His temper flared. He wanted to pick up his sword and lash out at something.
“Come back to bed,” she gently whispered, holding both his hands in hers. “I understand that you are upset. Let me help you. Stay with me tonight and hold me. All I want is to be close to you.”
He felt very tired all of a sudden.
Catherine led him to the bed and drew back the covers. They climbed in together.
He gathered her close, spoon fashion, and they lay quietly in the dying firelight for a long time.
“What you did to me tonight…,” she softly said. “It was like floating up to heaven.”
He ran his thumb across her shoulder, then kissed her tenderly between her shoulder blades. “I’m glad.”
But it was not enough. He needed more. He wanted all of her, body and soul.
He was quite certain he had made a mistake, he thought, by letting down his guard. God help him, he had never wept in front of a woman before. He was out of his depth with her.
Hours later, just before dawn, he proved himself right on that account when he woke to the tempting allure of her warm bottom pressed tightly against his pelvis, and he was overcome by an unstoppable wave of passion.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Lachlan breathed in the lavender scent of Catherine’s skin and laid soft, feathery kisses across the back of her neck and shoulders. She woke with a sigh and rolled to face him, meeting his heady desire with sweltering kisses of her own.
“Oh, Lachlan,” she whispered, “I want you so much.”
“I want you, too, lass.”
He rolled on top of her but was careful, as always, not to position himself too close, though he wanted desperately to hold her against him, to worship her with his hands and adore her with his mouth.
He pressed his hot skin to hers, pushing, stroking, kissing… They were so close and tight to each other; her breasts were crushed against his chest. Her soft belly quivered against him, and she moaned and whimpered, digging her nails into his shoulders and wrapping her long, shapely legs around his clenching buttocks.
He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. His hands stroked her back while he kissed the soft, warm tendons at her neck. A rush of sensation coursed through him. The extent of his yearning was incomprehensible.
His mouth covered hers, and she sucked at his tongue, thrusting her hips, stroking his hair away from his face. She gazed into his eyes with love, and his heart trembled achingly.
“I want to be closer to you,” she cried, squeezing him between her legs, caressing his lower back.
He nodded and wrapped his whole body around her, groaning in the predawn light, so hungry for her, his feelings so raw.…
Then slowly, without ever meaning to, he slid inside the warm and welcoming haven between her legs. Her moist heat surrounded him in rapture, and he was overcome by emotion.
They both went absolutely still, for he was in deep, pressed firmly to the hilt.
“You’re inside me,” she whispered, her teeth colliding with his shoulder.
“I know. Please, don’t move.”
Neither of them spoke. He could barely breathe over the heavy pounding of his heart.
“It feels so good.” She turned her head to the side on the pillow.
“Aye. But I need to pull out.”
Yet he could not seem to do so.
His blood rushed wildly through his veins. Dangerous seconds ticked by on the clock. Her sweet, honeyed depths engulfed him in bliss, and he soon found himself pulling out, only to push right back in.
“Just for a few seconds,” he huskily implored.
