Highlander Unchained Read online

  Chapter 17

  Three days later, while practicing with his men for the coming battle to reclaim Breacachadh, Lachlan had his answer.

  “I’m sorry, my laird,” Allan said, standing before him, his face streaked with dirt and sweat. Lachlan knew he’d just arrived—the smell of the moors and wind still clung to him.

  Disappointment sank through him like a rock. The rescue hadn’t worked. “What happened?” he asked, steeling himself for the worst.

  “Everything went as planned. Hugh made it past the guards and smuggled in the rope to John. We were waiting for him in the birlinn below the tower as he started his descent. He was about halfway down when all hell broke loose. He’d been seen. We waited as long as possible and barely escaped without being captured ourselves.”

  They were fortunate in that. It might be suspected who was behind the rescue, but at least it couldn’t be tied directly to him.

  “And John?” His hands clenched. “What happened to my brother?”

  “They pulled the rope back up. We feared they might let him go and the fall would have killed him.”

  Thank God. He could have been the cause of his brother’s death. “I don’t understand how this could have happened. John was supposed to descend on the side opposite the watchtower—where no one could see him.”

  “He was. We found out later a guard on watch left his post to relieve himself. He happened to look up and noticed a movement.”

  Lachlan clenched his jaw. He couldn’t believe that their plan had worked only to be foiled by a man who couldn’t hold his piss.

  He could tell by Allan’s expression that there was more. Lachlan’s fingers tightened around the hilt of his claymore. “What else?”

  Allan met his gaze. “Our man inside the castle did as instructed if something went wrong and found us in the village of Kinneil near the port.” He paused. “John has been taken to the pit.”

  Lachlan swore, tossing down his sword before he flung it out to sea in frustration. His brother had been moved from the tower to the pit prison—a place usually reserved for lowborn criminals. Blackness Castle had a particularly macabre feature. At high tide, the water from the sea poured through a grate, filling the bottom of the pit with icy water.

  John wouldn’t last a week.

  He wouldn’t have to. Lachlan’s fear of losing Flora had made him grasp at any straw. And now he’d made it worse. He hardened his heart and knew his options had just run out. He needed Argyll. Flora would have to understand that he had no choice.

  Marriages were arranged all the time; theirs was no different. Except they were luckier than most, for they’d found love in the bargain. He loved her. That was all that mattered. No matter how it came to be.

  Lachlan caught her in the laird’s solar from behind as he had before—except this time he did not leave anything to Flora’s imagination. After three nights of making love to him for hours on end, her body immediately filled with liquid heat.

  The days had spun by in an excited whirl and the nights steamed in passion. But as the day of the wedding drew closer, there seemed to be almost a desperate edge to their lovemaking, as if the fire that consumed them both might burn out of control. Tender and slow or rough and wild, it didn’t matter. Flora couldn’t get enough of him.

  His strong hands clasped her around her waist. She felt the granite wall of his chest against her back. Being surrounded by all that muscle and the warm masculine scent never failed to make her breath catch.

  She could feel the warmth of his breath at her ear, and she closed her eyes, allowing the familiar tingling sensations to wash over her as her body opened like a flower at his touch. He cupped her breasts and slid hot kisses down her neck. She stretched against him, savoring each exquisite sensation that he wrought from her as his hands moved over her body in swift possession.

  The rock-hard press of his erection at her bottom sent a shiver of desire running straight between her legs. The sensual haze descended around her, blocking out everything but the touch, the feel of the man behind her. She was aware of every movement, every press of his finger, every breath, every beat of his heart. He nudged her again, and she pressed her bottom against him, teasing him right back.

  She felt him work the ties of his trews, and then the cool air hit her legs as he lifted her gown over her hips. Leaning her slightly forward so that she could rest her hands on the wooden cabinet against the wall, he spread her legs.

  She could barely stand, so strong was her need for him. She could feel her own dampness gathering between her legs. She throbbed, so ready for him, she wondered if she would last before he could…

  Oh God. She groaned as she felt the heavy head of his erection sliding against her, setting off wave after wave of shaking desire. He was so wonderfully thick and hard, and she wanted him inside her. She arched her back, trying to catch him. But he was merciless, rubbing against her until she’d already started to shatter, until the sharp spasms rocked her hard against him. Only then did he slowly push himself inside.

  The feeling was incredible. She felt so full, holding him tight between her thighs. But she wanted him deeper. She bent a little more and lifted her bottom higher to accommodate him.

  He swore.

  She smiled, did it again, and all teasing was gone. Taking her hips, in one smooth motion he guided himself fully inside her, filling her to the hilt as he started to pump. He loosened her gown so he could cup her breasts.

  He sank into her faster and faster until Flora thought she was going to explode.

  “Oh God, I’m going to come,” he said tightly.

  She loved when he was like this, out of control with need for her. When he told her exactly what he was going to do to her—in every wicked detail.

  He did it right now, whispering in her ear with his rough, ragged voice as his hand slipped between her legs, pressing her most sensitive spot, sending her over the edge again, just as he started to explode inside her.

  Lachlan slid his hand down her naked breast, lingering on the precious tip as the last vestiges of their shared climax ebbed.

  He hadn’t meant to take her so roughly. Indeed, he’d sought her out for another reason altogether. But Allan’s news had shaken him, and he’d needed the soul-cleansing balm of her love.

  Sliding out of her, he leaned forward to whisper in her ear again. “I have a surprise for you.”

  She took a moment to collect her breath, before turning to face him. “Another one like that?”

  “Jade.” Though he wished divining new ways of making love to her were all he had to worry about. The failed rescue and his brother’s fate in the pit haunted him. In his effort to avoid hurting Flora, he’d made the situation worse. He knew he had to go through with his original plan, but knowing didn’t make it any easier.

  Sometimes, like right now, with her eyes bright with happiness as she looked at him as if he were some kind of heroic knight in shining armor, it hurt just to look at her. Her innocent happiness ate at him. More than once, it had been on the tip of his tongue to tell her everything about his brother and the bargain he’d made with her cousin—usually at moments like this in the afterglow of their shared passion, when it seemed their love was the most indestructible. But no matter how many times he made love to her over the past few days, he still he couldn’t be sure of her reaction. Her natural stubbornness coupled with her unreasonable fear of ending up like her mother were wild cards. And he couldn’t risk his brother’s life or the safety of his clan, not when it was in his power to do otherwise.

  So the frustration and anger built inside him. Some of which, he knew, was coming out in his lovemaking. Like now, when he took her hard and rough in a maelstrom of reckless need. He knew she sensed it, not understanding what drove him to such extremes of passion. All too soon, she would know why.

  He brushed a golden wisp of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. She smiled and nuzzled her cheek into the palm of his hand.

  He felt a sha