To Tempt Highland Fate (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) (63 page)

             
Drust slipped his hand under her chin and lifted her face to kiss her.  He probably hoped the sexual heat between them would make her forget what had just been said.  She swayed against him as his lips touched hers, desperate as always to be closer.  But she wasn’t going to forget.  She wanted a child one day, and she wanted Drust to be the one to give her that child.  He was just going to have to change his mind. 

             
He was still kissing her, making her whole body burn with need.  “Come to me tonight”, she whispered against his lips.

             
“That would be wrong”, he said, teasing her.  “Ye are a lady and we’re no’ wed.”

             
She smiled.  “But I
am
a widow, and as such I can take any number of lovers and most people will look the other way”, she teased back.  But when she looked up to see why he hadn’t answered, she was taken aback by his thunderous expression.  Startled, she took a step back.  His grip on her tightened, and he pulled her back to him.

             
“If I
ever
find another man in your bed”, he said though clenched teeth, “I will kill him.  You are mine and mine alone.  I will not stand for even the
thought
of you with someone else.  Never.”

             
Willa would not have guessed even a week ago that Drust would be such a jealous man.  “For weeks”, she told him, trying but failing to pull away from his grip, “I tried everything to let you know I wanted you, and you could not stay far enough away.  Am I to believe that now, quite suddenly, you have not only completely changed your mind, but also think that you
own
me?”

             
“Aye.”

             
“I see.”

             
“No, ye dinna see.  I wanted ye from the very first, Willa.  From the moment I opened my eyes and saw ye there.  I wanted ye more than I had ever wanted anything before.  But I fought against it, because I… I sensed that there was more.  That what was between us was like nothing else I had ever felt.  I never wanted a wife, and my every instinct was telling me that if I gave in to my feelings for ye, it could lead to nothing less than marriage.  But now I ken the truth… I never wanted any other woman for a wife, because ye are the only one that fits me so well.  With ye, I am finally whole. 
That’s
why ye are mine and mine alone.”

             
Willa leaned closer and kissed him again.

***

             
Drust had never opened his heart to anyone, and he felt as if he had poured out his very soul to Willa earlier.  He had expected it would make him feel uneasy, vulnerable.  But instead he felt full, nearly bursting with a happiness he never even knew he was capable of feeling. And now, as he crept up the dark stairway to her room, his need for her bordered on desperation.  Last night had been a frenzied coming-together of both body and soul, but tonight… tonight he would go slow.  Savor every moment.

             
He found the door unlocked.  She had been waiting for him.

             
She was lying on the large bed, asleep.  A single candle left burning on the table bathed her in a soft, flickering light.  He closed the door softly behind him, not wanting to wake her just yet.  He moved to the bed and looked down at her as she slept.  So beautiful.  So fragile.  It was still so new to him, the very idea of a woman of his own, and a part of him still panicked at the thought.  But the rest of him just wanted to hold onto her and never let go.  He reached out and drew his fingers over her cheek, and she sighed in her sleep.  Smiling, he quickly stripped out of his clothes and lowered himself onto the bed beside her.  He brought his arms around her, pulling her up against his body, pressing his aching cock firmly against her bottom.  His mouth found the soft hollow of her throat and he kissed and nipped her there as she woke.

             
“Mmmmm… Drust… hi”, she murmured and stretched against him, and he smiled.

             
He reached around to cup one of her breasts in his hand, squeezing gently.  He groaned and pulled her onto her back so that he could reach both breasts at once.  His lips found hers and drew her into a deep, carnal kiss as he shifted his body over hers and ground his cock against her hips.

             
God, it felt so good!  He needed more… No, go slow.

             
He reached up to untie the ribbon at her throat, and pulled the edges of her shift down over her breasts. 
Oh this was bloody torture!
  He lowered his mouth to a nipple and pulled at it, gently at first, then harder as Willa gasped and arched her hips against his.  It drove him wild.  He sucked again… her hips rose, and he groaned.  Only the thin fabric of the shift was between him and what he wanted most.  He was so hard, so ready.  With one hand, he lifted her hem and traced his fingers up the soft skin of her thigh until he met the wet heat that told him she was just as ready for him.  He touched her there, teasing, then pressing one finger inside her core.  She whimpered and her fingers pressed into his arms where she gripped him.

             
“Please, Drust… oh god… I need you.”

             
He touched her again, at the same time capturing her mouth, kissing her wildly.  Every primal male instinct he had was screaming at him to drive into her, quickly drowning out all conscious thought. 

             
Not yet… too soon…

             
But Willa pulled her shift higher, and moved her hips so that now the head of his cock slid against her opening. 
The little vixen
.  Drust’s breathing was ragged, and his body trembled with the effort it was taking to control the urge to thrust forward. 
I was going to take it slow…
She arched against him, and just like that, he was lost.  He drove into her with an animal growl and held himself there for a moment, deep inside of her. 
This is what it feels like, to be truly bound to another soul, to share your body, and your heart.
  It was ecstasy. 

             
He moved within her, and she gasped, raising her legs to wrap them around his buttocks, pulling him deeper.  Drust groaned and his body shook with the effort to hold back.  He wanted to thrust into her so hard and so fast… his body
needed
it.

             
“More…”, she whispered, writhing against him.  She sank her teeth into his shoulder, and once again, his control snapped.

             
He pounded into her, barely aware when she cried out and her body gripped his convulsively.  He was so close… so close…

             
The incredible pressure built at the base of his spine, mind-numbing pleasure cresting up towards the point of pain.  He was going to come… 
have to pull out… have to…
  But oh god, he didn’t want to.  He wanted to come deep inside of her, his most primitive instinct clamoring at him to give her his seed. 
No…
  At the last possible second, he won the battle, pulling out and with a roar, letting his hot semen pulse onto her bare stomach.

             
It felt wrong.  He felt empty.

             
He rolled to the side and rose to get a linen towel from the wash stand.  He carefully cleaned her off before lying down beside her and pulling her into his arms. Though she said nothing to him, only stroked his skin until she fell asleep with her cheek against his chest, he knew she felt as denied as he did.

Chapter 17

              The next morning, they left for Creagmor… and her new life, well, her new beginning, anyway.  Willa had packed all of her belongings into one small trunk, which Drust had eyed incredulously. 

             
“That’s all ye have?”

             
“Well, yes.  There were a few things I left in London, but I’ve never needed much.  I’ve never had many things.”

             
He crossed his arms over his chest.  “I dinna ken much about women’s things, but I ken they are supposed to have more than
that
.”  He gestured to the trunk.  “When we reach Creagmor, I’ll see that ye have more things.  No woman of mine will go without when I can provide her with the verra best.”

             
“But I really don’t need…”

             
“I say ye do.”

             
With that he picked up the trunk and carried it to the waiting wagon.

             
With a shrug, Willa took one last look around her former chamber, and went down to the hall.  James and Maura were waiting there to see her off.  Her smile wobbled a little with unshed tears as she went to them, hugging first Maura, then James.

             
“I owe ye thanks little sister”, James said.  “Because of ye we have our home back.  And… there will always be a place for ye here, if things dinna work out…”

             
“You don’t owe me thanks.  I did nothing but foolishly get myself captured.  One way or another, you would have claimed your birthright, James.  And I know I will be happy at Creagmor.  You will both come to visit, once things are settled?”

             
“Aye, of course we will.”

***

              Willa’s first impression of Creagmor was that it was breathtaking.  Towers soaring to the sky, green fields and even greener forests, and neat little cottages strewn about with smoke curling up from their chimneys.  It was absolutely idyllic.  She looked over at Drust and saw that he was watching her, as if he were waiting to see what she thought of his home.

             
“It’s beautiful”, she told him.  “I can’t wait to see everything, and meet everyone.”

             
His face lit with pride.  This had been the Mac Coinnach stronghold for nearly a thousand years, it was in their very blood, and her approval was important to him.

             
As they rode through the gates and into the bailey, curious people began peering out windows and appearing from doorways.  Willa suddenly felt a little nervous.  She was, after all, a stranger here.  And worse… she had been raised in England.  Not exactly a preferred match for a Mac Coinnach son.  Bren was chief, and he seemed to approve, but what about everyone else?  Would she fit in here?  That question was all the more important, because her place was with Drust.   And his place was here.

             
Stopping near the stables, Drust slid off his mount and reached to help her from hers. 

             
“Dinna look so worried, lass.  No one here bites.”  He leaned closer to whisper in her ear.  “Except ye, but I like it when ye bite me.  Tonight, ye shall bite me until I cry for mercy.”

             
She smiled and swatted his arm, but by then Bren was approaching with a beautiful woman on his arm.  She must be his wife, Faith.  Willa realized that she knew absolutely nothing about her soon to be sister-in-law, though if the warm smile Faith offered her was any indication, she knew she would like her.