Heart's Thief (Highland Bodyguards, Book 2) (16 page)

Her words must have driven deep into his heart, for his eyes flashed with emotion the second before his mouth claimed hers.

At Sabine’s words, Colin’s heart felt as though it had sprouted wings and threatened to fly out of his chest.

She chose him.

He’d felt exposed, vulnerable, when he told her about Joan. Yet once he’d spoken the words, he realized what a fool he’d been for letting the events of the past control him. And his pain could not compare with hers. He’d been spurned by a lover, while she’d been betrayed by the only person she had, a person willing to kill her.

He’d feared that as raw and wounded as she was, what little he could share in her pain, what little he could do to alleviate it, would do naught.

But she was stronger even than he’d known, for if she could care about him, then Fabian had never truly been able to change her at the core. She’d lived through hell, but she’d come out of it free and with the capacity to care, to trust.

The fact that she put that trust in him humbled him more completely than anything he’d ever experienced.

He kissed her, trying to communicate his awe at her strength without words.

But as he deepened the kiss, he knew his feelings went far beyond respect and admiration. He was falling in love with her.

Her fortitude, her bravery, her trust in him.

Her ability to be vulnerable even after living through so much.

Everything she’d been through that had made her the scarred yet strong woman she was.

Aye, he was falling in love with her. And he needed to show her in the most basic way.

His fingers found the clasp on her damp cloak and quickly unfastened it. Her hands tugged his tunic from his belt even as he began unlacing the ties on her dress.

He paused to pull his tunic over his head while she wriggled free of her dress, managing to use both her arms without wincing in discomfort.

Once he’d discarded his belt and boots, he turned back to her clad only in his breeches.

Her gaze roamed over his form, and his blood pumped hotly at the look of hungry anticipation in her eyes.

Gently, he eased her back onto the plaid he’d wrapped her in earlier. He crouched over her and took the hem of her shift in hand.

With deliberate slowness, he raised the hem an inch, then another. By God, he could feast on the sight of her creamy skin and slim, coltish legs for a lifetime.

He lifted the shift past her knees, then up her silky thighs until he revealed the dark triangle of hair protecting her womanhood. How he longed to stop and taste her in that moment, to feel her quiver with pleasure against his tongue.

He forced himself onward, determined to see all of her in the soft lantern light. As the hem skimmed past her narrow waist, she shivered. Then it cleared the high, pert mounds of her breasts, each topped with a perfect rosy nipple he’d tasted once before.

She lifted her arms, the left one lower than the other, belying the stiffness that must still remain there. When at last the shift slipped completely free of her, he devoured the sight of her like a man half-starved.

She was perfect. Her dark hair splayed wildly against the green and blue of his plaid, her skin pale and delicately flushed. Those wide, dark eyes fastened on him, a look of unguarded trust shimmering there.

His gaze landed on the necklace she still wore, which pooled in the hollow of her throat. A gold ring was attached to the chain, a small, dark emerald catching the lantern light.

Sabine stilled. Slowly, one hand came up and traced the necklace.

“Fabian gave it to me,” she whispered. “He wears its match. He told me when he gave it to me that it bound us together for life.”

Carefully grasping the ring and chain, she lifted her head and slipped the necklace off. She gently tossed it toward their feet, and it landed on the crumpled pile of her dress.

Her depthless, searching eyes locked on him once more, and she gave him a little nod.

He descended on her, no longer able to control himself. He claimed her lips in a searing kiss that sent his blood hammering in his veins. His hands found her breasts, and his mouth captured her moan of pleasure.

Their tongues tangled erotically, but the need to kiss her everywhere was powerful enough to make him draw back. His lips found her neck, her earlobe, the tender hollow at her throat.

He moved lower, circling one breast slowly even as she arched up to him, silently begging him for more. At last, he captured one pink, taut nipple between his lips and laved it.  She bucked and moaned, her fingers turning to claws on his shoulders.

As her hands rose to tangle in his hair, he dropped lower still, tracing the delicate skin across her stomach. Gooseflesh followed his lips in a trail toward that place he so longed to kiss, to taste.

When his mouth brushed the soft curls covering her womanhood, she gasped, but her legs fell open instinctively, beckoning him on.

She was already so wet for him. The realization sent his cock surging against his breeches and his bollocks aching with need.

Settling himself between her knees, his tongue found that spot of pure pleasure. Sabine inhaled again, her whole body stiffening in taut ecstasy as he circled and tasted, teased and laved her.

Slowly, he slid one finger and then two into her tight passage. He didn’t want to hurt her when she took him inside, but she was an innocent, untried to such an invasion.

To his relief, she moaned in pleasure as he worked his fingers inside her, his tongue still swirling over that perfect spot. Her hips began to undulate in the instinctual rhythm of lovemaking, and her breath hitched in her throat.

Just as he felt her knees begin to tremble around his shoulders, he withdrew. By God, he wasn’t going to last very long, so fiercely did he want to drive into her.

But nay, he had to go slow for her, had to make it perfect.

He yanked off his breeches, his cock springing free. Despite the sudden freedom, his manhood ached all the more, for he gazed down at Sabine and his heart nigh stopped.

She lay against his plaid, panting with need and legs spread before him. Her eyes locked on him. They shimmered with desire in the low light.

Colin lowered himself between her knees, his cock nudging her entrance. He nearly lost control when the tip of his manhood made contact with her damp folds, but he forced himself to hold still.

“Are ye sure, Sabine?” he ground out.

“Aye,” she said.

He began to move forward, but something flickered behind her eyes that made him freeze again.

“Colin?” she murmured. “Don’t hurt me.”

His heart broke into a thousand pieces in that moment. Emotion tightened his throat as he gazed down at her, vulnerable and trusting him with her body, her heart.

“I never will,” he rasped, low and rough.

She held his gaze and gave him a slow nod.

Slowly, deliberately, he eased forward so that he entered her a hair’s breadth at a time.

He had to grind his teeth against the urge to thrust forward, to claim her fully.

Her wince at the invasion slowed him even further. When at last he’d driven to the hilt, she inhaled but didn’t push him away. He stayed still, letting her adjust to his size as he stretched and filled her.

When the tightness in her delicate features eased slightly, he drew back, then slid forward once more.

She gasped again, but this time pleasure mingled with discomfort in her eyes. He ground into her, slowly circling his hips to let her feel all of him. Then he took her mouth in a penetrating kiss.

Her knees relaxed around his hips and she moaned with wordless need. He built a gradual rhythm then, his tongue mirroring the thrusts of his cock as he claimed her.

Soon, her hips rolled in time with his, and her breathing grew shallow. He slipped a hand between their bodies, finding that spot just above where they were joined. He was immediately rewarded with a breathy moan that was almost his undoing.

He gritted his teeth, willing his body not to come undone just yet. He wanted her to soar to the heights of pleasure first, to yield to the ecstasy of their joining before he lost his threadbare grip on control.

He hitched their rhythm, and suddenly her body coiled like a spring. She cried out, arching up into him as her limbs trembled in release.

Her core tightening around him was his undoing. His control snapped. With a rough thrust, he buried himself completely inside her, his release coming hard and hot.

He collapsed over her, catching his weight on one elbow to avoid crushing her with his body.

As he rolled to the side and pulled her into his arms, their eyes met.

No words were needed in that moment, for the raw emotion that shimmered in her gaze cut straight to his heart.

He wondered fleetingly before dropping his head onto his plaid and letting exhaustion claim him if she saw in his eyes the emotion that brimmed within him.

Love
.

Sabine woke when the lantern swung with the rocking of the sea, casting candlelight across her eyes.

She lay in Colin’s warm, hard embrace, nestled in a pile of his soft plaid. The dim cargo hold was filled with the comforting, earthy smells of wool and leather and a faint trace of Colin’s masculine, piney scent.

Her body ached and hummed deliciously. No wonder Fabian had warned her against giving herself to a man. The feeling was as intoxicating as a fine wine running through her veins.

Careful not to disturb Colin, she slid from his arms and sat up. She gazed down at his relaxed form.

His skin glowed softly in the lantern light, but beneath the smooth bronzed exterior lay ridges of chiseled muscle. The golden bristle along his hard jawline glinted in the low light. His chest rose and fell gently, casting shadows in the valleys between the stacked muscles banding his stomach with each exhale.

His manhood lay dormant now between his powerful legs. Memories of what they’d just shared rushed back, causing heat to rise to the surface of Sabine’s skin.

Mayhap this was the other reason Fabian had insisted she keep herself innocent. Now that she had given herself to Colin, she felt an inextricable pull toward him.

She brushed a lock of tawny hair from his forehead. Nay, that wasn’t quite the truth. Sharing pleasure hadn’t caused the invisible ties that bound her to him, she admitted. She cared for him. The pleasure they’d shared was simply the expression of what she bore in her heart.

He stirred slightly in his sleep, and the light caught the whiter flesh of an old scar across his broad chest. Sabine leaned forward and noticed for the first time that his bronzed skin bore several scars, some white with age, and others still faintly pink.

No doubt he’d earned those scars serving his King and country. All of a sudden, Colin’s harshly spoken words before Miles’s attack rushed back to her.

Ye fooled me into believing that we were the same.

Sabine swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut, but the string of words unraveled in her mind anyway.

But the difference is, at the end of the day, I ken where my loyalties lie.

Blood hammered in her ears as shame flooded her.

I fight for the King of Scotland and for the freedom of my country and people.

She dragged her eyes open to stare down at his still form.

What do ye fight for, Sabine?

Aye, Colin had his loyalties perfectly figured out. He was a man of honor, a man committed to King and country. He bore the scars to prove it.

And what of her? She’d devoted her whole life to Fabian, but it had all been a sham, a lie based on one-sided loyalty.

She’d made a fool of herself in trusting Fabian. She’d always thought herself an untrusting person, for Fabian had taught her to be cautious, guarded. People would run roughshod over her if she let them, he’d told her.

Yet mayhap all along her problem was that she was
too
trusting. Colin had called it a sign that she still bore a heart, that she still had the capacity to care for others, but what had that belief, that willingness to trust, gotten her? It had kept her bound to Fabian through his rages, through his subtle manipulations of her thoughts and feelings, through the missions with naught in return but a sliver of his so often withheld praise.

Sabine quietly scooted away from Colin and retrieved her discarded shift. As she pulled the shift over her head and down her body, she tried to straighten her tangled thoughts, but to no avail.

Her gaze fell on her necklace, which glinted dully on top of her dress. She let her finger brush the cool metal, something she’d done hundreds of times to soothe herself. But the feel of the necklace against the pad of her finger now only served to remind her of Fabian’s betrayal.

Was she too trusting? She’d already made the error of throwing her faith behind Fabian. Had she just made the same mistake with Colin?

She stifled a moan of frustration at herself. Without Fabian telling her what to do, what to think, she couldn’t even discern the truth. He’d made her this way. He’d tied knots of confusion and mistrust in her mind and heart to keep her compliant. But now she needed to undo the tangled mess he’d left within her on her own.

The ship rocked again, sending the lantern, which hung on a hook from the planks overhead, tilting sideways. The candle sputtered as it cast angled light across the hold.

Sabine rose and padded to the lantern. She straightened it with one hand and the candle’s flame steadied. Bracing her feet against the ship’s gentle pitching, she looked over at where Colin lay in repose.

But her gaze snagged on the pile of his hastily discarded clothing next to her dress. On top lay his tunic, which he’d removed so hurriedly that he’d yanked it off and tossed it aside inside out.

The candlelight caught on a faint seam on the inside of the tunic.

Sabine’s stomach twisted.

It was the secret pocket sewn into the tunic to carry—

The missive.