Lucan had Cara sit on his knee while they ate. She had wanted to eat by the fire since there wasn’t room at the table, but Lucan was on the end and had patted his leg.
“I didn’t anticipate having guests,” Lucan said. “Next time I’ll make a bigger table.”
Fallon smiled, a true smile that reached his eyes. It had been so long since he had smiled that Lucan was taken aback.
Cara rose from his leg and walked to the kitchen. He quickly followed. His cock had been hard since their kiss in the garden, and with her now bedding in the great hall, time alone would be scarce.
He caught her around the waist and spun her back against the wall. Her chestnut waves teased him as they fell around her shoulders and down her back. She looked up at him with a welcoming smile.
“I had hoped you would follow me.”
Lucan inhaled her scent and kissed the spot below her ear that always made her shiver. “You did?”
“Oh, aye.” She was breathless, her pulse racing.
“Why is that?”
She threaded her fingers in his hair. “Because I want you.”
His balls tightened at the sound of her husky voice whispering in his ear. He slanted his mouth over hers for a kiss, deepening it when she moaned. His need, his
He gathered her skirts in his hand until they were bunched at her waist. Then he lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he ground his hard rod into her.
“Lucan, I need you.”
He shifted her so that he could unfasten his breeches, and as soon as his cock sprang free, he slid inside her. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Lucan buried his face in her neck and held still, loving the feel of her slick heat surrounding him.
When it became too much, he started to move with short, slow thrusts. As their passion built, he plunged deeper and deeper into her, their rhythm increasing each time.
Cara’s nails dug into his neck as her body stiffened. He claimed her mouth, drinking in her moans of pleasure as she peaked. He held off his own climax as long as he could to draw hers out, but the feel of her clenching around him was too much. He gave one final thrust that buried him deep.
She held him, stroking his back and shoulders as his body jerked with the force of his orgasm. She whispered his name, of how much she loved his touch.
He lifted his head and looked into her mahogany eyes. He wanted to show her how much she meant to him, but he wasn’t sure how.
“Lucan? What is it?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
She ran her fingers down one of the braids at his temples and smiled. “It is something, but if you don’t want to tell me, that’s all right, too.”
Reluctantly, he pulled out of her. He moved to the doorway as he fastened his breeches to keep anyone out who wanted to come into the kitchens while she fixed her own clothing.
“Are you sure we cannot stay in the chamber?” she asked with a smile. “I don’t think I’m done with you.”
Lucan walked to her and lifted a strand of her hair to his nose. “When this is over, Cara, I’m going to take you somewhere where we can be alone. Just the two of us.”
“That sounds nice, but what of your brothers? They need you.”
“And I need you. They can survive without me for a couple of months.”
She tilted her head to the side. “You really want to take me somewhere?”
“Aye. I’ve been alive for over three hundred years and I’ve seen nothing but Scotland. Maybe I’ll take you to London.”
Her laugh was beautiful and pure. “I’m not sure I would know what to do in London, but then again I don’t care where I am. As long as I’m with you.”
“Then maybe I’ll lock us in the chamber.”
“That would be nice.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest.
Lucan ran his hands over her head and down the length of her hair. He might be a fool for caring for a mortal, since he knew there could only be heartache, but the feelings filling his chest were enough to last an eternity.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Deirdre looked at her nails and regarded the long tips. She kept them filed to sharp points for certain occasions. She sighed and drummed her nails on the arm of her chair as she looked at William.
“Mistress, I don’t understand,” he said.
“Of course you don’t.” Sometimes she wanted to scream, she got so frustrated.
William shifted from one foot to the other, his royal blue skin shining in the flickering light of the candelabras that hung from the ceiling of her palace. “You don’t want us to bring back the MacLeods?”
“If you can catch one, aye, bring him. However, I want the Druid above all. And I have something special planned for one of the brothers.”
“Oh?”
That had gotten William’s attention. He hated the MacLeods because they occupied Deirdre’s thoughts when he would prefer her mind be full of him. William was a wonderful specimen, but he didn’t compare to Quinn MacLeod. No one did.
“Take six wyrrans and dig a trap. A hole big enough that it will daze Quinn and give you time to get him back to me.”
William nodded. “How do you propose we get Quinn to this trap?”
“He’ll follow a wyrran, of course,” she said with a smile.
William grinned, his lips pulled back over his fangs. “And with Quinn here, the other brothers will follow.”
“Exactly.” She blew out a breath as anticipation of having Quinn with her once more took hold of her. “Get moving, William. I want Quinn in my mountain within the next two days.”
“Aye, mistress.”
“And William,” she called before he walked out of the chamber. “You better have the Druid with you when you return.”
When she was alone once more, Deirdre rose and ran her hands down her sides, then over her stomach. How she had longed to have Quinn touch her, kiss her, stroke her. Soon, he would be hers again. And this time, she would turn him to her side.
* * *
Cara sat on the castle steps and leaned her head back to watch the large clouds drift lazily past in the morning sky. She had slept soundly despite being in the great hall with both Lucan and Fallon.
As soon as everyone had broken their morning fast, Lucan had pulled her out into the bailey for more training. Each day the training became intense, more difficult. Because each day brought the threat of Deirdre that much closer.
Cara had battled Lucan and Galen and Quinn all at once. At first, she had been so focused on keeping away from them that she kept getting caught by Quinn. When she listened to Lucan’s advice to use all her senses, she was able to keep out of all their reaches. It limited the number of hits she put on them, but it helped to make her quicker.
Now, as she and Galen lounged on the castle steps, she found she looked at the castle in a much different light than she had when she had first come there. It had been a pile of ruins before, scary and uninhabitable. Now . . . it was home.
