Part 5 (1/2)

She rolled from beneath him and onto her knees to face him. It was an incredibly erotic position, with her backside in the air and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s hanging heavy and full. The heat of the fire licked along her exposed backside and her slick channel. She arched her back. This must be what a cat in heat felt like-totally driven by the need, the urge to mate withMacTavish . Poor kitty. Nothing less than the length of his c.o.c.k would satisfy her.

She shook her head and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s swayed. ”No. It's not my touch I crave-that wouldn't satisfy me at all. That's really not what I need.” She looked at him from the top of his head, past his broad shoulders and muscled arms, past his belly to his jutting erection and powerful thighs, letting him see in her eyes what she wanted. She looked at his sheathed c.o.c.k, and just to make sure there was no mistake, she licked her lips.

”Come here,” he said. His commanding tone and hot glittering eyes belied the lazy smile that curled his lips.

Maybe it was because she was in charge all the time, of everything, that it came as quite a surprise that she didn't want to be in charge in the bedroom. That it was even more of a turn-on to let him take the lead. Still on her hands and knees, she closed the small gap separating them.

”Now tell me what it is you need,” he said.

Kate slid one hand beneath the black silk of his hair and cupped the strong column of his neck, pulling him to her. She brushed his lips with hers. ”I want you.” She slipped her tongue along his lower lip. ”I need you.”

His mouth captured hers. Bold, demanding, he tested her response and she answered, meeting his tongue with hers. He cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his hands and toyed with them while he kissed her hard. His tongue in her mouth...his fingers tweaking her nipples...on her knees, her legs spread, her s.e.x ready, quivering...she moaned into his mouth.

He released her and got to his knees. ”Turn around and face the fire.”

Kate turned. She'd never tried it from behind, it had always struck her as somewhat coa.r.s.e and demeaning. Now it felt elemental and primal and very right. She dropped to her elbows and wriggled her bottom toward him in invitation.

”Oh, la.s.s...” He grasped her hips in his hands and teased each of her cheeks with his thumbs, spreading her wider. The fire heated her face, but his body heat scorched her from behind. He hesitated the tip of his c.o.c.k at her opening. ”You are so wet and hot.”

”For you,MacTavish . Only for you.”

That seemed to break through his control. In one smooth motion he entered her.

In that instant it was as if everything inside her stilled, a pause that served as a moment of recognition. For an instant she could swear she stopped breathing, her heart stopped beating, that she ceasedbeing. She sensed the same sensation inMacTavish and then it was as if they were both swept up in a maelstrom of want and need and being. Every sensation, every thrust, every stroke of him inside her, every brush of his thighs against her, every sensation was more intense, magnified. It was as if each thrust brought her closer to something she both craved and feared. But it didn't matter because her will was no longer her own. She was caught up in something greater than herself that she didn't quite understand but was powerless to stop even if she wanted to, which she didn't.

”Oh, Katie-love...”

”MacTavish...” She hurtled along on an o.r.g.a.s.m that took her where she'd never been and then brought her back, marked, changed, a different person. It was as if she'd found a piece of herself she'd never known was missing.

She lay with her eyes closed, feelingMacTavish's weight on top of her, his breath against her hair, the fullness of him still inside her, and panic swamped her.

What if she opened her eyes and found that she'd hurtled forward to the twenty-first century and taken him along with her? That s.e.x could've certainly done it. What if she opened her eyes and she and MacTavish were naked and connected on the museum floor? More horrifying still, what if they were naked and connected in the ER?

It was like one of those bad dreams come true where you find yourself walking naked down the street. Or at least it had the potential to be. But thus far all she heard was the thundering of her own heart and the rasp ofMacTavish's breathing.

Kate squinted her eyes open.

It was almost a relief to find herself still in the eighteenth century, in a castle, on her stomach in front of a fire.

MacTavishwrapped his ma.s.sive arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck and shoulder. ”Katie-love, I'm glad you found your way naked to my bed.”

She laughed, but it actually came out as more of a sigh. ”Hmmm. That was definitely worth the trip.” She could definitely use a little more of that before she returned home.

He withdrew and Kate rolled to her side, the better to admire his naked form. Even with his erection at half-mast, he was beautiful.

Admiration turned to dawning horror. Yes. There was something worse than if she'd transported them, naked and co-joined, to her work...and she was looking right at it. She couldn't believe it. Obviously one size didn't fit all.MacTavish had broken the condom.

DARACH LOOKED DOWN.That wasn't supposed to happen. ”Bluidyh.e.l.l.”

”Oh my G.o.d,” she said, staring at him as if he were the devil himself.

”I am not dancing to celebrate, but 'tis not as if the world's come to an end.”

”Not for you maybe. You're not the one who could've just gotten pregnant...or worse.” She put her hands over her face. ”I can't believe the rubber busted.” She dropped her hands and eyed the useless ”condom” stillsnugged around his rod, but open on the end. ”But it obviously did.”

He rolled off the inept device, walked over and tossed it into the chamber pot. ”I have not got the pox because I have always used a sheep's bladder and they work a sight better than that.” He turned to face her. She'd picked up his plaid and was busy wrapping it around her. ”I'm no monk, but I have not bedded every la.s.s that looks my way.”

”I'm sure they all look-young and old alike.” She tied the plaid in place. Backlit by firelight, wrapped in his plaid, head held high, she looked like a Celtic queen.

Her tone obviously meant it an insult, but he'd take it as a compliment.

”'Tis a fair number-” he tried to lighten her mood ”-despite my personality. But I've yet to get one with a bairn. As I said, the sheep has stood me well. When are your courses due?”

She shook her head. ”I should pay more attention but I'm not sure.” She took a deep breath. ”It'll be fine. I just panicked for a moment.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and he noted, not for the first time, that she possessed lovely, delicate ears. ”And I never panic. I'm trained not to panic.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and he had the distinct impression she was repeating it so it would be so.

Darach knew a moment of sympathy for her plight. He wouldn't panic-battle taught a man a clear head, else he wound up dead. But he could easily see where she would have lost her head. ”'Tis to be expected. You're in a strange place, in a strange time, with a strange man and you've no idea if you can get back.”

She shot a look at him that would've withered a lesser man. ”Thanks,MacTavish . Now I feel much better. Not to mention I could be pregnant.”

There'd been something different when he'd tumbled her-something fey and unfamiliar-she'd touched a part of him that had never been touched before. Now the thought that in that moment they might've created a bairn.... ”If you were, 'twould definitely be better if you went back.”

She eyed him as if he were a bit of offal clinging to her hem. ”That would definitely make it more convenient for you, wouldn't it?” She turned her back to him and studied the fire as if it held the answers she sought.

To be sure, something strange had happened tonight for he'd never felt the need to explain himself to a woman before, but he found himself doing just that. ”You do not understand. Idunnae ken what it is like in your Atlanta, but I would wager being aMacTavish therewouldnae be nearly as dangerous. And I cannae say it is only the English who would harm a child...or a woman. Many a Scotsman would as well. There is a fair number of men who consider wives and children as weaknesses to be exploited.”

”I'm not sure that it's much better where I'm from. We have our share of psychopaths. Not that I want to stay, but surely it's not that bad here.”

She had to understand, for her own safety. ”You are safe enough here-as long as you stay in here, in this room. That's why I bound you to the bed. 'Twould be madness for you to go out on your own.” He could protect her from the men in the castle by declaring her his own. But that brought danger from another source. ”And were you carrying my bairn, 'twould not be safe for either you or the child.”

He had enemies and he knew they only waited, biding their time, which was one of the reasons he'd never formed an attachment to any woman, why he'd never declared one particular woman his, why he'd made sure never to leave a woman with child. He'd not hand down what might very well be a death sentence.

The tilt of her head, the purse of her lips all bespoke skepticism. ”But I saw women and children when I looked out the window.”

”They all belong to the clanMacTavish , but none of the bairns are mine, nor are the women.” Or they hadn't been until now. Now it was as if she belonged to him, with him, whether he wanted that or not. Even though he lived with a memory, one that haunted his sleep at night. He never spoke of it, but speak he would now and perhaps this stubborn woman would then understand. He grasped her by the shoulders. ”I am laird by default. My two older brothers and my mother were all killed byCampbells . They were butchered like swine.”

Horror and, more importantly, understanding flickered in her eyes, but she remained calm. ”I'm sorry. That must have been horrible. Why? How old were you? How old were they?”

”I was six.” It could have been yesterday. Nightmares kept the memory fresh. ”My brothers were eight and ten. My mother had lost two bairns after me, but she was pregnant again. 'Twas a fine spring day and we'd spent the morn picnicking at a burn.” He could still hear his mother's laughter as ”her lads” entertained her with their antics. ”Mother said we had to go, but I didn't want to leave. I had a fine time skipping stones across the burn and ch.o.r.es waited at home, so I hid.”

For years afterwards, with the reasoning of a child, he'd longed to turn back time. If he'd come when she'd called him, if he hadn't hid, if his mother and brothers hadn't wasted time seeking him, they'd have been gone. They'd have been back and safe at the castle where no Campbell would've dared attack.

”While my mother and brothers searched for me, a band ofCampbells attacked. They killed them. They searched for me butcouldnae find me. I'd hidden well and good and I stayed hidden.” He couldn't mask the bitter self-loathing for the role he'd played in their deaths.

She caught his hand in hers and her touch seemed to leech some of the bitterness from his soul. ”You were in shock.”