Chapter 24

24

M aeve looked deathly pale the entire night during supper, and she barely touched her soup. There was tension around the table as everyone quietly ate their meal. She was feeling much better today, and Quinn mentioned her bleeding had stopped.

So why is she so quiet? And pale? Archer sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Lauren tried to clear the air with conversation about the upcoming Yuletide festivities. "How do ye celebrate in O'Kane?" she asked Blair. "Yuletide is me favorite season all year round. What is yers?"

"Hogmanay," Blair answered with a stiff smile.

Lauren kept up her cheery tone and continued with the questioning while Archer focused his gaze on Maeve. He was about to ask what bothered her when she pushed back on her chair and rose to her feet.

"I will retire to my chamber now," she said in a quiet tone and did not meet anyone's gaze before she turned and walked out of the dining area. Questioning eyes landed on Archer, and he cleared his throat, wiped his lips with a napkin, then rose to his feet too.

"Excuse me," he said and followed after Maeve.

She had made it to her chamber, but he barged inside without knocking and found her standing by the window, her eyes focused on the dark skies outside.

Archer closed the door. "Are ye all right, Maeve?" He drew closer to her with quick movements, wrapped his arms around her waist, then turned her around to face him.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him. The sight instantly broke his heart, and a lump formed in his throat.

"What is wrong? Do ye wish to return to O'Kane?" He had feared she would want to leave him ever since her brother talked about it. Archer did not know how to handle himself if he could not see her every day, watch her smile, and just watch her while she strolled the garden or played with her sisters.

He enjoyed watching her from a distance. That way, he could admire her to his heart's content and not feel the urge to hold back.

"If ye wish to return to O'Kane, then I will let ye. Yer brither is right. I need to get me affairs in order, and ye will be safe there under his watch. If that is what ye want then…"

She shook her head, and her hands on his cheeks silenced the rest of his words. Archer's brows drew together in a worried frown. "Then why have ye refused to eat?"

All he did was worry about her. After the incident, that unsettling feeling in his guts doubled, and he had tightened security around the castle. He planned to station more guards around the chamber and the corners of the keep she frequently visited.

I cannae rusk her getting hurt again. Archer could not even handle the thought of her leaving. Knowing she could get hurt because of him was way worse.

"I want to stay here with you," she whispered as the tear slid down her cheek. "You do not know how much I want to stay here, Archer."

He wiped her cheek with a thumb and moved that thumb over her lips for a gentle caress. "I want that too," he confessed.

"I want you…Every second, every minute." Maeve took his right hand and placed it on her chest, so he could feel the steady beat of her heart. He loved the rhythm. It soothed him and left his own heart racing too.

Her eyes clung to his again, and in there, he saw the depths of her passion. Archer slowly got lost in them. Heat pooled all through him, hardening his groin and testing his resistance till he groaned out her name.

They came together like it was meant to be. Their lips became one, and her hands skidded down his back to press him closer to her. Archer cupped her chin with one hand and took his time to explore her lips as they parted to let him.

His tongue danced over hers, her shuddering moan filled his insides, and he swallowed her whimpers as he moved his hands down to her waist, cupped her buttocks, and ground her against his body.

"Maeve," he gasped when he felt the ropes of his control grow dangerously close to snapping. "I cannae…I …"

"Make love to me tonight," she muttered against his lips. Her hands moved over his face and traced every angle. She touched his ears, his chin, slid her hands down to his chest and smoothed them over his pounding heart. "Take me tonight."

He saw the seriousness in her eyes, and he knew right then he could no longer resist this innate urge to have her.

Archer gasped when she brought her lips to his. This time, he allowed his desires to set the pace. She was in his arms and on the bed in a split second.

He ground one hardened plane of his thigh against her center after parting her legs, and Maeve responded like she knew what to do next. Archer wanted to learn all her curves and take his time to worship her because it was what she deserved.

Archer began exploring her body with kisses, and her hands slipped into his hair when he got to the swell of her breasts. She was still fully clothed, and he peeled every piece of fabric off her skin with painfully slow, intentional movements.

His fingers stroked her skin as he did. She warmed and trembled beneath him on the bed. Her scent engulfed him. Her moans drowned him.

Archer took one delicate bud of her nipple fully in his mouth once she was naked on the sheets. His right hand cupped her breasts as he suckled. She writhed and thrashed her head from side to side, but tonight, he was determined to show her what desire truly meant.

"Spread yer legs for me, Mo gra' ." The Scottish endearment slipped out of him with ease. Archer could not think of a better way to spend his night than here in her arms, loving her.

She opened her legs, and his thumb pressed over her entrance to gently tantalize her till her thighs quivered, and she begged him for more.

Her nails dug into his back as he licked the sweet line between her breasts then feasted on her second breast. He responses made blood rush to his head.

He clamped his hands over her waist next and dragged his kisses lower. She smelled like roses down in her sensitive spot, too. Her delicate petals opened for him, and he teased her with the tip of his tongue first before kissing her thighs.

By the time Archer moved back to take off his clothes, his muscles were strained to the point of snapping. His hardness pulsated with need for her. He needed to be gentle, but his hunger ravaged him.

"Archer," she gasped when he aligned the full length of his erection with her slit. She cried out when he thrust into her once and held himself steady.

He scattered kisses over her face, her neck, her breasts. His fingers curled over her hips, and he tried to keep her steady because he could not be rough with her. Archer needed his control, so he savored the moment, but Maeve writhed beneath him like a vixen, and he finally lost it.

"I am so sorry," he growled into her neck before sliding out of her and thrusting in fully. Her warmth sucked him in until he tossed his head back and groaned.

This was just the beginning, and every stroke inside her drew them both steadily towards the brink of shuddering climax he was not ready to go over yet.