Chapter Seven Love Is Always On Time
“Don’t say anything.” I put my finger gently over Duncan’s lips.
I haven’t moved from the shelter of his arms and wings.
The speaker on the phone is still crackling as Daniel tests my tolerance for insults and belligerent cursing before he finally ends the call.
“I know you’re going to leave, and I can’t stay here.
I know it’s too soon, and we don’t know each other that well. If—”
Duncan’s huge hands squeeze down, just enough to get me to be silent.
His head, with its elegant curling horns, rests on mine so that I can’t do anything but sink into his eyes, into his touch.
“I will remain by your side for as long as it takes for you to see that my heart is yours. I lost it almost at once. I would stay in some tiny flat with you, or take you home to Scotland with me—or perhaps both of us could make a new home, here in Pine Ridge.”
“But your clan—”
“You are my clan. My ally. My love.”
My head spins with the intensity of his declaration.
I’ve known him for only a handful of days, but I trust him with my life.
He doesn’t have anything material to bring to the table, but his obvious devotion and determination to be with me, to give me all of himself—that’s all that I ever really wanted from anyone.
“You said gargoyles can only love once, and there’s a heartstone thing...”
“I’ve known since meeting you that I would never carve one—unless it was to offer to you. Would you accept it?” Duncan’s deep voice ripples through me, touching spots on my body that I didn’t know were voice-activated.
Heat races to my cheeks and my middle. This sweet, wonderful protector. I don’t know if he’d be ashamed or aroused to know the kind of things I’m thinking. “I would, but—but I don’t know if it’d be fair to you.”
“Fair? To offer me the fairest flower I have ever seen, and tell me it is mine to cherish? To spend my life learning about you and adventuring with you? We have so much to teach each other about the times we’ve lived in, and we can discover the future together.
I may not have much to offer you now, June, but I swear on Castle Mackintosh that one day you’ll have what you dream of. ”
What I dream of?
I dream of Duncan touching me. Of walking in the hills of the Highlands together. Of long nights in front of a fire together. Of knowing that once again, this tough girl can take her armor off with someone.
There’s no better person to do that with than Duncan.
“Are you sure this isn’t only some misplaced loyalty on your part?” I whisper. “I’m not the lady of the manor or anything. And I don’t have to be rescued. I know Daniel is a jerk, but I’ll get over him, and I’ll land on my feet.”
“My loyalty is to you, and it is not misplaced. You are the lady of my heart, and will be the lady of our manor, whether it’s large or small.
I—I am being hasty, pressing you instead of taking time to woo you.
But I will. I will court ye, like ye deserve.
” Duncan’s brogue becomes more pronounced, and I can see a flash of fear in his eyes.
“No, no. I’m not hesitating because I want more wooing. I mean, yes, I do. But that’s not what’s making me be a little cautious.”
My giant suitor scowls and jerks his head towards the phone and the open rear gate of the Mercedes. “You’re grieving the loss of thon wee bastard’s love, I know.”
“Eh.” I have to laugh at that, and Duncan smiles, transforming him from fierce to, well, delicious.
There’s no other word for how his craggy face tempts me.
Captivates me. It’s so different from a human face, and yet the emotions are just the same.
“It’s been really easy to feel all the old feelings go when I see this ugly side of him.
It’s also been easy because you’re here, treating me like a princess, making me feel like you would do anything in the world for me. That I’m valuable.”
“One’s mate is the most valuable jewel. She is his treasure.”
“Th-that’s the other thing. The whole ‘mating’ part of mate.
I know gargoyles and humans get married and even have kids.
I’m just not sure if you’d want me like that.
Sex and intimacy have changed a lot over the years.
I’m assuming you waited for your one love—but I didn’t.
I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were sleeping in stone all that time. ”
Duncan brings his lips closer to mine, so close I can feel each word he murmurs as if he’s stroking my skin with his voice. “I did wait for my mate, but I don’t care that you didn’t. What I care about is whether you’ll be mine and mine alone now that I’m here.”
“I will,” I whisper instantly, like the words have been waiting to burst out. “If you’ll be mine. Mine and mine alone,” I repeat, savoring the words. They were empty words in Daniel’s eyes, but it’s Duncan’s way of life to be loyal and steadfast. I never realized how utterly sexy that could be.
“I vow it on everything in this world and the next. I’m yours, Lady June Russo-Mitchell. Soon to be Mackintosh.”
“Soon?” I squeak.
“Unless you want to wait.”
“We’ll work out the exact timing later. Right now, if you don’t let me kiss you, I might burst something,” I hiss, my hands locking down in his long, flowing ebony locks, gripping him so he can’t move that perfect mouth out of range.
“Thank God,” Duncan agrees, and captures my mouth with his.
For someone who hasn’t had a lot of experience, and none of it recent, Duncan knows what the hell he’s doing.
I tell myself it could be something like a gargoyle’s primal instinct, but I don’t really care where the skill comes from.
I’m just enjoying the way his mouth claims mine, and how his tongue slips into stroke and battle with mine, the way my body responds to every little touch and noise he makes.
Just from kissing, I’m a mess. My nipples turn into tight little pebbles, and my pussy throbs and clenches on nothing. My mind is a whirl of lust and happiness—but certain sneaky thoughts, important thoughts, keep poking in.
If you hadn’t met Daniel—he wouldn’t have sent you Duncan. If Daniel hadn’t been the rich guy, the real estate developer, he never would have found Duncan and repaired him. Without the heartbreak of Daniel, there would be no heart healing with Duncan.
“Worth every hour I spent with that jerk,” I gasp out when Duncan lets me breathe, “because now all the rest of my hours are going to be spent with you.”
“Aye, that’s right. Are ye sure that you’ll no’ mind that I’m only awake at night?”
I shrug. “We’ll work it out. I’d rather have days asleep and nights awake with you than all my time alone and free,” I whisper.
“And you’re sure you don’t mind that I’m not human?” Duncan looks suddenly bashful, his eyes going from hazy with lust to downcast.
I follow them.
There’s something very prominent lifting the front of his kilt. His tail is tugging the hem down to try and keep it from sliding back to reveal what’s got to be a huge cock, but it’s a losing battle against size and gravity.
“Oh, wow,” I whisper.
“I know we’re not wed yet, in the human fashion, but once a gargoyle tells you that you have his heart and offers you his heartstone, then you’re as good as betrothed. Some would say married. I would wait.”
“I don’t want to. I feel like I got cheated out of a hundred years with you while you were stuck under the castle—which is silly, since I wasn’t even born for most of that time.”
“I know what you mean, my love. My lady. But think of it—without all the time that passed, we wouldn't be together now. Love is right on time.”
I nod slowly. “I like that.”
“I love you.” Duncan makes the declaration that sends human men running for the hills.
“You don’t know me that well.”
“Aye, but what I know, I love.”
Oh, God, he’s so good at this. He’s a philosopher with a kilt and horns.
“And what I know, I love. And there will be time to find more and more to love,” I say, half to myself, realizing it is true.
I loved little things about Duncan almost instantly.
I was so distraught at the thought of him leaving because it felt like my oldest, most trusted friend, my protector, would leave.
I pull him back in for a kiss, this one much steamier because I’m leading it, and I know that I might be his lady, but I’m not some “lady” who has to act all refined. Especially not when I’m alone with him. “We can work out the pace we want to go,” I reassure between kisses.
“Aye, I’ll be content as long as it’s with you,” he promises, his hands lifting me, one huge forearm going under my bottom so that I’m at an easier height for kissing. His mouth leaves my lips and goes searching for new territory to conquer—throat, collarbone, cleavage.
My thighs squeeze together as my pussy throbs again, that soft, slick feeling starting to make itself known. Duncan lifts his head and inhales the night air—then grins at me in wonder.
“What?”
“Your scent.”
“I showered, I promise.”
“You smell divine—especially where you need me most,” Duncan’s hand slowly, lightly caresses my chest and heads down to the waistband of my raggedy cut-offs.
“You can smell that?”
“Mm. A hunter uses all of his senses.” His lips move over my covered breasts, thumb teasing over a nipple. He puts me down and stares for a moment, breathing hard.
“What is it?”
“I want things that I don’t know how to ask for. If they’d offend you. Or harm you.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure most things won’t harm me or offend me, especially because I know you love me. You don’t want to do those things, so it’s okay to just be honest and say what you want. I will, too.”
Duncan nods, but he still looks nervous, and that’s just too adorable for me to stand. “Come on. Let’s go into the house. Into the bedroom. It’s easier to say things in private spaces sometimes.” I grab his hand, and we march to the car to grab my phone and shut the lid, and then race inside.
Duncan’s bravery comes back once I shut the bedroom door and face him, lit only by the glow of the bedside reading lamp.
His hands stroke over my face and neck, and I haul him down for a kiss, this time letting my other hand squeeze his muscular bicep, then roam over the cords of muscle I can feel in his neck and chest.
“I want to taste you. Every inch. And bury myself inside of you. That’s what I want, my lady. My June.”
“Oh, God. Yes, that’s what I want, too,” I whisper.
“That’s not wrong?”
“To ‘taste’ each other? Nope.” I pop my lips over the last word and love the way his chest rises and falls more rapidly as I lick my lips. “Want me to show you that it’s a very enjoyable act between lovers?”
“You mean—”
I gently stroke his tail, which is still holding onto the hem of his kilt, and Duncan lets out a low, ragged sound. “Oooh, wait? Tails are sexy spots?”
“If that means it feels wickedly good to be touched there, then yes, love.”
“Good to know.” I move my hand along the smooth, gray, whiplike tail several times, watching Duncan’s eyes roll back, then close.
When they’re shut, my other hand softly starts to brush up and down his length through the fabric of his kilt.
“Is it okay if we take things off and get on the bed?” I suggest.
He nods, swallowing audibly.
“I’ll be careful of your wing.”
“It’s better each day. You are good medicine. Your cooking. Your smile. The air here... It’s not the Highlands, but it feels like home when you’re nearby.”
I’m going to melt. Parts of me already seem to be liquid, something I’m obviously aware of when I brush my fingers down Duncan’s chest and he helps me untuck the folds of fabric that hold up his kilt.
I don’t want things to be unbalanced and one of us to be more vulnerable than the other (which sounds funny when you consider one of us could literally knock over an oak tree, and the other could probably snap off a branch).
But even with Duncan’s size, I don’t feel worried.
Just horny. Excited.
Loving. This is all new to him. I drop my shorts and the cute thong that was under them, remembering he’s seen me before, but only accidentally. This is different. This is romance. Love.
My hands move back to his hipbones, fingers slowly walking his skin, trailing around to his cock before I let myself look.
When I look, my pussy spasms as though I’m already close to orgasm, just at the sight of what Duncan’s been hiding under that kilt. “Oh, wow,” I breathe.
He’s huge, the size of some jumbo-extra-large toy, in an almost-shimmering gray. He’s shaped like a human, only so much bigger—and harder. His skin is silky when I cup my fingers and palm around him, but there’s not much bend or give as I begin to stroke.
Duncan’s moans are making me drip. “June... June, oh, by the heavens, that’s...”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” I tease, and then yelp when something softly strokes the curve of my naked rear and tickles up and down my inner thigh.
His tail.
“Duncan!”
“What?”
“Your tail!”
“Am I not supposed to?”
I think about that. “No, you are supposed to. I mean, if gargoyles do that sort of thing?”
“We do. We do a lot with our tails. It’s how the females can bind themselves to their mates, too. We can enter her twice like this, and she enters us once.”
“Oh. So her tail goes inside of you while you’re inside of her?”
Duncan nods, but frowns. “I don’t think human men in my time were comfortable with that idea, but then again, their wives did not have tails.”
“Baby, I’m comfortable with anything you want that makes us both feel good—and that’s just between us both. Whatever you want to try, I’m up for it.”
“Oooh,” Duncan lets out a happy little chuckle and shudders with delight when my other hand slips lower and finds smooth, heavy balls. “Now I know I woke up at just the right time, to find a woman like you.”
“Mmm. I think I can make you very happy,” I tease, sinking to my knees on the bed while he stands beside it. My lips press a soft kiss on his stone-colored tip while I look into his eyes.
“I cannae wait to return the favor,” he groans.