Untamed Highlander

him.

“Hayden,” she screamed and raked her nails down his back. Her back arched, her head thrown back as she peaked.

He watched in awe as her body trembled beneath him as pleasure overtook her. As her stunning ice-blue eyes opened and focused on him. In her depths he saw pleasure, aye, but he also saw something deeper, something more profound.

Before he could wonder at it, he found himself reaching his own orgasm. Her hands smoothed over his back as he plunged inside her once more and gave himself over to the climax.

His arms shook as he struggled to hold himself up while he was carried on the wave of pleasure so intense, so driving that he knew he’d never be the same again.

Hayden let himself drown in her eyes, wondering what had just happened and afraid to ask. He lowered his forehead to hers and shared a satisfied smile. Her hands, however, never stopped touching him.

It wasn’t long before it became difficult to keep his eyes open. He rolled onto his back and pulled her with him. He didn’t question his need to keep her near, just gave in to it as he had everything else that night. She cuddled in the crook of his arm, her head on his chest and her hand over his heart.

She fit perfectly against him, as if she had been made just for him.

The last thing Hayden thought before he fell asleep was how right it felt to be with Isla.

*

Isla woke with the light of dawn filtering through her window. She was on her side facing where Hayden had been. The spot was empty now. She tried not to let his absence ruin the glow of their wondrous night, but it was difficult. The only evidence of him was the hollow in the pillow where his head had been.

She was disappointed. She had thought he might stay the night, but she should have known better. Isla ran her hand over the pillow and wondered when Hayden had left.

How would he act when she saw him later? Would there be contempt now? She sat up, clutching the linens to her chest. That’s when her gaze landed on Hayden sitting in the chair studying her.

“You thought I left,” he said.

She nodded.

His mouth twisted wryly. “It would have been the easiest thing to do. I couldn’t, though.”

Her stomach fell to her feet. Whatever was to come, she knew it wouldn’t be good. “Why?”

He leaned forward so that his forearms rested on his knees. His head dropped for a moment before he raised it to look at her. “I came here last night to understand why you had asked the MacLeods to kill you. I also wanted to know why you had turned to Ian so quickly.”

“I never took Ian to my bed,” she inserted hastily.

His gaze bore into hers, searching for the truth. He must have found it because he gave a single nod of his head.

“What happens now?” she asked.

“I doona know. I’ve never been so befuddled in my life, Isla.” He slapped his hand on his thigh before he rose to his feet and paced in front of the bed. “I’ve never had difficulty making decisions before. And I doona like it.”

She knew what his dilemma was, but it was nothing she could help him with. “I am what I am, Hayden. I’m sorry for it. I should have been stronger, I know. Instead, I became a drough.”

“For your family.” He paused and turned to her. “Do you believe I think you weak?”

Isla shrugged and drew her knees to her chest. “It’s what I think of myself.”

“I would have done anything to save my family. Anything. You did what you had to do.”

His eyes glittered with intensity. She knew in that moment that he would, in fact, do whatever it took for his family. And right now, everyone at MacLeod Castle was that family.

Everyone except her.

“What’s the reason you are so confused?” She knew the answer, but she wanted him to say it.

Hayden blew out a ragged breath and looked away. “You know the reason.”

“Say it.”

“Why? You know it.”

Isla would not relent in this. He had to admit it to her, to himself. “Say. It.”

He jerked his head to her, his nostrils flaring and his face set in hard lines. “All right. You’re a drough. I loathe droughs. I vowed to my family I would kill them all, especially the one responsible for their deaths.”

Finally. She had wanted to hear him say it, but now that he had, she wished he hadn’t. He hated the very thing she was. How could they continue on in any sort of fashion? Not even the night they had shared when she was sure he had opened himself to her had done anything to change that.

The simple answer was that they couldn’t.

He blew out a harsh breath. “I had always protected my family. I was the one they looked to, and I failed them. I wasn’t there to fight off the drough.”

She wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but she knew he wouldn’t listen. It was easier to blame oneself than see the truth that nothing could have prevented what happened to his family.

“I have one question for you,” she said. “If you had known I was a drough when you found me on Cairn Toul, would you have left me there?”

His muscle worked in his jaw as he clenched it. “Without a second thought.”

At least he told her the truth. It may not be what she wanted or needed to hear, but it was the truth.

“Then I got to know you. The attraction between us began the instant I found you on Cairn Toul. I tried to deny it, tried to ignore it. But I cannot deny or ignore you.”

His words were a balm to her soul. Yet she saw the torment in his black eyes, saw how he suffered from her presence. He might desire her, but he still didn’t like her. “I will be gone soon, and your life can return to the way it was.”

“Do you mean dead or gone?”

Isla had already decided that either way she would ask the MacLeods to take her head. She hadn’t lied last night. She was tired of living this life. “Does it matter?”

He looked away and she smiled ruefully. “Ah. I see. You want to make sure I’m dead so there will be one less drough around.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“You didn’t have to say it. I saw it on your face.”

He face mottled with fury as he faced her. “Doona put words in my mouth.”

“So you don’t think Scotland would be better with one less drough?”

“Isla. Enough.”

She rose from the bed, still holding the linen sheet against her. “All I’m asking for is the truth. Is that so much to ask? You’ve been honest with me until now. How is this different?”

He only stared at her in response.

“You have every right to hate droughs. They took your family from you in the most heinous way. Droughs are evil. The ceremony is meant to bind them with wickedness. Everything a drough does, everything a drough says is steeped in malice.”

“I know,” he ground out through clenched teeth.

Isla raised a brow. “So droughs need to be killed?”

“Aye,” Hayden finally admitted.

She dragged in a shallow breath. That had hurt far more than she anticipated. “Will you make sure I’m dead? The MacLeods gave me their vow, but I know they don’t really want to do the deed. Ian is the same. I know there is only one man here who would make sure it’s done.”

Hayden turned his back to her. “I couldna do it when I first discovered you were drough. What makes you think I can do it now after sharing your bed?”

“Because you know how important it is that Deirdre not be able to control me.”

“You must think me some kind of monster with no heart.”