Spellbound (21 page)

46

The next few weeks passed peacefully as summer approached. The meadows and valleys were carpets of white and purple blooms. In the gardens, the gorse bushes were a vivid yellow in the summer sun; rhododendrons and azaleas splashed vibrant reds, pinks, and whites throughout the walking paths.

Kade’s
people were kinder and more accepting of Maighdlin now that they knew the truth—that Brodie had not been responsible for the attack on the MacAlister clan. Still, there were those who kept their distance, fearing the rumors about Maighdlin being a witch, even if they whispered that she was a “white witch”, or a good witch.

Kade
himself was compassionate, unobtrusive, giving her space and time to heal, but always nearby if she needed him. While he knew Calum had been responsible for the attack, she had not yet worked up the courage to tell him that Calum had confessed to her that he was directly responsible for Fenalla’s and Niall’s deaths.

As
she walked in the gardens, she thought of how Kade had not pressured her in his bedchamber. He seemed to sense her needs and moods before she herself did, and encouraged her walks in the gardens, but he had not touched her.

She
found the alcove with ornate stone benches, which was walled in by tall yew hedges and twining roses and yet still afforded a view on one side of the wild sea. It was a private place that Maighdlin retreated to often.

She
sat on the stone bench, her hands folded in her lap. A soft breeze licked her hair and face as she stared at the white-capped waves of the sea. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wanted to pray, but she felt she didn’t know how. The emotions in her breast were as untamed as the sea and she could not make sense of them.

“
’Tis beautiful, isn’t it?”

She
turned to see Kade standing at the entrance to the alcove. He joined her on the bench and took her hand in his. A triangle of sun fell between them, but they were otherwise in shadow.

“
Do ye see why we fight for it, Maggie, this place? Its beauty is one reason we’ve been so long been at war.”

“
Aye,” Maighdlin said. “’Tis a wondrous, beautiful place.”

They
did not speak for a while, just watched the heaving sea, acutely aware of each other. Maighdlin reached out and touched a nearby white blossom with her free hand, marveling at the most vulnerable part of the plant.

“
Maggie, do ye think ye’ll e’er be able to find peace here? With me?” He seemed to hold his breath waiting for her answer.

“
I dunna know. But I am going to try.” She paused. “Last night was the first night I didna dream of Calum falling from the tower…of how he tried to force an arrow through yer heart by my own hand.”

“
Ye stir often in yer sleep as if demons were chasing ye.”

Maighdlin
studied his handsome face. “Kade, I couldna find the words before. I must tell ye. Calum…before he fell…he told me he’d been the one to set the cottage afire, the cottage where Niall and Fenalla were together.”

Kade’s
jaw was tense. For a few moments, he said nothing, his form as still as stone. His eyes searched the vast sea, as if there were answers there. Finally, he sighed. “’Tis done, Maggie. Calum is dead.” He pierced her with is amber gaze. “Do ye still see my brother’s spirit?”

Maighdlin
shook her head. “I havena seen him for weeks.”

“
Do ye think he is at peace now that I have….”

“
Now that ye have what, Kade?” she said softly.

“
Forgiven him.”

Maighdlin
grasped his hand more tightly. “I hope he is, Kade. I canna always tell when a spirit has made its peace. Mayhap if we go together to the kirkyard, ‘tis where his spirit was strongest, mayhap then I’ll know.”

“
’Tis a strange gift ye have, Maggie. Ye have to know that no matter how much I love ye and accept ye, and tell my clan to accept ye, there will always be some who willna. Can ye live here, knowing that?”

“
I know there will always be some who fear me, who will ne’er accept me because they think me a witch of sorts, no matter where I live. ‘Twas the same in my own village. When I was a little girl, I started having visions. Seeing things others couldna. My father knew then that I had the Sight. I remember Haddon telling me stories of Joan of Arc, of how she was just a powerful woman with gifts that people feared and didna understand.

“
Beneath a banner of lilies and bearing a sword she ne’er used, she led a bedraggled French army to victories o’er the English. Those stories comforted me.”

Kade
caressed her hands.

“
Until I learned she was captured and given up by the Duke of Bedford for 10,000 livres to the Church, and burned at the stake. It’s been twenty years since that happened and I dunna think much has changed in the way people think of us, of those with the Sight, Kade. Tales of witches still abound. Do ye know that one tale tells of a witch who could delay the birth of a child? People claimed the child was kept in the womb for twenty-two years and when it was born, it had hair, teeth, and a beard. They said it was born a mature and fully armed warrior!”

“
That’s a daffy tale,” Kade said.

“
Aye. Just one more example of how things get exaggerated. We’ll ne’er be understood, my kind. No matter where I live, I willna be understood. But there is no place I’d rather be than with ye.”

He
kissed her softly.

“
I dunna understand my own gift, but I am amused when people think, as a Seer, I should be foaming at the mouth and divining futures from a scraped bone of mutton.”

“
I’ll tell the cook not to serve mutton anymore.”

Maighdlin
laughed.

“
And mayhap it would help, lass, if ye didna go around telling people ye’ll turn them into goats.”

She
laughed again and then frowned. “Kade, there is something I wish to ask ye.”

“
Anything,” he said.

“
Have ye grown tired of me?”

His
amber eyes were intense when they locked with hers. “Why would ye ask such a thing?”

“
Ye havena touched me…we havena made love…since we returned here.”

“
I’ve wanted to touch ye madly, but I wanted to give ye time to adjust to being here. Especially after all ye’ve been through.”

“
So ye havena tired of me?”

“
Would it matter if I had?”

She
nodded shyly. “Aye, it would.”

He
pulled her close and kissed her deeply. “Nay, ne’er, love.” He tipped her face up to his with his long, lean fingers.

“
No’ e’en when I’m old and gray?”

“
No’ e’en when yer old and gray.” He eyed her seriously. eHe

“
Have ye missed my touch, Maggie?”

“
I think ye know the answer to that, Highlander.” She studied his hard jaw, his masculine lips, his long lashes. She could not help herself; she traced his lips with her fingertips, marveling at the things they could do to her body, their softness at times and their brutal passion. “Kade, take me here, now. Please…I want to feel alive again.” She felt the heat rise in her cheeks, but did not care.

He
raised a brow and smiled devilishly. “We are alone and ‘tis very private here, wife.”

“
I ache to touch ye Kade, to have yer hands on me, to forget all else for a while.”

He
growled—a male sound that came from the back of his throat. He reached out, brushing her nipple with his thumb, until it hardened beneath her gown. His dark amber eyes devoured her.

She
stood, surprising him, and lifted her skirts so she could straddle his powerful thighs. Her hands twined in his dark hair and she kissed his neck, his jaw, the corners of his mouth, her hand stroking his hardness beneath the fabric of his trews.

“
I’ve missed yer body on mine, I’ve missed ye inside me,” she said, the hot, aching words tumbling from her of their own accord.

He
pushed her legs open roughly and kissed her with a raging fierceness. “Ye are always surprising me, wife. And I love ye fiercely.”

She
stilled her movements, her entire being filled with strong emotions for him. “And ye are no’ what I expected, Highlander.” A tear slid down her cheek.

“
What’s this? I tell ye I love ye, and ye cry about it?”

She
smiled through her tears. “Tell me again,” she said.

“
I love ye, Maggie.”

“
It’s just that I’ve been afraid to believe in strong wishes, Kade. As a Seer. Given my visions. I’ve been afraid to believe in anything too much. In…anyone.”

“
Well believe in me, Maggie. ‘Tis no wish, but the truth. My home would mean nothing without ye in it.”

“
Ye are sure, ye have no doubts?” she asked.

“
I am vera, vera sure, love.”

She
smiled into his handsome face.

“
Now wife, when are ye going to get started ravishing me?” He pushed a tendril of her dark red hair behind her ear.

She
pressed herself against him, heeding the sweet, hot ache between her legs that only he could satisfy, grinding herself against his erection, taking his lips in a sensual kiss.

“
There’s no time like the present, husband.” It seemed right that they were together in a walled garden, giving away something they didna own in the first place. There was no hoarding of secrets here, no claiming beauty as one’s own. And there was no place more beautiful to be than in his arms.

47

She helped him remove his plaid and his shirt. Her hands slid slowly over his toned, muscular flesh while his fingers undid his trews and his manhood sprang free, hard, aching, and full.

His
male beauty, the heated way he gazed at her, made her forget her self-consciousness, and bask in her joy of touching him. He tilted his hips upward and she stroked him. His shaft rose at her touch. She rubbed it, marveling in its shape, and then returned to stroking him.

His
breath rushed out. “I dunna think I can wait to be inside ye, Maggie.” His large hands were swiftly under her skirts, palming her bare buttocks. “Maggie….” His voice was hoarse. “Don’t make me wait….”

He
stood and deftly rearranged their positions so she was kneeling before the bench, her stomach on the stone seat. He bunched her skirts so she was bare to the waist, and with his knee spread her legs. “I think ye like to be a little afraid of me,” he breathed, plunging his fingers into her wet core. She moaned her agreement. “Ye like to be commanded, submissive to my touch, just as much as ye like to take charge when yer touching me.”

She
felt like she couldn’t get her legs wide enough; she wanted to spread them as open as they could be.

His
fingertips gently stroked the curve of her spine and then her buttocks. “I want to see yer breasts,” he breathed, helping her remove her dress and tunic so she was completely naked and prone to him. He stared at the firm, pale orbs and the pink, hardened nipples brushing against the stone of the bench. “Now tell me what ye want, love.”

He
pushed himself against the wet juncture between her legs but not inside her. Her spine arched.

“
What if someone sees us?” she gasped.

He
grasped her hips. “No one will see us. But if someone wanders by, I want them to see me taking ye, and taking ye hard, claiming ye.” He growled, seeing the visible evidence of her arousal, her pink lips swollen and ready for him. “Tell me….”

“
I want ye to make me feel alive,” she said. “I want ye deep inside me.” Tears sprang to her eyes and he lifted a hand to her face.

His
eyes were glazed with passion as he slammed himself all the way inside her, to her very core. She cried out, a primal sound that almost made him spill his seed then and there. He moaned and took hold of her shoulders as she surrendered to him, desperate to take all of him into her heat and wetness.

His
body shook as he went as deep as she could take him. She marveled at each thrust, at the hardness of his muscles as he tensed, until the sweet pressure spiraling inside her almost became unbearable.

“
Kade….” She went over saying his name and his primal male nature took pride in how long her climax was. He grunted and then came with a loud cry and a final thrust.

When
she finally moved to get up, his hand on her back kept her where she was. He was already growing hard again inside her. He grasped her hips, and began moving again. With deft skill, he guided her from peak to peak again. She turned to look at him, her mouth open and sensual, her breasts bouncing with his thrusts, her eyes full of surrender. They orgasmed together, clenching muscles, crying out together.

When
he withdrew from her, his legs trembled. He helped her up as she dressed, and then it was her turn to force him down on the bench. He hadn’t even had time to reach for his shirt, his trews still at his ankles. She caressed his face, and biting her lip in shyness, knelt before him. She positioned herself between the sprawl of his muscular legs and pushed them wide.

“
Yer determined to use me good and well, aren’t ye wife.”

“
Aye,” she said, licking his tip, feeling him swell again. He raked a hand through his dark hair. “Christ, Maggie, I don’t know if I can….” But there was a smile on his face that turned to a hard look of ecstasy when she licked his smooth tip, her tongue dancing along his shaft.

She
took him in her mouth and swirled her tongue. “Does that feel good?”

He
made a sound in the back of his throat. “Vera good.”

She
was boldness and innocent sensuality at the same time. Kade nearly melted at her touch for she didn’t hold back in her desires once she acknowledged them.

While
she sucked him, she smoothed her hands up and down his powerful thighs, over his hair-roughened muscles. “Ye taste good,” she murmured, while her lips continued their explorations of his core.

Her
groaned, soon moving under her, helpless to stop. Her fingers rubbed while her mouth teased and sucked.

She
closed her eyes and memorized his shape with her lips, delighting in the trembling of his thighs and the male sounds he made from the back of his throat.

His
fist tangled in her hair and his breathing became ragged. When he came in her mouth, she nearly came herself, the ache between her legs almost painful.

He
sighed and sagged against her, cradling her head against his chest. “Are ye finally done with me, wife? I fear I willna be able to walk for days.”

“
Well then husband, ye will have to stay abed. With me.”

He
quirked a dark brow and smiled.