Ciara blinked hard against the unshed tears. She wouldn’t let them fall. She’d be damned if she’d ruin this proud moment for her son and her husband. She refused to let them know her pain. She would see to it they had their special day. It would be her last gift to them both.
“Look, Mother! It’s truly fine. Have ye ever seen such a blade?”
Maxwell and Angus deposited Keagan back at the main table to stand at his mother’s side.
With a quick nod, Ciara laid a gentle hand to his cheek and smiled down into Keagan’s face. “It’s a truly fine blade for a truly fine son. Your father and I couldn’t be more proud.”
“What’s wrong, Mother? Why are ye so sad? Dinna fear, I’ll be careful with the sword.” Keagan hugged Ciara tight as he looked up into her face.
With a start, Ciara realized Keagan was too perceptive. She might fool the others but she would have to use her powers to shield her true feelings from Keagan’s senses. With a cluck of her tongue, she pecked him on the cheek and powered up her defenses. “I know you’ll be careful. I’m just a silly woman who hates to see her baby growing up so fast.”
“I am not ababyanymore, Mother,” Keagan huffed with a roll of his eyes.
Picking up on his son’s exasperated tone, Faolan moved a bit closer and wrapped a consoling arm around his wife’s shoulders. As he fixed his son with a meaningful glance, he pulled Ciara close against his chest. “Ye willalwaysbe her baby, Keagan. Even when ye are as old as I am. They canna help it. ’Tis the way their hearts work. It’s what makes a mother so special.”
With a nod of his head, Keagan eased away from his parents, as he kept glancing toward his friends. “Can I go show Ian this fine sword? He said he’d practice with me when I had a blade of my own.”
As he waved his son away with a nod, Faolan laughed. “Aye, son. ’Tis your day. Do what ye will.”
* * *
She stood staringdown into the hearth, hypnotized by the firelight. This would be her last night with her husband. She’d pelted the universe with unanswered pleas to the goddesses. Ciara knew for certain her request to stay had been refused.
She almost sobbed aloud as Faolan came up behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist. Her eyes closed, she breathed in his wonderful scent as his lips teased across the back of her neck. She’d never forget his fragrance in a thousand years, a mixture of pine and the salt of the sea layered with undeniable strength. Her mind marked him like an animal mated for life. Ciara could find him even if she were struck blind.
The fire in her blood outgrew the flames in the hearth as he worked his way down her shoulder and unlaced the back of her dress. He cupped her breasts in his skillful hands as her gown slid to the floor. As she leaned back against him, she realized with a delicious shiver he’d already shed his own clothes.
His smooth hard muscles sang to her goose fleshed skin as her body melted back against his. She stretched, greedily seeking out his mouth as his thumbs tantalized her straining nipples. He finally released one of her breasts to slide his hand down her tingling stomach. He buried his fingers in her anxious depths as he guided them back toward the bed.
Settling them both on the edge of the bed, he pulled her down in his lap. Her back against his chest, she slid down his erection, groaning as he guided her slowly to the delightful base. He teased the nub of her entrance as he pulled her back against his chest. Her legs spread wide, Ciara couldn’t resist a moan as she writhed upon Faolan’s lap. The magic of his massaging fingers had her clenching him even deeper into her core.
He claimed her mouth, his exploring tongue matched the rhythm of his undulating fingers. When he finally pushed her over the edge, he swallowed her cries as she shuddered upon his shaft.
Collapsing back against his chest, Ciara pulled his hands to her breasts and reached down to cup her hands between her legs. Pulling him out of her body, she rubbed him against her as he obediently massaged her nipples.
Before Faolan realized what Ciara did, she dropped to her knees before him. With tantalizing strokes of her exploring tongue, she tortured him with slow and deliberate caresses as he fell back across the bed. She suckled him until she sensed he neared his point of release. Then she rose above his body and slid down his shaft to bring him to his pleasure.
As he shuddered and emptied inside her body, Ciara stroked his face between her hands. As she tasted his lips, she whispered against his mouth, “This evening’s just getting started.”
* * *
“Where is she?”Faolan roared, storming into the great hall. He stalked his way into the middle of the room, breathless as panic ripped through his chest.
As he searched among the faces avoiding his scrutiny, he raged, shaking his fists in the air. “Angus! Weren’t ye the one to ride with her to the woods? Her horse returned to the stable hours ago. Why did ye abandon my wife when ye knew damn good and well she’d be left with no protection?”
Angus shook his wooly head and raised his hands as he backed against the wall. “I thought Maxwell was the one to ride with the lady. She told me so herself. When I tried to go with her, she grew almost frantic, told me to go and see to young Keagan’s safety. She said the lad was going to ride old MacDubh and she didn’t want him riding alone. When I got to the stables, Keagan was up in the loft writing down one of his wee stories.”
“Maxwell?” Faolan whirled to glare at his friend. “What say ye to Angus’s words?”
Maxwell stared at Faolan with a worried frown and raised his hands to hold his head. “I have never seen anything like it, Faolan.” Maxwell stopped and swallowed hard as though it pained him to speak. “We were riding along together, when she turned to me and said we must hie to the keep. She said she’d sensed Keagan was in some sort of danger.” Maxwell paused and rubbed his hands over his eyes; his face paled as he stared off into the distance and drew a shaking breath. “Faolan, ye shouldha seen her face. The woman was terrified for her son. We both rode hard across the fields. We pushed the horses as hard as they would go. I could hear the pounding of her horse’s hooves right beside me. I could see her mount out of the corner of my eye. She was right there with me all the way. We crossed the fields together. But when we came to the bridge to cross over the ravine, I reined in my horse to let her cross over first and she was…Faolan…she was just…gone.”
Faolan grabbed Maxwell by the front of his tunic, yanking him to within inches of his face. Baring his teeth as though he were a beast of the wood, he echoed Maxwell’s words with a snarl. “What the hell do ye mean, ‘she was just gone’?”
Clenching his teeth as Faolan’s nose nearly touched his, Maxwell stolidly held his ground. “Aye, Faolan. She and the horse both just disappeared. At first, I feared they’d gone off into the ravine. But I searched the banks. I examined the brush. It’s as though she vanished into the wind. And then her horse returned to the stable alone. I don’t understand it, man. I tell ye, Faolan. It was as though she was just spirited away.”
Faolan pushed Maxwell away with an irritated shove. He turned to pace the length of the hall. “I went to the stables and checked her horse for myself. There is no sign of violence to the beast or the saddle. It’s as though she either fell from her seat or the beast just wandered away from her after she dismounted.”
Faolan threw himself into his chair and dropped his head into his hands. Where could she be? What could have happened? Ciara was more at home in the wild then in any other place. There had been no sightings of any strangers wandering through the MacKay lands. Things had been peaceful for months on end. There was no way anyone could’ve spirited her away right out from under Maxwell’s very nose.
