A Very Highland Holiday - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,153
anger and despair and other negative emotions made the sword more powerful. When I was fighting to save you, I knew I loved you—more than anything. That love and the hope for our future together extinguished the flame. Even now, I can feel that love vibrating through the sword.”
Love tingled through Elspeth’s chest and spread to her limbs. “Your love for me saved us all?”
His eyes gleamed with mirth. “That, in addition to your quick thinking and expert paring knife skills.”
Elspeth laughed. “What a wonderful secret for such a terrible weapon. You’re still going to hide it in the morning?”
He nodded. “As soon as it’s light. First, however, I want to do something. Elspeth, I grant you the use of Lann Dhearg.” He held out the sword.
She frowned. “You know I can’t lift that.”
“Try.” The corner of his mouth ticked up.
Still frowning, she closed her hand around the handle and tentatively took it from him. It wasn’t exactly light—it was still a sword—but she could lift it. “Because you gave it to me?”
He nodded again. “Do you feel the way it sings in your grip?”
“I’m not sure I’d describe it like that. Perhaps more of a low hum.” She tipped her head to the side. “Why did you want to give it to me?”
“Because after I hide it in a few hours, it will be lost forever. I wanted it to know the love we share from both of us. This will sound strange, but I think it was…content once I learned how to control it.”
“You talk as if it’s a living thing.”
“Of course, it’s not, but it has power.”
She could feel it. “Yes, it does.” Concentrating, she thought she could feel the love the blade now held. But perhaps that was just the love she felt for Tavish, which was almost overwhelming. She looked up at him a bit shyly. “I can’t believe how happy I am.”
He leaned over and kissed her, his lips lingering against hers. “Believe it. And believe how very much I love you.”
“It can’t be as much as I love you.” She gasped as the sword truly sang in her grip. Her eyes met his. “I think I felt what you meant!”
He grinned. “See?” He took the sword from her and set it down beside the bed. Then he gathered her against him and buried his face in her hair. “If someone were to write this legend, they’d have to include the story of our love—of how we tamed the sword.”
“You tamed it.”
He pulled back and looked down into her eyes. “We did it together. If not for the sword and our shared passion for legends, we may never have met. I would not have stopped to listen to your story at the Lammas Fair.”
“I suppose that is true. You did take a rather long time to pursue me, however.”
“Only because I was committed to supporting my mother’s family.” Even so, she saw the regret in his gaze.
She rushed to reassure him, putting her hand on his cheek. “I know. That’s all behind us, and it doesn’t matter because everything has turned out as it should. I am grateful we found our way to one another.”
“As am I.” He bent his head and kissed her collarbone, then her neck, then the hollow of her throat. “Allow me to show you.” He pressed her back onto the bed and settled between her thighs.
“Shouldn’t I be on top again?” she asked, tracing the scar that stretched across his shoulder blade that he’d sustained at Culloden. “I realize your wounds are mostly healed, but I’d hate for you to tear the stitches in your arm.”
He let out a throaty laugh. “If you insist. Or, if you’d care to move to your side, I can show you another way.” He rolled away from her, and she turned to face him.
He shook his head. “Other way.”
Desire pulsed in her core as she rolled over and presented her back to him. “Like this?”
“Just like that.” He stroked his hand up her back as he pushed her hair aside and kissed her nape. Then he trailed his hand down her collarbone and cupped her breast. She gasped as he rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
“You are the story I always hoped my life might be,” she said softly, arching into his touch.
He kissed the side of her ear and whispered, “Then let us write it.”
* THE END *
About Darcy Burke
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