A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,51
knew much about any of their operations.”
“I didn’t.” She took a deep breath. “The truth is that once I learned the goods probably belonged to your family, I would have given them back anyway.”
“Aye, lass,” he said, believing her even though her expression said she was ready to argue her point.
“You believe me,” she said. Her reaction was half question and half statement, indicating just how surprised she was.
“Aye, lass. You are not a pirate like your kin.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Your mother said something awful happened to your men. That they lost everything. Did… did my uncles kill some of your people?”
“Nay, Elaine. They were privateers and believed they were fighting for a good cause. We fought them, of course, but when we knew we were undermanned and outgunned, we gave up. Lives were worth more than a few measly trinkets. I have to admit that I lost a favored sword to your Uncle Tobias. I was but a lad and wouldn’t stop fighting, though my da ordered me to. Tobias Hawthorn fought me until he knocked my sword from my grip. He said he wanted me to join his crew but instead took my sword for safekeeping.
“I was the only one of my brothers who had traveled with my da on that trip. Duncan chided me that he wouldn’t have lost his sword. Truth be known, Ian is the best swordsman of all of us, and he might have kept his sword. Maybe not. We were all just lads then. After the theft, we were short on funds and had a harsh winter to get through, but we managed to survive.”
“You fought my uncle?” she said, disbelief threading her words.
“Aye. He had no intention of killing me. He could easily have done so, as large as he was compared to how scrawny I was in my youth. He showed he had honor.”
Elaine swallowed hard, tears misting her eyes. “If we find the treasure…” she said, taking his hand—and all at once he was back to his original need to move closer and make this personal. To see the heated look in her eyes right before he kissed her sweet mouth. To feel her soft curves plastered against his hard muscles. That’s what he wanted—but then she continued talking, and he realized her touch had made him lose all thoughts but one.
“…I want those families who suffered the most to share whatever is found,” she said. Then frowned. “Are you listening?”
He tried to contain his wolfish smile because she was being brutally honest with him and that had nothing to do with where his thoughts had roamed of their own volition. “Aye, lass. You are nothing like your uncles. I imagine they’d be rolling in their graves if they knew what you’d offered to do with their loot.”
“My loot,” she corrected him, giving him a little smile.
He pulled her into his arms, loving her, unable to keep the distance between them, and she was kissing him and running her hands up under his sweater, her fingertips warm and soft as she teased his skin.
But he had to know more. He had to before they could go any further.
“What happened when I lost you in St. Andrews? What happened to Kelly Rafferty? The man your uncles said you had to mate?”
Chapter 13
Sitting on the sofa in the garden room, Cearnach wanted nothing more than to take Elaine right then and there. The way her hands had slid up his chest underneath his sweater and the way she was kissing his mouth with such pent-up need, her tongue teasing his lips, stroking his tongue, made his fingers tangle in her hair as he tackled her mouth with just as much enthusiasm.
He told himself he had to know what had become of the man who had mated her, but he couldn’t get his feelings for her under control. Until a knock sounded at the garden room door. Cearnach frowned, looking down at a tussled Elaine, her lips swollen from their kisses, her cheeks high with color, her hair tangled. She was beautiful.
“Stay,” he said, not wanting her to move an inch until he took care of the matter.
She smiled up at him, her brows and the corners of her mouth lifting as she took a deep breath and relaxed even more against the cushions, her expression saying she was more amused than annoyed with him that he would command her in such a way.