Page 21 of Highlander’s Lesser Evil

“Why?” Slowly, she curved her hand around his face. “I am yours. You don’t have to give me time.”

“But I do.” With a sigh, Theo ran his hands up and down her arms. “Ye know, I tell everyone that my parents had a happy marriage, that they were well suited for one another...but they were hardly happy. They both wanted power, and they used each other to get it. When my mother was truly angry with me, she told me about the night that I was conceived. It was her wedding night, and...well, let us say that it is one night that she never forgave my father for, or forgave me for. I wilnae do that to ye.”

Gemma’s heart ached for the boy who had to grow up with parents who would blame him for something that happened before he was even born.

“Our wedding night has come and gone, Theo, and I am not an unwilling lady. All that passion ye spoke of before? I want that. I want it with my husband. You claim that will be the foundation for our marriage. So show me.”

His grasp on her arms tightened just a little, and his lips parted. “Maybe I am not ready.” His hands rested on her thighs. “There is much that I fear ye will hate me for in this marriage, but I swear what we will do in bed wilnae be one of them.”

If he needed time, then she would give it to him. This was his night as much as hers. “You will be faithful, though.”

“Oh, my love, if ye need desire, I think there is something that I can do to help ye. Something to help us both.” His fingers began massaging her thighs, drawing her skirts up. The cool air of her cottage kissed her bare calves, and she shivered.

“Theo,” she whispered, and clutched at his shirt.

“Any time ye wish for me to stop, ye just say the word.” He drew her skirts up higher. “Kiss me, Wife.”

When his fingers caressed her bare skin behind her knee, she gasped and fell forward, inches from his face. “The kiss on my wedding day was my first.”

“Then take yer second, my lass.”

Leaning forward, she tentatively pressed her lips to his. His hands moved higher up her legs, and she parted her lips inadvertently. Immediately, his tongue snaked it and took control. With a moan, she clutched at his shirt and leaned in, sliding up his hard thighs until she could feel the proof of his desire.

“Theo!”

“Aye, lass. Doonae doubt that I want ye. From the moment I laid eyes on ye, I knew I wanted ye. It takes all of my control not to lift ye onto this table and sheath myself inside of ye,” he muttered as he moved his kisses down her neck.

Helpless against him, she rolled her head to the side to give him all the access he desired.

“Ye are so sweet,” he whispered. “The taste of ye is maddening.”

“Don’t stop.”

With a growl, he shoved her skirts up and moved his hands between her legs. “Feel that?” he moaned as he skimmed his knuckles over the very center of her. Pleasure coursed through her, and she jerked from the sensations. Never before had she felt such clawing need.

She arched her back as she moved against his fingers. “I...Theo...” What could she say? Plead for more? Ask for the end of this delicious torment?

“Please.”

“I am going to give ye everything ye want, Gemma.” The pressure intensified. “Kiss me again, Gemma. I want to taste ye when ye fall apart.”

Fall apart? She was wound so tightly that she thought she might never be okay again, but she needed something to anchor her, and his lips would do. Falling forward, she kissed him like it was her only chance to breathe. The sensations only grew stronger as his fingers pressed against her, probing inside of her.

If his fingers could make her feel this way, what would happen when they were well and truly joined?

“Yes,” she whispered as she ran her hands through his hair.

Suddenly ashamed of how she might look, she buried her face in his neck.

“Doonae hide from me,” Theo begged. “Please. I want to see ye.”

“I can’t. Not yet. Oh, Theo!” She wrapped her arms around him with a gasp and held on for dear life as her body exploded around him. Shaking and gasping for breath, she nearly came to tears at the thought that her husband’s touch could make her feel like this.

“Ye are all right,” he whispered as he rubbed his hands up and down her back, and cradled her. “I have ye, Gemma.”

“Now I can see why you wanted to wait,” she said shakily as she climbed off his lap and turned her back on him. Taking a few moments to collect herself, she brushed her hands down her dress. “That was intense. Are you all right?”

“Aye.” He looked at her with concern. “Do ye wish to finish yer meal?”