“You’re right, of course,” he said, smiling down at her. “I’ll not let anyone spoil our celebration.”
They ate course after course, and in between courses, there was still more toasting. After the feast, the trestle tables were moved to clear the floor, and the distinctive sound of bagpipes, drum, and flute filled the hall.
“I don’t know how to do your Highland dance,” she objected when Rory pulled her to the middle of the floor.
“Ach, ’tis no more than hops, skips, and a few twirls,” Rory said with a wink.
The music filled her ears and her feet seemed to fly to the lively beat of the drum. She had never expected to enjoy her own wedding, but she was having a grand time. When Rory twirled her, she leaned her head back and laughed with reckless joy.
But every now and then, she felt a nagging sense of guilt in the pit of her stomach for the secret she had not yet told him.
***
“I thought they would never leave us,” Rory said when they were finally alone in their bedchamber.
Sybil swallowed as she watched Rory’s naked backside as he crossed the room with the grace and unconscious ease of a warrior to bar the door. She let her gaze run over his broad, muscular back, narrow waist, and long legs as well. By the saints, the man was beautiful.
And he was hers now.
When Rory turned around, the heat in his eyes made her pulse jump. Her gaze traveled down his muscled chest and rippled stomach to his full erection, and it jumped again.
He looked as if he’d like to swallow her whole, so she was surprised when he sat beside her on the bed and gently took her face between his hands.
“I’m such a lucky man to have you.”
“Lucky?” She gave a light laugh. “You’ve wed a Lowland pauper.”
“I’ve wed a lass with the courage of a lioness, the cleverness of scholar—and most of all, a true heart. I know you’ll stand beside me no matter what comes.”
“I will,” she whispered. “Always.”
She pushed away the stab of guilt for not telling him she had not been his bride until today. This was her true wedding night with him, and she was not going to let anything ruin it.
“This is our beginning,” she whispered against his lips as she leaned forward to kiss him. “Nothing else matters.”
He took her in his arms and covered her with kisses—her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead, the sensitive spot beneath her ear, the side of her throat.
“Ye smell like heaven,” he said, burying his face in her hair.
She pulled him into an open-mouthed kiss and tangled her fingers in his hair. As their tongues moved together in a slow, sensuous dance, tendrils of desire spiraled low in her belly.
Without lifting his mouth from hers, he leaned her back on the bed and slid his hand up her thigh, pushing her night shift up to her hip.
“This has to come off,” he said. “I need to feel ye against me, skin to skin.”
Oh, aye.She lifted her hips and raised her arms as he pulled the gown over her head.
He raked his gaze over her, lighting sparks across her skin and making her nipples taut.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed.
His eyes darkened as she ran hands down his chest. The coarse hair felt good against her palms. When she trailed her fingers down to his belly, he stilled above her. He sucked in his breath as she ran her tongue across her top lip and brushed her fingertip against the damp tip of his shaft.
“We’re taking this slowly tonight.” He took her hand away and gave her a wicked look as he kissed her palm. “Verra slowly.”
When she pulled him down into another deep kiss, his chest felt so good against her bare breasts that she nearly purred. After a time, he broke his mouth away to run kisses along her jaw and down her throat. Her breathing grew shallow as he kissed and licked his way down the center of her chest. Her breasts felt heavy and her nipples taut with anticipation.
“Mmmm,” she sighed when he covered her breasts with his big hands. Her sighs turned to moans as he rolled her nipples between his fingers and thumbs.
