Midnight Secrets (39 page)

My heart swelled with the passion pouring from him to me. “There’s no need to wait. My answer—”

He pressed his finger to my lips. “Not until morning.” He stepped back, taking my hand in his. “Come let me show you of my love until then. We’ve had little time together. Tonight will be our night.” He urged me down the steps. His horse waited at the back of the inn. He mounted, then pulled me into his lap to sit side saddle before leading the horse down to the shore.

Once on the sand, he came to a stop. “If we’re going to do this often, you’re going to have to give up sitting properly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Too much pressure on my hip.” Sliding his arm about my middle, he lifted me off his lap a little. “Move one leg to the other side of the horse to sit astride.”

“But—”

He pulled my skirts up, exposing my stockings and drawers from the thighs down. “You’re covered completely and no one will see.”

I slid my leg over, feeling very strange as my thighs settled against his and my bottom pressed intimately to his body and the saddle pressed against me. He groaned softly in my ear, pushing harder against me. “I want you.”

I gasped, as fire spread through me.

Keeping one hand under my breasts, about my waist, he urged the horse on until we were racing across the sand. Salty wind and humid mist buffeted us as my body melded to his and the freedom of the flight filled me, making me want to dance and laugh and sing all at the same time.

“This is how being with you makes me feel, lass.” The need vibrating in his voice shivered down my spine.

“You do the same for me.” I leaned my head back against his shoulder and angled my face to press a kiss to his neck. He turned his lips to mine and covered my mouth with his. His lips and tongue were hot and demanding as he tangled his passion with mine then set us both on fire by sliding his hand to cup my breast, kneading its softness to an aching point. Breathing raggedly, he brought the horse to a stop.

“I want you in the moonlight.” He slid from the horse and reached for me.

Unsure, I placed my hand in his, feeling his warmth and his strength in his grip, and the fire gleaming in his eyes. He led me up from the water’s edge and the damp shoreline until we reached the soft powder of sun-warmed sand where the moon made a silver bed of light.

“First, dance with me beneath the stars. Let me feel you move against me, with me, to the music in our minds.”

I walked into his embrace and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his body as close to me as I had the strength to do. He began to hum as he swayed with me beneath the stars, the wind and the salty breeze caressing me as his deep voice and the feel of his supple flesh against mine enlivened me until I nearly burst with the need for more. “Touch me,” I whispered. “Kiss me. Make me yours.”

He laughed. “Oh, I will. There’s no doubt of it. I want to see the cream of your skin set aglow by the moon. I have a number of things in mind to experience with you tonight.” Stepping back, he slid his cape off and spread it on the ground.

Then he kissed me deeply, his deft fingers undoing the buttons of my dress to touch me. “I want you naked beneath the stars.” With skilled determination, he set out to satisfy his want. Soon my dress fell to the sand, then my chemise, my drawers and boots, leaving only my dark stockings and garters. “Lay down for me, Cassie.”

Moving to the black cape, I lay back against the silk lining, smelling his scent and that of worn leather. Kneeling beside me, he threaded his finger through my hair, spreading it out about me. “Your hair is the sun that I can see without pain.”

Then he moved my arms up, sliding my fingers behind my neck, bringing my breasts higher. He kissed me, groaning so deeply that my stomach clenched in anticipation. Leaving my lips, he nipped my neck with a tingling bite.

“How much have you read of
Powerful Vampires and Their Lovers
?” he asked.

I blinked, trying to think past the pleasure rippling through me and the luring almost fearful tension of being naked outside and making love beneath a full moon. “What?”

“The book you are reading, remember?” He smiled.

“Not…not past ‘Forbidden Fruit’.”

“Good. Then tonight will be a surprise.” He nipped my neck and breasts again with tiny, almost stinging but pleasure-inducing bites that tingled as the coolness of the air replaced the heat of his mouth. “Don’t move.” Sliding his hands down from my breasts, he brushed over my stomach and eased off each stocking, spreading my legs far apart as he finished.

“Sean, this feels—”

“Sensual, Cassie. Don’t mistake the excitement God meant for a man and a woman to share for something wrong or sinful. It is what we were created to be.” He stood at my feet, between my legs, looking down at me, and stripped off his clothes as I watched. Like velvet covered marble, his body gleamed in the moonlight, a mixture of light skin and dark hair, hard need and supple muscle. He was beautiful and powerful in an elemental way, and his desire for me, so evident in his arousal, filled me with a hungering satisfaction that only making love to him could satiate.
 

He fell to his knees between my legs and planted his hands on either side of me so that he could lean over me. Once again he nipped at my skin, starting with my breasts until they throbbed with pleasure, their tips hard and wanting. I tried to reach for him, but he pressed my arms back down as he rose to his knees to look at me. “For now, just feel the pleasure I want to give you.”

In a swift move, he slid his hands beneath my hips, lifting me until only my shoulders rested against the ground and his face was…

“Heavens,” I cried. “Whatever are you doin—”

“Feasting.” His mouth covered my femininity, nipping and laving until I wept from the fiery pleasure, but he never nipped just the right place. My breaths grew short and raspy, my skin became fevered, my pulse raced until my body throbbed. “Sean. Sean…please.” I arched to him, and his kiss finally centered on the very heart of my burning flesh. My eyes widened to see the stars as pleasure burst inside of me. Then he rose above me. Looking directly into my eyes so I could see his soul, he entered me, thrusting deep inside me as my body shuddered with the pleasure he’d given me. More pleasure washed over me, again and again in rippling waves that moved in tandem to his frenzied thrusts into me.

“Cassie,” he cried, plunging then shuddering.

“Sean,” I called out as spirit, soul and body soared beyond the stars into a blinding light of pleasure so shattering that my vision went black and my mind went blank.

“Cassie! Cassie!” I blinked, opening my eyes, surprised to find myself wrapped in Sean’s arms.

I frowned. “What happened?”

“I think you forgot to breathe and fainted. How do you feel?”

“Exquisite. I saw beyond the stars.”

“You did?”

“Yes. Having an astronomer for a husband will prove quite useful.”

He bowed his head to mine. “Don’t give me your answer until morning, Cassie. There are things you don’t understand yet.” He pushed me up from the comfort of his lap. “Get dressed.”

We did, scrambling in the sand, shaking off our garments before sliding them on. I wished I hadn’t ruined the moment. I went to him as he picked up his cape. “The last time you said to get dressed, I didn’t like what followed.”

He slid his cape over my shoulders. He didn’t say anything, but gazed at me, intently serious.

I didn’t like the silence. “If you love me and I love you, then why wait till morning before accepting my answer?”

He sighed. “There is only one reason why I would ever let you go now and that is if you don’t want to stay.”

“I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t.”

“I can. Come, and I will show you.”

Sean took me back to the castle, where we entered through his study. Tonight, as on the other night, there were roses and food and wine set on the table waiting, but the hearth was cold and the candles unlit. He set that to rights immediately, yet instead of lighting all six candles, he only lit two.

“First let’s eat and then I have to show you something.”

“Show me now.”

“No. I want more time with you first.”

He poured spiced wine, which, no matter how much he denied it, I still thought had stimulating properties. For as we ate, my body warmed then tingled, bringing a sense of anticipation that had me watching Sean’s every expression, his every movement. I settled my gaze on his lips as he slipped tiny bites of cheese and fruit into the heat of his mouth. I remembered just how his mouth made me feel and everything inside of me burned for more.

When he took my hand, I thought he’d lead me to his bedchamber, but he didn’t. He led me to the sofa before the fire. Then going to a shelf in the back corner of the room, he returned with a large, ancient looking book, and set it on the small table before the sofa.

“What’s this?”

“The Dragon’s Curse.” Opening the book, he showed me a thousand years of Killdaren history, and whenever twins had been born, one had killed the other. This was why he honestly believed in his impending fate.

“How do you know twins will be born? Are they always born? That seems impossible.” So many questions rambled through my mind.

Sean shook his head. “Ask one at a time. No one knows when the twins will be born. Many times they are not, but when they are…” He shrugged. “The evidence is there.”

“But why? How?”

“The
Tuatha de Danaan.”

“The fairies?”

“The queen cursed my family for eternity.”

“Why?”

“I am still searching through books to find the reason. It has to do with the spirit of Dragons being born and suffering the depth of betrayal.” He shut the book, but left his hand on top as if he couldn’t quite let go of it. “There has yet to be a way to break the curse.”

“But what if you and your brother had never known of the curse?”

“I don’t think it would have changed things. We were born with our hands about each other’s throats. My only hope for a life with you is to never see my brother, to continue to look for an answer, and pray we don’t have twins.”

I set my hand over his. “I believe love can conquer anything. Even this. Is this why you won’t accept my answer until morning?”
 

“If any hope can turn the tide of this curse, it would be yours. But no. There’s more. I’ll show you in the morning. You’ve given me life when I’ve had so little. We’ve made love in the moonlight. Now I want to make love in the water.”

I shook my head, standing and moving away from him. “No. I’m not doing that with you in the sea. I would drown.”

He laughed. “I have my own private sea, and I won’t have any trouble keeping you afloat.”

“What sea?”

“There’s a natural hot spring that I’ve made great use of.” Taking a candle, he led me quietly down the corridor past the rooms where Bridget, Prudence and Rebecca slept to his bedchamber. But he didn’t stop there. He crossed his room and went into a small corridor, where the air changed, growing warmer and more humid. Then moving through a set of doors, he stopped and so did I. My halt was from surprise. It was a tiled Roman bath with large pools of steamy water. While I stared, Sean stripped. If I’d known of this room in first coming to the castle, I would have braved any obstacle to sink into its steamy waters.
 

“Come join me, Cassie.” He slipped into the water then swam beneath the surface, appearing again in the middle of the pool. Water dripped from his dark hair and slid enticingly over his skin. As before, staring at his mouth brought the heated memory of him feasting on me to mind. My body burned for more. I undressed hurriedly and eased myself into the warm water, holding onto the side until I was sure of my footing. I had yet to learn to swim well; something told me I would in the future. He came up behind me, setting his hands on either side of mine on the tile and pressed his rigid arousal against my bottom.

I went to face him. He stopped me.

“Brace your hands on the tile.” He eased my hips up and back until he slid his hot arousal inside of me. Cupping my breasts so that his fingers captured the tips and plucked them like berries, he slid in and out of me so slowly that I thought I was going to die of the pleasure. At one peak he thrust in deeply and held as he nipped the back of my neck at a place that sent fiery shivers to my toes and back to my loins.

“You weren’t lying to me,” I gasped.

“What?” He whispered in my ear, evoking another shiver.

“You’ve made quite a study of this subject.”

“I’m just beginning to explore what I have learned.”

I would have said more, but what he did next with his fingers ripped away any ability I had to think. All I could do was feel until I was so spent my knees wouldn’t even hold me upright. Swinging me into his arms, he carried me to his room, dried me off. Then, placing me in his bed, he curled around me.

“I love you, Cassie. With all of my heart.”

“I love you too,” I sighed and drifted off to sleep.

“Cassie, it’s almost dawn. We need to talk.”

I turned to him, burrowing against him, needing his warmth. “I dreamed of Mary.”

He drew a deep breath. “And?”

“I saw her on a dark cliff looking at the sea. I woke before I could see more.”

“Dragon’s Point,” Sean said. “I’ll show it to you some night. Mary used to go there to paint. There’s a family graveyard there. Perhaps your family would like to bury her there.”

I could see Mary at peace there, painting the sea. “Yes. I’ll speak to my aunt about it later today.” I hesitated. “Can you accept my dreams, Sean? I never know when the darkness will come.”

“You shouldn’t even question that. It is me you need to decide if you can accept. I never know when the headaches are going to intrude, and I may have to live in the shadows of the night forever.”

Moving from the bed, he scooped me up into his arms and took me to a wall of curtains across his room. He pulled them open, and there was the sea set softly aglow by the pinkish light of the dawn.

“This is the time that the world is waking, that children are smiling, waiting to play. That men are going off to work and to the sea, and women are gathering to talk about their cares as they pray for those they love. The sun rises up and greets them all, will keep them warm through the day and will ease them to their beds at dusk. This is the time that I go to sleep. I will see none of them, I will hear none of them, I won’t hear a baby cry, or run across a sunlit glen to chase my child as he laughingly plays. I live alone in the shadows and have no real hope that it will ever be different. I did have a few brief times in the sun recently, but it always came at a price. The headaches were just at such a point that I could stand the pain. I don’t know if I will regain that or not.”