Chapter 16

Her heart was as light as the wind in her hair as they galloped across the fields. Harley couldn't resist tossing a teasing glance back. Ronan's black stallion could easily overtake her little mare but for his restraining hand on the reins. He was obviously letting her win, and judging by his joyous expression, did not consider it a loss.

They reined in their horses beneath a sprawling oak, both laughing with the exhilaration of the run. She smiled to herself as she compared riding the horses with the freedom her parents had found on the open highway with their motorcycles. Now she understood their excited connectedness, especially when talking about their times on the open road.

She untied the plaid from her saddle, unfurled it, and let it float down across the ground. Ronan fetched the skin of wine, bread, cheeses, and apples Ellen had packed for them in a cloth knotted at the corners.

"She packed so much." Harley arranged the food on the cloth, knowing they would never eat all of it. "I wish she'd understand I do not need fattening up."

Ronan laughed and settled down beside her. "Ye might as well give up, lass. When Ellen gets something in her head, there is little room for anything else."

"I believe you're right." She snuggled into the curve of his arm as they reclined back into the huge gnarled cradle of roots that made the perfect armchair.

The horses meandered close by, finding their contentment beside a tasty overgrowth sprouting up beside a gurgling burn of the clearest water. A peaceful meadow stretched out past the stream, golden seed heads of the waving grasses mesmerizing as they rippled in the breeze.

A sigh of contentment slipped free of her. She'd finally made peace with her fate. Maybe this wasn't exactly the life she'd expected to live, but the longer she was here, the more she realized that perhaps this was where she should have been all along. She leaned her head on Ronan's shoulder and sighed again.

"Ye seem happy," he said as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face. The tickle of his fingertips, even from such an innocent act, immediately ignited a fiery response within her.

"I am happy." And aching for you, she silently added. He had made it painfully clear that until he fully won her trust, or served his time, she thought to herself, there would be no dismantling of her virginity.

"Since ye seem happy and contented—perhaps it is time I gave ye this and asked ye to be my wife." He opened his hand and revealed a delicate bracelet made from woven strands of gold, silver, and copper. The intricate knots of the weave interlocked with no beginning and no end, forming a beautifully symbolic band. He slipped the cuff onto her wrist, his fathomless eyes locked on hers.

She stared at the work of beauty, then looked up at him and gave herself fully to the emerald storm of emotions in his gaze. He loved her. More than life itself. It wasn't what he said that mattered. He told her more when he said nothing at all. His actions and the way he looked at her—they told her everything she needed to know.

She meant to speak. Really, she did. But the words wouldn't come as she stroked the band encircling her wrist. As she admired it, first angling her hand one way and then another, all she could do was press her other hand to her heart and blink hard and fast to hold back the happy tears. The precious metals of the bracelet caught the rays of the sun and sparked them back with delightful fire. The unending knots made the perfect statement, glowing with a passion all their own.

"It is so lovely," she whispered, finally finding the power to speak.

"Then ye will be my wife?" He touched her cheek, then grazed the heel of his thumb across the curve of her bottom lip.

"Yes," she said. "Most definitely." She reached up and touched his face, giving herself over to everything she felt for him, knowing and finally understanding that with his mystical senses, he would feel everything she felt. "I know without a doubt that I love you with all my heart."

His eyes flared open wider, then blazed with the same insatiable yearning she knew must be burning in hers. He pulled her into his arms."My precious love." His hoarse whisper fanned her need for him as he hungrily nuzzled the curve of her neck while sliding his hands across her, stroking and caressing as he trailed kisses along her collarbone.

She guided his head lower and arched her back, closing her eyes as he tickled a path to her nipple with his tongue. "I ache for you," she said aloud. Or maybe she didn't. At this point, she didn't care. All she did was feel.

He teased and deliciously tortured her with the tip of his tongue, cupping her breasts and worshipping each of them in turn. With her fingers knotted in his hair, she pulled him harder against her. A shuddering cry worked its way free of her as he sucked her hardened nipple deep into his mouth.

As he slid his hands lower and rucked up her skirts, she clung to him, wrapping a leg around him, and thanking fifteenth-century Scotland for its lack of panties that would only get in the way. He lowered her back onto the plaid while sliding a hand up her inner thigh. It tickled, but, then again, it didn't. She pressed into his touch, needing relief, needing him to take her where she so badly needed to go.

After one last hard suckling of her nipple, so hard that it made her shriek, he lifted his mouth from her breast and crushed it to hers as he sank a finger deep inside her. He swallowed her groans and used the heel of his thumb to tease her throbbing nub while sinking another finger in to join the first. She was about to explode. Or die. Or both. She ground herself into his touch while he worked her into a mind-numbing frenzy teetering on the edge of bliss.

Without warning, he spread his fingers and tore through her maidenhead. She flinched at the unexpected sting interrupting the delicious burn of pleasure.

"Forgive me, love," he told her with a tender, apologetic kiss. "It will be easier now when I take ye."

The fire was still there. The need. An insatiable ache begging to be quenched. She raked her nails down his back and arched into him. "Take me now. I've waited a lifetime for this."

"Aye, love." Baring his teeth, he forced himself inside her slowly, stopping partway.

"Are you in pain?" She stared up at him. "Can we not go faster?"

"I am in more pain than ye could ever know, my precious one." He wet his lips and shoved in farther, then paused and stared down at her.

The muscles of his shoulders knotted beneath her hands and he trembled, making her realize he was struggling to go slowly for her.

"Take me, Ronan—I'm ready. I promise." She bucked upward and tried to pull him down.

"I can hold no longer," he groaned and shoved fully into her.

"Damn!" She tensed, trying to relax around the fullness stretching her where no man had been before.

He drew a ragged breath and looked down at her. "Are ye all right, love? Do ye wish me to stop and leave yer body?"

"Leave my body?" She rocked her hips and arched her back, stretching upward to rub her breasts against his chest. "Are you insane? This is…" She ran her hand down his back and ground her hips upward again. "Carry on—please."

With a growl that excited her and drove her even closer to the climax dangling just out of reach, Ronan pumped into her, faster and harder until he pounded her straight into the heart of ecstasy and followed her to his own release. They matched perfectly, fit perfectly. Their bodies came together as one and completed the puzzle. His roars and her cries frightened the birds out of the trees.

Still shuddering and breathing hard, he pressed his forehead to hers. "I love ye, my golden-eyed lass from the future. Ye have made me complete." He rolled and tucked her close to his side, gusting out a heavy sigh as he did so.

Pressed tight against him, she snuggled her face into the crook of his neck and breathed him in. Satisfied male mixed with satisfied female. Did anything smell any better? She smoothed her hand across his chest, unable to remember when she had ever felt so lusciously exhausted. But then a disturbing thought fought its way through her blissful haze.

"Oh no."

He lifted his head and peered down at her. "What is it, love? Did I hurt ye? Are ye unwell?"

"I forgot the sea sponge." She closed her eyes and groaned. How could she forget the sea sponge?

His brows drew together as he ran his hand possessively up and down her back. "Forgive me, love, but I forgot what ye wanted the sea sponge for."

She frowned up at him. "One little sea sponge, oiled with tansy and strategically placed, helps prevent pregnancy."

His eyes widened, and then he gave her a sheepish grin. "And it appears I failed to keep my promise and find the control to leave yer lovely body when the time came to spill my seed."

"Well." She tipped a shrug. "I'm not so sure I would've let you leave even if you had tried."

He suddenly went solemn and caressed her cheek with such tenderness that it threatened to make her weep. "I love ye, Harley, and the possibility of yer giving me a bairn only adds more joy to my soul."

Her heart swelled so big; it would surely burst if she wasn't careful. She hid her face in the curve of his neck and whispered, "I love you, Ronan. So very much."

He tightened his embrace and pressed kisses into her hair. "I love ye more, my golden-eyed lass. More than ye will ever know."

The late eveningmist rolled in off the sea, blanketing the cliffs of Clan MacKay. Aveline sat in the garden, her face lifted to the night, eyes closed as she breathed in the chilly night air and concentrated on connecting with the rhythm of the earth. It wouldn't be much longer. Just a few more weeks until the equinox, and then she would return Harley to her time. Maybe then Ronan would finally forgive her and speak kindly to her again rather than constantly scold her.

"I thought I would find ye out here."

She jumped as Ronan stepped out from a shroud of mist and loomed over her. Breath held and bracing herself, she waited, watching him closely. His speaking to her in a calm tone was a promising omen, but not if he changed at the last moment and resumed lecturing her about what she had done to keep him close. She angled her chin higher, knowing she would do everything the same were she to do it all over again. He needed to stay here in the safety of the clan and his homeland. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, concentrating on him and the sound of his emotions. He was different. Something had changed. His anger toward her had weakened considerably.

"Ye have changed," she said, the weight of her worry lightening. "I am glad ye are no longer so vexed with me." She scooted across the bench and patted the spot beside her. As long as he didn't berate her, he was more than welcome to sit and offer her the pleasure of his company.

With his hands clasped behind his back, he ignored her invitation to sit. "What ye did was wrong. Ye misused yer gifts, and no, I am no longer as heated with ye as I was before—but that doesna lessen the severity of yer transgressions."

She glared at him. With that attitude and the ability to throw her past mistakes in her face at every opportunity, he would make a good Christian priest. "So, ye merely came to scold me again? Trust me, brother. Mama and Papa have that particular chore well in hand."

Pacing back and forth through the mist swirling around his feet, he frowned downward as though sorting through his thoughts. His demeanor shouted at her, but she couldn't decipher what it was. He was not as angry as before, but he remained anxious about something. But what? And he contained a contentedness and a peace she had never sensed in him before. She sat taller and tensed, beginning to dread whatever it was he was about to say.

"We have yet to hear what yer punishment will be," he said while still keeping his gaze lowered. "Has Mother received any news from Brid or the Fates?"

She blew out a long-suffering sigh and stared down at her hands in her lap. Her read of him was wrong. He was here to lecture her again. She didn't know which she preferred, his sullen, angry silence or his pompous nagging. "No. Mother hasna had any visions as to my punishment. Nor heard from the Goddess Brid."

He halted his pacing, lifted his gaze, and glared at her. "Ye realize that what ye did was wrong? Ye understand where ye erred?"

"Ye canna let it go, can ye? And yes, oh mightiest of my brothers," she said, not attempting to veil her sarcasm. "I have seen my errors and will not make them again, I assure ye."

Rather than lash out at her as she expected, he turned and looked up at the keep and smiled.

Aveline twisted on the bench and followed his line of sight. There Harley was, in the window, brushing out her long, dark hair by the soft candlelight of the evening tapers. Aveline cast a covert glance at Ronan's expression. By the goddess, how he had changed. She had never seen his aura glow with such happiness. "Surely, ye didna search me out to have me apologize to ye yet again."

He turned and gave her a thoughtful smile that tied her middle into knots. She saw it in his eyes. The man was besotted with Harley, and here she was about to send her back to the future. "Avie—Harley and I are to marry. She has agreed to be my wife."

Aveline's heart fell and the knots in her stomach twisted even tighter. Now, what should she do? She swallowed hard and silently thanked the shadows for hiding her worries from Ronan. Thankfully, he also seemed too preoccupied with thoughts of his lady love to notice anything other than his own feelings. If he'd taken but a half second to veer his attention to Aveline, he would have heard her panic fair shouting at him.She had to calm herself, lest he pick up on her worries. She rose from the bench and went to him. "How wonderful! I am so glad the two of ye finally came together and saw ye were meant to be one."

He frowned and cast a dubious look her way."Ye dinna seem genuinely happy for me, sister. Is this not the reason ye meddled with time?"

Aveline shored up her aura, shielding it from his intuitive senses. "Of course, I am happy for ye. I am merely afraid Harley will not accept me as a sister. After what I did to her life, I fear she will never trust me again."

"I shall speak to her," he said. "She is happy here now, and I am sure she will give ye a second chance. The two of ye will be well on yer way to becoming friends by the time of the autumnal equinox."

"The autumnal equinox?" Aveline nearly choked. Did he know the equinox was when she planned to cast Harley back to the future?

"Aye." Ronan nodded and fell in step beside her as they made their way back to the rear entrance of the keep. "We plan to wed on the autumnal equinox. The veil of time is thinner at that time. We shall be able to project the happiness of our union to Harley's parents."

"But they willna know what it is," Aveline said, quickening her pace as her mind reeled with her brother's news. She had to figure out what to do next. She had to contact Goddess Clíodhna and tell her of Ronan's plans.

He easily kept up with her, his long legs making a mockery of her scurrying stride. "Aye, that is true. They willna know why they feel a sense of peace. But they will know it has something to do with their daughter, and it will assure them she is truly at ease with her fate."

Clenching her skirts in her hands, Aveline quickly stepped across the cobblestones, changing course to head for the steps leading to the outer wall.

"I am happy for ye, Ronan," she shouted back over her shoulder as she scurried down the steps. "Tell Mama and Papa I have gone to the outer wall to make peace with the Fates for the error of my ways."

"I will tell them, Avie," he called after her with a warm chuckle that threatened to make her weep.

She skipped down the steps faster, damning this change of events. She wanted Ronan happy, safe, and at home—if she sent Harley back to the future, he would be none of the three. "I have to tell the goddess. She loves Ronan. Surely, she will allow me to change our plan." But a sickening dread weighed heavy on her and became more burdensome by the moment. Deep in her heart and soul, she knew the goddess would not take this news well.