“Aye.” He met my small smile. “And I might never let ye leave it.”
“Here’s hoping,” I murmured before he brushed his lips across mine one last time, helped me up, and readjusted my clothing before his own, seemingly impressed as he eyed me. “’Tis not a short desk. You did well getting up on it so smoothly, I hardly noticed.”
I winked and gestured at the edge of the desk. “Like I said, I like to live on the edge.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Indeed, you did for had the king’s messenger returned...”
“But he didn’t,” I said when he trailed off, rather than voice all that may have led to. “You might have been mindless with desire, but I made sure the door was locked.”
“Without even a chant or the flick of a wrist?” he exclaimed. “I’m impressed.” The corner of his mouth curled up. “Because ‘tis safe to say you were just as mindless with desire.”
So very true. “I think we can probably thank my inner dragon for helping my witchy side because I’ve never been able to do that before.”
“’Twas risky indeed, then, had it not worked.”
“I would have stopped if it hadn’t,” I swore.
“Och, lass, now you lie straight to my face.” He reeled me close again. “You meant to seduce me to get my mind off my troubles, and it worked.” Tilting my chin up, he brushed his lips across mine again, clearly wanting to pick up where we’d just left off as much as I did. “Now you’ve seduced me and wrapped me around your little finger, I would say the damage is done, so allow me to show you what I had hoped to show you hours ago.”
“I’d like that,” I murmured, surprised by how aroused I was again so fast, considering how amazing he’d already made me feel. Eyeing his desk with appreciation, I offered him a saucy smile. “Otherwise, I’ll be living on the edge again before you manage to take me anywhere.”
“Oh, I intend to keep ye living on the edge,” he said softly, intriguing me with the glint of danger in his eyes as he took my hand and led me toward what appeared to be a bookcase until his dragon eyes flared, and the shelf opened.
“These hidden doors can only be opened by MacLeod dragons,” he said, catching my thoughts as he led me into a pitch-black corridor. “There are torches, but I would rather you see things as you should have seen them all along.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant until my eyes adjusted, and I saw my surroundings in a way I never had before. My vision didn’t haze red, telling me my dragon eyes had surfaced, but brightened magnificently, allowing me to see textures in a whole new way.
“This is unreal,” I said softly in case someone could hear us through the walls on either side because we clearly walked through a secret corridor between rooms.
“Just wait.” He led me down several more corridors until we reached a spiral staircase that went up until we came to another door and stepped back into the room we had dined in earlier.
“Look at that,” I exclaimed, impressed when what I thought was nothing more than a stone wall was a door. Narrowing my eyes at it, I shook my head. “There’snoway that was there before, and I didn’t see it.”
“’Twasthere,” he assured, pulling me after him through a Stone Turned Door on the other side, “but only those of MacLeod blood can see them.” He squeezed my hand. “And mayhap even their mates once they start getting close enough.”
“Which means something beyond the obvious changed between us.”
“It does.” He opened another door at the end of that corridor and gestured that I go through before him. “But we will deal with the implications and mayhap consequences of that later.”
I knew he referred to what it might mean in regards to what we had learned tonight about me being destined for his rival and meant to say something, but the words escaped me when I stepped through the door and saw where he’d led me.
Someplace wondrous that more than suited my Live On The Edge mentality.
CHAPTER TWELVE
–Broderick–
EVERY STEP IT took to bring Aspen up to my private chambers felt like a lifetime because I wanted her there so much. Not just because I wanted to bury myself in her again and feel the intense pleasure she brought me but because I wanted her to be in a space that had been all mine until now. That had been my dragon’s and would now be hers if it were the last thing I did.
Before I resumed fuming over the supposed pact with the Sutherlands, I pushed it to the back of my mind because I wanted to enjoy this moment with her. Or at least I hoped this was a moment to enjoy, and she liked it here.
“Like?” she whispered, awed as she took everything in, from my sizeable fur-covered bed designed like a dragon flanked by torches to the considerable open-air wall with a sprawling balcony, or rock ledge as it were, overlooking the sea. Notjust any balcony, either, but one with staggered layers that went down nearly to the water.
“I absolutelylovethis,” she gushed.
Tracing her fingers over a portion of the dragon that made up my bed in passing, she drifted to the open wall and shook her head. “Don’t people see this, at least from the water? Even though it’s made of the same stone, it doesn’t look like it should be attached to a medieval castle.”
“Like the doors, ‘tis unseen by anyone but a MacLeod dragon and their mate,” I explained, in no mood to differentiate between a mate and fated mate and potentially ruin the moment because therewasa difference, and both would have the ability to see these things. “Unlike my fellow dragons, I chose not to establish a lair beyond the castle so I would always be close if my clan needed me. To that end, I had to make some mystical adjustments to suit my inner beast, as being cooped up within man-made walls doesnae suit any dragon, let alone mine.”
