Stuff Your Stocking- The Legend of the Mistletoe Part II

Welcome back for day two of the Stuff Your Stocking Blog Hop. I hope you enjoyed the first installment of my story. Here's the second one. 

The Legend of the Mistletoe Part II

Paige stared at him stunned by his audacity. Did he really think she would permit him to claim a kiss? When she finally recovered from the shock of his bold assumption she realized he’d used her momentary bewilderment to close the distance between them. Though he refrained from actually touching her. “You don’t think I’d actually allow you to kiss me, do you?” she asked trying to ignore the way her heart had sped up with his proximity.

Lachlan laughed. “Tis my right, lass, to claim such a boon.”

“You’re obviously daft if you believe that.” She started to turn and begin walking back to the house. It was of a certainty now that she’d find no peace in her normal refuge. Not with him invading it. She was pulled up short by a hand on her elbow. “I’ll thank ya kindly to release yer hold on my person, sir!” She almost groaned aloud when she heard the gently brogue entering her voice. It had taken her a long time to learn not to let it show.

He pulled her back so her back was almost flush against his chest. “Mmm…I was wonderin’ where that lovely lilt had gone to. Glad to see these English couldn’t strip it out of you completely.”

She shivered when he leaned in and nuzzled her cheek with his hair roughened jaw. She needed to get away from him. His hold on her senses since he’d walked into the drawing room the night before smelling of wind, rain and Scottish heather threatened to overwhelm her. “Let go of me. I need to return to the house. Jadyn, Tory and Elaina will be looking for me to join in the game of charades they had planned for this evening.” She hadn’t really agreed to play the game, but she’d use any excuse she could to get away from the turbulent emotions he sparked within her.

He ignored her request and curled his free hand against her hip while sliding the one holding her arm up to push the deep collar of her cloak out of the way, exposing her neck. “Do ye know the legend of the mistletoe, Sprite?” He stroked a fingertip over the sensitive skin he’d uncovered sending a wave of heat racing through her.

Paige tried to calm her frazzled nerves at the light touch of his finger. She swallowed hard and said, “No.” Her eyes closed tight when the word came out more breathlessly than she’d intended.

Lachlan trailed his fingers along the edge of her jaw teasing her with the gentle caress. “Tis said that twas the love the Goddess Frigga held for her son, Balder that gave the wee plant its distinctive white berries and her blessing that anyone who stands beneath it would never be harmed…” He pulled the fabric of her cloak down. “…and would be entitled to a kiss.” He pressed his warm lips to her shoulder.

Paige wished she’d decided to don a different gown this morning. The one she wore had a deep neckline that barely draped her shoulders. One of which was now being nipped and tasted by the one man who held the power to hurt her fragile heart if she weren’t careful. The only problem was even as her head cried for her to run as fast and as far away as she could her heart cried out just as loud for her to revel in the sensations he was creating inside her. She struggled to find her voice through the fog of desire being spun around her and failed. All she could utter was a tiny moan as he trailed his lips toward the curve where her neck and shoulder met.

“The legend says that Balder dreamt of his death. It weighed on his mind enough that he told his mother of the dream.” He scattered tiny kisses up the column of her neck.

Paige jumped when she felt his tongue trace the shell of her ear. She tried to pull away, but he slipped his other arm around her waist.

He nuzzled her neck scrapping her delicate skin with the dusting of whiskers on his jaw. “Fearing not only for the life of her son but for all life on Earth because he was the God of the Summer Sun, Frigga appealed to every creature in the air, water, fire and earth to promise they would never harm her son. She was promised his safety be every animal and plant under and above the Earth.” He sucked her earlobe into his mouth swirling his tongue around it then bit gently before releasing it.

Paige moaned her breath coming in tiny gasps she couldn’t help but emit. The hand he rested on her stomach rubbed circles over it. The heat of his touch was all around her scorching her skin through multiple layers of fabric they might not have existed. “Please…” She whispered. Though what exactly she was asking for she couldn’t have said she was so caught up in the sensual web of desire he was weaving around them within the shelter of the oak trees they stood beneath.

Lachlan turned her in his arms and took her face in his hands. “Only Loki, who was an enemy of Balder, was aware of one plant that Frigga overlooked. It grew on apple and oak trees and was known as Mistletoe. He took a sprig of this plant and placed it at the tip of an arrow then beguiled Hoder, Balder’s blind brother the God of Winter, and made him shoot the arrow at Balder. Balder died immediately. For three days every creature tried to bring him back to life, but he was only revived by Frigga with the help of the mistletoe.”

Paige watched as his eyes followed the path of his finger as he traced her lips.

“Frigga’s tears on the plant became pearly white berries and she blessed it such that anyone who stands under it would never be harmed,” he finally glanced up and met her gaze, “and would be entitled to a kiss as a token of love.”

Before she could utter a protest he claimed her lips. 

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I'll post the end of the story tomorrow so be sure to check back again. And don't forget to comment for your chance to win my romantic bondage tale, Branded Hearts. 

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I hope to see you back again tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Until we meet again where passion breathes...

Shay