The Angel and the Highlander(55)
She closed her eyes and tried to determine if he meant it, if they truly could work this out.
“I recall Alyce Bunnock saying something similar to me about her situation when I met her. She had hoped someone would see reason and help her. Do you think you would have helped her?”
“She was a woman who sealed her own fate,” Lachlan answered, “and I had a duty to her father. I would have tried to help her as best I could, but in the end I would have had no choice but to return her to her father.”
“What if she had loved someone else, say, you for instance, and wanted a life with you?”
“It seems an unfair comparison. Alyce was not a woman I could love. She was nothing like you.”
“You don’t know that,” she snapped.
He forced her to look at him. “I do know that. Alyce had a duty to her father and clan, and she should have realized that and done what was necessary. I would have never gotten involved with Alyce.”
She had her answer more clearly than she would have cared to hear it.
“Alyce means nothing to me; you mean everything to me.”
I am Alyce, she wanted to scream at him, but instead she kissed him. She needed this night done. She needed Terese to love him one last time.
“Make love to me,” she said softly.
“We need to talk first,” he said between kisses.
“Later,” she whispered.
He wrapped his fingers in her hair and tugged her head back so that his lips could claim hers in a kiss that warned her he would never ever let go. And she let him believe it, for tonight, just tonight, she needed to believe it as well.
He carried her to the bed and stood her in front of it to slowly remove her garments, teasing with a kiss or touch all the intimate spots he was so very familiar with and she reveled in each and every one.
His clothes followed and with a firm arm around her waist, he took her down on the bed with him, stretching out over her, their bodies flat against each other while he kissed her senseless. And he continued rendering her senseless as he made love to her.
It was remarkable to her that their lovemaking continued to be more and more enjoyable as if it were anew for them each time they came together. His kisses and touches never ceased to enflame her and make her hunger for him.
His lips and sensuous nibbles continued to find places on her body that sent endless shivers pulsating through her until she thought she would simply go mad with pleasure.
And he knew, oh how he knew where to touch at just the right moment and bring her to climax, only to coax another climax from her as soon as she thought she was spent, and then he would enter her and make her want him all over again.
Their night continued much the same, endless kisses, caresses, and climaxes. Neither tired, neither wanting to stop. They loved tirelessly, Lachlan reminding her over and over again how much he loved her.
Much later they lay wrapped in each others arms, Lachlan caressing her back.
“I can’t wait for my family to meet you. They will want to plan a big wedding feast and—”
Terese sat up, not minding that her breasts were bare and her rosy nipples still rigid from their lovemaking. “I’m not going home with you.”
He laughed. “I am your home as you are mine.”
She wanted to cry at the truth of his words. Instead she laughed. “Everagis is my home and always will be.”
Lachlan jolted up. “Stop this nonsense.”
She jumped out of bed and reached for her clothes. “It is not nonsense. Accept it and go home.”
He yanked the clothes from her hands. “You are my home.”
She grabbed the clothes from him and scooped the others off the floor. She needed to get dressed, cover her nakedness, for suddenly she felt much too vulnerable being naked in front of him.
She slipped them on fast and then faced him with a toss of her head. “No, I am not your home. Everagis is my home.”
Lachlan raked a frustrated hand through his long dark hair. “That’s not true and you know it. I love you and you love me.”
She shook her head and laughed. “That is what you believe.”
“It is the truth; you can’t deny it.”
“Go home, Lachlan. Go home and live your life.”
He grabbed hold of her arm as she turned to walk away and yanked her against him. “Tell me, damn it. Tell me you don’t love me. I want to hear you say it.”
She felt her heart break, the pain stabbing at her chest, trying to rob her breath, and she answered before she didn’t have a breath left in her. “I don’t love you. I never have.”
Lachlan released her so suddenly that she stumbled.
She decided to continue her attack, for she feared if she didn’t he would try to work his charm on her, and she was much too susceptible to it.