Page 31 of Taken By the Heartless Highlander
“I daenae?—"
“Claim me as yer mistress,” she said and opened her mouth as though to say more, but the words died on her lips when their eyes met. Finally, the blush that had infused her cheeks deepened to a dark red. She crossed her arms over her chest as though regretting saying any of it aloud.
Noah stalked around the desk, heat throbbing between his legs. It was so violent that he almost wished he could take himself in hand in front of her to relieve the tension; consequences be damned.
He gripped her roughly by the arm, pulling her toward him angrily.
“Is that the sort of man ye think I am?” he asked, somehow both dreading and craving the answer.
“Nay. But I wish ye were,” Keira replied.
Noah could feel the need growing within him. He had kept the desperate, dangerous desires at bay since he first saw her, but now they were coming to life like monsters at the back of his mind.
He could not shake the images that played through his head at her words. He imagined taking her right there, throwing an arm across his desk, scattering everything to the floor as he ripped her dress from her body. He would finally feel the perfect heat of her around him as he thrust into her again and again.
He thought of taking her mouth with his, tasting her, pushing his fingers through that long black hair, and claiming her as she had asked him to.
He shook his head, closing his eyes and trying to rid himself of his dark fantasies, but when he opened them, he was simply met with her gaze still upon him, imploring him to do as she asked.
What man could refuse this?He thought feverishly.In truth, what man could imagine such a proposition?
“That’s what ye want, is it?” he asked, his voice low and rough with desire as he pushed her against the wall, her back connecting with the rough stone. He watched her mouth part as she panted, her beautiful breasts rising and falling before him like the greatest temptation he had ever known.
“Ye wish me to make ye mine against this wall?” he asked, raising his hands to either side of her face. He lowered his mouth so that his lips whispered against her skin but never touched her. “Ye wish me to claim ye? Own ye? Control ye? Is that it?”
She made no move to touch him, just shuddered against his body. Her breaths came quick and fast as she waited for what he would do. He could smell her skin, feel the heat of her beneath him. Every single cell in his body wanted to do just as she asked, put his hands on her, mark her, claim her for his own.
But it’s wrong,the thought crowded his mind obliterating everything else,this isnae really what she wants.
“Nay,” he said decisively, wrenching himself away from her with all his strength. “I willnae do as ye ask.”
* * *
“Wh-what?” Keira asked, utterly shocked by his answer. She had felt his arousal; in fact, she hadseenthe evidence of it when he had rounded the desk. She knew from their almost-kiss the day before that he desired her, yet now, when she needed him the most, he refused her. She did not understand him.
“Ye heard me lass,” he muttered. “I will nae do such a thing. Nae until ye tell me why ye’d ask.”
“Cannae I just wish to lie with ye, because ye are a handsome man?” she asked, her cheeks aflame with embarrassment as she spoke the truth to the room.
MacAllen shook his head at her. “Wrong answer.”
There was a stalemate for some minutes as MacAllen waited for her to tell him the real reason. He remained looming over her, a picture of manly authority. There was a power and drive in his frame that left her breathless even as she tried to find the words to explain. She did not wish for him to know the truth. She felt weak before him, the reality of her situation a bitter reminder of how much she needed his help.
She could not imagine a day when Lucas would not come after her. Even the thought of leaving Scotland left her feeling as thoughsomehowhe would find her, no matter how far she ran or where she went.
“Well?” Noah asked, staring at her expectantly. “I am waitin’. This dinnae rise up from nothin’, somethin’ has happened. Tell me what it is.”
Keira sighed, collapsing against the wall and running her hands over her face. With a groan of resignation, she pulled the letter Lucas had written to her from her pocket and handed it to him.
“He is the only man who kens where I am,” she confessed as Noah’s eyes ran over the priest’s words. “I dinnae think he would be so bold as to come here, but the servants saw the garb of a holy man and trusted him immediately. They took the note, and it will not be the last one he sends me.”
She wished she had never laid eyes on Lucas; she wished that she and her siblings had died along with her parents so that she did not have to constantly run from the shadows that seemed to track her every step.
“I’ll kill him,” Noah said furiously, re-reading the note and crunching it between his fingers as he did so.
Keira shook her head sadly. “Ye cannae.”
“And why the hell nae?” he asked a fire in his eyes that sent a throb of fresh desire rippling through her. He was even more impressive when he was angry.
