Highlander's Passion (The Matheson Brothers Book 2) (6 page)

“Aye, and electricity is energy that’s been harnessed and contained. That’s done in various ways and then when the electricity is needed, the energy is dispersed and can do a multitude of things. Like bringing heat and light into a room, powering devices big and small, allowing communication between people all over the world, that sort of thing.

“That sounds farfetched. Surely people cannae speak to each other all over the world, and please, dinnae move. Each time you do you run the risk of being cut.” She ran the blade right under his nose. “I wouldnae wish to nick this beautiful mouth of yours.”

“You find my mouth—”

“Dinnae speak either.” She tapped his jaw shut and giggled. The sound of her laughter lightened his heart. Hell, he adored seeing her smile. She continued to shave him, around his lips then along the last stretch of his neck and after she was done, she dabbed his skin dry with the cloth. “Take a look in the glass. What do you think?”

Observing his reflection, he patted his jawline and traced around his lips. “You’ve done a better job than I ever could have.”

“Wonderful.” She picked up the fine bone comb on the table, brushed his hair until the dark strands curled around her fingers then nodded. “All done.”

“My thanks.” He wiped his blade clean, sheathed it at his wrist then tucked his traveling bag out of the way next to her trunk under the window.

Before the glass, she combed her hair and secured her pale locks at each side with a silver pin. Done, she set it down and faced him. “Are you ready to break your fast, Finlay?”

“Always. I’m hungry this morning, and for far more than breakfast.” He caught her around the waist and drew her closer. “I have a proposition.”

“That sounds dangerous.” She seized his biceps and held on. “We really need to cease touching.”

“Allow me one kiss before we leave. I’ve yet to taste your lips and I fear I’ll be overcome with the desire to do so and at the worst possible time.” He was quite serious. “I’ve been searching for you for the longest time and I can’t seem to hold back any of my desires, which are growing rapidly the more time we spend together. It’s also best we test your limits well away from your kin.”

“That is a terrible proposition.” Yet a glimmer of hope flared in her eyes. She wanted his kiss, and with a little nudge, he might be able to claim one from her.

“We’ll take things slowly. I promise you I will. This time I’ll be far more careful.” He caressed her sides, roamed down and scooped her bottom. Lifted higher, he pressed his hips against hers. “Say, aye.”

“You are one very pushy bear.”

“Is that an aye?”

“One kiss, then you shall see we are a terrible match and hopefully head straight for the hills.”

“Perfect.” He’d take her agreement for a kiss no matter how it was offered. Gently, he carried her to the bed and laid her across the soft brown fur bedcovering then nudged her knees apart and with his legs between hers, sank down on top of her. “I will never desire any other than you.”

“Must we lie down for this kiss?” She wriggled underneath him, her breath catching.

“Aye, that would be my preference.”

“I feel too hot.” She closed her eyes. “And there are butterflies taking flight in my belly. Can we hurry and be done with this?”

“We can, the moment you look at me.”

She opened her eyes and frowned. “You are completely relentless.”

“Because losing you is something I’ll never survive, not now that I’ve finally found you.” He lowered his head a touch and completed the trap. “After this kiss, I want the right to sleep in your bed, each and every night.”

“You are beyond relentless.”

“If you need me to taper my needs back, just ask.”

“As if you’d listen.” She rolled her eyes and he chuckled.

“You are already coming to know me so well.” Slowly he brushed his mouth over hers, her lips so achingly soft as he joined them together. Playfully, he nipped her lower lip, sucked it into his mouth then licked her tongue. Desire swarmed his senses and as her breasts swelled under his chest, a raw and primal sensation speared through him. He rubbed his body against hers, until his scent surrounded her and hers enveloped him.

“I cannae believe we’re kissing.” Her breath whispered softly across his lips in a teasing caress he hungered for more of. “A little more, Finlay, please.”

She nibbled on his lips and he groaned, deep and throaty before capturing her mouth and offering her the kiss she’d asked for. An intense need he couldn’t resist flooded him.

“Arabel, I love how you feel underneath me, all soft curves and glorious heat.” With painstaking slowness, he grazed a finger along the upper swell of her breasts where her heart-shaped neckline dipped.

“I shouldnae be allowing this.” She squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them again, she gazed into his eyes. “One more kiss since I have no’ burnt you just yet.”

“Do you feel the depth of need our bond demands?”

“Aye, and ’tis most frustrating.” She kissed him, a deep and devouring kiss that made his heartbeat pound and hers flutter into a frenzy against his. “This is bad, very bad.” She nipped his earlobe before trailing her lips down his neck to the very spot where she’d bitten him earlier. She laved the mark she’d made and he bent his head to her neck, trapping and keeping her locked in place.

“I give you my oath, Arabel. You will always have my protection, my absolute devotion and undying loyalty. Whatever you need, I intend to provide.”

“I feel—I feel too much.” She scrapped her teeth back and forth over his skin. “I should be able to deny what’s happening. Your very life is at stake if I dinnae.”

“You’re my mate and we are soul bound. What you desire is what I desire, and that is the completion of our bond.” He lifted one arm and his skin rippled with the Change. Soft fur, the same color as the hair on his head, shimmered then retracted. “My bear rides me hard. He knows you’re ours.”

“When did you first know, that your mate wouldn’t be easy to find?”

“Very young, maybe six or seven. There were no female cubs of a similar age to me within my clan.” He slid her hair back from her shoulder and eased the sleeve of her gown to the side.

“Are you going to bite me?”

“Aye, if you’ll permit it. Until you’re ready to complete the bond and join fully as one, we both need this, to hold each other’s mark.”

“You won’t push for that completion?” Her first words of true acceptance, and the sheer beauty of them sang to his soul.

“Not when I wish for you to come to me of your own free will, although I do fully intend to entice you, as much as is humanly possible.” Head lowered, his breath fanned her skin then he closed his eyes, his bear prowling under his skin. “Do you agree, Arabel? May I bite you?”

Chapter 4

Within the village along the loch, Isla Matheson awoke with Iain wrapped around her. Her shifter mate had become extremely overprotective since they’d arrived in this time and Nessa had informed her of the babies she carried. Still, she’d traveled through time just as Iain and his brothers had because she too was needed in this coming war, and as one who held the skill of compelling there was so much she could do to give aid.

“Iain?” She gave him a little shake. “It’s morning and I can’t move until you do.”

“I prefer that you don’t move at all. I like this position and having you close.”

“I’m sure you do.” She slid his rumpled black shoulder-length hair to the side then nuzzled his neck. The mark she’d placed there three days ago had faded and her mouth watered to make a new one, to ensure all who saw him were well aware he was hers. Gently, she razzed her teeth over his most sensitive spot and sucked his skin into her mouth.

He groaned, one heavenly deep rumble before he stretched and pressed his thickening shaft into her hip. “My love, this is the very best way to wake me.”

“I’m rather partial to it too. Do you mind if I bite you?”

“I’ll only mind if you don’t.”

“Perfect, because I’m very hungry.” Unable to wait another moment, she bit down and claimed the man who was hers in every way. He jerked, his breath catching then he bit her in return and lapped her skin until tingles rippled through her body and she desired a whole lot more than his bite alone. Aye, this was the very best way to awaken.

Slow and sensual touches followed, sexy kisses that made her lose her mind, and his carnal gaze on hers as he slid so perfectly inside her. She reveled in the moment, in the sheer perfection of two soul bound mates coming together in such harmony. This bond was what every shifter desired and lived for. It was what she wanted for her kin back home, to have the hope restored to them, that their chosen one would await them as her mate had awaited her. She also desperately desired the same bond for Finlay and Kirk, would do anything to aid them in finding their mates.

Iain lifted up a touch and murmured in her ear, “Are you ready to return to the castle?”

“Aye, Finlay has need of us. Last night before he left, he spoke to me of his certainty that his mate was close.”

“Then we’ll find Kirk and leave. I long for my brothers to find their chosen ones, just as I have found you.” Iain rose from their bed and lifted her to her feet as he did.

The ‘power of three’ were at their strongest when they stood together. A formidable presence she too stood beside, no matter what trials or tribulations lay ahead. Certainly the battle to come would be one they would all fight. Iain’s desires were hers, including all that he was, and she wanted it no other way.

Chapter 5

Arabel wanted Finlay’s mark with a deep, burning need, one that hardened her nipples into tight points. “You are beyond enticing, Finlay, and a dream I’ve never allowed myself to have, being with another.”

“Does that mean I can bite you?” He slid his hand inside her bodice and cupped her breast. He thumbed the pebbled peak then dipped his head and licked it. The hot stroke of his tongue sent heat racing to her core and she arched her back and moaned.

“I cannae think straight, and I’m hot, too hot.” Her nipple throbbed, all achy and wet from his kiss.

“There is no heat. You’re in complete control, whether you feel that way or not.”

“You’re wrong. I have next to no control when you touch me the way you do.”

“Do you wish for me to stop?”

“No biting me yet. Kiss me again.”

“I’ll take whatever you’re prepared to give. Kissing it is.” He urged her lips apart and plunged his tongue inside her mouth. His kiss was divine and held an edge of hunger that matched her own. Desire rushed through her and she pressed her breasts against his chest and welcomed every new and needy emotion that raged through her. She stroked down his sides and roamed over his rear. Encased in hip-hugging leather pants, his tight buttocks rocked in her grasp, his shaft full and poking into her belly.

A deep craving for more flooded her and her heat flared, rippled with a wave across the bed curtains and made the wooden posts creak as they expanded. “Finlay, I’m losing control.”

“I can sense it. You’re far hotter than before.” He lifted himself from her, his heavenly weight gone from one breath to the next, then he seized the half-filled pail under the side table and held it over top of her. “Do you wish for this?”

“Aye.”

He poured and steam billowed.

Slowly, ever so slowly her body cooled but not the deep and aching desire she had for him. What was she going to do about this desperate need for more that had taken her over? If he ever did mark her, she’d likely burst into flames, and honestly, she could no longer deny how much she wanted him to mark her as she’d marked him. They were mated, and the bond had taken ahold of her with a fierce intensity she couldn’t deny. Never had she felt so alive than when she’d been in his arms, and the thought of being without him, it brought pain to her very soul.

“I want you.” Tears misted her gaze. “And I hate having to push you away.”

“I understand why you must, and all will be well, no matter the challenges that lie ahead of us. Keep the faith that we’ll meet them together. Because we will, and always at each other’s side.” He set the pail down and extended a hand to her. “Have you cooled sufficiently?”

“I have, and I need to remain that way.” She slid her fingers around his and he tugged her to her feet, her gown drying with a mere thought as she stood.

“We’re soul bound, Arabel, and we’ll work around your skill, because I intend to join with you. You will be mine, forever, just as I will be yours.”

“Your safety comes first, above all things.” She’d never concede on that.

“I agree, just as your safety too comes first.” He slid one finger under her chin, kept her gaze firmly on his. “Glad I am that you’ve finally accepted all that we will be.”

“I will never burn you.” She stood by that conviction. She’d gladly take her own life before she ever harmed a hair on his head.

“I know. Come. Let’s head downstairs before I lose all thought and drag you back to that bed and really have my wicked way with you.” He opened the door and motioned her through.

“That no longer sounds like such a bad thing.” She reached up on her toes and kissed his chin then before she could give into the look of hungry need in his eyes, she continued on down the passageway.

They traversed the stairwell then entered the great hall. The massive vaulted room held a sweeping crown of wooden beamed rafters that rose to an impressive height, as well as an impressive number of warriors. A hundred or more were seated at trestle tables stacked with platters of cooked meat, boiled eggs, and bread, all of the men eating their fill as serving maids bustled about offering bowls of hot oats and tankards of warm cider.

At the back table nearest the wide arched stone fireplace where sparks flared and firelight shimmered across the hefty clan shield hanging over it, a good forty MacDonald warriors, a score more than the day before, broke their fast. Since the MacKenzie too desired to take the Chief of MacDonald’s land on the Isle of Skye, the MacDonalds had banded together with them in order to fight their enemy as one. Certainly the more warriors they had to defend this keep and the village, the better.