Page 25 of Laird Of Her Heart

All the while, he held her gaze, studying her, soaking her in. He loved that her lips quirked up, that she rose up to press her open mouth against his.

He eased her down into the furs and kissed her deeply. Her palms scudded over his back, exploring the gouges she had no doubt left there. “Mmm.”

A murmur. His or hers. He wasn’t sure.

He shifted to the side, though he hated withdrawing from her, and pulled her into his arms.

“I am verra sorry,” he said, although it was probably a lie.

She stared up at him. Tucked his hair behind his ear. “Sorry? For what?”

“I dinna mean to ravage you.”

Her laugh was something of a snort. “Was that what that was?”

“Aye.” He’d been no better than a beast. Or at least, as good as one.

She put out a lip. “And here I thought I was ravaging you.”

With no warning, a laugh rose up within him and he barked it out.

“Do you not feel ravaged?” This she said with a score of nails along his chest that sent a shiver of fresh arousal through him.

He grabbed her wrist in a tight cuff. Not that he didn’t enjoy the sensation of being raked by her, but because he was certain he could not perform for her again…at least not for a long while. She’d devastated him. “A man ravages a woman. Not the other way around.”

“Well, where I come from, men and women are equal. They can ravage each other.”

He liked the idea. Liked it a lot. But he had to ask, “Did I hurt you?”

Her grin was wicked. “Did I hurt you?”

He turned to the side to show her his back. “I doona know. Am I bleeding?”

She kissed him there. Stroked him. “Only a little.” He heard the smile in her voice. “You’ll live.”

He rolled back over and captured her in his arms and kissed her again with ferocity that matched his mood. “You were amazing.” It needed to be said.

“So were you.”

Their gazes locked and something deep inside him shifted. Solidified.

He didn’t know who she really was, or where she came from or why she was here, but one thing was certain. He wasn’t letting her go.

“You’re mine now, Maggie.” He said in a growl. No other man would have her. Not while he was alive.

* * *

You’re mine now, Maggie.

The words resonated through her. Never before had she felt so complete, so wanted, so utterly…taken. He made love like a beast in heat and he spurred the same madness in her. Her body still hummed with pleasure, her mind still reeled.

She tucked herself into his embrace and gloried in the way he closed his hold on her. Their skin was sealed from groin to chest. Their heat mingled. Breath tangled.

His scent, his presence, sank into her, infusing her with an unutterable peace.

Perhaps she was being foolish to feel as though she had been brought here for this. As though the attraction, the draw between them had been strong enough to whisk her through time and space to his side, but the certainty roiling within her could not be denied.

“Promise me you willna leave,” he murmured against her hair. “Promise you will never leave.”