Highland Mist (24 page)

“Not true,” he interrupted. “I don’t like what she is.”

“You’ll come to feel the same about me despite your vow.”

He shook his head. She held her breath when his hand rose to caress her jaw. “Never,” he vowed before he lowered his head.

The kiss seared her. Her body came to life under his hands as they roamed over her. She moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck for fear he would end the kiss. He crushed her to him. His cock pressed hungrily into her stomach. With a boldness she didn’t know she had she reached between their bodies and wrapped her fingers around him.

He groaned and deepened the kiss until she had no thought other than to be one with him. With one flick of his wrist his plaid fell away. She let her eyes roam freely over his body.

There wasn’t anywhere on his body where muscles didn’t bulge she realized as her eyes traveled from his head to the tips of his toes. A glance near the boulder showed her his boots. She wanted to ask how longed he had waited for her but didn’t want to ruin the moment.

He stood silently, waiting for her to finish her inspection, but she would have been content to gaze at his wonderful body all day, inspecting every inch of him with her eyes, hands, mouth and tongue.

She raised her eyes and found his gaze intense and searching. She knew what he wanted, and she wanted it nearly as badly as he. He smiled seductively when she began to divest herself of her clothes.

When she stood as naked as he, she found he had spread his plaid on the ground. He held out his hand and she didn’t hesitate to accept it. It seemed right for their joining to be outside amongst the trees and nature in this nemeton where magic rained around them.

As soon as she stepped onto the plaid, he had her flattened against him, his mouth hot, slick and demanding. The contact of skin on skin was just what her body needed, craved. Neither could get close enough to the other.

She groaned when he broke the kiss. He lowered her to the ground and lay beside her. She looked into his silver eyes, amazed at the desire burning fiercely for her. His fingers skimmed her skin as he traced patterns across her stomach then around her breasts to her neck. She closed her eyes and basked in the feel of his hands bringing her to life.

Conall stared down in wonder at the woman beside him. Even knowing how he felt about the Druids and his oath she was giving herself to him. “You’re mine.”

“Oh aye,” she agreed, and ran her hand down his chest.

Her touch, so soft, so gentle, set him afire. She was his mate. She was
his
. And after tonight she couldn’t run from him anymore. He had to make her see the Druid way would take her nowhere but away from him.

He bent his head and took a nipple in his mouth. It hardened as she gasped and raked her nails across his shoulders. He ran his hand up and down her legs, learning the feel of her, and when he lightly pushed them apart, she opened for him.

She whispered his name as she wound her fingers in his hair. He gloried in her skin, the color of cream, flawless except for a mole on her left hip. With his tongue he traced a path from her breast to the mole and kissed it.

He settled himself between her legs to give himself better access. She smoothed the hair from his face and gave him a heart-stopping smile. He kept eye contact with her as he bent his head and licked her navel.

Her eyes crinkled at the corners at his playfulness, but when his tongue swirled around a nipple, her eyes rolled back in her head, her breath coming in gulps. He focused his full attention on her breasts, sucking, squeezing and licking until she rubbed her hips against his abdomen. With his hand between their bodies he found her moist and ready. He couldn’t stand to wait another moment. He had to be inside her, to make them one.

Now and forever.

He guided the tip of himself inside and her eyes flew open.

“Aye,” she whispered, and brought his head down for a kiss.

His heart nearly burst. He slowly entered her, and to his surprise she wrapped her legs around him. “The stretching may hurt a wee bit.”

“I trust you,” she said, and lightly nipped his shoulder.

He lifted himself onto his elbows and stared into her golden-brown depths. “Look at me,” he told her as he pulled out then sank into her.

She gasped and clung to him. He held her tightly, wishing he could take away any discomfort.

“Is it over?”

He nearly choked. “Not even close.”

He moved within her. She gasped and matched his tempo, and she sent him to new heights, heights he had never come close to with other women. He rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him.

“Do what you will, lass,” he told her, and saw the fire light in her eyes.

Glenna stared down at the man who was giving her the first taste of heaven. She ran her hands down his sculpted chest, marveling at the many scars that crisscrossed his abdomen.

She leaned forward to kiss him and got her first taste of him inside her while in control. She sat straight and rotated her hips, glorying in the feel of him inside her, so hot and hard. His hands cupped her breasts. She sucked in a breath at the exquisite pleasure he gave her.

With her hands upon his chest for support, she began to move back and forth and soon their bodies glistened with sweat. Just as she was about to find her release, he sat up.

“Not yet,” he murmured in her ear, his hot breath causing chills to run up and down her body.

He moved behind her and spread her legs. With one thrust he entered her, and she nearly came undone. He placed on hand on her hip and with the other found her sex. His thumb swirled around her pearl while he continued to pump in and out of her.

Before she knew it the climax claimed her. She shattered into a million pieces, but he didn’t stop. He thrusts became harder and deeper, and when she thought she couldn’t take any more, she climaxed again just as she heard him shout his release.

They collapsed together, their bodies entwined, and she knew she would never experience anything like this with another man.

“You’re mine,” he whispered.

She smiled and snuggled closer. “Aye.”

“Forever.”

When she didn’t answer, he pulled her away from him. “You are mine.”

She licked her lips, her stomach fluttering at the possessiveness in his gaze. If it wasn’t for their doomed future she would be celebrating what was between them. Such sweet sorrow, she thought. “Aye.”

“Then why are there tears in your eyes?”

“Because it can never be.”

“I won’t let you go. We Highlanders take what we want, and I want you. You will be mine, Glenna.”

She let him squeeze the breath out of her. It was no use arguing. He would soon realize theirs was a hopeless situation. Until then she would take these moments and keep them locked in her heart forever.

* * * * *

Aimery celebrated a toast with his fellow Fae. Conall had finally taken Glenna. Their souls had taken the other in. There was no way for either of them to turn from the other.

The merriment soon died as word spread of Ailsa’s kidnapping.

“MacNeil,” Aimery hissed. They needed to know what was going on at MacNeil’s castle. “Send the scouts.”

* * * * *

“I’m not sure why you came today. Your mind sure isn’t here.”

Glenna ducked her head. Moira was right. Her mind was elsewhere, and that was in the forest making love to Conall with the sun’s rays falling around them. “I’m sorry.”

She had snuck away again that morning or had thought so until she spotted Angus watching her from the battlements. They had started her training as soon as she had arrived in the circle.

Moira wrapped an arm around Glenna’s shoulders. “Don’t fash yourself. All will work out.”

“What do you know that I don’t?”

Moira shrugged. “Just keep the hope in your heart. Conall is right. You are his and he is yours.”

Glenna was mortified. Somehow Moira knew what had transpired in the woods last eve. “Please don’t think less of me.”

“Nay,” Moira said, and held up a hand. “There’s no need for you to say anything. I’m not your judge. You let your heart guide you, and it guided you to your mate.”

They shared a smile, and Moira cleared her throat. “Now let me tell you the prophecy. Most only remember a part of it but there’s much more.”

“Why don’t people know all of it?”

Moira shrugged. “For whatever reason they might have thought it wasn’t important. MacNeil is one of those. He only knows the beginning.

In a time of conquering

There will be three

Who will end the MacNeil line.

Three born of the

Imbolc, Beltaine and Lughnasad Feasts

Who will destroy all at the

Samhain, the Feast of the Dead.

“The rest says:

One who refuses the Druid way

Inherits the winter and in doing so

Marks the beginning of the end.

For the worthy to prevail fire will

Stand alone to vanquish the Inheritor,

Water will soothe the savage beast, and

Wind will bow before the tree.”

Glenna blinked. “I don’t understand. What does it mean?”

“We have our theories.”

“But you won’t tell me,” Glenna surmised. “If it’s about us, then I must be fire and Conall the inheritor.”

Moira merely stared at her.

“You must be wind,” Glenna continued. “But how will you bow before a tree?”

Moira shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Have you asked Frang?”

“Aye.”

When Moira didn’t say more, Glenna sighed. “He refused, didn’t he?” At Moira’s smile, she laughed. “We have to figure it out on our own?”

“Aye. If we know ahead of time things might not work out like they’re supposed to.”

“But if we don’t know, then how can we make the correct decisions?”

Again Moira shrugged. “We must do our best.”

Glenna thought for a moment. “If I’m fire and you’re wind, then our sister is water. What’s her name?”

“Fiona.”

“I can’t wait to meet her. How long until she comes?”

“Not long now,” Moira said prophetically.

Suddenly she remembered Moira urging Conall to recall the prophecy. “Does Conall know the prophecy?”

“Aye. He and Iona were told as children. He just doesn’t recall all of it.”

“What if he doesn’t remember in time?”

Moira raised sad, green eyes. “Then all will be for naught.”

“Then I’ll help him remember,” Glenna vowed.

But she found it more difficult than she thought. Conall didn’t wish to discuss anything Druid and in fact refused.

“What are you afraid of?” she asked him that evening after their meal as they sat before the hearth.

He jerked his head around to face her, his eyes leveled and in control. A warrior’s stare. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Then talk to me.”

His nostrils flared, showing his anger. He rose and strode to her chair until he was standing over her. “Just because we shared our bodies doesn’t mean I’ll spill my secrets.”

A knife plunged into her heart at his cruel words. She watched silently as he strode away. She had been a fool to think she could reach him, a fool to think she mattered at all to him.

After all she was the very thing he hated.

Chapter Eighteen

Conall tossed and turned, the bed much harder and smaller than before. He couldn’t get the image of Glenna’s soft brown eyes full of hurt out of his mind. It hadn’t been his intention to lash out at her like that, but he had become angry when she had continued to ask questions about his past and the Druids.

She wanted something from him, but he couldn’t give it to her, whatever it was. The part of his past that involved the Druids was closed off and would never to be opened again.

Never. She had to understand that if there was to be anything between them.

The wind howled viciously outside and soon swirled in his room. He tried to rise but found he couldn’t move. His eyes grew heavy and the urge to sleep was strong. He couldn’t resist whatever pulled him under.

He was falling. Blackness surrounded him when he chanced a glimpse. The world tilted and swayed until he couldn’t tell if he was sitting or standing. Then everything came to a halt.

He opened his eyes to find his mother sitting beside two small children. The scene brought back a flood of memories on that sun filled day. He walked closer, wanting, nay, needing to hear what she said to him and Iona for he recalled the day but not her words.