Page 12 of Highlander’s Captive Bride (Troubles of Highland Lasses #4)

12

D aisy’s mouth fell open in shock. She could not quite believe her ears. She stared at him. “What did ye say?”

“I said nay. I’m sorry, but I cannae let ye leave just yet,” he insisted.

Rage replaced the hope that had briefly flared in her breast at the thought of being able to tend to Violet at last.

“But ye promised. That was our bargain. I’d find out the cause, and ye would let me go. Ye suggested the terms yerself,” Daisy argued, raising her voice.

Again, Bellamy shook his head, more vehemently this time. “I cannae, I tell ye. Dinnae ask me again.”

Daisy shook with anger. Her hands itched to hit him, for the man did not even seem at all apologetic for not doing what he had promised her he would do.

“Well, I ken ye’re a lot of things, Bellamy Kane, but I never thought ye a man who wouldnae keep his word!” she shouted, stomping her feet, ready to lunge at him.

“I’m sorry, Daisy, I really am,” he told her, his voice choked with emotion. He caught her wrists and held them, standing up.

“Ach, I suppose ye’re goin’ to lock me up again, are ye, and keep me here as yer prisoner for as long as it suits ye,” Daisy spat out, almost hysterical with frustration.

“Nay, nay, of course nae. But listen, will ye?”

“Why should I listen to a man who breaks his word?!” She struggled to free her wrists, but he tightened his grip on her, his face inches from hers.

“I need ye, that’s why. Look, I want to let ye go. I hate to break me word, but do ye nae see why ye must stay?”

“Nay. I dinnae see it at all. I just see a liar!”

“I havenae lied to ye, I promise ye. I need ye to stay for just a little longer. I’m begging ye to stay. Without ye, Daisy, I willnae be able to find out who’s been poisoning Elodie.”

Daisy stopped struggling as his words sank in. Her fury abated as she realized the truth of his words.

“Explain,” she said, more calmly.

“We need to pretend Elodie is still ill—at death’s door if ye like. That way, it’ll lull the culprit into a false sense of security. They’ll think they’re succeeding, but in reality, we’ll be fooling them, luring them into revealing themselves,” he told her earnestly, finally letting her go.

Daisy paced for a few moments, considering what he was suggesting, finally reaching a decision she hoped she would not regret.

“All right. If ye’re sure it’ll work,” she finally agreed, turning to him. “I’ll stay. For Elodie’s sake, not yers. I must say, I’d like to ken what sort of monster would poison a wee child of seven meself. And see them punished,” she admitted with a disdainful curl of her lip.

He let out a sigh of obvious relief. “Thank ye, Daisy. Thank ye from the bottom of me heart. I’m sorry I cannae let ye go right away. Now I ken how close she was to dying, all because some cowardly bastard was poisoning her,” he growled, once more clenching his fists in impotent fury. “I ken that without ye, I’d have lost her for sure and never kenned the true cause. Ye’ve saved me daughter’s life.”

Daisy stared at him. She had never seen him so openly vulnerable before, not even when Elodie had been in the throes of her seizure. His hands were outstretched before him, his eyes full of gratitude.

She felt an ache in her heart just looking at him, and she was so moved by his change in demeanor that she suddenly found herself stepping close to him and taking his hands in hers.

“Ye dinnae have to keep saying it,” she told him, looking deeply into his gray eyes. “I’ve said I’ll stay.”

He squeezed her hands gently in his and took a step closer to her, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her face as he looked down at her.

“I’ll never be able to tell ye how grateful I am for all ye’ve done. I’ll never be able to repay ye for saving Elodie’s life,” Bellamy said softly, bending down to look into her eyes as if to convince her that he meant everything he was saying. “After this, I’ll do anything for ye, Daisy, I swear it. Anything .”

The word hung in the air between them, resonating like the chiming of a glass bell. They stood motionless, clasping each other’s hands in silence, their eyes locked, their lips almost touching.

All at once, all the tension that had always thrummed between them converged in Daisy, galvanizing her with a compelling energy that filled her whole being.

His proximity and the heat that emanated from him, his scent, the sheer strength and power that flowed from him, the touch of his hands, the beautiful, shadowed hollows of his face, and the dark locks of his wild hair—it all descended upon her, overwhelming her senses as though she had been caught up by a whirlwind.

It was too much, and yet it was not enough.

The fire he had lit inside her ignited in her belly once more, and tongues of flame flickered white-hot through her veins, driving her forward to press herself against him, her face tilted upwards.

Letting go of his hands, she suddenly gave in to her impulses, reaching up and pulling his head down to hers. Urgently, she pressed her lips to his, a creature of pure, untrammeled desire.

“Anything?” she murmured as his mouth met hers with equal passion.

Bellamy groaned deep in his throat as he clasped her to his chest, lifting her and holding her against him. The sound was like fuel to the flames now burning hot in Daisy’s belly.

She caressed his face, her fingers running over its hard, angular planes, reveling in the soft prickling of his stubbled chin against her palms. She buried her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer still, deepening the intensity of their kiss. Boldly, with a new sense of freedom, she leisurely explored his mouth with her tongue, delighting in the feel of it as it tangled with his.

Overcome by a hunger for more of him, she caught his lip between hers, caressing it softly with her lips and tongue before nipping it gently with her teeth, drinking in the sweet taste of him and moaning softly while he plundered her mouth deeply with his tongue.

Suddenly, with rasping breaths, he raised his hands to her shoulders and gently pushed her robe off her. Daisy gasped as he cupped her behind in his hands and lifted her higher, right off the ground, so her shift rode up her thighs to her hips.

It felt perfectly natural to wrap her legs around his waist, crossing her ankles behind his back. With her exposed core now pressed against his shirt, beneath which she could feel the hard, flexing muscles of his belly, she wriggled against him lasciviously, relishing the previously unknown pleasure.

Bellamy whirled her around and groaned deep into her mouth, his hands squeezing her behind, pushing her shift higher up her hips, his fingers gliding teasingly so close to her naked sex. Daisy quivered and pressed her lips to his once more, wanting to devour him.

“Mmm,” he murmured into her mouth, grazing her lips with his teeth as he moved his mouth lower, nibbling at the soft skin of her neck and ears, trailing his lips down her neck in a tantalizing flurry of soft, hot kisses that made her dizzy.

Craving more of the indescribable pleasure he was giving her, she arched her back and threw her head back, her hands wrapped around the strong column of his neck, small moans spilling from her unchecked.

Their eyes met, and the hunger in his made her even wilder for him, and she squeezed his waist between her thighs.

Breathing heavily now, he lifted her again as she leaned back and ran his tongue down her chest, capturing the stiff peaks of her breasts with his lips, sucking, licking and biting enticingly until she thought she would go mad.

“Ah!” she softly moaned, thrusting herself against him. “I never kenned…”

“Oh, there’s more, bonny lass, much, much more,” he murmured as he toyed with her, smiling and gazing into her eyes with a half-dazed look.

“Show me, Bellamy,” she breathed.

“Say it again,” he whispered, pulling her close and pressing his face into her breasts as he nuzzled them.

“Bellamy, Bellamy, Bellamy,” she whispered in his ear, her arms around his neck as she rubbed her breasts against his face wantonly, her sex hot against his belly.

With a low growl, he walked them over to the bed, laughing softly as she writhed in his arms, still devouring her breasts with his mouth.

He laid her gently back on the bed and stood over her. Leaning forward, he gently raised her shift, and she held up her arms, helping him pull it over her head, wanting him to see all of her. The flame inside her grew in intensity when she saw him smiling and licking his lips wolfishly as his eyes roved over her nakedness.

“Mmm, so beautiful,” he breathed raggedly, kicking off his boots, tearing off his coat, and tossing it heedlessly aside before pulling his shirt over his head and flinging it away.

A mewling sound escaped Daisy’s lips as she took in the sight of his half-naked body. The rough, masculine beauty of his torso, the hard, muscle-packed expanses of his arms, his lightly furred chest, and his flat belly, where a tantalizing line of dark hair snaked down and disappeared into the waistband of his kilt, only fanned the flames of her desire higher.

“Ye’re beautiful, too, Bellamy,” she whispered, her breaths coming fast and shallow as she held out her arms to him.

“Nay, lass,” he murmured, smiling as he went into her arms, holding himself above her with his elbows and kissing her deeply.

Daisy returned the kiss, wriggling in delight as she ran her palms freely across the rippling muscles of his shoulders and back, then down his flexing arms, reveling in his sheer strength and power.

His skin was warm and smooth, except where she encountered the many silvery scars adorning it. They only spurred her passion as she clung to him, the burning between her legs demanding more of him. She wanted him as she had never wanted anything in her life.

When one rough palm caressed her naked curves, cupping and squeezing her breasts, the better to suck and bite the stiff peaks, she moaned softly, arching her back to give him greater access, relishing the pleasure he was giving her.

“I want ye so bad, Bellamy,” she whispered in his ear, writhing wantonly beneath him.

“I want ye, too, Daisy. I’ve wanted ye for so long,” Bellamy murmured, breathing heavily as he explored her.

“Have ye?” she asked, smiling, amazed to discover the power she had over him.

“Ye ken it, lass. Ye’ve been driving me mad all this while,” he admitted hoarsely.

Daisy moaned and gripped his hair as his mouth began a tantalizing descent from her breasts, down her belly, and his tongue came to rest just above her molten sex.

When he suddenly pulled back and knelt on the floor by the bed, she wondered briefly what he was doing, feeling a coldness where he had been before. He smiled at her hungrily with dazed eyes as he took her by the hips and pulled her closer to the edge of the bed. He lifted her thighs and parted them, placing one over each shoulder.

Daisy lay back, more exposed than she had ever felt before and loving it.

When she felt his hot tongue slip downwards into the hidden folds of her sex, she cried out, tangling her hands more tightly in his hair as he pulled her closer still, spreading her thighs wider, his tongue slipping and sliding as it explored her most secret and sensitive places, where no one had been before.

Then, when he ran his tongue over the throbbing nubbin of flesh at the head of her sex, she let out a small scream, for she had never felt anything like it. His lips closed around the little rosebud, pulling and nipping it with his teeth until she thought she would go mad if she could not have him inside her, to satisfy the lust that flooded her entire body.

“Oh, Bellamy,” she breathed, panting a little, pressing her hot flesh against his mouth.

Then, she felt something slide between her slick folds and into her entrance, something thick and hard, and she realized it was his finger. He was inside her! And it was divine.

She opened her legs wider and soon felt another finger join the first, then another. Desperate for more, she raised herself on her elbows to see him, pushing her hips up to meet his slow, rhythmic thrusts inside her, feeling her walls tensing around him.

Their eyes locked while his mouth feasted on the now-sopping flesh between her legs, his tongue parting her folds, his lips and teeth grazing and nibbling, inflaming her burning sex as they teased her further. She could only moan and whimper helplessly, clutching his hair as his fingers plundered her, his thrusts growing harder and more urgent.

Feeling every part of her was aflame, she rode his hand, craving every thrust, while his free hand crept up her body and cupped her breasts, squeezing them, pinching her stiff nipples as he toyed with them.

A wave of pleasure was radiating from the hot, yearning flesh between her legs, making her whole body shiver. The wave began rising up her body, growing in intensity at his every caress until it finally engulfed her in a flood of intoxicating ecstasy she had never imagined it was possible to experience.

“Ah! Ah! Bellamy” she moaned, giving in to it, arching against his mouth and hand, her body vibrating as the white-hot wave crashed over her and then slowly descended, leaving her panting, her body limp and sated with unknown pleasure.

Bellamy chuckled low in his throat, gently lifting her legs aside and sliding onto the bed, pressing the entire length of himself against her as he held her tightly in his arms.

“Ye liked that, eh?” he whispered huskily, his soaked face next to hers as he gazed into her eyes. His lips pressed gently against hers.

“Never did I dream I could feel this way,” Daisy breathed against his mouth in wonder, wrapping her arms and legs around him and holding him tightly, loving the feel of him against her. “It was… heavenly. Thank ye, Bellamy, for showing me.”

“Nay, lass, dinnae thank me. There’s two of us in this, ye ken?”

“But what about ye? Dinnae ye want the same? Is that nae what happens?”

He laughed and kissed her. “Dinnae doubt I enjoyed it, too. And dinnae doubt I want ye, Daisy. But this is enough for now. This way, ye’ll still be a maiden when ye leave here.”

“Oh,” she murmured, for the first time wondering if she could leave him now. “I hadnae thought of that. ‘Tis nae important to me to stay a maiden,” she told him, appealing to him hopefully with her eyes.

“Ye say that now, bonny lass, but yer braither may feel differently about it when he wants ye to marry some fancy gentleman.”

“Dominic isnae like that. He wouldnae force me to marry anyone I dinnae want. As ye ken, me faither tried that with me sister Delilah, and look what happened there,” she reminded him.

“Och, aye, I remember the runaway bride, all right,” he said, grinning. “But does yer family nae expect ye to marry at all, then?” he asked with interest.

“Nay. They ken I’m wedded to the healing arts.”

“Is that so?” he murmured, his gray eyes full of curiosity.

“Aye,” Daisy affirmed, stroking his chest with her fingertips.

Bellamy caught her hand and slowly pressed his lips to her palm.

“I hate to say this, but we must get up,” he told her regretfully. “Time’s a-wastin’, and we have to work out exactly how we’re goin’ to smoke out the bastard who’s been poisoning me wee bairn.”