Page 34 of Connal

She closed her eyes for a moment, and he tipped up her chin to kiss her.

“That’s what your Finfolk friend promised when the two of you hatched this crazy idea earlier today.” She nodded as he instantly dropped his hands. “Did you really call me a cow-eyed twit? I think that’s a little harsh. I have a pretty high IQ, and my eyes are much nicer than my hair.”

“You dinnae fight fair,” he muttered, cursing himself for forgetting her boon.

“Then you really shouldn’t touch someone with the ability to read your mind.” She gave him a complacent look. “Ruins any attempt to hustle them into an affair.”

Nyall nodded. “If you see inside my head, you ken ’tis mostly truth.”

“I’m not blind or dead from the neck down. You are attracted to me, and I don’t find you entirely repulsive, either. I also know what happened between you and your mother, but only because you were just thinking about it.” As he stiffened Valerie sighed. “Captain, I really hope someday your heart melts and you meet someone you can love. Love turns your world upside down, and remakes it top to bottom, and is the best and worst thing that will ever happen to you. But we both know I’m not the woman to do that.”

Nyall watched her leave the ward, frustration and admiration tangling inside him. He’d never been so thoroughly routed by a female. He’d also never met one quite as wise. A sound made him look up, and he saw the laird watching him from the high walk. Connal’s mouth hitched before he turned and left.

Since he could do nothing more to thwart the wedding, Nyall left the stronghold and made his way to the cove. Jamaran came out of the water as soon as he saw him, and perched on a rocky ledge to watch the tide rolling in.

“She refused me,” he told his friend. “And somehow made me wish I could love her, curse the wench.”

Jamaran nodded. “Do you reckon Shaw or Fletcher…?”

“Fletcher’s honor wouldnae permit such. Shaw we might persuade, but he’d never remain faithful to her. She deserves better. I cannae believe these words leave my lips, but ’tis truth.” He saw another shadowy shape swim into the cove. “You brought another with you?”

“’Tis Freja. Merrick bid me comfort her. She’s taken to following me whenever I leave the settlement.” Jamaran dove into the water from the rocks, and glided around the Finfolk female, who tried to tug him in the direction of the sea.

Nyall watched as his friend comforted the distraught female, but knew Jamaran had no affection for her. Transformation had made Freja immortal, but she had been at the end of her life when she’d joined the Finfolk. The change had not removed her silver hair and wrinkles, making her appear like a grandmother seducing a boy. His friend tried first to hold her, but when that didn’t calm her he kissed her. Freja responded feverishly, dragging him beneath the water, where she rolled under him and twined her legs around his, a signal female Finfolk gave when they wished to mate. He brought her up to the surface, and swam over to the embankment, where he pushed her back against the moss and began stripping off their sleek garments.

Jamaran glanced at him as he put his mouth on Freja’s small breasts and sucked her nipples, causing her to arch under him and reach for his cock. As he kept pleasuring the widow his shaft swelled and thickened, and at last he plunged into her, his buttocks pistoning as he thrust deep and hard.

Seeing his best friend facking so vigorously made Nyall retreat, although what he really wished to do was stay and watch them while he stroked his own stiff cock. Perversely he wanted to give Jamaran a different woman, too. Not Valerie Baker, but the sort of female they both found arousing.

Dark of hair and eye, his friend had told him once when they’d discuss their ideal mate. Soft lips, large breasts, round hips, long legs.

He remembered agreeing and adding, Her voice like a caress, her scent like the night.

He imagined such a woman under Jamaran, her pretty lips parted as she gasped. That fancy expanded as his own desire swelled, and in his mind he saw the lovely dream woman wedged between him and his friend as they both caressed and filled her. He had never shared a female with Jamaran, but the notion sent such a hot surge into his groin he nearly spilled into his smalls. In that moment he heard Tiree again.

How may I love a thing like you? You’re as much a horror as your sire.

Chapter Eleven

Connal shadowed Valerie through the stronghold as she left the ward and returned to her guest chamber. The scent of her, subtle and delicious, kept him at his distance. So did witnessing her rejecting his captain’s attentions. Seeing them together had at first put him on edge, at least until she had gently but firmly put Nyall in his place. Although Valerie appeared young and innocent, what she’d told the captain revealed some of her pain as well as her wisdom.

Love turns your world upside down, and remakes it top to bottom, and is the best and worst thing that will ever happen to you.

Once she went into the chamber Connal hovered at the opposite end of the hall. He told himself he merely wanted to assure Nyall had not genuinely upset her, but he knew that to be an excuse. Seeing her in the arms of another man had strangely shaken him, for he’d never once imagined her becoming involved with one of his brothers. As joyless and devoted to his duty as Nyall was, doubtless he would treat the lady well, and protect her with his life.

That Connal wished to beat him bloody for offering himself to Valerie was a quirk of pride, nothing more. Yet had she accepted him…

The next morning he rose early, eating the morning meal Meg brought him before emerging from his chamber. He went down to the great hall to look for Valerie, only to be told she had returned to the guest chamber. There he went, but at the last moment decided to wait in the passage until she came out again.

Shaw appeared in front of him. “Play you passage guard these days, Brother? Or does the stronghold begin to crumble, and you imagine you may brace the place on your back?”

“Play you my màthair?” he said, pushing past him.

His brother tagged along, looking almost pleased as they passed the guest chamber. “I reckon you watched the lady last night, when she slapped down our captain. In that moment I wished cheer her good taste, but then Nyall would wish to end me. Again. Why do you stride so swiftly?”

Connal stopped and shoved Shaw into the nearest room. Once he kicked shut the door, he demanded, “What the fack want you from me?”

The chieftain spread his hands. “That black mare you refuse let me breed with my chestnut stallion. Those sharkskin boots you never wear. A bout with Merrick on land, or Jamaran, while the king watched me end him.” He held up his marked hand. “One less arm.”