Highlander's Faerie (Highlander Heat #5)

“We’re almost there.” He withdrew his sword and slashed the thick vegetation blocking the path then stepped through into a beam of sunshine.

She stumbled after him and gasped. Water rushed over a stone ledge, streamed around thick boulders and flowed into a river completely concealed and surrounded by towering trees. “What a beautiful waterfall.”

“’Tis one that hides the entrance to my sacred cavern.”

“I can’t believe you actually brought me here.”

“Destiny ensured ’twas so.” He glanced skyward where thick gray clouds rolled in and blocked out the sun. “It looks like a storm is about to roll in. We need to hurry.”

Birds twittered from their nests high above as he guided her toward the waterfall then jumped from boulder to boulder and onto the stone ledge. She followed in his tracks.

“This way.” Between two cracks in the rock, slick with the water’s spray, he squeezed through.

“I’m coming.” She eased through the gap then scampered down the precariously wet tunnel carved of stone. “Thank you for sharing this place with me.”

“You and I are bound, Katherine, in a way I dinnae understand. ’Tis best if there are no secrets between us.” He leaped from the edge of the passageway and landed with a soft thump onto the grainy white sand three feet below. Arms extended, he nodded. “Jump.”

She sprang into his arms and he swung her down beside him. Water lapped onto a small curved beach surrounded by black rocks glistening from the hot pool’s rising steam. So beautiful.

“Do you see that vent?” He pointed upward at the craggy ceiling where a trickle of light beamed through a tiny cavity and washed over the pool’s glassy, darkened surface.

“Yes. Is that the vent that leads out over the cliffs?”

“Aye, the very one, although ’tis too small to climb through.”

“It’s a wonder you ever found this place.” She brushed gritty sand from her teal skirts and a stringy cobweb from her arm. “How often do you come?” It would be a crime not to enjoy the seclusion and beauty this place offered.

“There’s rarely time when my duties to my clan come first.” He removed his sword belt, propped it against a rock and divested himself of his wrist daggers. His dark brown hair wisped with golden ends swept his shoulders as he crouched at the water’s edge and swirled a hand through. Waves rippled across the stillness.

“Sometimes one has to make time.” Grinning, she unlaced her gown’s front stays, wriggled her hips and allowed the fine velvet to slither to the ground. She picked it up, laid it overtop one of the boulders at the rear of the cave and rolled her sark’s sleeves to her elbow.

“You shouldnae undress afore me in such a way.” John stared at her, a hunger in his eyes that made her catch her breath, a look that she secretly loved.

“Sorry, but I don’t see a dressing screen here.” She dipped her toes into the water then waded in. Her ankle-length white linen shift tangled around her legs as she lowered to her chest. “In the future, women wear swimsuits, not a sark to swim in.”

“And what is a swimsuit?” He perched on a rock and tugged off his boots.

“It’s a small suit of clothing one wears in the water that allows fluid movement.” She lifted her sark’s hem over her head and tossed it onto the sand where it hit with a resounding slap.

John’s hands stilled on the fastening of his white tunic’s ties. He lifted his gaze and ogled the mop of wet linen on the sand. “You unclothed yourself?”

“I’m wearing the equivalent of a two-piece swimsuit underneath. My bra and panties will do as a bikini. A girl can’t give up all her favorite pieces of clothing when she travels to the past. Anyway, it’s dark and I’m underneath the water. Just strip off and hop in.”

“You tempt me beyond my endurance.” He shucked his tunic, leaving his black leather pants on as he strode toward her. His wide chest held a smattering of hair, the same dark shade as his head. Thick biceps bulged as he dove in, his entire body sculpted from hours of rigorous training. Underneath the water, he appeared as a murky shadow until he emerged in a spray of water, a mere breath before her. “Aye, ’tis dark enough. I see naught.”

“Trust me. You’ve nothing to fear from my underwear. Let me show you.” She caught his hands, slid them around her waist. “A bra has two pieces of fabric which cover a woman’s breasts and—”

“Oh hell.” He stretched his hands and spanned her bare skin more fully. “Your belly is exposed.”

“And my legs.” She eased his hands down her sides, over the thin silk edges of her panties and along her outer thighs. “But everything important is covered.”

“’Tis becoming far too difficult to keep my hands off you.” Husky words that made her shiver with need, and for the life of her, she couldn’t push him away.

Instead, she rested her cheek on his chest and allowed the heavy beat of his heart to soothe her. For some reason, his life force did. “John, I—”