Highland Defiance (The MacLomain Series- Early Years) (23 page)

This time she screamed then cried when her body blew apart.

Their mutual grunts and groans of pleasure were loud and long and unrelenting.

All vanished but Adlin and her.

“Nay,” he whispered, his body throbbing inside hers. “No tears.”

Tears.
When had she cried? He seemed to bring it out in her.

To touch him would be everything but her body was limp and pleasured. She was paralyzed by perfection. Soft, reassuring, he slowly kissed away the moisture on her face. When he lay next to her it was with his strong arms around her so that they could both look up at a thousand stars.

Mildred stared and stared. Bright beside the moon, they twinkled overhead, winking with a shared, private knowledge when small thin clouds cut across them briefly. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

His body became a warm, protective wall.
“Aye.”

“I knew you were wearing a tartan when we met,” she remarked. Not because she was uncomfortable but because she simply wanted all truths freed with him.

She heard the smile in his voice. “Oh, I much preferred the term skirt.”

“Why?”

“It broke the tension.”

Mildred smiled but grew serious quickly, nuzzling in close. “Were you really so tense when I arrived?”

His thumb rolled lazily over her inner arm, a surprisingly tender spot. “More than even I would’ve imagined, lass.”

About to ask why, she stopped. She’d heard what he’d said to her family about how he felt. Did she really need him to repeat it? No. Mildred knew as any woman did when a man loved them and this one did her. And even though he’d said as much, what he’d said, how he’d acted when with her family, drove home the fact.

The very thought made the air in her chest catch.

Images of when they first met inundated her mind. The way she’d felt when confronted with his castle. The courage it’d required.

“What did you feel the first time you approached my castle in Cowal?”

She answered automatically.
“Driven.”

“Why?”

“Because I had to move forward, turning back wasn’t an option.”

“Why?”

Mildred paused. Why?
“Because I didn’t want to let you down.”

“Do you think what you did
took
courage?”

“Absolutely.”
She frowned.
“Adlin?”

“Aye.”

“Were you reading my mind again?”

“Aye.”

Though she frowned, she smiled inside. “You don’t like reading my thoughts, do you?”

“Nay.”

“They why do it?”

Adlin sighed.
“Because I’m selfish.”

“Selfish?”

On his side, chin perched on his fist, he looked down. “I want
every
moment with you, Mildred.
Every last one.”
He shook his head. “I promised myself when you came back to me that I wouldn’t look inside your mind, that it wasn’t a place for me or anyone else. But…” His eyes searched hers. “I find you irresistible.”

How could she say no to that?

Regardless.

“No more,” she whispered. “There needs to be some mystery.”

His lips brushed hers. “Does there?”

“Yes, Adlin.”
She cuddled up against him. “It’s the glue that holds us together.”

Why had she said that?

Adlin stared at her for several long seconds before he lay down again. “Mystery is overrated.”

She wrapped her arm over his chest and cushioned her cheek on his warm shoulder.
Time to steer the conversation where she desired.
Mildred wasn’t the type to let answers find her, but the other way around. “I want to know why we went to my home today. I want to know why you went with me.”

 “I wanted to meet your siblings.”

“
Pft
.
You wanted to let everyone who mattered most to me know how you felt.”

Adlin grinned.
“Aye.
And Jim.”

“What?”

“He loves you, Mildred. Surely you know that.”

She hesitated, her heart uncomfortable. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does.”

“Why, Adlin?”

He hesitated.
“Because love should never be ignored.”

Now her heart was afire. “What are you saying?”

“I wanted to meet all the people who mattered most in your life and I did.”

“I don’t love, Jim.”

“I know.”

Mildred propped up on an elbow and looked down. “Why bring him up? Love riddles aside.”

His eyes met hers. “I’m jealous.”

“No,” she whispered then her voice grew surer as her heart skipped a few beats. “You really are, aren’t you?”

He touched her cheek. “Am I not allowed?”

“Adlin… you,” she whispered. “Don’t you know?”

As soon as she said it, Mildred lay down again and stared up at the stars, avoiding what she’d been about to say. They were going down a path that scared her. Instead she switched topics and said, “My brother is more than I thought he was.”

“Aye.
He is, Mildred.”

She meant what she said. Watching Jonathan interact with Adlin had shown her something it seemed she’d been unable to see before. Long minutes passed before she spoke again. “At some point he grew up. How did I miss it?”

“You didn’t miss it. You just didn’t want to see it.”

Mildred crossed her arms over her chest. “He’ll fight well.”

Adlin nodded. “He’ll fight very well.”

Though the thought chilled her to the bone she understood that Jonathan had become a man and she was still treating him otherwise. “I’ve acted like a child.”

“Aye.”

She arched a brow at Adlin. “You didn’t need to agree so fast.”

He arched both brows. “Yes, I did.”

“You aggravate me.”

“Always will.”

“Will I ever find it endearing?”

Adlin grinned. “You already do.”

“No.” She looked away. “You dance around subjects and always have a motive. Trust me, I’ll never find that admirable.”

Adlin nuzzled her neck and whispered. “You’ll always find everything about me admirable no matter what. The way I think, the way I challenge you…” his hand ran along her thigh.
“The way I touch you.
All of these things will stay with you. Whether or not you know it now, I will always be the great love of your life.”

What did he mean by that? A strange sense of foreboding seized her. Mildred’s eyes shot to his. “My life that you speak of… will it
include
you, Adlin?”

“It has to,” he said automatically. “What’s the point otherwise?”

Her heart missed a beat. “That doesn’t sound reassuring.”

“You think too much.”

“I don’t think enough.”

Silence settled over them like a too-heavy blanket. Mildred knew she should relish the feel of his body next to hers, the breathtaking scene around them, but no. What if she lost him? What if what they’d only just begun vanished?

As if he forced the words past his lips, Adlin said, “There’s no more time.”

When he leapt to his feet and re-clothed, tartan in place, dread gripped her. Uncomfortable, she stood and dressed. “What’s happening now?”

Adlin nodded at the Defiance. “You’re going home.”

Frightened, she said, “I don’t understand.”

Jaw grinding, he quickly became a powerful Highland laird, his tone clipped. “Bruce is nearly here. I willnae let him have you.” He nodded at the Defiance. “I willnae let him anywhere near you.”

Mildred quickly tied the strings on her dress and nodded.
“Fine.
Good. Then we go.”

When she tried to stride past him he grabbed her arm and shook his head. “You misunderstand. You go back alone.”

“I what?” she exclaimed.

Before she understood what he was doing, Adlin pulled her after him.  

Confused, angry she tried to fight
him
but he was too strong.

They’d nearly reached the Defiance when a bright light flashed and Adlin stopped, growling.

“Now, brother.
I lived up to my end of the bargain. What are you doing?”

Iosbail.

“I’m breaking it. She deserves no part of this.”

Iosbail walked through the Defiance and jumped down.

“Think,” she said sharply to Adlin, her black hair flowing and nearly one with the moonlight. “I have done much to make sure history flows the way it should when I
didnae want
to nor have to.” She flicked her wrist and Adlin hit an unseen wall. “You have done so much. To think with yer heart now would let us all down.”

Mildred’s hand broke from Adlin’s when he threw up his arms. A white arch pillowed over the wall his sister had just erected.

Frightened, she stumbled back as brother went up against sister. Adlin’s voice sounded foreign and intense. “I can rewrite history.”

“You could never rewrite history, Adlin.”

Iosbail’s voice roared so loud that the ground rumbled. Mildred covered her ears. The moon hid behind the clouds. Even the ocean waves ceased to roar.

Adlin’s tall frame took on a confident swagger as he pushed Iosbail’s unseen wall back, her small frame stumbling. With a sharp motion, he shot his hands in the air and the wall shimmered then vanished. Iosbail fell to her knees and held her throat, gasping.

When he stood over her, rage evident in his shaking body, Mildred shook her head. Though afraid, she knew this was all wrong.

Before she could say a word, Iosbail’s body slid along the ground and rose in the air. No longer gasping, Adlin held her in some sort of suspension. Even then, Iosbail’s eyes narrowed and she croaked, “Yer letting
yerself
down, brother.”

Iosbail’s body rose and hovered in front of the Defiance. Adlin seemed another man, his kilt moving slowly as if under water. Mildred shook her head and screamed as loud as she could, “Let her go!”

Her words made him stagger and Iosbail fell to the ground.

Mildred took the opportunity to run to Adlin. Halfway to him the air grew so heavy she lost her breath and fell to her knees. Spinning, he stared at her, confused. “Go back now. Live your life. Love, Mildred.”