Highlander's Passion (The Matheson Brothers Book 2) (12 page)

Oh hell. If she took him in his mouth right now, he’d likely lose it. Yet the look of hope in her eyes wasn’t one he intended to snuff out.

Through long lashes, she peeked at him, one brow raised. “Will that be permissible?”

“Look into my mind and you’ll see the answer you seek.” He opened his thoughts for her to read, sharing exactly what just raced through his mind. He’d experience only sheer pleasure if she did such a thing.

“I like being in your mind.” She grinned and dipped her head, and in one long teasing stroke, licked him from root to tip then swirled over the head.

Pleasure spiraled through him and he groaned and clenched his butt. A bead of come leaked and she ogled the drop glistening on the end before quickly cupping one palm like a shield over it to shelter it from the spray above.

“This is for me?” She looked into his eyes, such desire flaring in her own.

“If you wish it.” He cradled her head in his hands, his cock hardening impossibly further.

“Oh, I wish it.” She rimmed his head with her mouth, took him deep and caressed his balls and his shaft. She bobbed up and down on him, finding a rhythm that would send him mad in no time at all.

Heat shimmered at the base of his spine and radiated out to curl his toes. “Arabel, my sweet, you must have watched that couple in the woods with dedicated attention.”

“Aye, and glad I am that I did. You are delicious and I desire more. This is a treat I wouldnae have wished to miss out on.” She sucked harder and he pushed himself deeper inside her mouth. He got lost as a sexual haze consumed him, as red flared behind his eyes. No, he needed to maintain his control. He wouldn’t allow himself to come until he’d seen to her pleasure again. She deserved all he could possibly give her, every single part of him.

Gripping her waist, he lifted her up onto her hands and knees, scooted down under her on his back and planted his head between her thighs. Her inner flesh lay plump and pink, an enticement he couldn’t resist. He licked her, again and again, then captured her clit gently between his lips and rolled his tongue around her. She half-moaned, half-sighed then shuddered, her legs trembling and barely holding her up.

He gave her no relief. Blood pounding, he lavished attention on her, until she rocked her hips and cried out, “Mercy. I feel too much, too hot.”

“Your fire?” He sensed no heat coming from her, her skin the same warmth as his and the spray falling on them not heating or hissing at contact. He tweaked her hard nipples and she gasped.

“No fire,” she panted. “I need you inside me.”

“I’m coming, love.” He wriggled out, crawled over top of her hand-and-knees position and crowded her from behind, the heat of her back against his chest sublime. His bear growled for dominance, that he mark his woman again. He opened her folds and stroked her wet slit. In her ear, he whispered, “Do you want me?”

“I want my mate. I want all of you.”

“I want you too.” He clasped her hips, pushed his cock between her legs and before she could draw her next breath, he plunged deep inside her heavenly warmth.

“Finlay.” She cried out his name, pushed her bottom back into his groin and met each and every one of his thrusts. She urged him on, her breathing and his loud in his ears, her inner muscles locking tight around him as he rocked into her, his balls slapping the insides of her thighs. “Please, bite—”

He sank his teeth into her neck and she gasped and squeezed him harder.

“More, again,” she demanded.

He moved to the other side of her neck, swept her hair away and laying his claim so completely, bit her again.

“Oh, your bite is sheer heaven. ’Tis an aphrodisiac, just as you said.” Her pleasure radiated down their link as she pulsed around him, wrapped him in her body’s blaze of heat and sent him soaring right along with her.

Completely spent, they collapsed onto their clothing, his body blanketing her back.

“When did I say that?” he murmured when his thoughts came back under control. “About our bite being an aphrodisiac?”

“Mmm.” Her word a breathy whisper from her lips before she whispered in his mind, “
I love you, Finlay, so much my heart can barely contain all that I feel for you. You hold my very soul in your hands, and always will.
”

Her declaration humbled him and he opened his heart and tucked her words deep inside. She wasn’t just his mate, not now. She was his only reason for living, the one person he could never survive without, his entire heart and soul. “
There is none
,” he said along their link as he kissed her cheek, “
who I will ever love as greatly as I love you. My wife, my lover, and the other half of my soul.
”

“
You’re also heavy.
” She smiled as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “
So beautifully heavy.
”

He rolled onto his side and tucked her safely within his arms.

Her eyelids fluttered down and he relaxed and allowed his own exhaustion to take him under. It was as if he’d known her his entire life, as if he’d been waiting for her to return to him. She was his match in every way, all he could have ever desired in a mate. His. Always his.

Chapter 9

The hoot of an owl and the sloshing of waves drifted into the cavern from outside and Arabel stirred from her sleep. She opened her eyes and stretched under the cool mist while overhead a trickle of moonlight slithered through the vent and played over the pool’s glassy, darkened surface.

She wriggled around and smiled as her mate still slept so soundly, his big body cocooned warmly around hers. Gently, she touched the two adorable dimples either side of his luscious lips then tucked back the charming lock of silky black hair curling onto his forehead. The mist beaded over his golden skin, every single naked and superb inch of him.

Oh, how she wanted to stay with him forever, right here in this magical place. But to do that, she first needed to fix so many things. His compulsion still stood, and although they’d joined, he’d never remember it the moment they parted ways. So too she needed to consider the realignment of the elements that had exhausted her fire, the lightning that had flashed through the vent above, the wind that had rushed down the tunnel, the water misting over them, and their cavern itself deep within the earth. The four elements had come together and a miracle had happened. Although this exhaustion of her skill better not be just a one-time thing, only occurring because of the realignment being needed. Certainly no fire-wielder had every managed an intimacy on the level she just had, an intimacy she needed again, well just as soon as she’d fixed everything she’d set moving on the wrong path.

I’ll make things right, Finlay. That I promise you, but for now, I must go.
Words she kept to herself even as she wanted to speak them out loud.

Carefully, she extricated herself from Finlay’s hold, wiggled her scrunched sark still half caught underneath him out then slipped it over her head. She would never give up the hope that they could make this work, not now she’d experienced what it was like to be in his arms. That kind of heaven she could never live without.

On soundless feet, she tiptoed to the end of the ledge then hopped from boulder to boulder until she reached the beach and jumped onto the sand. Swiftly, she clambered through the darkened tunnel of carved stone and hurried out onto the sandy beach of the cove. Under the clear moonlit sky twinkling with stars, the sea’s white-tipped waves rolled gently into shore. She lifted her hands and turned them palms up and tried to bring forth her fire. A touch of heat tingled her fingertips, but no flames yet flickered to life. Her skill was returning now the lightning and wind had settled. She sensed that deep within her. The four elements had now been dispersed.

She strode toward the river mouth where the water flowed smoothly into the sea. She splashed through then blew a kiss toward the cavern’s entrance. As she did, she searched along her merged link and touched Finlay’s mind. He remained blissfully asleep. She closed their link, her determination strong. She’d right the wrongs she’d done and she wouldn’t rest until she had.

She continued on, walking back along the river’s edge until she reached the place where she’d first jumped in. The waning moonlight beamed over her drenched gown caught between two boulders and she wriggled it free. A little more warmth seeped from her hands, not enough to fully dry her gown but it would do. With the fabric still wrinkled and damp, she shimmied the layers of red velvet over her head and laced the front stays.

Finlay’s tunic and vest lay bunched near the river and she picked up his discarded clothing, dried it as well as she could then folded and left his clothes with a small rock overtop to weight them down should the wind rise.

She splish-splashed across the muddy marsh oozing thick and heavy with the additional rainfall then at the edge of the woods, found her soggy slippers and slapped them on. Along the forest path, she trod.

As the sun rose over the horizon, it sent a stunning blaze of gold and red across the lightening sky and the formidable stone walls of Matheson House rose before her. She hurried through the gates and ducked into the lingering shadows of the curtain wall as a score of warriors strode out in their battle attire, their weapons holstered at their sides.

She crept inside, dashed up the side steps and walked into her chamber.

“Good morn, my lady.” Effie rose from the hearth where she’d lit her fire and dusted her hands against her aproned sides. “I ordered a bath for you. What do you wish to wear?”

“The silvery-blue gown, please. Lay it on the bed if you could, and then ask Julia if she could join me. I need to speak to her.” Two minds were always better than one, and right now, she needed her sister’s advice on all that had occurred.

“Aye, my lady.” Effie laid out the gown requested then tugged the tub from the corner into the area in front of the fire and left.

Two lanky lads with their shirttails fluttering loose over their tan breeches carried in pails of hot water and poured it into the tub while another maid added vanilla scented oil and a sprinkle of dried rose petals. Done, the maid closed the door behind her after the servants had filed out.

Longing to be done with her damp gown still chaffing her skin, she shed it and her sark then sank into the glorious water. ’Twas wonderful and warmed her through. She dunked her head and when she came back up, Julia stood inside her chamber, her golden locks coiled high on her head with two loose spiral curls bouncing free at each side.

“You asked for me, and I’m glad you did.” Her sister crossed to her in a swish of her emerald skirts. “I was so worried when Finlay set out after you. Where have you been all night?”

“I ran to the cove and spent the night in the cavern with him. I have so much to tell you.” She built up a lather with the bar of soap and scrubbed her hair with the mass of bubbles. “I exhausted my fire.”

“What?” In a flurry of skirts, Julia knelt at the tub’s edge. “But ’tis impossible. I’ve never heard of a fire-wielder doing so afore.”

“Neither have I, but ’tis the truth. I couldnae even bring forth a flicker of heat until this morn. My fire still has yet to fully return.” Hands raised, she wriggled her fingertips and two fingers caught alight. Her fire was reigniting. She dragged more of her heat from the well deep within her and lit another three fingers. The moment she did, the last five flared to life with ease.

“Well, it appears you now have your fire back.”

“With no fire, there was no way I could harm Finlay.” She slid under the water, rinsed her hair and popped back up with a grin.

“You joined as one?” Excitement shimmered in Julia’s voice. “Tell me you did.”

“We did. We also spoke handfast vows then completed the bond and created a merged link of the mind.”

“But you are here now, and without him. Where is he?”

“After I awoke, I snuck out. He’s still under Isla’s compulsion and of course willnae remember me since we’ve parted ways. I must remedy all I’ve done, as soon as I can.” She grasped her sister’s hand where it rested on the rim. “The four elements came together last eve in a perfect storm. Fire came in the form of lightning, water in the form of the rain, air in the form of the fierce wind that rose, and with the earth, we were deep inside the cavern when the storm unleashed itself.”

“Incredible.” Julia clutched a hand to her chest. “This is wonderful news, that your fire can be exhausted, and in that time it’s gone allow a joining with your mate. I wonder if such a merging of the elements again will exhaust your fire.”

“I have to hold onto the hope that it will. Surely it could no’ have been just a one-time occurrence. Although I need to need to test that theory to know for sure, which means I’ll need a mate who remembers me.” She lit her fingers and blew on the tips until the flames lengthened. With only one thought, she snuffed them back out. “The one thing I certainly learnt last eve was that I cannae continue to hide from him, no’ now we’ve created the merged link of the mind.”

“Then we need to speak to Isla. She will be ecstatic to hear of the storm and that you completed the bond. If you exhausted your fire once, then there is hope you’ll be able to do so again. Allow me fix your hair afore we leave. It’s been knotted into an awful mess by whatever you’ve gotten up to.” Giggling, Julia gently detangled her hair. She separated it into sections then ran the comb through it before drying it with a cloth. “All done.”

“Aye, finding Isla is imperative.” She hopped out of the water and dried herself. Quickly, she donned a clean sark from her trunk, picked up the silvery-blue gown the maid had left and eased it over her head. The soft satin folds shimmered over her hips and swished to her ankles.

“I am so excited for you.” Julia shuffled in behind her and laced her stays with jittery fingers. “You are each other’s match in every way. ’Tis wonderful to know that is the case.”

“You dinnae believe I hope too highly? What if I’m wrong about the storm and the combining of the elements? What if my fire never extinguishes itself again even when another perfect storm strikes?”