“Oh,” she said, trying to wrap her mind around the joy she felt at hearing him say the words. They were the most perfect words she had ever heard. Aidam wanted to marry her. She could not imagine anything that could ever make her happier.
A slight tickle began in Ellie’s throat. Such tender words had never been uttered to her, and the well of love she felt for Aidam started to overflow. She had thought she knew love before this moment, but in his eyes, his touch, and with his words, Aidam made her feel more love than she had ever dreamt possible.
“Will ye agree, lass?” he asked. “Yer startin’ to make me doubt.”
Ellie snapped back from her thoughts and looked down into Aidam’s waiting gaze. Not wanting to keep him in suspense any longer, she nodded. Words stuck in her throat.
“Say it, lass,” he said. “Say it, so I ken it’s true.”
“Yes!” she finally choked out. “I love ye, Aidam Sinclair. I’ve loved ye for a long time. I will consent to marry ye. I will love ye always and forever.”
* * *
Aidam let out a sigh of relief as he stood and leaned over Ellie, slowly lowering himself until they were a hair’s width apart. “Thank ye, God,” he whispered before capturing her mouth with his own.
Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck and, laughing through tears, pulled him down on top of her on the bed. He kissed her senseless. He could not believe that they had won. The war within him was over. She would truly be his.
After Aidam found Jemina and Evander, giving them the good news of a disaster avoided between their two clans, he quickly followed his uncle’s orders. He gave Duncan MacDougall the order to send the men home. Even Duncan, who was always ready for battle, seemed relieved at the news and agreed to get the men on their way.
Aidam, however, was determined to stay behind. He would not leave the MacAskill keep without securing Ellie’s hand in marriage. Of that, he was certain.
He found his uncle and Lady MacAskill right where he had left them in the late Laird’s study. Yet, this time they were not fighting when Aidam approached the room. In fact, by the way they were in each other’s arms, to Aidam, it had looked an awful lot like making up.
He graciously asked for forgiveness for interrupting what seemed to be a tender moment, but he would not be deterred. The older couple had had their time, and they wasted it, causing pain and heartache along the way. He would not do the same with Ellie.
It took Lady MacAskill no time at all to give her blessing over Aidam and Ellie, and with a new found eagerness to get his question answered, he bathed and rushed to Ellie’s chamber.
And now he had his wish. She’d agreed to be his wife.
Coming back into the moment, he kissed her deeper, using his tongue to beg her lips apart and grant him the entrance he sought.
“Ellie, how is it ye taste so sweet…” he moaned into her mouth before devouring her in another kiss.
She arched into him and gave a small whimper of what he thought was pleasure but hoped was need. He needed her. He desperately wanted to be near her, inside her, feel all of her surrounding him. He devoured her as if he had been alone in a desert for ages and she was the water. He thirsted for her.
Breaking contact with her mouth, he used his tongue and lips to trail feather-light nips and kisses along her jaw until he reached the thin, delicate skin of her neck. It amazed him how a woman so strong and brave could also be so vulnerable and fragile.
She tasted faintly of vanilla and lavender, the remnants of her bath, but also the pure sweetness that was uniquely her own, and Aidam could not get enough.
He trailed down her throat, stopping briefly to pay homage to the curved dip where her neck met her torso. She gripped his shoulders and let out a moan, telling Aidam that this particular spot was one he could spend more time enjoying. He brought a hand up to caress the gentle mound of her breast softly, her small, pinkish nipple turning tight under his thumb as he rubbed and tweaked. He wanted to take it into his mouth, feel the pebble at its point against his tongue. Pushing back her nightdress, he ran his fingers along the sweet underswell of each perfect breast before dipping his head and suckling. He made sure to give attention equally to each glorious peak, not wanting Ellie to feel neglected in any way.
“Aidam…” she moaned. He could tell by the unease in her movements he was creating a torment inside her.Good,he thought, selfishly.I want her to need me as much as I need her.
Ellie pressed her body up into his, rubbing her center against his erect manhood. It was Aidam’s turn to let out a moan of unease. He was harder than he had ever been, but he did not want to rush this moment. He wanted more than the hurried, secret shagging that they had shared. He wanted to make love to her as she deserved, as the woman who was to be his wife.
Looking down at Ellie, her eyes half-lidded and heavy with desire for him and only him, her smooth chestnut locks curled around the bed linens, and her arching back giving way to the smooth expanse of her abdomen, he recognized how incredibly lucky he was. She allowed him to know her as no other man had ever known her. And as long as he lived, he vowed no other man would.
As he lifted her nightdress and pulled the remaining cloth away from her body, he could not help but admire the beauty that lay exposed before him. She was his and would only ever be his. Perhaps he was wrong, and it was more than pure luck that brought them together. If Aidam never believed in it before, he certainly believed in fate, or destiny, or whatever it was called, now.
How their lives could have changed forever on this day had his uncle not been persuaded, had Lady MacAskill been unforgiving. He could have lost Ellie forever. She could have lost more than he, though, she could have lost her lands, her birthright, her brother, and so many of their loyal clansmen. His pulse slowed, and he stopped kissing her. What would she have done? How would she have lived? Were he still rotting away in his uncle’s dungeon how could he have come to her, comforted her, or helped her rebuild? The heavens had to be thanked for intervening in their lives on this day. So many things could have easily gone the opposite of where they lay now.
“Aidam?” Ellie whispered. “Where did you go, my love?”
She ran a hand down his shoulder, the warmth of her returning his affection, snapping him back to reality. She was there, with him. Things did not go as wrong as they had feared. Aidam had not even realized his thoughts had taken him away from her. He shook his head to clear it. They had been through enough that they deserved this moment together. Ellie deserved to be worshiped, and he was the only man who would do it properly.
“Och, my love, forgive me. I was merely planning my next move,” he growled, giving her the crooked smile he knew she loved, before pulling her to him, closing the distance between them that he had mistakenly created.
