Black Raven's Lady: Highland Lairds Trilogy (20 page)

The image Macraith conjured up set Keir’s teeth on edge. He placed his hand on his broadsword and moved closer to speak in his ear. “If you weren’t my goddamn uncle, I’d run you through, right now.”

The fact that Macraith spoke the truth made Keir even more furious than when he’d been arguing with Raine. ’Twas a wonder steam wasn’t pouring out of his nostrils and flames weren’t shooting up from the top of his head.

As Keir turned and stalked away, he could hear his meddlesome uncle whistling under his breath.

Goddammit to hell.

’Twas a tune of pure joy.

K
EIR RETURNED TO
the
Raven
later than he’d intended. He had spoken with the two other captains, going over their plans for joining him near Loch Baghasdail on the coast of South Uist within a week. Colin reported on the progress of his repairs to the
Hawk
, and Fearchar discussed Tam MacLean’s forage into the countryside for fresh meat.

After their lengthy discussion, Keir met with Alasdair Crotach, who planned to send the ten MacLeod galleys to search the eastern coast of Skye for the Macdonald rebels.

The stars glimmered in the black canopy overhead as Keir strode across the gangway of his ship at last. Glancing up, he recalled the nights he’d stood on the quarterdeck with Raine, teaching her the constellations. Above him now Polaris beamed, constant and steady, marking true north for any wanderer lost on the trackless ocean. He could see al-Rahman at the taffrail, using his Persian astrolabe to sight the celestial pole. With only a slight correction, the North Star’s altitude would equal their latitude, which would be duly noted in the ship’s log.

Still up and awake, Macraith stood on the forecastle deck. He nodded to Keir, touching his fingers to his forehead in a brief salute, but made no attempt to converse. Keir exchanged a few quiet words with the bosun’s mate in charge of the night watch, then moving to the stern, discussed their next destination with the
Raven
’s navigator. The Moor bowed in a salaam and hurried away to consult his charts and plot their course. In the rigging above, the seamen on duty moved about soundlessly, while the rest of the ship slept in the peace that only comes in a friendly harbor.

Keir hurried down the passageway. When he reached Raine’s cabin, he hesitated. Placing his hand on the bulkhead beside her door, he listened but didn’t hear a sound. His temper had cooled a bit since their flare-up on the dance floor. It wouldn’t make much sense to wake her now, only to continue their argument. Much better to wait until morning. Keir turned around and went to his own quarters.

A single lantern cast a warm glow throughout his cabin. He removed his sword belt, dropping his sheathed weapon on the floor next to his bed. He unpinned the bodkin holding the edge of his tartan, slipped off his jacket and threw it on a chair. Taking off his sporran, he laid it on the jacket, then unfastened the cuffs of his saffron shirt and pushed the full sleeves up on his forearms.

Keir poured wine from a silver flagon and tossed it off in one quick gulp. He poured another, walked over to the stern windows and studied the moon’s reflection on the loch’s calm water.

Hell, he had to admit it. He’d behaved like a jealous ass that evening. But when he’d learned Raine had been borrowing money from Lady MacLeod—and God only knew who else—Keir realized with stark clarity that Raine still intended to run away. Despite the intimacy they’d shared that afternoon, she hadn’t given up her plan of leaving the ship. Aside from the crushing blow to his ego—and the fact that everyone in the castle now believed he’d mistreated his beautiful passenger—fear for her safety once again reared its ugly head.

Where on God’s earth did she intend to flee?

And why was she so determined to go there in secret?

If he knew the answers, he’d have a better chance to intervene before she left the ship—or to find her, should she succeed in sneaking off. That possibility made his blood run cold. Having Raine disappear with no clue to her whereabouts would be as close to hell as a man could get without burning alive in the flames.

Behind him the door to his cabin flew open with a bang. Keir whirled to find Raine standing in front of the portal, her dark eyes flashing with anger. Apparently Keir wasn’t the only one still seething. Her temper hadn’t completely cooled either.

She must have been listening for him and heard him pause outside her quarters before he continued on to his own. Clad in a voluminous white nightshift, she stood there with her hands fisted in front of her, her bare toes peeking out from under the gown’s hem. Her loosened hair flowed freely about her shoulders and down to her waist, the tumbling curls glistening like rich sable in the lantern light. Her eyes glittered with the promise of retribution for the way he’d treated her at the castle earlier that evening. Save for a sword and shield, she resembled an avenging angel prepared to defeat Satan himself.

And Keir knew exactly whom she’d cast in the role of Satan.

He set his glass on a small table nearby, ready to finish the argument they’d started at Dùn Bheagain. Before he could say a word, Raine took three quick strides into the center of the room’s thick rug.

“Here,” she cried, her voice shaking with fury, “take my last penny, you selfish bastard!”

She pulled her arm back and hurled a fistful of coins directly at him. The farthings and half-farthings bounced off his chest and sprayed around the room. Not giving him a chance to reply, Raine pivoted and raced toward the open door.

Keir reached her before she could take a single step into the passageway. He caught her around the waist with one arm, pinning her against his much larger body, while he slammed the door shut with his other hand. Her alluring backside pressed against his hardened sex. Jesus. Whenever he was with her, he turned into a randy three-horned billy goat.

“You know damn well this isn’t about the money, Raine,” he grated in her ear.

Intending to lift her up and place her on a nearby chair where he could reason with her, he stepped on the hem of her nightwear. The garment split along its front seam with an audible sound.

“You big oaf,” she cried. “Now, look what you’ve done to my only nightshift.”

He hadn’t intended to tear her clothes off, but her taunt lit the fire that had been smoldering all evening, fueled by carnal frustration, justified anger, and insane jealousy. “Let me see,” he growled. “Maybe this clumsy oaf can fix it.”

Keir swept Raine up in his arms, carried her to the bed, and dumped her on the coverlet. Taking the shift’s torn edges in both hands, he ripped the fine material from neckline to hem. Seemingly speechless at his actions, Raine stared up at him in frozen silence.

Her exquisite body lay naked before him, the round pink-tipped breasts rising and falling in her anger and shock. A bolt of white-hot libidinal need speared Keir’s groin as though shot from a crossbow.

Her fragile beauty took his breath away.

Raine lay supine across the satin coverlet as lissome and supple as a willow reed. The sight of her small waist, the gentle curve of her hips, the cluster of soft curls at the apex of her thighs, the long slender legs tapering down to her bare feet sent the rampaging lust he’d kept carefully banked spilling through his veins and pouring into his already thickened sex. Seeing her sprawled on her back, gloriously nude and utterly defenseless, Keir beheld a temptation no sane man could resist.

Not seeming to realize her own vulnerability, she gasped in outrage. “I know you’ve been with her,” Raine insisted, her soprano voice rising shrilly in her agitation. “She told me she was going to seduce you tonight. She made a point of telling me so. That’s why you’re so late returning to the ship.”

“Who the devil are you talking about?” he asked, his words clipped and demanding. “I’ve lain with no one this evening. Until now.”

He bent over her, propping his palms on either side of her head. She hit him square on the nose with the flat of her hand. The harmless blow, coupled with her totally feminine display of wrath, came as a fascinating surprise.

Keir laughed softly, thoroughly delighted at Raine’s courage. He’d never known a woman brave enough to physically defy him. Females had always proved far too eager to climb into his bed, not out of it. A thrill coursed through his battle-scarred frame as the need to conquer and subdue brought with it the anticipation of mastery and sexual triumph.

Aye, he wanted her.

He’d wanted Raine since that summer day when she was barely seventeen and his lustful body had reacted to her uninhibited joy in living and her unparalleled loveliness.

And now at last he was going to take what he wanted.

Keir slipped the two pieces of the rent garment down over Raine’s bare shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides. He nudged her legs apart with one knee and braced his leg on the edge of the mattress. Placing his hands on the coverlet, he bent closer, his face only inches from hers. She squirmed and wriggled, furious that he’d locked her arms against her body, making it impossible to strike him again.

“Let me up,” she insisted. “You’re nothing but a cowardly womanizer.”

“Why do you need the money, Raine?” he demanded. “Where is it you’re so desperate to go?”

Realizing her struggles were fruitless, she gave up trying to free herself from the confines of the torn shift. Her sloe eyes glistened with a sudden wariness. She shook her head, refusing to accede to his greater strength. “I shan’t tell you,” she said between gritted teeth. “You can’t make me.”

“If you tell me, lass,” he coaxed, “perhaps I can take you there.”

She shook her head, refusing to answer.

Keir could read the mulish determination in the set of her jaw. She had no intention of revealing the truth. She was merely stalling for enough time to concoct the next lie. He fought the desire to turn her over his knee and paddle her bare bum. She was behaving like an obstinate halflin, pushing him to the very limit of his patience. Though she didn’t know it, she held the winning hand, for he’d never purposely hurt her. Never, ever strike her in anger.

“My God, Raine,” he growled in exasperation, “what am I supposed to do with you?”

She went suddenly still. Her eyes filled with tears and her lower lip trembled. “You’re supposed to want
me
, Keir. Not . . . not . . . someone else.”

“Want you?
Want you?
” he said, incredulous. “You think I don’t want you? Dammit, my bollocks have turned permanently blue from the wanting.”

“That’s not my fault,” she answered peevishly. She pressed her lips into a tight, flat line and scowled at him.

“Do you even ken what I’m talking about, Raine?” he asked with a gruff laugh.

“Nay, and that’s not my fault either,” she declared.

“Then let me show you just how much I want you,” Keir whispered in her ear. Nearly insane with lust, his entire body throbbed with an erotic need that refused to be ignored.

He kissed her with his open mouth, his tongue playing with hers until he felt her begin to release her anger and respond to his practiced seduction. Lowering his head, he ran his parted lips down her neck, dipping his tongue into the hollow of her collarbone. He kissed her firm, up-tilted breasts, licking the pliant crests into sweet rosy buds.

Keir’s heart hammered painfully against his ribs. His breath seared his suffocated lungs. His big body grew taut and tense with a raging sexual ardor. He was harder and hotter than he’d ever been in his life.

“How could I not want you, darling lass,” he murmured, “when you are absolute perfection?”

Cupping the round ivory globes in his sword-hardened palms, he set them swaying gently as he flicked his thumbs across the velvety nipples. He pressed his lips against her flat abdomen and dipped the tip of his tongue into her belly button, breathing in the intoxicating scent of floral soap and female skin.

“Release me this instant, Keir,” Raine demanded. “Pull this shift off my arms or I swear I’ll kick you.”

Keir burned with desire, his sex rigid and heavy. “Nay, not yet, ye wee, stubborn donkey,” he told her, smiling at her feisty pluck. “Not before I taste you everywhere. Touch you everywhere.”

He slid his hands down the curve of her hips to clasp the backs of her thighs and pull her closer to the edge of the mattress. Sitting back on his haunches, he cupped her bare bottom in his palms. Keir drew her toward him and lifted her long legs over his shoulders. He gently spread her, revealing the fragile pink folds hidden by her female mound.

Raine must have felt his breath on her sensitive tissues as he blew softly across the delicate petals to heighten her anticipation. She gasped in surprise and stiffened as though a flash of lightning raced through her.

“Oh, dear God above,” she murmured, making a strangled sound deep in the back of her throat.

“Nay, ’tis me, the clumsy oaf at your feet,” he chuckled, nipping the inside of her thigh and brushing the stubble of his day-old beard across her silken skin.

Her entire body quivered beneath Keir’s deliberate sensual onslaught. Her breath came in short, quick pants as he prepared her for the access he sought.

“Keir?” she whispered, the single word a question of amazement and disbelief.

“Rainey, love,” he answered.

Holding her hips in his hands, Keir touched her wee nub with the tip of his tongue and felt her sex grow erect and turgid. Using his lips and tongue, Keir laved and sucked her until Raine writhed and sobbed with pleasure. She moaned deep in her throat at the intimacy of his caresses as Keir introduced her to the voluptuous love play that would bind her to him. Forever. He was determined to capture more than Raine’s sweet, beautiful body. He wanted her clever mind and her fearless spirit.

Marvelously responsive and uninhibited, she accepted his expert manipulations with an unreserved eroticism. As her swollen tissues began to convulse with the spasms of female climax, Keir continued, drawing out her sensual gratification, not satisfied until he heard her soft, ongoing cry of bliss.

Keir gently lifted Raine’s legs off his shoulders. Standing above her, he eased the torn nightshift down her arms and over her hands, freeing her at last.