Highlander Unchained(75)

He had stopped caring the day he had buried his mother and had placed his sister in the convent. And with each visit to his sister. he had grown more distant, and she to him until... it had been four years since he’d last seen her. And the thought suddenly disturbed him.

William rolled up the maps and cast a nod at Dawn. “She has a remarkable talent. May I see what she is drawing, my lord?”

He was just as curious and so they both walked over and peered down.

“Good Lord, that is fantastic,” William said startling Dawn, though she smiled at his compliment. “My lord, if she does such an amazing drawing of you in the dirt I cannot phantom what talent she would have with a brush. You should have her paint a portrait of you to hang in the Great Hall of the keep. I would be only too pleased, while on my journey, to gather the necessary items she would need to paint and draw.”

Dawn cast hopeful eyes on Cree. She would love to have the materials to draw with and to paint. They had been luxuries out of her reach but now and again she would dream.

“We will see,” Cree said and his heart thudded again when her hopeful expression faded. And he scowled. “Finish, William, we leave shortly.”

William bowed his head and hurried off.

“Come,” Cree said holding his hand out to Dawn while casting one last look at his image. Stern? Authoritative? Stalwart? This is how he appeared to her?

She took his hand with reluctance and was surprised when he issued orders to his men in French. At that very moment she was grateful to her mum for having taught her to understand French and Latin as well.

Cree ordered his men not to disturb him unless necessary, which had Dawn wondering his intentions, though the grins on the warriors’ faces had them assuming the obvious and she blushed with embarrassment. But didn’t everyone know by now that she was Cree’s woman?

They entered the woods that bordered the north side of the bluff and Cree walked with such confidence that it was obvious he was familiar with the land. If that was so then he had to have come here often or could he have lived his younger years in this area?

There was so much she didn’t know about Cree. And what she did know she had learned through gossiping tongues. Some of the tales were proving true while others had proved false. Who truly was this man that she had willingly surrendered to and who was stealing her heart a little bit at a time?

He stopped abruptly a few feet into the woods and turned to her. “What’s wrong?”

She scrunched her brow, not quite understanding.

“You had been thrilled about talking with William and looking over the plans for the castle and suddenly you sulk off to sit on a rock and draw a portrait of me. So what is wrong?”

Her eyes widened startled that he had noticed and that it had disturbed him enough to ask her about it.

“You are surprised that I noticed.” He reached up and stroked her cheek with his finger, then ran it faintly across her lips. “I notice everything about you.”

The tingles emerged in a gentle throb between her legs.

“Your dark eyes glow with lust every time I touch you and it makes me want to touch you even more, but first... what upset you?”

That he cared enough to pursue an answer warmed her heart but she could never tell him that it hurt her to know that another would share his new home with him and that she would be left on her own, alone.

He slipped his finger under her chin and forced her head up. She hadn’t even realized that her head had drooped or that her shoulders had sagged with the weight of her problem.

“Tell me,” he whispered and leaned down and brushed a soft kiss across her lips.

She couldn’t tell him; he would think her a fool. She was his mistress, nothing more and only for however long he desired her. And right now he desired her, his lust potent in his eyes. Instead of answering his question; she responded to his passion.

She changed the gentle kiss from soft to eager, as she moved closer, her arms going around his neck and her body pressing intimately against his.

He tore his mouth off hers. “You will not distract me; I’ll have an answer.”

He left her lips pulsing for his and instinctively her tongue slipped out of her mouth to slowly stroke her aching lips.

His groin tightened like never before and he thought he’d come right there and then as he watched her slim tongue play across her already moist lips. His hands shot out grabbing her face. “Damn it, Dawn,” he said though it sounded more like a feral growl, and then his mouth clamped down on hers.

They were both eager and hungry for each other and his hands were soon at her backside urging her against him.

“I want you; here, now, hard and fast,” he said having released her mouth with more reluctance than he had ever known. And he wished, oh how he wished she could tell him that she wanted him.