Page 71 of In Bed with a Highland Brute

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The pain struck Eloise first. Her thighs tightened around Murdoch as he reached so far inside of her that a new ache developed. Murdoch reached down and kissed her once more, but softer this time, more tenderly. He didn’t talk of the pain and neither did she, but he didn’t move. If anything, he held himself as still as possible, in order not to push her.

Eloise was amazed as her hands drifted up and down Murdoch’s back. Her mind couldn’t help thinking of all the men she had accompanied over the last few years as an escort. More than one had been demanding, trying to do this with her, but Murdoch had never pushed her, never asked her. Even now, he’d given her more than one chance to say no and pull back from him. The tenderness he kissed her with now made her heart cling to him all the more.

Aye, I am in love with him.

Her fingers drifted from his shoulder blades down his back and to his hips. Her movement seemed to encourage him, and he experimentally moved their hips together. The sudden moan that escaped her lips, into their kiss, clearly thrilled him, as she could feel his lips smiling against her own.

He was slow at first, never once moving too fast or pushing her. He rested his weight on his good arm as his other hand explored her. Sometimes he reached for her hip, using it as an anchor point to rock the two of them together. Other times, he took hold of her breast, squeezing softly and eliciting such pleasure that she was sure there was a rush of warmth around their connection.

Unable to keep kissing him anymore for her moans grew so much, she pulled back from him an inch, planting her hands into his chest to marvel up at him. He seemed to take it as a cue. He moved his body to his knees and reached for her thighs, pushing them wider apart so he had the complete view of her. He thrust in and out of her, faster now, building up a fast rhythm that had her body growing taut. All the muscles in her body tightened as she hurled headlong toward greater pleasure.

“Murdoch…” His name escaped her lips as he grew faster and harder. She supposed there would be more pain with his faster movements, but there wasn’t, there was simply more pleasure still. Something that enthralled her as much as the pleasure itself was the sight of him above her.

With a reddened face and sweat beading down his chest, he was a sight to behold. She longed to hold onto that vision of him, to never let it go, as he made love to her. His head tipped back as moans started to escape his lips too. They were practically small growls, animalistic and male, so intoxicating to her that her hands on his chest splayed outward, her fingers trying to touch as much of him as possible.

As he thrust into her, she felt something tightening in their connection. It was a ball of pleasure, growing and growing, until her body could not contain it anymore. She gasped at the sensation as it washed over her suddenly.

It was like what he had introduced her to before yet somehow greater. She saw stars as she closed her eyes and flung her head back, feeling him deep within her. She was still basking in the aura of that pleasure as he stilled above her. He thrust merely a few more times before his body trembled and he froze. He tipped his head back, moaning at the sky. It was the greatest amount of noise she’d ever heard from him, and she loved it. There was something so captivating about the idea of being the one to make him emit such a sound.

Slowly, he folded his body back over hers, their bodies entwined as he rested on the blanket with her. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him, determined to feel him close to her once again.

There was a warmth where they were still connected, and she was in no hurry to pull back from it.

“Well,” he whispered, pulling back from her lips an inch, with such a smile on his face that the fear he’d shown on the clifftops seemed far in the past. “That was something more than I was expecting.”

“Ye mean ye didnae expect it tae be so…” She struggled for the right word to tease him.

“Overpowering?”

“Oh, that is a good word.” She sighed, contented with what he had chosen. “When is the wedding again?” she teased him. He laughed and moved his lips toward hers for another kiss.

“I dinnae think we have tae wait fer the wedding tae dae that again, Eloise.” He kissed her once more with one of those deep kisses that made her weak.

Eloise wasn’t sure how long they laid there together on the blanket, stealing brief touches of fingers tantalizingly brushing one another or daring to run across bare skin, but she was in no hurry to leave. In the end, it was only the cold that made them move.

Aye, he’s right. We dinnae have tae wait fer the wedding.

As he drew her into the loch so they could both bathe together, Eloise found herself looking at that wedding in a new light.

“Ye keep smiling.” Clyde sat down beside Murdoch in their father’s office, the two of them in great armchairs beside the fire. “What’s got intae ye?”

“Nothing.” Murdoch lied and stared at the fire once more, trying to straighten his face. He knew very well what a strange time it was for him to be smiling in such a fashion. The castle had been attacked and there were many wounded. There was also the strange matter of who had forged that note from Callie to Eloise, and why they drew her to the clifftop. He had no leads, no idea who had done it or what they intended by such a thing. Just the thought of it brought him pain, but then he saw Eloise in his mind again.

He saw her as she told him her heart was his, then he saw her beneath him as he made love to her. The way she had arched her back as he had pleasured her, how she had clawed at his chest and stomach, trying to get closer to him, with her hair wild about her head on the blanket. Even the memory made his body stir, wanting her again.

“There ye two are.” Fergus strode into the room and Murdoch shifted in his seat. He had to free his mind of such longings now if he was to concentrate. “There is much we need tae discuss.”

Fergus stood before the fire, his hands fidgeting on the weapons belt at his hips. Now, they all went around with their weapons at their hips, just in case the castle was attacked again without warning.

“How are the men?” Clyde asked, looking equally ill at ease as he sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“The injured are… well, injured.” Fergus winced. “Many have taken heavy blows and if we have tae fight another battle again in the coming days, I fear if we could stand it. And the other soldiers? How are they?”

“Recovering,” Murdoch said, thinking of the report he’d been given earlier that day from a captain in the guards. “They are running drills tae prepare themselves, but we must give them time tae rest and sleep as well, so they’re ready when the Douglas clan come again.”

“Aye, aye, ye’re right.” Fergus moved on the spot, turning to face the fire, planting his hands against the fireplace, then turning back to face the pair of them again. “I have sent out scouts tae the edges of the clan borders. Hopefully, we willnae be taken by surprise so much again. Yet in the meantime, the people need something. They need something tae think of, tae look forward tae. Something that brings them hope.”