No one who valued their life better interrupt them now.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
With an animalistic growl, Ian lifted her and turned her on her back against the mattress, his weight descending over her. A thrill of exultation tore through Hero as he kneaded her breasts. Not gently, not tenderly, as before, but fervidly. His zeal incited her already soaring passion into a near frenzy. His mouth left hers, trailing hotly down her neck and shoulder until his lips closed over one nipple. Pleasure shot down to her core. She cried out, grasping his head to her breast as he suckled deeply then licked the sting away before turning his attention to her other breast.
Head thrown back, Hero cried out once more as thrilling electricity streaked through her and down her limbs. Already sprinting, her heart beat so frantically against her ribs she felt faint. Breath rushed and labored, she felt intoxicated, drunk on him.
Scorching lips dragged over her breast, his teeth scraping roughly against the tender underside and down her soft belly. His tongue laved her navel before he shifted, moving lower. He lifted her leg, lightly biting her inner thigh and rasping the delicate skin against his stubbled cheek. She felt his fingers trace along her inner folds, opening her, but before she could react, his hot mouth engulfed her and she arched off the bed with a euphoric scream. His tongue swirled against her fervently and tension built low in her belly, tendrils of fire licking down her thighs. Her head thrashed from side to side on the pillow, and her breathing became desperate pants as the unknown approached.
“Ian.”
At her impassioned plea, he rose over her and lifted her legs around his hips as he drove deeply into her. Her cry of rapture harmonized with his groan of satisfaction, and for a moment he paused, unmoving, looking down at her.
She lifted her hands to his heaving chest and froze as well, caught by the look in his eyes. A myriad of emotions shone in those dark depths. Not just passion or even love. There was tenderness, astonishment. He throbbed within her. Impatient. Insistent. Yet he didn’t move as she expected. Instead, Ian leaned over her, resting his weight on his forearm, his chest brushing hers, his hand sliding up her thigh to cradle her bottom in his palm. His fingers toyed with the hair at her temple and his throat worked as he swallowed hard. As it tended to when he was in high emotion, his brogue was heavy and hoarse when he spoke. “Never, my love. I swear to ye, never before.”
Hero didn’t have to ask what he meant. She knew what he was saying. “I know. I know.”
“I love ye,” he murmured, then released a husky chuckle. “By God but I’ve never seen anything so bonny in my life as the sight of ye lying here beneath me. But I do know one thing that will be even more lovely.”
Blinking, she asked, “You do?”
Ian didn’t answer; instead, he flexed his hips and pushed deeper into her depths. Withdrawing slowly, he slid into her again, and she gasped, her body clenching around him. Again and again, he retreated and plunged, his pace quickening. Still he watched her.
She wrapped her arms around him, one hand sliding lower over his buttock, grasping, urging. Their hearts beat in time, their chests heaving and straining together, until Hero was once again wound tightly, ecstasy singing in her veins. Her eyes fluttered closed, and her breath came in desperate pants. A low keening sounded from deep within her as Ian pushed her higher and higher. As if by their own will, her legs wound tightly around his hips.
Mewling transmuted into a long moan of entreaty. “Please,” she groaned, begging for she knew not what. “Please.”
“Aye, my love,” he whispered softly and hastened his pace, pounding into her furiously until she bucked beneath him, her body tensing.
“Yes. Yes!”
Her body burst rapturously, contracting around him. A hoarse shout escaped him, and with one last torrid thrust Ian joined her in a climax so intense it wrung him dry. He collapsed on top of her, burying his face in the crook of her shoulder. With his arms binding her tightly to him, she slowly descended from the magnificent heights to which he’d taken her. Her body pulsated around his length, delivering waves of pleasure that ebbed and eventually faded away. Releasing one last sated breath, she relaxed, savoring his weight upon her. She curled her fingers into his hair, hugging him to her.
It’d been beautiful, more passionate and fulfilling than she’d ever dreamed possible, and her heart ached with emotion. She stroked his hair, savoring the tender rush of pure joy.
Ian lifted his head and looked down at her, brushing the hair back from her temple. His lips brushed across hers, a thrilling combination of tenderness and aching passion that quickened Hero’s pulse once more. She watched his face from beneath her lashes. Awe was written there, and she was sure he saw the very same expression on her face.
“Lovelier than a glimpse at heaven.”
Hero ran her hands up his back and over his shoulders, feeling the muscles playing beneath his smooth skin while his lips played against hers, searching and exploring. She wanted to beg him to never stop, to let her remain forever in the circle of his arms.
Never had she felt anything like this. Not just passion, but heart-rending need mixed with something she had never felt before, and it made her chest tighten, her throat close, and her eyes burn with tears. She felt like sobbing, yet at the same time she wanted to sing with joy.
Pulling back, she stared up at him, her eyes begging him with the words she couldn’t say. He brushed the hair back from her temple, curling a lock of hair around his finger. His dark gaze, warm as caramel, melted into hers. “I love you.” Hero’s heart ached at the emotion in his words as Ian bent his head to kiss her again. “God, how I love you.”
A single tear slipped down her cheek as her heart burst with joy. “And I love you. I never imagined this, Ian. I never knew how this could relay feelings beyond words, as if my soul has been torn open. I’ve never experienced anything so profound.”
“Nor have I, my love,” he swore. “I told you, did I not, that what is between us belongs to the ages.” Lifting himself off of her, he turned to his side, dragging her with him until she was nestled against his side. “And we’ll have this for a lifetime. And when this lifetime has ended, we will have each other in the next because my soul is yours for eternity.”
“I like the sound of that. Forever. You are mine and I am yours.”
His lips brushed her hair. “Sleep, my love. Tomorrow, we will begin our life together.”
“Tomorrow?” she asked, sleepily tracing circles on his chest with her fingertip.
“Aye,” he said with a lazy grin. “My surprise for you. I went into Ayr for the bishop and a special license. Even now he sleeps above, ready to marry us in the morning.”
Hero’s heart leapt with pleasure at his words. So that was where he’d been! The thrill that Ian didn’t want to wait even another day to make her his wife warmed her further. No long engagement. No society wedding. And she didn’t mind at all. This time she wouldn’t wed for politics or convenience. She would marry for love alone. “Where? When?”
