Wildewood

Chapter 31

ALEX

The drawing room was warm and cosy now, the night cut off outside.

Alex had been looking into the fire but turned at a slight noise to find Nick right behind her, so close she could feel the heat of his body.

He had left the wine bottle on the occasional table but she hadn’t heard a thing.

Her hand came up to his chest and stopped there, feeling the muscles beneath the soft cotton, the beating of his heart under his ribs, the way he drew in a ragged breath. It came back in a rush, that need.

Now it was different again.

Theo had ordered him not to touch her. And how dare he? How dare he think he had any say over her life? Theo was dead.

And she was not. Damn it, she needed to feel alive. And Nick was right here.

‘We…’ he began and then seemed to lose the words he’d been about to say.

‘We what?’ she asked. God, she wanted him. There was something so animal about it, so vital. She gazed up steadily into his eyes, illuminated in the fire, and all she could think was how much she wanted him. Her body ached with that need.

‘We shouldn’t.’

No doubt what that was. What they both wanted. This was different, she knew. No outside interference. This need came from her. And yes, part of it was fuelled by what had happened upstairs, by the voices that shouldn’t be possible. Her whole worldview was turning upside down.

Nick had come to her rescue. He’d promised to protect her. He was there for her.

‘Because of what Theo said?’ she asked. ‘My brother was never the boss of me.’ If anything, Theo telling her not to do something like that was liable to make her do it. And he should have known that. Nick shook his head, but he didn’t smile. He didn’t move away either.

Nick closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. Alex slid her hand down his chest as slowly as she could, carefully, taking in every contour. The muscles were taut as wire, stretched almost to breaking point. He shuddered at her touch and his breath came out in a long low hiss.

Her own pulse thudded through her whole body.

She wanted him. God, she wanted him so much. She couldn’t remember desire like this for anyone. So maybe it wasn’t all natural.

Did that make it wrong?

‘Nick,’ she murmured, and brought her hand up to his face. Safer, she thought, at first. Then he opened his eyes again and it was not safe. Not at all. The hunger in him made her whole body quake with answering need. ‘Talk to me.’

He shook his head and something told her he just couldn’t find words again. His mouth opened and she wondered if he still had words to use. But she had to know. She had to hear him say it because if he was losing himself, then this wasn’t right either.

He licked his lips, and she couldn’t tear her eyes off that flash of his tongue, the hint of teeth behind it. The hunger. The need.

Slowly his gaze met hers, and he nodded. From somewhere he managed to dredge up his voice. And it was his voice, ragged and wary, but his voice. ‘I want you, Alex. From the first moment I saw you.’

Alex gave a small laugh of recognition. She couldn’t help herself. Hadn’t she been thinking the same thing?

She pressed her palm against his cheek and felt him shudder. A fragrance of wildflowers flowed around them on the air. Something from the fire perhaps, or something else. Something she couldn’t define. But it was there, sweet and comforting.

She didn’t know what she was doing. She was still just acting on instinct but if this was wrong… it really didn’t feel wrong. How could it be wrong?

Apart from being out here illuminated by the fire, with the curtains open, in the dark, where anyone could come by and see them… Except they couldn’t, could they? This was all private land. Her land. And he was its guardian.

The word rang around her head. Her guardian.

That meant something, something ancient and important. And this place… this place was special. Magical. It had a purpose. So did he.

Her guardian.

She shifted herself closer. His scent was of the wild as well, intoxicating.

And now she had touched him all she wanted to do was touch him more.

Both hands moved against his skin, pushing under the t-shirt, on to his chest, down his side, up again to touch his throat.

Nick’s mouth closed on her fingers and he sucked one into the warm depths, his tongue teasing the sensitive fingertip.

Alex gasped in surprise and delight. She couldn’t help herself.

‘Do you understand?’ he asked. ‘It’s a bond. Between us. A blessing from the wild. Please tell me you understand?’

Because it would break his heart if she didn’t. That was what his look seemed to tell her. Or if she did this, without realising what it might mean… that would be wrong too. What it might really mean.

And though she couldn’t put it into words, somehow, instinctively she did. And he was right. There was such a weight to this place, to Wildewood Hall. Anything done here, promises made or vows exchanged, or pleasure shared… well it would mean so much more than anywhere else.

Did she want that?

But one look at Nick, and the longing on his oh-so-serious face…

Oh yes, she did. Even if she couldn’t put it into words.

She leaned forward, rising on her toes, and pressed her lips to his. For a moment she felt him shudder again, his whole body, as if electricity ran through him.

‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked, lips still brushing his.

And then he touched her. Finally. His hands pulled her shirt out of her jeans and his fingers skimmed across the hot flesh underneath.

She pulled it off without thinking about it and reached behind herself to unhook her bra.

The air on her skin was a shock for only a moment.

Then Nick was there instead. His hands, his mouth, the press of his body to hers.

And oh God, she was really doing this. Here, in the drawing room, in front of the fire. And everything told her that was a terrible idea.

But she was with Nick. And Nick would never allow her to come to any harm. She was the lady of Wildewood Hall. He was her guardian. That sense of the wild cocooned them both.

His mouth joined his hands, teasing her, his eyes closed as he knelt with her and eased her back onto the floor. The aged rug felt warm and soft beneath her. The next thing she knew they were both wriggled out of jeans and underwear and then…

They were both naked.

All around them the Hall seemed to still in anticipation, waiting, watching. And this time she didn’t care. She closed her eyes and drew in a shuddering breath, welcoming him.

Nick bent his head to kiss her and then worked his way down her body, his mouth a hot line of desire.

He licked her throat and she arched up with a startled gasp as he claimed first one and then the other breast, caressing the nipples to hard points before leaving them cold and wanting with only the touch of the night’s air to sate them.

His mouth moved down further, head bowing between her legs and she couldn’t keep in a growl of need as his tongue explored there.

As he moved, she felt the touch of leaves and vines, and other living things. Things green and growing, brushing against her bare skin, delighting her, delighting in her. As if she was making love to the wild wood itself.

And then… then she wasn’t in the Hall anymore. They were outside, in the night, in the stone circle. The moon shone high overhead and the trees whispered.

Madness, this was madness. But she didn’t want it to end.

She never wanted it to end. This fantasy, this experience, all that it was to be with him.

Alex buried her hands in Nick’s hair, tangling them in the length of it, the same way the tendrils and vines tangled around the two of them, and pressed him closer to her.

His tongue teased her. Her hips moved in an increasingly frantic rhythm and she threw back her head as she gasped for air.

The trees crowded close. The night air was warm, like a cocoon around them both.

The stones were silent sentinels, encircling them.

They were safe here. It was perhaps the only place they were safe.

And the land rose around her, brushing soft shoots of life and vitality around her.

Something bound itself around her ankles and her arms, traced lines over her stomach and her throat.

‘Please,’ she said, not even sure of all she was begging for. Apart from Nick. He was all she wanted now. All she could think of.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked, as breathless as she was.

In the study, she had felt like someone else, as if her whole being had been overcome and transformed, possessed, but here, now, whether she was in the drawing room lost in a fantasy or really had somehow been transported to the woods, she was herself.

She had never been so wholly herself in her life.

And she was sure. So sure. She wanted him. She wanted to be made whole.

And the wild wood offered that. To be more herself than she had ever been before. To be free.

Nick offered that.

‘Please, Nick. Now. I need you.’ The words spilled out and Nick rose over her, his eyes so hungry, but still wary. Careful. He was always so careful. She admired that about him. How could she not? Too many people in her life had been reckless with her. She had to be the sensible one.

But not here, not now.

She saw the hesitation in his eyes. Nick thought he might hurt her, but Alex didn’t. Not for a moment. He couldn’t. Not him.

You don’t know him, some last thread of sanity tried to tell her.

Not really. He could be anyone, or anything.

She knew nothing about him, not really. Not where he came from, or anything about his past before he came here, or what had happened with Sally and Theo.

Just wild stories, vague mentions, and things that made no sense.

But she didn’t care. Not anymore. And she did know him. Somehow. Somewhere. In her heart of hearts…

He groaned as he entered her, her name twisted with a sound of agony and pleasure, and she felt that noise, that vibration, all the way through her aching body.

When he started to move, she was lost. Lost in him, lost in the woods, lost in pleasure and desire and everything in between.

She had never felt so alive. Nothing had ever felt so right.

This sense of belonging, of being part of everything around her…

His mouth on hers teased every cry from her body and his fingers threaded through hers, pushing her hands down into the soft embrace of the earth.

Briars tangled around their wrists, thorns digging into the skin, tightening, binding them together in pain and pleasure.

This was a promise, she realised. This was a vow. It was sacred. She accepted it wholeheartedly. And she wanted it. All of it. Everything Nick and the wild wood had to offer. This was her land. She had claimed it. And he was the guardian.

Alex’s hips rose to meet him, and she cried out.

In that instant she was everything, everywhere, the trees and the earth and the night sky, she was part of the woods and part of the land and Nick was hers, completely, utterly, part of her as she was part of him.

She could no more have let him go than she could let loose her own soul.

He gasped out something, words of promise, vows and sacred assurances.

And all Alex could do was accept them, accept him.

‘Yes, yes, Nick, please, yes.’

He groaned something she didn’t catch as he sank into her, deep and perfect, filling her completely, his body a bow against hers, every muscle straining to give her pleasure and chase his own.

He came silently, hard, mouth open and his whole expression almost dazed as he gave himself up to sensation, as he lost himself in her and in the world of the green, of the wild.

Ripples of pleasure still ran through Alex’s body. She lifted her hand again and ran it through his long hair, brushing it back from his face as she watched him struggle to catch his breath. He was a dream in human form, everything she could have desired and wanted, an incarnation of pleasure.

The scent of wildflowers wrapped itself around them, the press of the wild and the murmuring sound of a distant voice singing for joy, just on the edge of her hearing. Magic, she thought. It was like magic.

Finally, Nick found his voice again, although he didn’t open his eyes, not yet. He let his head fall forward, his hair curtaining them both, as he struggled back to himself.

‘Sally, mo stór,’ he sighed, his voice a song of adoration and relief. ‘Thank you…’

All around her, Alex’s dream shattered, hurling her back into Wildewood Hall, tangled on the floor of the drawing room.

With a man who had just called out someone else’s name.