“Why are ye here?”
He lifted one side of his mouth into a grin, the moment passing for now. “’Tis mah bed, lass.”
“Ye know what I mean,” Ainslee shot back, nervous about having him so close.
Arran’s grin faded. “I owe ye an apology. I didnae mean what I said.”
Ainslee’s lips parted. “What?”
He looked down at the bed, his hands bracing on his thighs. “Aboot trusting ye. I dinnae care if ye are McDougal’s sister. It matters not. I have seen ye. Ye have saved mah life. Ye are nothing like yer brother.”
Emotion clogged Ainslee’s throat at his words. He didn’t think her to be Liam. He didn’t hate her. He wasn’t going to give her over to her brother. The relief was palpable, the hurt from earlier now wiped away from her heart.
“Why?” she asked, needing to know. “Why did ye change yer mind, Arran?”
He looked at her then, his eyes soft. “I dinnae know, but I do know that ye’re mah wife, and I want ye tae stay that way.”
Unable to help it, she flung her arms around his neck, feeling his own arms hold her tightly to him. “Thank ye,” she breathed, fighting back the tears. “Thank ye for believing in me.”
“I should have never thought otherwise,” he replied, his voice gruff. “I’m vera sorry.”
She believed his apology. Pulling back, Ainslee looked at Arran. “I’m vera sorry I lied tae ye.”
He reached up and cupped her cheek with his rough palm. “Ye had yer reasons, and I had mine. ’Tis time tae put those aside.”
“’Tis time,” she echoed as his thumb rubbed over her skin lightly. A new awareness formed in her mind as Ainslee realized she was pressed against her husband’s strong chest, her heart beating rapidly in her ears. She was so close she could see the tiny freckles that traced the bridge of his nose, the small scar that framed one of his eyebrows.
This was her husband, and she wanted this closeness between them. “Will ye kiss me now?”
He growled low in his throat before his lips were on hers, the fierceness of his kiss nearly stealing her breath. Not having kissed anyone before, Ainslee allowed Arran to take the lead, though soon she was kissing him back, matching him kiss for kiss.
When his tongue slipped inside her mouth, Ainslee was lost to an entirely new sensation. Somehow, she ended up pressed into the mattress, Arran breaking the kiss and staring down at her.
“Is this what ye want, lass?” he asked, his breathing erratic. “Do ye wish tae be with me?”
Ainslee nodded without really contemplating anything else. She wanted to have this intimacy with her husband, for them to truly become man and wife so there was no question who each belonged to. She did not imagine as good of a man that Arran was that he would be one to stray from her side. Her heart warmed at the thought of having someone who cared for her.
Who would, in time, perhaps love her.
“Yes,” she breathed, both anxious and intrigued on what might happen next. “I wish tae be with ye, Arran.”
He reached out and boldly cupped her cheek. “Then I will worship yer body so that ye may always remember our first time together.”
This Scot would be the death of her and likely steal her heart if she let him. “Please,” Ainslee said, not sure of what she was asking.
He quirked a grin. “Aye, mah lady.”
He kissed her long and hard, his hand finding the hem of her short shift and pushing it up inch by inch, exposing her skin as he did so. When his hand cupped her breast, she gasped against his lips.
She had never felt anything like that before. “Take it off, lass,” Arran said, tugging on her shift.
Ainslee pulled it over her head and flung it to the floor, not embarrassed at the way his eyes raked over her body. She wanted him to see her. She wanted him to touch her.
“Lovely,” he replied, his hand cupping her breast again. When he bent his head and his tongue touched her erect nipple, Ainslee writhed against him, the flame inside growing higher until Ainslee thought she might combust.
Arran’s other hand drifted down her body and delved into the very center of her, touching Ainslee in places that only she had touched in her lifetime.
“Arran,” she breathed as his finger found the place that ached for him.
