Chapter Seventeen
Alec leveled his stare on Mairi, letting her know there was no escape.
“How did ye find me?” she asked, disappearing behind the mast to peek around the other side.
He tipped his nose to the breeze. “Your scent. Roses mixed with heat.” He stepped to the side, making her retreat, but he guessed her next move and dodged back as she attempted to run. He caught her lithe form, pulling her with him as he leaned back against the thick, unyielding mast.
Her seductive smile gave him all the permission he needed to stroke a path downward, the thin smock molding to her perfect curves. Her cool fingers rose up between them, sliding along his skin up his chest. The sensation shot lightning through his heated body. He hovered his mouth over hers, her breath touching his lips. “What prize do ye yield?” he asked.
A slip of her tongue plying the space between her lips nearly made him shake, his need huge and raw. “Ye tasted me,” she whispered. “On the hill under the stars.”
Just the memory of her musky sweetness thrummed another strike of need through him. “Aye,” he said, his voice almost a growl.
“I want to taste ye,” she said.
His breath stopped as her palms flattened on his chest, her thin fingers raking softly down his body as she lowered, her white gown pooling around her on the deck. When she reached his stomach, she tipped her face up to smile wickedly at him and then at the obviousness of his arousal tenting out his kilt. She slid her hands up his legs as he braced them. When she encircled his length, he groaned. He yanked up his kilt, exposing her hand wrapped around his cod in the moonlight. She stroked, and he watched, leaning back against the mast. Reaching forward, he raked gently through her hair, the waves catching in the night breeze.
Holding him, she lowered her mouth. Wet heat surrounded him, and Alec’s eyes closed as he relied on the mast to hold him upright. “Sweet Lord,” he murmured, his voice thick as she worked along his length. As if realizing her power, Mairi grew bolder, stroking him with her tongue and fondling his stones. She pulled up until the coolness of the air broke along his skin. He opened his eyes to stare down at his sinful angel. Hair spread around her shoulders, a view of her ripe breasts spilling up out of her undone smock, her lips poised on the end of him. And then she descended, taking him fully inside her mouth.
Alec growled a fierce cry and reached down to haul Mairi up. He’d lose himself in that honeyed mouth if he didn’t stop her. His lips covered hers as ravenous hunger rose up like a molten wave between them. Slanting, they melded completely against each other, tasting and giving in to their frantic kiss. Her hands reached behind him under his kilt to his bare arse. Breasts like soft twin moons pressed up between them as her smock fell to her waist. He palmed one as he kissed her, trailing his lips along her graceful neck on his way down to suck one nipple into his mouth.
“Och,” she whispered and clung to him, reaching up on her toes to rub against his hardness.
With a tug on his belt, it loosened, and his kilt thudded to the deck. Mairi threw her head back as he bent over her breasts, loving them with his tongue and hot mouth, pinching and rolling her nipples. She grabbed his rigid heat, stroking and pressing his tip against her mound. His fingers followed, finding her sensitive nub. She hissed as he rubbed across it. He slipped lower as she ground against his hand.
He kissed back up to her ear as he pressed two fingers into her supple body. “Och, lass,” he whispered. “Ye are drenched and so bloody hot.”
“Alec, please…” She moaned as he rubbed and worked her flesh, reveling in her reactions to each touch. He withdrew his fingers. “Nay,” she said, but he turned her around to face the mast.
Leaning against her bare back, he tugged her smock up around her hips. His hands covered her stomach under it, stroking lower, playing again with her as she arched her smooth back, thrusting her arse up higher and spreading her legs. She was ready, hot, and soaking. He nibbled against her ear. “Hold on, lass.”
Her fingers curled into the ropes encircling the mast as he reached in front of her, spreading her, opening her wet woman’s lips. He found the entrance easily from behind. Poised there at the opening, his hands rose to cup her full breasts.
“Alec,” she pleaded, pushing back against him.
Bending over her, he groaned as he plunged forward, thrusting into her. Mairi’s answering moan joined his to rise into the darkness. He clasped her hips, pumping into her from behind. Reaching forward to her nub, he strummed it quickly, making her thrash backward and then forward into his fingers.
“So hard,” she said, panting. “So good. Harder.”
Alec thrust deeper, lifting her onto the tips of her toes as she clasped the ropes around the mast. He felt her all around him, her hot wet channel sucking tightly as he rammed forward and up, filling her completely over and over again. Heat poured through him to the point he imagined steam rising from his skin into the night sky. Their rhythm increased, building as he used every part of his body to tease and pleasure Mairi.
“My God,” she cried out. “Alec.” Shaking with pleasure, her channel convulsed, gripping him until he felt himself shatter, too. Alec’s fingers dug into her hips as he thrust, his oath roaring out of him. “Ye are mine,” he yelled as he shot himself inside her quivering, molten body.
…
“We can go below,” Alec said as he tucked the blanket around Mairi, cocooning them together on the floor of the upper deck. “There’s a decent sized bed in the captain’s quarters where I found this blanket.”
Mairi snuggled against Alec, enjoying the feel of their naked bodies draped intimately together. No wonder Tor and his wife, Ava, spent so much time alone together. “I prefer the night sky overhead to wooden beams,” she said and rolled onto her back to see the familiar constellations.
Now that her body had cooled somewhat, rational thought crept back in. What had he meant when he’d yelled that she was his? His powerful words had cut through her like a binding oath, like what she thought wedding vows should feel like.
“What are ye thinking?” he asked, his gaze still straight above him.
“A rather high number of things,” she said.
She could see his mouth turn up at the corners. “’Tis hard to enjoy the stars with crowded thoughts.”
That was the absolute truth. Mairi raised up on one elbow, letting her gaze wander the moonlit landscape of Alec’s ruggedly handsome face. Perfectly sloped nose, angular cheeks leading to a strong jaw. He could be a painter’s inspiration for masculine beauty. “What did ye mean? Before…when ye said that I am yours?”
He turned his gaze to hers. “I asked ye to wed with me that night in the boat.”
“I didn’t answer,” she said.
“Nay, and I nearly slit Angus Cameron’s throat.” His face grew serious, and he reached up to pull her down for a kiss, his warm lips moving intimately against hers until she nearly forgot what they were discussing.
When he broke the kiss, she blinked as he touched her bottom lip with his thumb, sliding it gently along the edge. His voice was firm yet soft. “When I said ye were mine, I gave ye my oath. It is up to ye to accept it.”
“An oath made before no one?” she whispered. Everything about Alec was strong, yet the vulnerability in his explanation drew her heart.
“An oath made before the only ones who matter: ye, me, the stars, and God.”
The center of her stomach tightened and fluttered. “Ye mean, if I swear in kind, then…we are wed?”
His eyes searched hers. “For the sake of your kin, I would repeat it before a priest. But formal words before the church are not the oath. They are only ceremony and words, and people spout them without thought or heart.” His face tightened, and she knew he must be thinking of those who had left him. His father to battle and death, his mother to her religion, Joyce to her secrets and murder, even Millie for her independence.
“A vow before the stars means more to ye?” Mairi asked, reaching out to touch his hair where it curled around one ear.
“Aye, if it comes from the heart.”
Mairi’s mind raced as she met his gaze. Could she commit with her whole heart to the man who’d stolen her, imprisoned her, and had hidden her away from her family when they came searching? Could she turn away from the man who had been gentle with her in her fury? Who showed kindness to animals, children, old women, and her? Could she walk away from the man she’d given her body to, trusting him to respect and love it, bringing her utter fulfillment without holding back? Could she commit to giving up her freedom to live on Kisimul?
Alec waited, and with each second passing she felt him draw away as his face hardened. He expected more pain. She touched his face, feeling the roughness of his shaved cheek, and leaned down to kiss him gently on his warm lips. “Alec…” She backed up slightly. “Ye are mine, and I am yours.”
His lips parted, and she held a finger across them. “But,” she continued. “I am not part of Kisimul.”
He pushed up onto his elbow to be level with her and took her hand from his mouth. “I am The MacNeil of Barra Isle. Kisimul is my home.”
“Kisimul is the home of the Wolf of Barra,” Mairi said. “The lone wolf, away from his people.” She shook her head. “A chief should sit among his people, not walled off on his own island.” Mairi pushed up farther to sit, crossing her legs under her and pulling the edge of the blanket around her naked shoulders.
Alec followed her until they sat facing each other. “It is how it has always been,” he said, his voice unwavering.
Mairi pursed her lips. “And there has always been a row of boats on the shore of Barra, unused and rotting, standing as silent memorials to all those who cannot or will not return to Kisimul. I would rather not have one representing me.”
“The walls of Kisimul protect,” Alec said. “No enemy has ever been able to breach the MacNeil seat.”
“Alec,” she said, leaning forward, her hand on his arm. “The walls that protect can also imprison.” Mairi had learned that lesson the hard way while hiding from her stepson at Kilchoan. She shook her head. “I cannot live feeling like I’m imprisoned.”
“Ye would have a way to leave whenever ye desire. A boat…” His words trailed off, and he looked away into the darkness of the night around them. The ship moved gently with the water underneath, and the ropes creaked with their tension strung above.
Mairi shivered from the breeze and distance from Alec. “Alec, I pledge myself to ye, but I cannot commit myself to Kisimul, and I have no idea what that means for us.” Her words softened until the last sounds were mere whispers in the wind.
“There is no curse,” he said, his gaze snapping back to her.
“Curses are created by fear and discontent.” She exhaled slowly, closing and opening her eyes, willing him to see her heart. “If I stay on Kisimul, behind the massive walls between us and the world, won’t discontent grow, won’t I begin to fear that I am trapped? And won’t that create a curse like the one that’s been playing out on Kisimul over centuries?”
“I will be there with ye,” he countered. “How could ye feel imprisoned?”
“I’ve lived as if in a cage before, at Kilchoan,” Mairi said, shaking her head slowly. “I won’t… I can’t live that way again. It will smother my soul until I have nothing left to give to ye.”
Alec stood up, the blanket falling from his lean, muscular body. He picked up his kilt from its pile near her abandoned smock and stepped into it, cinching it around his waist. He walked to the bow of the ship.
Unshed tears ached in her eyes as she stared at his back under the moonlight. She should just agree to live with Alec wherever he dwelled. But how could she, when she knew what would happen? Mairi blinked as one tear broke free to slip over her bottom lid, a streak, cooling on its path down her cheek.
The silence lay heavy, and she fought to keep her breath even as she dropped her gaze to her hands. Voices broke through the silence of night. “There’s a ship coming in, with all its lanterns doused,” Alec said, glancing back at her from the rail. “Your betrothed, no doubt.” His voice sounded hard, as if she’d said nay to him. Had she? She’d said nay to his way of life, to his home, to his heritage. Another tear followed the first, and she reached for her smock.
Mairi threw it over her head as the hushed voices grew, the sound of a large hull cutting through the bay near them. Would Geoff fire upon the empty vessel? Revenge for his damages? Or try to take it? Why else would he come up like this in the night without any lights?
She gasped as fire flared up behind her and spun on her toes toward Kisimul. Kisimul’s warriors stood silhouetted against a growing row of beacon fires along the upper walls, watching and waiting. The silent display of strength and impenetrable power sent a chill down Mairi, and she wished to be behind those stone walls instead of standing barefoot on the deck of Geoff’s target in nothing but her smock.
Shouts rang out on the incoming ship, and Mairi ran to stand beside Alec. If Geoff fired and hit them…she wanted to be beside Alec. “Go below,” he said.
“He won’t fire if he sees me standing here.” Her voice sounded much firmer than her tear-streaked face looked.
“Ye may not give the impression of a waiting-to-be-rescued damsel, standing next to me alone, looking ravished.” His words were hard as if he were switching from lover to warrior before her. The sound of oars in the water alongside the Sea Wolf made Mairi look over the rail. At least six smaller boats of men from Kisimul were halfway across to the ship.
“Damnation,” she cursed and raked her fingers through the tangles in her hair. No matter what she did to make herself look less wanton, she still stood in her night clothes on an abandoned ship with a near naked Alec MacNeil.
Geoff’s ship had swung around to aim its cannons at the bow of the Sea Wolf where they stood. He was close enough to be able to hear and see her now.
Mairi stepped up onto the forecastle cannon, balancing. “Geoff MacInnes!” Mairi yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Stand down.”
“Get off the cannon,” Alec ordered.
Mairi planted her hands on her hips and looked down at him. “I won’t be responsible for the death of your men or ye, Alec MacNeil.” Several lanterns flickered to life on Geoff’s ship. “Stand down, Geoff,” she called. “All is well.”
Next to her, Alec snorted, as if her statement was ludicrous. Did he welcome a battle? Brows drawn low and fist tight around the hilt of his mighty sword, he certainly looked like he craved the spill of blood. “Ye’re going to want to get off that cannon before I fire it,” he said.
“All is well?” Geoff MacInnes called back, pulling Mairi’s gaze back across the narrow patch of dark water between the boats. “Ye are standing in your smock next to my undressed enemy.”
Behind her, Mairi heard MacNeil warriors climbing along the decks. The clang of cannonballs being loaded cracked the ominous quiet of the night, making her heart race. She gasped lightly as Alec grabbed her around the waist, pulling her down to the deck. The warmth and strength in his hold felt like a brand, but she shook it off to look down on the men moving in disciplined order between the cannons. “Don’t fire,” she called.
“Mairi?” Tor’s voice came from below, and she saw both he and Cullen charge toward her.
“Shite,” she said. Could the night get worse?
“If ye want to take a swim this night, MacInnes,” Alec yelled across the water. “By all means, fire upon us. Kisimul and its warriors are invincible.”
Apparently, it could get worse.