But the mistakes—the distrust—of the past were behind them. He felt as if he’d been given a second chance at life. Not even the threat hanging over him would interfere with this night. Tonight, nothing would come between them.
He wanted her aware of every moment of their joining. He didn’t touch her, didn’t kiss her, didn’t make her half-crazed with passion. Instead, he held her gaze, looking deep into her eyes and entered her. Inch by inch. Slow and purposeful. All their senses honed on one place.
She gasped as he filled her, her soft pink lips parting with the erotic hitch of breath. Her round ivory breasts with the tiny pink nipples lifted as her back arched to accommodate him. To take him deeper.
It felt incredible. Her warm, wet body closed around him like a tight velvet glove. He stopped about halfway in, forcing himself to savor every second of sensation. But it was the tightness in his chest that truly moved him—the sheer intensity of emotion. How every time he looked at her, his heart seemed to expand. He never thought this would be his again. Fortune, it seemed, had smiled on him at last. A fierce wave of emotion rose up and took hold. This time he would never let her go.
He continued his slow possession, sinking into her until at last they were one. She was his: his heart, his soul.
“I love you, Jeannie. More than I ever thought possible.”
She smiled and reached up to cradle his cheek in her tiny palm. “And I love you.”
He held her there—at the deepest part—and then looking into her eyes took her a little farther. Her eyes widened and the little moan of pleasure nearly undid him.
He moved in and out with long, delicious strokes. Loving how her body milked him, how it fought to hold on to him.
She wrapped her legs around his buttocks, drawing him even closer. He lowered his chest to hers, his skin searing at the contact, and thrust. Harder now. Faster. Demanding.
Her moans drove him on. He couldn’t wait for her to come.
He watched as the sensations clouded her expression. As her gorgeous features grew soft, as her eyes grew dreamy with the pleasure he was giving her.
He felt the first spasm as she arched underneath him, her taut nipples pressing deeper into his chest.
She cried out his name. She cried for God. And then she cried out for her release.
The hot spasms quivering around his cock were too much.
His ass clenched. Pleasure intensified at the base of his spine with all the subtlety of a lightning bolt. His bollocks tightened and he began to pulse. The force of his climax possessed him body and soul. Surging one more time, he drove into her, threw back his head, and let go. Crying out as it shattered over him in a torrential wave of hot pleasure. Pleasure that seemed wrought from the deepest part of him. Pleasure that so consumed him it seemed to stop his heart from beating. For a minute he thought he’d died and glimpsed Valhalla.
When it was over and his mind could once again form a coherent thought, he rolled her under his arm, tucking her against the length of his body.
Everything that had needed to be said was said.
They were meant to be together. Whatever future he had would be with her.
Jeannie must have dozed because when she opened her eyes it was dark outside. Duncan had lit the candle and sat at the edge of the bed, pulling on his clothes.
He turned at the sound of her stirring, and swept his gaze down the length of her naked body. A lascivious grin turned his mouth. “Sorry to wake you, but I need to go check on my men and make sure everything is in readiness for our journey tomorrow.”
A chill of foreboding swept over her as his words brought her back to the reality of their situation. It wasn’t fair. Duncan wasn’t an outlaw. Argyll should know the type of man he was, should know that he would never betray him. It infuriated her that he must go through this.
“How do you do it, Duncan? How are you not bitter with all that has happened to you?”
“What good would it do? Raging against the injustice will not set me free. I prefer to think that justice will eventually win.”
She studied the strong, noble features of his face and smiled. “Don’t tell me that the most feared warrior in the land is an optimist?”
He laughed. “Nay, a realist. Eventually the truth will come out. It always does.”
The truth. The cold, hard truth. After what they’d just shared, how could she keep it from him? How could she tell him she loved him one moment and then the next keep the truth of their son from him? But she was scared. Scared what he would think and scared what tomorrow might bring. Tears gathered in her eyes and she spoke her thoughts aloud. “What are we going to do?”
He bent down and kissed her eyelids. “Don’t give up on me just yet, love. I intend to live for quite some time. Long enough to marry you and see a babe or two suckling on those beautiful breasts.”
The surge of guilt took her breath away.He has a son. Tell him.
“I’m done running,” he said. “If I can’t find Colin, I’ve decided to go to Inveraray and take my chances with my cousin.”
