him again, and excited to feel her blood sing with desire.
He whispered her name before his mouth slanted over hers, his beard scratching her face. His kiss was intoxicating, invigorating. Heat slammed into her as her hands glided over the soft material of his shirt and over the lean, hard sinew of his muscles.
The kiss was filled with potent desire and a hunger that made it urgent and soul-stealing. It left her gasping for breath and praying for more. She clung to Galen, her body his to do with as he wished, eager and wanting all he had to give.
He deepened the kiss, and she drowned in the desire that weighted down her body. It was too powerful to be denied, too commanding to try and control.
Her body throbbed, remembering his touch, his kisses. She knew any moment someone could wake and see them, but Reaghan didn’t care about anything or anyone other than Galen. She threw caution to the wind and sank into his kiss.
Deeper and deeper, he pulled her under the tide of heady desire and desperate longing. But Reaghan had never been more ready and thrilled to follow Galen down that path.
“Reaghan,” he murmured against her skin as he kissed across her jaw and then down her neck. “God’s teeth, I want you.”
She heard the desperation, the hunger, the yearning in his voice. It matched her own feelings, ones she was afraid to say aloud.
Reaghan opened her eyes and cupped Galen’s face between her hands. She smiled into his eyes. “Not half as much as I want you. I feared I would never know what it was to experience passion, to know what it was to have a man hold me. You’ve given me all that and more.”
The desire in Galen’s eyes dimmed, but did not disappear.
“Did I say something wrong?” she asked.
He shook his head and kissed her forehead, her nose, and then her mouth. “Never, Reaghan. I just worry about getting all of you to the castle. I wish we were there now. I’d take you to my chamber and make love to you for weeks.”
“Weeks,” she repeated with a laugh. “We’d have to eat sometime.”
“I’d gather us food to last days at a time.”
Her smile grew. “Won’t the MacLeods need you?”
“They’ll have to get by without me,” he said and winked. “When it comes to you, nothing else matters.”
She wanted to believe him. Desperately. But her blocked memories kept her from reaching out and grasping what Galen dangled before her. “I find it difficult to believe a handsome man such as yourself doesn’t have a woman.”
It had been said in jest, but the smile left his eyes and face. “Once, long ago, I dreamed of finding a wife, of having children and a simple life. I fought for my laird because he asked it of me, not for fame and fortune as others did. Had I known it would turn Deirdre’s gaze on me I wouldn’t have done it and then I’d never been cursed with a god.”
“And I wouldn’t have known you.” Reaghan shifted to her knees and laid her head on his chest. She inhaled his aroma of pine, content to stay just as she was the rest of the night.
After a moment his arms wrapped around her and he rested his chin atop her head. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have met you. A tragedy, that would have been.”
Galen meant every word. It would have been a misfortune. He had come to terms with what had happened to him, with what was inside him, but he found it almost worth it to have met Reaghan. Being unable to touch someone because of his power made him cherish each moment he was able to hold and kiss Reaghan.
She was special, and not just because of her powerful magic or because she was the artifact. She was special because of the way she touched his soul, the way she looked at him as if he could save the world.
He had known he was in trouble the first moment he laid eyes on her and felt the strong, undeniable attraction between them.
His body was still aroused, his cock still impatient to be inside her, from that frenzied kiss. Her kisses were like the sweetest nectar, her lips a beacon he had to taste.
She was responsive. Passionate. Fiery.
And he wanted to claim her as his own, to know she was his and his alone.
Galen didn’t know how long he sat there before he realized Reaghan was asleep. He had watched over her most of the night. He couldn’t let her go again, not when he needed the feel of her against him as desperately as he did.
It took some doing, but eventually he leaned against the headboard with her head on his chest and her arm slung over his abdomen.
He could imagine having her by his side every night as he climbed into bed. The more he thought of having her as his own, the more he worried about her memories being taken every ten years.
It was a small price to pay knowing she would be his. But for how long? He didn’t imagine her spell would last forever, but even if it did, would it be so terrible to woo her over again every ten years?
The answer was a resounding nay. He couldn’t lie and say part of it wasn’t that he couldn’t read her mind. It was only one of the things that made her so appealing, but there was so much more.
The way she held her head when she listened to someone. The way her eyes danced when she teased. The way her laugh hit him square in the chest. The way her hair cascaded around her in a tumble of curls. The way her eyes softened just before he kissed her. The way her body melted against his.
And there were a million other reasons. He didn’t know Reaghan’s past or her secrets, but he knew her as he’d never known another woman in all of his two hundred and fifty years.
NINETEEN
Logan shifted in his perch high in a nearby tree. He knew there was a possibility the frequent and ferocious lightning might strike the tree. But that’s what made it so appealing.
He had decided to keep watch the entire night, not because Galen didn’t want to take his turn, but because Logan had seen the restless and troubled look in his friend’s eyes as Galen watched Reaghan.
Nay, it was better for all concerned if Galen stayed inside so he would be there when Reaghan woke. And in truth, Logan didn’t mind keeping watch.
He thought back to the time at MacLeod Castle when he had volunteered to come with Galen on their search for the artifact. Hayden, the best friend a man could have, though he was more of a brother to Logan, had been taken aback when Logan volunteered.
Logan had done it partly because Hayden needed to stay and face Isla, but also because Logan had needed time away. It wasn’t because of something anyone did to him. In fact, it was the opposite.
Everyone, especially the women, made the castle feel like a home. That’s the way the MacLeods wanted it, but it reminded Logan too much of his own home.
The longer he stayed and shared his meals with everyone, the more difficult it became to bear. Hayden had enough troubles of his own, with his past hounding him as it always did, so Logan kept his anxiety to himself.
Maybe he should have shared his thoughts with Hayden, but although Hayden was moody and temperamental, he craved the home the MacLeods had offered them. Would Hayden have really understood the torment in Logan’s soul?
Logan blinked away the water that fell onto his eyelashes and into his eyes. This journey with Galen had turned out far differently than Logan had expected.
The battle with the wyrran had been just what he needed. What he needed still. He knew it was only a matter of time before there was another skirmish. At the rate the Druids were moving, that time could come more quickly than any of them realized.
But Logan was ready.
