The Blessed Blend (18 page)

Callie’s shoulders slumped as she looked him in the eye. She had never been able to tell a lie and had seldom wanted to. Now was one of those times she wished she could, but what was the point? He knew, she knew, and the kids certainly knew. When it came down to it, her whole family probably knew.

Reluctantly she nodded and said, “I still love you, Euan, but love might not be enough to make things right between us.” She took a breath and hung her head. “Maybe it wasn’t enough to start with.”

Euan lifted her chin and made her meet his eyes. “Doona say that, Callie Hawken!” he pleaded, his voice thick with emotion. “It
was
more than enough, but
I
was the fool who couldna see it! Ye arre
mo cridhe, mo
leannan, mo bith
- m’ heart, m’ love, m’ life. If I hae t’ move heaven an’ earth t’ prove it tae ye, then I will e’en if it be the death o’ me.”

She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his chest, feeling overwhelmed and so small against everything. His arms closed around her, holding her to his warmth. She felt and heard the beating of his heart, the sound of his breathing. She was so tired and there was no fight left in her tonight. For a moment she wished she could rest in his arms all night like she once did.

But all the wishing in the world couldn’t make things right.

“I have to go to bed, Euan,” she finally said. “You, too. We can’t stay here in the kitchen with our pants around our ankles.”

He uncoupled from her, reached down and pulled his pants up, and then retrieved his shirt and Callie’s clothes and boots as well. Straightening up, he picked her up and threw her across his shoulder like a tote sack and started for the door.

“What the hell are you doing, Euan?!” she asked in a hoarse and panicked whisper. “
Put me down!
”

He shrugged. “Yer right, we canna stand here in the kitchen wi’ our pants doon. I’m taking ye t’ bed where we can be properly naked.”

“Are you nuts?” she squeaked, afraid that someone would wake up and see them. She struggled to get free of his grip. “I have to take a shower! I’m too tired to…”

“Tae
tail-toddle
me?” he interjected. “Then just lay back an’ let me make love t’ ye, Callie. I hae more than enough energy for the both o’ us.”

“What about the others? They’ll hear us! You put me down
right now
!” A surge of adrenaline went through her and she squirmed even harder as he crossed the living room and carried her up the stairs.

“Quiet,
mo cridhe
, or ye’ll wake everyone up!” he warned. Once upstairs, he open the door to one of the bathrooms and carried her inside. Using his elbow, he turned on the light and with one foot closed the door behind him. Dropping their clothes on the floor, he asked, “D’ ye remember hoo we used tae bathe t’gether, Callie? D’ ye remember hoo it felt as we ran our soapy hands o’er each other? I most certainly do an’ I want t’ feel it again.”

Callie was speechless at the nerve of the man. Had he no shame? Their children were asleep two doors down, and John was snoring away across the hall. Thank God her parents and siblings’ rooms were downstairs. Oh, this was embarrassing!

Her shock grew even deeper when he set her bottom on the vanity. When she tried to protest, he put his lips over her mouth and grabbed her bottom lip with his teeth as he once again held her with both arms. “Shh!” he whispered before he released her lip and plunged his tongue into her mouth to writhe against her own.

“Mmmmph!”
she uttered, still squirming as he held her even tighter. She couldn’t breathe or think, damn him, and he knew it. She was irritated by the sheer gall of his actions and yet so turned on that she couldn’t really fight him. Finally she returned his ardor with her own and moved against him in a totally different way.

Euan set her down on her feet but blocked the door with his frame as he stripped off his pants and boots. Her eyes wandered hungrily over his body and he cocked an eyebrow in response. “See something ye fancy?” he teased as his gaze caressed her curves. “
I
certainly do.”

Callie nodded as she looked at his incredibly masculine, totally naked, well-endowed body. His rod was big and thick, standing proudly erect. His body was long and lean, from the broad shoulders to the lean waist and narrow hips, to the muscular limbs. Dark red hair dusted his chest, forearms, and legs and trailed from his navel down to the thatching surrounding his shaft.

Toned by hard physical work rather than hours in some gym, Euan’s physique was beautifully male with a capital
M
.

The man turned her totally on and then some.

He looked her over, his eyes nearly black with desire. Callie’s body was small but sturdy, the muscles rippling beneath deliciously feminine curves and soft, smooth skin. A slender neck, neither long nor short, rose up from broad shoulders. Her breasts were small but firm. Motherhood had filled out her torso slightly, but her waist was still quite small, perfectly accentuating the generous swell of her hips. Her arms and legs were strong and straight, toned and yet softly rounded.

As he returned his gaze to her face, he was drawn to those uniquely-colored eyes of hers, now luminous with desire. Aye, there were women out there who would be considered more beautiful, more perfect of form than his Callie, and yet none of them could ever match her spirit or make him burn the way she did. He could make love to her all night long every night for the rest of his life and never get enough of her. She was the goddess in his bed, the fire in his hearth.

She was and always would be the heart of him.

He held out his hand. Her feet moved of their own accord and she came to him, her arms slipping around his neck as he bent down to wrap his arms around her and lifted her up to lay flush against him. Again their mouths met in a deepening kiss, their tongues mating in imitation of what their bodies would soon be doing. It was like it had been when their love had been new, untainted by the heartache of the past four years. Desire flowed between them and ran through their veins like molten fire that burned away
her
and
him
and melded the two into
them.

Euan lowered Callie to her feet but kept his mouth upon hers as he knelt on the bathmat before her. He was determined to take it slowly this time, to love away the hurt he had caused and pleasure her to the furthest reaches of paradise so that she would remember how it used to be.

His hands flowed over her and he felt her quiver at his touch. Gently, almost reverently, he explored her body, tracing patterns over her torso and arms. His fingers skimmed along the fine white lines on her abdomen that were the marks of motherhood and he smiled. “Ah, Callie, yer body is e’en more beautiful now that ye’re a mathair,” he drawled huskily.

She looked at him and nibbled her lower lip, unsure that he actually meant that. He saw her doubt and he brushed his lips across hers before looking deeply into her eyes. “’Tis true, love. I wouldna say it otherwise.”

Callie blushed and smiled shyly before a spark lit up her eyes and a seductive grin curled her lips. She put a finger on his lips. “Shut up and pleasure me,” she purred. “Less talk, more do.”

Euan chuckled and kissed her hand. “As my lady commands,” he responded. Returning to the task at hand, he caressed her arms and torso and then ran his hands down and up her legs until he reached the apex of her thighs. His fingers sifted through the soft brown thatch, already wet with her renewed desire as well as that from their earlier tryst, and the scent of her feminine musk tantalized his nostrils. A groan of anticipation rose up from deep within his chest.

Gently prodding her to spread her legs slightly apart, Euan hooked one over his shoulder. Parting her feminine folds as gently as one unfolds the petals of a rose, he traced the slick rim of her sheath and then slipped two fingers inside her as he caressed her clitoris with the pad of his thumb. He felt a rush of masculine pride as she trembled, her breath caught, and her head fell back as she gave a throaty moan.

It took all of his strength to keep from taking her right then and there on the bathroom floor.

Euan put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer so that her breasts were lifted towards his mouth. He swirled his tongue over one dusky peak and then the other with relish, grating them with his teeth and groaning as he felt her pelvic muscles tighten. She urged him on with bluntly earthy language accentuated by staccato breaths and whispery sighs as he pleasured her. Her responses excited him to fever pitch and his shaft ached with the need to bury itself within her heat. Determined to see to her pleasure, he denied himself in order to concentrate on bringing her to climax and took satisfaction in what he was giving her.

Callie’s body shook and trembled from the sensations of Euan’s erotic ministrations. Her breasts were as full as ripened fruit ready to burst their skins, her nether lips were swollen, and her bud pulsed as shockwaves of raw sexual need sheeted through her. And then there was a high-powered jolt that ran through her as his fingers hit
that
spot in her sheath. Her knee buckled and if he hadn’t been holding her around the waist, she would have dropped to the floor. She struggled to keep from crying out as her body rocketed towards climax and she pleaded with Euan to just go on and take her.

When her climax came, it felt as if her very bones had melted away in a nuclear explosion. A keening noise arose from her and Euan covered her mouth with his to muffle it. She felt his strong arms about her as her body convulsed and rocked in the throes of release.
He won’t let me fall
, she thought and she felt the warmth spread between and around them like a blanket fresh out of the dryer.

She collapsed against him and he held her tight, whispering his love into her ear and breathing in her woman’s scent. Even more aroused than before, he found himself calculating just how many different ways he was going to enjoy her body before he buried himself in her sweet heat. And aye, all the ways he was hoping she would enjoy his as well. Their lovemaking could be the stuff of legend even if they were the only ones privy to it and there was so much more to be added to the tale.

Callie rested in Euan’s arms, her body limp and as relaxed as a cat’s. She felt the length of his shaft beneath her as she straddled his thighs and the strong tattoo of his heart thumped beneath her cheek. “Aren’t you going to get some, Euan?” she asked dreamily.

He chuckled, the sound rich and deep in her ear. “Och, aye lass!” he drawled silkily. “But nae on this hard floor. I wouldna want t’ hurt yer back or m’ knees.”

“But you did me on the kitchen counter,” she reminded him. “Where we fix everyone’s food.”

With a laugh that was deliciously deep and sweetly sinful, Euan cupped her cheek and kissed her. “Well, ye
arre
quite a delectable tidbit, lass!” he teased. “I couldna help m’self!”

“Oh, God!” she sighed. “You’re as horny as a whole herd of rutting stags, Euan Wallace. What am I going to do with you?”

“Ye could fook me fit braw,” he suggested, grabbing her hand as she swatted at him. “But ye should ken tha’ it’s only ye I’m randy for, Callie Hawken.”

She looked into his eyes and nibbled her lower lip. “You’ve had others.”

He nodded. “Aye, to my eternal shame, Callie. But it’s always been ye in m’ heart. There’s ne’er been a day tha’ went by tha’ I didna think o’ ye. I couldna fall asleep wi’oot dreamin’ o’ ye, an’ while I may hae cursed ye for it, I couldna stop lovin’ ye.”

Tightening his embrace, he vowed, “There’ll be nae others from noo on, Callie. Yer the
anerly ane
, the only one. Ye hear me, lass?”

She nodded. “Aye, Euan,” she replied. “There’s never been anyone but you.”

“I ken tha’,” he said. “An’ I’m nae worthy o’ the honor bu’ I’m damned
thankrif
”

He
was
thankful. Callie could have chosen to get over him in the arms of another man the way he had tried to get over her with other women but he knew that wasn’t her way. As long as she loved him even just a little bit, there would have been no room for any other in her heart. That thought made him realize even more just how little he deserved her and he was more determined than ever to make up for it.

He lifted her up and rose to his feet. Cupping her face in his hands he smiled down at her and said, “Ye’re sae bonny, Callie. M’ home is where e’er ye be, ye an’ our bairns.”

“Are you sure about that, Euan?” she asked, searching his dark eyes for the answer. “Because forever is a long time.”

Euan looked into those extraordinary eyes of hers and was never more certain of anything in his whole life. “Aye, lass,” he replied. “
Evendoun siccar
.” Absolutely certain.

They shared a kiss and then Euan started the shower. There was a knock at the door and without thinking both of them answered, “What?”

A long silence ensued before Darlene’s voice drifted through from outside. “I, uh... I was just checking to see if you made it home, Callie. I’m, um… going back to bed.”

Callie blushed furiously right down to her upper chest. “Oh, God!” she groaned as she buried her face in her hands. “You think anyone else knows?”

Recalling Papa’s admonition about the nosiness of mountain folk, Euan took a deep breath and shrugged. “If they doona ken noo, they soon will,” he said. “An’ if we planted a seed tonight there’ll be nae denyin’ it.”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Callie, there’s nae shame in this. I love ye an’ ye love me. We hae twa bairns already. Twa bairns who hae said more than once tha’ they want us tae be a family. I’m keen for it if ye be.”

Callie couldn’t look at him. She felt like a teenager who’d been caught having sex in the backseat of a car rather than a grown woman sharing pleasure with the father of her children. It was irrational to feel like that, but emotions weren’t always rational and hers had been up and down and way out of bounds for the past ten days.

 
“Come on, lass,” Euan said gently. “Let’s clean up.”

He guided her into the shower. The water was soothingly hot and Callie turned her face up to let it wash over her. She could feel Euan unbraiding her hair and she remembered the first time they had bathed together in the big claw-footed tub in the cottage’s washroom. Bathing hadn’t been all they had done in that tub, either, and there had been water all over the floor by the time they were through. Callie had slipped when she stepped out of the tub and had Euan not caught her, she would have struck her head on the rim. The next time they filled the tub only half-full and made sure they had plenty of towels around it to soak up any water that managed to slosh out.