A dark velvety nose appeared over her rescuer’s shoulder and gently snuffled at Katie’s face and hair then retreated with a deep grumbling sound followed by a snorting sneeze. Apparently, Dubh wasn’t big on airbag powder either.
“Dubh is m’horse. His name means ‘black’ in Scot’s Gaelic.” The barest hint of a smile returned to her hero’s moonlit face as he lowered his chin with such regal grace it had to have been acquired through royal DNA. “And I am Ramsay Danann MacDara. At yer service, m’lady.”
“I’m…um…Katie. Katie Jenson.”Wait. Did I already tell him that?She patted at his chest again, then slipped both arms around his waist, and held on tight.Oh shit.Head swimming. Gonna pass out. Or puke. Or both. Please don’t let me chuck all over his boots.“Can you make me a promise?” she asked as she closed her eyes and a sudden cold sweat and swaying feeling made her shiver and gag.
Ramsay tightened his hold around her and she gratefully sagged deeper into his arms. “What promise would that be, lass?”
“Promise you’ll still be here when I wake up.”
Chapter 2
None of it, Dwyn. D’ye hear me? It matters not that she’s a fine-lookin’ lass—I’ll have none of it and ye can tell the goddesses t’leave off their toyin’ with me as well.
This perceivedchancemeeting that had interrupted his nightly ride had to be their doing. The goddesses delighted in stirring the trials of a mortal’s life—entertainin’ themselves as though the MacDaras were little more than chess pieces in some never-ending game. And if that werena bad enough, Dwyn,Máthair, Esme, even Mistress Lydia—all of them had been nettlin’ his arse for months about findin’ a woman ever since the humiliating debacle of Sylvia Lacroix and that ill-fated bit of rot.
“More fish in the sea. Good-hearted women that dinna give a damn about money,”they’d said to him more than once.“A true match for everyone,”they’d sworn time after nagging time.“Be patient, but get out there and look for the lass. She’ll appear when ye least expect it.”
Least expect it, my arse.A huffing snort escaped him.What a load a horseshit.That’s what their words amounted to, aye and for sure. And as soon as he had this wee lass seen to, he’d find Dwyn and tell the meddlin’ bugger t’leave off and tell the goddesses that this protector had decided t’be a solitary and they might as well accept that. They didna need him siring anymore MacDaras. Alec and Grant had already fathered several healthy bairns t’carry on the protector legacy.
He caught himself breathing in deep again and snorted the air out through his nose. Damn the sweet-smelling lass and her lovely silken hair. “Katie,” she’d called herself.Hell’s fire and demon balls.Dwyn and the goddesses were no’ fightin’ fair with this one.
Ramsay sat taller and strained to keep his face angled so the only scent he pulled from the gentle night breeze was the pungent crispness of the towering pines on both sides of the trail—not the scent of the alluring young woman in front of him. Damned if his fingers didna itch t’touch that shining hair a flutterin’ in the wind.
The woman shifted, listing dangerously to the right. Ramsay snugged his arm tighter around her waist, straightened her in the saddle for the second time, and hugged her back closer against his body—even though that particular level of closeness was against his better judgment. A section of her nearly waist-length hair fluttered into his face then slowly slid away like a teasing caress and returned to rest on its mistress’s back. Ramsay nearly groaned aloud—unbidden images of that hair tickling across his face and chest, and perhaps even lower, as she rose over him, their bodies intertwined appeared.
He cleared his throat—tightening his hold on her as she lurched to the left when Dubh rounded a sharp curving incline in the trail. “Are ye feelin’ weak again, mistress? D’ye need me t’stop and let ye down t’breathe a bit and settle yerself afore we go on?” She’d fainted once in his arms. Perhaps she was about to faint again.
Katie patted his forearm, sat straighter, and shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Just a little wobbly after tonight’s adventure and it’s been awhile since I was on a horse and to be perfectly honest…” she attempted to face him, stopping only when he firmly straightened her again and held her in place. “Sorry…I’ve never ridden double before.”
With a dangerous wiggle, the infernal woman nested her arse tighter against his cock and she’d hafta be numb from the waist down to no’ feel his hard-on proddin’ her lovely backside.
“The last time I rode a pack animal, it was a camel,” she added with a hugging squeeze to the arm he held locked around her middle.
“Dubh is no’ a pack animal.” ’Twas a wonder the black horse didna throw them both off at such an insult. Ramsay shifted back as far as the rise of the saddle against his arse allowed, gritting his teeth as Katie followed suit and kept her body nicely snugged back against him. Dwyn and the goddesses werena fighting fair at all. Sendin’ a woman as friendly as one of the stable pups and twice as bonny.
“I didn’t mean…” Katie squeezed his arm again with one hand and waved away a cloud of mosquitos with the other. “What I meant was…” She jerked with a loud blowing cough—sort of a snorting sound. The kind of noise Dubh made when he’d sucked something up his nose.
“I think I just inhaled a herd of mosquitos.” She spit and huffed, lurching from side to side and smacked the back of her head against his chin in the process. Hard.
Eyes watering, Ramsay clenched his teeth tighter and remained silent. This was punishment for his thoughts. Had t’be. Neither the goddesses nor Dwyn tolerated any protector goin’ against their divine wills and there’d not been a protector sworn t’be solitary since the time of the Picts. ’Twas unnatural, Dwyn had told him. MacDara men were no’ made t’live alone. They needed t’love and be loved.
“So sorry!” Katie wheezed out before another fit of coughing.
“No harm, lass,” he forced out from between gritted teeth.
As Dubh made his way up another slight rise in the path, Mistress Katie’s bottom cozied back and shifted up and down with a rhythmic seductive rub that would make a priest weep and curse his vows of celibacy. Ramsay swallowed hard and did his best t’think of anything—something—that would wilt the bone out of his willy. A subtle breeze hit his face and he could almost hear Dwyn’s laughter in the wind.
Yer a wicked bastard, ye are, Dwyn.But torture or no’, this particular plan they’d set in motion was ne’er goin’ t’work—no matter how temptin’ the bait.
Katie lurched with another violent sneeze and whacked the back of her head against his chin again. “Oh crap! I’m so, so sorry. I hit you again. Are you okay?” She twisted hard in the saddle, attempting to face him and nearly unseated them both. Dutiful Dubh sensed the disturbance and came to a dead stop in the middle of the trail.
Hell’s fire and demon balls.“Lass! Ye must sit still, aye?” Ramsay slid to the ground, wrapped the reins around one hand, and moved to the front of the horse. ’Twas painfully obvious he’d be much better off walking—for a number of reasons. He adjusted the drape of his kilt over his stiff cock then grazed the back of his hand across his still smarting chin.
He stole a glance back at the lass. Her fine silky hair shone nearly as white as airborne fluffs of spent milkweed floating in a moonlit breeze. Ramsay blinked hard, doing his damnedest not to dwell overly long on the more than pleasing view of her delicate curves in her thin T-shirt and fine long legs draped down Dubh’s sides. Tall and lithe, she reminded him of the pictures of elven queens in his little sister Esme’s book of mythology and legends.
He cleared his throat and jerked his head in the direction they were headed. “I’ll walk. Hold tight to the saddle, aye? I’ll have ye there in no time. Then ye can get some food and rest.”
“Sorry.” Katie resituated herself atop the horse, planting both hands firmly on the front of the saddle. She leaned forward and raised her voice as though sensing he was doin’ his damnedest to ignore her. “Really. I didn’t mean to whack you in the chin. Either time. So, I guess you could say—I’m double sorry.”
