Seducing the Highlander (16 page)

Staring at him, the boy said bluntly, “Yes.”

“You resent the devil out of me, I take it.”

Blinking at that forthright statement, the young man reddened slightly. “I do, and so I should, sir.”

“Perhaps. But would it surprise you to know I’m damned curious about all of this now that I’ve met your brother? I’ve saved my neck more than once by being able to measure a man’s nature in just seconds, and I find I agree with you. Adain Cameron strikes me as an honorable man, and that puts an interesting twist on things.” Distractedly, Robbie gave the stallion a final pat. “Tell me, lad—”

“Arthur.”

“Tell me, Arthur, what have those eyes and ears of yours picked up that Julia does not know?”

“She’s a woman, if you’ll pardon my saying so—”

“I’ve noticed.” Robbie smiled wryly. “But explain to me how that affects her powers of observation.”

The hand that wasn’t wrapped around his crutch made a gesture of poignant frustration, and young Cameron said, “Dash it, would
you
strangle an old man with a bit of rope and toss him in a stream? No, I would guess not. You have a skilled sword arm and would cut him down face-to-face. Adain may not have your reputation, sir, but he is damned good with a blade; ask anyone. If he had wanted to kill our uncle, he would not have done it in the fashion it was done. He isn’t a coward, and that was the work of a slinking serpent afraid to show his face.”

Robbie elevated a brow, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned against a post near Solomon’s stall. “I agree . . . but logically, there are those who would say the deed was done in a fashion to deflect suspicion on purpose. Julia seems utterly convinced your brother is behind the loss of her immediate family, and her happiness and safety are now my responsibility.”

“I would venture to guess believing such a thing does not make her happy,” Arthur Cameron said with conviction. “Before all this they were not just engaged, but . . . well . . .”

“I’m aware it wasn’t just an arranged match, but there was a romantic attachment on both their parts,” Robbie said shortly, sparing the young man from having to go on. He didn’t want to hear it, which was a little unsettling. He’d known she was engaged before, but having come face-to-face with Cameron, he wasn’t quite so blasé about their former relationship. It was unsettling enough to have a wife, much less to know another man was in love with her.

“Well”—though his cheeks had suffused with color, Arthur went doggedly on—“if you are responsible, as you say, for her happiness, shouldn’t you find out the truth? She will be miserable always to think Adain killed her father and Randal.”

“We won’t be here long enough for me to really look into this,” Robbie stated pragmatically. “Besides which, this is your brother’s problem. He will be laird soon enough, and I’m sure if you look on my presence here with less than enthusiasm, he feels even more antipathy. I know I would. The woman he desires shares my bed.”

“To clear his name, he would tolerate a few more days of your company.” Looking pathetically sincere, Arthur said quickly, “Aside from your marriage, the two of you have nothing against each other, do you? You are both strong, capable warriors and would make a formidable force if you joined together to seek out those who committed these crimes. Up until now, Adain has been crippled by the fact that he is the main object of suspicion. Your faith in his innocence would go far in helping him in his quest for the truth.”

Amused and a little touched by such stalwart brotherly devotion, Robbie said, “I am not at all as certain as you are, young Arthur, that your brother would welcome my help in any capacity. In fact,” he added under his breath, “if he could cut off my balls, he would, and gladly.”

That made the boy laugh, a hiccup of sound, his thin face lighting. “I have a feeling that wouldn’t be an easy undertaking.”

“I am rather attached to them,” Robbie said with a grin.

“Julia is very pretty.” It was a careful observation. “Do you not feel sorry for Adain if she unfairly despises him and chooses to lie with you instead?”

“I doubt he is interested in my pity.”

“No, but if he were accepting of your help, would you give it? We are now family. You are beholden, to a certain extent, to aid us.”

Moving to close the stall door and leave Solomon to his oats, Robbie said firmly, “You have loyalty to your brother, and I admire that in a man. However, I can’t think of a thing I could do to help.”

With surprising grace for one so handicapped, Arthur Cameron scooted back on his crutch and said doggedly, “If there was a way, would you do it?”

Gazing at the boy’s pale, set face, Robbie muttered, “You are as tenacious as a terrier after a rat, lad. I suppose that if there were a way I could help any good man clear his name, I would.”

 

 

Julia looked up quickly at the sound of the door opening, her heart increasing its pace.
It took the dratted man long enough
, she thought, sinking a fraction lower in the water and feeling it lap over the tips of her breasts as Robbie walked into the room. The water was cooling and she was beginning to shiver.

Though she would never admit she had lingered longer than necessary at her ablutions because she was waiting for the gloriously attractive Robbie McCray, she was undoubtedly curious as to just what he’d meant when he’d said a bath could be fun.

“Thanks be to heaven I am not too late.” His warm, drawling brogue was full of amusement, and he shut the door carefully, dropping the latch into place. “I cannot think of how disappointed I would be to miss the sight of my enchanting wife all beautifully naked, wet, and . . . slippery.”

Giving her roguish husband a cool look from under her lashes, Julia said, “Actually, I am quite finished, McCray. If you would hand me my towel, I would appreciate it.”

“I can do better than that.” As he crossed the room, he didn’t seem to notice the wide window overlooking the rolling hills, the lush carpet underfoot, or even the bed hung with pale blue silk and covered with a delicately embroidered blanket. His dark gaze was fastened on her alone as he moved toward the tub and sank down suddenly to his haunches, picking up the drying cloth she had left on a small stool. “Please, my lady, allow me the honor.”

She let out a small squeak of surprise as he plunged his arms into the tub, heedless of the water sloshing out or her dripping nakedness soaking his clothes. Julia clutched at his shoulders as he lifted her out, a warm anticipation spreading through her body like wildfire. The towel was tossed carelessly on the bed, and Robbie laid her on it, his avid gaze traveling over every damp, gleaming inch of exposed skin.

“I cannot wait to be inside you,” he said, a half-smile touching his lips as he deliberately unfastened his now half-sodden breeches. “Can you tell?”

She could, of course, the instant the last button was undone and his magnificent erection was free. It looked large through the open material of his breeches, and seemed to lengthen further as she watched with fascinated attention. “I’m not blind,” she muttered, feeling oddly flushed.

His wet shirt was plastered to his wide, powerful chest, and he pulled the lacings free, stripping it off and tossing it aside. “You make me hard as hell, wife,” he said in a low, almost hoarse voice. “Especially as you are now. Like some dark-haired siren from the sea.”

If his cock was any indication, he told the truth. It stood high and engorged against his stomach, pulsing slightly, the distended tip gleaming. “Tell me you’re going to take off your boots,” she protested as he began to climb on top of her. “By the gods, McCray—”

“Later,” he growled, and captured her mouth in a hard kiss, his insistent tongue delving deep, the fine wool of his breeches an abrasion on her inner thighs as he settled between her legs, nudging them apart. Julia wanted to be outraged, for not only was she dripping wet, but he was still half-dressed. Yet the sensation of his skillful mouth plundering hers silenced her protests, as did the warm foray of his long- fingered hands across her bare skin. He kneaded her breast as he thrust his tongue deep between her lips, his long fingers massaging the taut flesh, the nipple tingling and hardening.

Hot, insistent lips roamed across her jaw, and he whispered in her ear, “Jesus, you feel damned good underneath me. You have beautiful tits, sweet Julia. Firm and full and begging for my mouth.”

He was infernally right, she realized in dreamy rapture as he moved lower and sucked one puckered tip into the recess of his mouth, his tongue swirling around the crest in long, tantalizing strokes. She wanted him to suckle her, to make that singular sensation coil in her belly. Clasping his dark head, her fingers slid through his silky, thick hair, holding him close as she shamelessly pushed her aching breast deeper into the heated depths that so relentlessly teased and aroused. He chuckled a little as he lifted his head and she immediately tugged it to the aching, needy opposite nipple, but he obliged with enthusiasm, cupping the pliant weight in his hand, making the dusky tip stand high before he licked it gently, eliciting an involuntary moan.

“Please . . .” Julia could not believe she was actually begging, but for the moment did not care. “McCray.”

His dark eyes were alight with both arousal and mischievous command. “If you want me to suck on it, sweet Julia, you must call me Robbie.”

The long weight of his body pinning her to the bed had her nearly delirious with anticipation, and the feel of his hand molding her flesh was both unnerving and glorious. “Fine,” she bit out, watching him from beneath half-lowered lashes. “Robbie, please.”

He smiled in a dangerous curve of his beautiful mouth. “I might even be persuaded to . . .
taste
you again if you are very, very nice to me.”

The idea of his mouth between her legs was enough to make her squirm slightly, her hungry breast forgotten for a new, more tantalizing need. “I’m lying naked underneath you, McC—er . . . Robbie. How much nicer can I be?”

He lapped lightly at her straining nipple. “I don’t know. Let’s see . . . how far can you spread your legs? I mean very wide, my lovely wife, so I know exactly what you want.”

There was no question the man was utterly outrageous. But she could not forget the memory of his tongue between her thighs as it delicately brought her to the summit of pleasure. . . .

Julia eased her legs apart slowly, rewarded when he slid down her body and settled between them, his dark head nestled in that shocking position. One large palm rested on the inner softness of her open thighs. “Now, this is a beautiful sight, lass. Here, let me have a nibble.”

Her eyes drifted shut at the first light pressure, long fingers pushing her folds open as he pressed his mouth to her sex and began to lick and probe, a low sound of pleasure locked in her throat. Held prisoner by both acute sensation and his light grip, she listened to the wet sounds of his mouth feasting at her cleft, feeling a rising tide of excitement clench in her stomach and take her body captive. Within moments, she moaned, arching her pelvis upward, his hands sliding to cup her buttocks, lift her higher, and hold her in place for his delicious sexual torture. Dark hair brushed her quivering inner thighs, and his lashes lowered to veil his eyes as he alternately penetrated her female opening with his tongue, then he licked upward to toy with the sensitive nub that seemed the center of her pleasure.

Panting, her hands tangled in the bed linens, Julia reached for that wondrous peak and found it, a small shriek of pure rapture echoing outward as she climaxed hard against his wicked mouth, her body shaking and trembling. Gently suckling, he held her there until she twisted away, unable to bear another moment of such intense, glorious release.

“My turn, sweet,” her husband murmured as he shifted, and suddenly she felt the pressure of his demanding entrance between her open legs, the tip of his cock stretching her wide as he pushed slowly inside to fully rest inside her still pulsing vagina. He said thickly, “You are tight as a gloved fist, Mrs. McCray, and so wet and hot I think I’ve gone to heaven. Hold on, lass, for a hard, fast ride.”

Still languorously drifting in the aftermath of her orgasm, she found he was true to his word, for he withdrew and then plunged back inside with rapid long strokes, his lean hips thrusting his hard shaft as deeply as possible before sliding back almost completely out. The fluids of her sexual release lubricated his insistent movements, and Julia could not help but give small, breathless sighs of pleasure at the slick possession of her body, enjoying the carnal rhythm with shameless abandon. Bending her knees, she spread her legs as far as she could to allow him full penetration, arching upward to accept every throbbing inch. “Oh . . . Robbie, yes.”

“That’s it,” he said through his teeth. “You were born to give a man pleasure. Come again for me.”

She obeyed when his hand slid between their mating bodies and touched her, his fingers gliding over that swollen nub with excruciating pressure that seemed to make her body explode. Clutching his shoulders wildly, she convulsed around his hard cock, her legs locked around his waist. In response, he gave a groan and ejaculated, the forceful spurt of his hot semen bathing the mouth of her womb. With his face resting against the side of her neck, Julia could feel the warm rush of her husband’s breathing and the wild pounding of his heart against her breasts. Keeping his weight braced on his elbows, he finally lifted his head and gave her one of his signature lazy smiles. “Now, that is the way to take a bath, lass.”

A
dain Cameron reached over and poured more wine into his glass, trying with every fiber of his being to tamp down the impulse to heave himself to his feet and shove his fist right down Robert McCray’s throat. The problem was, of course, that violence at this point would be fruitless, for besides proving to Julia that he was the murderous fiend she believed him to be, it would not undo the fact that the infamous McCray had already fucked her.