Lacybourne Manor (Ghosts and Reincarnation #3)(100)
Author: Kristen Ashley

Putting it that way, she had to admit, it sounded rather silly.

She decided she better stop talking.

He sighed an enormously patient sigh before saying, “I promise I won’t hurt them…” She began to smile, “unduly.” Her smile turned to a frown.

“You frighten me when you’re like this,” she told him and his face shifted but he did not relent.

“I’m trying to make it so you’ll never be frightened again,” Colin explained.

“But –”

He cut her off to inform her, “I’m going to do this, Sibyl, whether you like it or not, so I suggest you accept it because it’s going to happen.”

She blinked at his words and his tone then muttered, “You’re ruthless.”

At her comment, he leaned closer and his hands slid over her bottom and then suddenly down to grasp the backs of her thighs, lifting her up. She gave a shocked gasp and had to clamp her thighs around his h*ps and hastily grab his shoulders for support as he carried her to the desk.

“Yes,” he agreed amiably, all his mood gone, “I am.”

He settled her bottom on the desk and Bran scattered. Colin kept himself determinedly positioned between her legs as he tilted her chin up with one hand and his other hand drew lazy circle on the top of her thigh.

“Now, what shall I do about your morning mood?” he asked conversationally, gently rubbing his thumb across her lower lip.

“I take it we’re done talking,” she guessed.

“Oh, we’re definitely done talking,” he stated, his voice sexy low and she knew what that meant and she also knew, acutely how it made her belly feel.

“My family –” she started to say but his lips took hers in a slow, soft, mind-numbing kiss.

When he was done, against her lips he murmured, “For a daughter born of Mags, you’re amazingly prissy.”

Her eyes flared. “I am not prissy.”

“Prove it,” he dared on a whisper.

“You aren’t going to goad me into –”

He moved into her and she was forced to lean back, resting her hands behind her on his desk as his hands slid inside the t-shirt and up the skin of her back, sending shivers through her against her will and he quieted her by kissing her. This was not soft or slow but hard and demanding and she couldn’t help but respond.

So she did.

Many minutes later, her breath coming fast, her hands buried in his hair, his lips at her neck, her body throbbing, his hands spread her legs further apart and his fingers expertly delved inside her panties.

Her head rolled back.

And there was a knock on the door.

Her head snapped up.

“Breakfast in five minutes,” Scarlett called jovially through the door.

Sibyl made a trapped noise that, mid-way out of her throat, changed to a loud moan as Colin’s finger slid inside her just as his thumb hit her in a very good spot.

“Colin,” she whispered, caught between mortification and desire, his head came up and he looked at her.

“Hurry up, darling, breakfast is nearly ready.” He grinned wickedly but his eyes were dark and his voice was husky.

“Aren’t you going to –?”

“I’m going to watch.”

“But –”

“I like to watch. You’re beautiful always but you’re f**king breathtaking when you come.”

She couldn’t help it, she melted at his words and his thumb, still at the right spot, starting pressing and rolling in circles as his finger inside moved out and was joined, delightfully when it returned, with another one. At their skilful manoeuvring, the throbs turned to jolts and she bucked against his hand as the incredible heat shot through her.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” he encouraged when he knew she was close, his deep voice beyond husky straight to throaty, the sound of it undid her, her neck arched back again, she pulled in a ragged breath and let go.

Still in the throes of her resplendent cl**ax, he slid her off the desk and sat in his chair, pulling her into his lap so her legs were over the arm of the chair. Then with his hand cupping the back of her head, Colin buried her face in his neck and she clutched his shoulders as he held her trembling body and stroked the soft skin at the side of her breast with the other.

“You’re ruthless,” Sibyl whispered again when she had the strength to speak and anyone could tell she didn’t really care.

“Yes,” Colin agreed roughly, “I am.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sibyl Bares Her Soul

After breakfast, they all went to the hospital to visit Mrs. Byrne. They met her exhausted from her all night drive daughter, Angie, who shrugged off her fatigue at meeting the entirety of the legendary Godwin clan and the fabled Mr. Colin Morgan, the vision of the dead warrior, Royce.

They were all delighted to hear that Mrs. Byrne was to be released that afternoon. She had a concussion but was told she was fine to go home if she rested, took it easy and had someone to watch over her.

Sibyl thought she looked far better and much more herself than the night before. Scarlett read her chart and agreed, promising to stop in and check on her that evening and the next morning before going to Heathrow.

Marian asked to talk to Sibyl privately and allowed (because she was given no choice) Colin to sit in on their discussion.

When they were alone, Marian wasted no time and began her recitation of the “dark soul”, the name given by Esmeralda Crane to the unknown and never discovered murderer of Royce and Beatrice. Marian spoke of unconsummated true love, the power of consummation (which was the only comment she uttered that made Colin grin), protection spells and other powerful binding magic.

Marian told them that just their being together put them in danger. That the dark soul could not countenance their relationship and certainly not their happiness and would stop at nothing, even murder, to drive them apart.

She spoke of how the line of Crane Witches had known that the dark soul would follow Royce and Beatrice’s line and eventually threaten the reincarnated lovers once they found each other again. She was adamant that this was the person who nearly ran over them with the car outside the restaurant, shot Mallory, vandalised Sibyl’s cottage and attacked the three of them the night before.

She did not know who it was but Marian felt them and knew they were there.

The only way to break the curse was to consummate true love and, if Sibyl and Colin didn’t do it, then there would be two lovers down their line to whom this task would fall. It was fate, it was destiny and their story would be told again and again until the curse was lifted.