“I doubt anything ye did would have worked.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She did not want to leave, did she? She liked being a lady of the manor. She liked all that went with that position. Aye, she wed the wrong man but I suspect she never thought it would drastically change her life. And ye were only here for a few years so she hadnae yet accustomed herself to the change in her circumstances.”
“You and your brothers accepted.”
“Not immediately and it was a while before we saw the good in what we now had. We concentrated on survival. By the time we kenned we had succeeded the worst of the yearning had passed. Oh, we still have memories but I am nay longer sure they are true ones or just the lingering fancies of the children we were then. We both lost what really mattered, didnae we.”
“Our parents,” she whispered, and sighed when he nodded.
They ate the meal and Iain praised her apple-berry cobbler. Then they moved into the parlor to her surprise, for the family rarely gathered there, and he served her a glass of wine. He sat next to her on the settee, and she had to turn away, hoping he did not see her blush. She concentrated on her wine and suddenly he was there, achingly close to her.
Iain took her glass of wine and set it on the table next to his before pulling her into his arms for a kiss. She knew he was going to kiss her and dreaded it all going sour as it so often had in the past. Yet, when his mouth touched hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly, letting him pull her close to himself. A little voice told her she should say no, push him away. Emily ignored it. Iain was big, strong, and the warmth of him seeped deep inside her as he held her in his arms. She had no inclination to push that away. His kiss made everything inside her go wild and hungry and she was a little uncertain of such strong feelings, ones she had never experienced before.
Talking over dinner was torturous enough, Iain thought, when his mind had kept taunting him with soft images of what he wanted to do with her. He ran his hands up her rib cage and slowly over her breasts. The way the tips grew hard and burned against his palms made him anxious to strip them bare, to kiss them. Something he could not do in the parlor, he suddenly thought.
Standing up, he grabbed her by the hand and led her up the stairs. She was still lightly flushed with desire when he led her into his room and shut the door. He pulled her back into his arms as he gently walked her back to the bed. He kissed her, her lips warm and giving beneath his, her body moving against him in clear eagerness.
Emily trembled when he pushed her down onto his bed, pressing himself against her. She could feel his hardness nestle between her thighs and found herself lifting her hips up slightly to rub against him. The feel of him made her insides cramp with hunger and she shivered. The way her body was reacting to his kisses shocked her yet she did not push away the feeling. She found it all too wonderful to force him to stop.
Then his long fingers were undoing the bodice of her gown as he kissed her throat and each new bit of bare skin exposed to him. Emily put her hands on his chest thinking to push him back only to find her hands touching warm, taut skin. Beneath one of her palms she could feel the hard beat of his heart. She opened her eyes to see her palms on his chest and the passion she was struggling to understand soared. Smoothing her hands over his chest, she reveled in the heat of his skin and the light brush of hair she found there. She had the strong urge to kiss him there but fear of acting too boldly held her back.
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when Iain pulled the front of the gown down, gently easing her arms out of the sleeves. That slipped into the haze of desire she had been under, cooling the heat of it, and Emily crossed her hands over her chest when he also tugged down her shift. He was raised above her staring down at her breasts and Emily was suddenly all too aware of her near nakedness. No man had ever seen her unclothed, even partly.
“Iain,” she began, and he kissed her before she could continue.
Emily sank beneath the force of her own desire. She could feel Iain’s desire; it was hot and greedy. That greed fed her own needs and she began to move her hands over his back, sliding down until she cupped his backside. He groaned into her mouth and moved against her. He gently stroked her stomach, telling her all the while how beautiful and soft she was, then slid his hands inside her pantaloons. She was just beginning to tense up, afraid of such an unknown intimacy when he touched her there, stroked her, and she gasped as she lost all inclination to pull away. Part of her was afraid of everything going so fast while another part reveled in the greed she could not seem to control.
Iain felt the damp heat of welcome beneath his fingers and nearly groaned. He kissed her hungrily as he undid his pants. The way she moved her hand over his chest, his back, even his backside, told him her passions were riding her as hard as his were him. Despite that as he settled himself between her restless legs, ready to make her his, he still asked, needing to hear her accept him.
“Emily,” he said, “do ye want me?”
“I am here, am I not? Do you need a yes?”
“Aye.”
“Then, yes, Iain. Are you ready now then?”
He laughed softly and gently joined his body with hers. When her heat surrounded him he gritted his teeth, determined not to find his release with the embarrassing speed of an untried lad. Then she wrapped her arms and legs around him and he began to move. Every move she made, the soft sounds that escaped her revealing her pleasure, all worked to fire his need until he feared he would be done before she got the satisfaction she needed.
Then he felt her tighten around him and Iain nearly yelled out in relief. He kissed her, smothering her cry of release as his tore through him. He collapsed upon her but kept his wits about him just enough to fall a little to the side. As he gently stroked her back and her hair, he kissed her cheeks. Finally, he met her gaze, braced for shock or repudiation but she smiled at him shyly.
“What are ye thinking, lass?” he asked.
“That breaking every rule should not be such fun or so pleasurable.” She frowned as he chuckled, a bit hurt that he whispered no words of love to her but told herself they would come when he was ready.
Iain gently kissed her breasts and then got out of bed. He came back in a moment with a warm damp cloth and bathed her off. Emily tried not to blush but knew she failed. He chuckled softly as he settled down next to her, pulling her into his arms.
“We shouldnae linger here as someone might be home soon,” he said as he slowly ran his hands over her body as if trying to mark every rise and hollow.
“Oh.” That was a cold slap of reality for Emily and she tugged the blankets up over her breasts. “You are right.” She looked around. “Where are my clothes?”
Iain gave her her clothes and grabbed his own, ashamed to see that he had not bothered to take much off. As he dressed he kept a close eye on her. She was beginning to act shy and, he feared, ashamed of herself. Once she did up her gown he leaned over her and brushed a kiss over her mouth.
“Leaving this bed is the last thing I want to do but it is best if we do. I cannae judge when the rest will begin to return.”
“I know.”
