she knew Deirdre would never find it. But Deirdre had a way of learning things that she should never know. Larena couldn’t take that chance no matter how her heart ached.
Fallon pretended to be asleep until he could no longer smell Larena’s scent. Only then did he open his eyes. He had hoped she would stay until morning so they could make love again.
Something was wrong. Larena had said nothing, but he had felt her eyes on him as she stood by the bed, could sense her longing. What had she been thinking?
She was used to being on her own and doing what she wanted. He didn’t begrudge her that, but he wished he could wake up and find her still in his arms.
Fallon sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face. He wanted to think he had made some headway with Larena last night, but he wasn’t so sure. She liked his touch, that much he knew. But was it enough to keep her by his side? Did he dare try?
As much as he wanted an answer, there wasn’t one. He blew out a long breath before he rose from the bed and readied himself for the day. After dressing, he opened his door to find Lucan standing there with his fist raised to knock.
“Everything all right?” Fallon asked his brother.
Lucan sighed and glanced down the hallway. “Can I have a moment?”
Fallon stepped aside to allow him in. He shut the door behind Lucan and leaned against it to wait for his brother to speak.
Lucan stopped in the middle of the chamber and faced him. “Cara is worried about Larena.”
“What about?”
“I wish I knew,” Lucan said, frustration making his jaw clench. “It’s all Cara could talk about last
night. She kept saying Larena seemed agitated.”
“I’m sure she is. She was attacked and almost died. She woke to find herself in a strange place with people she didn’t know. She worried about how the Warriors would accept her. Larena has spent much of her hundred years by herself. And she doesn’t trust anyone.”
Lucan rolled his eyes. “That’s what I told Cara, but you know my wife. She likes to fix things.”
Fallon grinned. “She fixed you.”
“Aye, she did.”
“Tell Cara that Larena is going to need some time. I know how difficult it was for us to live with a god, but I cannot imagine what Larena has gone through as a female.”
Lucan nodded and glanced at the bed. “Have you told her you know what the ring is, what she guards?”
“Nay, and I doona intend to. Leave it at that, Lucan.” Fallon straightened from the door. “If she doesna want to tell me, then so be it. She must have her reasons.”
“What if she’s keeping something else from you?”
Fallon briefly closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “She might be. She doesn’t trust me.”
Lucan’s gaze narrowed as he studied Fallon. “You care a great deal for her, don’t you?”
“My feelings for her are strong, I’ll admit. I want her in my life. I cannot explain what it does to me to have her by my side.”
Lucan moved to stand in front of him. “I’m glad you’ve found your woman, brother. You stood by Cara, so I will stand by Larena.”
Fallon didn’t miss the doubt in Lucan’s eyes. “I know I haven’t been much of a brother these last three hundred years. I’ve let you shoulder too much, and for that I can never apologize enough.”
“Don’t,” Lucan said. “We’ve all had to deal with what happened to us.”
“If I hadna been drunk, we might have been able to help Quinn. I’ll always blame myself for that.”
Lucan put his hand on Fallon’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’re a good man, and a fine leader. You’ve turned your back on the wine and taken charge of things. I trust your judgment, Fallon.”
“Then trust me on Larena. I need her, Lucan.”
Lucan held his gaze for a moment before he dropped his hand to his side and nodded. “I’ll do as you ask, brother.”
“Thank you.”
“Come then. Let us eat,” Lucan said, and strode to the door.
Fallon glanced at the bed and the rumpled sheets. An image of Larena on top of him, her head thrown back, flashed in his mind. He was determined to have her in his bed every night, even if he had to seduce her each time.
Sonya had already put out the food by the time he and Lucan walked into the great hall. Cara came out of the kitchen with three loaves of bread in her arms, a smile on her face, and her eyes twinkling as she gazed at her husband.
Galen strode into the hall from the bailey rubbing his hands together. He sat at the table and sniffed the air. “Warm bread and milk. I’ve been craving it all night.”
Cara laughed and set an entire loaf in front of Galen. “Make it last longer and you won’t have to raid the kitchen during the night.”
He looked up at her and grinned. “I cannot help when I’m hungry.”
Lucan and Sonya laughed as Galen broke apart the bread then quickly dropped it when it burned his fingers. Ribbons of heat curled from the two halves to disappear above him.
Hayden and Logan came in from the kitchen and filled their trenchers before taking their seats. Conversation filled the hall, bringing back many memories for Fallon.
He watched all of it with interest. When he and his brothers had first returned to find the castle in ruins, he had never thought it would be filled with laughter again.
It had taken nearly three hundred years and a coming war with Deirdre, but the stones were being put aright and people once more filled the castle. They were his family now, his responsibility.
Fallon had known what his role would be the moment he set aside the wine and began to make decisions. It still terrified him that he would make the wrong choice. Yet, no matter what, they followed him.
Cara set two slices of bread on his trencher and kissed his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re back. It wasn’t the same without you around.”
He patted his sister-in-law’s hand and smiled up at her. Cara had a good heart. She opened it to whoever needed her love and attention. There were few people like her in the world.
“Thank you.”
Her smile faded and her dark eyes held his. “Trust yourself and your judgment, Fallon. We’ll get Quinn back.”
He forced a grin. She had always had the ability to read him and his brothers accurately, too accurately at times. “Of course we will.”
“Now eat. You’ve a long day ahead of you.”
Fallon waited until Cara had moved on before he lifted his gaze to Lucan. His brother’s sea-green eyes were somber, but determined. Lucan had always had his back, and that hadn’t changed.
“We go to the village today,” Fallon said. “I know I wanted the fourth tower finished, but it can wait. Galen, you and Logan come with us.”
Galen nodded and stuffed more bread into his mouth. “Are you expecting trouble?”
“Nay, but I’d rather be prepared.”
Ramsey descended the stairs and took his seat. “Would you rather Hayden and I go as well?”
“I doona want to leave Cara and Sonya alone.”
Sonya rolled her eyes and snorted. “You won’t be far.”
“I’ll come.”
Fallon’s heart missed a beat at the familiar voice. He turned his gaze to the stairs to see Larena. Her hair was tied at the base of her neck with a lavender ribbon that matched her gown. He liked her in the simple dress. She wore it with as much ease and confidence as she had worn the fashionable dresses at court.
Larena had learned to adapt in ways Fallon and his brothers hadn’t. They could take a lesson from her.
“If that would be all right,” Larena said into the silence.
Fallon licked his lips and made himself stay seated instead of going to her and pulling her into his arms for a kiss. “That would be fine.”
Larena descended the rest of the stairs and walked to the table. She once again took the seat between Cara and Galen. Fallon wanted her beside him in the seat that was saved for Quinn.
He had all the time in the world to woo her as he became the man he wanted to be. Fallon didn’t like that it might take many years, but he was determined to have her in the end no matter how long it took.
It troubled Fallon that she refused to look at him as she ate. She kept her attention on Cara and Sonya. Occasionally, she would glance at Galen or Ramsey and speak.
Fallon had long since finished his meal and was talking to Lucan about building a few cottages closer to the castle when Larena looked up. Fallon met her gaze and saw the uncertainty in her smoky-blue eyes.
But doubt for what, he didn’t know.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Fallon walked into the village with Lucan on his right and Larena on his left. Behind him were Galen and Logan. He stared at the destruction before him and swore he could hear the screams of the innocents who had died still ringing in the breeze.
The village had been so alive not that long ago, but Deirdre had seen it crushed in her efforts to find Cara. Now, only ghosts lingered in the empty streets and burned-down cottages.
At the far end of the village, tucked away and nestled in a grove of oak trees, was the nunnery in which Cara had been raised. Orphaned and unwanted children had found a home there with the nuns.
Fallon had often gone to the towers to watch them running through the village, their mirth reaching even the castle. There was nothing like the sound of a child’s laughter. It was pure and simple and contagious, hitting a person square in the chest.
The village was eerily quiet now, and that disturbed Fallon more than the fire marks on the castle walls.
“Deirdre did this?” Larena asked whe
n she came upon the first burned cottage. She placed her hand on the door hanging by one hinge.
Fallon nodded. “They killed everyone.”
“Just as they did your clan,” she murmured, and turned her gaze to him.
Fallon looked at her and saw the depth of her feeling. She hadn’t known the villagers, but she felt the pain of their loss. The memories of his clan’s murder didn’t sting as badly as they used to.
He couldn’t change what had happened to his family and clan, but he could make sure Deirdre didn’t kill any more innocents.
Galen kicked at the remains of a door that lay in their path. “I wish I had been here for the first attack. Seeing this makes me want to find the Warriors and wyrran responsible and rip out their throats.”
Lucan sighed. “If we had known Deirdre had sent her army, we might have saved some of them. As it was, we were trying to save Cara.”
“Nay,” Logan said, his usually cheerful voice hard and cold as ice. “It doesna matter how you try. You can’t save them. Not when Deirdre is involved.”
Fallon and the others turned to face the Warrior. Logan’s customary smile and bright eyes were gone. He stared into the empty village as if he were seeing an image from his past, a past full of death and betrayal.
Fallon knew all the Warriors in his castle had a past. Some spoke of them, some didn’t. Logan was one that kept his past to himself, but what Fallon was seeing now worried him more than Hayden’s hatred for the droughs.
“Logan?” Fallon said carefully.
The young Warrior jerked as if slapped. His lips pulled back into a wide smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I think I want the first cottage. The thought of sharing a chamber with Hayden makes me gag.”
Everyone chuckled at the jest, but Fallon knew something dark — and dangerous — lurked inside of Logan. Fallon recognized what Logan was doing. Instead of drowning in wine as Fallon had done, Logan teased and joked his way through the day. It was Logan’s escape from his past.
Fallon was determined to pay closer attention to the young Warrior. He hadn’t asked what had happened to Logan’s family, and even if he did, he wasn’t sure Logan would give him the truth. Maybe Hayden or Ramsey knew something. Fallon made a mental note to talk to the two Warriors as soon as he could.
