Page 35 of Draped in Plaid
“I want you to identify your wife by scent. Not by touch. Or sound.” Then he leaned in and whispered in my ear. “If you pass every test, I will not touch anyone else, and you may all go back to where you came from.”
None too gently, he yanked the hood back on my head, sinking me back into darkness. I held my breath. Worked to steady my beating heart. Ever since I’d been locked in that dungeon by Laird MacDonald, darkness had given me a brief moment of panic. But there was no time for panic now. No time for me to coach myself through it. I had to keep going.
The man led me into the center of the room and then turned me around mayhap a dozen times. Enough to set my bearings off. I steadied myself on my feet, feeling for a moment like a child who spins and spins and spins until they fall.
“If I pass, ye will leave the rest of them alone?” I asked.
“Aye, big man. You have my word.”
“How do I know this is not a trick?”
There was a slight rustling of his clothes. Mayhap he shrugged, I couldna be sure. “You’ll have to trust me.”
“How can I trust ye? Ye’ve chained us up against the walls. Taken our clothes. Our freedom. Poisoned us.”
The man snorted. “But I’ve not hurt you, have I?”
“That is all relative.”
He ignored me. “In fact, you’re feeling very good are you not?”
I gritted my teeth, taking in the warmth and passion that flowed within my bones. I was feeling verra good. More than I should be in my current situation, but there was nothing I could do to reverse the sensations. “Aye.”
“And you want something. Do you not?”
“Aye,” I ground out. I wanted my wife. I wanted out of here. But more than anything, I wanted, needed, Emma…
Leaning close to my ear, he said, “Then go and get her. You mayhaveher. Any way and every way.”
Och, Emma… My cock twitched. I wanted her bad…
And then we could all leave. All I had to do was find her. Claim her.
It was up to me now. To pass all the tests this sick bastard had up his sleeves.
I took a step forward, a thought dawning on me. I knew from the past, if all of us became sensually engaged, the power we’d create would take us away from here. We didna need the time key. All we needed was each other.
“Remember the glen,” I murmured, hoping my friends would hear me, understand me.
“Shut up. Do not say another word,” the dungeon master hissed. “You have your task. Now see it done.”
Soft murmurs sounded from the walls. I grinned. ’Twas quite all right that he was yelling at me, because I had said enough. They would know what to do.
“Shut up all of you!” The scientist shouted. “Not another word, or I’ll leave you all here to rot for eternity.” The rustle of fabric drew closer. “You’re close to losing this chance, savage. Now do as I’ve instructed.”
Flaring my nostrils, I pulled in a deep breath. Dissecting the various scents. The powder, the incense. The leather, the mustiness of air not exposed to light. The scientist and the onions he had at his last meal. Women. Men. Sex.
And then, there it was on my next inhale: Emma.
Saints, but didna this bastard know it was going to take more than a blinding hood to keep me away from my wife? Her delicious essence filled my senses and I walked toward her immediately, pressed my forehead to hers and whispered, “Mo chridhe.”
“Do not speak!” the dungeon master bellowed.
Emma shuddered, and I crushed the front of my body to hers, trying to ease her fear. But fear was not what either of us needed eased. Desire whipped through me, rampant and urgent.
Oh, ballocks, but she felt like heaven against me.
I slid a hand into her hair, cupping the back of her head, my other hand gripping her hip, and I kissed her. Hard. Claiming her all over again. Lips sliding over hers. Tongue lashing through the seam. Och, and her taste…sweet passion and need. And life. And love.
