Highlander Mine (28 page)

I was sore and I moaned as he pressed into raw, sensitive tissues. I gripped his wrist in a reflexive plead. My whole body felt bruised and battered.

“I’ll be so gentle with you,” he whispered. And he was. He stroked and touched my breasts unhurriedly. With his other hand, he fingered the tiny delicate nub between my legs, caressing with languid deliberation until my core became slick. He pushed his thickness deeper, pulling out before parting me again, gaining depth gradually, and only as my body welcomed him. The slight pain of his advance was sparked with a light, sweet throb. He pulled back again, his passage silky now. And as he entered me once more, I arched back against him, taking him deeper, little by little, until he was fully inside me. Like this, we lay still, as he allowed my youthful body to adjust to his magnitude. He was exceedingly patient this time, waiting for me to nudge back against him before giving me any movement at all. The leisure of it was delicious. Knowing that he would only react to my lightly squeezing muscles, or the gentle persuasion of my body pressed against his, was divinely enticing. This peaceful allowance fortified my desire.

“Are you trying to make amends?” I said softly, teasing him.

He pulled me even closer, causing his immense shaft to press deeper into me. I gasped as the throb escalated.

“Maybe. It seems I cannot possess you without losing myself completely. Even now, I feel as if any moment could be the complete undoing of me. My release is my surrender and my vow. My body is my oath. I love you, my sweet Amelia. I am yours.”

His words, accompanied as they were by the thick, impaling, pain-flecked pleasure and the skate of his fingers across the astoundingly sensitive nerve center of my body, ignited me. The pulsing glow bloomed in a sudden swell. Just the clench of my ecstatic inner muscles was enough to spur his own upheaval, which spilled into me in torrid, pulsing bursts.

I was beyond replete. My heart beat in a languorous cadence, as though slowed by satiation of body and soul.

* * *

T
HE
SUN
CREPT
over the horizon, lighting the sky with a hazy yellow brilliance. Knox lifted me, carrying me to the tree where our clothing was hanging, now dry from the wind. With an element of care that was almost foreign to me, he placed me on my feet. Every muscle was sore, yet my naked body felt sated, beatifically used. And I could only stare at the magnificence of my lover. His mussed-up coal-black hair gleamed with early morning sunlight. His swarthy face, darkened by the gold-glinted stubble of his beard, made him look like a pirate who’d discovered vast treasures. Most of all, the fervent ardor in his light gray eyes seeped into my beating heart.

He touched his fingers to my neck. A mark. One of many on my body. He kissed the light bruise. “I’d apologize,” he murmured against my skin, nipping softly. “But you’re not the only one who got bit.”

I smiled, but something occurred to me. “Knox?”

“Aye.”

“Did you tell your clan where you were going?”

“Nay, lass. As soon as I realized you’d fled, I ran after you. I knew I needed to catch up to you. That was my only concern.”

This admission infused me with some strangely provocative emotion that might have been—actually, there was no doubt in my mind what it was: love. In vast, profuse quantities. He stood there in his finely made fur-trimmed leather coat, looking like something you’d want to paint for posterity, just to remember how stunning he was, with his tawny, rugged handsomeness and his gold-flicked coloring. To think of him dashing heroically after me in a fit of protective concern, without even telling his clan, his family or the army that would go to any and every length to protect him: I was overcome. At his beauty. And his impulsive desire to keep me safe. “They’ll be worried about you.”

“Aye, they will. But they will have seen the sheets, and the note you left. They’ll have noticed the missing boats and they’ll follow our path down the river. They’ll know that you fled and they will deduce from that detail that I’ve followed you. They know how much I care for you.”

“They do? How?”

“I told them, of course. If you recall, half my officers were there when you were in my den, in the early morning, while I was half-clad. It wasn’t difficult to figure out. They know me very well. They know of my...principles. All the clan, by now, will be buzzing with the news of our impending nuptials, lass. Good news has a way of traveling fast.”

“Oh.” This unsettled me slightly. I didn’t want any of the Mackenzie clan involved in my mission, and least of all their laird. I was afraid of what might become of them, if they happened to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. And all because of me.

“Several of my officers are gifted trackers. They’ll have no trouble following our path. They’ll be searching for us, and they’ll likely find us before we get to the tavern. If not, we’ll wait for them there, and I’ll send word to Kinloch of our whereabouts.”

I was not surprised by this information. My eyes scanned the horizon. I thought of trying to break away from him somehow, to run and hide in order to keep him safe. But it would never work. I couldn’t outrun him. Nor would I be able to hide from his army. I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t succeed in any attempts to dodge him. And truth be told, I didn’t
want
to run from him anymore. The previous night had bonded us irrevocably.

The realization was somewhat daunting but also awe-inspiring. It seemed I wouldn’t be facing Sebastian Fawkes on my own, to sacrifice myself in whatever way I had to do to save my sister’s life. Instead, I would be confronting Sebastian Fawkes with the support of one of northern Scotland’s most prominent Highlands armies.

* * *

“D
OES
THIS
SINISTER
foe have a name?”

I didn’t answer immediately. We’d been walking for a short time, in the direction of the tavern. He waited patiently and after a moment I said, “Aye. He has a name.”

“What name?” I didn’t want to tell him, not yet. Oddly, I didn’t want to dirty the air that he breathed with a name like that. He watched my face, understanding that I was choosing to refrain. “Tell it to me.”

“You might go looking for him without me.”

His eyebrows rose slightly as he considered this and he made a face that suggested approval of some sort. “I hadn’t intended it, but aye, I suppose I could. It isn’t at all a bad idea.” He was holding my hand as we walked and it seemed an almost comically tender gesture for such a manly, battle-honed warrior such as himself. He looked down at me from under his long eyelashes, almost imploring.

“You don’t know these foes like I do,” I said. “City foes. Ones without scruples. Ones who would stab you in the back when you least expected it.”

“What makes you think city foes are different from the foes we fight here in the Highlands? Why do you assume that a Highlands foe wouldn’t stab you in the back?”

My gaze traversed the plains and the foothills beyond. “I don’t see any foes here at all. Where are all these sinister foes you speak of?”

“They’ve all been bested. For now. You’d be a fool to think their ghosts and their bones aren’t scattered about, and those of their fathers and grandfathers before them. Another enemy might rise from the ashes of our battles any day, at any time. We train for war every waking hour of our lives and remain ever vigilant for that very reason.”

I hadn’t thought of this place in those terms. It seemed so peaceful, so undisturbed.

“You’d be surprised,” he continued, “by how often small skirmishes do arise. Which is why we took your bandit story so seriously, at first.”

I felt foolish about it now, for telling lies and even more, for thinking that they might be believed. “I’m sorry about that.”

“I forgave you for that long ago,” he said, his eyes full of kindness.

“I don’t want to put your life at risk,” I said. “I think
these
particular foes are more underhanded than most. I think they might trick you, or surprise you, mainly because you’re an honorable man. I think their methods might thwart your strategies, because what I know of you and your men—like Lachlan, with his pretty wife and innocent children. I know that you expect people to behave like you do. With honor and courage and all those Highlands values you like to spout on about.”

He smiled at this, but I continued.

“You’re used to beauty and compassion,” I said. “Not ruthless malevolence. Your home is tranquil and protected. Untouchable. I don’t want to upset that. I don’t want to ruin or damage or even
touch
that perfection with my sordid past.
That’s
why I don’t want you to come with me. I
expect
people to behave badly. I’m prepared for it. Which is why I think I’m better equipped to handle this fight than you are. I’m ready to walk into my trap, to fight, to kill, to get my sister and return to my new home.”

This statement triggered a barely detectable yet deep-seated reaction in him. His expression changed to one of checked ferocity, reminding me that he wasn’t only a passionate lover and benevolent protector. He was a war-hardened soldier and a trained, experienced leader. Capable of killing men. “What is it this foe expects from you, Amelia? What does he want...” He seemed fairly pained by the follow-up. “From
you?
”

“Complete ownership. In every possible way.” I knew this would infuriate him and I wanted it to. Something in me had turned. There was nothing I could do to dissuade Knox Mackenzie. If he was going to be involved in this, then I would tell him everything. And suddenly, I wanted to. I wanted his help. It was the kind of help that could save not only Cecelia’s life and my own, but also the life of
this,
of us and our future together.

“Well, he cannot have it,” he growled.

I got the feeling he was taking a moment to allow his fury to dissipate before he spoke again.

“You seem to think me some sort of puppet that sits on his throne all day to be admired and protected,” he said, his rage only barely edged with compassion. “I can assure you that is not the case. Kinloch has been fought for, died for and achieved over many lifetimes of struggle. My clan has fought scores of ruthless, sinister, underhanded men. Only through work and solidarity have we been able to build and foster the peace we hang on to precariously, at best. There is no such thing as untouchable. And just because Lachlan has a pretty wife does not mean he cannot be as ruthless as any man. It is
because
he has a pretty wife and innocent children that he’s capable of ruthlessness, in whatever way it’s required to protect them.”

I wiped my tears and he continued.

“You’re wrong about us,” he said. “We value honor, aye, but we are not above taking whatever means necessary to secure the safety of our own.
You
are my own, lass. Don’t you see?
You
are what I want. If I have to stab an evil crook in the back to rescue your sister and convince you of that, then so be it. My honor will have no issue with that whatsoever.”

“But—” I sniffled. “Are you sure?”

He surprised me by scooping me into his arms and lifting me, hugging me close. “We’ll need my officers and we’ll need a plan. Tell me what to do to attend to this matter so I can take you home and marry you.”

“His name is Sebastian Fawkes,” I began, letting the truth—at last—spill out. It felt immensely cathartic to finally share this burden with someone who might actually be able to help me. And help us. My voice was rasped with the heavy weight of my memories. “The debts were always accumulating. ’Tis all I’ve known for a very long time. Crippling, constant debt. James was a spendthrift and a gambler.” I had never revealed that to anyone before. “He skimmed the earnings. He would deny it, and promise to mend his ways. But he couldn’t do it. Cecelia never knew. I never told her. For all his faults, she loved him. Or at least she
convinced
herself that she loved him. She tried so hard to be the person she thought she should be. The honorable wife. Because that’s what a wife is supposed to do with a husband. Love and honor and obey. ’Tis what our mother did, until her dying day. ’Tis what she believed in and how she lived her life. And it’s what my sister aspired to.

“James got involved in riskier schemes. He became indebted to the wrong kind of people. Smuggling rings and black markets. The ganglords began to target him because he owed them money. His deals never worked out the way he planned. In the end, we were forced to sell him the controlling shares of the business. To a man who...didn’t like my attitude. A man who expected obedience from everyone he met. At first he was amused by me. But then he started coming to our club more often. Watching me. Noticing things about me that...frightened me. He was very observant. Very threatening. He sat at my table, always, and he wanted me to serve his drinks. He...well, he propositioned me. I refused. He became angry. I was a society lowlife, he said, compared to him. He could elevate my status and alleviate our debts. If only I would agree to perform my role as he described.
Exactly
as he wanted. That was a condition of his demands.

“I couldn’t do it,” I whispered as the line of a tear wet my face. “I just couldn’t do it. It felt like selling my soul. And it wasn’t worth the price he was offering. Despite everything.”

“Of course it wasn’t,” Knox murmured, wiping my tears with his fingers. I’d never been prone to excessive crying in my life, but in the past few days I’d made up for ten years of dry eyes and survivalist grit. “You’re all right now, lass.”

“He might own everything by now, I don’t know. I don’t care. I just want to find my sister.”

I was almost startled by how intimidating Knox’s expression had become as I told him the story. He wanted the truth. Well, here it was. In all its gory detail. “Cecelia feared for my life, and Hamish’s. Fawkes threatened to harm him if I didn’t agree to his demands. I almost did. But my sister begged me to flee and to find a safe haven, far away from Fawkes and his men. She would cover our tracks somehow. She would buy us some time, she hoped, as she waited for James to return. So Hamish and I traveled north. To the Highlands. And now I’ve brought the danger upon you, as well. I never meant to.”