The Highlander's Conquest (16 page)

Guilt curdled the wine in her belly. “Aye… But I thought he was…”

Lorna squeezed her hand. “Nay need to explain, my brother has already told me the story. I say he should have told ye
the truth
sooner, but then again, if I were ye, I
wouldna
have gone with him.”

Aliah gave a brief smile. “Aye. I still have reservations,” she said wryly.

“
Ye’d
best tread with care, lass. When a man falls, he falls hard.”

“I’ll not be there to pick him up, Lorna. He doesn
’t
want me in that way. He said as much himself.”

“They all do.”

Lorna’s words mystified
Aliah
, but before she could ask her to explain
,
the feast was presented and the mistress of Glasgow Castle called out with excitement upon seeing her favorite venison pie.

An hour or more later, Aliah wasn’t sure
how much time had passed since
her belly was now warm with wine and her head buzzed a little, Lorna clapped her hand
s
for music. Several musicians sat before the hearth strumming and blowing a beautiful melody. Aliah felt
t
he music invade her limbs, making her sway.

“Come dance,” Lorna said, pure joy in her voice.

She grabbed Aliah by the hand and tugged her to the dance floor, where they twirled and laughed, joined by several other clanswomen. Not wanting to be left out, Laird Montgomery bowed before the ladies and begged a dance from his wife.

“Only if my brother should dance with our guest,” Lorna answered.

From his perch at the dais, Blane glowered at them all. Aliah felt
almost felt
sorry for him. His leg probably hurt like the devil. Dancing was not what he needed, but a good solid sleep in a comfortable bed.

She started to shake her head when he stood and stalked toward her.

He bowed stiffly before her. Aliah’s heart stopped. He meant to dance with her? She curtsied in turn, and then allowed him to take her hand. Blane twirled her about, his face a mask she could not decipher. Was he angry? Tired? Bored? Then his greenish eyes gazed into hers and her breath caught.

His stare was intense, hot, and she felt her insides start to melt. Knees grew weak. Even her arms seemed to lose all their power. She licked her lips, wishing instead that it was his tongue running over her sensitive flesh. What was she thinking? Distance was what she needed. But his body was hard and flush against her. Every plane and dip of muscle and sinew branded her.

Troubling that being in his arms felt so right and so wrong at the same time.

“Why would ye think I didna like it here?” he asked quietly.

“I told you, you haven’t stopped grumbling.” She was quick to continue, “But you made it clear ’twas because of your leg.”

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. “That was part of it.”

Dare she ask? “What is the other part?”

“Ye.”

“Me?”

“Aye. Whenever I’m around ye, I canna seem to…”

“Breathe?”

Blane looked at her with a bit of awe. “Aye.”

Aliah’s face flamed and she pulled her eyes from his to look over his shoulder. She couldn’t believe she’d
essentially
admitted to the same thing—that he’d agreed.

Blane took her subtle cue of silence, and twirled her for several more minutes. The music did not stop. ’Twas as if Lorna had commanded one long continuous song. Aliah did
not mind so much. Being in his arms was the first time she’d started to relax all evening.

He leaned close, his breath fanning her face, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. “I dinna know what it is about ye, lass. I
shouldna
want what I want.
Shouldna
desire the taste of your lips, but I canna help myself.”

Aliah swallowed hard. “Aye,” she murmured.

“What are we to do?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“I canna kiss ye anymore, even if every muscle in my body strains to tuck ye tight against me, and ravish your sweet taste.”

Why did he have to talk like that? Put such visions in her mind. Her head swam with too much wine, desire and the remembrances of the last time he’d touched her.

“Nay,” sh
e answered, agreeing with him, despite her body’s desire to do the opposite.

“Dinna say nay…” he murmured against her ear again.

“Why?” she whispered back.

“I want ye...”

Saint’s knees!
Blane had admitted it, but he’d also drowned in an entire cask of ale before taking her hand to dance. He didn’t mean it—and he said he wanted her, desired her, as in her body, not her soul.

“You cannot have me,” she said through her teeth, angry at herself for having even played into his games. “I am a woman of virtue, not a woman to be tussled with. I deserve more than a bedding, Sir Blane.”

She yanked away from him and without a backward glance headed from the great hall. The winding stairs seemed steeper than when she’d descended them earlier.
Perhaps because earlier there had been hope left in her heart, now she knew for sure that hope was dead, and she’d a long climb to where she needed to go.

Behind her
,
footsteps pounded on the floor, and someone gripped her elbow, whipping her around. Aliah lost her footing, falling against Blane
’s hard chest
.

“I dinna want just to bed ye, lass. I want much more than that,” he spat, his chest heaved with his breaths, nostrils flared, eyes blazed with emotion. “But I’ve naught to offer ye but a lifetime of loneliness. I’ve no home and my soul is black. An angel such as yourself deserves better.”

“No one is perfect, Blane. Not even I.” She dare not tell him that whether he had a home or not
wasn’t important
to her. His soul however was another matter. “You leave too much inside here.” She flattened her hand to his chest. “I’d have had you for my own, but only if
you
were to unburden yourself with whatever demons you fight.”

“Even then I’d still be damaged.”

Aliah started to shake her head, but his hands came up to clasp her face and she barely had time to take a breath
before
his lips descended on hers.

Chapter Six
teen

O
ut of control. Unequivocally mad. ’Twas the only thing to describe the sensations whipping through Blane’s body and the thoughts tumbling through his min
d
. Aliah’s lips were pliant, warm and all too luscious. He crushed his mouth to hers, tasting the wine she’d drunk mingled with the ale he’d imbibed too much of. Beyond that was her own sweet essence that drove him wild. How could he possibly think he could ever get away from her?

With both hands he hauled her closer, fitting her body perfectly to his. She whimpered in the back of her throat and he answered with a feral growl. Not caring who saw, or what the consequences would be, he lifted her into his arms, never losing the connection with her mouth. On pure instinct he climbed the circular stone stairs as he continued to pleasure them both with his kiss.

“Chamber?” he said gruffly, between sucking on her lower lip and licking at her tongue.

“There,” she panted, her breaths as ragged and shallow as his own.

Blane stopped moving a moment to further explore her mouth. The ache in his leg was gone, replaced by a pulsing throb throughout his whole body—the only thing that could cease that ache was to bury himself deep inside her.

He nudged open the door and shut it with the heel of his boot in one fluid motion
. Setting her down on her feet, he pressed her back against the door,
held her arms above her head, keeping her captive to his kiss. Aliah didn’t seem to mind, and instead moaned against his lips, pressing her hips against him. Her passion ignited his own. Blane slid his lips from he
r
mouth, down along her chin to her ear, teasing the lobe as she squirmed against him. He pinned her hips to his, pressing her hard against the
aged oak
.

H
is
cock throbbed, thick with need and begging for the warmth of her slick channel.
Heat emanated from the apex of her thighs and he knew to take her, to slide inside her, would be sweet heaven indeed. He continued his path of kisses over her collarbone, moving lower to kiss the center of her chest, just above the plush globes of her breasts. She smelled so sweet, tasted even better. Never in his wildest encounters had he come across a woman as worthy of the name goddess as she.

Letting go of her hands, he slid his fingers with feather-light touch up her ribs until he reached her breasts. He itched to touch her with a power he wasn’t able to control. Slowly he cupped her breasts, weighing them, kneading them, brushing his thumbs over the turgid peaks.

“Blane,” she murmured, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders, then snaking into his hair, massaging his scalp.

Hearing her say his name sent a whirl of fresh desire blasting through his chest and straight to his groin. His cock strained with the need for him to remove his plaid, to get ever closer to the velvet flesh she offered. But he couldn’t do that…
He had to pleasure her, make her quiver. And he was an expert when it came to making a woman’s thighs twinge.

Trailing his lips
from the center of her chest
,
he
brushed over the silkiness of the tops of her breasts, breathing hotly on her flesh. Gasps came from her mouth in quick fashion, parting the hair on his head, egging him on. Skimming his nails
gently
over her
skin
, he yanked her gown down, revealing one
rose-colored
nipple and then the other.

“
Ye’re
more beautiful than I imagined,” he said, his voice husky with need.

“Thank…you,” she managed.

“Nay, thank
ye
,” he answered, dipping to swirl his tongue over one nipple.

“Oh!” she cried, her back arching.

“Aye,” he said with a little chuckle, kneading both of her breasts as he suckled her.

Aliah’s response was hot, swift. She moaned, yanked at his hair, and then pulled him closer. Her hips ground against his, seeking, searching.

Blane wasn’t sure how much more he could take… He slid a hand down over her ribs to her hip, bunching her skirts up until his fingers skimmed the bare flesh of her
leg
. He stroked over her inner thigh
,
feeling her tremble.

Knowing she desired him pumped something primal inside him. How was it possible?

He caressed higher, until the heat of her core quivered on his fingertips. She was wet, blessedly so. Blane stroked a finger between her folds, finding the nub of her pleasure. Aliah cried out, her head hitting the door.

He chuckled against her breasts, then came up to gaze into her eyes.

“Ye want me,” he stated.

She swallowed and he watched the pulse in her neck jump.

“Say it, lass.”

“I do…”

As she said the words he thrust a finger inside her. Her channel was tight, squeezing against him.

“Oh, God,” she gasped, her head falling back again.

Blane felt his control was going to snap and soon. Lifting her into the
air
once again, he stormed
to the bed
. H
e had one mission now—to pleasure them both until the bed shook and the walls echoed from their cries.

He laid her on the bed, taking a moment to
let
his gaze
rove
from her ruby kissed lips, to her breasts which
spilled
from the soft gown she wore, down to her slipper covered toes. There was only one way to undress her, to reveal to himself the beauty of her lush body—slowly. He would take his time, kissing each and every inch of her creamy curves, nibbling, teasing until she writhed with a powerful need.

Eventually his gaze moved back up to her face, framed by her golden hair on the white linen pillow. Her eyes stopped him. They were wide,
hazy
with desire and something else. Something disturbing. She was scared. There was fear in her eyes. That was a slap in the face. A dunk of cold water on his ale-soaked brain.

What was he doing?

Disgusted with himself he slowly backed away from her, shaking his head.
Willing his cock to behave.
“Apologies, my lady,” he mumbled.
Ballocks!

The fear he’
d seen before was quickly w
iped from her face, but he couldn’t grasp the emotion that replaced it. She rolled over to face the opposite wall, her back to him.

“Shut the door on the way out, Sir Blane.” Her voice was cold and he longed to say something to comfort her, to place his hand on her back and offer her…

There was nothing
to
offer her. He’d already taken too much and he had nothing to give in return save heartbreak. Which it
seemed
he’d already accomplished.

The wall blurred before Aliah as tears clouded her eyes, stinging them. She tried not to blink, as if doing so would give permission for the tears to fall, for her feelings to be hurt by what had transpired.

Instead, she closed her eyes, ignoring the trickle of wetness that slid over her nose to join its sister tear on the pillow.

She couldn’t decide if she was more embarrassed or heartbroken. When she’d left the hall, she’d been determined to put Blane behind her. To move on, and then he’d found her on the stairwell. Said things that made her heart swell, her head spin.
I want much more than that…
His words still echoed in her mind.
As if to further push away her reserve, his lips had touched hers and all had been lost.

Whenever they kissed the world melted away. She became boneless in his arms and desired nothing more than the pleasure of surrounding herself with his scent, to run her fingers through his thick hair or along the corded muscles of his arms.
Her body still pulsed with the passion he’d ignited.

Blane made her feel beautiful, desirable. He made her feel she was more than what she was. Made her forget the pain of what brought her into this world
—the guilt of having caused her mother’s death
.
Prompted
her to think there was more to life than what she’d sentenced herself.

But as they grew closer, the turmoil only seemed to get worse. He literally was shoving her away. She didn’t know what to make of it, and she was certain she couldn’t take much more. They’d both had too much to drink. They’d both let the heat of the moment take over.

Swiping away a tear, she rolled onto her back
, sinking into the soft mattress
and flopped her arm over her eyes. He’d done the right thing by leaving and once more she found herself feeling more stupid than anything else. How she
wished for Arbella’s company. She needed someone to confide in. To talk to about her feelings and how insane she felt whenever she tried to make sense of what was happening.

Not that her sister was worldly in the ways of men, but Arbella had always paid attention to relationships and the interactions between people. If anyone could help her to decipher her feelings, it was her sister.

A deep sigh escaped her. Arbella was not here. And she wouldn’t see her sister for several days—in which time she’d have to see Blane again.

A soft tap sounded at the door. Aliah tried to ignore whoever it was, praying it was not
the man himself
returning.

“Aliah?”

A wave of relief filled her, ’twas Lorna.

Pulling herself up, she realized when the cold air hit her bare breasts she’d not fixed her gown. She hastened to do so, then
climbed from the bed,
pull
ing
the door open a crack.

Lorna stood alone in the corridor, a tray in her hand filled with small bowl of sugared almonds
,
a jug and two cups.
“May I come in?”

Aliah nodded, not trusting her voice. Her throat felt swollen, achy. She was sure to start sobbing as soon as she spoke.

Lorna glided in, softness embodied, and offered Aliah a warm smile a
s she shut the door behind her and set the tray on the table by the hearth.

“I see the maid has yet to light your fire.” She clucked her tongue then went about setting up the logs and lighting them with a flint. “I have called for your bath. They will be here soon.”

“Thank you.”

“None required.” She smiled, but it wasn’t the exuberant smiles she’d displayed in the great hall, this time the turn of her lips showed concern. Rubbing a hand over her belly she sat in one of the chairs before the hearth. “Will ye join me?”

Aliah nodded and took the seat opposite.
Lorna took a few minutes to pour out two cups of almond milk and offered Aliah some of the sweet nuts. She took a few, enjoying the crunchy sugared treat.