Page 24 of Love Beyond Wanting
Normally, I was touchy about letting people near the site of the amputation, mostly because everyone always acted so weird about it, but Maddock didn’t hesitate as he ran his palm all the way down to where my arm now ended at the elbow.The fact that he didn’t hesitate made it impossible for me to feel self-conscious about it.It felt nice, and as the chill in my body subsided, I took a deep breath and relaxed into him.
Sydney clenched her teeth nervously as she watched me.I immediately grew tense again.
“Don’t relax too much just yet.I’m afraid something else happened this morning that is bound to be a shock.”
Maddock’s hands stilled on my shoulders at Sydney’s words.
I stepped away from him so I could steady myself on the island countertop.
“What is it?What happened?”
“More likewhohappened, really.I woke this morning and—as I do every morning—made my way through the magical stairwell that connects the Cagair of this time to the Cagair of the seventeenth century so that I could cook breakfast.When I came out of the stairwell and made my way around to the front door of the castle, there was a car running outside.As I approached, a man exited and came over to greet me.He said his name was Dillon.He claims to be your boyfriend.”
Chapter 14
Every bit of my worrying had been justified.I had no doubt that somehow my mother was involved with Dillon’s arrival here at the castle.She had to be.Otherwise, I could think of no way for him to know where we were.
I shook my head as I braced my arm on the countertop and bent to shield my face and head into the crook of my arm as I groaned.“I’m going to kill her.”
“Who?”Sydney’s voice sounded confused.
“My mother.She helped him do this.She helped him find me.That’s why she was so insistent that I answer his calls.”I glanced up from my bent position to see her staring down at me with sympathy.
“I can make him leave if you’d like.”
I shook my head before turning back to the covered safety of my arm.“No, I’m going to have to deal with this.Where is he?”
There was the sudden sound of several sets of footsteps on the floor above, and it sounded to me as if they were approaching the stairwell.
“I bet that’s him.Callum was giving him a tour of the castle.I think they are headed down here now.”
I made a dramatic sound of dread, as if I were crying, but stopped the moment I felt Maddock’s hands lift me from the island.
He spun me toward him, keeping his grip tight on my shoulders as his eyes stared into my own.
“Do ye want him here, lass?”
I shook my head no.
“From what ye’ve said of him, I doona think him a man that understands anything easily with words alone.Mayhap, ye should give him something else to let him know ye are through with him.”
I shrugged beneath Maddock’s grip.“Oh yeah?What would that be?”
Mischief flashed in his green eyes, and my body lit up all over.“Do ye trust me?”
I thought of all the rarely spoken things I’d trusted him with last night.I thought of my sister’s love for him and her obvious trust in sending him here to see us to the Isle safely.Even if he was still a stranger, I knew my answer.
“Yes.”
He smiled as his left hand released its grip on my shoulders and smoothly slid down to my lower back where he pulled me close against him.
I could hear Dillon descending the stairs to the kitchen, but I kept my eyes locked with Maddock’s.
The moment Dillon stepped into the room and could easily see the two of us pressed against one another, Maddock bent his head and kissed me.
Chapter 15
There was no warm-up to his kiss.No light touch of his lips to see if I would accept them, no delicate trail along my jaw.Immediately, his lips were hot and urgent against my own.At first, I stiffened in response, my back going rigid in shock, but it only took a moment before my body became liquid against him, my mind surrendering to the pleasure of his lips dancing against my own.
