Page 57 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“In her chamber, locked away from the world, they explored one another. His lips on hers, daring tae cross the boundary, tangling…” He broke off, watching as Kyven breathed deeply from where she knelt on the rug. Her hand now quivered around the pencil still hovering in the air. “Dae ye want me tae stop, Kyven?” he offered.

She shook her head, apparently unable to find words.

“Tangling their hands together,” he pushed on, speaking a little faster now. “Her gown was torn from her body, skirts ripped, as he laid down over her. Their bodies molded, moving as one, as he reached for her –”

“Gilchrist?” Kyven whispered.

He lifted his head from the page, looking at Kyven. Her chest was moving up and down with fast breaths, her cheeks had pinkened as she stared at the fire.

“Dae ye ken what it is like?” she asked.

“What?”

“This.” She turned to face him on the rug, gesturing to the book. She ushered forward a bit on her knees. He let the book drop into his lap and leaned forward too, his elbows on his knees. They were close together indeed, so near, that if someone entered now it would surely be seen as scandalous. “Have ye ever… with any love in yer life…” She was struggling to phrase the question, wetting her lips before she went on. “Have ye ever shared –”

“Aye,” he broke in, not wanting her to blush any redder with embarrassment. “I have.” He nodded.

“Oh.” Her eyebrows raised. She didn’t look scared by the idea or even unnerved. If anything, she looked more curious than before. “What was it like?”

“It was…” He paused, scratching his chin as he searched for the right words. “Intense.”

She exhaled, a soft sound escaping her lips.

“The most intense feeling of me life,” he confessed in a whisper. “Yet that was a long time ago. That love was lost.”

“I am sorry.”

“Dinnae be.” He shook his head. “That love is a world away now.”

She shifted once more on her knees, coming closer. The tension between them was so strong in the air now that he longed more than ever to reach out and kiss her, to show her the very things that she was clearly curious to know.

“Helen says it hurts fer a woman.”

“Only the first time, but nae much,” he assured her with a nod. “And if ye are with the right man, Kyven, that pain will be momentary.” He leaned forward a little more. “There are ways a man can ensure ye feel pleasure, that ye are taken to such heights of excitement that the pain is nothing,” he said with heat.

“The right man?” she spoke breathlessly.

“Aye, the right one.” He nodded again. “Ye want tae ask something else?” He could see there was more curiosity in her eyes as she fidgeted on her knees, her hands writhing nervously together.

“I ken nothing of it,” she whispered. “I was wondering…”

“Aye?” he encouraged, leaning so far forward now that he was in danger of falling out of his chair.

“How does it work?” she asked, scrunching her nose.

The sudden humor of the question made him smile.

“Which part?”

“Ye ken what I mean.” She blushed and laughed with him. “A man is so… I mean ye today, ye were so…” She gestured down at his crotch then blushed even redder and covered her face.

“Someday, ye may like the idea of a big lover, Kyven.” His tone had grown deeper. She shifted the hold she had on her face, so she was only covering her lips, staring up at him with those green eyes wide. “It hits places of pleasure which are a little…” He paused, searching for the right word, “deeper.”

“Oh.” She gasped, her chest rising and falling. He was completely distracted now, staring at the open neckline of the gown that was revealing rather a lot. She’d let the shawl she was carrying fall away, showing her chemise and stays a little beneath the gown. His mouth grew dry at the sight of her.

“Ye speak of pleasure as if it’s the greatest thing kenned tae ye,” she murmured, shifting on her knees and making that cleavage all the more noticeable. His eyes flicked to hers, but she plainly did not know what she done.

Oblivious in yer seductiveness, Kyven.