“Ha, I wasn’t riding to the devil, I was riding away from the devil,” she said and sighed. “David Horwich just won’t stop. He says I am going to be his, one way or another, and I am heartily sick of him.”
“I’ll have his head I will if ever he lays hand to ye, lass.”
She frowned and added, “And then there is Sir Jacob. If I didn’t know better, I would say he has been trying to fix his interest with me. Impossible to imagine, because I thought we were friends and that he had no interest …well, suddenly his attentions have become very marked and very uncomfortable.”
“Upon my soul! Jacob?” his lordship was in fact stunned by this last piece of information.
She eyed him, and a playful light came into her eyes, “It might be nice to be married to Sir Jacob. He is such a good young man, warm hearted and it would get me out of Horwich House.”
He turned shocked blue eyes to her, ?
?Exerilla…”
She laughed right out loud, and he reached for her chin and held it as he gritted his teeth, “Do not trifle with me, woman.”
The smile in his bright blues belied any doubts she had and she sighed, “Life is so complicated right now.”
“Aye, that it is.” He dismounted and reached up for her, “Coom sweet lass, walk with me a spell.”
She immediately threw her leg over her ladies’ pommel and slid down into his arms. He held her, put his head down to rest his chin near her face. “Lass, lass, what ye do to me, I canna explain it even to m’self.” He pulled the horses along, and she watched as he deftly situated their steeds so that he could hold her undetected by any passerby.
He wanted to kiss her right there and then. He wanted to throw off her clothes, let magic do it for him this time, so he could get at her quicker. He wanted to lay her in the grass on a bed of wildflowers and bury himself deep inside. He wanted to take her and make her his own. She was his, and he knew in that moment, he wanted the world to know it as well.
What was he going to do?
He had meant his kiss to be a gentle thing, but somehow he lost control and the fever called Exerilla. A fever that pumped blood to his heart and turned his brain into a firestorm took over. He couldn’t think any longer. All he knew was that he had to taste her over and over again.
Life with Exerilla had become an all consuming need for Hunter MacTorry.
“I was lost without ye, love,” he said quietly.
“I had no choice. I had to accompany Mary, but Hunter, I was a mess and I missed you so very much.”
He crushed her in his embrace. He only knew he wanted this to go on forever.
* * *
She only knew she wanted this to go on forever.
She was an immortal, and it hurt to think that one day in the near future she would have to walk away from him. That knowledge made her response desperate as she clung to him and her kisses were an all consuming response to his.
Suddenly she felt the cool wind between them and he was setting her away from himself. “Och lass, I have to stop now or I’ll be laying ye down right here, and that, m’own sweet darlin’ just wouldna do.”
Why not? She would lay with him anywhere.
He seemed to read her face and laughed as he touched her chin and dropped a light kiss on her lips. Even that quick, simple kiss sent a rush of feeling through her and when she opened her eyes, she saw that his were closed as well. She wondered at it. She was curious as to what he was thinking and feeling.
“I doona want ye to worry, m’sweet. I mean to make David Horwich grovel in the dirt for any discomfort he caused ye.”
“Oh no, no, please don’t get into a fight with him. That will only make things worse,” she worried.
“Never ye mind, I will do what needs to be done of that ye can be certain,” he had her chin in one hand, his other hand at her back pulling her closer, “it will not cause ye any trouble. I will not let him tarnish yer name, and he will not be bothering ye any longer.”
She wasn’t going to be able to stop him. She could see that he had made up his mind. It was written all over his face, in the set of his jaw and the stance he had taken. She reached for his sleeves and tore at them fretfully, “He is a sneaky creep and won’t come at you fairly. You can’t play by the rules with him, Hunter!”
He laughed, “Are ye worried for me, love?”
She threw her arms around him, “What do you think?”