To Wed A Highlander Page 24

  Colin stripped off his leine and then dove into the dark waters. Makenna nervously searched the surface, dreading where he would appear.

  Colin emerged right by where she was standing. She took two steps back. He let her.

  “Please, Colin, please leave. I am so tired, and I cannot verbally banter with you tonight. I am not up to the task.”

  Colin lowered himself into the water until just his shoulders were above the rippling surface. He moved in close and gently cupped her face in his hands. Her scent filled him. “Bantering is not what I had in mind,” he murmured, lowering his head to brush his mouth against hers.

  Makenna was startled into temporary submission. Colin persisted in making it impossible to talk by touching her, his big hands smoothing over her shoulders, her back. So much of her yearned to let him continue, to make her feel loved and wanted. But, later, when it was over, she would only feel worse, even hollower than she already did.

  Makenna pulled back. Colin released her lips but refused to let her go. “Makenna, speak to me. What’s wrong? I know that you want me as much as I want you. I can feel it. You want to respond to me, but you won’t let yourself.”

  Makenna balled her hands on his chest into fists. “I cannot be her. I tried, I really wanted to, for both our sakes. But I cannot do it. I loved my sister, but I am not her. And I cannot be her for you.”

  Colin did let go then. “Is that what you have been doing?” he asked, raking his hand through his wet hair. “God, Makenna, that’s the last thing I want. I thought you knew that. I need you, just the way you are!”

  “You still love her.”

  “She’s dead, Makenna. I have buried her and moved on. You are the only one I want, and I promise you it is not as a replacement for your sister.”

  “And what if I were to die?”

  The thought of Makenna dying was so repulsive Colin could only stare at her for a moment. “I won’t let you.”

  “Won’t let me? Die, you mean? Women do all the time, they become ill, die in childbirth, and what will happen then? Will you mourn me as you do Deirdre? Will you speak fondly about me to your next wife along with your words of undying love for my sister?”

  Colin forcefully grabbed her shoulders, splashing the water around them. “I won’t let you die. I will have no other but you, do you understand me?” His voice choked on the words.

  “Say no more,” she pleaded softly, looking at his chest, unable to meet his gaze. “It hurts when you say such things. You make me think you care.”

  Colin felt like he was caught in a whirlpool, losing control of everything by trying to hang on to it all. He forced Makenna’s chin up. She caught her breath when she saw the fear in his eyes.

  Colin saw misery and dejection shimmering back in her green pools; he could no longer deny the truth. “Care? Makenna, I care so damn much it terrifies me.” He let go of her and moved to the large boulder nearby for support. “What I feel for you is…stronger, deeper than what I have felt for anyone. Do you understand what I am saying? For anyone. Every time I kiss you, touch you, God, even just talk with you, I betray Deirdre. Never once did I wish you were like her, but you don’t know how often I wished she had been more like you. I loved her, but you complete me in ways she never could. And every time I thank God that I have you, I feel like I am saying I am glad she is gone.”

  Makenna moved then and put her fingers against his lips. Tears streaked down her face and splashed silently into the water. “Shhh, say no more. I love you, Colin. Deirdre warned me that I would. She said I could make you happier than she did, but I didn’t believe her. Not even when I lost my heart to you did I think you could feel anything for me. But she was right. She was beautiful and kind and much wiser than we thought, Colin. She would want us to protect what we share.”

  “Aye, she would,” he said softly.

  Makenna held his face between her hands, searching his eyes. She could see it now. He loved her and was deeply afraid of saying it aloud. He had loved and lost before.

  Colin pulled her roughly into his arms. Makenna melted into him. “God, Makenna, never leave me,” he whispered into her hair. “You are my very breath. I didn’t know how much until these past few weeks.”

  Makenna’s fingers maneuvered up the broad expanse of his chest, twining in his curly dark hair. “I’ve been so lonely. You are my best friend. The nights only became bearable when you started sneaking to our bed.”

  She could feel his lips curve into a smile. “So you were awake. I thought you might be, especially when you all of a sudden started retiring much earlier than normal, but I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want it to end. It was the only thing holding me together.”

  Gently his fingers curled into her red mane and pulled her head back. He leaned down and kissed her again. The sweet, sensual caress went on and on, suffusing her body with an aching need for more. She leaned into him moaning, stroking his tongue with her own.

  Colin’s heart pounded so furiously against the walls of his chest, he felt light-headed. He kissed her again, softer this time, consuming, with so much tenderness it nearly choked her.

  Makenna felt her body being raised out of the water and carried to shore. She laid her head on his shoulder, periodically kissing his neck and ear. He smelled good, like leather and male. Her breath fanned his cheek. “Everything I am is yours. I love you.”

  Her words and kisses were like a healing balm to his soul. They also aroused a hunger for her that was all-consuming. He almost stepped wrong on the rocky pebbles. His concentration was strained; all he could think about was touching her.

  His Makenna had returned. She was once again the spirited, spontaneous, and passionate woman that set his body ablaze. He knew he would not be able to wait until they returned to Lochlen to have her. He would barely be able to lay his plaid down.

  Finally, they reached the grass. Colin put her down. “Don’t move,” he ordered. His voice was deep and affected, husky with desire.

  Within seconds, he was back spreading his thick plaid on the soft clearing. Before she could take a step, he was at her side lifting her up into his arms. Makenna closed her eyes, luxuriating in Colin’s strength as he carried her to the soft awaiting blanket.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” he muttered as he covered her mouth with his own. The sense of urgency that was driving his emotions tonight had created an aching hunger in him that only Makenna could assuage.

  “Never,” she vowed softly as his lips took hers again in another slow, seductive, mind-numbing kiss.

  Colin could barely control his need for her. He cupped her buttocks and pulled her up against his hardness, discovering she was already moist and hot with need. Makenna shivered at his touch and leaned into his smoldering heat. Her hands moved to his shoulders, stroking him. Her legs entwined with his.

  Colin glided his fingers from her hip to her breast. As he took the freed soft mounds in his palms, his body began to shake. “God, you are so beautiful, so very, very beautiful. What you do to me,” he groaned with ragged need. He lowered his mouth to her breast and encompassed a pink bud.

  He gently held the bloom between his lips and began to suck.

  Makenna instinctively arched upward, thinking that she would die of pleasure. She twisted and moaned while her hands clung to his shoulders. Someone was shouting Colin’s name, and Makenna knew that it was her.

  Overwhelming passion took over. It was like a dam had exploded, enabling an emotional connection between them that intensified every touch, every sensation, every emotion. Colin released the tasty nub and he kissed her soft, pink, bewitching lips until she clung to him again. His muscled leg was hard and hairy and enticing, sliding up along the delicate skin of her inner thigh.

  Colin pulled her roughly against him, letting her feel all of him. He began to move his hips, rubbing his arousal against her. When Colin shifted to allow his hand access to her hot core, Makenna dug her nails into his backside to keep him firmly against her, refusing to let him move.

  He lifted his head to look at her. Colin thought he was going to drown in the green depths of Makenna’s eyes. “Please let me touch you. I want to feel your need for me.”

  Unable to form a coherent thought, Makenna released her hold. Part of her felt so excruciatingly sensitized that she didn’t think she could endure his deliciously erotic caress.

  He slid one finger across the small, swelling button of desire hidden in the soft hair and heard her quick intake of breath.

  Then he eased his finger into her snug passage, coaxing forth a honeyed flood that dampened his hand. She felt warm and liquid and sweet, like thick nectar. He didn’t ever want to stop touching her.

  Colin eased his finger back out and explored Makenna with a deliberate possessiveness that made her tremble. He repeated the action slowly and deliberately, easing into her and then teasing the small nubbin of female flesh. He did it again. And again.

  Makenna was growing wild beneath him, writhing in his powerful grasp, as he continued to touch her in ways he knew would drive her to climax. Her pleasure heightened his own.

  She cried out softly as deep tremors shook her.

  Colin’s blood pounded in his veins. His male appendage was hot and hard. He knew that he could wait no longer.

  “Tell me you belong to me, that you need me, that you want me inside you. Now. Say it, Makenna,” he muttered, his voice strained and husky with passion.

  “I need you. Please, Colin, love me now.” It was half plea, half demand.

  He came down on top of her, burying his hands in her hair, twisting his fingers in the silken tresses, hugging her to him. His body was incredibly tight and hard with arousal. He kissed her again and tried to calm his own tumultuous need, then reached down and o
pened her to his first thrust.

  Makenna closed around him, hot and wet and clinging.

  Nothing had ever been this good.

  His fingers crushed hers in a grip that spoke volumes about the fierce emotion coursing through him. Colin thought he was in both heaven and hell being tortured with pleasure and devilish fire. And then he started to move and could no longer think at all.

  Makenna opened her thighs wider and wrapped her legs around him. Together they began to move in a primitive rhythm all of their own.

  The climax hit him, and he surrendered to the hot whirlwind of spasms. Simultaneously he felt Makenna convulse beneath him, her entire body trembling with erotic release.

  Nothing in his life had ever felt so right.

  Long minutes passed before either was capable of moving. Knowing that he must be crushing her, Colin propped himself on his elbows and looked down for a second before moving to lie down beside her.

  Makenna swallowed. She had seen a steady glow of love and happiness in his eyes and knew the same expression mirrored in her own gaze. Makenna nestled against her husband. She felt both lovely and loved. It was the most incredible feeling she had ever known.

  Makenna could feel the cold wind begin to rise and nip at her exposed skin.

  Colin felt her quiver. “God, Makenna, you’re freezing.”

  She chuckled and snuggled closer. “Pretty understandable when you are forced to bathe in a cold loch in the middle of the night.”

  Colin pulled the loose edges of the plaid around her. “Why didn’t you wake your lady’s maid and tell her you desired a bath?”

  Makenna laughed and pushed against his chest to get free. She walked toward her clothes and started dressing. “Wake my lady’s maid? Colin, when have you seen me with a lady’s maid?”

  Colin shrugged, and then stood, following her lead by pulling on his leine. “I never paid much attention. I thought you just used them when I was not around.”

  She scoffed. “The reason you have never seen me with a lady’s maid is that there are none. There is but a single chambermaid, and I am careful not to overuse her lest she want to leave.”

  “Then go to the village and hire some help. We have the funds,” he said, holding the reins to her horse.

  Makenna shook her head and took the leather strips. “You say it so casually, as if that was all it took. I want help and then suddenly help will appear. The truth is that if I were to do something so foolish like you suggest, the staff I currently do have will disappear. We are incredibly shorthanded and the people who are now supporting Lochlen are overworked. I have learned the hard way that soliciting more help only gets you the kind you don’t want. Too many times, new blankets, tapestries, and rushes mysteriously ended up in one of the hearths. Food went missing, and candles destroyed. Only when I released ‘my new help’ did such activities ease. So, you see, forcing people to my aid causes resentment, and they take it out not only on me, but also on my staff. And when I do find someone willing, I immediately assign them to a position where their help is more needed by the clan, not just me.” She exhaled, realizing that she had just made quite a speech. Still, she couldn’t help but add, “Now do you understand?”

  Makenna didn’t expect an answer, and she didn’t receive one. Yet she knew Colin had heard and comprehended every word she had said.

  Colin helped her mount and then swung onto his large black. It was time. He would send Dunlop to the Highlands tomorrow.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Conor watched his son spy the wooden cup his twin sister was chewing. Casually, the toddler waddled over to his father and then slyly snatched it out of her hands. Brenna looked dainty and sweet, but she was nobody’s victim. Instead of yelling or crying, she squinted her eyes and pushed her twin brother, hard. He fell back but held on to his prize with a tight grip. Both met each other’s gaze and smiled triumphantly, each believing they had won.

  “Brenna!” Laurel lightly admonished. “How many times have I told you not to push your brother? And, Braeden, you have to know it is your own fault. Why is it that you always think your sister has the better toy?”

  Conor shifted his gaze to his wife sitting by the hearth. She was intently working on something for her friend Aileen, who recently discovered she was again with child. Pale ringlets curling around his daughter’s face proved she inherited his wife’s wavy gold hair. And though Brenna was barely a year old, he could see much more of his wife in their feisty daughter. She never backed down from a fight and usually won them. And of course, she had her father completely under her spell.

  His son tickled him, and though he would never admit it to Laurel, he was proud Braeden had the instinct to know what he wanted and the fight to get it. But the small boy never went too far with his sister. Braeden intuitively knew that he was much bigger than Brenna and always sought nonphysical means to procure her toys. However, when it came to playing with his uncles, he loved to get rough. Conor’s son was only a year old, but he was a McTiernay through and through.

  Conor stood and stretched his long legs. Spying Laurel out of the corner of his eye, he asked offhandedly, “They should go down for a nap soon, aye?”

  Laurel put down her needle and cloth and stared at her husband. Dark and huge with twinkling silver eyes, he was the most handsome man she had ever met. He was also pigheaded, stubborn, and prideful, but he was all hers.

  She looked back down and resumed her work, trying to hide her smile. “Yes, Brighid agreed to look after them while I try to finish this for Aileen,” she answered in her strongest English accent, knowing how it would rile him.

  “If you keep speaking like that, woman, I might order only Gaelic to be spoken on my lands. There’s no way you can create that awful sound with Scottish words on your tongue,” Conor growled.

  “Chan eil mi sgìth. Tha mi ag obair,” Laurel repeated in Gaelic.

  “Agus chan eil mi sgìth. Tha mi teth, shonuachar,” Conor replied thickly, his voice husky and deep, emphasizing the desire he spoke of.

  Laurel smiled. She loved being called his soul mate, and they both knew she was going to agree to his suggestion.

  Conor wandered around her chair and stopped just behind her to enjoy the view. Just the thought of having Laurel alone made him ache for her. She had just moved the babes to real food and her delectable breasts were once again completely his. The day was beautiful, and with only a little more coaching, she would be convinced to leave with him for a few hours this afternoon.

  The door of the great hall swung open and heavy footsteps entered. It was definitely not one of the servants.

  Startled, Laurel looked up wondering who was coming to visit. Conor swiveled to glare openly at the intruder. Recognition set in as he watched his brother’s commander walk the length of the hall toward them. Conor knew instantly that there would be no midday tryst.

  Conor turned back to Laurel and whispered, “An-nochd,” promising that his plans were not canceled, just postponed until later.

  Dunlop approached the young family and realized he was interrupting their private time. “I am sorry, Laird McTiernay. Your commander, Finn, told me you were here and that I could enter. Good day, Lady McTiernay, it is nice to see you again.”

  Laurel stood and greeted him with one of her more dazzling smiles. Dunlop was temporarily transfixed. He had forgotten how beautiful Lady McTiernay was. Slender with gold hair and sea-blue eyes, her physical appearance reminded him of Lady Deirdre.

  Conor saw Dunlop’s transparent appreciation of his wife’s beauty. It was a common reaction, far from unusual when guests arrived, but he still didn’t like it. Laurel never flirted. She did something far worse. She was kind and welcoming. Two things Conor knew to be almost as powerful as any spell a woman could weave on a man, especially an unmarried soldier like Dunlop.

  Laurel sensed Conor’s possessive bristle. “It is truly lovely to see you as well, Dunlop. We heard of Colin’s recent marriage. Tell me, is it a good one?”

  “Aye, milady. A very good one. I believe you would approve of my laird’s choice. Her character is similar to yours.”

  Laurel laughed, and it filled the room. “Then she must drive poor Colin in circles. I hope to meet her soon.”