The Highlander's Enchantment Page 14

  “Ye want me to kiss ye.” It was a statement, not a question. And oh, how true it was.

  “Aye.” The word slipped from her mouth on a sigh. “But I shouldna.”

  “Aye. Ye shouldna. And I shouldna.” He stepped closer, his heat radiating in the air between them. “But as we’ve already done so once, what would one more time matter?”

  That was exactly what she’d been thinking. Saints… She was going to need to do extra penance for this. And it would all be worth it.

  Laird Rose reached large, warm hands forward, slipping them up her arms as he tugged her nearer and closed the distance between them. Her skin felt singed where he touched her. Her heart joined the staccato rhythm of the drums outside, maybe beating faster. The wet heat of his chest pressed against her gown and left little bits of dampness that reached through the fabric to touch her skin. Water that had been on his bare flesh was now on her own. His lips brushed hers so gently they could have been a feather. The soft kiss was a tease. It made her heart leap, her pulse throb against her throat, and she whimpered with need, laying her hands to his warm skin ever so lightly. She jerked back, recalling his near nakedness. Kissing was one thing, but to touch him?

  Edan let out a low growl in his throat, wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her flush to him. His lips claimed hers in a kiss that sent her head spinning. Her curves molded perfectly to his hard body, and still she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She could barely even think about it, as his kiss overpowered all thought. He slanted his mouth over hers, his tongue teasing the seam of her lips, dipping inside to run along the edge of her parted mouth when she gasped.

  This kiss was very different from the one they’d shared outside of her brother’s study. This was… This was as though his mouth was making love to hers. As though he’d staked his claim. And in answer, she tasted him back. Tentatively at first, she slid her tongue over his, and then with frissons of excitement lancing through her, she moved her tongue against his in earnest, bold strokes filled with passion.

  Zounds, but she was coming undone. How could she ever go back to life as usual after having been kissed this way?

  Blair wrapped her arms around Edan’s neck, finally figuring out what to do with her hands, wanting to touch. Her fingers tangling in his damp locks, certain that after tonight, after this, she was never going to be the same again.

  Chapter 11

  Lady Blair felt more delicious in Edan’s arms than when he’d kissed her that morning in the alcove.

  Edan wasn’t certain if it was because he’d been wanting to kiss her ever since, or if it was because upon reaching his tent, he’d caught her scent. At first, he’d thought he was drunk. That perhaps somehow the firth had been filled with whisky, and he’d drunk enough to sate ten men. For what would she be doing in his tent?

  When he’d slowly peeled back the flap and revealed her inch by inch, she been standing there with a look of desire and bewilderment on her face that had been both endearing and sped up his heart, sending his blood shooting southward. He’d also, for a flash of a moment, wondered if she’d been sent there to kill him. The assassin in her brother’s great scheme.

  But the thought was fleeting and overpowered by his desire to kiss her.

  This was a lass who knew what she wanted, and yet she was afraid to take it unless presented with the offer. And Edan was more than willing to offer a kiss. Ballocks, he was in trouble, because truth be told, he was willing to present her with a whole lot more.

  It was one thing to kiss her lightly in an alcove, to walk away before his tongue could brush over hers and claim her. But this… This was madness. This was a kiss filled with passion and desire. The very primal heat of him yearned to lay her out on the ground right now and take what they both wanted. To claim her for his own in truth—again and again.

  But he’d denied her father’s offer this morning.

  Why on earth had he done such a thing? Because with her in his arms right now… He wanted her. More than he should. Edan needed to pull away. To tell her to go back to her chamber and lock the door. To tell his men to pack up their camp and prepare for a long night upon the road. Instead of doing any of that, he ran his hands through her silky dark locks, wrapping a long tendril around his finger.

  Somehow this chit had managed to wrap herself around his insides and clung there like a barnacle on a birlinn. Yet even as he thought it, he knew it wasn’t true. He’d resisting seeking her out all evening. It was why he’d gone to the firth for a swim. He’d needed to cool the fever building inside him. He’d needed to put distance between them.

  “Mo chreach,” he murmured against her mouth.

  She whimpered in answer and tucked herself closer.

  Edan’s shaft was rock hard and pressing hotly to his trews, quite in danger, in fact, of pushing its way out of the loose ties and terrifying the woman altogether. He really needed to let go. To force her to leave…

  A few seconds more of kissing… That had to be enough. Had to. Edan ran his hand down her spine, hovering around her hip, and resisted the urge to slide lower to grip her rear so he could tuck her pelvis against his hardness. He slid his hands back up to the middle of her back to keep himself in check.

  When those few seconds passed, Edan knew he was in real trouble. Because he couldn’t let her go. Didn’t want to. The desire to take her home, for her to be his, was so intense, it sent a burning heat through his chest.

  Stop! Get control, man!

  He cupped her face in his hands and slowly ended the kiss. Both of them were panting. With his forehead pressed to hers, his eyes open, staring into her blue gaze, he whispered, “Marry me.” Then he swallowed hard, not having expected those words to fall off his tongue.

  Blair gasped and stepped backward enough that his hands fell from her face. She swiped a hand over her forehead, pressed her fingertips to her lips. “Ye’re only saying that because we kissed. It doesna have to be—”

  “Marry me, Lady Blair.” His voice was soft, and he sauntered forward, even as she stepped backward. “Ye said yourself, I was your one and only knight.” He meant it to be a tease, referring to her missive, but his words were gruff and full of need.

  “Nay, I canna.” She shook her head, swiping hair from her face that stuck to her lips.

  Edan paused, her words sinking in. “Why not?”

  She ceased her fidgety movements, her face toward his. “I… I dinna know ye.”

  “We know each other better than most whose marriages are arranged. There is something between us, lass. Ye’d not have come to my tent tonight if there wasna. Ye would not have allowed me to kiss ye for a second time today.”

  “Aye…” She shook her head again, clearly confused. “Something has come over me.”

  He knew exactly what it was, because it had come over him, too. “Desire.”

  “Aye.” She touched her lips, and he resisted the urge to pull her into his arms again. “And I canna marry ye simply because I want to keep on kissing ye.”

  He chuckled. “Some would say ye should marry me because of that.”

  In the darkness, she cocked her head, and he could almost picture the look of curiosity on her face. “What of other things?”

  Edan slid his gaze over the shadows of her body, remembering the feel of her luscious curves, the way her chest rose and fell at a rapid pace against his. “Other things?”

  “Other things that are not kissing.”

  Mo chreach, but his head was going places it shouldn’t if he was going to let her leave with her maidenhead intact. “Like…making love?”

  She gasped. “Nay!” Her delicate fingers came to her throat, and he wished to reach out and press his fingers there to feel how her pulse leapt. She seemed flustered now. “I meant, such as conversations about things ye like, or what ye dinna like.”

  Edan tried not to stare at her, as confused as he felt. What could she possibly mean? No one had ever asked him such things, and he’d never put those
questions to another, either. Having gone to be fostered at such a young age and rarely coming home, he’d not observed many married couples. Was that something they did? As he studied her silhouette, he was struck with a strong desire to know such things about her.

  “I would know what ye dinna like and what ye like. As my wife, I would seek only to give ye pleasure.” He was certain of it.

  “And your clan?” She sounded worried. “What will they say?”

  Now that was something he knew for certain. “They will rejoice in our union.” They’d been asking for him to wed, and Raibert had already given his blessing. The clan would be thrilled by the alliance.

  She bit her lip. “This is all very sudden.” She sounded nervous now, and she kept running her fingers over her lower lip.

  Edan brushed her arm with the backs of his fingertips, which made her jump a little at the contact. He chuckled. “Dinna fash, lass. I vow if ye give me a chance, ye’ll not regret it. But I’ll not beg ye. If ye wish to be mine, then know the offer stands. If not, I ask ye not to come back to my tent again. The desire to kiss ye is too strong.” His words were perhaps not the most romantic, but a man could only take so much, and her hesitation was starting to cause some of the potent power of her kiss to drift away, leaving vulnerability in its place. An emotion he rarely experienced and was most certainly not enjoying.

  Blair nodded. “I should get back to the castle.” She took wide steps around him, avoiding meeting his gaze, and a painful thump thudded in his chest.

  He had a feeling this might be the last time he ever saw her, for why would she not say anything more about his offer?

  She ducked out of his tent without a backward glance. When he came out behind her, she’d disappeared into the shadows. The lass was good at that. If her scent didn’t linger behind her, he might have wondered if she’d been there at all.

  He stared into the distance, watching her huddled figure cross over the bridge and through the gate. If he were a more selfish man, Edan would go to her father and tell him that he accepted the offer to wed his daughter; perhaps even go so far as to say he’d already taken liberties and brace for the beating that would certainly come afterward.

  But Edan wasn’t a selfish man. He admired her. Aye, he wanted her to be his. He wanted to kiss her, make love to her, share a life with her. But she was right, they barely knew one another. And he wasn’t going to force her into something she didn’t want. Not when she was so confused. Not when she might have regrets about it after. The last thing he wanted was for his wife to regret having married him.

  Edan shook his head as he headed for the campfire. He grabbed a jug of whisky from Raibert and drank deeply.

  “How was your swim?” Raibert asked.

  Edan grunted. “Not long enough.”

  Blair ran all the way back to her chamber, her breath heaving once more as she burst through the door, just as she had that morning. And just like that morning, her mother was sitting on her bed, patiently waiting for her. Though this time when Arbella spotted her daughter, she only nodded and said, “Ah, so I see you’ve found what you want.”

  “What?” Blair asked, confused.

  “Where were you?” Her mother arched one delicate and perfectly shaped golden brow.

  “Outside. Dancing with the others.” Blair waved her hands around in the air as if to dust away the falsehood on her lips. The lie felt deceptive to her own ears, and she knew her mother would pick up on that without a moment’s hesitation.

  “Well, your bedchamber has a lovely view of the gate, and the tents beyond, and I’ve a good eye.”

  Ah, so her mother had seen exactly where she’d been. That stopped Blair cold. Her arms fell at her sides, her blood ran cold, and her feet suddenly felt entirely too heavy.

  “Nothing happened,” Blair lied again, and was certain it showed on her face. Not to mention her lips still tingled from the way Edan had kissed her.

  “Lies do not become us, dearest.”

  Blair sighed and sank back against her chamber door, her heart feeling as though it were in her throat. “I was with…someone. A man. A verra handsome man.”

  “Who?”

  “Laird Rose.” Blair sighed, resigned to telling her mother, even though she’d tried to hide it at first.

  Her mother looked shocked at that. “Truly?”

  “Aye.”

  “Huh. Well”—she stood—“then perhaps we should have a conversation with your father?”

  Blair shook her head vigorously. “Nay, Mama, please. I dinna want Da to know.” She chewed her lip, hearing Laid Rose’s voice in her head asking her to marry him, and her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t even know his first name…

  “What happened?”

  Her mother’s question snapped her back to the present, and Blair considered hiding the truth, but she could tell by the way her mother was looking at her that she already knew what the truth was. “A kiss, that is all.” But again, she sounded as though she only spoke a half-truth, and her mother raised a brow. “And he asked me to marry him.”

  “And what did you say?”

  “I said it was too sudden. That I didna know.”

  “Why did you go to his tent?” The question was softly spoken but jarring enough in its bluntness.

  Blair shrugged out of her cloak to buy herself some time to try and think of what her answer could be. Slowly, she walked to her wardrobe and hung the cloak inside. “I was curious.” That was the truth.

  “About?”

  “Him.”

  How could she tell her mother she was curious about whether or not the kiss from that morning had been as powerful as she’d made it out to be? How could she tell her mother that she was curious to touch him once more?

  “I’m sorry,” Blair whispered. “I know ye must think me horribly immoral, and I will go to confession first thing in the morning and accept whatever penance is given.”

  Lady Arbella laughed softly. “My darling, I do not think you immoral. There is pleasure in kissing. To be curious is only natural. Especially when the kissing is with a handsome warrior.”

  She chanced a glance behind her, seeing that her mother looked only amused. “Ye’re not mad?”

  “Nay. I might be if ye decided to take up kissing with every lad in the castle, but to have kissed one man twice…” She shook her head. “I canna be mad at that.”

  Blair gasped. “I didna tell ye we kissed twice.”

  Her mother touched her cheek and stroked softly. “My sweetling, you forget I was once young. I could tell by the way you looked this morning that you’d been kissed.”

  Blair sighed and hugged her mother. “It was wonderful.”

  “And he asked you to marry him?”

  “Aye. And he said he would seek only to please me, Mama.” She pulled away and stared at her mother. “He is kind and strong, and I believe I would be happy with him.”

  “So why do you hesitate?”

  “I dinna know. I’ve been so confused lately.” Blair frowned, thinking about all the wild thoughts she’d been having. The longing to be set free. If she married Edan, would she be set free or only imprisoned once more?

  “Did he tell you about his conversation with your father?”

  “Nay.”

  Arbella sighed and tugged Blair toward the bed where they both sat. “Your father offered your hand to Laird Rose this morning. Laird Rose declined.”

  “What?” Blair’s stomach soured. It would seem the man was playing games with her. Why?

  “He said he’d not come here for a wife.”

  “And then he asked me to marry him?” She shook her head, all the elation of the moments they’d shared sliced by an imaginary dagger.

  “Aye.”

  “I dinna understand… Was it because he felt obligated for having kissed me?”

  Lady Arbella shook her head. “I cannot say why he changed his mind, my dear, but plenty a man has kissed a woman and not offered marriage. I think he meant it.”<
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  “But he said nay to Da… And Da offered without asking me first?” She wanted to be offended by that, but the part of her that knew it was her father’s right to do so didn’t argue.

  “The point is, my darling, he would not agree this morning, and something has changed his mind. I’m guessing that something is you.”

  “Why didna he mention it to me, then?”

  “My guess would be he wanted you to agree to marry him, not to be forced.”

  Blair leaned back against her pillows and stared up at the rafters. That made sense.

  And she’d hesitated, at which point he’d said he wasn’t going to beg her. She could understand the man had to keep his pride, and she’d never wish for him to beg her anyway.

  “I’ll ask you again, my dear. What is it you want?”

  Blair smiled, glancing down at her fingers that not too long ago had been threaded in his wet hair. She pressed her hand to her belly, trying to quell some of the flopping, to no avail. “I want to keep on kissing him.”

  Arbella smiled and ducked her head as she let out a soft laugh. “Then I think ye know exactly what to do about it.”

  “Aye. I’ll speak with Da first thing in the morning.” Was she really doing this? Laird Rose was really going to be hers?

  “Good. I’m certain you’ll have his blessing, and you already have mine.” Her mother stood, bent down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Sweet dreams, my darling. On the morrow, you’ll be a betrothed woman.”

  The slow unraveling that had begun when she thought he’d played her for a fool coiled back up, bouncing around inside her. A betrothed woman… Her whole future ahead of her.

  Sleep was the last thing that came to Blair that night. Nay, all she could think of was what a future with Laird Rose would bring, and the pleasures of his kiss.

  Chapter 12

  When dawn broke the following morning, the dark ashes from the bonfires steamed, though they no longer burned. Bodies lay huddled under woolen plaid blankets, and dogs licked at their owner’s faces.