Highland Defiance (The MacLomain Series- Early Years) (18 page)

“The pain willnae last, love,” he murmured close to her ear. “Just relax.
I willnae use magic this first time.
This is an experience that should be ours alone.”

When his hand came between them, she startled at the feel of his caresses. Somehow, the pleasure his fingers brought made the pain less noticeable as he pushed further. She bit her lower lip. Frightened by the conflicting sensations, she buried her head in his neck. Adlin continued to move, pushing deeper and deeper. When at last he didn’t move, a tear rolled down her cheek.

“I’m so sorry,” he said softly.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” she whispered into his neck, adjusting to the full feeling of having him inside her. She slowly turned her gaze to his. Looking into his eyes seemed a heady combination when added to how thoroughly his body owned hers right now. Breathing hard, Adlin held her in place, his face near tortured. At long last, he leaned down and kissed the corner of her lip. When he did, he thrust gently.

“Ah!” she cried, her legs jerking in response. But just past the pain came something new. Tiny ripples of pleasure quivered through her lower stomach.

Incited by her response, Adlin withdrew slightly then thrust deep.

“Oh!” This time her legs pulled up higher.

Jaw clenched tight, his eyes closed briefly, as if he was desperately trying to hold back. When he opened his eyes, he pulled back and thrust in differently.

Mildred whimpered and moaned as sharp pleasure undulated up her torso, sending delicious shivers throughout her pliant, unfamiliar body.

Needy, mindless, curious, she whispered, “More.”

As if the building itself had been waiting for her to say such, wind whipped up and billowed the fire, igniting the pipe from below and stirring Adlin’s need.

Enraged by something only he could see, the MacLomain laird growled and thrust forward sharply. With no way or want to stop him, Mildred relished the new feelings strumming through her anxious body. Cupping her face he slowed his thrusts, made them long and deep.

Tremors raked both of them. Sweat slicked their bodies. Together they seemed to be climbing closer to some unseen, breath-taking crescendo. Slowing ever further he brought his mouth within a fraction of hers, paused several moments then thrust sharply. Mildred released a deep woosh of air, one he seemed to catch because he breathed in deeply.

A fresh wave of tingling pleasure started to roll up first her spine then spread down her torso, fluttering along her arms and legs like a slow internal, sensual lick. Expression near desperate, Adlin’s movements increased.

First steady then hard.

Pounding.

Relentless.

Fevered, alive, she started to meet his thrusts. Like a bolt of unexpected lightning, searing fire roared through her body and her belly muscles seized. Eyes wide, she grabbed his shoulders and dug in her nails. It felt like she was separating from her body.

“Bloody,” Adlin breathed heavily.
“Hell, woman.”

Air grew sparse. Her vision dimmed. When the explosion came, she thought she’d split apart. Pleasure and pain and release made her arch sharply, her body seized, every muscle interlocked sharply. Tiny flecks filled the room, or her eyesight, impossible to tell.

Crying out, he thrust one last time, and rocked against her.

When he did, her body burst apart, muscles liquefied, rippling over and over. Super bright flecks filled her vision and severe pleasure speared.

Time passed. Or didn’t. She had no way of knowing.

Adlin had taken her someplace she’d never been.

It was only when her last moan of pleasure slipped from slack lips did she realize that she screamed. It was only when the tears slipped down her cheeks did she know she cried.

“Shhh,” Adlin whispered and pulled free. Protective, he wrapped around her, sheltered her within the warm, strong cave of his body. He stroked back her hair and whispered soft words of compassion, easy, comforting words that followed her into her dreams.

And far beyond.

When she awoke very dim light filled the room and Adlin’s warm eyes studied hers. Had she slept?
If so, for how long?

“Good morn, lass,” he said softly.

With a small, bashful smile, she said, “Good morning.”

They remained interlocked and without clothes, his warm skin soothing against already sore muscles. Though slightly embarrassed, she was grateful he was still there. That he’d waited for her to wake up.

His thumb brushed her lower lip before he cupped the side of her cheek. Soft, eager, his lips touched hers then pulled back. “I love you, Mildred. Always have.”

Speechless, caught off guard, she could only nod. He meant it… believed it.
And didn’t expect a reply.
So she nodded once, unable to voice what she felt. Not quite ready.

“I’d like to show you something,” he said. “Are you ready to get out of bed?”

Though the idea of staying in bed with Adlin seemed far more preferable, she nodded.

Anything for him.

“Good.” With a smile, he bounded from the bed and set to getting dressed.

For the first time in her life, she got out of bed naked and stood in front of a man while she looked for her clothes. Plaid half wrapped around his muscular body, Adlin froze, his eyes roaming over her in admiration.

Despite the fact they’d been intimate; a slow burn ran over her face and no doubt half her body. Although it was a startling and new sensation having a man eye her nude, she liked the way it made her feel. Powerful, sensual, Mildred realized that she was now truly a woman in every sense of the word.

All because of Adlin MacLomain.

About to slip into her dress, Adlin shook his head, half tripping over his own plaid to get to something else.

“No, wear this.” He picked up another dress that’d been laid on a chair.
“Fresh clothes.”

With a shy grin she took the garment from him, completely flattered and aroused by his inability to function with her in a state of undress. The near white dress was very soft. Emboldened by his obvious infatuation, she raised an eyebrow.
“White?
You do realize that I’m not a virgin anymore.”

If a man could literally trip over his tongue, her five hundred year old wizard certainly did with his next words. “It was. I mean. Iosbail must’ve.
On.
You.”
Frowning, he shook his head and ran what she swore was a shaky hand through his hair. “Just get dressed.”

With a small, womanly smile she slid the dress over her head, completely content on skipping the chemise.

“Mildred!”

Impressive erection pillowing an ill-laid plaid over his waist, Adlin’s frown deepened and he held out a chemise. “Get all the way dressed, lass.”

With what she imagined was a perfect pout, she took the garment, turned away and set to dressing properly. When she turned, Adlin was properly dressed and sternly holding out a pair of those awful Scottish shoes, but this time they looked more like boots. She scrunched her nose.
“Really?”

“Have you any idea what cold highland rock feels like beneath bare feet?” His eyes fell to her feet and lingered. A loud swallow preceded his next statement. “Not that those feet should be covered.”

How did Adlin make her feel so incredibly beautiful simply by looking at her toes? No doubt, it’d be a question she’d ask herself the rest of her life.

“Sure.” After she slid into her shoes she turned his way.

For all she thought she was in control with her feminine wiles, one look at him leaning against the wall in full highland attire stopped her dead in her tracks. He was, in all sense of the word, perfection, beyond handsome. As she stood there staring at him with his plaid wrapped to perfection over a warrior’s physique done up to par with  black boots, easily six-foot four, black hair finger combed, sapphire eyes arresting, she felt a sharp pang in her heart.

Who was she in such a man’s life?

As if he sensed it the minute she felt it, he said, “You’re the lass I’ve been waiting my whole life for.”

Frozen, unsure, Mildred understood just how vast Adlin’s time on Earth really
was
, how much a blip she was in the span of his existence. Even as she took a step back he was in front of her, his wide shoulders a reminder of his sheer physical strength and power.

He wrapped a fur cloak over her shoulders, his body and face coming close. “There has never been and will never be another like you. I do love you, Mildred.”

There was a sense that he wanted to pull her close but she saw in his eyes that he wouldn’t. It was important that she believed what he
said
more than what he
did
at this point. If ever there existed a time when she wanted to look away from someone’s gaze it was now, but she would not. Adlin was a man who deserved to be looked in the eye, a man who deserved respect.

Then it occurred to her.

He didn’t demand.

Not of her, nor of his people. That’s what he’d been trying to tell her the night before, however oddly he went about it. Adlin was not a wizard first but a man, one whom wanted people to want what he wanted of their own… free will.

“It was what you wanted most that ultimately surprised and disappointed you,” she whispered.

“Do you know why?” he asked.

“Yes, because you had to learn to relinquish control.”

He wrapped the cloak tighter around her, the gesture protective and treasuring. “It was a hard lesson to learn. But one worth learning.”

So Adlin had trudged the long road between two belief systems and found that he loved both, would always defend both. What was it to be both Christian and Pagan?

With a heavy sigh, Adlin’s eyes stayed locked with hers. “So you ken who I am now, Mildred.”

She cupped his cheek gently. “You’re a man who loves.”

“Aye,” he whispered and leaned down, his lips brushing over hers feather-light before he said, “I’m also a man who needs to be loved.”

Though her eyes watered she was unable to say the words she knew he longed to hear. Instead, she said, “Where did you want to take me?”

With a warm, understanding smile he turned and pulled a fur cloak over his shoulders. “Come. We’re almost out of time.”

Chapter Eight

It was the last thing she expected.

The best of what she ever could have hoped for.

Cold, northern wind blew back her hair as Adlin led her down a narrow path onto a sheet of craggy rock. Long and dim the North Sea stretched out, reminding her of its recent near-death grasp on her soul. Warm, reassuring, his hand pulled her forward until they stood within feet of what was easily a hundred foot cliff that dropped sharply to the crashing ocean below.

In a confident move, he pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her waist, anchoring her securely high above the sea’s wrath. Wind whipped and shoved and seemed angry by their intrusion. She knew Adlin looked right back, defiant. So she became a willing prisoner to what he wanted seen.

It didn’t take long.

Within a minute of their arrival, a sequence of loud crashes boomed below as twenty foot waves slammed into an unforgiving rock wall and sent sea spray bursting into the air. For a split second all she could envision was his hot body bucking inside her and his own violent release.