The Magic of Highland Dragons (31 page)

She walked fast, practically running where the ground was even enough, and so it wasn’t long until she could see the tall silhouettes of the standing stones in the distance, looming dark and solid against the horizon. As she drew closer, she thought she could see a lone figure in the center of the circle, and her heart leapt into her throat, pounding hard. She stopped short. It was Bren. She had made it, she had come home! Steadying her suddenly shaky nerves, she walked silently, watching him, wanting desperately to make the joy of this moment last forever.

He knelt in front of the largest stone, naked from the waist up, and the contours of his muscular back gleamed in the moonlight. His head was bent, as if in prayer, and his hair fell forward to hide his face. She knew the very moment he sensed her presence. His muscles tensed, almost imperceptivity. His head lifted, but he didn’t turn around, not yet. Taking a deep breath of the sweet night air, Faith walked forward, into the circle. She could feel it then, a subtle thrum of energy, a sense of place stronger than anywhere else. She stood in the center, the tall stones shadowy figures enfolding her in the world of the unseen. Intangible forces of nature, of the very universe, the thinnest of threads that held it all together.

Chapter 18
҈

Bren slowly stood and turned to look at her, almost reluctantly, as if he was afraid she wouldn’t really be there. His expression was hard, fierce. His long wavy hair blew back a little from his face in the light breeze. His hands were fisted at his sides as if ready to do battle, and the moonlight limned each defined muscle of his broad chest. He was magnificent, beautiful. Hers.

“Faith.” The one desperate word trembled with raw emotion.

She ran to him, more certain than she’d ever been of anything. He stumbled toward her, catching her up in his open arms, holding her so tight she couldn’t draw a breath.

“Oh God, Faith, ye came back. I thought I’d lost ye! Never again! I’m never letting go of ye again.” Unashamed tears rolled down his face as he held her, stroking her hair. Then he took her face in his hands and gave her a fierce kiss. She was crying now, too, and their tears met and mingled on their cheeks.

He held her at arm’s length for a moment, looking her over. “Are ye alright? Were ye hurt at all? God, but I was lost without ye!”

“I’m fine. I’m not hurt. How long was I gone? Wasn’t it only a few days?”

“Nay. Nay, ye’ve been gone from me for just over a month, lass. I… I was beginning to lose hope. I couldna bear to go on without ye Faith. Ye are my verra life.”

“Kiss me again”, she demanded, still trembling in his arms. “Make me know that his isn’t a dream; that I’m really here where I belong.”

He bent his head to hers, savage with his need to have her close, to touch her, to know that she was real. The kiss deepened, became frantic and all consuming. When the desire to lower her to the ground became too much to bear, Bren lifted his head and said in a rough, breathless whisper, “Our chamber, now! I will have ye naked in my bed so that I can touch every part of ye.”

She smiled, and clasping hands, they ran together towards the keep. When he quickly began to outpace her, he swept her up into his arms without even breaking his run, laughing with pure joy and elation. As they reached the door, Bren kicked it open and immediately began yelling, so loudly that Faith winced and covered her ears.

“Colm! Eian!

Both men came running from different directions, and both had identical expressions of shock on their faces when they saw her. Berta appeared a few seconds later, and she screamed when she saw Faith in Bren’s arms, immediately clapping her hand over her mouth as moisture welled up in her eyes. Bren gave them all a teary-eyed grin.

“Tell everyone Faith is back. Send word to Loghan. We’ll be in our chamber for the rest of the night. Nay, perhaps the rest of the week.”

There was laughter, laced heavily with joy, as Bren carried Faith to the stairs on the other side of the hall, and up to their room. He had barely closed the door before he was on her again, kissing her deeply. It was only when he reached for the laces of her gown that he stopped short, noticing for the first time that she wasn’t wearing one. Instead she had on a strange chemise that fell only to her hips, and a pair of very tight blue trews. He stepped back to look at her.

“What on earth are ye wearing, lass? And how do I take it off of ye?”

Her eyes were sparkling, and a smile lit her face. In her rush to get back to him, she hadn’t even thought that she should put her gown back on before she tried the ring. No, even had she thought of it, she wouldn’t have taken the time. “This, my husband, is a t-shirt and jeans, the standard costume of the 21
^st
century, and you take it off just like this.”

She pulled the t-shirt over her head, revealing her lacy bra. Bren sucked in a breath, but stood still, watching her with fascination. She unbuttoned the jeans and pulled down the zipper, pushing then down around her ankles before stepping out of her shoes and pant legs at the same time. Her panties, equally lacy, drew all of his attention now. He stepped close to her, ran his hands over the soft satin.

“These undergarments are meant to tease a man, to tempt him”, he said, his voice husky, his eyes dark.

“Well, yes, I suppose…”

Bren gripped her arm, a little too tightly, his expression quickly changing from passion to unbridled rage. “Then why are you wearing them, when I was not with ye? Had no prospect of being with ye?” His nostrils were flaring. “Did ye hope to replace me, so soon?”

She glared back at him. “No, you dimwit! I could never replace you, and I hadn’t gotten over crying my eyes out, never mind going out to find another man! This is what women in the 21
^st
century wear under their clothes, everyday.”

“So they are always trying to...”

“No!” She said, exasperated. He should be kissing her right now, not being jealous of her bra and panties. “They want to look nice under their clothes, is all. Bren, kiss me, please, I need you. I need you so terribly much.”

He groaned and pulled her against him, kissing her with all the pain and grief he had felt when he had lost her, and all the joy and wonder at having her back in his arms. He ran his hands over the curves of her body, teasing her nipples through the satin of her bra. She reached up to unhook it, and it fell to the floor, leaving him free to touch her bare skin. Crushing her mouth to his once more, he walked her backwards toward the bed, and leaned her back onto the mattress, following her down with his own body. He slipped his thumbs beneath the edge of her panties, working them down over her hips.

“I need these off… I need them off now…” He slipped them down her legs and tossed them to the floor, giving her a wicked grin. “But we shall keep them, I think, for other times.” He quickly stripped off his own clothing, until he knelt before her on the bed, gloriously naked. He looked at her for a long moment, love burning in his eyes, before again claiming her mouth. The heat between them flared, and soon they were writhing together in an attempt to pull one another ever closer. Faith felt her thighs falling open of their own accord to welcome him, and her hips moved against his, wanting, needing.

“Bren, please. Now.” She was already so close, her body already beginning to shudder, to cry out for release. But he seemed determined to go slowly. There was next time for that.

She reached down and took him in her hand and he gasped as she stroked and teased him. She drew him closer, guiding him to where she needed him to be. Once poised at the brink, he could not hold back any longer, pure male instinct took over all of his senses as he thrust deep inside, making a deep and primitive sound of pleasure.

Faith raised her hips to take him in, and she felt herself begin to come with the very first thrust. She hovered there at the edge for several long moments, her head tossing on the pillow in complete abandonment to the feelings he could bring to her. Quickly she reached the very peak, suspended for several long seconds at the moment of ecstasy, before her body shattered and returned to earth. Her focus returned to the man who had brought her such pleasure, and she wrapped her legs around him, holding him tight to her. She drew her nails down his back and he reared up with a deep moan, his body taut, his breath stopped. Then he looked down at her, his eyes fathomless, and she felt the pulsing deep inside of her. He let out the breath he had been holding and collapsed onto her with a shudder. There were simply no words.

They lay together on the bed, after, bodies entwined, hearts beating with the same slow rhythm. She ran her hands over the smooth skin of his chest, following her fingers with kisses, pausing to run her tongue over his nipples, just to hear his breath hitch. “God, I thought I had lost you forever”, she told him. I really didn’t think I would be able to go on, all alone.”

“Ye werena at all happy, to be back there?” There was a subtle note of worry in his voice. Did he think she had wanted to go, or that once there, she hadn’t wanted to come back?

She gave him a tender little smile and touched his cheek with her open palm. “No. I didn’t want to be there at all. Not anymore. Not ever again. Everything I have is here now.”

He relaxed a little. “Thank God ye came back to me, my wife, my heart. I need ye. I…love ye. I love ye Faith.” He drew his thumb across her bottom lip. “The moment ye were gone from me I realized I had never said those words to ye. And suddenly it felt like the most important thing in the world, and I had failed to do it. It made me ill inside to think ye might never ken how I feel, and how ye hold my heart, and my life, in yer hands.”

“You shouldn’t have worried. I knew, Bren. I love you too. I love you so much…”

He bent to gently kiss the lip still under the tip of his thumb. Slowly, the kiss grew more urgent, and he thrust his fingers through her hair to bring her closer. “God, I will never get enough of ye.” He was already rock hard again against her thigh beginning to move more urgently against her, but she had something to tell him first. She couldn’t hold such a secret inside a moment longer. When she thought she would never see him again, she had imagined, over and over again, what it would be like to tell him. Now that she had him back, she realized she had forgotten to imagine the butterflies in her stomach, and the incredible feeling of intimacy, when the act of speaking it out loud suddenly made it so very real. She had a part of him with her even now.

“Bren, wait.”

He groaned. “Nay woman, I canna wait, I need to be inside ye again right now.”

She pushed against his broad chest, gently but firmly. “Not yet, I need to tell you something first.”

He pulled her closer, her strength no match for his. “What could you possibly have to tell me that canna wait until after I have ye again?” He nuzzled her neck, rocked his hips insistently against her with a low growl of pleasure. “Open yer legs for me.”

“You’re going to be a father.”

He stopped, went completely still for a long moment, then lifted his head up slowly to look down at her. “What did ye just say?”

She gave him an innocent smile. “Mmmmm… you’re right, it can wait until after you’ve had me again.” She brought her arms up to circle him, to pull him back down to her. He didn’t budge. His expression had changed, a look of tender hope lighting his eyes, mixing with the darker haze of passion and desire that had been there already. The combined effect made her catch her breath, love and yearning and happiness filling her like never before.

He grasped her arms, shaking her a little. “What did ye say, Faith?”

“I said you’re going to be a father.”

She watched the emotions cross his face: a look of incomprehension, followed by astonishment, followed by pure joy. His hand moved down her body to rest lightly above her womb.

“A child? My child? Are ye certain?”

“Yes. Very certain.”

His face broke into a wide grin. “Ah god, ye have made me the happiest man on this earth! Ye’ve come back to me, and ye’ve brought my child with ye. I just canna believe such a thing is true.”

But even as he looked at her with such love in his eyes, she saw a flicker of sadness there, that seemed so out of place.

“What is it Bren? What’s wrong?”

He looked away, took a deep breath, and let it out with a sigh. “My brother. Drust. He’s gone. I can only assume he’s dead, because I canna feel him with me anymore.” He looked into her eyes. “Just as I couldna feel ye, when ye were gone from me.”

Faith sat up, tears already welling in her eyes for Drust. She had cared for him greatly.

“What happened? Tell me, Bren, I need to know.”

He told her about how they had gone to find the ring, and how Drust had insisted on going in Eian’s place, how he had sacrificed himself to bring her back, for the ultimate survival of the clan, to avenge their mother and his honor, and how Drust seemed to have known that it was his destiny to do so.

A tear rolled down Bren’s cheek as he finished the story. “It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, to leave my brother there in that cave. Only the hope of bringing ye home to me… only kenning the sacrifice he made for me…”
Faith put her arms around him and held him tight. “We will name the baby for him, if it’s a boy. We will never forget what he did for all of us.”