Highlander's Rebellious Love (26 page)

Sweat broke out on his brow as he fought against the climax that was so close to consuming him. He had to make her come and fast. He would not come before her. He never came before a woman. He had always seen to their pleasure first.

He teased her nipples with his fingers and her lingering groan and the way she tossed her head back only made it worse for him. Good lord, but she was so snug and the way she squeezed him.

Damn, he was going to come. He could not stop it.

“Patience, if you do not,” —he groaned as her movement turned more frantic— “I’m going to come if you do not slow down.”

She moaned deep and long, her finger going to her mouth to bite on it.

That was all he needed.

“Good Christ, Patience,” he cried out as the climax claimed him in an explosion that sent him tumbling through a void of never-ending pleasure. And the more she rode him, the longer his climax lasted.

He did not know when his hands had gripped her hips, but her hands where now on top of his squeezing as she screamed out his name over and over and joined him in a blinding climax.

When he was finally able to focus on her, she gasped and rode him even harder, screaming out, “Good God, I am going to come again.”

He shuddered as a strong tremor rocked her body and she finally collapsed on top of him. She laid so motionless that he feared something had happened to her. Then she spoke, though he could not understand her, since her lips were plastered to his chest.

Gently, he eased her off him, tucking her body along his side. “What was that you said?”

She dropped her arm across his chest, as if she had not the strength to hold it. “I want to do that often.”

He had to chuckle for that had been his first thought when he had first been with a woman. “We can do it as often as you like.”

Her head shot up to look at him. “I will not tire you out, will I?”

He chuckled again. “Never.”

She rested her head on his chest. “Good.” Her head shot up once again. “Once we reunite with my troop there will be no privacy for us to be so intimate. We cannot even sneak into the woods for ghost warriors or your brother’s men may be lurking nearby.” She sighed as she lowered her head to his chest once again. “You have given me a good reason to return home sooner rather than later.”

“I will make sure that we always find a private place no matter where we are,” he said, stroking her arm.

“I will think on it myself, for I do not think I can go a day without making love with you.” She yawned, reached for the blanket to toss across them, and then snuggled close to him.

Hunter lay listening to his wife’s even breathing. She had fallen asleep so quickly and he had hoped to do the same, but he found that he was not as tired as he had thought. The day had certainly been exhausting in more ways than one and had given him much to think about.

That he loved his wife had been a shock to discover, but to realize that his love for her could grow ever stronger was even more of a surprise. She was a remarkable woman. She was not afraid to defend herself or him and she embraced intimacy with an overwhelming passion. And that she should even think of giving her life to save her sister... he felt a stab to his heart.

He was familiar with the pain of losing a loved one, but this pain he felt with the thought of losing Patience was beyond anything he had ever experienced. He would do anything to keep her safe. And now that he knew Greer intended her dead as well as him, it added even more to the score he needed to settle with his brother.

He lay there, his thoughts hopping from one thought to another until sleep finally intruded and he drifted off.

~~~

Patience woke suddenly from a dream, her heart beating madly. She had been in a dark forest and Heather was calling out to her for help, but no matter how hard she tried she could not find her sister. It was when her sister’s voice faded that she woke. Thinking on it now, she wondered if she was being shown that she would never find Heather. She was lost to her forever.

The thought unsettled her and she eased herself out of her husband’s arms and carefully left the bed so as not to disturb him. She scooped up her shirt and slipped it on. She added more logs to the fire, then paced in front of it. She could not get her sister’s voice out of her head or the thought that she would never find her. Heather had to know that she would never give up, not ever. But the longer it took Patience to find her, the more Heather suffered at the hands of the Dark Dragon.

Her chest felt heavy with the pain of her sister’s suffering and with the need for a fresh breath, she hurried out of the cottage.

Hunter stirred, thinking he heard a sound, though he much preferred not to be disturbed, feeling much to content in bed wrapped around his wife. That was until he realized he was the only one in bed. His eyes sprung open and when he saw that the cottage was empty, he did not even bother to grab his shirt, he rushed naked out into the night.

Relief soared in his heart when he saw her standing only a few feet away, staring into the woods. He approached her with quick steps.

Patience heard the cottage door creak open and his swift footfalls approach and at that moment she wanted nothing more than to get lost in her husband’s arms and not think another thought on how she was failing her sister.

She turned and spread her arms wide.

Hunter saw the need in her glistening green eyes. She never let her tears fall. She battled them as intensely as she would a foe and from what he had seen, she always won, though it was far from a victory.

He did not hesitate. He had her up in his arms in an instant and just as fast he had her in the cottage.

After he shut the door with a shove of his shoulder, she said, “I do not want to think anymore tonight.”

He lowered her to the ground, latched the door, striped her of her shirt, then hoisted her up by her waist to plant her against him. Her legs tightened around him. “As you wish, wife.”

He kissed her with a hunger that surprised him. You would think that he had not had a woman in weeks the way he fed on her and how hard he grew. He ached for her, but he also ached to free her of her troubling thoughts. And for that she needed more than a gentle loving. She needed a driving, relentless loving.

He was glad nothing was on the table, for he dropped her bottom down on it and took her face in his hands. “I am going to make you come again and again and again.”

“Promise.”

He kissed her again, tugging along her bottom lip with his teeth as he ended it, and she whimpered. He took hold of her chin. “I hurt you?”

She took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. “No, it is that I fear I will never get enough of you.”

He ran his thumb tenderly over her lower lip that had plumped from his loving bites. “I share your fear, for the more we make love the more my need for you grows.”

She rested her brow to his and with her mouth nearly on top of his, whispered, “Then do as you said and make me come again and again and again.”

Hunter slipped his fingers between her legs.

“I am already wet and aching for you.”

He growled like an angry beast and grew so hard that his manhood throbbed viciously. He wrapped his arm around her waist and hefted her up to bring her bottom down on the edge of the table. Then he grabbed her legs, spreading them, forcing her to lie back and with a hard thrust, he entered her.

She cried out with such pleasure that it brought a smile to his face. He grabbed her taut bottom, held it firm and helped her meet his every potent thrust.

It did not take long before she was crying out his name as she exploded in a tremendous climax that she felt down to her bones and back again.

Hunter did not stop. He had promised her more and she would get what he had promised, even though he was straining not to come.

Her second climax came close on her first one, shattering her to pieces, turning her body limp.

Hunter slowed his pace some, delaying his own satisfaction while he methodically teased the dwindling pulses of her last climax to life once again. “Once more,” he ordered and turned his rhythm hard and fast.

Patience shook her head, thinking she would never survive another climax, but not caring. She welcomed the enormous wave when it hit her, drowning in its glorious pleasure until she had no breath left and felt faint.

Hunter exploded in a blinding climax that had him groaning like never before. When he was spent and left standing unmoving between her legs, his body trembled with the last vestiges, and he dropped his head back and let out one final groan that shivered his body again.

It took him a moment to realize that Patience was not moving or speaking and that her body was limp. “Patience,” he nearly shouted. When she did not answer, he pulled out of her and grew far more upset when he lifted her in his arms and felt how lifeless she was.

He shouted this time as he carried her to the bed. “Patience!”

She cringed and was barely able to whisper, “I am not deaf.”

“What is wrong?” he asked roughly as he placed her on the bed and hunched down beside it.

“It would seem,” —she paused, needing to take a breath— “that your sword is a mightier weapon than I had first thought.” She paused a moment again, though smiled. “It has done me in.”

Hunter laughed with relief, then went and grabbed the bucket of water and a cloth and returned to hunch down beside the bed again. After wetting and rinsing the cloth, he gently wiped her face with it.

Patience sighed. “You are a most pleasing husband, I will definitely keep you.”

Hunter laughed again. “I am glad to know that, for I intend to keep you as well.” He rinsed the cloth again and wiped her neck.

She shivered.

“You grow chilled,” he said, reaching for the blanket.

She rested her hand on his arm. “I would prefer that you keep me warm.”

Hunter got in bed with her, settling her to rest her back to his front, then he slipped the blanket over them and laid his arm across her.

She pulled it tight against her chest, snuggled back against him, mumbled something, and fell fast asleep.

Hunter expected sleep to elude him again, but not so. Sleep crept over him as fast as it had his wife and his last thought before drifting off was that he could have sworn that Patience had told him that she loved him.

Chapter Twenty-four

Patience sat on her horse staring forlornly at the cottage. When they had first arrived here two days ago, she had been anxious to have the time pass quickly so she could meet up with her warriors and continue on their mission. Now she wished for more time alone here with her husband. It had been the most wonderful two days of her life. She had hoped to come to love Hunter one day as his mother had come to love his father. Never had she expected to fall in love with him so hard and fast. She could not think of life without him. It was as if he had suddenly become part of her, an essential part, she could not live without.

“Are you ready?” Hunter asked, riding up beside her.

“It is more difficult than I thought to leave this place.”

He reached out, resting his hand over hers. “We take with us what we shared here. As long as we are together, that is all that matters. Besides, we have things that need tending if we are to ever enjoy our life together. Heather must be brought home and Greer must be seen to.”

She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. “You are proving to be a worthy husband more and more each day,” —she grinned— “and an exceptional lover.”

“I told you I would be a good husband,” he said, turning his horse to lead the way out of the woods. “As for my skills as a lover... I believe I will continue to prove them to you.”

Patience followed him. “I think that once we are home you should prove them at least twice a day.”

“Why wait until we reach home?”

“There is little privacy left to us on this journey,” she reminded.

He laughed. “You misjudge my many talents.”

A shiver of anticipation ran through her at the thought of making love with him in places other than the cottage. They had made love endlessly there. Every time she believed herself spent, her body satiated, he would touch her and her body would spark to life, though it was more a fire now than a spark.

She sighed with the memories. “I truly love your talents and you displayed them most wonderfully when I straddled you on the chair this morning.”

“You are welcome to straddle me any time, wife.”

“Be careful,” she warned, “you may grow tired of me.”

“That will never happen,” he said with a laugh that rang through the forest, though stopped suddenly.

Patience’s hand instantly went to the hilt of her sword at her side.

“We are being followed or perhaps the Dark Dragon feels we need an escort.”

“Or does he protect us from what waits beyond the woods?” Patience pushed all thoughts from her mind and let the warrior in her reign. She had her warriors to see to, Hunter’s mother returned to them, and the both of them kept protected from Greer, and then there was Heather.

There was not time to think about falling in love with her husband or making love with him. She needed to concern herself with more important things.

“We need to hurry the pace,” she called out to Hunter.

It was hard to ignore the distinct command in her voice. She was once again a warrior, the woman in her pushed aside and locked away. He had thought she was free, but not yet. In time, she would be, and then the warrior and the woman would finally become one.

Patience halted her horse when she reached the edge of the woods and Hunter followed suit. Her stallion pawed the ground, anxious to be on his way, but she held him firm.

She turned to Hunter. “Anything could be waiting for us.”

“At least we are not alone,” he reminded.

“Aye, and he wants no blood shed on his land.”

“Though, he will spill it if necessary.”

“And so will I,” she said with a fire in her eyes as she urged her stallion forward.

“I know,” he whispered as he rode after her, “and it frightens the bloody hell out of me.”