Kieran worked her through the aftershocks, licking other oversensitive flesh until Lydia had to shy away from his touch, then he pushed himself to his feet and pulled her in for a heated kiss, one into which Lydia melted.
Ever so slowly, Kieran pulled her towards the bed. Lydia lay there with a soft sigh, her hair draping around her head like a halo as he climbed over her, hovering over her body. For a moment, he did nothing but stare at her, as if mesmerized by the sight of her. Lydia tried to fight the urge to shrink under his gaze,but she couldn’t help the flush of embarrassment that colored her face and chest.
“Ye’re the bonniest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. His hand trailed down her shoulders, over the swell of her breast, around the curve of her hip, his touch maddeningly soft. “I want ye, Lydia. I want ye more than I’ve wanted anythin’ in me life.”
“I’m yers, Kieran,” Lydia said. “Ye can have me.”
With a groan, Kieran pulled himself back long enough to get rid of his clothes in a mad dash. Before long, all of it was piled on the floor next to the bed as he tossed it there carelessly, without a second thought.
And then, he was on top of her once more, kneeling on the mattress between her legs, his manhood straining against his stomach.
Lydia’s eyes widened at the sight of him, long and thick. When he pressed the tip against her folds, teasing, she felt the heat of him, like a branding iron searing into her skin.
She tried to calm her racing heart. The mere sight of him was enough to make her both want to shrink away and surrender completely, apprehension and need mixing inside her.
But when Kieran finally pushed into her, slow and unhurried, any apprehension she had instantly disappeared.
Never before had she thought such pleasure possible. Never before had she thought she could ever feel this close to someone, this connected. But now, as Kieran pushed deeper and deeper in one long, continuous thrust until their bodies finally met, she finally learned that such a thing existed.
With a moan, Lydia wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him close. Her legs followed, wrapping around his waist as he rocked into her in a leisurely pace, a hand coming up to brush her hair off her face.
“How is this,mo ghraidh?” he asked, and Lydia’s heart stuttered when she heard the pet name. “Is it good?”
Lydia nodded desperately, aching for more. As Kieran thrust into her, she tried to follow his rhythm, her hips moving to match the pace, the movement. Each brush of his manhood against her inner walls sent another ripple of pleasure through her, the sensations building up quickly now that she had found her release once already.
She had been right to think that once she would surrender to him, everything else would disappear. There was nothing in her mind but the two of them in that moment, nothing but their connection, now unbreakable. Where there had been a tentative bond between them before, the two of them held together by circumstance and mutual desire, now, she couldn’t help but think there was something more.
Lydia clung to Kieran, and he clung to her in return, his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace as they rocked togetherever so slowly. If there was something Lydia knew for certain, it was that she would once again reach her climax soon, each velvety drag of Kieran’s manhood against her filling her with warmth, with a joy she could hardly describe.
And when she looked into his eyes, she found him already staring at her as if she was the most precious thing in the world, as if he could hardly look away, as mesmerized with her as she was with him.
“Come, Lydia,” he said, his voice a ruined groan. “I want to feel ye come apart around me.”
Lydia didn’t need to be told twice. The feel of Kieran’s length thrusting inside her, reaching deep, filling her to the brim, quickly brought her to her climax once more. As her core pulsed around him, that pleasure rippling and spreading through her, Kieran watched her with wide, almost reverent eyes, his breath rushing out of him as if he had been holding it for a long time.
He held her in his arms, and Lydia lost herself in her pleasure, crying out, trembling with it under him. Kieran was quick to capture her lips into a kiss then, groaning into her mouth as his thrusts quickened, turning almost frantic. Then, there was nothing in the room but the sound of their labored breathing, the sound of their coupling, loud and lewd as Kieran chased his own pleasure.
He was almost beastly in it, just as lost in the act as Lydia had been. She watched him, fascinated by this side of him—a side shenow wished to see more often, possessive and feral, awakening something inside her.
She had done this to him, she thought. She had made him chase his pleasure mindlessly like this, as though nothing else mattered but taking her. Lydia couldn’t help but feel thoroughly claimed, finally truly belonging to him.
This was more than a hasty wedding and a reluctant marriage between the two of them. She could feel it in the way Kieran held onto her, fingers digging into her skin, his body aching to get closer to her, even when they were completely joined. She could see it in his gaze, heated and possessive as it was, like he never meant to let her go.
And then, she could feel it in his release when it spilled hot deep inside her.
Afterwards, Kieran collapsed next to her, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Still, he wasted no time before he gathered her into his arms once more, and Lydia laid her head on his chest, closing her eyes with a satisfied smile.
And in that moment, she knew they finally belonged to each other completely.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It had been two weeks—two weeks since the celebration, since Lydia had nearly been killed again. Two weeks since he had pulled her, shivering and breathless, from the dark lake.
And in those two weeks, Kieran had barely slept. He had torn apart every ledger, examined every trail, questioned every guard, tracked rumors across the glen—but still found no proof.
All clues pointed to one man. His intuition pointed to one man, and yet there nothing. Not a scrap of evidence he could hold.
No one would believe him if he claimed his uncle was the one behind all this. And why should they? He could hardly believe it himself. Sebastian had been there, right next to him, through it all. He had been there when his father ruined the clan; he had been there when Kieran strove to rebuild it. The entire time, his careful advice had been of great help to Kieran, and he had never once thought it could have been malicious; none of them had.
