Seducing the Highlander (32 page)

Meriel stretched her neck, giving him better access. “That sounds nice,” she moaned.

“Aye, nice,” he repeated.

Meriel tried to sit back and stroke his cheek. “I mean it. While I hope we will go and visit your other brothers someday, I’m glad to be home.”

Craig pulled down the collar of her gown to give him access to her shoulder. “They can come here from now on.”

“Now, that would not be fair. Besides, I want to meet Makenna. The way you describe her and your brother Colin, I cannot imagine the two together.”

Craig traced her bottom lip with his thumb, still finding it hard to believe just how happy he was. “It is hard to imagine. And yet, they are a lot like Conor and Laurel. After seeing them together, you have no doubt they are with the one person in the world who can make them happy.”

Meriel rested her head on his shoulder and smiled. Craig, the most outgoing and loquacious of all the McTiernays, was at his most romantic when he talked about his feelings using surrogates.

Craig kicked the bridle he had just tossed on the rug and a saddle sitting in the middle of the floor to give his feet some room to stretch out. “Even for me, this place is too cluttered. But you are mostly to blame for it being this bad.”

“Me?” Meriel inquired as she played with the opening of his leine.

Craig pulled her closer, enjoying the feel of her head resting on his shoulder and her fingers running through the hair on his chest. His hand moved to cup her breast and once there, drew around her nipple. “Aye,” he finally answered. “When you left me all alone, I did not seem to be in the mood to do much of anything, including tidying up the place.”

Meriel slid her hand farther inside his shirt, enjoying the feel of his muscles moving. She would never get enough of touching him. “I heard you yelled a lot.”

“I might have raised my voice a little. But I am sure it was warranted.”

Meriel sat up and they locked gazes. There were touches of humor around his mouth and already the beginning of wrinkles near his eyes. His face held a wealth of inherent strength, but now a vulnerability lay there too. This man truly loved her and needed her.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she urged his mouth down to hers. “You can clean up your things later.”

“Why not now?” he teased.

She hardly needed to answer, for she could feel the evidence of his distraction hard against her thigh, and it only added to her own growing need. “Because,” she whispered, tracing the strong line of his jaw with two fingers as she rocked her hips against him once, then twice, smiling as it produced a moan, “I fully intend to remind you of why marriage is oh, so good a thing.”

Needing no further encouragement, Craig rose from the chair in one quick movement and gathered her into his arms. In a few quick steps, they were in the bedroom.

Placing her bare toes on the floor, his hands began to unfasten her gown, and in one swift motion it fell to the floor, leaving only her chemise. The candlelight cast a warm glow over her, and once again he was awestruck that she was really his. “You’re beautiful.”

She loved the way he stared at her, the passion and desire flaming in the depths of his eyes. “And you’re absolutely smitten with me.”

The love in her eyes was bright and clear, and he knew it would last him his whole life. “I’m beyond smitten,” he said, yanking her close. “I’m bewitched, and I pray never to be cured.”

His fingers curled around her ribcage and his thumbs began to massage her nipples into hard peaks through the fabric. Needing to see and touch her soft skin, he eased the sleeves down her shoulders and let the undergarment pool about her waist. Lovingly his gaze swept over her face before finding the last bow securing her chemise and with one tug broke it free.

Meriel looked up at him, feeling no awkwardness for her lack of clothing. She had nothing to hide from this man. Craig quickly threw off his leine and he stepped back, allowing her eyes to caress his body with their loving gaze. Her desire was evident when she glanced over his straining manhood.

Tipping her chin up with his fingertips, Craig kissed her with a hungry urgency, and Meriel felt herself respond with a kind of abandon that came from being totally in love. His mouth was hot and ravenous and she let herself sink into it, into his body, into his warmth.

She wanted him. God, she wanted him. She wanted him naked and inside her. But tonight she also wanted something else. Meriel pulled back just far enough to give him a push that needed no encouragement. Craig fell backward onto the bed, bringing her with him. But when his arms came around her, strong and purposeful, Meriel resisted, shaking her head. “Tonight it’s my turn.”

Craig looked at her in confusion for a moment, but he lost the thought once she bent her head to give him a lingering soft kiss on the mouth, then on his half-closed eyelids, beneath his ear, followed by his hard jawline. Little by little, she trailed a path downward, down his neck to his chest. Her mouth moved to his flat nipple and he gasped at the sharp pleasure as it surged all the way through him. Needing to taste her, kiss her, press her down fully upon him, he reached for her, but again she resisted.

Taking both of his hands in hers, Meriel put them deliberately at his sides. On their wedding night, Craig had introduced her to just how sensual and powerful his tongue could be. Ever since, she had been consumed with the thought of tasting him. And tonight she was determined to discover if her mouth could bring as much sweet torture to him as his did to her.

Craig took in her air of command and decided to let her have her way and to enjoy her ministrations, for the moment. Her movements were slow and chaste as she touched him reverently, tracing his curves and hollows. Taking her time, she slid her hand up and down his chest again and again, each time going a little lower. Daring to sweep even lower, she allowed her fingertips to travel a new path along the taut ridges of his abdomen, emboldened when his muscles contracted reflexively at her touch. She marveled at feeling the shape of him change with her persistent stroking and was inspired to place her mouth where her hands had been.

Leaning down, she touched his now tense nipple with the tip of her tongue. Craig sucked a breath slowly through his teeth, and she felt his manhood stir against her leg. She felt wanton, intentionally seducing him this way, but she also felt powerful. Her whole body ached to feel him need her like she had needed him.

Placing her hand low across his hard stomach, he buried one hand in her hair while the other rested in the middle of her back. Emboldened, she slipped her other hand between his legs and began to move up and down, caressing the bare flesh of his thighs until he shuddered in response.

As her hands reached for their target, Craig stilled her fingers in his grasp, bringing them up to his mouth for a soft kiss on her knuckles. “You don’t have to,” he said quietly.

Her hazel eyes caught his blue ones burning with passion, and her tongue swept across the taut outlines of his abdomen. “But I want to,” she murmured and freed her hand so that her palm could slide down his chest, across his belly, until it reached his heavy, fully aroused manhood thrusting outward, ready for her touch.

Gently, she cupped his flesh in her palm before curling her fingers around him. Craig groaned in agony, but she knew it came from such intense pleasure it bordered on pain. Lightly, her hands began to caress him, then with growing purpose. He seemed massive, filling her fingers. She felt a pulsating ripple go through him and her own insides quivered in return.

The moment Craig felt Meriel’s fingers close around him, he thought his heart might stop. His muscles tensed and he arched his head on the pillow, rolling his eyes closed, his every sense heightened. All misgivings had vanished and his only remaining thought was that he must have more. Helplessly, he thrust himself forward, deeper into her palm, needing to increase the delicious pressure.

Meriel watched him for a prolonged moment, and then dropped her gaze to her hands. All doubt left and she began to dip her head.

The moment Craig realized what she intended, his body went rigid as another wave of need thundered through him. “No, don’t touch me like that,” he choked. “I won’t be able . . .” He trailed off, stumbling over the words as she traced the bones of his hips.

His hands were clasped into fists at his sides. Opening them, he tried to pull her down to him, but again she resisted. “Shhh. But I want to do this for you,” she told him quietly. “The way you do for me.”

Fear was consuming him, fear and an almost intolerable desire. He clamped his eyes shut and clutched the coverlet in a fierce grip, half fearing and half anticipating the first touch of her lips. He had given her his heart and his body, but if he let her touch him, know him this way, she would have all the power. He would be at her mercy. The heavy weight of his manhood throbbed with anticipation and he could not make himself force her to stop.

The soft brush of her hair against his skin was followed by the moist heat of her breath. She withdrew her hands and for long moments Craig thought he would go mad with anticipation. Then he felt it, the searing heat of her tongue, licking him from root to tip.

Meriel allowed instinct to guide her. Pressing her hand flat against his groin, she held him steady as she followed the path of the prominent vein. When she reached the top, she opened her mouth wide.

A gargled moan erupted from somewhere deep within him and Craig’s last thought before she took him into her mouth was that he would die from the pleasure if she continued and die from the lack of it if she did not. When the edge of her teeth skimmed lightly over the most vulnerable place on his body, he nearly exploded. He tipped his head back, exposing the taut cords of his strong neck and shouted, “
Mo creach!
You’re killing me.”

Meriel smiled, for she distinctly recalled saying the same thing to him when he had taken her into his mouth. This was without doubt the most intimate act she had ever performed, focused solely on his pleasure. Being joined with him, having him inside her body, was beautiful and even overwhelming. But this—this was just as potent.

Eyes closed and lips parted, Craig knew only sensual agony as the tip of Meriel’s tongue circled him. He was torn between grabbing her and pinning her beneath him and simply lying back and enjoying the unfamiliar excitement of surrender. She was using every weapon in her arsenal to assault his senses. Her lips, her tongue, her teeth, sucking and licking. He emitted another tortured moan.

His jaw clenched tight and Craig knew he was about to lose control. He cried out, “No more. I’m going to—” and abruptly pulled her away.

Unable to play the role of gentle tutor, he pushed her legs apart so that she straddled him. His face contorted with barely suppressed agony. “I need you,” he whispered, and without waiting, he brought her down so that she impaled herself on him.

Meriel gasped, filled with a sudden, wild abandon as the hot, shocking sensation of him filling her so deeply rippled throughout her body. Instinctively, she rocked against him, pulling him deeper into her. Vaguely she was aware of Craig reaching out for her, pressing his face between her breasts. The added stimulus caused her to loll her head back so that her hair hung down across her buttocks. She moaned as he took one of her nipples and matched her rhythm with the sweet tug of his mouth. Meriel arched her back more and rode him, feeling him tighten each time he pushed into her.

Clasping her neck with one hand, Craig pulled her face up to meet his and began to kiss her aggressively. He dipped his tongue deep into her mouth, relishing her ecstatic moans as their bodies rubbed together. They were both on the cusp of climax, but he was not yet ready to let either of them come. Breaking off the kiss, he lifted his head and sucked in air.

“Craig,” she whimpered, continuing to rock against him. She was driving him insane. His hand on the small of her back tightened and pulled her even closer. He was of no mind to allow her conquest to continue any longer.

Before she could move a muscle, he raised himself, and with a tortured moan he deftly rolled her beneath him and plunged deep. He kissed her once more as he sank exultantly into the snug, tight channel.

She cried out as her body contracted around him, meeting each of his powerful thrusts with one of her own. The air around them turned into steam. Craig could feel Meriel’s nails digging into his back. She was mindless with passion, writhing with it, needing him, ready.

Wrapping her legs around him, he spread her wide and pressed his face into the curve of her neck as Meriel clutched him to her, taking him deep within her. Then suddenly she gasped. Her hands curled into fists as her muscles clenched and unclenched in small spasms that made her entire body tremble.

Her soft cries of sensual fulfillment continued to be the most incredibly exciting sounds Craig had ever heard. A second later he surrendered to the hot whirlwind that would tear him apart and put him back together once more, a whole man.

Craig collapsed beside her, lying limp, awash with wave after wave of tantalizing tingles. He would never, ever get enough of her.

She curled into the curve of his body and they remained that way for some time, neither wanting to move or speak. Just enjoying the sensation of being so close.

“I love you, Craig,” she finally whispered.

“And I love you, my perfect angel.”

Meriel sighed. “I like that.” She giggled. “Means I’ll never have to change. I’m already perfect.”

Craig nuzzled her neck. “That you are. I don’t want you to change. I married the woman I want. I don’t need anything more.”

Meriel twisted around so that she could face him. Looking into his blue eyes, dark with passion, she said, “And I don’t want you to change either, Craig. I love you for who you are. Don’t ever doubt that.”