“What is the alternative, Julianna?” he demanded. “Being apart? Would you go back to him? Would I ever stand for it? No. When this is all settled I will return to Invergarry. England is not my home. Scotland is my home. Are you with me?”
She had always been with him. She told him.
“Even without my title?”
“I should slap you for that.”
He smiled, and she noticed that he was doing it more.
“I must get back to Lismoor for Elias.”
“I do not want you to go,” she cried. “But I know you must. Can I not go with you?”
He shook his head. “If I must fight, I do not want to think of you fighting also. ’Twill distract me.”
“But I am afraid of losing you.”
“You will not lose me,” he promised confidently. “There are many things I love about you. I plan on telling you all of them.”
They stayed up late, talking in the garden and then in the viscount’s private solar. They agreed about what to do about Berengaria, and what to do with Phillip—for now. She, Berengaria, Simon and Margaret, would wait for him here.
She directed him to her chambers and let him kiss her goodnight.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nicholas waited outsideJulianna’s door. He didn’t know what he was waiting for exactly. The nerve to go inside? To finally be with her? He’d kissed her goodnight. How much of a fool would he look like if he—?
The door opened and Julianna stood on the other side, looking as uncertain and anxious as he.
“I was just about to knock,” he told her, feeling inept and ill at ease with her for the first time in his life.
“Oh!” She feigned a short laugh and a look of surprise. “I was…coming…out…to…” Nicholas took her in his arms and pulled her back inside, shutting and bolting the door behind them.
He cupped her face in his hands and tilted her head to kiss her from a different angle. Each was intoxicating, a flame setting the rest of him on fire. He scooped her hair away from her nape so that he could press his lips to her skin and smell her, taste her. He wanted nothing more than this. Her. For the remainder of his days…or of hers. No more wasting them.
“Julianna,” he groaned against her throat, curling one arm around her waist. A memory dashed across his mind of his voice crying out her name while he dreamed of her. “I have loved you my whole life, but ’tis not enough. Come with me to the Highlands.”
He opened his eyes to gaze at the face he knew and loved so much. He kissed her parted lips and felt a pull of his heart that bent him over her.
Suspending her in his embrace, he slipped his tongue into her mouth and deepened their kiss. He loved touching her and let his hands explore all her soft curves. He pulled her up and then tugged at her léine. She tugged at his in return. Her chemise still covered her when he pulled her léine over her head. He was bare beneath his. He liked how her gaze took in the breadth of his shoulders, his lean muscles produced by hard practice and not having an abundance of food for the past two years.
He kissed her smile and then took the deepest recesses of her mouth. He felt hard, tight in his restraints. He wanted to be free of them. He unbuckled his belt and dropped it to the floor. He tugged at the laces of his breeches and kicked off his boots.
She held her hands to her mouth and smiled, blushing and doing a poor job trying to hide it. “It does not feel real, but rather like a dream, that I should be here with you.”
“Or I with you,” he agreed with a low chuckle.
She untied the laces of her breeches with more hesitancy than he. She undressed with grace and offered herself up to his suddenly deft fingers, letting him peel away at her clothes. When he was done with her, he yanked his pants down around his ankles and straightened.
She looked down at him jutting up to the heavens, hard as steel, long and heavy, threatening to break her in half. “Nicholas—”
“Aye, love, I know,” he whispered and lifted her in his arms. He carried her to her bed and set her down on it. Then he backed away just a bit and set his ravenous gaze on her. Her long, red curls fanned out around her body. He let his gaze devour her. When taking in the sight of her led to wanting more, he returned to her and climbed into the bed. “You are a feast for my eyes.”
“And you are for mine,” she said boldly, seducing him.
He took her nipple between his lips and pulled softly, dragging a moan from deep within her throat. He flicked his tongue over the tightening bud and relished the way her body responded to his. His body responded no differently. He ran his hand over his steel shaft and moved over her. She immediately spread her thighs. Thethoughtof taking her brought him close to eruption. Here she was now, naked and spread out before him, ready to give all to him.
His blood felt charged with lightning as he hovered over her. He would take his time with—her eyes were closed, as if sealed shut. Nicholas noticed the rest of her, taut as a harp string. He spoke her name.
