“Aye. But only sometimes,gràineag.”
“I know what that means now. And it’s not an endearment.”
“But it fits you so well, wife… sometimes.”
Sadie scowled, thinking this wasn’t going well. Not that she’d had a plan when she’d come searching for Morgan, but she had thought the man would be more… well, at least more eager to see her. Sadie took a deep breath and continued.
“I broke your sword.”
“I noticed that.”
“And your waterfall was destroyed.”
“I noticed that, too.”
“All the magic is gone, Morgan.”
“Nay, lass. It’s more powerful than ever.”
“Dammit, Morgan. I want you to forgive me.”
“I did that two days ago, Mercedes.”
“Then why didn’t you come for me?”
“Because you needed to forgive yourself first.”
With trembling hands, Sadie swiped at the tears that had escaped and flowed down her cheeks. This was proving even harder than she’d thought. He was just sitting there like a turtle on a rock waiting for the sun to warm him, his infuriatingly patient and calmly given responses making her insides quake. Maybe he was a turtle, and she was the sunshine he was waiting for.
“I’m beautiful.”
“Aye, Mercedes, you are.”
“And you love me.”
“I must.”
“Dammit, Morgan. This is hard.”
“Only because it’s important, Mercedes.”
“I love you.”
“I’m glad. But it’s not me you must love, lass.”
“I’m beautiful.”
“Aye, wife. You are very beautiful.”
With hands more shaky than useful, Sadie un-cinched the belt at her waist and let her pack slide off her shoulders, catching it and gently setting it on the ground without taking her eyes off her husband.
Morgan lazily watched her as she sat down and unlaced her boots and pulled them off.
She tucked her socks inside them and then stood, her trembling hands going to the buttons on her shirt. It took her a long time to get the shirt open, and even longer to work up the nerve to slide it off her shoulders. She let the shirt fall to the ground, reached behind her back, and unhooked her bra, pulling both it and her body sock off, letting them fall to the ground.
And still she watched her husband.
And still he sat there, not saying a word, not moving, not taking his eyes off her.
Sadie unbuckled her belt and unsnapped her pants, pushing them down to her knees and stepping free.
She couldn’t quit shaking, and she knew it wasn’t the cold making her tremble. Every nerve ending, every taut muscle, every inch of her skin felt as if it were on fire.
She straightened her shoulders and forced her hands to her sides, now facing her husband as naked as he was.
“Do ya see that sunset behind me, lass?”
Sadie could only nod.
“I was sitting here waiting for you to come to me, and I was thinking how the sky is the color of your eyes. It’s a very beautiful shade of blue, don’t you think?”
She nodded again.
Morgan stood up and held out his hand. “Then come to me now, Mercedes. Bring your beauty into my life.”
She took a step forward, and then another. Each step was a bit easier than the previous one, and soon Sadie was running to Morgan.
Until she was up to her knees in the ice-cold water. Sadie screamed at the feel of the icy water on her legs.
“Goddammit, MacKeage! This lake is freezing!” she shouted, scrambling back to the shore.
Morgan dove into the lake and swam until he could stand up. He rose, water cascading down his tall, masculine body, and waded toward her.
Sadie took a step back. Morgan had never looked more like a warrior to her, even though she’d seen him like this before. He was different somehow.
Or maybe she was.
Or maybe it had something to do with the unholy gleam in his eyes, the look of a warrior about to possess the prize of his hard-won battle.
Sadie took another step back.
Morgan had certainly waged a fine war, if not a subtle one. But then, Sadie suddenly thought, stepping toward him instead of away, the prize he was receiving was well worth the effort.
She ran and threw herself into his arms, grabbing his wet hair and kissing his wet face, laughing with the joy of knowing she was about to begin a dream life with this man. He wrapped his powerful arms around her and gently lowered them both to the ground, growling into her ear as he rained kisses through her hair.
With lusty words and whispered promises, Morgan told Sadie as much as he showed her just what he thought of her body. His hands roamed over her skin with feather-light touches, his lips following the trail of his fingers.
Sadie mimicked his actions and his words and made a few lusty promises of her own.
She arched her back when his lips grazed her nipples, pushing her breasts into his mouth, yearning to be touched everywhere.
Nothing was off limits any longer. Nothing stood between them, nothing obstructed the pleasure of loving each other. Passion took precedence over shyness, and Sadie was able to give herself freely to the wonder of love.
They played and loved as they had that afternoon in the beautiful, mystical pool filled with thedrùidh’s magic. And Morgan hadn’t been lying a moment ago when he’d said the magic was more powerful than ever.
The magic was stronger, their love a brilliant rainbow wrapped around the pure white light of their passion.
Driving definitely would have been easierif Libby could have kept her eyes on the road.
And the trip wouldn’t have taken nearly as long if she hadn’t had to stop every half hour and get out and stare at the landscape.
But the country was beautiful. Rugged. Over-whelming.
The trees went on forever; fluorescent red and yellow and orange blanketed the mountains, broken only by the deep green of pine and spruce and hemlock. Cliffs of solid granite pushed up through the vivid colors occasionally, hinting at the massive foundation that lay beneath the forest.
Since renting the small compact car at the airport in Bangor, Maine, and heading northwest on Rte 15, Libby had felt herself climbing, rising into the mountains until they wrapped completely around her. The tension of the last two weeks slowly seeped from her body, andhome became a whispered mantra that repeated itself with every beat of her heart.
After taking nearly three hours to travel the eighty miles from Bangor, Libby crested yet another hill and just barely caught herself from slamming on the brakes. The sight of Pine Lake, with its vast waters contained only by the sheer strength of the mountains, stole her breath. Libby guided her car to the shoulder of the two-lane road, shut off the engine, and stared through the windshield.
Islands, some the size of houses and some several acres in size, dotted the large cove that fingered in from the lake toward the small town nestled on the shore. Mountains rose from the water’s edge like watchful guardians, several of their peaks shrouded by low clouds as they marched into the distance.
Her life up until this moment seemed no more than a dream as she stared at the great reality in front of her. Miracles lived here. This was the realm of possibilities, whispering the promise of sanctuary to her fragmented soul.
Her flight from California had ended. She’d been driven—or pulled—to this magical place by a guiding presence that needed no reason other than rightness. The how and why and what would happen next did not matter. Libby simply knew this was where she belonged.
She had never given much thought to mystical powers—not until two weeks ago, when she’d found herself holding that very power in her hands. She was a surgeon who could suddenly heal people without a scalpel. She had touched a critically injured woman and willed her to get well. By the time the woman reached Libby’s operating room, less than ten minutes later, she was completely healed.