“About what I said to you at the camp...” He paused, seeming to struggle for words.
Her stomach lurched as she realized that he had not meant what he said, and now he was regretting the words. He would apologize and send her back home, perhaps keep an eye on them for a while, then forget about them. Why should a laird want to take care of a commoner anyway, especially one as lowly as she?
“It’s awright, M’Laird,” she said awkwardly, “we were a’ feelin’ a bit jumpy then. We were no’ oorsels.”
He looked at her, stunned for a second, then began to laugh. “No, Leana, that’s not what I meant.” He shook his head, smiling, and cupped his hands around her face. “What I meant was that I love you. I truly, sincerely, deeply love you, and I want you to come and stay so that I can take care of you. The thought of you living in a little cottage with a frail father like Joe will keep me up at night. Abigail wants you to come here. She already loves you like a sister, and Abigail is like me—she does not give her affections easily.”
“We could come an’ work for ye,” Leana suggested brightly. The thought of living in a castle amongst noble people was incomprehensible to her.
Fraser gave an exasperated sigh. “No, Leana, I do not want you to work for me!”
Leana looked into his dark eyes, puzzled. “Then what?”
“I want you to live here, I want you to be safe and sheltered,” he whispered. “I want you to stay where I can look after you and your father. He is an old man. He should not be staying in those old damp cottages without any privacy or comfort for either of you. I cannot bear the thought of you living that way. I want to take care of you, do you not see?” He was almost desperate.
“He has lived that way a’ his life an’ he is fine,” Leana said indignantly. “So have I, an’ we have aye been fairmers.”
“Your father is not fine,” Fraser replied firmly. “He is old, infirm, and his lungs will only become worse if you stay there. And I—” He paused and ran a hand back through his hair. “If you come here for your father’s sake we can still be near each other. Otherwise I would miss you too much.” For the first time since she had known him he sounded unsure of himself.
“Me? Ye would miss me?” she asked in disbelief. “But I am a commoner and you are a noble. Dinnae be soft, Fraser. We could never be seen thegither.” Her eyes were as troubled as his were hopeful.
“Leana, I could not care less. How many times do I have to tell you? I love you, Leana McBeth. I am the Laird here and everyone else serves me. Who is going to gainsay me? You have saved me from myself. And I do not mind telling you that I want this body very much.” He gazed at her with deep longing, seeing her lovely contours through the thin nightgown.
Leana said nothing as he climbed onto the bed beside her and lay looking at her for a few moments. The love in his eyes was transparent, and Leana knew that he had been truthful. She wondered if her eyes looked the same.
“Come here, my beautiful girl,” he murmured, then he pulled her against him so that the whole length of their bodies were touching. He kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and stroking hers. She moaned with pleasure and arched herself against him, trying to get closer, but there was no space between them. She felt his hard manhood between them and its pressure aroused her so much that she flooded with wetness around her secret place. It tingled deliciously and she gasped with pleasure at the new and wanton feeling that was washing over her.
Then his hands were on her breasts, gently kneading them over her gown. Even that now seemed too big a barrier between them, so he unlaced the front of its bodice and drew the sides apart so that he could see them.
He drew in a breath and smiled at her, then said, “So lovely.”
“Sae glad ye like them,” she said, grinning mischievously. “I grew them especially for you.”
“You are a mad woman,” he laughed softly. Then he cupped them in his hands, teasing out the nipples with his thumbs, and licked them so that Leana felt the most delicious, surging, tingling sensation yet.
She arched her head back and moaned. Now she knew why people wanted to do this thing so much. She held the back of Fraser’s head, pushing his face into her chest so that he could not get away. “Fraser, Fraser, Fraser,” she whispered his name repeatedly until he stopped what he was doing and gave her a hard, demanding kiss.
She felt his hand creep under her dress and stroke the sensitive source of her womanhood, and she cried out as an almost unbearable feeling of pleasure burst through her, shooting out through her whole body. She felt his finger move in and out of her, first one, then two, till she was writhing with almost unbearable delight. He slowed down a little and she thought he was going to stop, but he was teasing her, making her first experience of this nature into a sweet, slow torture.
Then a wonderful thing happened. The sensation of a delightful, building tension that she had been feeling burst into ecstasy that washed over her, and she lay back on the bed, sated in a way she had never been before. She was still a virgin, but she had been loved.
“You have no idea how long I have wanted to do that,” he whispered, stroking her hair. “And more besides.”
“I hae never felt onythin’ like it!” Her eyes were wide in disbelief, then she thought of something. “Whit about you, Fraser? Is there somethin’ I can dae for you?” She looked so anxious that he laughed softly.
“Later,” he whispered. “It is enough that you are happy for now.”
“Very happy!” She stood up and went over to his side of the bed, and she lifted his kilt and looked at what was underneath it. She put a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with amazement.
“I am sae glad I am a woman,” she said, her voice trembling, then she turned away, rather frightened by what she had seen.
Fraser went over and gathered her into his arms. “When you decide what you would like to do please tell me, because I do not care what anyone thinks. If every single one of my friends deserts me because I move a commoner into my castle, even with the best of motives, I will know they were never worth it in the first place.”
She put her arms around him and let her cheek rest on his chest.
“You have slept all afternoon,” he told her. “It is dinnertime, and I think your father has just arrived.”
“Good,” she breathed, then tilted her head back for another kiss, pulling him towards her again. He laughed in surprise, then kissed her with all his heart.There is only one thing missing, he thought.She still has not said she loves me.
