Oh, but she already had. She had taken his heart and left him with a gaping hole where it used to be.
When her hand touched his chest, Remy groaned. “Lass.”
“Shh,” she answered, tracing his scars with her nimble fingers. “Please.”
So he relented, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as she led her torturous assault. Her fingers slipped down to his abdomen and he shifted his hips, knowing he should stop her. She was innocent, not some randy lass that had seen a cock before, but her hands, her touch, they felt good against his skin.
When her fingers tugged at the laces, Remy reached down and helped her, springing his cock out of its confines. He heard her sharp intake, glad that he had doused the lamps long ago, and guided her hand to his aching member. “See, lass?” he whispered as he moved her hand over the silken skin. “This is wot ye do tae mah.”
Gretna said nothing, allowing him to show her how he liked to be touched and when she brushed the head, he hissed. He was far too close to turn back now and either he was going to spill his seed on her hand or his own.
“Remy, look at mah.”
He did so and she gave him a small, innocent smile. “Show mah how tae please ye.”
“Gretna,” he said with some uncertainty, knowing they were crossing into dangerous territory.
“Please,” she begged, her hand tightening on him. “I want tae do this.”
She was going to be the death of him. He took her hand and showed her how to stroke him from root to tip, a ragged groan leaving his chest as they picked up the pace. To his surprise, she didn’t shirk away from the roughness and when he, finally, spent himself, it was her that finished him off, her soft hand covered in his seed.
After cleaning and adjusting himself, he gathered her close, his hand in her hair. “Lass, I could sleep for years now.”
Gretna giggled against his chest. “How aboot only a few hours so we can go home?”
Home. His chest tightened and so did his arms, already thinking about what would happen once he got her home. Could he walk away knowing that she would be seeking out another man in her bed? Could he stand by and watch her find a Scot worthy of her?
He couldn’t. Remy knew he would struggle to watch her take a husband, knowing that he was giving her the pleasure that Remy had introduced her to. He would have to watch her swell with another man’s child when he ached for it to be his own.
Remy pressed his lips into her hair, his mind jumbled with thoughts that shouldn’t be his. He was falling in love with Gretna.
The next morning, Remy was up and moving by the time Gretna started to stir, her eyes fluttering open and a lovely stain on her cheeks. “Good morn,” she said, sitting up in his bed.
“Good morn,” he said, rubbing his chest, trying to rid the ache he felt at seeing her. “If we are tae leave sometime today, ye will have tae get packed.”
Her eyes widened and she threw back the covers, blushing as she reached for her dress that he had draped over the chair. “Ye believe mah?”
“There’s nothing tae believe,” he told her as she donned her gown. “If ye aren’t going tae wed the Scot, then there’s nothing more for us here.”
Gratitude shone in her eyes and she threw her arms around him, hugging him close. Remy allowed himself to pull her against his body and breathe in her scent, knowing that his time to do so was going to be limited. Ian would never allow him to ask for Gretna’s hand in marriage and Gretna was not cut out forthe life of a warrior’s wife. Selfishly, Remy didn’t want to give up his post for farming and the like. This wouldn’t be the proper life for Gretna either.
He couldn’t have her. “Go on and pack yer things,” he told her, pulling away before he never let her go. “I will make some arrangements.” They couldn’t take the carriage, which meant he needed to find her a horse to ride and provisions for the journey. It would take him a few hours at best.
She nodded and stood up on her tiptoes to brush her lips over his. “Thank ye, Remy.”
Emotion lodged in his throat but he nodded to her and she left his chamber, shutting the door gently behind her. Remy stared at it for a long time, his heart thudding in his chest. What was he going to do? What would he tell her when they arrived back home?
How was he going to get over Gretna?
13
Gretna tried and failed to wipe the smile off her lips as she made her way down the stairs and to her chamber, wrapping her arms around her waist. Last night had been amazing, something she had never thought she would encounter and Remy, she couldn’t even think about him without her heart racing. She had touched him intimately. She had allowed him to do the same with her.
And somewhere in the mix she had lost her heart to him.
A sigh escaped Gretna. She was in love with Remy Wallace. It should have felt awkward but it didn’t. All her life Gretna had been searching for love, for that great love that would take over her very existence and give her everything she wanted in her life.
Now she had found it with the most unlikely person, but it didn’t matter. Remy was who she wished for, who she had prayed for, who she had dreamed about. It mattered not that he didn’t have a keep of his own or a lofty title. Now Gretna understood how people fell in love. The other things came second to the feeling that filled her right now. They could live in a hovel and she wouldn’t care.
