Caribbean Scot Read online

  He nodded but said naught more, which was unusual given the man’s propensity for chatter.

  Their knees knocked in her efforts to settle into the seat, but a person didn’t just sit in a chair such as this one. She curled into the massive space, pulling her legs close to her chest. ’Twas soft and smelled of flowers.

  Reid stared at her, doing little more than breathing and flipping the coin back and forth across his knuckles. She might have been intimidated by his intense silver gaze a month past, but not this night. This night she wanted his eyes on her. She wanted to feel the rush of giddiness that accompanied his attention.

  He set the smoking stick between his lips and sucked on it until the tip turned bright orange. He blinked, but his gaze never left her. He exhaled ribbons of smoke and licked his sensual lips.

  Aroused by his actions, she swallowed and squirmed. Her nipples tightened, as if in preparation. Robbie resisted the urge to lunge atop him and harrumphed mentally, hugging her knees tighter. She made a poor seductress. She didn’t know if she should ask him to lead the clan before or after…and there would definitely be an after. The thought had her brimming with delirious excitement. But she had no patience for love-play. A flaw, no doubt ingrained in her as a result of Eoin’s hasty couplings.

  Reid’s tightened scowl seemed to lessen with each draw he took on his smoking stick.

  “May I try that?”

  His dark brows slashed, but he passed it to her without debate.

  After studying it, she tasted the end wet with his saliva. ’Twas a contradictory flavor—bitter and sweet. Mimicking his actions, she drew on it, pulling searing heat into her mouth. Heavy smoke set her into a coughing fit.

  “’Tis a man’s sport.” He sat forward, reaching out, but she stilled him, determined to try again. This time the smoke curled over her tongue like an invisible liquid. ’Twas bold, stimulating, yet somehow soothing. She blew out and repeated the process three, mayhap four more times.

  His chuckle seemed misplaced, much like her girlish giggles.

  “Am I doing it wrong?”

  He shook his head, his charming crooked grin remained in place. “I’ve sat here many a nights picturing you in that chair. I imagined you brushing your hair, studying a book, eating fruit, but never did I picture you smoking a cigar.”

  “Then I disappoint ye?” Her lips pursed into a pout.

  “Nay,” he breathed, his tone husky, silken…controlled. He eased back and set the coin atop the side table. He checked the empty bowl, frowned, then looked to the rafters before tossing her a side-long glance. “Think ye I can have my cigar back?”

  The man’s steel constraint irritated her. She wanted him to lose control the way he had on the ship. Thinking of his fingers stroking her sex to climax caused moisture to gather between her legs. Her bare mons tingled in anticipation, an icy hot sensation that made her shiver.

  He held out his hand, waiting, but instead of simply handing him the cigar, she crawled out of her chair and stepped before him. “We can share.” She leaned forward, steadying herself with a hand on his shoulder, and then she straddled one thigh. Her knees sank into the cushion of his chair and her aching womanhood settled atop his hard muscles. Brazenly, she ground her pelvis against him, silently telling him his control was unwanted.

  He inhaled a sharp breath. His muscles flexed. His fingertips gripped the arms of the chair, denting the cushion. She didn’t have to seduce him. She could tell by his pained expression he wanted her, but did he want her bad enough to give up this life in paradise?

  She drew on the cigar, pulling smoke into the hollow of her mouth, then she parted her lips and gently blew the silky smoke into his mouth. Their lips brushed. She held his gaze, waiting for him to kiss her, but he did not.

  His slate-gray eyes turned fierce.

  He snatched the cigar from her hand and snuffed it out on a glass tray atop the side table. His fingers tangled into her bound hair and yanked her head back. “Your moods are maddening.”

  Oh, aye, she agreed silently. When she was with him, her emotions normally battled, but not this night. “I left my temper back at the village. You’d do well to take advantage of my high spirits.” She rocked atop him, knowing what she wanted, what they both wanted. Fire rippled through her core and burned too close to her greedy womanhood. Perspiration broke out between her breasts, and her nipples painfully poked against the rigid corset.

  Seduction be damned. She needed release. She pulled against the hold he held on her hair, enjoying the pain a little more than she would ever admit. His grip lessened, giving her the freedom she needed to kiss his neck. While dining on his salty skin, her fingers snuck down his sculpted abdomen, pausing briefly to notice the skin beneath his navel was as smooth as his shaven jaw. “Do the Mopán men shave themselves the same as the women?”

  He only nodded, his breathing loud, gravelly. His stomach quivered as she untied the laces of his breeks. Then without dalliance, she slipped her hand inside and stroked his rigid erection—his long, thick, hard erection. Remembering what he’d said about his Mopán name, she sat back and wrapped her hand around his girth—her fingertips didn’t come close to touching. Roughly, she pulled him further out of his breeks, eager to see him fully. “Holy Loki! Ye are hung like a bluidy stallion.” Ack! Did she say that aloud?

  He moaned and shook. The knot in his throat bobbed up and down. Sweat now poured down his neck and trickled between the muscular grooves of his chest, but he didn’t respond to her compliment. S’truth, he hadn’t said anything for quite some time. Mayhap he couldn’t.

  “Reid,” she half-spoke, half-whispered his name to gain his attention. His eyes blinked open, near black with desire. She donned a seductive smile meant to break the last of his resistance. “Do ye tend yourself the same as the Mopán men?” she asked innocently, but gave him no time to respond before she curled her hand deeper into his breeks. No nest of wiry hair hindered her perusal. When she palmed his heavy sac, she found it as silky smooth as his cock. She rolled his bollocks, enjoying the power she exuded over him.

  He cried out, the sound harsh, pained, loud.

  The bird she’d forgotten about in the corner squawked, then flew out an open window.

  “Robbie,” his voice cracked. “I’ve not been with a woman in a verra long time.” His confession pleased her, though it obviously caused him a great deal of agony. Thick veins whelped out of his neck and arms, and she was certain he would tear the material from the cushioned chair.

  Oh, he was close. She leaned in to his ear and nibbled on the lobe. If she whispered the words she wanted to say, mayhap they wouldn’t sound so audacious. “Yet ye make no advances to take your ease.” She rubbed her mons against his thigh and stroked his cock. “I’m wet.” She stroked him, again. “I’m willing.” The pads of two fingers rubbed the bulbous head of his cock, smearing his seed around the silky smooth skin. “And I want ye buried inside me.”

  “God’s legions, woman. Why did you come here?” He grabbed her wrist and squeezed until she released him.

  His question baffled her. The man couldn’t possibly be that daft. She stood, pulled her gown over her head and discarded it to the floor. Fighting the corset was a moot point as she had every intention of hiding her small breasts for as long as there was breath in her lungs. She crawled into the chair with him and positioned a knee on either side of his hips. “I should think it is obvious.” Holding the hem of her skirt, she slid her aching mons over the side of his manhood.

  Oh, it felt good. The veins in his cock were just rigid enough to tickle her sensitive nub.

  He squeezed her duff hard enough to still her movements. “Think ye I traveled all the way to Scotland because I wanted you to ease my needs? I want to make love to you. I want our every kiss to mean something. I want you for forever, Robbie. Not just this night.”

  She tried to absorb his words, but the burning in her mons begged to be doused. Clinging to his shoulders, she wiggled in his grasp eno
ugh to inch herself over his arousal, then the head of his cock slipped between her throbbing nether lips. The muscles inside her flexed and squeezed, but he hadn’t given her nearly enough.

  “I want you to be my woman, my wife.” He loosened his hold enough for her to bounce—once, twice, three times…oh, God it was perfection, but he stopped her before she could take even half of him into her tight canal. “I intend to spill my seed in your belly again and again until I plant a child in your womb.”

  Anger snuck passed her lust. “I’ll not barter with the life of my unborn child.” She started to pull off, but he held her in place.

  “But you’re willing to barter. You know what I want. Tell me what you want.”

  “I want ye to lead the clan.”

  His face fell, his mouth opened, but before words spewed forth, a thunderous rumble sounded to the right of them.

  Reid’s eyes widened. “Dinnae move.” His grip intensified, bruising her soft flesh.

  The fear painting his face scared her, but not half as much as the menacing growl escalating just feet away.

  From the corner of her eye she saw gold fur and black rosettes. “’Tis just Oscar,” she said without conviction.

  His head barely shook. “Loosen your hold. She thinks you’re hurting me,” he ordered, his words hushed, but she felt him tremble beneath her.

  Robbie retracted her fingernails from his shoulders, leaving behind eight half moons that quickly filled with crimson red. She had to look. She had to see what was there. With the slow turn of her head, she found a monstrous beast four times the size of Oscar. ’Twas more muscular, more fierce, much more threatening. It stared straight at Robbie, then it stretched its jaws wide and screamed.

  Terrified, Robbie shook. “Another of your friends?” she asked hopeful.

  “Not yet.”

  The beast slunk toward them, head dipped low, eyeing her as it approached, then it popped its forward paws onto the arm rest and growled inches from her face.

  Robbie jerked. A flash of white light stole her vision for a fraction of a second. She stopped breathing. Reid’s heart hammered against her palm. She was going to die with his cock still inside her.

  “She’s mine.” Reid reached up and protectively caressed Robbie’s cheek. He whispered words in the Mopán language in a voice meant to sooth, a voice meant for cooing babes back to sleep.

  The beast leaned closer. Its long whiskers twitched. Its tail whipped furiously side to side. Then it pushed off the chair as if deciding Robbie was worthy and slunk back toward an open doorway. It hovered over the bone Reid had collected from the mountain cow, but seemed reluctant to take the offering and leave. The final glance it gave Robbie over its shoulder was no doubt a warning, but it snatched the bone up between its powerful jaws and departed back into the jungle.

  “Holy Loki!” Robbie exclaimed. Strength depleted, she sank against Reid’s chest, which pushed his still hard cock deeper inside her.

  She felt him jerk, then his hot seed burst against the wall of her womb.

  Nay! Panic returned in a flash. She always pulled off Eoin and stroked him to completion. She didn’t want to risk a child, but ’twas too late.

  16

  ~ RUKUX ~

  “Forgive me. Oh, God, forgive me.” Reid wrapped his arms around her slender frame and begged forgiveness for inviting a lethal predator into their home. “I’ve been trying to tame her, but she’s never stepped over the threshold. What if you’d been alone? Kantico would have killed you.” He shuddered and squeezed Robbie tighter.

  “Reid.”

  “I’ll build traps.” He shook, the fear still so raw. “I’ll set nets. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

  “Reid,” Robbie shouted and pushed against his chest.

  “I’ll kill her if I must.” He held her face between his hands, forcing her attention on him. “Kantico is only one of many lethal beasts in the Yucatán. Now you know why you must practice caution. You cannae go into the jungle at night. I’ll not allow it.”

  “Hold your wheesht!” Robbie broke out of his hold, and the sudden movement caused his softening member to fall against his thigh. Robbie raced toward the door, which was the opposite reaction he expected.

  Stuffing his cock back into his breeks, he chased her into the armory where he caught her around the waist. “I’ll tie you down before I let you go out there.”

  “Blast ye!” She hit him in the chest with a furious fist. “Blast ye to Hell and back! Ye are so selfish.”

  “Robbie.” He caught her by the wrist when she attempted to strike him again.

  Her eyes were erratic as were her quick breaths. “I dinnae care about the bluidy beast. Ye preach on practicing caution, yet ye spill your seed inside me. I told ye I wouldnae barter with a child in my belly. I told ye!”

  “God’s legions!” The woman was completely adder-bitten. Kantico could be hauling her bloody corpse into the jungle and the bull-headed woman is spouting heated words about bargains. ’Twas always about the godforsaken clan.

  Furious, he grabbed the front of her corset, dragged her back into the sitting room, and shoved her into the purple chair. “Sit and hold your wheesht! You’re going to listen to me. You’re not going to seduce me or barter with my affections for you.”

  She didn’t move. She didn’t speak. She crossed her arms, which squeezed her breasts further out of her damn corset, and obeyed.

  Her unexpected submission left his mind spinning. He bore his glare into her violent green eyes and searched for a means to explain his fury. Only three simple words came to mind. They repeated over and over in his head. The only three words he wanted to say, but couldn’t.

  I love you.

  Pushing away from the chair, he damned this obsession. He needed to think, needed time to consider what she’d asked of him before Kantico interrupted them. He paced the open floor, scrubbing his eyes, battling his emotions. Of course, he was going to help the clan. He would do everything in his power to repeal the proscription, but leading the clan meant leaving the Yucatán and the people who’d become his family.

  Damn her! He hated how selfish she made him feel. He hated that he felt a stronger sense of loyalty to the Mopán people than the clan.

  “I’m waiting,” she interrupted his contemplation and snagged his pacing.

  “And you’ll continue to wait, you impatient, stubborn woman!” He swiped her garment off the floor and forcefully threw it into her lap. “Put your gown back on. Your breasts are damn distracting.”

  Defeated, he gripped fistfuls of his hair and growled deep in his throat. She stole his control and rendered him incapable of rational thoughts. “Naught is the way I’d planned,” he confessed. “I pictured your arrival being so verra different. I wanted to bring you here and watch your face as ye walked past the flowers I planted for you. I wanted our first coupling to be gentle and full of passion, not some hasty transgression based on barters. I wanted to make love to you in the chamber I built for us.” His shoulders slumped a little lower. “I dinnae even kiss you.” He felt as if he’d been beaten down and then kicked again for good measure.

  “Reid,” she whispered his name, her tone soft, sympathetic.

  He couldn’t look at her. ’Twas too hard. Instead, he stared at the fire and blathered on foolishly. “I cannae remember your day of birth or your mam’s first name. I dinnae know your preferred color, or your preferred food.” He squeezed his eyes tight, thinking he sounded much like the laddie who’d been miserably infatuated with Robbie years past.

  “Reid.” She stood behind him, her cool fingertips touched his back which worsened the pain in his chest.

  She stepped to his front and met his gaze. Her emerald eyes had softened, her delicate brows no longer pinched with bitterness. “Forgive my impatience. Mayhap we can start anew.” She gently stroked his hair with her small hand. “I was born on the ninth day of the month of August, and Mam’s name was Mary, the same as mine. I like all the colors,
but I’m growing fonder of red these days. And before ye came back, any food at all was preferred. Now, I’m partial to chocolate.” She cupped his jaw and caressed his cheek with the pad of her thumb. “We’ve much to discuss, but first, I’d like to see the rest of Rukux. There are five more towers. I’m sure to be impressed.” Her smile was a welcomed truce. “Pretend I just arrived. Pretend I am the woman ye expected me to be.”

  He kissed her palm and blew a breath of angst, once again baffled by her moods. “Though you challenge me at every turn, you’re so much more than I ever dreamed you’d be.”

  His praise glossed her eyes with wetness, but her lashes fell to conceal her emotions.

  Mayhap it was best to take advantage of her meekness. “Come. I’ve much to show you.” Taking her hand, he led her through the armory and into the garden.

  “One moment.” She tugged at his arm. “If there are other pets lurking about, I would like to prepare myself in advance for introductions.”

  He chuckled. “There are fish in the pond out back and you saw Khan, the bill bird.” He looked overhead, searching the vine-covered walls of the center tower. “Myah should be about shortly.”

  “Who, or rather what, is a Myah?”

  “She’s a spider monkey with a talent for sneaking about unnoticed. If she startles you, dinnae speak too harsh to her. She’s a wee bit sensitive.”

  “I hope Myah is more monkey than spider.”

  Reid gave her a feigned look of horror. “There are no spiders in the Yucatán.”

  Robbie rolled her eyes and donned a smirk, obviously disbelieving his lie, then her expression shifted again.

  He followed her perplexed gaze to a firebox mounted at the top of the tallest tower. “Are there others here? Manservants? Maids?”

  “Nay.”

  “Then who just lit that torch?”

  Reid pointed at a yellow flame bobbing up the vines. The beastie holding the taper was nigh invisible against the black starlit sky. “That is Myah. ’Tis her duty to alight the garden at night.”