My Tempting Highlander (Highland Hearts #3) (14 page)

“Yer not taking a single thing with ye?” Eliza peered out from under the dripping edge of her bright purple umbrella.

Mairi pulled the brim of her hooded rain slicker farther over her face, shivering as the wintry wind pelted sleet against her. She wasn’t cold. She had on enough layers to fully clothe a small community. No. She wasn’t cold. She was pissed at the world and dreading the next few days— correction, the next few
hours
—more than she’d dreaded anything in her life. “I’m not going to need anything. I told you—I’m coming right back.”

Eliza’s knuckles whitened as a gust of wind yanked at her umbrella. She jerked the collar of her heavy wool coat higher about her face. “I see.” Her tone clearly conveyed she didn’t approve of Mairi’s plan.

Mairi shrugged deeper into the vinyl-coated canvas of her raincoat. She didn’t care what Eliza thought. All she cared about right now was keeping the gas fire pit blazing in the rain and getting this thing done—and completely over with.
Never again.
When she came back, her number one task was going to be a concentrated drive to become normal.
Whatever the hell “normal” is.

Heavy boots splashed through the water behind her. Mairi stiffened. She and Lilia had already said a very brief goodbye, then Lilia had taken the new puppy and retired up to her rooms. Mairi’s leaving was no big deal. She would only be gone what would hopefully amount to several hours—or at the very worst, a couple of days. Lilia hadn’t fully agreed with the plan, but she also hadn’t pushed the issue. Lilia understood her better than anyone.

The boots splashing through the puddles of the small courtyard belonged to the lying rat bastard who had managed to weasel his way into her heart just to get what he wanted. Mairi clenched her teeth and consciously controlled her breathing.
Never again.
She intoned the words with every slow inhale.
He lied.
She blew out with every strained breath.
I am so over him
. She’d never let him hurt her again.

“Do ye feel sure yer ready, then?” Ronan’s touch burned through every single layer of clothing she’d donned. Her traitorous body immediately shifted into
take me now
mode and double-clutched to a humming
I’m more than ready
overdrive.

Mairi moved away from the weight of his hand against her back. “Definitely. This isn’t exactly my first rodeo. Let’s do this.”

Ronan’s mouth tightened and his jaw rippled as he jerked his chin down with a curt nod. He slowly pulled his hand away and clasped it behind his back. Sorrow and pain darkened the shimmering pewter of his eyes to a miserable murky gray. His broad shoulders sagged beneath the dark plaid draped across his chest. Ronan looked like a man who had lost everything.

Good.
Mairi swallowed hard against the sudden uncomfortable lump in her throat.
I’m glad he’s hurting. Look what he did to me.
Mairi cleared her throat and pointed toward the small gas-lit ring of flames sputtering in the rain. “You already know what to expect. It’ll be just the same as when Granny sent you forward.”

Ronan pursed his lips and nodded. The way he kept his somber gaze fixed on her tightened the emotional band already strangling her chest and squeezed. Mairi turned away, blinking hard to force back the tears.
No more crying. He is so not worth it.

“Ye’ll need to hold fast to him, child. When Nia sent him forward, she hooked him to the marker at this end—namely, you. She tagged him to yer spirit. He’ll no’ have that advantage this time.” Eliza motioned for Ronan to move closer to Mairi. “If ye dinna keep tight hold of him, who knows where he’ll land.”

Mairi struggled against the urge to blurt out
Who cares
? She glared at Ronan from under the brim of her hood and held out her gloved hand. “Don’t let go of my hand. I don’t have time to search for you, to figure out where the time portal dropped your sorry ass.”

Ronan’s eyes narrowed. He looked as though he could bite through a rail spike. He closed his hand around hers then pulled her hard against his chest and tightened his other arm around her waist. “I’ll never let ye go. Ye best be learnin’ that straightaway. I
never
break an oath, ye ken?”

The way Ronan stressed the word
never
triggered warning sirens in Mairi’s head. The protective wall around her pounding heart shifted to DEFCON one: maximum alert readiness—war imminent. Mairi pushed back, blinking against the rain dripping in her eyes. “I said hold my hand. A bear hug is not necessary.”

Ronan scowled down into her face and locked his arms tighter around her. “We travel this way or no’ at all.” He jerked his chin downward in a curt nod. “The choice be yers.”

Mairi squirmed around and glared at the fire. “At least let loose enough so I can breathe and say the damn chant.”

Ronan’s arms relaxed a hairsbreadth, but his scowl only deepened.

How the hell was she supposed to concentrate and open the portal with six and a half feet of hard-muscled Scot pressed against her? Her body tingled and ached. Every nerve ending pulsed with anticipation, longing for a repeat of last night’s delicious romp.
He’s a liar,
Mairi repeated over and over in her mind. I
don’t care,
her flaming libido argued.
Neither do I,
her heart whispered.

“If we end up in the Stone Age, it’s going to be your fault.” Mairi jerked her head toward the struggling ring of fire. “We’ve got to get closer. Once I say the words and the flames freeze, jump when I do.”

His face a tensed mask, Ronan briefly glanced at the fire then returned his focus to Mairi. “Aye. I remember the wretched jump. I ken what t’do.”

Mairi bit the inside of her cheek to keep from reassuring Ronan that everything would be all right.
Stop it.
He is not endearing.
Don’t feel sorry for him, she told herself. Still, h
er heart ached to ease Ronan’s fears.

Mairi sucked in a deep breath and nodded to Eliza. “I’ll be back soon.”

Eliza didn’t say a word. She just slowly turned and faced the fire.

Mairi spread her fingers across the small of Ronan’s back, doing her level best to ignore how the wet silk of his shirt smoothed to a sensuous velvety heat beneath her hands. Turning her head, she locked her gaze on the blue white flames of the fire, hissing and sputtering against the icy rain.

Tensed, Mairi stared at the fire, eyes burning for want of tears.
Focus, dammit.
She sucked in a deep breath and blocked out every sound except for the pelting rain.

And then she felt it.

Faint at first and then stronger.
Finally.
Mairi released the breath she’d been holding and welcomed the old familiar burn. The energy grew, enfolding her with tendrils of pulsing, welcoming heat.

“It’s time,” Mairi whispered. “Hold tight.”

“I swear to ye I will never let ye go.”

Mairi forced herself to remain focused, but a tiny part of her shivered at the underlying meaning of Ronan’s tone. Mairi knew on a deep, very basic level, Ronan wasn’t just talking about the jump.

Mairi licked the rain from her lips and slowly rocked back and forth toward the fire as she began the chant.

“Web of time

Veil of space

Carry us to our chosen place

Borne of water

Trialed by fire

My Sinclair blood claims this power

For the good of all

With harm to none

So as it is spoken

So let it be done.”

The flames crackled like tinkling glass as they stretched in length and froze into solid shards of glistening blue white ice. Mairi nodded one last time to Eliza then looked up into Ronan’s face. She gently rocked them to and fro three times. When they swayed toward the fire the third time, Mairi shouted, “So mote it be!”

It took a moment for Mairi to realize that the deep growling sound shaking through her was Ronan roaring some sort of battle cry. “Close your eyes,” she shouted against his cold, clammy cheek as they tumbled through space.

Ronan’s arms tightened around her and he buried his face in the crook of her neck. Mairi couldn’t help herself. She clutched him tighter, lacing her fingers through his close-cropped hair and wrapping her legs around his waist.

The energy of the tunnel moaned and screeched, snatching at hair and clothes as they spun through the layers of time. Mairi kept Granny locked in her mind. Granny’s smiling face, her glowing staff, and her welcoming outstretched hand was their target.

Their spinning slowed as their fall through time drew to a close. “We’re nearly there,” Mairi shouted. “Brace yourself.”

Her ears popped as they broke through. Mairi opened her eyes and shifted her weight as they spiraled downward. The ground rushed up to meet them with an abrupt and painful thud. Still clenched tightly together, they rolled and bounced down the tufted hillside.

Ronan hissed out another stream of Gaelic. They finally thudded to a stop against a grassy incline. Mairi slowly lifted her head, opened one eye, and looked around. A groan escaped her as she shifted atop Ronan.

Dammit. Even my hair hurts
. In a few hours, she’d be one big bruise. She’d never mastered controlling the landing out of the time cloud. Granny had often warned this failing would probably someday break her neck. She peered down at Ronan, sprawled beneath her with his eyes shut. She lightly thumped his chest. “We’re here.”

Ronan’s eyes remained closed and his arms stayed locked around her waist. If not for the subtle rise and fall of his chest beneath her, Mairi would’ve sworn he was dead. She pushed herself upright while still sitting astraddle his body. “Ronan. We’re here.” Still no response. “Ronan, are you all right?” She patted the center of his chest again—a bit more urgently.

Ronan remained silent and unresponsive.

Oh, Lord. I’ve put him in a coma.
Mairi leaned forward and cradled Ronan’s face between her hands. “Ronan, you’ve got to wake up.” Mairi waited then hitched herself higher up the length of hard muscle beneath her. “Ronan. Say something. Please?”

Still no response.

Mairi straightened, stretching as tall as Ronan’s grip on her waist would allow, and looked around.
Dammit.
Now what was she supposed to do? They were supposed to come here, get the job done, and then she could go back home. Mairi did her best to ignore the sick knot of worry about Ronan cutting off her air. He would be fine. After all, he was immortal. Right?

Mairi twisted and scanned the landscape. And where the hell had they landed? If Ronan didn’t regain consciousness and lead her to the keep, how the devil would she find her family? If she had to heal him, how long would it take him to fully regain his strength? Or would his immortality heal him? If it did, how long would it take? She could be stuck in this century for entirely too long.
Dammit!

The longer she sat astraddle of Ronan’s body, the more increasingly aware she became of an ever-hardening ridge beneath her ass. Mairi glared down at his tightly closed eyes.
You sneaky bastard.
She folded her arms across her chest and wiggled from side to side. The length and hardness of said ridge grew in direct correlation with the sheen of sweat now glistening on Ronan’s forehead. With slow erotic accuracy, Mairi rocked her pelvis back and forth, holding her breath against her own growing desire.

Ronan groaned. His eyes popped open and he moved to pull her closer.

Mairi jerked out of his grasp, rolled to her feet, and sidled away. “You faking son of a bitch. Get your ass up. We’ve got work to do.”

Ronan heaved out a groaning sigh and rolled to a sitting position. “Never in all my years have I ever heard a woman use such foul language.”

“Then you’ve obviously never pissed off any other women as much as you’ve pissed me off.” Mairi shucked her ungainly raincoat and wadded it up under one arm. Damn, she’d worn too many clothes. “Now get up from there and show me the way to MacKenna Keep.”

Ronan didn’t say a word, just sat there staring up at her.

“Will you come on?” Mairi stomped a rubber boot. She was tired. She was sore and she was in no mood to be toyed with. Judging by the failing sunlight, full nightfall would be on them soon and she had no intention of sleeping on the cold hard ground of the Highlands—especially not with Ronan. She paced a few steps around the circumference of the hillside, searching for a path, a road, or some clue that might lead her to MacKenna Keep.

She looked back at Ronan. There he sat, arms looped casually around his bent legs, studying her as though she were some sort of lab specimen. “What the hell is wrong with you now?”

Ronan shook his head. A sad smile darkened his expression as he slowly rose to his feet. “One thing, lass.”

“What?”

“I fear I’ve come t’love a verra coldhearted woman.”

Mairi shuffled in place, hardening herself to the sad longing of Ronan’s expression. Why would he say such a thing? She’d brought him back to the thirteenth-century Highlands. She was going to heal his mother and his friend. The curse would be broken. Her family’s punishment from the Fates would be complete and she could return to twenty-first-century Edinburgh, where she belonged. It was a done deal. Everybody was headed straight for their happy-ass ever after. “You don’t have to keep up the act. I’m here. You got what you wanted.”

Ronan rolled his shoulders and settled his stance as though squaring off for battle. His chin rose just enough to clearly convey the message that he wasn’t pleased. He took one broad step forward and fixed Mairi with a look that rattled her to her soul. “Ye err in yer thinkin’, lass. I have no’ attained what I truly desire—yet.”

S
COTLAND—
T
HIRTEENTH
C
ENTURY

They were in his time now. His familiar time. Ronan already felt renewed strength and hope pulsing through his veins. He inhaled a deep breath of the cold crisp Highland air.
Aye.
Even the air of this time tasted better.

“Shit!”

Ronan caught Mairi up, steadying her by one elbow as she stumbled and tripped through the slick tangle of thick grass rolling across the hillside. “Take care, lass. The hoarfrost makes the grass as slippery as ice.”

“I should’ve worn my hiking boots.” Mairi yanked her arm free like a petulant child. “How much farther?” Her breath puffed a cloudy mist in the frosty air as she pressed gloved hands to her bright red cheeks and scowled at their surroundings.

Ronan slowly turned, scanning the familiar landscape. The blue green hills and mountains spread before them like muted tones of a worn hunting plaid draped across a sleeping giant. The evening mist was settling and freezing across the ground. Soft whirls of ethereal white flowed into the dips and valleys, blanketing the Highlands for coming nightfall. The softly graying light of the horizon was slowly fading into a starless void of black. There would be no stars tonight. Wintry clouds would shield the land from the stars’ prying eyes.

“We will arrive before sunrise if we travel all night.” Ronan unwound his plaid and wrapped it around Mairi’s trembling body.

Mairi tugged the wool cloth free and handed it back to him. “I’m fine.”

Ronan took the cloth, shook it out, and yanked it around Mairi again. “Wear it. I’ll no’ have ye freezin’ and takin’ ill.”

“I said I am fine.” Mairi strained her words through gritted teeth. With a narrow-eyed look that left no doubt as to her black mood, she ripped the plaid away from her shoulders, wadded it into a ball, and threw it at Ronan’s chest. “Keep it. All you’re wearing is a silk shirt and leather-wannabe jeans. I’ve got on layers. I. Am. Fine.”

Ronan had no idea what the hell leather-wannabe jeans were, but he knew for a fact he was ready to turn Mairi o’er his knee and tan her stubborn arse. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to his chest. “Ye have but one choice. Wear the plaid and we keep walking ’til we reach the keep. Refuse the plaid and we bed down. Right here. And I shall see to it yer kept suitably warm throughout the night wi’ the heat of me own body.” Ronan tightened his other arm about Mairi’s waist and molded his hardness into her soft inviting curves. “Which shall it be?”

The very tip of Mairi’s tongue raced across her bottom lip. The gold flecks in her green eyes flared just as they had the first time they’d enjoyed each other’s bodies. A long tense moment passed. Long enough for Ronan to hope Mairi was about to choose him.

“Give me the damn plaid.”

Victory was bittersweet as Ronan shook out the plaid once more and snugged it securely about Mairi’s shoulders. “There now.” He thumped the brim of her hooded raincoat then affectionately tapped the tip of her nose. “Is that no’ better?”

“Fan-freakin-tastic,” Mairi snarled as she jerked away. She’d stomped only a few feet when her boots snagged in the rolling hillocks of sedge. She stumbled and fell face forward into the tangle of frost-covered grass. “Dammit all to hell! I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.”

Ronan clamped his mouth shut and held his breath.
Lore a mercy.
If he dared laugh at the lass now, she’d surely kill him. “Be ye all right?”

“I’m fine, dammit.” Mairi floundered to a sitting position, took off her rubber boots, and flung them across the hillside.

“Ye canna travel in sock feet through the Highlands in the dead o’ winter.”

“I don’t care. My feet might freeze but at least the grip of my toes through my wool socks will keep me off my ass.” Mairi yanked the thick woven socks all the way up to her knees.

A heavy sigh escaped Ronan. What a woman. His own fiery hellcat. A gust of wind shoved against his back, urging his attention to the darkening sky. Ronan scowled upward. They best get moving. A winter storm was on its way. The oncoming weather made up Ronan’s mind. He caught up with Mairi and before she realized what was going on, he scooped her up and draped her over one shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing?” Mairi thumped a fist between his shoulder blades as she squirmed against his grasp. “Put me down! Now!”

Ronan smacked the flat of his free hand across Mairi’s ass. “Still yerself. Ye canna walk in sockinged feet and ye canna walk in yer boots. A storm approaches. We’ve no more time to tarry.”

Mairi elbowed the back of his head and pummeled her fists against his back as she twisted and tried to slide down his chest. “You better put me down now or I’ll—”

Ronan smacked Mairi’s ass again. “Ye’ll what? Freeze to death in winter’s first snow because yer so damned hardheaded ye willna see reason? Still yerself. Now.” Ronan couldna help but smile. His woman’s fine round arse was bouncing against the side of his head with every step. Was there any better way to walk across the Highlands?

Mairi snuggled closer to the wall of warmth pressed against her. Without opening her eyes, she hitched the blanket higher about her neck.
Damn, my room’s really cold tonight. Someone must’ve shut the stairwell door again.

A lonely high-pitched yowl shattered Mairi’s semiconscious state. She jerked bolt upright and looked around. Reality crashed in with a vengeance. Mairi sagged forward, rubbing the heels of both hands against her eyes.
Dammit.
She wasn’t in her room. She was in thirteenth-century Scotland wedged between a boulder and Ronan.
Talk about a rock and a hard place
. Mairi shuddered with a weary sigh.

“Lie down, lass.” Ronan pulled her back down against his chest and nuzzled a kiss onto the top of her head. “The storm should be spent by the time the sun rises. Lie down and keep warm.”

It was then Mairi noticed the sounds all around them. Freezing rain pelted every possible surface, sounding like tiny pebbles falling through a sieve. The wind shushed overhead like a mother quieting a child. A stronger gust moaned through the cluster of trees, setting their icy branches to crackling. Pine boughs, heavy with winter’s kiss, bent low over the boulder, sheltering them beneath a frozen wall of green. Ronan had tucked them up against the embankment of limestone centered in a stand of pines. The wall of rock paired with the thick branches of the trees made a fair shelter against the howling wind, freezing rain, and snow.

“I’m still mad at you,” Mairi warned as she curled up tighter against him. His welcoming warmth enveloped her better than any fire. In spite of the anger and hurt simmering in her heart, Mairi felt a calming sense of completeness.
Dammit.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she needed him. “I haven’t forgiven you,” she hurried to add.

“Aye, lass. I know.” A deep sigh shifted Ronan’s chest beneath her cheek.

“And I’m going back as soon as I’m done here.”

“Aye, lass. I remember yer sayin’ as much.”

Mairi spread her fingers against the hard muscular ridges laddered down Ronan’s taut stomach. She didn’t know which was worse: freezing to death or aching for the very man who had deceived her.

“Ye must know I ne’er meant to hurt ye.” Ronan’s husky whisper rasped through the shadows. His steady heartbeat thudded beneath her cheek. Or was it her own pounding heart drowning out the muffled sounds of the wintry storm?

“I thought you were different.” Mairi prayed Ronan didn’t hear the pitiful squeak in her voice. She’d been so vulnerable to him. How had he weaseled his way into her heart so fast?

Ronan shifted back a bit, ran a finger beneath her chin, and gently lifted her face to his. “I am different. I love ye with such a fury, it frightens even me.”

“Please don’t hurt me again,” Mairi whispered. She hiccupped a soft sob as her eyes overflowed. She squinted her eyes shut against the determined stream of tears and tried to pull back.

Ronan caught her closer, prevented her from turning away. “Lore a mighty, m’dear sweet love. Can ye e’er forgive me?” Ronan’s voice broke. He slid his thumb through the trail of her tears then caught her tighter against his chest. “Forgive me,” he whispered into her hair. “I beg ye.”

Mairi slid her arms around Ronan, pulling closer until she melted into him. His hand slid down her back, across her hip, and down to her thigh. As Mairi raised her mouth to his, Ronan pulled her leg across his body. “Forgive me,” he repeated, his ragged whisper hot across her lips.

Mairi moved her hands up to his face and found his mouth. She dove into the taste of him, plunging her tongue deep into his mouth in answer to his request. She kissed him full, kissed him hard, kissed him with every last shred of emotion crashing inside her. Mairi finally pulled back, still holding his face between her hands, her lips barely brushing his as she spoke. “Just love me,” she said in a breathless whisper against his warm, sweet mouth. “I just need you to
really
love me.”

“Done,” Ronan groaned as he rolled her back and settled his body over her.

Mairi wrapped her legs around Ronan’s tensed body, arching into the heat of his claiming kiss. The hard ridge of him rubbed against her with a maddeningly sensuous rhythm. Ronan slowly, methodically rocked with her, teasing her through the layers of their clothes. “You’re killing me,” she panted against his mouth.

“Ye’ll surely freeze if ye shed yer trews.” Ronan raised up a bit then rocked between her legs with an even harder thrust as he slid his hand inside her neckline and found her breast. He nuzzled a burning trail down Mairi’s throat as he fondled her nipple. With an impatient huff against the neckline, which would stretch no more, Ronan pulled his hand out of her shirt and attacked the job from the hem.

Mairi giggled as he yanked her multiple shirts free of her jeans and pushed them up out of the way. Somehow, the combination of icy wind and Ronan’s hot mouth on her breast took her breath away. A delicious shudder rippled through her as he suckled her nipple deep into his mouth. Freezing or not, she had to get out of her pants and into his. Mairi pushed him away.

Ronan lifted up, his brow furrowed with concern.

Before he could say a word, Mairi undid her jeans, pushing and wiggling them down to her ankles, her panties nested inside them. The freezing air kissed her burning wetness and the cold hard ground bit at her back. She didn’t care. As hot as she was, she’d thaw the entire mountain. Mairi kicked the clothes aside and tugged at the waistband of Ronan’s pants.

Ronan covered her hand with his and held her still. “I have none of yer wee condoms.”

A montage of safe sex and birth control speeches flickered through Mairi’s mind. Now, what the hell was she going to do? Her lovely little prescription pretty much guaranteed no baby, but she’d always believed in the added protection of condoms. A throbbing fire burned inside her, demanded to be tended.
To hell with the condoms.

“I need you,” she groaned as she rubbed her bare thighs against either side of Ronan’s frustratingly still clothed hips. She rocked up against the hard ridge that promised delicious relief.

“Lore, lass. I need ye as well. But I willna take ye and have ye regret it.” Ronan hovered above her, supporting his weight on his elbows, propped at either side of her shoulders. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers with a heavy sigh. “Tell me what ye truly wish. Whate’er ye say, shall be done.”

Mairi slid her hands up Ronan’s shirt. Their mutual need was palpable, a tingling force humming against her flesh. She’d always been so careful. So levelheaded. Mairi ducked her head and nuzzled the salty sweetness of Ronan’s throat. His scent, his taste, his trembling body decided it. Screw careful. Screw levelheaded. Where the hell had that ever gotten her?
To hell with the condoms
roared through her mind again like an ancient battle cry.

“Take me,” she gasped into his ear. “Take me now.”

“As ye wish, m’love.” Ronan rolled sideways and shed his pants in one hurried move. A rumbling growl escaped him as he lowered his hot naked body back between her legs.

Mairi arched into Ronan’s lunge as he buried himself inside her. She rocked and met him, thrust for thrust, writhing beneath him as he filled her. Mairi raked her fingers down his back and then the world exploded with an overload of sensory bliss. Wave after wave crashed through her, taking her eons away from the frozen mountain and the troubles of the day.

Ronan roared, pounding harder until his entire body tensed then jerked to a stop and shuddered. Mairi closed her eyes as Ronan collapsed atop her. A satisfied smile warmed her face as he took care not to crush her.

Ronan reached back and pulled the plaid up over them both while still remaining inside her. “There’s nary a thing so fine as sleeping inside yer woman’s sweet warmth.”

Mairi slid her hands down Ronan’s back, cupped his buttocks in her hands, and snugged him even tighter between her thighs. “Agreed,” she whispered as the coziness of their icy cave lulled her into contented oblivion.