Alec gently lifted her up, looking down at her with the hint of a smile. “Aye, love. ’Tis quite real.”
“Amazing,” she finally said, slowly pushing herself upright to sit among the silky pile of cushions and pillows. “I never thought anything like that could exist.”
He reached over and slid his hand beneath hers, gently stroking the tops of her fingers with his callused thumb. “As I thought no one like yerself could ever exist.”
He wasn’t crazy after all and he’d also said he loved her. Merciful heavens, she so needed to hear that again.
“Did you really mean it?” she asked. “Did you mean what you said down there before the Heartstone . . .talked. . . to me?” How pitiful was she? Begging the man to tell her he loved her?
Remaining silent but with a thoughtful look on his face, he gently released her hand and bent to the worn leather sporran belted to his waist. He worked the drawstring pouch open and reached inside. When he pulled out his hand, he held whatever he’d retrieved so that it was completely hidden in his fist. He scooted closer and took Sadie’s hand in his again. “I meant every word I said, and if ye will have me, I’ll spend the rest of my days telling ye how deeply I love ye. I swear to ye, sweetling, I will even love ye past the grave.”
He opened his hand and held out the most exquisite piece of jewelry she had ever seen. “Say it, Sadie. Say ye will be my wife.”
“Your wife?” she whispered. Joy, elation, and the desire to scream, cry, laugh, or do a hysterically happy combination of all three made it a chore to breathe and keep from toppling over.
“Aye,” Alec responded softly. “Say ye will ever be mine.”
“Oh my gosh, yes!” She lunged forward, hitting his chest full force and knocking him backward among the pillows. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rained his face with kisses. “Yes, I’ll be your wife,” she cried, tears breaking free and rolling down her cheeks. “Abso-tivin-freakin-lutely, I’ll be yours.”
With a deep rumbling laugh, he rolled them until she lay beneath him. “Yer enthusiasm warms my heart and soul.” He kissed her slow and easy, nuzzling her mouth as though savoring the taste of her. When he finally lifted his head, he shifted to the side and held the shimmering silver brooch above her. “I know ’tis not a ring, but when a MacDara pledges his life to his love, ’tis our custom to give our women these stones from Scotland.”
“It’s perfect.” Sadie was almost afraid to touch it, afraid the spell of the moment would disappear like morning mist at sunrise. Hesitantly, she took the brooch, cradling it in the palm of her hand and rubbing her thumb across the smooth surface of the almost glowing cabochon of agate. “It’s so beautiful,” she whispered, mesmerized by the bands of rich colors shimmering inside the delicate setting of silver knots and whorls. She clasped it to her heart and looked into Alec’s eyes. “Thank you so much . . . for . . . everything.” She closed her eyes against the torrent of emotions storming through her. How had she, plain, fat Sadie as they’d always called her, managed to win a man like him? “Thank you,” she repeated, opening her eyes and pulling in a deep breath.
Alec frowned slightly, cocking his head as his eyes narrowed the barest bit. “For what are ye thanking me?
Sadie shrugged, the joy in her heart beating back the painful memories and locking them away for good. “For loving me and making me feel beautiful.”
He carefully took the brooch out of her hand and stretched to set it safely on the table beside the settee behind them. Then hecupped her face in his hand and drew closer until the tip of his nose nearly touched hers. “Ye are a beautiful woman. Tempting and easy to love.” He kissed her slowly, then lifted his head again. “And if I ever hear ye speak as though ye think otherwise, I’ll be bending ye over my knee and warming yer fine, delectable arse for ye.”
“Is that a promise?” she asked as a delicious shiver pinged through her, fully arming all sensors for optimum orgasmic pleasure. She arched against him, yanking her leg free of the tangle of material and trailing it over his hip to curl it around his waist. “You know . . . these long skirts are about to get on my last nerve.”
Smoothing his hand up her thigh, then down between her legs, Alec chuckled as he teased his fingertips across her hot, wet opening. “Aye, that may be so, m’love. But I must say, they do make getting to this lovely sweetness a great deal easier.” He dipped a finger inside her as he bent to kiss and nibble a fiery trail down her throat, across her chest, and over to her aching nipple.
She ground herself against his hand, clutching his head to her breast and arching into him as he sucked her nipple. “Would the chieftain and his lady make love like this? In front of the fire? In this sitting room?”
“Oh aye,” Alec rumbled against her skin as he shoved her gown down off her body, then returned his exquisitely skilled fingers to their task between her legs. “They’d make love in every room of the keep,” he murmured as he nipped and licked his way over to her other breast. “From taking her up against the walls of the highest turret to bending her over the dining room table, a chieftain’s duty is to bless his keep with the satisfied cries of his lady.”
“Then we’d better get busy,” Sadie gasped as Alec replaced his wondrous fingers with his mouth, spreading her folds withhis tongue and drinking deep while lifting her legs and draping them over his shoulders. “We’ve got several rooms to bless,” she shrieked as he sucked hard on her clit.
“Aye, love. That we do.” Alec lifted his head but a second, just long enough to look up at her and grin. “There are over twenty rooms in this keep and but a few hours till dawn.”
Sadie groaned and clutched the pillows, shuddering into a tingling hot level of euphoria as Alec lowered his head again, licking and sucking her folds and nibbling at her clit. When he slid two fingers deep inside her and he took her bucking and thrashing into full orgasmic bliss. Somewhere in the fog of sheer ecstasy, she could’ve sworn he also said they needed to bless the stables too.
CHAPTER 20
Sadie kissed the brooch, then tucked it back into her bra, nestling it snugly in the cleft between her breasts. She wore the precious keepsake on a ribbon around her neck, never taking it off except for bathing—or while making love to Alec. After the night it had snagged in his hair down under and the pin had nearly impaled him in a rather important spot, he forbade the wearing of the brooch during sex.
A satisfied sigh escaped her as she typed the final paragraph to the last erotic scene she owed Delia. This one was entitledBlessing the Castle. She hummed out an appreciative sound as a wicked smile tickled a corner of her mouth. Alec had been extremelyhelpfulfor this particular piece. It was some of the best work she’d ever written if she did say so herself. She saved the document to the memory stick, growing a bit warm and wet just thinking back over the past several days of in-depth research.
A sharp rap on the door rudely interrupted her erotic reverie and barely preceded Delia blowing into the room. Her sister halted halfway across the area rug, her unnaturally narrow nose wrinkling in a condescending sneer as she looked around the cozy decor. “Not exactly the presidential suite, but I guesscompared to what you’re used to . . .” Delia didn’t finish the sentence, just scowled at Sadie as though a foul odor filled the room.
“I happen to love it.” Sadie removed the USB stick from her laptop and held it out to Delia. “You’re just in time. Here are the scenes you wanted. Just let me know if you need anything else.”
Her sister needed to take the scenes and leave. There was something about Delia standing in the middle of the room that had become the best home Sadie had ever known that irritated her to no end. Delia didn’t belong here. This was Sadie’sNirvana, and Delia popping in for a visit was like a demon breaching heaven’s boundaries.
“Now that you mention it . . .” Delia rubbed her hands together and her overly crimson smile widened into an even more sinister sneer. “I do need something that only you can do for me.”
“What?” There was something dark about Delia’s tone. A nauseating chill flashed through Sadie, stinging across her skin and standing every hair on end. Something was about to go very wrong and if history was any indicator, Sadie would be the one to suffer.
