She groaned and left Cearnach to finish washing by himself, grabbed a towel from a rack, and wrapped herself in it. There was no going back. One little near car collision had changed her life. No—the first time she’d met Cearnach, she’d felt the intrigue, the desire, the need. He had been like a dark wolf angel when she first met him, although she was not sure of his intentions. Yet deep down she had known he was the kind of man she needed in her life.

Looking like a man with a mission, his brown eyes nearly as black as coal, Cearnach exited the shower stall, water dripping all over his skin. He retrieved his towel off the counter and wrapped it around his waist, his gaze fixed on hers. “I believe we have rather a situation here.”

“Situation,” Elaine said, leaning back against the counter, holding her towel closed, and observing the intense look on Cearnach’s face.

“Aye.” He was studying her, watching her expression closely, which meant he was coming to some sort of conclusion that he was worried she wouldn’t like, she thought. “I believe Flynn wants me to stick close to you. For whatever reason.”

“Ha!” she said. “I’ve never heard of anything so crazy in my life. Your dead cousin is trying to matchmake from the grave?”

Cearnach smiled a little at her words and shrugged. “Maybe. I can’t think of anything else. When he’s bothered the other lasses and they bring it to Ian’s attention, Ian threatens to exorcise him. It always works. Flynn lies low for days, weeks, months even. Sometimes he goes somewhere else to dally with the lasses. He’s never continued to pester the same woman right after we’ve taken him to task for it. Certainly not twice in a night, and then bright and early the next morning. Not like this.”

“What if he’s doing so because he wants you to leave me alone since I’m kin to your enemy? Maybe he’s really concerned for you and wants to chase me off.”

“Then what he’s pulling is having the opposite effect.” Cearnach drew close to Elaine, his hands cupping her face, his eyes taking on a heated look. “He’s smart enough to know it. Sleeping with you in bed, sharing a shower but not being able to touch you like I’d like, none of these things are conducive to my leaving you alone. You do realize when I’m with you, he doesn’t bother you?”

“I wonder…” She looked up at Cearnach, her eyes still bleary with tears from the darned soap.

“Aye?”

“Would he have bothered me if I had used your bathroom while I showered?”

“It’s hard to say. If he hadn’t unsettled you in there, it could have been that he was off haunting someone else for a time, and so we wouldn’t know the truth of the matter.”

She observed Cearnach, willing him to tell her the truth. “Do you honestly believe if I had stayed in your bathroom, he wouldn’t have touched me?”

Cearnach shook his head. “I don’t know, lass. I suspect he might have pulled the same thing, attempting to push me into going to you.”

She touched Cearnach’s chest with her fingertips, looking at the way his nipples were already hard little pebbles. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you… really did put him up to it.”

He chuckled. “Conspiring with a ghost to catch a lady’s attention? Like I’d need encouragement when it comes to you.”

Yet, the ghost had pushed them together, if she was going to allow that’s what had plagued her in bed and in the shower. Not that either she or Cearnach had much control over the way their pheromones jump-started every time they drew close to each other. That was the problem with being a wolf-shifter. They could smell the interest from another wolf, and if they felt the same way, that special intriguing scent kicked their own into high gear.

Right now, they were in a race to reach the finish line, only they were both slamming on the brakes because reaching that line meant a mating for life.

She kissed his mouth lightly, just a very sweet, innocent peck on the lips, but she knew he wasn’t satisfied with that. Not that she was, either. He smiled just a hint, watching her expression, waiting for her to do more than just give him such a barely there kiss, waiting for her to take this up another notch. He was not pressuring her too much—not kissing her back, not encouraging her—as if he knew that once he got started kissing, they’d end up in bed together.

For one rare moment, she wanted to toss away her cautious behavior. She’d already made up her mind that she needed and wanted him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, not sweetly or innocently, but like she was a she-wolf starved for affection, and he was the male she had chosen for her mate.

Because he was. For the first time ever, despite having thought she’d found her mate several times over, only to have them vanish before a mating could occur, she knew that Cearnach would always be there for her. That she felt something deeper, more primal for him than she’d ever felt for any other wolf. Cearnach was hers.

Cearnach growled in response, sampling her mouth, tasting, smiling as she nipped his lips, loving that she’d finally made the decision to take this further. Cearnach had realized when Elaine screamed in the shower that his ghostly cousin was attempting to get Elaine and him together. Again.

At first, he hadn’t been certain. This time, he was. Her towel was slipping, her eyes closed as he pressed his tongue between her lips, enjoying the way she slid her tongue over his in a mating dance. He was ready to explode, listening to her heart beating so fast, smelling her lavender and she-wolf fragrance, recognized that as delicious as she smelled, she was already wet for him.

Instead of removing their towels, he slid his hand between the opening of hers, found her soft, moist feminine folds and began to caress. Her low moan against his mouth turned him on all the more. He dipped his fingers deep inside of her and felt how wet and receptive she was for him. She dug her fingers into his arms, holding on for dear life so she wouldn’t collapse.

She panted and softly groaned, pressing herself against his questing fingers. She was like a flower blossoming to his touch. Except for the growls. Those were wolfishly endearing.

He wanted to carry her to the bed, yet he was afraid that if he did, he’d want to take this so much further than she might be ready for.

Instead, he listened to the way her breathing hitched, felt the way she moved against his fingers, arching her pelvis, and sensed she was near the peak of climax when it hit her. He loved the way she buried her mouth against his throat, trying to stifle the rough cry of his name as she came.

“Oh, yes,” she groaned, then reached down to touch him.

He kissed the top of her head and withdrew his fingers. “Let’s get something to eat. Downstairs,” he clarified, not wanting to push this to a conclusion before she was willing.

Her eyes were glazed as she yanked off his towel, her voice dark and commanding. “Your bed or mine? We finish this, Cearnach.” She smiled a little, her expression determined, yet playful.

“Finish,” he said, his hands caressing her shoulders, so soft and silky, as he studied her gaze.

She wrapped her arms around his waist in a loving embrace and placed her head against his chest. She said in whispered words, “You should never have let me get away the first time.”

“Oh, aye, lass. Of that I am well aware. I can’t tell you how much I regretted losing you the first time.” He tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes. “You don’t feel pressured, do you? Either by my mother or Flynn? Or… by me?”

She gave a little laugh. “Hardly.” Then her expression changed to something more serious, her brow slightly furrowed. “I don’t want you to get away from me, either. Every time I declare I want to mate with a wolf, he agrees, but before we consummate the relationship, he disappears.”

“You’re mine, Elaine, and I’m not going anywhere.” He lifted her towel-clad body into his arms and kissed her forehead as she sighed, then carried her to the guest bed, though he wanted to claim her on his own mattress.

Chapter 16

Something felt off for Cearnach about mating with her here in the guest chamber. Like she was still just a guest, when he wanted her in his room, his bed, his.

But he didn’t want to carry her across the hall to his chamber and risk running into anyone, either. He reminded himself he’d mate with her there later, many times over, to make it right.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Elaine asked as she observed him. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

He heard the pain in her words, that maybe she believed he was already thinking of abandoning the idea and didn’t want to prolong the inevitable.

He smiled and was sure that he looked as wolfishly predatory as he felt. “We’re not delaying this.” He peeled off her towel and tossed it to the floor. Then he slowly climbed over her, deliberately rubbing his chest and arousal and legs over her soft, bare skin, leaving his scent on her, claiming her in a not-so-subtle wolf way.

She knew exactly what he was doing, and her smile showed just what it meant to her as he lay next to her on his side. His gaze locked on hers as his fingers teased one of her rigid nipples, circling it and touching it. She lifted her fingers to caress his chest.

His skin sizzled everywhere she trailed her fingers, making his erection jump with need.

Unable to enjoy just the feel and look of her sweet body, he leaned in to kiss her, showing her every ounce of passion he possessed—the primal need and craving to make her his mate before one more male looked at her as though she was available.

He pressed his tongue into her mouth, leaning his body against hers, parting her legs with one knee, and straddling her, his arousal thick and rigid. He wanted more than anything to lay claim to her. Now. Forever.

He slid his fingers into her soft, wet heat, feeling the warm slickness from her climax. She moaned, bucking against him, her body arching as if she was pushing him to finish this.

His blood ran hot as every muscle flexed with need. His mouth caressed her collarbone. She shivered as he touched her, explored her, and enjoyed her soft skin, her exquisite fragrance tantalizing him.