Highland Dragon (19 page)

Akira tried to escape him, crawling across the bed on her hands and knees, but he snagged her ankle and slid her back to its middle. He climbed overtop her. She struggled beneath him, but he held her down. He gripped her wrists above her head with one hand while the other curved around her waist. His thighs straddled one of hers, forcing the thin silk of her nightdress to tighten over her breasts.

“If ye pursue this, I assure ye, ye will have to rape me to get me with child.”

He matched her temper and vowed to no longer yield to her tantrums. “I should’ve taken ye at
Tigh Diabhail.
I made promises to ye nay mon of my rank would ever be expected to keep. Ye’ve nay reverence for my oaths. Ye disrespect me as your husband and your laird. Ye are my wife. Ye are under my power, and I have owned ye since the day ye were born. I’ll feel nay guilt if I have to force myself upon ye.” He leaned in to kiss her.

She turned away.

He diverted and kissed her upper breasts. Short fingernails dug into the hand that bound her wrists. He only tightened his hold. Damn her! He hated that she’d weakened him. That she’d made him no better than her sire. Is this what Laird Kinnon had done to Lena?

The firelight glittered off the single tear escaping over the bridge of her nose. He had never seen her so afraid. If he made good on his threat, she would never look at him the way he desired. He didn’t want her body. He wanted her heart. A heart he knew he was breaking.

“Hell and damnation!” He shouted then released her. He rolled to his back and buried his face between his palms. “Catriona was a mistake. King Henry sent her to me as a peace offering. Half the chieftains in the Highlands were gifted with her English cousins. King James has been negotiating a peace treaty and has encouraged Scotland’s nobles to marry English to further peace between our countries. Hell, King James himself is entering an English union with Henry’s own daughter.

“Catriona was bound and gagged when she arrived. Tied to the back of an auld roan. Her escorts murdered en route. I gave her duties in the kitchens, but she proved to be verra…persuasive. I intended to find her a husband, but she found her way into my bed instead.”

“For a year?” Akira turned her back on him. “And is it common practice for the laird to attire the kitchen maids in silks? The woman owns more gowns than all my sisters combined.”

“Her father is the Crown Prince of Malaga. He sent ells of silk a couple of months after her arrival. Another bribe, I suppose.”

“And the jewels?”

“Those belonged to my mother. They are yours now.”

Silence fell between them. Calin wanted to reach out to her, to say he was sorry for being high-handed with her. But mostly he wished he could go back to the day Catriona had arrived. He would have sent her fleeing before she dismounted.

“Her presence here could have been prevented had ye come for me sooner.”

“I know.” This was all he could say. In his first year as chieftain, he’d taken advantage of his power. He’d behaved like a man without purpose, accepting largesse from nobles without care for consequence. He would pay dearly for accepting King Henry’s gift. “She means naught to me. She’s a daughter of England and acts on behalf of their king.”

“What hold does she have on ye?”

“Four months ago, after I denied her a place as my wife, she informed me that she carried the MacLeod heir. I had nay reason to doubt her until I found her abed with the cofferer. The child could’ve belonged to anyone as I discovered three more of my warriors had fallen victim to her seductions. But she lied. She never even carried. Her lies had been a ploy to keep me from attaining ye. She knew about ye the moment she stepped foot on MacLeod soil.”

“Ye told her about me then bedded her anyway? For the love o’ Scots, she is English. Ye are the chieftain, why did ye not banish her from the clan?”

“I appealed the council for her exile, but she flattered the elders as weel. She claimed she’d been defiled by the MacLeod kin. She threatened to have her father, along with his English gentry, seek retribution. The elders feared King Henry’s wrath, so they agreed to put her up in a cot-house outside the bailey. This is the only reason she still resides on MacLeod soil.”

Akira fell into a trance listening to him. She didn’t know what to believe. Her heart searched for answers while her mind recalled Catriona’s words. Certainly, Akira wasn’t so gullible that she expected Calin to have been inexperienced in the way of women. He was chieftain, and ten years her senior. However, she didn’t expect to come face to face with any of those women, much less vie for her husband’s bed. Catriona already proved to be resourceful. “She knew about
Tigh Diabhail.
”

“She said this to ye?” Calin sounded confused.

“She said your men were loyal to her, and if I dinnae share ye with her, she would have me returned to the auction block. If ye dinnae tell her, then there is a traitor among your men. Or she played a role in the whole scheme herself.” Akira wiped the tears from her eyes. Calin slid an arm beneath the down-stuffed bolster supporting her head. His hand cautiously pulled on her shoulder. She rolled into her husband, not fully trusting him, but having little choice in her position. She would accept his words until she learned otherwise. “I can see why a mon would do her bidding. She is so…beautiful.”

“She is an English whore, and she’s evil.”

Akira had thought the same thing when she looked into her cold eyes. She realized now why Calin had become so enraged at the waterfall. “If she hadnae betrayed ye, would ye have taken her as your wife?”

“Nay. I have no desire to form allies with England.” Calin stated without emotion which made his statement all the more difficult to bear. Catriona had been right when she said Calin chose Scotland over England.

“I want her gone.”

“If she partook in your abduction in any way, ’tis all I’ll need to banish her to King James’ court.”

Brushing back a lock of auburn hair, she trailed a finger over his discolored eye. The pang of betrayal subsided with his explanations. “Ye will tell me what ye discover. Until then, I dinnae want her name spoken in my presence again.”

Calin caught her hand to kiss the pads of her fingers. “I am sorry ye ever had to meet her.”

Her fingers rested over his lips. “I want to believe ye. I want naught more than to believe I am not just a body to carry your heir. I cannae take another shock like this. If there are others I should know about, I want to hear it from ye, not from them.”

“Ye want me to tell ye every encounter I’ve ever had?”

“Nay. I am certain I have not the time, nor the patience for such a lengthy discussion,” she stated sarcastically, but her morbid curiosity sought answers. “Have ye lain with the maids?”

“Nay.” Calin answered in an appalling tone. “I am not a monk. Howbeit, I am not a rutting swine either. Their father died in my arms at Drumchatt.”

“Fighting against your king.” She hoped he caught the disappointment in her tone.

“Aye. ’Twas his dying wish that his daughters be cared for. I couldnae deny the mon. But if they displease ye I’ll—”

“Nay. They dinnae displease me.”

“There is nay other woman I want as my wife or in my bed.”

“Who is Lena?”

Calin felt nauseous.

“Over the past two days, I’ve overheard at least a dozen kinswomen refer to me as Lena. Why would they make this mistake?”

In her current emotional state, if Calin told her everything now, she would probably hurl herself over the tower parapet into the moat. Though his courage shriveled, he knew she deserved some explanation. “My father cared for a woman named Lena. Father Harrald was verra close to both of them. He confused us for them and mistook her name for yours while giving a toast at the festivities. Those who spoke of her, just repeated his error. She has been dead a verra long time.” Calin’s eye fell shut as the horrid memories surged into his head. Akira mirrored her mother’s appearance. Her black hair, her blue eyes, the color of her skin. He held her hand tightly. “I dinnae want to fight with ye any more. I leave on the morrow for Scone to meet with King James. I dinnae wish to take your anger with me, my love.”

He leaned in to kiss her.

She halted him once again. “Did ye ever call
her
‘my love’?”

Though her question odd, he knew it held relevance. “Nay. Ye are my wife, my Akira, my love. Please, forgive me for not coming for ye sooner.” Calin pulled her up against him then buried his face into the crook of her neck. His hand slid over the smooth silk of her nightdress and encouraged her thigh to wrap around him.

“I am not ready to forgive ye just yet. My heart feels as though it has been trampled by a dozen auld nags. Ye may have to grovel a wee bit more, husband.” Her fingertip brushed over his flat nipple.

Calin raised his head to see a tinge of fire rekindle in her eyes. He hoped his dragon had returned. “I fear I may have years of groveling afore me to earn your forgiveness, but I have just this one night.”

“How long will ye be gone?” Akira’s lips skimmed his shoulder where an old scar whelped.

“A fortnight, mayhap longer,” he informed, then chanced a gentle kiss on her neck. She allowed it.

“I’ll miss ye,” she said, twining her leg around his.

Calin inched her nightshift up over her hips. One hot hand squeezed her backside. “Show me how much.”

Akira lifted her arms and allowed the removal of her shift. “I am going to enjoy this.”

Calin couldn’t agree more, but he worried slightly that they may not be talking about the same thing. “Enjoy what?”

“Retaliation. I’m feeling a wee bit victorious, and I’ve yet to begin my game.” Akira removed his belt and stripped him of his plaid, then pushed him back to the bed.

Calin ogled her swaying buttocks as she crossed back into her solar. So full and round, each cheek tempted him with every step. And one bearing the faded pink blemish of his mark. The MacLeod crest. He itched to study it closer. She returned with the blue and green sash she’d worn at the games. “And what do ye intend to do with that?”

“’Tis your ribbon. Andrew clearly cheated, and I think ye deserve your reward now.”

Calin probably should have protested when she tied his wrists rather snugly above his head. If Akira brought her temper into their bed, Calin was sure to endure the most exquisite torture of his life. He couldn’t remember the last time a tremor of fear slid over him. He liked it.

Akira crawled atop him, straddling the side of his erection. She tweaked his nipples between her thumbs and fingers—hard. “I am going to make ye forget ye ever shared your bed with another woman.”

The scream sounded distant. The stench of death unchanged. His father’s murdered body lay in a pool of blood at a woman’s feet. A slender blonde with wicked gray eyes seeking vengeance.

Laird Kinnon stood behind her. Lena cried out, and clutched her child in a desperate embrace.

Calin floated around the hall at Brycen Castle. He no longer hid. His form that of a man, not a boy. Through the haze of the Kinnon keep, his eyes focused on the black blade. But not in the hand of a masked warrior. The hand clutching the
sgian dubh
belonged to Catriona.

A light flashed, blinding him.

Calin stood close. He could touch Lena’s terrified face, her blue eyes filled with sorrow. Then her face took shape. The pale blue of her eyes darkened and the lips of his lady wife smiled sweetly at him.

Another burst of white stole his vision.

A sound from Heaven struck, and Catriona’s mouth curled in evil satisfaction as she sliced the blade across Lena’s throat. But no longer were his eyes branded with Lena’s face. She was Akira.

His wife. His love. His soul mate.

And crimson seeped from her throat, stealing her life from him.

“Nay!” He lunged for her.

Another boom deafened his ears.

He held her lifeless body. Slick warm blood slid between their skin.

“Nay, Akira! Nay!” A crash shook his insides. Then a howl, sounding like a tortured soul, tore through his body.

“Calin! Calin, wake up!” Akira yelled at him. “Calin, please, ye are hurting me.”

His eyes flew open. Hysteria touched his mind. He scanned the chamber, searching the shadows for the murderers. He crushed her with his weight. Sweat-drenched and trembling, his arms engulfed her. His throat dry, and his lungs burned, searching for air.

The storm outside unleashed a gnarled streak of white light revealing the terror painting Akira’s face. Calin tensed and tightened his fists behind her back.

Another impaling clash of thunder jarred him physically.

His body slowly found reality, but his warrior spirit still combated the dream. The same nightmare that haunted his childhood arose in his mind anew. Calin released her then shook his hands, relaxing his white-knuckled fists. Rolling to his back, he inhaled gulps of air. At least a year had passed since the nightmare had disturbed his slumber. The players had never been different. Could his dream be an omen?

Nay.
He refused to allow such thoughts of loss into his mind. God would not punish him again.

Akira crawled from the bed to set a tallow aflame in the hearth. Within seconds, the candelabras flickered, casting golden lights over her pale skin. She pulled a threadbare shift over her head and knelt beside him. Her small hand flattened over his heart. Calin placed his hand overtop hers and felt his pulse pounding through her palm. He’d acted like a fool. She would see him as a lesser man for showing such fear.

“Are ye weel?”

“By the saints, put out the flame and come back to bed.” Draping one arm over his eyes, Calin tried to act nonchalant, but the vision clung to his mind’s eye so vividly. So much so, he still smelled the tinge of torn flesh.

He heard her at the washbasin then felt the cool cloth on his chest, up his neck, over his jaw. Gentle fingers pushed his arm back. Akira mopped his brow and skimmed the damp linen over his face just as Aunt Wanda had done so many times before.

“Do ye fear the storm?” she asked, her voice a caress.

Opening one eye, he snorted at her then latched her around the waist and pulled her into bed beside him. “Do I strike ye as the kind of mon who would be afraid of storms?”

“Ye cannae fool me, husband. Fear still clings to your brow.” She stroked his coarse cheek and persisted. “Something terrified ye. What was it?”

“Ye. Ye terrify me.” Though galled to admit it, Calin spoke the truth, as much to her, as to himself. He couldn’t fight these feelings anymore.

He was in love with his wife.

He feared the success of the alliance and the vengeance he sought against Laird Kinnon for eighteen years would soon come to pass. The blood in her veins gave her dominion over Clan Kinnon. Only she could unite the Isles. But the truth would turn her against him, and the deceptive role he played would destroy them. He couldn’t bear her hatred.

He trembled.

She gathered him against her tiny body. Her cool fingers wiped his damp cheek. “Did ye dream of a monster?” she asked as if trying to salvage his manly pride.

“Aye. ’Twas a verra scary dragon with shiny black scales covering her body.” Calin pulled the shift over her head and slid her naked body beneath him before he continued his tale. “With blue eyes sparkling like midnight.” Calin suckled the soft flesh at the base of one breast then the other until she arched into him.

“And what did the dragon do to ye?”

“She bound my hands and tortured me with the fire in her mouth until I begged for mercy. But she devoured my heart in one bite.”

Only a few hours, at best, befell since he’d made love to her, but she stirred a passion in him he couldn’t fight. She weaved her fingers into his hair as he kissed her. Her knees straddled his hips, and the thickness of his manhood grew against her belly. He chided himself for believing his lust would lessen once he took her virginity. Instead, his compulsion for her increased and the desire to know every ounce of her flesh consumed him.

He became more assertive. Nibbling each rib with his teeth, his feast trailed lower over the soft valley of her stomach. His tongue filled her navel, but he didn’t possess the strength to deny his hunger for more.

“Did the dragon kill ye?” Akira’s fingertips followed Calin’s trail, but one hand remained behind to pleasure her own breast. Calin watched intently as she pulled and twisted her nipple between her thumb and fingers. Her mouth opened, and he felt a shiver course through her.

“Nay. I hunted her down and tamed her,” Calin answered, licking his lips.

She squeaked when he parted her legs wider and kissed the creamy skin of her inner thigh. He could smell her arousal. He was shameless. He didn’t care. He’d wanted to taste her nectar since he’d met her. Separating her satiny flesh, he delved two fingers into velvety honey.

She moaned. “And then…what did ye…do to her?”

“I ate her.” His mouth replaced his fingers and molded to the most private area of her body.

Akira tensed. “What are ye doing?”

He paused and cocked a grin while peering at her from between her legs. “I am tasting my wee dragon.”

“Is this done?”

“I am doing it, am I naught?” Calin proceeded to his loving task. He kissed her and savored her sweetness. His thumb worked its magic soliciting whimpers of ecstasy while his tongue tormented the secret hollows within. Her moans encouraged his plight. Wanting to give her fulfillment, he drew her polished nub between his teeth. A hoarse vibration traveled up his throat when she pulsed against his tongue. The same aching pulse beat painfully within his arousal.

Akira cried out his name, unable to find any level of reality. The culmination of her soul surged into her core. Humiliation added to the heat burning her skin. Such a carnal act must be sinful. Could a woman kiss her husband in the same manner? A quiver pulsed through her body at the devilish thought, but her morals refused to subside. “Och, Calin…does this help to get me with child?”

“Nay, Akira. This is all for ye. Not for our child. For ye.”

Rolling her hips, she clutched the back of his head and panted. “Ye are a…good husband…Calin.” Unleashing her desires, she screamed until the warm trickle of a shattering climax flowed over her thighs.

“Crivons!” She added exclamations in French, Gaelic, and the language only she understood, but the tone sounded all the same. Bliss. Satisfaction. Her mind wandered in bewilderment when he arose to kiss her. His tongue filled her mouth, and she tasted what he’d tasted. A foreign, erotic, wildly sensual flavor. She buried her modesty and returned his kiss.

Immediately, she ached for him. “I want ye, husband.”

Calin scooped one hand behind her back and carried her lithe body with him as he sat upright at the edge of the bed. She felt like a rag in his arms as his positioned her over his lap. With his feet flat on the floor, he gripped her waist. “Wrap your legs around me and open your eyes.”

She wondered why he always took her in this position, why he always forced her to look at him when he made love to her. She tried to protect her heart against his searing gaze, but her husband’s eyes chipped away at her resistance. She held tight to his shoulders as he raised her overtop him and entered her slowly. Perspiration rolled from his temple as he pumped short draws in and out of her.

“Och, love. Ye are still so tight.”

Akira felt his desire. Felt his undeniable passion for her. Yet he held back what she so desperately sought. “I am yours, Calin. Ye’ll not hurt me. I want all of ye.”

His mouth opened, enabling him to inhale more air. He lowered her onto his stiff rod until he buried himself inside her—all of him. His pace quickened, and she could do little more than hold on. The muscles in his arms flexed while his fingers clutched her hips, moving her up and down in a rhythm that filled her with pure pleasure.

Just as she reached the pinnacle his eyes slid shut. He pressed his cheek to hers and whispered her name.

She collapsed against his shoulder. Her breaths bordered on cries.

Once regaining his energy, he fell onto the bed’s softness dragging her with him. Tucking her into his side, he threw a leg over hers and pulled her fingers to his earlobe. Did he want more than just her body, more than an heir? Would she be a fool to allow herself to love him? Could a man of his position ever return such love? Such fanciful dreams only belonged to the faint of heart. She closed her eyes and nuzzled in tighter to him. The peaceful patter of raindrops, and the silk of his earlobe between her fingers lulled her into relaxation.

He stroked her arm. “Did I hurt ye?”

“Hurt” isn’t the word she would use to describe their lovemaking. The way he treated her when alone made her feel desirable. But guilt clutched at her. She didn’t know if making a child should feel so wonderful. “Ye dinnae hurt me. Ye make me feel…beautiful. I like the way ye touch me. But I know not if I should receive such enjoyment from making our child.”

“We are husband and wife. If we choose to seek pleasure with one another, we may do so without guilt.”

Akira worried she wouldn’t be able to please him. His insatiable appetite seemed a hunger she could never feed. “When I carry the MacLeod heir will ye still want to touch me, even if it is not necessary?”

“All o’ Scotland couldnae keep me from ye.”

Calin leaned over her to douse the candles and then cradled her body tightly against his. One hand nestled over her breast, the other cupped her backside.

The darkness brought insecurity. Stroking the muscles of his back, she questioned whether or not she’d be able to satisfy him the way Catriona must have. She tried to block the woman’s face from her vision, but the gray eyes lingered. Jealousy overwhelmed her.

Calin belonged to her now, and no one would take him from her.