by Eliza Knight
He shot up and turned toward her, his brows furrowed in confusion. “Ye jest with me, fairy.”
“No jest, it’s true.” She had to stop herself from bursting into laughter. The look on his face was purely comical.
“Ye didna say whether or not ye had a man. Does that mean ye have a woman?”
At that, she did start laughing, clutching her stomach, tears gathering in her eyes.
“If ye did, I wouldn’t mind. She could join us.” He slid his fingers up her thigh.
“Oh!” She punched him playfully on the arm. “You wish!”
Camden smiled at her wickedly and bent down to kiss her, his tongue sweeping the recesses of her mouth, tasting of strawberries and peaches. He pulled away and gazed into her eyes.
“Tell me, angel, are ye free to be with me?”
Oh, why did he have to ask? Good Lord, she wanted him to be hers so bad it hurt.
“I am free to be with you,” she whispered back. Her stomach knotted up. Now it was her turn to ask. “Are you a free man?”
“Aye.” His answer was short, and emotion flickered behind his eyes—pain, sorrow and regret. He wasn’t telling her everything.
Amanda didn’t want to pry; he would tell her when he was ready.
“What was it like growing up in your time, Cam? Tell me about your favorite memory.”
“Oh, my favorite memory has to be when I was a wee lad of seven summers. My younger brother, Eaghan, a few of the other boys and me sneaked into the kitchens when Cook wasn’t looking. We’d heard tell of a king in England putting live birds into his pies. We each stuffed one of my father’s prized falcons into the dough set out in baking dishes.” His eyes sparkled, and he turned toward her, his head resting on his hand. His smile was infectious. “Take a guess at what happened?”
“Cook cooked the birds.”
“Oh, aye. And Da thought they were the best pies he’d had all year…until he went hunting the next day to find his birds missing. My arse was red and welted for nigh on a fortnight.”
Amanda fell back laughing. “Whatever possessed you to steal your father’s prized hunting birds? Why not catch a wild one?”
“I dinna remember the reasoning, but it was sound.” He chuckled while telling her another story of how he and his brother had gotten lost in the forest for two days. They’d finally found their way home with the help of a pack of wolves, which scared their mother so badly the woman’s hair turned white and never went back to black again.
“You and your brother certainly got into a lot of mischief!”
“No need for past tense, we still play tricks on one another now. He probably thinks that my being gone is a trick. Do ye have any brothers or sisters that ye got into mischief with?”
“No. I was my parents’ only child.” For a moment, she felt sad. The camaraderie Camden had shared with his brother was something she’d missed. But she’d had great friends, and she’d had her grandmother all to herself, which was something she didn’t think she’d ever have wanted to share. “They divorced when I was still young. It wasn’t pretty.”
Camden frowned. “I see some things don’t change. My uncle divorced his wife, tossed her right out of the clan. She had to find an abandoned hut in the woods. I haven’t told anyone this, but her son and I snuck her foodstuffs and other goods.”
“That’s terrible. My mom had a rough time at first, but then she moved back to Scotland with her mother, my grandmother. I spent half my time in London and the other half here.”
“Bloody English.” He chuckled and tickled her ribs. “At least ye’re half Scots. And I bet ye were their wee little princess. Spoiled rotten to the core.”
“Just a little.” She pinched her fingers together, and he grabbed them in his hands and kissed their tips. She was glad they’d moved on to a lighter note. She couldn’t stand to talk about her parents’ divorce or how it had broken her mother’s heart. Thank God for her grandmother, or Amanda might not have made it.
“Tell me, ye had a crown of daisies dried and laced with silk strings, did ye no’?” he laughed.
She gasped with mock outrage, “Only one? You think I had only one?” Then she burst out laughing.
They talked for another hour about their lives, their likes and dislikes, friends, studies, anything they could think of. Despite being born centuries apart, they were more alike than they realized. Both had a fascination for nature, poetry, music, dancing. Neither admitted to being an expert, just to enjoying the arts. He confessed he was glad to have found her, even if his time with her was limited. Five hundred years in the past, he couldn’t talk with anyone about his artsy interests—he was a warrior, a laird. His businesses were keeping the clan safe and going to war.
If the whispered words she’d heard in the Fairy Tower were true, then Camden was her soul mate, and from the way they meshed, she believed it.
“Do you believe in soul mates, Camden?”
“Aye, I do.”
Amanda didn’t say anything more. She was scared out of her mind by the feelings the ancient Scottish warrior evoked in her. She wasn’t ready for a commitment—especially to a man who wasn’t even from this time. He could vanish at any moment.
Having watched her parents go through an awful divorce, she wasn’t willing to put herself through that. And poor Camden if it came to that…what would he do?
There you go again, Amanda.
She’d mapped out their whole lives, ending it with a nasty divorce, and she’d only known the man a couple of days. But she knew it was more than that. Even if they’d only known each other for a short time, there was a strong bond between them. They were made for each other; she felt like she’d known him her whole life. Things were as they should be. Her feelings for Camden were so strong…She didn’t want to lose him. Reality was reality, though—he was from another time, and he couldn’t stay here just to be with her. As he’d said, he had people counting on him. And he wanted to return, didn’t he?
“Why so serious?” He rubbed her cheek with his fingers and turned her to face him.
Tears glistened in her eyes, and she quickly blinked them away. “Just thinking. Make love to me, Camden. Make love to me under the sun, in this place that is so like paradise.”
He nodded, his eyes flashing emotion as if he sensed her feelings, as if he felt them too. He leaned in and captured her lips. Their kiss was heated, sensual and slow. Each of them wanted to make it last forever. They lowered together to the blanket, hands gently exploring, mouths lazily indulging.
They discarded their clothes and lay naked, the sun warming their skin as they caressed and stroked each other into a frenzy of fire. Amanda pushed Camden back and lifted her legs over his hips. Straddling him, she slowly lowered herself, feeling the tip of his cock press against her opening. She sank deeper, impaling herself on his thickness…he was so large. She moaned aloud as he stretched her.
Finally, she settled herself—pelvis to pelvis, his cock tucked all the way inside her. She rocked forward and backward and lifted up slowly, feeling the loss of his throbbing cock acutely. He gripped her hips and thrust upward, filling her once more.
They moved in rhythm together…slowly rocking, up and out, then deep thrusts. Their movements were slow, sweet, yet erotic. They were making love, sharing themselves with each other. In the heat of the moment, they’d become one, and not just one body but one soul, one life.
His hands still on her hips, he lifted up on his elbows and captured the rosy tip of her breast in his mouth, teasing with a skill only known to a love master. Sparks ignited within her—her entire body trembled with want, need, desire and pleasure.
Amanda tried to quicken the pace, her body demanding release, but Camden wouldn’t allow it. He tortured her slowly with pleasure. His mouth and hands caressed her as his cock thrust deeply within her.
“Ah, angel…ye take me to heaven,” he groaned against her flesh.
Amanda’s head fell back as she massaged the muscles of his che
st with one hand and reached behind her with the other to stroke his sac. Her slick walls clamped tight around his cock, and the first fluttering of an orgasm started deep within her.
“Oh Camden,” she moaned, “I’m coming!”
“Aye, my love, come for me…”
He quickened his pace then, thrusting deep, his hands squeezing her arse, his mouth open, eyes heavily lidded. They both shouted out their pleasure in unison, rocking back and forth, before she collapsed onto his broad chest.
It was only then she realized what he’d called her—my love.
9
Emotion erupted violently inside of Camden. More so than he’d felt the night before. His heart soared; his breath quickened. He stroked the silky mass of hair of the angel who lay atop him. Dear God in heaven, what had he got himself into this time? Here he lay for the second day in a row…no care for time or place, just being with the amazing woman in his arms. He had responsibilities, a clan! Yet he ignored them all in favor of seeing her smile, hearing her voice or making enchanting music with her body.
Then it hit him like an arrow through the heart—he was falling in love with Amanda.
His mouth went dry, and even with the sun warming them, he suddenly felt cold. This couldn’t be happening…It scared the hell out of him. Love wasn’t an emotion he could feel. He was a warrior with a clan to protect.
Love had hurt him in the first place. Maura. His heart ached from the betrayal he’d endured. He was too afraid to let his heart go again—it might get broken in so many more ways.
“Come, lass, we must return. By now, your friends are wondering where ye’ve gone off to.”
Reluctantly she climbed off him and started to dress.
“You’re no fun, warrior. I was hoping we could take a dip in that delicious pond.”
He glanced at the cool waters, desperately wanting to partake, but he knew he shouldn’t. Time was getting away from them, and he had to figure out sooner rather than later how to get back to his home, his family, his people.
Ach! But I am home—yet so far away.
They rode back to Dunvegan in silence. Camden tried to smile at Amanda, but he was sure his feelings and fears were showing on his face, and what was worse, he thought he could see the same emotions emanating from her. Perhaps her words about soul mates were true…
Was it possible? Aye, he believed in soul mates… but, who was to say this wasn’t simply…what did the French call it? Affaire d’amour. Aye, and not his first one. Well, that wasn’t exactly true if he admitted it to himself. He’d happily romped with several women, some even deigning to call themselves his mistress. But never had he felt the way he did about Amanda toward one of them. He took a deep breath and dug his knees into the horse’s flesh. He burst past Amanda, tossing, “Race ye!” over his shoulder.
Coward. Oh aye, he was a coward. This was no affaire d’amour. It was just amour. Love…
Damn!
He needed to get his mind off his emotions, off Amanda. When they returned to the castle, he’d take his leave of her and start his explorations. There had to be some way to get back to his own time, and obviously, he needed to discover it. Mayhap the answer lay in the Fairy Flag itself. He hadn’t seen the relic in the tower…Where the hell could it be? Did the owner—as Amanda called him—keep it hidden?
He refused to believe getting back had anything to do with the blonde woman riding behind him. He gritted his teeth as he imagined the way her hips would be moving back and forth on the horse, just as they had when she’d ridden him. His cock sprang to life again, never ever getting its fill of her.
Focus! He needed to focus!
Just then, the lady in question breezed by him, and all his focus went out the window.
“Spill!”
Amanda smiled crookedly at her girlfriends as they sat outside a café drinking coffee.
“Yeah, Amanda! Where did you meet such a hunk, and does he have a twin?” Annie asked.
“We sort of just…ran into each other.” She sighed, sitting back in her chair, remembering the first time they’d met. Her cheeks flushed and her nipples hardened.
“Look at you! She’s totally in love,” Trish said, turning toward Sarah.
Her girlfriends giggled, and they all started chattering at once. Amanda covered her eyes with her hands, a huge smile spreading over her face despite all of her fears.
“He is gorgeous, isn’t he?” she gushed, removing her hands, and grasping her coffee, a large hot gulp gathering more heat in her cheeks.
“Tell us about him.”
“Yes, tell, tell!”
“He’s a true Scotsman. Wears that kilt all the time. And you know what they say about a man in a kilt…” She continued to tell them all she knew, without going into medieval detail or the fact that he was from another time. But in the end, she looked sadly toward the sky, the same sky they’d made love under that morning.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Trish asked, reaching out to touch her hand.
Taking a deep sigh, Amanda turned back toward her friend. “It’s just that…things are going so well. I’m totally freaked out. You know how I feel about marriage—no offense. I’d just hate to break his heart.”
Trish laughed out loud. “I think you always feared love and commitment because you never knew what the real thing felt like.”
Amanda nodded.
“You should, though,” Trish said. “I want you to have what I have. Love and all the dreamy things that come with it. A future filled with promise.”
Amanda furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you can’t base your life on your parents’ marriage. Your mom is happily remarried—she’s the toast of London! My mom just saw her last week and remarked how young and exuberant she looked.”
Amanda had never really given her mother’s second marriage much thought. She’d felt a little abandoned when her mother had up and married out of nowhere the previous year.
Trish turned to their friends and pointed at Amanda. “I’ve never seen Amanda like this. Have any of you girls?”
A dozen pairs of twinkling eyes gazed at her as her friends shook their heads. It was true; she’d never felt this way before. And it was enlightening, uplifting, freeing. But at the same time, it scared the crap out of her.
“Go for it. What have you got to lose?” Annie called out.
Oh, if they only knew…
Nothing.
Camden collapsed onto the lush bed he’d shared with Amanda. He hadn’t been able to come up with anything. And he’d even found the Fairy Flag—albeit looking sadder than he was used to seeing it. Obviously, the “owner” wasn’t taking good care of it. Or was it just what five hundred years did to something? Thank the Lord in heaven, he hadn’t come out as tattered and discolored. He smiled slightly at his train of thought.
His only consolation was that his brother had been trained well, and being his right-hand man, Eaghan knew the ways of the clan. Camden was completely confident in his brother’s abilities to care for what he’d left behind. Sadness came over him. What if he never got back to his time? His clan would think he’d abandoned them, or worse yet, think their enemy the MacDonalds had taken him. War could break out! And he wouldn’t be there to protect his people.
He rubbed his temples and tried with all his might to reach out to his brother through space and time, the stars, the heavens. Could Eaghan hear him?
“Camden…” a soft voice whispered enchantingly in the air, calling him. His eyes closed, the lids suddenly heavy. “Camden…” He felt himself sinking into the bed, floating away. “Camden…”
“Camden.” Amanda shook the bulky warrior’s shoulder. Good Lord, the man slept like the dead. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
His eyes popped open, fear filling them for an instant before he rested his gaze on her. Relief washed over his features. He reached up and pulled her into his arms.
“Eaghan is all right.”
“Your brother
? Did you fear he wasn’t?” She became concerned, stroking his back. What had happened?
“I saw him. I dinna know how but I spoke to him in a dream. It was so real.”
Amanda pulled back, gripping his hands in hers. “Do you think it was real? What does it mean?”
He shook his head, confusion marring his features. “I was lying here, and I was angry. I hadna been able to find a damn thing to get me back to my time, and I started to fash something fierce. Then I heard it. ’Twas a voice, like magic tinkling in the air. She called to me. I became weightless, floating, then sinking. I thought I was going home. I got scared. And then there I was,” he sat up farther, pulling her into him, he tucked his arms around her, “in the great hall with Eaghan. He asked me where the heck I’d been, and I told him everything. He believed me, wished me well.”
“Does this mean you’re here to stay?” Her heart soared, but her mind panicked. What would she do with a warrior?
“I-I dinna know, lass. I suppose, for now, I am.”
10
“I love the new addition,” Marta said with a wink.
Amanda turned to the older woman, a regular in the bookshop, and smiled. “And what addition would that be?” she teased.
“The handsome warrior.”
Amanda glanced at Camden. The man certainly was a positive fixture at The Book Cove. He stood atop a ladder, shelving a few books that had just come in a shipment. He was dressed as he always was—kilt, linen shirt and knee-high leather boots. Amanda had even been able to find him a claymore and baldric at one of the antique shops in town. Whenever he strapped the baldric over his shoulders and back to hold the gigantic sword, he looked every bit the Highland warrior he was. Over the past week and a half, his presence had brought in many more customers and tourists. Sales were through the roof. Amanda didn’t know how she could thank him—although he said she thanked him plenty every morning, afternoon and night when they came together in a frenzy of slapping, desirous flesh.
