Shooting Stars / Bound by Love (2 page)

His lips were strong yet soft on hers as his tongue plundered her mouth. She lost the rest of her breath as she melted into a hard, well-cut physique. She threaded her hands into his hair and pulled his head down closer, wanting to devour him as he was devouring her. But just as she was about to taste him, he pulled away. His green eyes were hot black coals, his breathing uneven.

Jesus, she breathed in wonder.

The warrior he was obviously no mere man gripped her shoulders painfully.

Who is this Jesus you speak of?

His words rolled through her muddled brain, his thick burr nearly unintelligible to her. Had she not watched
The Highlander
countless times she would have had no hope for understanding him.

Christina s eyes opened wide. Like magic, she had landed in Scotland. In the arms of a warrior, no less.

He shook her and her head rattled on top of her neck. Answer me, wife.

Wife? Christina s mouth fell open only to clack shut when he shook her again.

Her imploded cells really were too newly put back together for all of this jostling. She answered quickly, I don t actually know anyone named Jesus.

It s just a saying from

His piercing green eyes narrowed. From what?

Citrus-scented breath puffed across her face, or rather, the top of her head.

Her
husband
was at least a foot taller than her, even in these ridiculous pointy shoes.

From home, she finished, trying to wrap her head around the idea of being married to such a brute. Christina s eyes traveled down his powerful torso to the huge bulge pressing into her belly. Ah yes, he was a wonderfully hung brute. She was tempted to drop to her knees to throat him right then and there, but decided against it when she realized dozens of people surrounded them.

7

He leaned his head down and Christina tilted her head up, sure that he was going to take her mouth in another passionate kiss.

What madness is there in you? he hissed.

Her pucker turned to a frown. She tried not to be insulted. Madness? How rude. She tried to twist out of his painful grasp, but he held her fast in his burly hands.

Do not let it be found that you have tricked me, he threatened in an excruciatingly quiet voice, or you and your family will pay.

Christina had always prided herself on her boundless patience. After all, her previous job as a high school counselor was not for the easily annoyed. But this man was really pushing it. Just because he was a walking, talking picture of sin didn t mean she was going to let him get away with being such a jerk. If only she had some small notion of where the hell she was then she could have dealt with things in a more graceful manner.

From her quick glance at the bystanders, she noted that the outfits everyone had on seemed woefully outdated. Had she not only traveled around the globe, but traveled back in time? The idea was so ridiculous she dismissed it instantly. Obviously it was just a crazy dream she was having. Hopefully one in which she got to have wild sex with this brute.

But even if it was just a dream, Christina didn t have it in her let his threat go unanswered. Which reminded her that as it stood she had a really big fish to fry here in dreamland.

Like the fact that she now had a husband.

I have no idea what you are talking about, she said, her tone imperious and, hopefully, regal.

I will spell it out for you then,
wife
. Christina trembled at the way the word wife cut from his lips.
I can t believe I actually trembled
, she thought with a mixture of shock and arousal. No man had ever been able to make her react like an insignificant little woman. Although, she thought with perverse desire, his full, hard lips looked like they could certainly do some hot damage to her breasts. Or even better, her cunt. This man, with one simple word, sent quivers through her veins straight to it.

His eyes followed hers and his mouth twisted into a contemptuous yet sensually promising curve. Your accent, I do not recognize it. Your eyes, they do not look the same. You speak of other men before me. You are He stared at her for a long moment and Christina was helplessly pulled into his deep green eyes. You are bold. I was promised a virgin from the nunnery.

Christina laughed at this, her melodic peals dancing in the gentle night breeze. She couldn t help it. Okay, so something crazy had happened and she had ended up in Scotland. She still thought that there was some chance it was a dream, but she had never been a particularly vivid dreamer. She would much rather live out her fantasies in real life.

Quickly she thought about the life she had left behind. Modern day San Francisco versus an ancient green isle? That was an easy one. She d take the ancient isle any day. Picking up one hot guy after another in bars for a night of carefree sex versus marriage to a Highland warrior? Even easier.

This was all her dreams wrapped up into one incredibly fuckable package. She 8

certainly wouldn t miss working in high schools. Besides, hopefully her fine looking husband would chain her to the bed or something glorious like that and she wouldn t have to worry about making a paycheck to pay rent. All she d have to worry about is when her next orgasm was coming.

Her new husband squeezed her roughly again and she remembered his last question. About how she was supposed to be a virgin from a nunnery. Okay, so she was willing to believe that she was now married to a warrior who put Mel Gibson to shame. But a nunnery? Her? Sex and men had been a part of her life for so long that she could hardly imagine living in a world of women, cloistered together, with thick iron bars to keep the men out.

Her laughter sent her warrior to action. Savagely, he threw her over his shoulder. He growled his menace for all to hear.

I will find this woman a virgin or there will be hell to pay.

Christina s heart beat double time. She didn t know how what had happened to her in the last ten minutes could have possibly happened from San Francisco to foreign land in the blink of an eye was more than anyone could comprehend but she did know one thing.

If her hot new hubby was expecting to break open a virginal barrier with his enormous cock, if he expected screaming and blood when he pounded into her, there was indeed going to be hell to pay.

And Christina had a sinking feeling that she was going to be the one to pay it. Oh, but paying was going to be delicious torture. Yes, indeed.

* * * * *

Heading for San Francisco, present day

Christiania was about to come face to face with God. He had heard her prayer for a gentler man. God was saving her from the terrifying warrior. She had always looked forward to heaven. She was not scared. Glories awaited her that no earthly soul could fathom.

She landed with a thud and opened her eyes to finally see the gates of heaven.

Instead she saw a naked woman, her thighs spread, with a man s head between them, licking and sucking.

Had she been sent to witness an orgy of the gods?

Suddenly Christiania noticed that every inch of her skin was on fire.
My god
, she thought,
I am this wanton woman! With a man lustily drinking from my
body.

A tongue was lapping between her legs and she felt good, so good, better than she had ever felt before. Surely it was madness, nothing more than a crazy dream, but Christiania could not fight the pleasurable sensations that washed over her in thick waves.

Liquid was rushing out from between her legs. Perhaps she was dying, after all. Was this inexplicable ecstasy to be her final experience in the moments 9

between life and death?

And then Christiania s mind went blank. A moan fell from her lips as strong hands lifted her hips higher. Something stroked her, but she was no longer coherent enough to say whether it was a tongue or a finger. All she knew was that she wanted more of it, much more.

Firm lips sucked at her, fingers fondled her, more wetness dripped between her legs. My God! she cried as a contraction ripped through her, starting in the center of her belly and working up to her breasts and down to the tips of her toes. Her hips bucked off the bed, but the dark-haired man between her legs held her steady. Christiania saw every color of the rainbow behind her eyelids, her breath rasped out of her in quick pants. Her moan turned to a scream she was unable to hold in. The pleasure coursing through her intensified until, all at once, she fell limp back to the bed.

Christiania pinched her eyes shut. Surely she had not just experienced something so wonderful, so wicked. She had been reared at a nunnery. The only men she had seen since her first blood had been priests. She had just been married to an awful warrior.

Her disarrayed thoughts were broken by a musky scent that drifted over her.

She could not hide forever, so she opened her eyes to find out if death had finally taken her, to see if she had passed the test to gain entry to the gates of heaven.

Christiania went still as stone at the astonishing sight before her.

A man a naked, well-formed man, no less was propped up on his forearms above her. She had never seen a man who looked like this one. He was smaller than a warrior, but bigger than a man of the cloth. He was cleanly shaven and his hair was close-cropped and shining with cleanliness. Through her fear, she recognized pleasure at looking upon this man. He was quite beautiful to her.

His mouth curved into a smile and Christiania shivered, her fear returning full force. I was wondering how you would taste, what noises you would make when you came, he whispered.

She blinked, terror catching in her throat. Was her fate not heaven, but rather, hell? Was this man the devil coming to tempt her to evil?

She scrambled as best she could from beneath him, pressing her back flat against the iron posts of the peculiar bed frame. Absently she noted the fine bed linens tangled beneath her. What luxury this man had, at least the wealth of a king. She had thought the warrior frightening, but at least her husband to be had been fully clothed. She had not permitted herself to think on his naked form. She had planned on keeping her eyes firmly closed when he rammed into her, as was his due.

But this man was naked as a newborn. With one huge difference. Her eyes caught on the thick shaft between his legs, red and insistent. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. She was back in the barn watching the horses rut, only this time she was the mare.

Where am I? Her words were muffled and anxious.

The man laughed. Well aren t you fun? I love the accent, he said as he moved closer to Christiania. She flinched and confusion flashed in his eyes, before being replaced by a look of understanding and promise. You didn t 10

tell me you liked to play games, Christina. His voice was soft and he ran one finger down her cheek.

Christiania was simultaneously warmed and chilled by his gentle touch. Her years with the sisters compelled her to be honest. I do not know of any games, she said, her soft burr sounding in direct contrast to his unrecognizably clipped tones. And my name is Christiania.

A small frown marked the man s brow. She hoped he believed her, that he could help make sense of her bewildering journey to his bed. In the silence, while she awaited his response, Christiania s eyes returned to the shaft between his legs. It had shrunk by an inch or so, but it was still enormous. His gaze followed hers and, oddly, a brilliant smile emerged across his lips.

He got up out of bed and walked to a large dresser. Christiania knew she should feel relief that he was leaving her alone, that he was going to help her, but something inside of her mourned the loss of of something she couldn t name, something adjoined to the pulsing satisfaction that had taken her so unaware minutes before. With shame she recognized a new feeling, that of need.

The man pulled something out of a drawer. He turned back to face her.

Christiania, he said, using her correct name. She smiled with relief, certain that everything was going to be all right after all. Now that he had called her by her right name, he must have understood that she was lost and needed help back home even though the truth was that she really didn t want to go back home because that would mean she was married to a very frightening warrior.

I wasn t sure if you were the kind of woman who enjoys a little bondage, but now Christiania held her breath. Bondage? What was bondage? He held out four red, furry loops. Now I m certain that you are.

Quick as lightening, he grasped her slender wrist and attached it to the top corner bedpost. The red fur tickled her skin, but Christiania was far from laughter. Her heart was pounding, but strangely, fear wasn t the only emotion she felt. The feeling inside her was much closer to what she felt when the man had been between her legs, tasting her intimately.

Shame assailed her again. How could she have enjoyed his touch? Especially since she had been repulsed by her husband-to-be.

Christiania s head swirled with confusion. She didn t know where she was, or why she wasn t at her marriage celebration with Marcus. And it didn t look like she was going to be heading back there any time soon, which she had to admit with great dishonor was more a relief than a worry at this point. She pushed aside worries about her family and her people for the moment. First she had to figure out where she was and who she was with. This man didn t look like he was of her world. Not nobility nor warrior nor farmer. Suddenly, it was paramount that she at least know his name.

Who are you?

Christiania was spread eagled on the bed, two plump pillows beneath her hips before he answered her.

My name is Jake, he said, but you can call me Master.

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Chapter Three

Scotland, 1320

While she objected to being hauled around like a sack of oranges, Christina couldn t complain about the view. Her abductor looked to have a marvelously tight ass beneath his plaid. The muscles and cords of his legs rippled sexily. She could tell her weight across his broad shoulders was inconsequential.