Highlander's Ransom (18 page)

He kissed her urgently, pulling her close so that no space
existed between them. She met him, her arms gripping the front of his shirt and
her body melding to his, trying to communicate her frustration and confusion
with her kiss. When his tongue entered her mouth, he groaned at the sensation.
Wanting more contact, he pivoted with her and pushed her against the stone wall
of the spiral staircase. She realized that her leg had risen up the outside of
his thigh of its own volition, but she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around
his waist. One hand snaked its way to his upper back while the other went lower
to his buttocks. She felt his muscles tense and ripple beneath her grip.
Suddenly, he scooped her up, not breaking their kiss, and practically sprinted
up the remaining stairs to his chamber door. He pushed the door open with his
back and carried her in, closing the door again with his boot.

There was a frantic passion between them, both
clutching each other as they kissed. He strode over to the bed at the far side
of his chamber, and they both tumbled onto it. He propped most of his weight on
one elbow to prevent from crushing her, but his other hand was all over her. He
held the nape of her neck to secure his lips to hers, then let his hand caress
her neck and lower to the top of her breasts, which were straining against the
material of her dress. His hand went lower to fully cup one breast, his thumb
swishing back and forth, causing her to groan into his mouth. He let his hand
move over the inward curve of her waist, and the outward curve of her hip. Then
he gripped the material of her dress and pulled upward so that the gown’s hem
hitched up her legs.

He broke the contact of their lips as he reached lower
to caress her calf, and settled his mouth on the tops of her breasts. She
gasped for air as sensation flooded her body. His touches were fanning the
flames of desire, and she burned hotter than she ever had before. There was too
much sensation, wave after wave building within her, and it seemed to pool in
her breasts and between her legs. That yearning, reaching feeling was beginning
to be familiar to her, because every time they kissed or touched, it returned.
As one of his hands slowly moved up her leg, he slipped his other hand, which
he had been leaning on, underneath her back to undo her dress’s ties. She
arched her back, both pressing him tighter to her breasts and giving him more
access to the ties running down her back. Once he had loosened them enough, he
used both hands to tug on the material at her shoulders until only her chemise
covered her chest. Crouching on his heels on the bed, he continued to pull the
dress down past her hips and then her legs, until the gown was completely off
and he tossed it aside.

She propped herself up on her elbows as he did,
watching as he exposed more and more of her chemise. He was wound tight as a
spring, his muscles clenched and his eyes fervent. She could see that he was
very aroused, and appeared to fight for control. With a growl, he tore off his
shirt and threw it to where her dress lay in a crumpled pile on the floor. He
was back over her in an instant, his lips kissing her breasts through her
chemise and his hands roaming all over her body again.

She realized that her hands were doing the same. His
skin was hot under her fingertips as she gripped his neck, his shoulders, his
back. She let one of her hands move between them to trace the ridges of his
chest, then lower to his contoured stomach. At her touch, he intensified his
kiss on her breast, laving and sucking the peaked tip through the material of
her chemise. It drove her wild with need, and she tugged him up by the
shoulders so that their mouths could meet again. He gave her mouth the same
treatment, delving with his tongue and nibbling on her lower lip, while his
hand moved back to her breast. He was letting more of his weigh come on top of
her, and she felt his hard shaft pressed hotly against her thigh. She raised
one of her legs and wrapped it around him, drawing him more directly over her.
She didn’t know what was driving her or how she knew to do what she did, but
she didn’t question it, and instead let her desire guide her. Based on how
urgent and instinctual his movements were, he too appeared to act without
artifice or planning.

“I have to see you,” he mumbled through the haze of
passion. She was unsure what he meant, for they were face to face, but then he
began tugging on her chemise, trying to get the material off her shoulders. She
paused at that, suddenly feeling exposed and shy despite the fire still
coursing through her body. Sensing her hesitation, he stilled his hands and
placed a soft kiss on her lips.

“You are so beautiful, Alwin. I want to see all of
you,” he said huskily.

She relaxed a little, letting their kiss deepen once
more. Slowly, so as not to startle her again, he inched her chemise down over
her shoulders, then brushed her exposed skin with his fingertips. She shivered
at his feather-light touch, and he continued to ease the chemise lower. It
slipped over her breasts, then past her waist, her hips, and finally brushed
her feet before he tossed it aside. He inhaled sharply, causing her eyes to
snap open. His eyes roved over her exposed body, a look of raw hunger in them
she had never seen before. She felt a swelling in her chest at the look he was
giving her. She had been told she was fair, but she didn’t realize she could be
the cause of so much desire, and in such a handsome and virile man as Robert.

She looked to him for confirmation. Robert’s eyes
drank her in like a man dying of thirst. His hands and eyes roved over her
smooth, creamy skin, her breasts, and her rosy nipples, which were taut from
his touches and kisses. He smoothed his fingertips across her flat stomach,
over her flared hips, and brushed the darker curls between her legs, which were
slightly damp already. She inhaled sharply, and he gritted his teeth, not quite
stifling a groan.

“I have to have you—now,” he rasped. Without a second
thought, he ripped off his kilt and positioned himself on top of her again.

She gasped at the feel of their naked skin pressed
together, which seemed to fire both of their passions even more, but she tried
to push him back a little. She had caught a quick glimpse of his naked form
before he came back on top of her, and it caused her to hesitate again. He was
so—big. She knew only the most basic facts about what happened between a man
and a woman, and she was sure that it wouldn’t work between them. His hard
length pressed against her leg. She knew that it would never fit inside her.

That thought was like a slash of cold water over her enflamed
body. She pushed against his shoulder harder this time and wriggled under him,
trying to break the intoxicating contact. He seemed to barely register the
change in her through the haze of his own desire for a moment, but when he did,
he rolled slightly to the side and propped himself on his elbow again.

“We can’t—” she said, panic edging her voice. What
were they doing? How had they gotten so carried away? She couldn’t give her
innocence to him—not now. Didn’t she still want to get an annulment? She was
frightened by her own desire, by the way she had thrown every rational thought
aside to satisfy her body’s demands.

His eyes still burned with hunger. One of his hands
rested on her breast, and the weight of it pressing on her nipple was
distracting her even now.

“Why not, lass? We are married. We clearly want each
other,” he said.

“But…” she didn’t know what to say, but felt terrified
of going any farther. Partly, she feared her own passion. She didn’t know what
she was capable of, and didn’t understand enough about intimacy to know what
was going to happen. But she also sensed that to go farther with Robert meant
to admit the reality of her situation. She could not get an annulment, or marry
another, if they continued. She could not go home, and would not go to Raef
Warren. She feared the sense that doors were closing even as she lay here naked
with him. But a voice somewhere inside whispered to her that something was
opening with Robert as well, that she was walking through a doorway to a new
and unknown life with him.

His fingers continued to stroke her breast, and his
pale blue eyes blazed into hers. “Do you not long for release?”

She swallowed hard and nodded as his touch continued
to build a yearning inside her, a striving to relieve the sweet ache.

“There are ways that we can experience release without
you giving up your innocence,” he said, seeming to read her mind. His lips
burned a path from her ear down her neck and to her shoulder. “Let me give you
pleasure.”

After a long moment, she nodded again, unable to
overcome her body’s need with rational thought. His lips once again moved to
her breast, but this time, her chemise no longer separated them. She moaned and
arched into his mouth as he laved her nipple. His hand trailed down her stomach
and to the top of the curls between her legs, pausing for a moment. Then he
cupped her sex with his hand, pressing firmly. She felt her blood pulsing there
and writhed for more—of what she didn’t know. He ran a finger over the damp,
swollen lips, then spread them and circled the pad of his finger over that bud
of pure pleasure above her opening. She gasped and moaned again, her head
swimming with pleasure. She buried her hands in his dark hair, clawing at him,
holding his mouth in place on her breast as his fingers massaged between her
legs.

“God, you’re so hot and wet,” he whispered, his lips
brushing her nipple. He moved up to capture her mouth once again in a deep,
penetrating kiss. His other hand found her breasts and continued to tease and
caress them. He began moving his tongue along hers in the same rhythm that he
was moving his fingers across her clitoris. She groaned and sighed as the
pressure built to the breaking point. She began to move against his hand,
longing for more, trying to increase the pace. But at the same time, his
measured and unyielding rhythm was what was driving her insane with wanting.
She felt herself climbing toward something, and all she knew was that she must
reach it.

“That’s it, lass,” he whispered against her lips. His
husky voice against her mouth made her hitch even higher. He pressed against
her even more firmly, and that was enough to undo her. She felt as though she
had climbed right up to the sky and was filled with a flood of warmth and
light. Her body shook and she let out a cry of pleasure as she found her
release. She was sailing through pure ecstasy, a whole new realm of sensation
she never knew existed. He kept up his caresses even as she was spiraling back
down, causing her body to reverberate with lingering jolts of pleasure as she
gasped and drifted to earth.

“Is it always like that?” she asked breathily several
moments later. She still felt like she was in a daze. No one had ever told her
that it could be this way between a man and a woman. Of course she knew that a
man hungered after sexual pleasure, but she didn’t know a woman could too.

His chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. “It can be,
lass, with the right person.”

She looked at him then. His eyes were still ravenous
and heated, and his manhood was still pulsing rigidly against her thigh. She
reached her hand out and placed it on his erect member delicately. Her touch
was met with a sharp inhale from him.

“Can I do the same for you?” she asked, shyness mixing
with the longing to make him experience the same thing he had just made her
feel.

“Aye, lass,” he said roughly. His hand wrapped around
hers tightly and he moved it up and down his length. After only a stroke or
two, he released his hand and let his head fall back against the bed. His brow
was furrowed and his jaw clenched and unclenched, but she could tell from his
heavy breathing and occasional moan that she was giving him pleasure. He wove
one of his hands through her now-loose hair and pulled her down to lay
alongside him. Following the example he had set, she kissed the column of his
neck as her hand continued to caress his hard shaft. She nibbled his ear and
was rewarded with a heated groan and a muffled curse. She moved so that she was
halfway over him, her breasts pushed against the hard planes of his chest, and
pressed her lips to his, capturing another one of his moans in her mouth.
Sensing his urgent need, she increased her pace. He quickly cupped his hand on
top of hers and let out a groan of pleasure as he released his seed into his
hand.

She lay still with her head nestled against his neck
and listened as his heartbeat and breath gradually returned to normal. He sat
up slowly and threw his legs over the side of the bed, then sauntered over to
his desk, where a pitcher of water and wash basin sat. He wiped himself with a
rag and then splashed water over his hands. She watched his back and buttocks
as he went about it, in awe of the statue-like figure he cut. She was
hypnotized by the way his muscles moved under his faintly tanned skin, bunching
and stretching with each movement.

He turned and caught her staring, the light of desire
clear in her grey eyes. “Did I leave you so unsatisfied, lass?” he asked, a
hint of teasing in his voice. Alwin missed his tone, though, and quickly
lowered her eyes. “Oh, no, I was just—”

In two strides he was on the bed, pinning her on her
back with his large hands pressing her wrists into the mattress. “I suppose
I’ll just have to try again to please you.” A predatory glint now lit his pale
eyes. Before she could respond, his lips came down on hers. In a matter of
minutes, he had kissed, caressed, and stroked her back to the edge of release.
This time as she climbed, she knew what she was climbing toward, making the
heights that much sweeter when she reached them and spiraled back down.