Beyond the Highland Myst(661)

He turned his face into her and nipped her thigh with a playful love bite. "To bed, Gabrielle."

"I so don't think so," she hissed, promptly launching into a tirade about how he was never going to bed with her again. That she may have been gullible once, but she wasn't anymore. That he'd cured her of all her illusions. Wriggling like a wee hellion over his shoulder, she icily informed him that she had no interest whatsoever in having such a heartless bastard in her life to any degree, that she hated him, and that she only wished he were mortal so he could die and burn in hell for all eternity.

When he tossed her down on her bed, it knocked a bit of the breath from her, which gave him time to say, "You hate me, Gabrielle? That's a bloody shame. Because I meant it when I said I'm not leaving. I'm never leaving. I'm in love with you."

His ka-lyrra went still as stone, her mouth frozen open in a desperate bid for breath. Her throat worked convulsively. Then, with a great, indrawn screech of air, she launched herself at him, a flying, hissing female catapult of fists and tears.

It occurred to him, as he went crashing down to the floor beneath her, that he might well never understand women.





* * *





Gabby lay on the floor in Adam's arms, her head spinning.

He'd let her pummel him until she'd exhausted herself. He'd let her rage and yell and weep, enduring it all in patient silence until— crying so hard she couldn't breathe— she'd begun hiccuping uncontrollably. Then he'd rolled her onto her side, pulled her back against his powerful body, wrapped his arms around her, and held her until she'd calmed, whispering soft reassurances in her ear. "Shh, sweet. Be easy, love. It's okay. Everything's okay."

Love? Adam was saying the L-word? Into what impossible fairy tale had she fallen?

"Am I awake? Is this a dream?" she whispered.

"If it is," he whispered back, "I ask only that it go on forever. Not the crying part," he clarified, "the holding-you-in-my-arms part." He turned her gently then, to face him.

She buried her face in his chest, sniffling, trying to understand what was going on. Afraid to believe she was awake. Afraid that the moment she let herself believe it, she would wake up. Find herself alone in bed, in her big, silent house.

"Look at me, ka-lyrra," he said quietly.

With a little sniffle. Gabby tipped her head back and met his dark gaze. And frowned, bemused. She'd been so stupefied to find him in her house that she'd not really taken a good look at him. Something about him was different. But what? His eyes?

"I love you, Gabrielle O'Callaghan."

The words slammed into her; she stared at him mutely.

He kissed her then, his mouth slanting hard over hers, his velvety tongue gliding deep. And she gave herself over to it. Dream or not, it was real enough for her. She was in his arms and he was saying he loved her and if she was asleep, she just hoped she could stay asleep forever.

Even his kiss was different, she realized dimly, as her body flared to frantic, sizzling life in his arms. It held a touch of urgency that had never been there before. It was no longer shaped by immortal leisure but held a very human desperation, a mortal hunger and passion.

And it shook her so deeply that she went wild, kissing him back fiercely, pushing him back to the floor, clambering on top of him, burying her hands in his hair. Kissing and kissing him, with weeks of grief and longing and need.

How their clothing came off, she had no idea, only knew that moments later they were both naked on the floor of her bedroom and she was beneath him, and he was pushing inside her.

And she was alive again. There was blood in her veins, not ice. There was a heart in her chest, not—

"Adam." she gasped, stunned. "I can feel your heart beating." She'd never felt it before. Even though he'd been human, not once had she ever felt the powerful thud of his heart beneath her palm, the throb of a pulse at his neck.

And she'd never even noted their absence until this moment, when she was feeling them.

He drew back, his darkly beautiful face taut with lust. "I know." He flashed her a brilliant smile. Then he began moving inside her and she forgot all about a heartbeat she'd never felt before. Gave herself over to pure sensation. And the turret bedroom was filled with the wild, impassioned sounds of a woman and her Fae prince making love.





* * *





Later, Adam told her everything.

Well, nearly everything. He omitted that he'd almost taken her soul. And since she didn't know that he'd tricked than to begin with, he didn't bother mentioning that he'd told Circenn and Lisa the truth about the elixir of life, then taken them to the queen so she could restore them to their mortal state.

He'd made amends as best he could. He refused to be damned for wrongs righted, or for things he'd "almost" done. He wasn't the man he'd once been.