Sensing how close she was, he lowered his head and flicked his tongue against her throbbing bud to match the rhythm of his fingers. Her moans grew louder, but he did not care if anyone heard them. He wanted everyone to know that it was he who had brought her such pleasure that she abandoned all propriety.
Her back arched off the floor as she reached her peak, but he held her hips down, drinking every drop of her release till she collapsed, her legs still quivering around his head.
He kissed his way down her thighs as she shuddered beneath him, nibbling on her creamy skin until she went limp. When he lifted his head to look at her, the sheer beauty of her sated beneath him sent a stab of hunger and fear through him.
How would he ever let her go now that he had seen her come undone?
19
Her cheeks hurt, but that pain was nothing compared to the dull ache in her chest as she forced herself to smile at her most promising suitor. He was fair-haired, with uncanny blue eyes and charisma that could break down the defenses of the most guarded lady.
In addition, he was not one of those men who thought themselves better than women and sought to control them. On the contrary, he was absolutely thrilled with her occupation as a healer. Like her, he had a curious soul that sought the most intricate secrets of the universe. This trait meant that they did not run out of topics to discuss. He was the perfect example of a fine gentleman.
He wasperfect.
He was her last option of the last two shortlisted and the better candidate. The previous day she had spent with Lord Feodwen While the red-haired man came from a prosperous clan, he had an unusual fondness for sheep.
It was all he spoke about. How to buy more sheep, how to care for them, and how to manage pasture. But while she admired all of the Lord’s creations, she did not in any way admire or want sheep, and they were her least favorite topic in the world.
If she accepted his suit, she would have to endure several nights of listening to him prattle about his precious sheep. Added to his belief that women should be seen and not heard, and it would be a disastrous match, indeed. Even she was not that altruistic to endure such a man.
So she had no choice—it had to be Laird Alan. He was perfect.
He wassupposedto be perfect for her.
But sitting across from him in the Great Hall, she felt a prickle of unease, as if her brain and heart were at war. The former admired the workings of his brain, while the latter yearned for the company of a man who made both her brain and heart feel at ease.
Not always, though. Her brain knew that her obsession with him might never end well, not when he was doing his best to fight his attraction to her.
Darragh was avoiding her. For the past few days, he had holed up in his study, refusing to answer her knocks. She might have believed that he was not in his study if she had not seen the maids walking out of it with half-eaten food.
She should feel insulted that he felt the need to avoid her. Instead, what she felt was longing mixed with confusion. The combination was fueled by their encounter, where he had drunkenly admitted his attraction to her and proceeded to devastate her senses with toe-curling pleasure, imprinting himself so hard on her that he became all she could think about.
It baffled her how he could stay away if he felt the same longing she did. Her nights were haunted by erotic dreams that featured him as the main character, and she could not stop looking around everywhere she went in the hope of seeing him.
For a man who insisted he needed money and had gone to the trouble of finding her a husband to be able to access that money, he was refusing to take the solution that was right in front of him. They had great chemistry, an undeniable one in fact, yet he insisted he was not right for her. But it had definitely felt right when she was a moaning, squirming mess beneath him as he pleasured her.
Anyway, while he struggled with indecision, she could not afford to do the same. In her short time here, she had come to love the clansmen and become very conversant with their plight. She was going to do what needed to be done, since Darragh was not ready.
That was why she was here, discussing betrothal plans with a man she chose randomly from the two that had survived Darragh’s elimination. If all went well, she would be wed and bedded by the next month.
“… there might be whispers about the haste of our marriage. Do ye nae think?” Laird Alan asked, his face contorted in concern.
As expected, he was concerned about her. He had always been considerate. It was one of his best traits.
“Ye daenae have to worry,” she said with a reassuring smile. “I am fine. Besides, ye daenae strike me as the sort to care about a wee bit of gossip.”
“I daenae care as well. I am just happy to marry a fine lass like ye. I ken that some of the gossip might come from envy. It isnae everyday that one gets the chance to marry the most beautiful lass in Scotland.” He flashed her a charming smile.
Under normal circumstances, she would have felt the same about marrying such a charismatic man who seemed to know how to flatter her. Except she did not.
“I hope it willnae be trouble, planning a wedding at such short notice?” he asked again.
“Nay, it willnae be. We here at McGhee Castle can plan a wedding in the blink of an eye. Daenae worry.”
Of course, she could trust Orlagh and Amber to rustle up all the servants to prepare a feast by nightfall if she wanted. They loved her so much and so loudly that she sometimes forgot that it had just been mere weeks since they had met.
Frankly, she felt like she had known them forever. They felt like the family she had never had.
