Enchanted Lover (9 page)

After a few minutes, Jared rose on his elbows and
gazed down at her passion-flushed face. He gave a soft, throaty laugh when he saw
her expression. "'Twas not the hell you thought it to be?"

"Nay, Milord," Asilinn whispered in
disbelief. With a grin, he rolled off of her and pulled her close. Asilinn was
still breathing hard as he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. Nothing
in her life had prepared her for this moment.

Still intertwined in the warmth of their union, she
drifted off into an exhausted slumber.

The dream came again dark and foreboding. Encased in
some sort of box—a coffin, Asilinn struggled to breathe. And she wasn’t the
only occupant of the tight space. There was a body—a man was in the box with
her. He was dead, but she was not. They seemed to roll over the waves afloat in
a skiff. There were voices outside the box—crude men were laughing and joking.
None of it came to her clearly.

Suddenly the box lurched and icy water leaked into
the cracks. It wet her clothes and chilled her to the bone. The coffin rolled
in a spiral plunging headlong into dark water. She was blind—unable to see.
Asilinn tried desperately to escape the box—she pounded on the lid. The water
closed in around her.

Asilinn woke with a scream. Sitting bolt upright in
bed she tried to shake off the terrible sense of doom her nightmare brought.
She drew her knees up to her chest, winced, and let them drop back on the
bedding. Her body felt sore all over, especially…. She gasped when she tossed
back the covers. Glancing down, she saw the blood staining the white sheeting
beneath her legs and smearing down one thigh. Her breasts were swollen and
flushed. Jared MacLean left a permanent mark on them when he took her.

With a ragged intake of breath, she closed her eyes
at the memory of her shameful behavior. She had welcomed him inside her,
pressed him deeper in a fit of insanity he induced. He truly was a dragon. One
who hypnotized her and seduced her so thoroughly she craved him—wanted him to
ravage her body. The thought made her flush red from head to toe.

“Good morning, wife.” His voice was thick with sleep
when he reached across and stroked her exposed thigh.

Jared could feel the lingering stickiness of his seed
and her virgin’s blood on his hand. No doubt, her residue clung to his manroot
as well. The thought sent a wave of desire straight to his groin. The musky
odor of their mating clung to the bedding stimulating him further, but she
would be too sore to suffer another invasion just yet. He gazed up at her. The
wheat-colored hair about her shoulders formed a cloak of honey tangles only
making her more appealing. Her lips and breasts looked flushed and swollen from
his use of her. There was a slight bruising near one rosy crest where he
suckled a little too hard, not that she had objected. The effect on him was
stunning—it made him hard as rock with barely a touch of her soft skin.

Seeing his focus, she tried to jerk the covers back
over her but he staid her hand.

He motioned to the sheeting. “We need to clean up.
Are you all right?”

“Well enough for one who has been used so
grievously,” she replied, jerking the blanket up over her shoulder and pulling
away from his touch.

Jared stared at the blood on the sheeting for a full
minute before his gaze met hers. “Do you regret your decision?"

Her blush rose again. "You didna give me much
choice, Milord," she said, lowering her eyes from his intense perusal.

"No, I did not.”

Asilinn sat staring at the blood-spattered sheets her
eyes brimming with tears. He let out a sigh. “It is normal to have some
bleeding when you lose your virginity. It is a one-time thing. Come," he
pulled her from the bed and tried to free the cover from her grasp.

“Have you no common decency. Grant me at least some
privacy to care for my wounds from your rutting invasion.”

“My what?” He took a step closer to tower over her
his eyes lit with anger. Asilinn went to back away but he grasped her wrist.
“My rutting invasion?”

“If you knew what I said, why did you ask me to
repeat it?” She jerked her arm to free herself and took several steps backward.

He glared at her circling slowly around her while she
stood clutching the cover over her. “The woman beneath me last night moaned and
pushed me deeper.” He stopped in front of her. “You got what you gave last
night. You enjoyed it. Would you deny it?”

“‘Twas some foul trick you played upon my body to
turn it against my very will and make it crave you.”

“Ah, you did enjoy it.”

She whirled away from his defiant gaze and moaned
when her body reminded her exactly where his deepest invasion had been. “You
take pleasure in my humiliation.”

He came up behind her and pulled her hair back over
her shoulders. “No Asilinn, I take pleasure in you.”

With gentle hands, he took the blanket from her and
gave it a toss. She stood in mute silence while he picked up his shirt from the
chair. Asilinn's breath caught in her throat when his hand grazed her naked
breast. Was she to be taken again so soon? She doubted her sore flesh could
bear it. He put his shirt on her. It smelled like him. "Sit over
there." He directed her to the only chair in the room.

Jared stripped the soiled linen from their bed, folded
it carefully, and placed it in the trunk. She wished he would put on some
clothes—he could at least cover his nakedness and the hard shaft that sprung
from his loins still tinged with her blood. Unable to bear the memories of what
she had done, Asilinn looked away. “Why do you treat the ruined sheeting like
some treasure?"

"I have a use for it later." Seeing her
questioning look, he explained. "It will be my proof to your father we
have consummated our vows." He saw her swallow hard as she turned from him
to stare at the dying embers in the hearth. “Do you fear his reaction?"

“Aye," she murmured. “In his eyes I have
betrayed him and all my clan.”

“Dinna worry. I will force him to accept me as his
son-in-law whether he likes it or not." Jared moved over to tend the fire
presenting his bare backside to her when he stooped to bring it once again to a
blaze of warmth.

“Bloody hell, can you not have the decency to cover
yourself?” Asilinn was rather startled by her own outburst, but it irritated
her she could not seem to stop exploring his body with her eyes. Jared turned
and stood before her, his eyes dancing in amusement.

“What troubles you, wife? Are you afraid my display
may tempt you to repeat your behavior of last night? I assure you I would be
glad to accommodate your needs.” He came closer and pushed some errant curls
back from her face. “Did you wake with a scream this morning at the memory?”

Asilinn blanched when her thoughts flew back to the
terrible dream that had awakened her. It was one of her special dreams—she
knew, and with that certainty came no small degree of fear. Was she to die
soon? She had no way of knowing because her brief glimpses into the future
never gave any clue when they would occur. But perhaps her analysis was wrong.
Had she not interpreted her previous dream of writhing beneath Jared as one of
pain and suffering? It had been anything but that.

“Asilinn what troubles you?”

His hand came under her chin and forced her to look
into his eyes. She jerked away and looked down immediately sorry. His firm
manhood was right in her view. With a moan, she blocked the sight with her
hand. “Please, Milord. I am unaccustomed to such a vulgar display.”

He snorted and pulled her hand down from her face.
“Vulgar?” He made a show of looking over his body, grabbed a swath of plaid,
and wrapped it securely around his waist. “Does this cover what most offends
you?” His dark eyes sparkled with fire. “I thought you rather enjoyed that part
of me.”

Asilinn let out an exasperated groan and ducked her
head. “Stop this!”

“Very well….” He took her hand. “Come with me. I have
a balm for your sore body.” He urged her to her feet and let go of her. “One
moment.” With a grin, he went to the door of the chamber and opened it a crack.
“Have Wynne bring Asilinn some clothes and tell Flanna to send up some food.”
He closed the door. “Milady.”

Jared gave her a pair of doeskin slippers that
covered her feet well and procured a torch from the fire. Taking her hand, he
led her into the secret passageway. They walked down flight after flight of
winding stone stairs until they reached a labyrinth of passageways. Jared took
her down the one to the right or was it the left? Asilinn was all turned
around.

Finally, they arrived at a large, oak door. Jared
pushed it open and Asilinn's eyes grew wide in amazement. There in the small
chamber was a bubbling spring. Vapor rose from the steaming water filling the
air with warmth. Jared moved over and used his torch to light several others
affixed to the walls in large metal holders. The room lit with the eerie glow
of burning torches reflecting off the water.

"We are now deep in the bowels of my castle. I
call this the Dragon's Spring because it flows from the earth full of warmth
and healing powers. There is a larger pool beyond this wall but I reserve this
small one for myself." Jared slid his shirt gently from her shoulders. His
eyes explored her in an appreciative appraisal while he slowly dropped his own
clothing to the ground. Taking the heat of his gaze from her flesh, he waded into
the steaming pool.

Asilinn stood watching his muscular back. Her gaze
dropped lower to his tight buttocks. Her face colored at the memory of their
intimacy—his insistent probing—the fire he ignited inside her body. He turned
to face her. Wide-eyed she inspected the part of him that had pleasured her the
night before. She looked up to find his smoldering, emerald eyes burning tracks
over her own intimate parts.

"Come, Asilinn," he entreated. Testing the
water first with her toe she moved into the pool. The liquid warmth enveloped
her body with soothing heat.

Jared went to the far corner and sat on what appeared
to be some sort of stone shelf beneath the water. She entered the pool but
stayed as far as possible from her husband wading to waist depth and dipping
low to let the water cover her breasts. She leaned back against the rocks that
faced the edges of the spring. The heat of the spring soothed every sore part
of her and she closed her eyes while she enjoyed the wonderful warmth. This was
why her husband smelled good. He must bathe here regularly.

Her eyes flickered open briefly to see him watching
her from across the water. She closed them trying to banish all thoughts of the
night before. Asilinn didn’t know how long she had enjoyed the bubbling warmth
of the pool, but her whole body felt relaxed and wonderfully soothed. She
opened her eyes to check for Jared and found he had come closer. He eyed her
with a lustful gaze across the short expanse of water separating them.

Alert once more she met his gaze. “I have fulfilled
my promise to Robert, Milord. I hope you dinna expect more.”

Jared was close now, not more than three feet from
her. “Think you, fair Asilinn, that one night of submission will be enough?”

Asilinn straightened an act that made her naked
breasts break the surface of the water in the shadowy torchlight. Seeing where
he looked, she immediately tried to duck down and conceal herself from his
sight. “Aye, Milord, I have done my duty.”

He was close now so close he could easily touch her
and he did, reaching out beneath the water to stroke her breasts in the
blackness of the water. “You are mine now sweetling, mine to have whenever I
wish.”

She whirled away from him and stumbled, falling face
first into the inky pool. He was behind her grabbing her around the waist and
pulling her out of the water. She coughed and spluttered indignantly when he
pressed her back against his hard arousal. She tried to twist away, but he was
holding her next to him letting her feel his growing need. His hands rubbed her
belly as his head came close to hers—he found the soft skin on the back of her
neck and planted kisses behind her ear. She bent forward to get away, but this
only seemed to give his engorged rod closer proximity to her nether regions.
Asilinn could feel him against her buttocks.

“It will take more than one invasion to make my seed
take root in your womb,” he whispered. His hand kneaded her soft stomach. “You
are mine now Asilinn and I will have you whenever I want you.”

She gasped when one of his hands dipped lower. His
fingers eased inside the heart of her. Asilinn threw her head back against his
shoulder her eyes wild as her body once again betrayed her by responding to his
touch.

“Dinna do this Milord,” she pleaded, but his fingers
stroked deeper teasing the key to her arousal. She tossed her head shakily
against his shoulder. “You take your pleasure with me to dishonor my father.”

He said nothing just continued his tender caresses on
her neck while his hands worked their magic. He was lifting her, guiding her
hips, and coming into her from the rear. Asilinn planted her palms on the stone
wall in front of her—she waited for the terrible pain of his penetration, but
none came. There was only a growing need as he began his powerful thrusts
inside her. He steered her hips to meet his every invasion. Her body gave its
own fevered response—one of his hands moved up to squeeze her breast with each
push. Asilinn fought to no avail against her desire for him. She wanted him
inside her and she hated herself for it.

He leaned forward across her back his breath hot
against her ear. “Who takes pleasure Asilinn? Would you deny your own desires?”

She tried to pull away, but all she succeeded in
doing was creating another rush within her depths when his thick member moved
out and back solidly inside her. “Dragon of Dunbocan you torture me with your
dark magic,” she rasped.