The morning after the next couldn’t come quick enough.
But that wouldn’t be the end of it. They couldn’t leave without knowing everyone else was safe. And for that to happen, Jameson would have to be taken care of.
Just as Laird had said.
She didn’t like that option any better than wallowing in all the uncertainties Donell left them with. Laird was a fighter, a protector. He would do what he thought he must.
But there had to be another way.
As if everyone knew there was nothing more to say, or that to say more would only be beating a dead horse, they drifted away to their separate rooms. Emmy and Connor followed Hugh and Claire to the connecting suite. They, at least, had something to celebrate tonight. Something good among all the recent misery.
Laird took Scarlett’s hand and led her toward their adjacent bedroom.
Mind still churning, she undressed and turned back the duvet before climbing onto the bed. She had one knee up when Laird’s big hand cupped her bottom and slid down her thigh.
Hot lips nuzzled the back of her neck, his breaths deep. “Already ye’ve turned my mind to more pleasing thoughts. Mayhap I can do the same for ye?”
He already had.
One touch. It was insane that was all it took. His palms slid over her hips, up her ribs to cup her breasts. Her knees wobbled when his thumbs flicked over her sensitive nipples.
Scarlett turned in his arms and welcomed his mouth as it slanted over hers, his tongue tracing her bottom lip slowly. The sensuous caress left her quaking with desire. He lifted her easily, slipping her naked body between the sheets. Passion built even without his hands on her as he undressed. One by one, he undid the buttons on his shirt, exposing his magnificent sculpted chest, ridged abs. He popped the button on his jeans, down went the zipper. Inch by inch, until her heart sprinted, pounding against her ribs. Fully aroused, he jutted toward her as he stripped down.
He crawled over her, huge and hungry, and Scarlett opened her arms to him. No denial. No inhibition. Knowing the heights he could take her to. The peace he could bring to her body and mind. Laird kissed her again, again with slow purpose as he slipped between her thighs. The hard length of him sliding against her wrenched a cry of delight from her lips. Again, he glided over her quivering flesh, light as the most tender touch. Again. Again. Until she was whimpering.
Needy.
Blood searing, singing through her veins. Heat pooled in her belly, her breaths desperate against his lips. Matching his. Laird groaned, his pace building. His body hard. “Mo chroí!”
“Yes, Laird,” she urged him on, clinging to his shoulders. “Yes. YES!” she screamed as her frenzied climax struck hard.
With a shout to echo hers, Laird shuddered with his powerful release and dropped down on top of her. Chest heaving, his heart thundering.
“Mo chroí,” he moaned against her neck. “I am yers.”
I am hers and she is mine.
Long ago he’d claimed her with that declaration. A vow to keep her and protect her.
She had to find a way to do the same for him. Whatever Laird might say about being expendable in Donell’s vision of the future, he was crucial to hers.
“Aye, aye!” Rhys yelled from the adjoining room and pounded on the connecting wall. “If yer finally finished, can ye try to keep it down? There are children present, ye ken?”
A giggle escaped Scarlett, relaxing her for the moment. But with a sigh, her amusement fell away again.
There were children to consider. There was no way she was going to let hers grow up without their father.
Hugh
Sleep eluded him that night. Claire lay cuddled close with her head in the crook of his shoulder. Her rich red hair trailing across his chest and the gentle swell of her belly pressed against his side.
A bairn of his own nestled within. Mayhap a lass as bonny and lively as Hermione. Or a lad as strapping as he.
If they could be kept safe.
“What’s wrong, Hugh?” Claire mumbled sleepily. “That’s probably the twentieth heavy sigh in the past ten minutes.”
“Did I wake ye, Sorcha?” He smoothed her hair back from her temples and brushed his lips on the top of her head. “My apologies.”
