The Highlander's Woman (The Reckless Rockwoods #3) (23 page)

They tumbled down onto the mattress, and her lips clung to his as she undid the tapes of her combination garment. His hands brushed hers out of the way as he finished the task for her and tugged the corset from her body. Despite his lack of vision, his touch was as confident and sure as if he could see her. A large hand reached for the bodice of her chemise, and the garment screamed a soft protest as the fabric ripped beneath the strength of his hands to fall off her. Startled, she gasped loudly and a rush of excitement streaked through her at the primal act. He worked quickly until her shoes and stockings were all that was left.

Fire blazed its way up across her skin as he took his time easing her stocking downward. The moment his hands touched the destroyed tissue on her leg she stiffened. Unable to prevent it, she jerked away from his touch. It was a reaction of sheer self-preservation. An odd expression crossed his face, and his hand grew still against her leg. In the haze of desire, she thought it was a look of despair. But the emotion vanished too quickly to tell as his touch drove everything out of her mind.

Julian quickly removed the stocking from her scarred limb, and his fingers didn’t linger as he removed the other stocking. When her legs were bare, he ran one hand up her unmarked leg. The moment he lowered his head, she drew in a sharp breath, which became a quiet moan as he branded her with a gentle nip of the flesh of her inner thigh.

The primitively possessive action caused her breath to come in small pants as his teeth abraded her skin, and his mouth worked its way to the apex of her thigh. A strong hand caressed her stomach, before he pushed her back into the mattress. In one heated stroke, his mouth caressed her sex, and she arched upward with a soft cry of pleasure. His tongue licked and stroked her until with a hard shudder, she climaxed. He continued to caress her with his mouth as she trembled against him.

Slowly her tremors abated, and he slid his hard body up over hers to take one nipple into his mouth. A small cry of need escaped her at the primal urges stirring in her. She wanted him—needed him inside her. She tried to shift her body beneath his in a silent demand, but he used the weight of his body to pin her down. In all the times he’d made love to her, she’d never experienced such an intense, primal need for him to make her his. Unfulfilled desire spilled through her at the way his body was controlling hers. It had been her idea to seduce him, but he’d taken control of her body the same way he had her heart from the moment they met.

“Oh God, please, Julian…I need you,” she whispered as she tried to move beneath him. In the next breath, his body moved against hers, and he thrust into her hard and fast. As he filled her, she cried out in joyful surprise. Heat and pleasure engulfed her until everything disappeared and the only thing in her world was him and his touch.

T
he moment Julian thrust into her, his body was complete again. White-hot velvet wrapped around his cock, as her body clutched tightly around him in an attempt to hold him in place. Slowly he retreated, then slid into her again, delaying the ultimate pleasure his body was begging for. The small spasms vibrating around his cock indicated her body was demanding satisfaction as well. But he refused to lose control so easily.

He was determined to savor these few moments with her. He could not afford to succumb to his wife’s tempting mouth and body again. The need to bury himself deep inside her made him slip his arms beneath her legs and tilt her body upward. With the soft cheeks of her bottom pressed against his thighs, he filled her completely in one swift stroke.

With each thrust into her sweet, hot core, his body cried out with unrestrained pleasure. God help him, she was as tight now as she’d been the first time he’d made love to her. His cock stretched and hardened as he drove himself into her over and over again. With each moan that blew past her lips, his body craved her with a renewed strength.

The silky heat of her cream against his cock mixed with the soft, musky scent of her desire. It clouded his thoughts until she was the air he breathed. Her body tightened around him, and he realized she was on the verge of a climax. But he wasn't ready to part with her so quickly. Not now. It was too soon. He slid out of her until he was just at the edge of her sex.

“
No
, oh God no, Julian, ” she said hoarsely as she writhed beneath him. “Don’t stop… oh, please.”

Every part of him was taut with desire, and the need pulsating in her voice made his blood roar. His breathing ragged, he bowed his head and drew in the essence of her with each and every one of his senses. She was nothing but a shadowy form to his eyes, but there was so much more to her than what his eyes had told him in the past. Slowly, he leaned forward and kissed her. Their lips met in a fiery meld of passion, and he thrust his tongue into the warmth of her sweet mouth.

The hint of tart gooseberries melted its way across his tongue. Her hands slipped between them to touch him, and he quickly grasped her wrists and pinned her to the bed. With a small cry, she tried to tug free of his grasp. Attuned to every part of her, Julian sensed a wave of panic rising inside her as his fingers gripped her scarred wrist. Quickly, he released his hold on her and softened their kiss as his fingers entwined with hers.

The moment his fingers were no longer pressed into her burnt flesh, she relaxed. It was a fleeting observation as the taste of her pushed him close to the edge of a place only she would ever be able to take him. He lifted his head and plunged back into her again. His reward was her small scream of delight.

Although it was impossible to see her face, the quiet pants of excitement escaping her brought back the memory of moments when he’d watched her come apart in his arms. Slowly, he retreated from her then drove back into her once more, taking pleasure in her small cries of ecstasy.

With each thrust he increased the speed of his strokes, his body in harmony with everything about her. She was a part of him, and the sudden spasms clutching his cock made him draw in a sharp breath of anticipation. Furiously, he thrust his body into hers with deep, powerful strokes. Beneath him, she thrust her hips upward in a sharp movement then froze against him as her hot velvety core grabbed him tight.

He breathed her into his senses, and she exploded over him with an intensity that made him pump his body harder and faster into her. She continued to writhe beneath him, her scream of pleasure music to his ears. Intense pleasure rolled over him as his body caught the wave of passion. He rode along the edge of it until a shout poured out of his throat and he throbbed inside her.

For a long moment, he remained joined with her as the last raw-edged emotions ebbed away from his heart and body. The ragged breathing parting her lips matched his own as her climax continued to tug at his body. The reality of what had just happened made his heart sink. What had he done?

The question was rhetorical. He’d made love to his wife. There was no sin in that. No, it wasn’t a sin, but it illustrated how easily his passion for her could bring him to his knees. That was a dangerous thing. It gave her the power to destroy him all over again. He refused to endure a repeat of that hellish existence.

The fact she’d come to Crianlarich to be his caregiver, whether out of duty or pity, was painful enough. A gentle hand caressed his cheek, and he batted it away in a rough gesture. The soft sound she made was indecipherable, but the sudden tension flowing through her body made his harden in response.

With a swift move he retreated from her and left the bed. The pent-up need for her over the past months had made him lose sight of the fact as to why she’d come to Crianlarich. If she’d come back because she loved him, she would have said so. She would have told him she’d made a mistake not to believe him. But she hadn’t.

Still, she’d been the one to instigate their moment of passion. Did it mean she felt something more for him than simply a sense of responsibility as his wife? Even if she still had feelings for him, what sort of husband would he make as a blind man? More importantly, he would never really be certain that love had made her return to Crianlarich. How could he when even after the fire she accused him of being unfaithful with one simple word.

“Julian?”

Even with her voice she had the ability to twist his insides. Any other man would be willing to accept what she’d given him moments ago without hesitation. He wasn’t one of them.

“Get dressed,” he said between clenched teeth.

Julian turned away from the bed and tried to remember where he’d left his clothes. Infuriated by his inability to see, he stood still. The last thing he wanted was the humiliation of winding up on the floor in front of his wife.

“Julian, please, we need to talk.”

The air whispered softly beside him as she moved to stand in front of him. As she pressed her body into his, he froze. God help him. Just the feel of her against his skin made him want to drag her back to his bed.

“There’s nothing to say, my lady. You’ve done your wifely duties and quite enthusiastically I might add.”

His words slashed through the air like one of the Claymores hanging in the main hall. The sharp gasp of horror escaping her said the brutality of his comment had achieved the effect he intended. Yet it pained him to be cruel. Suddenly, her finger poked painfully into his chest, and he grunted at the hard jab.

“One could say the same of you, you bastard,” she snapped. “Don’t you dare stand there and tell me you felt nothing a moment ago.”

Hope barreled through him. He savagely destroyed it. He was tired of praying for something that would never happen. All he wanted now was for Patience to leave Crianlarich. Her presence at the castle threatened his peace of mind. Any minute he was apt to reveal he’d never stop loving her, and that would be the end of him. Compassion for his blindness was difficult enough to deal with. For her to pity him for loving her—he refused to let that happen.

“I’ll no’ deny feeling lust, lass,” he said with soft deliberation. “I have always enjoyed our romps in the bedchamber.”

He didn’t have to see her face to feel the violence in her sharp retreat from him. Guilt plowed through him at the small sound she made. It was the noise a hare made when it was at the mercy of a predator. Although he’d deliberately pushed her away with his words, every part of him wanted to close the expanse growing between them.

The dangerous thought died a quick death as he crushed it. The silence hanging in the air between them was hard as steel. It clanged against his senses and threatened to break his steadfast desire to push her as far away from him as he could.

“I always knew you were a stubborn man, Julian MacTavish, but I never thought you to be a cruel one.”

“Would you prefer I lied to you, Patience?” he said with restrained bitterness. “Can you no’ agree that when we have shared a bed it has been quite satisfying.”

“Yes,” she bit out in a strained voice. “But those weren’t just moments of pleasure. They were…we cared for each other then.”

“Aye, but I do no’ see things now as I did in the past.” A long silence suspended the gap between them, and his muscles were twisted in painful knots.

“Are you saying you never loved me?”

The whisper echoed with a horrified pain that made him hesitate. Damn fate for taking away his ability to see her face. If he could see her face right now, he’d know for certain how she felt. She’d never been able to hide her feelings behind a blank expression, but her voice was different since she’d arrived at Crianlarich. He’d not been able to determine what she was really thinking simply based on the inflections in her voice. It didn’t matter, and he hardened his heart.

“Love is for the foolish, lass. It is fleeting at best.”

The sharp inhalation of air she drew in would have been barely audible to someone whose auditory senses weren’t sharpened like his. The sound made him long to take the words back.

“Blindness has revealed that you
are
your father’s son, Julian,” she said with contempt.

The accusation stung like a blow from a whip. The love he’d felt for his father had not blinded him to the man’s faults. Now Patience was declaring that he possessed his father’s trait of being callous and unsympathetic. Julian’s mouth tightened as he realized he deserved her scorn. But at least it would ensure her departure. He glared in the direction of her voice.

“Then it should no’ be difficult for you to leave Crianlarich for a second time,” he bit out through clenched teeth thinking he’d resolved his problem.

“I won’t give you that satisfaction.”

The outrage and stubbornness in her voice made his heart sink, and he barely suppressed a growl of frustration. She’d always been one to dig in her heels when it came to something she did or didn’t want to do.

“Do as you please, my lady,” he said through clenched teeth. “But do no’ come in here again. I have no use for a wife who thinks to act as my mistress as well as my nursemaid.”

A breeze stirred the air around him as she moved past him, and her body was a fire brushing across his skin. The sound of clothes thrashing in the air filled his ears as she snatched her belongings up off the bedroom floor. He turned his head toward the furious rustling of her dress.

Despite only seeing the gray silhouette of her body, he didn’t miss the way she snapped upright in a sharp movement. In the next instant, he watched her shadow stalk away from him toward the door. Stunned that she might actually think to walk through the corridors wearing nothing he opened his mouth then quickly closed it. The door she was heading toward wasn’t to the corridor. She was headed to the bedroom that adjoined his—the mistress of the castle’s room.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he snarled. Julian stumbled forward, trying to close the distance between him and her shadow. He saw the dark outline of her body move abruptly as she whirled to face him.

“I’m going to my room,” she said with an icy anger he’d never heard before. As he continued to haltingly close the distance between them, he tried to process the fact that she’d been sleeping in the room next to him since her arrival at Crianlarich. Her shadow remained frozen against the pale gray background of his vision.