“Aye, I suppose ye could say that.”
“So let me in,” she implored him. “Let me help ye. Let me be there for ye. Dinnae let it all weigh on ye alone.”
His jaw tightened, a flash of something in his eyes that made her heart hurt.
“If I fall, Ailsa,” he muttered, lowering his gaze to the covers. “They fall.” He gestured beyond the window. Though he did not specify exactly what it was he was referring to, he didn’t need to. She could tell. His people, his estate, his Keep… they were all relying on him to stay standing, to stay solid.
But that didn’t mean he had to do it alone.
She reached across the covers, gripping his hand tightly.
“Then let me help ye stand, Tavish. Please.”
He gazed at her for a moment, not saying a word. And then, at last, he lifted her hand to his lips and planted a kiss against it.
“Ye already do.”
She smiled, a flutter of hope in her chest. She knew it would not be easy to get him to accept her support, but if she kept showing him that she was willing to offer it, he would have to eventually, wouldn’t he?
“Let me come to the village with ye,” she suggested. “The one that was attacked. I can help, I can offer the women some comfort.”
He smiled widely, something in him lighting up at the sound of such an offer. She was glad to see his reaction, so sweet and so hopeful. She would have done anything he asked her to in that moment, truly. He could have called on her to rebuild the whole place with her bare hands, and she’d not have had it in her to say no…
But, before he could give her an answer, he reached across the bed and pulled her into a sudden, passionate kiss, the kind that told her just where his mind had gone.
He swept what remained of their breakfast to the floor as she put aside the tray, trying to make sure she didn’t spill anything.
She hardly had time to consider it before he pounced on her and pushed her into the bed.
She laughed as he buried his face into her neck, his hands plucking the thin fabric of her nightdress away from her body like he had been waiting to do just that all morning.
She turned her face to look him in the eye, catching sight of the darkness that flashed in there, the thrilling promise of everything that he intended to do with her.
But, before she could comment on it, he kissed her again, his tongue lancing past her lips as he tore the fabric away from her skin.
He pulled the covers away, tossing them aside and leaving her whole body exposed to the cool air around them. She gasped as his hand slipped between her thighs, parting her legs with ease and reaching for her sex.
It felt like every inch of her body was held to the flame when he touched her, each inch of her written with a mad, helpless passion that seemed able to burn her alive.
She moaned, and he pressed a kiss to the spot just below her ear, clearly enjoying her reaction.
“Aye, that’s it, lass,” he murmured to her. “Let me hear ye. Let the whole Keep hear ye…”
He slipped his fingers inside of her, drawing a gasp from between her lips as he coaxed pleasure from her most intimate spot. One knee was pressed into her thigh, keeping it pinned there so he could have all the access he needed.
All she could do was clutch on to him for dear life, nails digging into his shoulders as his eyes seared through her. How could this man, who had been so sweetly delivering her breakfast just a while ago, be such a beast in other regards?
He coaxed his fingers upward, finding some spot within her that made her head spin.
She whimpered, her grip even tighter now, balling his shirt in her hand with her desperation to undress him entirely.
He grinned, biting down softly on her bottom lip and tugging on it lightly, clearly enjoying the response he earned from her with every caress.
Once he was sure he had taken her to the point of no return, to the point where she’d have done anything to feel him inside of her, he stilled his fingers, pressing his firmness into her hip.
“Tell me what ye want, lass,” he rasped into her ear, and she squirmed below him, her voice caught in her throat as she tried to come out with an answer.
“Ye ken well what I want.”
