Forbidden Highlander

Chapter Six

Fallon wasn’t sure what woke him. He’d been deep in a dream of a time before the massacre of his clan. He had brought his mother flowers, as an apology for stealing the bread from the kitchen again.

His mother had always said he knew just how to find forgiveness with any woman. He had laughed, thankful she couldn’t stay angry at him long.

Just as the dream had taken the sinister road toward the death of the clan, he could have sworn he smelled lilies.

Larena.

Instantly, the dream changed. He held Larena in his arms up against the door. Her beautiful smoky blue eyes were heavy lidded as she looked at him with lips swollen from his kisses. He took her mouth for another kiss, a moan escaping him when she rubbed her hips against his arousal.

By the saints, he wanted her with a desperation that bordered on insanity. He would do anything, say anything, just to claim her as his own.

Then, with a smile she had moved out of his arms and beckoned him with her fingers to follow. Her scent, that amazing lily scent, went with her.

Fallon woke with a longing that made his chest ache. He kept his eyes closed, trying to go back to the dream and follow Larena. He might not be able to have her, but he could in his dreams. In his dreams, they could have everything.

A sound like a soft sigh reached him. Fallon cracked open an eye to find a woman standing by his window, the moonlight spilling around her and making her golden locks shine as they hung down her back.

Larena.

He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He wasn’t sure if she was real or if he was dreaming, but it didn’t matter. She was in his chamber.

He watched, mesmerized, as she ran her fingers through her damp hair. Her stunning yellow tresses fell in soft waves over her shoulders and down to her breasts. She took a small strand and began to braid it absentmindedly.

It was then Fallon realized she was deep in thought, her gaze looking out over the land. He let his eyes roam over her, surprised to find her in a thin robe of pink. He could see every curve, every swell of her body through the sheer material.

He’d already been aroused by his dream, but now he was rock hard.

Suddenly her hands paused and her gaze swung to him. His mouth went dry, and he was most thankful that he hadn’t kicked the covers off as he normally did.

She couldn’t be in his chamber. He didn’t have time to dally with a woman, any woman, but especially one that had invaded his dreams. He had a mission to complete, and he would see it done before anything else.

“What are you doing here?” he asked once he realized she wasn’t going to speak.

She licked her lips, drawing his gaze to her plump mouth. “I told you I needed to speak with you.”

“So you did. This makes twice now you’ve come into my chamber. What you have to say must be very important.”

“It is.”

There was a soft waver in her voice. Was she frightened of him? Somehow that didn’t give him the joy it should have. She had shown him such strength in the little time he had observed her. He couldn’t imagine her frightened of anyone.

He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, careful to keep the blankets over his throbbing rod. “Go on, my lady. Say what it is that is so important that you’ve stolen into my bedchamber in the middle of the night.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it and faced the window. “It was so much easier in my mind.”

Before he realized what he was doing he rose from the bed and walked to her, uncaring that he was nude. He had gone daft, but no matter what he told himself, he couldn’t stop from going to her. She turned to face him, her large eyes wide and searching. But searching for what?

“You shouldna be in here,” he said. It was taking every ounce of his control not to pull her against him and take her mouth in a kiss with enough fire to engulf them both.

She swallowed and let her hands drop to her sides. “I had to.”

“Leave.”

“I cannot.”

He grabbed her by her upper arms and gave her a little shake. “Leave,” he ground out between clenched teeth. Touching her had been a mistake, but he had to make her understand he couldn’t control the hunger that coursed through him.

“I can’t,” she repeated.

He inhaled the fragrance of lilies and nearly groaned. His cock throbbed between them, aching to feel her wet heat. “Larena, you have to leave. Now.”

She looked into his eyes and lifted her face to his. “Nay.”

He knew he was lost then. He couldn’t make her leave, and to make matters worse, he was damned glad she hadn’t. “Then you damn us both.”

Larena knew he was going to kiss her. She’d seen it in his eyes when he’d risen from the bed. She expected a rough kiss born of anger and lust. She never expected the soft touch of his lips and the desire that swarmed her when his tongue swept into her mouth.

She was flooded with the taste of him, and, oh God, how good he tasted. His hands left her arms to move to her neck where he cupped each side of her face. He tilted her head to the side and deepened the kiss.

Larena couldn’t stop the moan that tore from her. The kiss was intoxicating, lulling her like the sweetest wine. And it made her want more. So much more.

The kiss went on forever as heat built in her body and her heart pounded in her chest. Fallon moved an arm to her lower back where he pressed her against him, his arousal pushing into her stomach and making it difficult for her to continue standing. She wound her arms around his neck, loving the feel of his back muscles moving beneath her hands.

His potency stunned her, his tenderness surprised her. She had felt desire for Fallon the first time she had seen him, but now, with every touch and kiss, she was falling farther and farther under the spell of passion he wove around her.

Her mind shouted warning bells, but her body was too far gone. There was no way she could walk away from him now. She was stronger than she had been the first time, and she would make sure no one took advantage of her again. Even if that man could weave such a spell of pleasure around her as Fallon did.

“My God, Larena,” he murmured between kisses.

She couldn’t agree more, but now was not the time for talking. Now was the time for touching and feeling, of loving.

His hands were everywhere, caressing every part of her body, and still it wasn’t enough. She trembled when his hands parted her robe and skimmed over her breasts to her waist. His mouth slanted over hers again, their tongues mating in a frenzy of undeniable lust. She lost all sense of time and place. All that mattered was Fallon and what he was doing to her body.

She gasped at the contact of his skin on hers. She hadn’t realized he had removed her robe. Yet, she sighed at the feel of his heated body against hers. He was so hard, so hot! Her nipples pebbled at the contact of his chest against her breasts.

Heat flooded her and pooled between her legs, making her ache and throb. She wanted to touch Fallon as he touched her, but every time she tried, he stopped her.

“Not this time,” Fallon said before he kissed her again.

Larena gave up. For now. She was determined to have Fallon again that night, so she would have a chance to know his body. For now, it was enough that he wanted her.

A laugh escaped her when he tossed her back onto the bed and quickly crawled over her. She gazed into his turbulent green eyes. She saw desire as well as worry in his beautiful depths.

“I should have known I couldn’t ignore the hunger you brought out in me,” he said.

Larena reached up and touched his face. “You take my breath away,” she confessed. She knew better than to tell a man such things, but it was out of her mouth before she could stop it. She knew it was the truth and it terrified her, but there was something about Fallon that tugged at her soul.

He bent and placed kisses down her neck and across her chest then to the valley between her breasts. His big, muscular body settled between her thighs, his arousal bumping against her aching sex.

She trembled with the need to have him inside her. It had been decades since she had last lain with a man. That one time had been a mistake, one that had cost her dearly. She had guarded herself since then. But somehow, that wasn’t possible with Fallon.

His large, callused hand cupped a breast as he ran his thumb over her nipple. She moaned and arched her back, wanting more, needing more. The pleasure that simple action brought her was unbelievable.

Her breasts swelled and her nipples hardened with the pleasure that pooled within her. While he rolled one hard nub between his fingers, he covered the other with his mouth and sucked.

Larena cried out and buried her hands in his hair. Desire and pleasure swirled around her, making her forget to breathe as she thought only of the man in her arms.

Passion thrummed within her, making her ache and tremble. Fallon’s mouth and tongue drove her wild as he alternated between sucking and licking one nipple while his fingers pinched and rolled the other.

The torture was exquisite, the pleasure endless. Larena moaned when he pulled her nipple deep into his mouth and suckled. The drag from his lips brought a flood of desire. She was close to peaking just from him touching her breasts. It seemed impossible, but the more Fallon touched her, the more she gave her body to him.

She ground her hips against him, seeking some relief from the maddening desire that pumped faster and wound tighter inside her. He shifted to the side and moved his hand from her breast down her body to the curls that hid her sex.

Larena moaned as his fingers parted her. He leisurely skimmed his deft fingers over her sensitive, throbbing folds. Each touch of his fingers only heightened her awareness of him and increased the ache within her. Then, finally, he pushed a finger inside her and delved into her heat.

Her fingers clutched the blankets as she moaned and begged for more. She should be mortified at herself, but with Fallon touching her, nothing else mattered.

In and out his skillful fingers moved within her, bringing her closer and closer to her orgasm. When he skimmed his fingers over her clitoris, she screamed his name, her body jerking with the pleasure.

When he pushed his fingers back inside her, there were two this time. He pumped into her slowly then faster and faster until she trembled with the need for her release.

“Saints help me,” Fallon said with a groan. “It’s been too long, Larena. I cannot wait.”

She didn’t want to wait. Not another moment. “Then don’t.”

He moved over her and guided the head of his cock against her slick folds. She cried out when the tip of him rubbed against the most sensitive part of her, sending waves of need rolling through her.

And then he pushed inside her.

Larena gripped his back as he filled her, stretched her. She brought her legs up to his waist and he went deeper, seating himself completely.

For a moment they both lay still, their harsh breaths filling the room. Fallon looked down at her and one corner of his mouth lifted in a smile.

“I’ve missed this,” he said.

Larena shifted her hips and grinned when Fallon hissed in a breath. “Don’t stop. Please. Not now.”

“Never,” he vowed.

He pulled out of her only to thrust hard and deep. Larena moaned and gave herself up to the delicious sensations racking her body. She wrapped her legs around his waist, locking her ankles together. He whispered her name as his hips began to pump faster.

Larena couldn’t believe the feel of Fallon inside her. It was beautiful and felt so good that she never wanted it to end. The climax came quickly, blinding her in its intensity as it consumed her. Larena succumbed to her body’s need, a need that had long been denied. As she came down from her peak, she opened her eyes to find Fallon staring at her.

“My God,” he whispered.

With her body still convulsing from such a powerful orgasm, she raised her hips to meet his. Fallon threw back his head as he plunged inside her, his body tense and shaking. Larena held him as he climaxed. When the last of his tremors left him, he lay atop her.

Larena wrapped her arms around him, stroking him, caressing him. She could feel him still deep inside her. She wished they could stay as they were forever, but it was a fanciful dream.

Eventually, he pulled out of her and rolled to his side. Larena was loath to break contact with him, so she faced him. Their gazes clashed and held. His hand came up and he ran the back of his knuckles along her cheek.

“Why?” he asked.

How could she explain it? “You said you felt the lust. I knew from the first moment I saw you that you were special.”

“Special?” He frowned. “Nay.”

“Aye,” she said, and smoothed her fingers over his brow to remove the frown. “I know I shouldn’t have come to your chamber, but what I have to say has to be done in private.”

He took her hand in his. “Tell me.”

Now that she had his attention, she was scared. How would he react? Would he welcome her? Would he believe her? Would he scorn her?

She didn’t think she could take his disdain.

“Larena,” he urged gently. “Tell me.”

She rolled to her back and looked at the deep burgundy of the bed hangings above her. “It’s difficult to know where to begin.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Why not start at the beginning?”

The beginning. It was so long ago, with memories she would rather forget. But Fallon was right. She needed to start at the creation of it all.

“My clan, the Monroes, aren’t the largest clan, but they are powerful. We can trace our roots back to the time of the Celts, and even then our clan was strong. We’ve endured.”

Larena couldn’t contain the anxiety within her and rose from the bed to walk to the window. This was the difficult part, and she needed some space from him to be able to get it all out.

“I know what you are, Fallon, what’s inside you. My family had passed down stories from generation to generation about the ancient Celts and the Romans. Stories that spoke of why Rome left our shores.”

She paused and waited to see if Fallon would say anything. Only silence greeted her. She continued to gaze out the window at the trees swaying in the wind.

“Added to those stories were new ones. Ones about the MacLeods and an evil Druid named Deirdre.”

She heard the bed squeak and knew he had sat up. “The laird, my uncle, knew our time was running out. Soon Deirdre would find her way to our clan and take the strongest male to turn him into her Warrior.”

“God’s blood,” Fallon murmured behind her.

“We had an advantage though.” Larena made herself face him. “We had a Druid in our clan. She and her family had watched over us, keeping the stories alive. She knew the spell to unbind the god.”

Fallon’s brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed.

“The family gathered in the great hall. My uncle and his son Naill, who everyone thought was going to be the future Warrior, stood in the middle of the hall. The Druid Robena began the spell. Only it wasn’t Naill whom the god chose.”

“Who?” Fallon asked.

She swallowed her dread. “I was next to my father when the pain started. I tried to hold back my cries, but soon it became too much. I fell to my knees, my skin on fire, my bones breaking. I must have blacked out, because when I came to, Robena stood over me with a smile on her wrinkled face.

“My father helped me stand as Robena announced the god had chosen. It was me, not Naill. My uncle and cousin were so furious they banished me from the clan. With time only for a hug from my father, Robena and I fled to the forest.”

Fallon stared at her in shock. “The god chose you?”

“It’s a goddess actually.”

She had expected many things, but not stunned disbelief. He wouldn’t believe her until she showed him. “My goddess is Lelomai, the goddess of defense.”

She held out her arms and let herself transform. First her claws, long and sharp, next her fangs, and then, her body. She stood before Fallon, hoping, praying, he would be the salvation she sought.