No Time to Cry (Nine While Nine Legacy Book 1) (33 page)

“No problem, mo milis.” He dismounted
from his horse. He was tall, taller even than Gideon. My body was reacting to
him against my will. What was with me tonight? Michael hadn’t said anything
about increased libido tonight, just increased magic.

I began to back away from him, turned my
eyes back towards the way I came…I think it was the direction I’d come from. Oh
great. Had I gotten myself lost in the woods? So cliché.

“Come talk with me, Milis?” He implored,
leading his horse toward the clearing. He let it go to graze on the dark green,
thick grass. He waved me over to him. And I
really
wanted to go talk
with him.

“I can’t. I should get back to the
party.” But I made no move to leave.

He shrugged. Smiled warmly.

 I could hear the music from the
party, but I couldn’t tell from which direction it was floating.

“Come sit with me, talk with me; I’ll
lead you back to your party in a while.”

I bit my lip. I found myself really
wanting to talk to this man whom was obviously from that other realm that
Michael had been speaking of.

“My name is Collum.” He smiled again. It
lit up something in my heart. “And what might your name be lass?” He held out
his hand to me. How had I gotten so very close to him? I was right in front of
him, his hand, his large hand, closed over mine. That small touch sent little
electric waves through me that took my breath away. So much like Gideon.

The bagpipes were playing in the
distance, what was it about them that spoke to me? It tickled my brain, as if
trying very hard to recall something that was being dangled just out of my
memories reach.

He pulled me along behind him. He looked
up at the moon. “Och, she’s a bright one tonight.” His accent was thick and
most definitely yet another Scottish/Irish blend, what Gideon had called Ulster
Irish.

“Come here to me,” he said in a low,
deep voice. And I did. I moved in closer, so very close to his black clad
chest. I rested a hand against it. It rose and fell against my palm. I pulled
it away. He chuckled low, it was sensuous.

I looked him up and down, not in a
checking-him-out kind of way—though I guess I was sort of—it was just that he
was very familiar. What he was wearing, I’d seen it before. Then it struck me.
It was the garb of the hunters, minus the armor. Dark, fitted clothes made of
some sort of fabric unknown to me. Nearly like suede, but not really. So soft
to the touch, but durable also, in shades of grey and black.

Was he one of the hunters, one of the
riders from that dream the other night? From that place I go when I dream?

“Your name lass, what might it be?”

 I met his eyes, he ran a finger
along my jaw, his touch sent more shivers through me.

 “Iliana.” I managed to get out through
my suddenly arid mouth. I licked my lips to wet them, they were so dry.

“Iliana.” The way he said it, it purred
from him, and yet another quake coursed through me. He laughed quietly. “Dance
with me, Milis.” It wasn’t a question.

He pulled me tightly to him, pressed the
full length of his body against mine. He moved with the music, moved me with
him, sliding his body against mine, until the tempo increased and he spun me
away from him, still holding my hand.

We had no fire to dance around, but we
danced like we did. It felt amazing to dance under the stars and the dark
autumn sky.

 I was laughing, my head thrown
back to the dark, velvety night sky and I felt so uninhibited and fierce that
tears were in my eyes. Life should always be this.

He pulled me in, looking down at me as
he twirled me about him, in sync with the raucous tune floating to us on the
wind, and when the song ended he crushed me to his body.

I was winded, nearly panting and full of
joy for this night and the wildness it held.

He held me tightly to him as he fell
back to the ground, pulled me down on top of him. He held my face in his palms,
searching it, running his thumbs along my cheeks. He started to kiss me, nearly
brushing his mouth against mine, but pulled away slightly, just out of reach.
He looked in my eyes again. Waiting for something.

I stretched to him. He smiled. His eyes
glinted, stars sparkling in the deep green. He grazed his mouth against mine.
The lightest, barest of touches, but enough to create a sharp, spark-like
sensation that made my breath seize.

He left his mouth against mine and
whispered in his thick burr, “Mo Milis.” His breath was hot against my lips; it
mingled with my own breath.

I licked my dry lips. He groaned. I
could feel him move against my stomach, the hardness of him, and my insides
reeled with anticipation, promptly wanting him.

He rolled me to my back, planting
himself between my thighs, his weight mostly on his hands. He looked down at
me. He was beyond handsome, that word wasn’t enough. I reached for his head,
pulling it down to my face, but he still held back that kiss.

He lowered to his forearms, coming
closer to me, pressing more into me, along my body. My head swam in the most
lovely way.

I could feel the contradiction in
temperature, the chill October air against my now superheated flesh. My shirt
was gone, as was my sweater. My jeans still remained in place. And for some
reason I hated that. His shirt was gone too. I didn’t remember either of us
pulling it away from his body, but I was ever so pleased that it had gone away.

I ran my hands over his chest and
shoulders. So hard, so well muscled. I ran my hands up into his tangled hair. I
looked past him and up into the night sky, the stars were shining brighter than
I’d ever seen them. He looked behind him, to the sky.

“I’ve never seen them so bright.” I said
simply, working to catch my breath.

He looked back down at me, wonder on his
face. “They shine for you tonight.” He grazed his mouth, just so barely,
against mine again, so barely that it was torture. And a sound, almost a
whimper, came from me, making him laugh lowly.

Then he kissed me firmly…and thoroughly,
tasting my tongue with his, exploring my mouth. And something in my head
exploded and flowed through my entire body. Just with a kiss? He pulled away,
stared down at me. He fingered the feathers in my hair, the horns resting there
too. And he smiled.

“Oh, you are a special one. I knew when
I first saw you the other night, on your horse. You’re going to be a strong
one.”

“You were there?” I searched his face,
trying to remember any of the other rider’s features. I hadn’t been able to see
them. “You’re one of the riders?” A silly question. I
knew
that he was.

He brushed a tendril away from my face,
traced my ear with a finger, more shivers came with his touch. And I reached
for him, trying to pull his face closer for another of those kisses. But there
was something I should be remembering, and it was important. But all I really
wanted was to lie under the night sky with him, all else flew from my mind.

He ran his hand down my neck and over a
breast, his eyes moved back to my face. “So very beautiful. So irresistible. So
very rare.”

Words I had waited to hear from…who…who
was it that I’d been wanting to hear that from? I couldn’t recall.

Collum traced a finger across my cheek.

My eyelids drifted closed, he kissed
them tenderly. I moved my head to meet his mouth and he gave me another one of
those kisses that shook my body. I felt him smile against my lips. He’d felt
the quake through me. I couldn’t touch him enough. My hands slid across his
shoulders and down his back, tugging him tighter against me.

He rose on to his hands, staring down at
me. Oh, he looked so much like Gideon, but behaved so much differently.

Gideon!

That was it, that was who I was trying
to remember. But Collum actually touched me, whereas Gideon always kept back
from me no matter what I might see in his eyes. Collum actually kissed me,
touched me, saw me.

But Collum would not be here tomorrow. I
shook my head, trying to clear the haze that his nearness brought on. He was
only here for tonight, for
D
eireadh
an
S
amhraidh
, tomorrow he
would be gone.

It should be
this way with Gideon. I’d seen that look in his eyes. Why did Collum have to
look so similar? All of tonight should have been with Gideon. The feasting, the
drinking, the dancing madly under the full moon…and this here. This should be
with Gideon.

“Wait. This…” I
turned my face from his. It was too hard to say this while looking up at him.
“Gideon…I don’t know you. I shouldn’t be here. It should be Gideon.”

Collum’s body
went rigid over mine.

“Gideon is it?”

I couldn’t look
at him. His voice held a fierce edge. He turned my face to him, my eyes to his.
“He is the one keeping you from me?”

I nodded,
barely. It was
me
keeping me from him. Gideon had barely touched me, and
that was generally as a way to either keep me from collapsing to the floor, or
to contain me.

I wanted to
reach up and pull his face down to me, lose myself in more of his kisses, but I
fought that urge.

“He tells you
little to nothing. Brings you no answers.” He exhaled sharply.

Why did I have
to be so drawn to him? I kept telling myself over and over it was just the
magic and influence of this night. Don’t do anything that I will regret
tomorrow. But how could I regret how I felt when I looked at him.

I tried tugging
his face back to mine, but he shook his head, smiled a crooked wolf grin and
blazed a trail of kisses down my throat and down between my breasts, down my
stomach, stopping just at the waist of my jeans. He tugged me up to his mouth,
his arm under my waist, licking my stomach. I moaned loudly, surprising myself
with the sound.

He chuckled
softly.

‘I have infinite
patience. No. I think I won’t be leaving here after all. Not again. Not
anymore. The time is getting close, close enough. You’ll see…if he ever tells
you anything.” His gaze traveled back up my body—his hungry gaze—and resettled
on my face as his body resettled between my thighs securely.

He grabbed one
of my legs and crooked it up over his waist, running his hand firmly down my
thigh, across my hip and up my side. Tiny electric quakes fluttered through me
with breath pilfering quickness. “Maybe I should be the one to do it.” He
pondered a moment. “Tell you all the things you should know.”

That woke me
from my seduced haze a bit. And I remembered more. “His
Roghnú, the
Roghnú…Deimari, I saw her with him that night…wait, no…today. At a cottage. She
was touching him. She wants him. And she wants me dead.”

Fire blazed in his eyes. “No one will be
harming you Iliana. I’ll see to that.”

“But that’s
his
job, he’s my
Cerberus…I mean Caomhnoir.”

“Is he now?” He ran his hands into my
hair and raised my mouth to his, kissed me deeply again. I
arched
into him, oh…how I wanted him. His mouth was so firm, so hungry, so…just so.

Breathlessly I said, “I can’t do this.
It’s more confusion. This last month has been nothing but confusion. And
tonight…tonight took it all away.”

“
Shhhh
…” he
pressed a finger to my lips, tracing them, smiling down at me. “I took it all
away. But you’re right, not tonight. When we lay together, it will be because
you know it’s us and not the influence of this particular night. It will be
what your heart desires.” he said deeply, staring into my eyes. “No, I think
not this night. Now that I’m here, and you’re here. I won’t be going back, nor
will many of the others.”

My heart leaped, what he said made my
heart happy. On a larger scale than just my personal satisfaction. Something
about the others staying too. Something about a kingdom realized. But I had no
idea what any of that meant. I shouldn’t be feeling any of this.

What about Gideon? Uldwynah had made it
sound like I was supposed to be with Gideon. But Gideon was right this moment
with the Roghnú, and she hated me, wanted me gone. Would Collum really be here
tomorrow, and the following days to come?

I grabbed his face and kissed him hard,
matching his hunger with my own, running my hands over his torso. He pulled
away, chuckling jovially. “Oh but you are a minx.”

The sound of pounding hooves pulled his
attention from me; he lifted his face to look behind us. I twisted under him,
to look in the same direction. Two riders were approaching.

“
Beannachtaí
, Collum,” one
of them called out.

A look of concern crossed his face. He
pulled my sweater over me, kissed my forehead. He stood and I watched as he
walked over to the men on the horses. Gods, he was beautiful. He exuded
authority, power, and potency. I admired his physique as he stood next to the
horses, he was tall, broad shouldered, rugged, vital. He was in command. These
men were under his rule. My head spun. My heart was beating fiercely. It hadn’t
been Gideon on the horse that night in the dream.