Chapter Ten
Mairi sat on the barstool at the packhouse’s kitchen island while Tavish cooked up their dinner. It was quite surreal to have a duke in a too-small apron while concentrating on the meal he was preparing.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” she questioned with a teasing smile.
“You doubt me, woman?”
“Since you answered my question with a question, it doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence.”
“Just you wait,” he said with a wink.
Once the steak was done, he placed it on a cutting board and chopped it up, then placed the finished food in containers. Throwing a smirk her way, he walked to the pantry and emerged with a picnic basket. He packed it with the steak he’d just cooked up plus various items from the fridge.
“You do realize it’s nighttime, right?”
He shrugged. “We are creatures of the night.”
“Interesting turn of phrase.”
He hefted the basket and headed to the door. “Coming, my love?”
The words jolted her, and it caused a bubble of hope to rise.
She tried to chide herself, to remember his cruel words, but they grew distant and hazy with each passing moment.
Leaving anxiety left in their wake. After he let her exit first, he took the lead and descended a few stairs to the meadow behind the packhouse.
A blanket was already on the ground with about a dozen jar candles situated around it, casting a romantic hue over the area.
Once he placed the picnic basket down at a corner, he took off his shoes then held out his hand to steady her as she did the same.
Then they sat down and she watched him take out the food he had prepared and mix it all together.
“Steak salads?”
He nodded. “Prepared just like my cook, Jackie, makes.”
“Old dog, new tricks?”
“You calling me old?”
“Ancient,” she teased. “Speaking of ancient, how’s your gran? She’s still alive, right?”
“Aye, thank the goddess.” He threw her a quick glance. “And the next time I see her, I’m going to tell her what you said.”
Mairi laughed. “Oh, no!”
“Your own passed, right?”
“Aye,” she said softly, and took a deep breath. “It was her dying wish to see me married to you, and I ... well, we both know how that went down. A few weeks after the ceremony, she never woke up from a nap.”
“Your gran was a lovely woman.” He was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry.”
The apology caught her off guard. “Thank you, but there’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“I meant for ... well, a lot of things.” He grimaced. “Not showing up for her funeral. Not showing up at our wedding and dismissing it through proxy. I was angry to be forced into marriage with a stranger.”
Stranger? Did he not remember they were childhood friends? She opened her mouth to question but his next words made her mind go blank.
“I have no excuse, but I want you to know it was never about you.”
“Really? Because I remember everything you said.”
“And I said a lot of bad shit.”
“Aye, you did.” She cleared her throat. “I’m excited to try this salad.”
Much to her relief, he followed her lead and changed the subject. “I’ve even brought wine.”
Then he pulled out two plastic cups.
“Wow,” she said, with a hint of laughter in her voice. “Going all fancy like.”
“Classy, eh?” He chuckled and proceeded to pour red wine into each cup. He handed her one, and then raised his. “To the beautiful moon, the beautiful setting, and to the beautiful lass joining me on this blanket.”
As she toasted with him, she had to admit he was completely charming, but was it all an act? Could leopards change their spots? That’s what she had to find out.
“You know, when I was a wee lad, I wanted to be Indiana Jones,” he admitted.
That caught her off guard and the wine went down the wrong hole. Coughing regurgitated the liquid out her nose and she grabbed a napkin, more than mortified by the inelegance of it all.
“I’m so sorry!” he cried, rubbing her back.
A few minutes later, she was able to breathe as the spasms passed.
“Well, that was embarrassing,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because I snorted it out.”
He grinned. “You’re still adorable.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled back. “Tell me why Dr. Jones was your boyhood hero.”
“Because he was cool and he was able to use a whip. What about you?”
“I didn’t have anyone I wanted to be.”
“Really? Come on. It won’t go past these lips.”
Mairi glanced around, as if making sure they were alone. “Okay. When I was a little girl, I thought it would be cool to be a train.”
“A conductor?”
“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “A train. Literally. I thought Thomas the Train was real. After all, why else would he have a face? So, in preparation, I made sure to memorize every episode of Thomas and Friends.”
A smile was fighting to break free on his face, and she appreciated that he wasn’t laughing outright.
“You would’ve made an awesome train.”
“Right? And I think you would’ve been an awesome Indiana Jones.”
They both chuckled, and then, as the moon’s light encircled them in the clearing, an electrified awareness wrapped around them. The levity fell away as the gossamer threads between them solidified.
“You know, I am impressed with this dinner,” she murmured. “I need to pay off my bet.”
Moving closer, he sifted his hand gently through her hair and gripped it lightly to pull her closer to him.
Her head tilted back as she placed her hands upon his chest. Light barely filtered through the trees, but her wolf sight allowed her to see the blatant lust on Tavish’s face.
It sent a thrilling jolt through her body.
The caress of his lips parted her own and the subtle pressure allowed him to sweep his tongue inside.
It was everything and more. The universe exploded.
Transcendence illuminated the dark. The mate bond took its first step into cementing them together, and she knew there would never be another man for her.
She had secretly loved him for a long time, and as terrified as she was of this revelation, there was no denying it anymore.
Little by little, Tavish had been tearing down the walls she had erected around her heart, until she stood before him raw and untethered.
He rolled them until she was beneath him, and supported himself on his elbows.
When they broke for air, he leaned his forehead against hers, and she felt him.
Felt how hard he was for her. It sent a thrill down her spine and her heart pounded.
Would he kiss her more? Make love to her?
Or would he walk away from her again? The moment teetered on see-saw.
“I want you,” he muttered, his voice thick and guttural like broken glass. “I want to lie you down, a stór, and claim your body. You’re mine, Mairi. And I’m yours.”
My treasure. He had called her his treasure.
“But do you want to become mine?”
She wanted to say yes, but a sliver of fear remained.
That he would reject her once more when the passion faded, and if that happened again, she didn’t think she’d recover.
Did she have the courage? Better yet, would she hate herself for the rest of her life, and live with bitter regret, if she didn’t try?
“Aye, I do,” she breathed, then bit her bottom lip with her top teeth. Hope and fear dueled in her head.
He apparently noticed.
“What’s wrong?”
“What if ... you ... don’t want me anymore? After, you know. After.”
“Oh, mo luaidh, I have so much to make up for.” He took a deep breath as he lightly traced her jawline with a fingertip.
Tenderness temporarily softened his hunger.
“Biology may have played a part in me recognizing you as my mate, but that was just a catalyst for what I feel for you now. And I will spend the rest of my life undoing the words I put in your ear. I hope one day you’ll believe me. ”
Framing his face with her hands, she took the leap of faith.
“Kiss me,” she ordered softly.
He did just that. Tavish captured her lips, plunging his tongue inside as he took over all her senses. Gone was any hesitancy. He kissed her with a scorching heat that burned through her veins. Everything around them disappeared into the ether, and Mairi surrendered willingly.
“Aye,” she breathed when the kiss broke. “Here. Now. Nothing more appropriate than being witnessed by the High Luna.”
He was right. They were meant to be.
One hand traveled down to bunch the hem of her dress to ruck it up.
His short nails caused a delicious friction over her sensitive skin.
Fingertips danced across her skin as he cupped her pussy, right over her mound.
He shifted the cotton patch on her panties aside, and her breath caught when he found that little bundle of nerves that lit her up.
“Please,” she begged breathlessly.
Sitting back, he placed his hands on her calves, slowly sliding upward.
The roughened patches on his calloused hands intensified her senses as he spread her legs wide and kissed her inner thighs, working his way up.
Grabbing the elastic on each side to slide her panties down.
Fingers parted her folds and he licked over her slit, sucking on the nexus of nerves between her thighs.
Her body arched in pleasure as his tongue swept into her channel, throwing her into sensory overload.
Mairi moaned as he slid a finger inside her.
Pushing in and then curling up, hitting a spot that had her bucking.
Never, in her whole life, had she felt anything quite as fervent.
Or lustful. She sensed his hunger, savage in its intensity, as he dominated her body.
Driving her own climax closer, until she fell over that precipice.
The brightest lights exploded like dynamite behind her eyes.
Her muscles seized and her body pulsed with each shudder.
Gradually, she drifted back down, reveling in the afterglow.