Prince of Desire (8 page)

She walked to the door and found her hand shook as she reached for the handle. Mr. MacDonald's head swiveled to her as soon as she stepped outside. She gave him a smile and was relieved when he returned it.

“Isabelle, lass, we were worried about you,” he said as he came towards her.

“I'm sorry. I was just about to send word to you and Mrs. MacDonald.”

What few gray hairs he had on his head danced in the breeze. Though his face was wrinkled, his eyes still held an intelligent spark in them that said he could see past her lies.

“Just tell me that you're all right,” he said softly. “You're like a daughter to us, lass, and we worry over you.”

Isabelle looked over Mr. MacDonald's shoulder to Lucian, who stood petting Elad. She knew he heard every word. She wasn't afraid of Lucian, and if she asked, she knew he would leave.
 

She returned her gaze to Mr. MacDonald. “Forgive me. Will you and Mrs. MacDonald be able to handle the tavern today? I need some time to…think.”

He waved away her words. “Of course. We’ve little Timmy. We'll put him to work.”

Isabelle laughed as she thought of Timmy, the baker's son, who was always looking for something to do that would keep him away from the hot ovens. “Thank you.”

For a long moment Mr. MacDonald stared at her. “Be happy,” he said softly and turned on his heel to walk away.

Isabelle watched him go. His parting remark echoed loudly in her head. Happy. What would make her happy? Would staying here working and living in the tavern with the hope of finding a husband do it? She didn't mind the hard work, it was part of life, but the loneliness ate away at her, and Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald were advanced in years. It wouldn't be long before they too left her. Then where would she be?

Happiness. It was something she had always had as long as her grandparents had been there. Up until that moment she hadn't even thought of what would make her happy, and it was a hard question to answer.

Lucian would make you happy
.

Would he?

She knew without a doubt that being in his arms and the passion that was so strong between them swayed her. Yet, was it enough for her to throw caution to the wind and leave with him? For all his words and their night together, he was still a stranger.

Chapter Five

Lucian watched Isabelle closely. There was no denying that Mr. MacDonald cared greatly for her and that she returned the emotion. It was a difficult decision she had to make, one that would have to be made very soon. He hated to press her, but he wanted to return to Drahcir as soon as possible.

“Isabelle?”

Her gaze snapped to him. “Everything is all right. I told him I needed some time to think.”

 
She hadn’t wanted to lie to the old man, so she managed to work it where she hadn't needed to.
 

“How much time do you need?”

“How much time do I have?”

Lucian stepped away from Elad and walked to Isabelle.
 
He could remain with her for a few months before he had to head back to Drahcir, but he feared if he stayed she would never leave with him.
 
It wasn’t just getting to Drahcir on time.
 
There were other threats, threats he’d do whatever he could to avoid.
 

“I’ll give you two days.”

“Two days?” she repeated, her brow furrowed in exasperation. “How can you expect me to decide such a monumental decision in so short a time?”

He shrugged as hopelessness began to settle around him like iron shackles. “You know the answer.
 
You just refuse to say it.
 
If you have no’ come to realize that now, you willna in two days, two weeks, two months, or two years.”

“What you ask for is impossible,” she said and whirled around to stalk back into the cottage.

Lucian gave it all of a heartbeat before he followed her. He had seen the fire in her eyes, the anger that sparked deep within her, but if she wanted rage, he could give her fury over the injustice of his kingdom and his family.

He threw open the door and found her facing the fireplace, her arms wrapped about her waist as she stared into the flames. With a jerk of his wrist, he slammed the door and stalked toward her. If her mind wouldn't listen, perhaps there was another way he could reach her.

His hands itched to feel her satiny skin, and his body burned to be buried inside her once more. With his cock already hard and aching, he didn't push aside the desire that begged to be released.
 
He accepted it, acknowledged it.
 

And welcomed it.

With a growl, he gripped Isabelle's shoulders and turned her to face him as he backed her up against a wall. Her wide midnight blue eyes stared at him, watching him to see what he was about.

“If you willna to listen to your heart, then listen to your body,” he said just before he ravaged her mouth in a kiss meant to overwhelm, a kiss meant to shatter her.
 

When she returned the intensity, it set him afire, burning him from the inside out as the passion swept him, engulfed him.

Consumed him.

His grip tightened, his heart pounded.
 
The more he had of her, the more he needed.
 
She was the air, the sun, the moon.
 
She was…everything. He feared he’d never have enough of her, and with that fear grew another – what if he had to return to Drahcir alone?

He pushed aside those morbid thoughts as he thrust his tongue deep into Isabelle's mouth. He expected her to resist, yet she pulled her arms out of his grasp and wound them about his neck as she sighed into his mouth.

Lucian lost all thought as his hands moved quickly and efficiently to remove her clothes until she stood naked before him. Just as quickly, he shed his own and reclaimed her sweet mouth for another intoxicating kiss.

He took her hands in his and stretched her arms to the side as he molded his body to hers. Her full breasts pressed into his chest as he continued to kiss her, taking her lips again and again in kisses that were quick and light, long and sensual, and deep and demanding.

And she responded to each one in a way that had Lucian craving her, needing her so desperately that for a moment he couldn't breathe.
 

His hunger for her quickly outweighed everything. So much so that if she refused to return with him, he knew he would find it next to impossible to leave her. He was hers just as much as she was his.

Mates didn't abandon each other.

Lucian pulled away and looked down at his mate. Her lips were swollen, her lids heavy, and her eyes filled with such longing that in that moment, had she asked, he would have sworn to stay with her forever, forsaking everything.

“Lucian,” she whispered and leaned forward to rain kisses on his neck and chest.

He closed his eyes and let his head fall back. She was a temptress, a siren that lured him with her enticing face and alluring body.

“I need you,” she said and rubbed her hips against him.

Lucian hissed at the contact of her soft body against his cock. It was enough to nearly make him spill his seed.
 

She looked deep into his eyes. “Take me now.”

It was a request he couldn't refuse.
 

He picked her up and carried her to the bed. As soon as she was on it, he rolled her to her stomach and began to kiss down her back to her round buttocks. His hands followed his mouth, touching every part of her.

With the slightest movement, he pulled her to her knees. He leaned over her, pressing his aching arousal against her as his hands found her breasts. As he teased her nipples, Isabelle began to move her against him.

He shifted his hips and entered her hot, wet sex. He couldn't stop the moan of satisfaction at filling her, of having her tight walls surround him.
 
With his hands on her hips to keep her still, he plunged inside her with long, slow thrusts.

Her breathing hitched, and little cries of pleasure poured from her mouth. And each time he filled her, he was coming closer and closer to the edge of his own climax.

He reached around and found her sex and the swollen nub of her clit. With the slightest touch, he ran his thumb across it and was rewarded with a tremor that shook her. He repeated the movement and felt her clench around him.

Isabelle was under a haze of pleasure so profound that she could barely remember her own name. Each time Lucian's hands or mouth touched her, she melted. He was an expert at lovemaking and knew just where to touch her to send her spiraling into bliss.

Even now as he pumped his thick arousal in and out of her, she ached for more. She was mindless to where his hands roamed.
 
His hips pumped faster, his thrusts began to drive into her harder, deeper.
 
She was so close to peaking, her body flushed, her breathing ragged.

A cry tore from her throat at the pleasure that splintered through her. With just the slightest wiggle of his finger, an orgasm so intense, so incredible consumed her.
 
Even as her tremors began to fade, Lucian still drove within her.

He leaned over her, his breathing harsh and ragged.
 
His hips pumped faster just before she heard him roar, and he gripped her and buried himself deep, giving his seed to her womb. Isabelle instinctively tightened around him to prolong his climax.
 

“Isabelle,” he whispered and collapsed on top of her before he rolled to his side, bringing her against him.
 

For long moments they lay silently in the aftermath of their lovemaking.
 
Her mind was filled with Lucian.
 
Ever since he’d come into her life, he’d turned it upside down.
 
She’d had more excitement, more enjoyment in the past few hours than she’d had most of her life.
 
All that was due to Lucian.

Yes, his story frightened her.
 
She wanted to discount it, but she knew that as odd as it sounded, that it was the truth.
 
She couldn’t explain how she knew, only that she did.
 
That’s what scared her the most.

She shouldn’t be so sure of him.
 
But she was.

Isabelle could still feel him inside her. Each time they came together was more pleasurable, more intense. She had never thought of herself as wicked, but when she was near Lucian all she could think about was their bodies joining again.

The rest of the world faded away, leaving only the two of them.
 
It made her think of possibilities, of happiness…of a future.

When he pulled out of her, she turned and looked at him. “That was…incredible.”

A satisfied smile pulled at his lips. “Liked that, did you?”

“Very much,” she admitted and pulled him down next to her. “Is there more?”

He nuzzled her neck. “So very much more it would take me a lifetime to show you.”

She didn't respond to his words, but they stayed with her, even as she dozed in his arms.

A lifetime
.

Wasn't that what she wanted?

Yes!

* * * *

Lucian held Isabelle tightly to him as her breathing evened into sleep. It was only the second time they had made love, yet it was more intense than the first. And still he hungered for her. He wanted her again, right now, but wouldn't wake her so soon.
 

He thought making love to her again would show her that she needed him, but all it had done was show him he couldn't live without her. He was going to have to face the truth, that if she decided against returning with him, he would have to choose whether to stay with her or return to certain death.

His family and kingdom, or his mate?

The mark on his arm, that even now glowed nearly blue, dictated that his life was in the hands of his mate. He couldn't ignore that. He was bound to his mate through each lifetime. To forsake her now would have dire consequences, but so would forsaking his family and Drahcir.

His thoughts took him to his family. He missed his family, his brothers and all their fighting, his mother and her calming effect on the family, and his father and his incredible way of knowing just what to do.

How he wished he could talk to them, to share his troubles and hear their advice. Yet he knew that was impossible. His father warned him that he might have a difficult decision to make. Lucian had been fool enough to never consider that possibility.

It was a lesson well learned, but had it come too late?

Chapter Six

It was time.
 

Isabelle could no longer wait to give Lucian an answer. He deserved at least that from her. But even now as he brushed Elad, she still didn't know what her decision would be.
 
She had hoped that after a full day of getting to know Lucian better she would be able to make her decision, but all it had done was confuse her even more.