“Ye daenae have to be. Ye have nae done anythin’ wrong,” he assured.
In truth, she was the only “right” thing in his world. Upon the horse, it had felt right to hold her in his arms, and it felt right to be there in her chamber. One glance toward the bed, and his loins stirred with hope. He would have given anything to hoist her up into his arms and carry her to that bed, to make love to her.
I would hear ye cry out me name, Lass. I would hear the sounds of yer pleasure.His free hand clenched, to stop it from acting under the pressure of his longing. Since meeting her, he had wanted to caress her divine figure and taste her smooth, soft skin. He longed to ignite passion inside her with the stroke of his tongue and the push of his fingers, readying her for a union that he knew would be unlike any other.
Oblivious to his inner struggle, Heather sighed. “I am sorry that my father stole you away and treated you so terribly, when all you wanted to do was come home after you had been away at war for so long,” she said. “I can better understand your eagerness to return, now that I have seen the beautiful place where you live.”
He laughed softly, noting the heaving rise and fall of her bosom. “It wouldn’ae matter if it was a hovel. I’d still want to go home.” His teeth grazed his lower lip, nipping a little to try and quell his rising ardor.
“How longwereyou away?” Heather’s hands wrapped around his wrist, though he could not tell if it was him that she did not trust, or herself. The shallowness of her breath and the erratic swell of her bosom suggested the latter, as did the eager shine in her beautiful eyes.
I cannae be impatient. She’s nae of me world.Indeed, he had been raised to understand that, if a woman and a man liked one another, there was little shame in enjoying each other. Yet, he could not forget that she had been raised in a place where even grazing a man’s hand could destroy a woman’s reputation forever.
He shook his head, swallowing his frustration. “I will tell ye all of the tedious details another day. Now that ye’re here, we have plenty of time to get to learn one another better. Ye must be weary.” His gaze flitted down to her lips. “I’ll have that bath drawn for ye. But first—”
He kissed her: his hands moving to cup her face as his lips pressed against hers. Soft to begin, not knowing how she would respond, but hoping she would. He caught her mouth again, guiding her with the push of his lower lip. It was the kiss he had wanted to feel since the moment he saw her in the dungeons.
Forgive me this one lapse in patience.He hoped she would, for if she could have seen within his mind, she would have known how much strength it was taking him to kiss her with such restraint. In his imagination, they were kissing in a desperate frenzy, tearing away their clothes until they were naked before one another, and he was laying her down upon the bed to plunge inside her and satisfy them both.
Ye daenae ken what ye inspire within me, Lass.He wanted to pleasure her until she screamed his name. He wanted to touch her, taste her, kiss her, without leaving a single speck of her body unattended. But this one kiss would have to do, for now. Indeed, he did not know if it might be the only one they shared, if Heather decided to slap him or berate him.
At last, he felt a faint motion in her mouth. Tentative and unsure, but she was not pounding his chest with her fists or pushing him away. Indeed, it was the sensation of a lightly returned kiss, performed by lips that had never kissed before. Itwas a sign that there might be more to come, but he did not want to push her too quickly, no matter what his body wanted.
Breaking away, he planted one last, smaller kiss upon her forehead. “I didnae mean to steal that from ye, Lass,” he murmured, “but I’ve been enchanted by yer beauty since the first moment I set eyes on ye. Even when ye were ragin’ at me, I kent ye were somethin’ precious.”
“I d… do not understand,” she replied, breathless. A delicate pink tinted her cheeks.
He smiled. “Ye can call me wretched for askin’, but as ye’re to stay here awhile, I wouldn’ae want to lie to ye. I desire to court ye, Lass.” He hesitated, remembering her situation. “Of course, I ken ye’re still grievin’ and ye’re likely in nay mind for such a thing. So, I understand if ye cannae or ye daenae want to. I just wanted to be honest with—”
Her lips on his mouth rendered him silent. It proved a nervous, awkward sort of kiss, but it brought a smile to Owen’s lips regardless. There could be no clearer sign that she was contemplating his request.
“I cannot agree or refuse, at present,” she told him, pulling back. “I would know you better. I would spend time with you, as we have been doing. If that is courtship, then you may think of it as such, but… I do not know if it will be too overwhelming. My heart might not have room, for it is in pieces.”
He nodded. “Aye, Lass, we’ll take it slowly.”
“If I may, can I make one request of you?” Her teeth grazed her lower lip, drawing his eye to their plump, tempting shape. If she granted him, one day, he would kiss those lips until they were swollen with his passion.
“Of course,” he said, drawing his gaze back up to her eyes. They were safer than her tantalizing mouth and everything below.
She cleared her throat. “If you wish to kiss me again, I would have you ask me first. It is improper to startle a lady like that. Indeed, you frightened my mouth, making it freeze.” A glimmer of mischief shone in her eyes. “How, pray tell, am I to kiss you back if my lips are numb with shock?”
“Then, might I kiss you again?” He took his chance.
She shook her head. “Not tonight. I would not offer you false hope. Moreover, I am a filthy disgrace and in dire need of that bath that was promised.”
Her coy smile suggested she very much wanted another kiss, but would not give him too much, too quickly. He would respect that, for as long as she needed him to.
“If ye’ll pardon me for sayin’ it, I’ll have pleasant dreams of ye in that bath.”
She blinked in surprise. “Now, that is not slow behavior.”
“Aye, but I want ye to ken that I’ll never lie to ye, even if it’s an embarrassment to me,” he explained. “Ye can trust me, Lass. I will nae cause ye hurt or harm.”
Her expression softened into a warm smile. “I believe you.”
“Can I hold ye for a moment, before I fetch the maids?” Having held her in his arms for the last four days, they felt absent without her.
Instead of answering, she stepped closer and let her palms rest on his chest for a moment, feeling the beat of his heart. As her smile widened, she stroked her hands up over his shoulders, looping her arms around his neck. He noticed it meant she had to stand on tiptoe, but she did not seem to mind.
