Quinn shrugged. “I canna do anything but wait. She knew I would give in after she took Ian. She did it to make a statement. There’s nothing I can do for Ian now, but I will see everything put to rights as soon as I can.”
“As much as I don’t like Ian or anyone tortured, I think that’s a very bad idea,” said a feminine voice.
Quinn jerked his head around to find Marcail standing two steps away from him. “What choice do I have?”
“You and your brothers are the key, Quinn,” she argued. “You have to continue to reject her.”
He pushed off from the wall and faced her. “Then what? She takes Arran or you? Am I supposed to stand by while the people who have befriended me are tormented or killed? You canna ask that of me.”
“I am, and I will,” she said calmly. “I know exactly what it means to say that I’ve sided with the MacLeods. I’m sure if you ask Ian he will say the same.”
Arran nodded. “As do I. If I have to die, then I will die.”
“You’re very noble now, my friend,” Quinn said to Arran. “You willna be quite so noble once Deirdre begins to torture you.”
“I’m a Highlander, Quinn. Doona insult me.”
Quinn bowed his head. “Forgive me. I know the courage that’s within you, and it’s going to be Warriors like you who will help end Deirdre.”
“I’m ready for that battle.”
“As am I,” Quinn murmured. “I’ve been ready for it since I first laid eyes on her.”
Marcail put her hand on his arm. “The time will come. Until then, you need to prepare yourselves for whatever is to come next.”
“And do you have an idea of what that will be?” Arran asked.
Marcail bit her bottom lip as she hesitated. “Deirdre has already told us. She’ll start with Ian and work her way through all of us.”
Quinn stalked around them, the anger at his situation rising within him. “You two are asking too much of me.”
“Deirdre held that you have a destiny,” Marcail said as she trailed after him. “I believe she is right.”
Quinn stopped and spun to face her. “You mean to give her a child?”
“Nay, to kill her. The prophecy about the child could very well be truth, I don’t know. What I do think is that Deirdre knows how important you and your brothers are to us, to the world. She knows if she can have you on her side, the battle is over before it has begun.”
Quinn wanted to believe her, but he couldn’t. The idea that the Druids and other Warriors were putting all their hope on the MacLeods was humbling and overwhelming. Too overwhelming, especially for a man who had lost everything once already.
Fourteen
Hours had slowly ticked by since Marcail had told Quinn she believed it was his destiny to kill Deirdre. He hadn’t bolted, but he wasn’t comfortable with the news either. Not that she could blame him. She certainly wouldn’t want to have that responsibility on her shoulders.
From what she had learned from Quinn, there was much of his past he was ashamed of. She was apt to forgive him because he had been acting on losing his wife and child. That in itself had broken many a man.
Quinn hadn’t broken, though, thanks to his brothers. Marcail wanted to meet them. She was curious as to the sort of men they were. Quinn spoke highly of them, which said a lot for the bond they shared, a bond that could never be broken.
Marcail huddled in Quinn’s tunic against the chill. He had tossed it to her before he had set up to keep watch. With Ian gone and Duncan lost in his misery, Marcail didn’t expect to see Quinn for several more hours yet.
But she longed to.
She yearned to wrap her arms around him and kiss his lips. She wanted to feel his hard body against hers, to know the skilled caress of his hands. He had told her he would take her, and God help her, she wanted it to be tonight. She wanted to feel again that utter bliss when she had peaked by Quinn’s hands and mouth.
Not knowing what the morrow brought made her want to grasp the here and now with both hands and never let go, especially of Quinn.
Marcail knew she was foolish to latch on to Quinn as she had, but not only had he saved her, he protected her. And he showed her the pleasures of being a woman.
Her body heated just thinking of being touched and held by Quinn again. She squeezed her legs together as a bolt of desire speared her, but the pressure only increased her longing.
She hadn’t bothered to lie down on the slab. After waking in Quinn’s arms that morning surrounded by his heat and scent, Marcail preferred to doze as she sat.
It wasn’t until she had met Quinn, had felt his desire, and had experienced the need within herself that she realized how lonely she had been.
Marcail’s gaze shifted to the cave’s entrance when a shadow moved. Quinn had taken the torch from his cave, which left her bathed in darkness. She was learning the Pit, though. Since she couldn’t see as well as the Warriors in the dark, she relied on her hearing.
The shadow that moved stood tall, and she could just make out the torc around his neck.
She hadn’t realized he had been so close to her all this time. Her heart leapt in her chest as he took a step toward her.
Marcail rose to her feet, her hands clutching his tunic. When he didn’t make another move to come to her, she decided to go to him instead. For too long she had sat through life and waited to see what would come her way. It was time for her to take charge.
She had crossed half the distance when Quinn took two long strides and grabbed her before he spun her toward the wall. She gasped as his hard, hot body pressed her against the cool stones of the mountain. She was so surprised that her hands released their hold on his tunic.
“You should have pretended to be asleep,” he murmured in her ear.
“Impossible when all I think about is you.”
He growled and took her mouth in a kiss that stole her breath. She didn’t need magic to feel his desire. Each stroke of his tongue against hers told her all she needed to know.
And she couldn’t wait to feel more. She wanted all of it — all of
Quinn’s body had never hungered for a woman the way it did for Marcail. She might have been married, but her body was still innocent to the ways of the flesh. But she learned quickly.
Already, she held him captive with just her amazing turquoise eyes. He had known the entire time he kept watch that she was awake. He prayed she would sleep so that he could keep his distance, but he should have known better. His body craved another taste of her.
Right now, he would move heaven and earth to ensure he had her.
His fingers dug into her hips in an effort to keep her still. He had such slim control over his desire that he feared he would lose all of it if she ground against him.
Control or not, he had to touch more of her. He let his hands move up to the indent of her small waist, then up farther still. He paused and let his thumbs rest against the bottom swell of her breasts.
Quinn wanted to slice her gown from her body so he could feast upon her with his own eyes. He stopped himself at the last moment when he realized she didn’t have anything else to wear.
She arched her back when he deepened the kiss, pushing her breasts against his chest. He cupped the mounds, marveling at the fullness that filled his hands.
He lightly skimmed her breasts with his thumbs and heard her sharp intake of breath when he touched her nipples. Instantly, he could feel the hard little buds as they pushed against the fabric that held them.
