“There is more.” She slid her fingers from his and eased his shirt collar to one side. “You and your brothers cannae see it, but there is a mark here, one I placed on you a few days ago, a mark I—well, I bit you again during our joining.”
“You had all three of us compelled?” She’d gone to dire lengths. He swept her silky blond hair back from her neck and exposed two marks, one on each side of her neck, both gracing her creamy flesh. His marks. His claim. On his woman. Only he never remembered giving them to her. “I can see your marks.”
“You bit me last eve for the first time. You had no’ done so afore.” She cleared her throat, her cheeks flushing an even rosier hue.
“I want my memories back, to know everything that’s transpired between us.” He looked deep into her eyes and his pulse raced. She was the one who’d stolen his heart, and the one without question, who he’d hand it back to again and again. “And I mean desperately.”
“Isla cannae return lost memories, only remove her compelling command and ensure you dinnae lose any more.” She settled back in her chair, creating a distance—albeit a small one—he didn’t care for, not one little bit. “’Tis up to you though if you wish for her to do so. I forced your agreement the first time, and I shall no’ do so again.”
“Of course I wish the compelling command gone.” His mate clearly liked to take matters into her own hands, but he wouldn’t allow it a moment longer. Suspicion though shimmered through him. “Why wouldn’t I wish it?”
Arabel glanced at Isla and his brother’s mate dragged in a deep breath and stepped forward. “I’m aware of what’s been recorded in history, and the very last known fire-wielder to have ever lived, passed away during the battle at the village on June the eleventh. Which means you could still very well lose Arabel on that day, whether you wish it or not.”
Isla’s words sent a shockwave of cold blazing through his veins. There wasn’t a chance he’d lose his mate, not now he’d finally found her. He’d ensure her safety, keep her right here at the castle where she’d remain well away from any harm. No one was taking his mate from him again, not his woman with her decision to keep his memories from him, or a looming battle he and his brothers intended to change the outcome of. “Remove your compelling command, Isla.” He kept his gaze on Arabel. “I won’t forget my woman, not one more time.”
“Of course.” Isla began, her sweetly hypnotic words flowing over him. “Finlay, Iain, and Kirk, you’ll remain perfectly still and listen to me well. Finlay is mated to Arabel and all three of you are aware of it. You shall never forget this conversation we’ve had or her again. She is important to all of us. So too, the mark upon Finlay’s neck shall once again be seen. Do you hear and understand me?”
“Aye,” he and his brothers said.
“Good.” She clapped and he blinked the daze away. “Finlay, you may kiss your handfast wife.”
“What? My handfast wife?”
“Oh dear.” Arabel clasped a hand to her mouth.
“Hell, Arabel. What else have you forgotten to tell me?” He grasped her hips and lifted her onto his lap and mind to mind, whispered, “No more secrets, because there is no limit to what I’ll do to claim you.”
“So I’ve learnt.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re my warrior, my lover, the other half of my soul. I love you, Finlay.”
Her declaration shimmered through his mind, and his heart swelled as he tucked her words safely away inside him, just as he tucked her even closer against him. “Why do I feel as if you’ve said that to me before?”
“Because I have.”
She wasn’t just his mate, not now. She was his entire heart, his only reason for living, the only person he could never survive without. “There is none who I will ever love as greatly as I love you. My wife, my lover, and the other half of my soul.”
“You spoke those words to me after we completed the bond. You were wonderful by the way. Making love with you was magical, and far beyond my wildest dreams.”
“Woman, you are about to get tossed yourself over my shoulder and taken back to that cave.”
“You tasted delicious too.” A brighter blush burst across her cheeks. “I wish to taste you again if it is ever possible.” She giggled, and the sweet sound brought him such joy.
“We’ll make sure it’s possible.” He stood, did exactly as he’d warned and tossed her over his shoulder. He needed time alone with her. Just them and no other. He needed her, even more than he needed his next breath.
Chapter 10
Arabel gasped as Finlay slung her over his shoulder and her belly thumped into his rock hard shoulder. He bounded from the chief’s solar, through the great hall and upstairs.
“Your chamber. Which floor?” he demanded as he raced with her.
“The third, the last door on the left.” Her blond hair dangled down over his firm backside and with one hand on each of his cheeks, she stroked his tight butt in slow circles. As no lady should do, but she couldn’t help herself. “I’m almost certain there’s a better way to carry me than this.”
“Not when I need one hand free to fend off anyone in case you squeal.” He patted her rear. “We also need to talk about last night and all that transpired, preferably without any interruptions.”
“Then I shall definitely be squealing, but for an entirely different reason.”
“So you agree we need some time alone?”
“I do.”
“Good.” He kept one hand firm around the back of her knees as he marched down the corridor lit by a hazy beam of sunshine streaming through the narrow window at the end of the hallway. At the last chamber on the left, he opened the thickly paneled door and bolted it shut behind him. “Is this your room alone?”
“Aye, and you’ve been here afore. The night we first met at the loch in the woods, Julia asked you to watch over me since my fire had flared so badly, and after I’d cooled down, you returned with me and insisted on remaining in my chamber. You decreed we were mated, and you wouldnae leave.” She gripped his back and eased herself up enough to loop her arms around his neck. The move made him lose his over-the-shoulder hold and she slid down his chest and into his arms. “You settled yourself in the corner chair to sleep, although that lasted all of a few minutes. You slept in my bed for what remained of the night.”
“Did anything transpire between us?”
“We talked, and by the morn I too sensed what you did and could no longer refute we were mated. We kissed and I marked you.”
“And did I attempt to mark you in return?” His sinfully sexy eyes glimmered.
“You asked for my permission, but I wouldnae allow it, or I should say my loss of control wouldnae allow it. My heat rose and you had to toss cold water on me to cool me down.”
“Interesting.” He carried her to the bed and laid her across the soft brown fur covering her mattress. Gently, he nudged her knees apart and with his legs between hers, sank down on top of her. “I would like another kiss.”
She wriggled underneath him, her breath catching. “This is the exact place where we kissed the first time, and right afore we did, you spoke of your feelings.”
“Repeat what I said. I want to hear it, word for word.” A sensual spark of heat lit his golden eyes.
“I will never desire any other than you.” She touched his lower lip with one finger and embraced the warmth of his body overtop of hers. “That’s what you said.”
“That is exactly how I feel in this moment.” He licked his lip, his tongue sweeping across her finger. “Nothing has changed. Losing you is something I’ll never survive, not now I’ve finally found you. The thought I’ve lost so many memories of our time together though pains me.”
“I’m sorry. You told me afore that losing me is something you’d never survive and now I believe you.” She slid her fingers into his silky black hair and stroked his scalp. “After we kissed, you told me you wanted the right to sleep in my bed each and every night.”
�
��Aye, your bed is now my bed, my wife.” He touched his mouth to hers, his lips so achingly soft as he joined them together. Gently, playfully, he kissed her, licking her tongue and sucking her lower lip into his mouth. Desire swarmed her senses and her breasts swelled under his chest, her hard nipples scraping the silk of her gown. Deep need and raw sensation speared through her. Then he rubbed his body against hers, until his scent surrounded her and hers enveloped him.
“I cannae believe we’re kissing, that I can finally speak to you of all that’s happened between us.”
“I may not have my memories, but the emotions have remained. Holding you again, is like having the other half of my soul returned.” His breath whispered softly across her lips in a teasing caress she hungered for more of.
“Kiss me again, please. I need more.”
“Always.” He groaned, deep and throaty before capturing her mouth and offering her exactly what she’d asked for. His kiss, so sweetly seductive had her gasping for breath.
“We must still take care. I will lose control if there is too much intimacy.”
“I want to bite you, Arabel, to mark you and know I’ll retain this memory.”
“Aye, I need that too.” She swept her hair away from the side of her neck and offered herself up to him. “Should my heat flare, there is a pail of water under my side table.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“I know you will. I have faith and hope now as never afore.” She wrapped her legs around his hips and sighed with delight as his cock lengthened and poked into her belly. “I’m sorry we cannae join fully together as we did in the cavern. I cannae allow that deep of an intimacy when ’twill be too much for me to bear. My skill will rise without question should we take things too far.”
“We’ll test the whole combining of elements again and find a way to be together. I won’t rest until we’ve discovered a solution.” He nuzzled her neck, licked her skin and sucked it deep inside his mouth. “May I touch you wherever I please?”
Arching into his divine touch, she murmured, “Aye. I am yours to touch as you wish.”
“Well, I really like this subservient side of you, in case I haven’t told you so before.” He slid one hand inside her bodice and palmed her breast. He caressed her flesh then bit down and marked her. A fierce rumble vibrated against her skin, his bear so close to the surface, and an exquisite heat washed through her, pulsed down to her core and made her thoughts tumble into disarray.
“Once more,” he breathed as he brushed her hair clear of the other side of her neck. His mouth descended and she cupped the back of his head, held him against her and gasped as he marked her again.
“Oh goodness, so good.” Heat shimmered from her and rippled her red bed curtains. She focused, found her inner strength and held firm. “I cannae take any more intimacy, other than that.”
“Got it. Your limit after a little kissing is two bites. Although you need to get ready for a little nudity. My bear wishes to meet you since he too lost his memories as I did.” He lifted himself from her, his delicious weight gone from one breath to the next. Then he stood over her and shucked his tunic. His chest, so broad and heavily muscled, made her fingers itch to touch him.
“The first night we met, we swam together and you shifted in front of me. I like your bear.” She sat up. “I got to pet him.”
“He’s demanding to meet you, and he can’t wait any longer.” He unstrapped his sword belt, propped his weapon and daggers against the side table, kicked off his black boots and shoved his rawhide pants down his legs and off. Then he stepped back and made the Change in one swift and sizzling display. As the bright lights dispersed, his bear plodded toward her. He slapped his paws down on the bed either side of her and nudged her hands with his muzzle.
Transfixed, she looked into his golden eyes and sank her hands into his pelt and scratched between his ears. Black fur, so silky and soft, tickled her fingertips.
“Finlay?” Leaning forward, she brushed a kiss across his forehead.
“I’m here, my sweet.”
“Does it hurt to shift?”
“The Change is swift and any pain sears through for only a miniscule moment. It’s gone as quickly as it comes.” He made the Change again, fur retracting and muzzle shortening in a shimmer of bright lights until her man stood naked before her.
“’Tis best you dress and remove any temptation from my sight. You’ve more clothes in your traveling sack which is by my trunk.” She motioned toward the bag he’d placed in her chamber that first night. “You left it here.”
“I wondered where that had gotten to. I had to borrow more clothes from Kenneth.” He nabbed the bag and set it on the end of her bed, released the leather strap on the top and foraged inside. He donned a clean pair of black leather pants and a dark blue tunic with detailed embroidery along the collar, a tunic she’d made for Kenneth for his last birthday.
Smiling, she straightened his collar and on her toes, pressed her lips to the mark she’d given him last night, right where his neck and shoulder met. One lick and nip settled her deep inside, or at least for the moment. “Your bear is beautiful, if one can call a bear so.”
“He’s calmed down, and with only one pat and a kiss on the forehead from you, but right now I’ll need to keep my hands busy to keep from reaching for you.” At the side table, he strapped on his sword belt and dagger then poured water from the jug into the basin and lathered the soap.
Outside, a thick layer of gray cloud swept across the sky and she gripped the stone windowsill. The wind breezing through the open window whipped her blond hair about her face and plastered her silk bodice to her chest. The sea swelled and white-capped waves rolled into shore. “Another storm is brewing.”
“Hell, I hope so.” Grinning, he smeared bubbles across his jaw. “You’ve explained that you ran from me yesterday and I chased you to the cove, but what happened during the time between then and when Isla first compelled me.”
“Three days passed during that time and I assuaged my need for you by watching you train. I missed you terribly, to the point where I was bathing in the pool three times a day just to settle my flaring heat. Never have I lost control as I have since your arrival, and glad I am the elements have realigned.”
“I barely got any sleep during those days, not when a nameless, faceless woman kept tormenting me in my dreams.” He smeared bubbles over his jaw then angled the looking glass to the right position. From the sheath on the inside of his wrist, he slid his dagger free and ran the blade from his ear to his chin. “There were also fleeting images of a pool of water rippling under a moonlit sky, and I knew something had happened there, something important, but I just couldn’t hold onto the memory. Then when I awoke in the cavern, it was from a dream where I’d been chasing a lass with long blond locks and vivid red skirts. Everything about you called to me, even though I’d been compelled to forget you. You tore my heart in two with your leaving. I ached, so deep in my soul I could barely breathe through the pain.”
“I’m so sorry.” She crossed to him, unable to handle the distance between them, even though only a few short feet. “So sorry.”
“I didn’t tell you to upset you, but so you understood how deep my feelings for you ran even under compulsion, how deep they will always run.” He propped his butt on the side table then held out his blade for her to take. “Although you could make it all up to me. I’m terrible at shaving myself, always nicking my skin.”
“In the future, you use an electric shaver.” She accepted the blade, eager to have all forgiven and forgotten between them. “You told me they’re a device which plugs into a power source called electricity, and when that is turned on, the shaver has sharp metal rotating heads that slice the stubble off at the root. No soap and blade is necessary.”
“That’s right. When did I speak of electric shavers?” Hands on her waist, fingers warm and wide, he tugged her into the gap made in the V of his spread legs.
“When I shaved you th
e first time, the morning after you shared my bed, right here in this very spot.” She tapped his jaw shut and shaved the bristles around his lips, swiftly and precisely, until his skin was smooth. Gently, she dabbed his skin dry with the cloth and kissed his chin. “There, all done.”
“I think not. You missed my mouth by an inch.” He took the dagger from her and sheathed it. “I need to kiss you, and you appear to have cooled sufficiently.”
“Most sufficiently, and I crave your—” He covered her mouth with his and claimed his kiss, a delicious and sensual twining of their tongues and breath. “More,” she whispered against his lips.
A chilling horn shrilled outside with one long and eerie blast. Finlay broke their kiss and bounded to the window and wedged sideways out to get a better look.
“That’s the alert from the point watchman.” She snuck in under his arm. Out in the bay, fisherman pulled in their nets as the skies grew darker and the waves rolled in heavier and higher. “One blast means an unknown vessel approaches the castle, and a second sounds if an attack is imminent.”
“We’ve still another two days until the MacKenzie burns the village to the ground. June the eleventh, at the stroke of midnight. That is the day and the hour he comes.”
“There’s been no second—”
The horn trumpeted again and a chill raced down her spine. “My grandmother would have warned us. Very little passes her by.”
“Maybe there wasn’t time. Our arrival in the past has already caused a change in events with our mated bond taking form. Anything is possible.” He gripped her arms, his gaze intent. “You’re to stay here within the safety of this castle. Find Isla and remain with her. She too isn’t allowed to go anywhere near the battlefield. I won’t lose you.”
“You need only worry about yourself, because if you get hurt, even one scratch, I willnae be happy.”
“I’ll be careful. I promise you that.” He swiped his black padded cotun from his bag and flew out the door, his voice whispering through her mind, “You are the reason my heart beats. Be here when I return.”
Highlander's Passion (The Matheson Brothers Book 2) Page 11
