“What are the Highlands like?”
“I do not remember Invergarry, but Cain tells me there are a lot of rivers and lochs, and mountain ranges. ’Tis cooler there and the people are more friendly.”
She giggled into her hand and thought about how at ease and relaxed she felt being here naked with him. She never would have felt like this if she were with anyone else. Nicholas was her dearest, closest friend and, now, her lover. She didn’t think it could get any better but he wanted her to be his wife!
“Do you think you might want to live there even though we will not have to?” he asked her, looking hopeful.
“Aye, I would want to live there,” she told him with a bit of a teasing smile. “’Tis better to live closer to Cain than to Torin.”
He smiled but she could tell that her feelings toward his brother saddened him. She didn’t want to bring any more sadness to his life. “I will work on forgiving him. He did save your life, after all.”
“I will arrange to have Phillip buried with his father,” Nicholas told her, then looked down at the bed covering. “Berengaria came to see me earlier.”
Julianna sat up and glared down at him. “Nicholas, why did you not tell me?”
“I am telling you now!” he defended sheepishly. “It has not been a quiet evening, Julianna. Thoughts of you took precedence. They always have.”
She smiled softly and forgave him. “Well? What did she say?”
“She said she misses you.”
Her throat burned, along with the backs of her eyes. “I miss her, too.”
“I know. I told her.” He sat up beneath her and closed his arms around her. “I told her we would bring her with us wherever we lived.”
Julianna nodded in his comforting embrace. Aye, she was so happy he had promised that to his mother. Berengaria was her mother, too. “I want more time with her.”
He wiped her eyes with his thumbs and then kissed her eyelids. “You shall have it while we travel to Carlisle to retrieve Elias, and long after that.”
“Tell me again that you love me, Nicholas.”
“I love you, lass,” he whispered against her lips.
She opened to the salacious lick of his tongue against the seam of her mouth. He coiled his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer. Their kiss deepened and Julianna wondered if she’d gone too far by sitting on him. She had never done anything like this before. With Phillip it was always the same, one way and no variation, though with Phillip that was a blessing.
She felt Nicholas growing harder beneath her and she relished in the power she had over so much man. For truly, he was a man above the rest. But she’d always had power over him, hadn’t she? He’d been quiet when the other boys picked on him, for her. He’d become a groom so he could be near her more often. He’d always done what she’d asked, and not because he was a servant, but because he’d always loved her. He had never stopped and, for her, that meant so much more than any title or any amount of land.
She promised to stay with him always and he lifted her up by the waist and set her back down on his stiff lance.
At first, she wasn’t sure he would fit this way, but he did. He didn’t enter forcibly, but with slow, sensual strokes that wet and opened her more fully until she could take him to the hilt.
With both has hands around her hips, he moved and guided her over him, grinding, undulating against her. He moved her up and down until she took over the dance and moved them toward the edge.
It began as a sensation at her crux. A tightening, convulsing spasm below her navel. It was quite pleasant—wonderful, really. It grew, wracking her muscles, her head, her heart, melting her, tempting her to jump…jump over the edge with him.
She let herself go and soared. She shook with scintillating pleasure such as she had never known before. He held her and let her go when she needed to arch her back.
As she broke free of her restraints, waves of pleasure carried her out to sea. She wasn’t alone. Nicholas was with her on the cliff, over the edge, whispering her name in ecstasy.
They slept soon after then awoke again and made love three more times until morning.
Astonishingly, they weren’ttoo weary to ride to Carlisle to get Elias when the sun came up. They packed up Berengaria, Margaret, and Rauf. Farewells were long, mostly due to everyone coming out to bid them farewell…well, to bid Julianna farewell. The viscount, Lawson, and the rest of the men all took their turns bidding her farewell, not to mention Lizbeth crying for a good hour and Cicily taking up after her.
Nicholas didn’t mind. People loved Julianna. He didn’t blame them.
Torin, on the other hand, he minded. “Can we move our bloody arses before next winter rolls around?”
Everyone picked up the pace after that. All save Julianna, who gave him a sharp glare.
