Miranda had not been touched in fifteen years and, frankly, it showed in the way those flames of desire were bursting out of her with little effort required on his part.
Och, she was clutching his shoulders and pressing her mouth to his with ravaging ardor.
But she was also crying. He felt the moisture on her cheek as he caressed her.
He ended the kiss because her tears concerned him. “Miranda?”
She scrambled off him when he shifted in order to sit up and take her in his arms. She brushed her tears aside with the back of her hand, obviously dismayed by her behavior. “I don’t know why this is happening.”
He drew her into his arms and then straightened the bedsheets around them, for they had done a fine job of messing them up. “Yer tears? Or yer ardor?” he remarked, raising the sheet to cover her bosom and provide modesty while she was about to confide her feelings to him.
Aye, this was Miranda feelingeverythingshe had suppressed since that cruel betrayal all those years ago, and her, barely a lass of eighteen when she’d married, was humiliated, becoming a widow at the tender age of twenty.
She nodded. “Both. Oh, Bram. Why are my feelings such a mess?”
“Ye’ve lived with yer past pain for so long, ye forgot what it means to be happy. Let the past go, my love. Yer life is with me now. We will walk it together. I’m no’ here just for tonight,” he said, knowing her late husband had abandoned her shortly after their wedding night. This had to be what she was fearing would happen with them next. “Ye’ll no’ be rid of me so easily,” he gently teased.
She laughed.
“Och, sweetheart,” he said, giving her cheek a gentle caress. “Ye’re mine to love and protect from this day forward. I’ll no’ be shirking my duty to ye. Nor is it a duty when being with ye gives me so much pleasure. We have strong feelings for each other, so dinna be afraid to acknowledge them.”
“I thought it would be easy for me to move forward because I love you so much, Bram.”
“Aye, lass. I know ye do. Perhaps this is all too much for ye at once.”
“It is,” she admitted.
He wrapped his arms more securely around her. “Let’s take it slow. Ye’ve nothing to prove to me or to yerself. Do ye wish to talk for a while? Rest yer head on my shoulder and ye can tell me what is running through yer mind.”
She nodded, then nestled against him and closed her eyes while he gently stroked her silky cinnamon curls. Her hair was such a beautiful color, a burnished copper by candlelight, and felt so soft to the touch as he skimmed his fingers through her lush mane.
She said nothing, just curled her body against his for a while. He wasn’t certain what had brought forth her tears as they were about to couple. Perhaps they had gone about it too fast and she’d got the feeling it would be over and done within a trice, and then he would leave her.
Well, he would take it slow with her. They had all night.
He knew that he could pleasure her because she was not averse to his body, nor was she shy about having him look at hers, so beautifully shaped and quite exquisite. Neither of them had on a stitch of clothing, and she did not seem to mind.
Nor did he mind that her ample breasts were resting against his chest, soft and round, and would be as sweet as cream when he finally got to tasting them. One of her legs was brushing up against his own, bent slightly and quite close to his private parts, which he was trying to keep from stirring.
But Miranda excited him and his body could not help but respond.
“Bram…”
“Aye, sweetheart?”
“Let’s try this again.”
He did not need coaxing. His body was already hot and he was feeling an animal urge to mate with his wife.
Want her. Claim her.Protect what’s mine.
“Aye. I’m ready if ye are.”
He shifted their positions so that she was on her back. He settled himself over her, and then propped himself on his elbows so as not to squash her. He considered getting straight down tobusiness, then held back. He wanted her to experience the throes of passion first.
He did not think she had ever knownthat.
Och, all of this was new to her.
