Lovell, Cooper - Tessa's Highlander (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

* * * *

The aroma of one of life’s ultimate comfort foods woke her.
Mmmm
…grilled cheese sandwiches
. She sat up all the way, looked over the back of the sofa into the kitchen, and watched Gavan maneuver his way around. The oversize, grand scale of the house seemed to be custom-made for this giant man. As she thought of how perfectly her kitchen fit him, a funny, warm feeling spread through her. Gavan looked up and saw that she was awake.

“How are you, lass?” he said with concern. “Are you in much pain? I
din’na
want tae wake you. Rest is probably good. I can stop this and take you tae the hospital now if you’d like.”

Tessa reached down and moved the bag of mushy, now-thawed peas to look at her ankle.

“There’s only a bit of swelling,” she reported happily and spent a few minutes rolling her ankle around. While it felt tight, there really was no pain. The look on his face told her he wasn’t convinced, so she spent the next few minutes assuring him there was no need for medical attention. He only relented when she promised she would call the doctor in the morning.

She attempted to get off the couch, and Gavan was at her side in an instant. When she argued with his attempts to keep her from bearing weight, he simply picked her up.

“Just what do you think you’re doing, missy?” he asked her.

“Well, my feet are a little cold, so I was going to go upstairs and grab a pair of socks.” With a slight blush, she lowered her long lashes and added quietly, “And, I need to go to the bathroom.”

Without a word, Gavan turned and carried her up the stairs to her room. Still in his arms, she directed him to the correct drawer and managed to extract a pair of thick socks from her bureau. Gavan deposited her in the bathroom with the direction not to take any more steps than were absolutely necessary and closed the door behind him while he waited in her bedroom until she called for him. When she was back on the couch, Gavan wrapped her ankle with the elastic bandage that she’d pulled from her medicine cabinet and returned to the kitchen to finish with the sandwiches as Tessa noticed for the first time that he’d lit a fire for her while she was sleeping.

Tessa watched the dancing flames in the immense fireplace, pondering the change in Gavan. In the blink of a dreamy, warm, whiskey-colored eye, he went from being a rude, boorish, kind-of-scary oaf to showering her with kindness, concern, and enough drop-dead-sexy smiles to keep her panties soaking and her heart zinging despite the day’s disconcerting events. Thinking about how hard his chest felt beneath her body as he carried her to the house made her wonder just how many ripples were lying below his almost too-tight T-shirt. His masculine scent of fresh wood and citrus surrounded her when he gathered her near. Turning her head and giving her shoulder a sniff, she was delighted to find that his scent still clung to the sleeve of her sweater that had been pressed against him.
Hmm, maybe I won’t wash this for a while,
she thought to herself with a dreamy smile.

“You’re managing a pleasant thought after what happened tae you today, eh?” Gavan stood before her, two plates in hand.

She tried to hide the blush she knew had risen in her cheeks at being caught reveling in his scent as he set the plates on the table to help reposition her on the couch so he could join her. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was, and she admitted that it was one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches she’d ever had.

“Aye, a brush with death always makes food taste better,” he teased.

While they ate, Gavan assured her that Blanco was fine. He’d slicked him down, walked him, then covered him with his winter blanket. He’d also fed and watered the whole barn population and moved the alfalfa into the barn, too.

“Thank you for taking such good care of us, I mean, me and the horses.”

“
Is’na
problem. They’re beautiful animals. Even the little runt you’ve got has a nice form.”

Tessa laughed. “Aw, Rusty’s like my puppy.”

Gavan grew serious then. “I called local animal control tae report the dogs that attacked you. They’ll be sending someone out as soon as they can. Until then, it’s probably a good idea tae keep the horses in the barn as much as possible.”

The evening passed and they sat side by side on the couch in front of the roaring fire. Gavan remained attentive, asking occasionally if she needed anything. Tessa rested her head on his big, strong shoulder while he told her about growing up on a working horse farm in Scotland and his decision to make the move to America. He didn’t go into details, but simply mentioned being close to marriage once, but that it didn’t work out.

By the time the night took a turn for the worse, Tessa was snuggled under Gavan’s arm with her head resting on his chest while he contentedly twirled strands of her almost-curls in his fingers, occasionally leaning in to gather the scent of lavender from her hair.

“So, when did you decide you wanted tae be a writer?” he asked, not thinking about where this conversation might lead.

“Um, I guess I’ve always written. As a kid, I made up stories all the time. Poor Jaime used to sit and listen to me make up tales for hours. Then, my writing just kind of progressed. By the time I went to college, I had basic outlines for a few books, one of which eventually became the first I ever sold, but it wasn’t until junior year that I actually dove into it and wrote it.”

“I read your first book. Jaime was constantly bragging about you, so I thought it would be a good idea to know what he was talking about when he brought it up,” Gavan admitted.

“Really? You did? What’d you think? Wait. That look on your face, you’re not much of a horror fan, are you?” Tessa asked, finding herself worried about his opinion more than she wanted to admit to herself. After all, part of writing such sensitive and sometimes shocking subject matter depends greatly on one’s ability to not worry about what kind of conclusions the reader might draw in regard to you for being able to dream up what they just read.

“Aye, horror’s not my first choice, but your imagination is tae be commended,” he said and turned to her. “It’s one thing, after all tae draw on your experience tae write certain aspects, but it must take some effort tae invent some o’ the monsters you’ve created.”

Tessa’s eyes narrowed, piqued by the inference in that statement. “Experience? What parts of the book do you think I wrote from experience?”

Gavan shrugged his massive shoulders and said, “I just mean that anyone who can write those explicit sex scenes has tae have some experience under their belt, whereas the supernatural side was…”

Tessa stood and cut him off, hands balled into fists at her sides.
Oh! This obnoxious man!
What nerve to assume that just because she can come up with steamy sex for her novels that she’d actually done all those things. She took a deep breath and laid into him.

“How dare you, you judgmental jerk! It’s a pretty big assumption to think that the sex scenes I write are from anything but my imagination. What? I can invent monsters and fiends, but the sex has to be from experience? Just because my mind wanders does
not
mean that it’s from my real life. I’d have to be some kind of twisted lunatic to have done most of the things I put down on paper.”

Gavan reached both hands out and held her upper arms firmly so she had no choice but to face him. “But, really, it’s okay with me if you’ve lived a life like that.”

Tessa’s mouth fell open and she was sure that fire was going to start shooting from her eyes she was so angry. “Fabulous! That’s all I’ve been looking for here, your approval on my sex life. Whew! What a relief. I have Gavan Murdoch’s stamp of approval to continue on with my deviant, depraved ways.” She pounded on his enormous chest with her fists, and when he released his grip on her upper arm to take hold of them, she quickly twisted away and stomped, albeit lopsidedly, to the stairs, cursing him under her breath the whole way.

She’d hobbled up the first three steps before she turned to him to say in an eerily calm, quiet voice, “I appreciate your help today, but please leave. There’s really no need for you to return tomorrow or any day thereafter. I’ll let Jaime know that I’ll wait for him to do the work after all. Please see yourself out. And this time, please don’t even think about coming back. I don’t care who you think hired you.” She climbed the rest of the stairs to her bedroom.

Chapter Six

“Well done, Gavan. You really put your foot in your mouth there,” he said to himself, cringing a bit at the slam of her bedroom door.

None of what he’d said came out right. He hadn’t meant to sound condescending and he felt horrible for doing so. Even worse, though, was his incorrect assumption that she’d written from experience. She was absolutely right, no one would think she’d had all the
otherwordly
experiences to draw upon for her books, so why jump to the conclusion that the graphic sex wasn’t pure invention?

Unfortunately, even with this revelation, he still feared for his heart. Guarding himself was as involuntary as breathing, but the desire to take the chance, to let her in, was increasing with every minute that passed. At first sight, an image of pulling her into his arms had flashed through his mind. Now, over a week later, those images had morphed into glimpses of a life together with her.

The dark gray thunderclouds that gathered in her eyes whenever she became angry had grown on him, since he’d already provoked that phenomenon several times. He actually savored it. But the pain he just saw in her eyes, knowing he had put it there, nearly killed him. He had to make this right. He wanted to protect her from this kind of hurt, not cause it.

He took the stairs three at a time and burst through her door without warning. Tessa was a silhouette against the moonlight glowing behind the French doors in her bedroom. She’d been looking out at the barn and spun to face him.

“
Augh
! Great. Did you come to bestow more of your
permissions
upon me? To let me know that other aspects of my life are okay with you?” she shouted.

In only a few strides, he crossed the big room, placed his right hand on the back of her neck, and pulled her toward him shaking his head.

“That’s no’ why I’m here,” he said and lowered his head to crush his lips to hers.

At first, she resisted as he kissed her with more and more force, urging her compliance. His left arm wrapped around her waist and he lifted her off the ground, pressing her to him, and finally, he felt her curve into him. His tongue swept across her lips and she parted them to allow him in. His right hand tangled in her hair, tilting her head back a little to deepen his kiss. His tongue entered her mouth and massaged hers, slowly at first, then more urgently, until finally he was fucking her mouth with his own in an obvious portrayal of his intentions. She twined her arms around his neck, and her fingers twisted in his hair. When his kiss became more urgent, she wrapped her dangling legs around his waist and pressed her sex against the enormous erection that grew within his jeans.

Gavan turned to the bed and bent over to lower Tessa to it, leaning over her then finally breaking the kiss. Her eyelids were heavy with lust, a smile on her swollen, freshly kissed lips. He reached down and unfastened her jeans, never taking his eyes from hers. In one motion, he slid her jeans and panties down her legs and tossed them aside. Still looking into her eyes, he reached for the bottom hem of her sweater and pushed it up as she wiggled to help him get it over her head. His hand slid under her to unfasten her bra, removed it, and added it to the small pile of her clothes. Not until she was lying before him, completely naked, did he move his eyes away from hers and sweep them appreciatively over her body.

He took in an involuntary, sharp breath. She was a petite beauty, her wee body perfectly proportioned. Her legs, wonderfully shapely from horseback riding, were long relative to her height. His gaze roved to her chest and he smiled as his gaze confirmed his earlier guess that her breasts were full, more than a handful.

As he stood there, his gaze moving up and down her body in an effort to know every inch of it, a low moan escaped from her throat, breaking his trance.

He pulled off her socks, took an ankle in each hand and looked at the elastic wrap on her tiny right foot, and asked in a gravelly voice, “Is your ankle okay?”