Page 23 of Farlan (Immortal Highlander Clan McKeran #3)

Chapter Nine

G race watched Farlan’s face, aware now that what she was saying to him came from wanting him, but also something else.

This unruly, defiant part of her didn’t confuse her, however, although it did choose odd moments to surface.

Until a few moments ago she’d wanted to run away from him.

She also knew it was better to keep her distance until she could be sure what was the best for her.

She never threw herself at anyone; acting on impulse was reckless and, in her profession, even dangerous.

Then a chilliness had come over her in the great hall, and then again in this room, and all her rational plans crumbled away to nothing.

This is how it’s supposed to be between lovers . Maybe the magic here is trying to show me that.

“With all my heart, I am your lady.” She heard the words come from her lips as the coldness disappeared, and a wave of scorching desire burned through her. Then it seemed to be time for her to say what she wanted, which was easy. “Kiss me, Farlan.”

The first whisper of his mouth against hers seemed so tender it made her eyes sting.

Then something seemed to snap inside him.

A moment later he was all over her, his mouth ravishing hers, his hands lifting her off her feet, his confined cock pressing against her lower belly.

She wound herself around him, clutching him with her arms and legs so tightly that when he put her on the bed he had to come down on top of her.

The weight of him might have flattened her, but he leaned to one side and then flipped, putting her on top of him.

They might have problems everywhere else but in bed, Grace thought. As long as she could have him here, she could handle the rest.

Grace sat up, ending the ferocious kiss so she could straddle and look down at him.

Farlan wasn’t smiling now, but had so much desire in his eyes they glittered like dark topazes reflecting fire.

All that was for her, and grew even hotter as she slowly unlaced the bodice of her gown.

When she showed him that she wore nothing under it his hands came up to peel down the bodice until she was bare to the waist.

“I know why you smile so much,” she told him as he looked at her breasts. “When you don’t smile, you look pissed off and scary. In my time we call that resting bitch face.”

“Do I now?” He trailed his fingertips over her tightly beaded nipples, touching her as if she were made of eggshell thin porcelain. “By the Gods, you’re glorious.” His gaze shifted to catch hers. “Why dinnae you ever smile?”

“Because I had to for my job all the time.” She hadn’t realized it, but another relief had been not putting on fake expressions for the camera. “It also caused wrinkles, according to my agent.”

“No’ here,” Farlan said simply.

The man didn’t look at her the way others did, Grace thought, because her physical beauty wasn’t a big deal to him. “You really don’t care what I look like, do you?”

“You’re as lovely as a princess, I vow. To see you is to watch the sunrise and shed its glow over all.

Yet I much prefer how you are beneath my hands, and the smell of you in my head, and the taste of you on my lips,” he said, very serious now.

“’Tis your adorable frankness that stirs me even more.

Aye, and the only manner in which I ken you’re real, ’tis by putting my hands on you.

Then I think I shall become some beast and surely devour you alive. ”

She smiled. “Maybe you should take a taste of me first.”

He took hold of her hips, his biceps bulging as he lifted her up and settled her by his shoulders.

She lifted the hem of her gown just in time to see him discover she wore nothing under that, either.

He glanced up at her as he kissed her mons, and slowly stroked the seam of her pussy with his tongue.

Had any man ever looked so sexy to her? Grace couldn’t remember. Farlan had wiped clean her memory of the lovers in her past.

The slow, soft stroking of his tongue parted her, and he found the throbbing knot of her clit, which made her catch her breath.

He lashed her gently, licking her until she moaned, and then trapped her between his lips and sucked.

She writhed over him as that sensual torment sent her spiraling up into a spontaneous orgasm, and then making a wall of bliss fall on her, burying her in sensational pleasure so acute she thought for a moment she might collapse on Farlan.

But no, his hands were on her waist again, steadying her before he stripped off his trews.

He lifted her up as he stood, holding her up over him and then slowly lowering her.

Grace spread her thighs, gasping as she impaled herself on the heavy girth of his cock.

Farlan went deep, curving his hands under her buttocks to support her as he worked his shaft in and out of her aching pussy.

“There, ’tis what you truly want, mo ghrian .

You need me inside you, to put out the fire we stoke with every kiss.

Let me fack you deep and hard, and ’twill quench the burn. ”

She curled her arms around his head, urging his mouth to the throbbing peak of her breast. No man had ever fucked her so thoroughly and yet so dreamily; he was all she wanted and more.

He could rip off her clothes and pump his cock inside her whenever he wanted, and she would welcome him.

This was her man, her lover, and if she had her way no other woman would ever have him again.

“Go harder, and deeper,” she whispered, and nearly screamed as he did just that while sucking her nipple. “That’s all I need, all I want.” As another climax fountained inside her she begged, “Oh, please, come with me this time.”

Farlan drove into the center of her pleasure, burying himself so deeply that the jets of his semen hammered against the mouth of her cervix.

That made her own bliss double in force, and together they cried out as the joy of what they had made together became a new world.

Grace wondered if they had fallen into yet another reality, for how else could this man she barely knew have given her such elation ?

“’Twill ever and always be thus between us,” he told her, panting the words as if he’d just finished a battle instead of sex. He kissed the top of her head. “Never doubt that, mo ghrian .”

“As long as you promise you’ll never leave me, I’ll be yours,” she whispered against his shoulder, afraid to hear the sound of her own pleading.

Farlan carried her over to the bed, keeping their bodies joined as he lay with her.

He murmured in a low voice to her, telling her how much she had pleased him, and how good it was to hold her naked in his arms. Sweat soaked them both, but Grace didn’t care.

As long as she could smell him on her, she thought, closing her eyes, she would never again be alone, or afraid.

Only ’tisnae just you, wench.

The jealous voice echoed in her mind like some strange memory, yet she couldn’t remember anyone but Doon the cook ever calling her wench. This tone was sulkier, and softer, and made her skin crawl with goosebumps.

Farlan stroked a hand over her arm. “You’re chilled.”

“No.” She caught his arm as he reached for the coverlet he’d flung aside. “Did you hear someone just now? A woman’s voice? ”

He frowned. “I didnae, no. What did she say?”

“I probably just imagined it. Come here.” She put her hand on his neck, and drew him down to kiss his mouth. “Do I have to do anything to claim you as my man tonight? Give you a ring? Draw my initials on you somewhere?”

“Kiss me and call me yours aloud before my brothers and our vassals.” He kissed his way from the corner of her mouth to her ear. “Then be prepared for me to seize and carry you off, for as soon as I hear those words, I shall need come inside you again, and pump you full of my seed.”

“Like now?” she teased, clenching around him as his shaft swelled and hardened inside her. “That’s all it takes to get you in bed, Seneschal?”

His smile faded. “I’ve never yet claimed a woman as my lover alone. I reckoned ’twasnae fair, for I cannae wed a mortal. Nor may I sire her bairns, if we ever escape this place.” He met her gaze, his own troubled. “If ’tisnae what you wish, my lady, then you shouldnae claim me.”

He was still giving her a choice, even after telling her she was his. Grace didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I’ve never wanted to have children, or get married,” she said slowly.

“Even if we could do both of those things here, I’m not sure I would.

My mother didn’t have a great marriage, and she never wanted me.

” Aware that he might relate anything she said about Tonje to Inga, she wished she could take back the words.

“Please don’t repeat that to anyone, all right? ”

Farlan nodded. “You may trust me to hold my tongue, my lady.”

“I’ll keep whatever you tell me between us as well,” Grace promised. Maybe he’d finally explain why he smiled so much.

“We’re a perfect match, then.” He kissed her brow, hesitated, and then said, “Tonight one lass shall choose two men. ’Tis never been done before now, and I worry that some of our other vassals shall cause trouble over the matter.”

“Is there something you say to reassure them?” she asked.

He moved his shoulders. “’Tis likely to cause some commotion no matter what words I may offer. Still, when the time comes, I shall stand with them as a friend.”

Grace knew he was smart, and commanded a lot of respect from the castle’s household staff. “Should I join you?”

“Half the men here shall want me dead once they learn you’ve chosen me,” he told her, his mouth curving wryly. “Mayhap we should wait until after Elspeth takes her lovers to reveal your choice.”

She laughed and rolled on top of him. “I think everyone will know the minute they see us together.”