Page 17 of Deception of a Highlander

Screams filled the small room, raw and inhuman. Her screams. And on the other side of the door, the crescendo of a high, wheezing laugh.

A solid mass locked her arms against her sides. Fear crowded all thought from her mind, and she lashed against the restraint with the final vestiges of her energy.

* * *

Kieran tightened his grip on Mariel in an effort to still her thrashing. Her slender body writhed with incredible strength.

“No.” Her voice was hoarse, but she showed no signs of tiring.

“Mariel,” he said softly. “Shhh, lass. It’s Kieran. Ye need to wake.”

Her struggle ceased, but her arms remained tense beneath his hands, and her breathing ragged. Quivering fingers skimmed his face in the semidarkness. She gave a choked cry. Her slick palm rested against the center of his throat, and she went still.

He wrapped his arms around her trembling form, drawing her against him as her soft sobs filled the silence, and the warmth of her tears tickled his naked chest.

“It’s all right now,” he crooned. “Everything is all right now.” He had said those words before when he cradled a body too thin, too battered. His heart flinched from the thought.

Five years had passed since Brennan’s death. Kieran’s mind shied from the thought of his brother’s name and the pain it bore. Clan MacDonald had lost more than a laird the day he died. They’d lost a true leader. Though no one pointed a finger, Kieran had been at fault.

He would not make the same mistake twice. His heart burned with determination as an image of Blair and Dougal surfaced in his mind. He had sworn he would protect them, and he would not let them down.

A shadow appeared in the dimly lit doorway, and Colin’s voice sounded in the darkness. “Is she all right?”

“Aye, she had a night terror,” he answered in a hushed tone.

Colin remained a moment longer, and if he spoke, Kieran could not hear what was said before the door clicked closed.

He was fortunate Colin had come to the door and not one of the other occupants of the inn. Doubtless, the situation would not appear innocent with Mariel screaming and him trying to restrain her while wearing only his plaid.

The wetness of her tears upon his skin had begun to dry, and her sobs slowly quieted. The ropes of the bed groaned beneath them as Kieran settled back and pulled her against him, so her head rested over his heart. Her hair was unbound and spilled across his naked flesh like a gossamer cloak.

He put an arm around her slender waist, and she relaxed against his body with a sigh. Her hair was cool silk beneath his hands. Before he realized what he was doing, the dark strands were threaded between his fingers as he stroked the length of her shimmering tresses.

He didn’t know how long he lay there with the warmth of her curled against him, but eventually, his body began to ache from lack of movement. Sleep would not be possible. Mariel’s deep, even breathing indicated she did not have insomnia as he did. Perhaps he could slip from beneath her without her waking.

He eased his hips toward the edge of the small bed, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

Her hands clutched his arms. “Please,” she whimpered. “Stay.”

Her voice was small and laced with unmistakable desperation.

“Aye, I’ll stay.” He shifted back in an attempt to relieve the stiffness of his joints. This time she did not protest his movements.

The room fell silent once more and filled with her slow, steady breathing. Despite the days they had spent on the road, her hair was clean, and her skin still held that enticing rose scent.

She sighed in her sleep. A sound so feminine and intimate, his body jerked awake. The thin fabric of her nightgown hid her from him, and it was all he could do to keep from tracing her curves through the gauzy fabric. Her hand rested against his naked chest, rising and falling with each breath he took, tormenting him with the most innocent of touches.

He wanted to roll her beneath him and caress her until she woke with a need as intense as his own. Instead, he endured the whisper of her breath across his flesh and tried to turn his mind from the burn of desire.

There was so much more to Mariel than what she let him see. So much more than what lay beneath the beautiful, polished surface.

His arm curled around her waist, and he breathed in deep her intoxicating scent. For this one night, her hair was unbound, her body free of its confines, and her soul vulnerable.

She was a woman in need of the protection he could afford to give this one night. But no longer than a few more minutes, for he could not allow himself to stay.

CHAPTER 9

Sunlight streamed through the slatted wood shutters and cast a lazy, filtered light into Mariel’s small room. Something warm wrapped around her. Arms. There were arms around her torso and a leg thrown over hers. The spicy scent surrounding her indicated who lay behind her. Perhaps she should have questioned how he’d ended up in her bed, but she found all she wanted to do was melt against his heat and lose herself in his embrace.