Eighteen
The trust and desire that shone from Bridgette’s eyes filled Lachlan with such love that his body trembled. He spread out his plaid for them to lie on and then guided her to the ground. He laid her on her back with her hair spread around her face and simply stared at her. She watched him intently but did not speak. That she knew him so well already filled him with happiness unlike anything he’d ever known. She understood he was feasting on her, memorizing her every detail to keep with him not only during the day when they were parted but if a time came that they were parted for a great while. He prayed such a time would not come, but who could say for certain with King David and his nephew possibly warring with each other.
He leaned over her and ran his hands through her silken tresses, over her brow, and down the slender nape of her neck to her collarbone. He slid his thumb to the shadowy hollow between her collarbones and pressed his finger lightly there. Her heart thumped under the pad of his skin, and for a long spell, he counted the beats, which picked up speed and willed his own heart to match hers. Soon, within himself, he felt his pace and breath quicken, too.
He took her hand, guided it to his chest, and placed her palm over his heart. He didn’t explain. He wanted her to feel it before he said a word. They stared into each other’s eyes, and when hers widened and she gasped, he spoke. “We are one,m’eudail. Our hearts now beat as one in time. Distance kinnae change that. And we will nae let the seer’s prophecy change that. We will find a way to save my brother and have each other. Ye will always be mine as I am yers. Wherever ye may go, I will always find ye. Do ye ken?”
Her fingers curled into his chest, and she nodded. “We belong to each other,” she whispered throatily.
“Aye,” he said and leaned down to possess her mouth and seal the vows they had just made. His kiss was not gentle, and it pleased him greatly that her passion matched his. As he ravaged her mouth, she ravaged his. But when he pulled away to feather kisses down her belly, she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Tonight,” she said, her green eyes growing dark and slumberous, “ye will yield to me and my wishes.”
Desire flared within him. “What do ye wish me to do?”
“Lie down,” she commanded. “I wish to touch ye, to bring ye pleasure as ye brought me pleasure before.”
“Ye dunnae need to ask twice,” he teased and scooted beside her to lie on his plaid. She had sat up and moved to her haunches beside him to look down at him. Her thick red hair hung heavy on both sides of her face. When she reached behind her and gathered it into her hands to twist it behind her back, his mouth watered at the way her body moved with such grace and unintended seductiveness. “If ye mean to do with me what ye will, ye best make haste. I’m nae far from flipping ye on yer back like a rutting beast!”
“Fiend,” she said on a chuckle while she moved to straddle him. She ran her hands up his chest, stripping him of his control. When he groaned with pleasure, her smile widened and took on a mischievous twist. She leaned forward, kissing him fully on the mouth and brushing her chest against his. The featherlight friction drove him to grasp her by the hips and heave her up with only the thought of plunging himself within her.
“Nay,” she said sharply, stopping him mid-motion. “Ye vowed to acquiesce to my wishes.”
“Aye,” he said hoarsely, “so I did.” He lowered her back down and moved his hands to his sides, where he fisted them. She scooted lower on his legs and then ran her hands up the length of his thighs to the juncture between. She took his manhood in her hands and caressed him. He grew instantly harder, and the blood pounded from every part of his body to there.
“B-Bridgette!” He struggled to say her name. “I dunnae ken how long I can withstand this.”
“Ye will endure it until I say,” she ordered firmly.
Sweat dampened his brow, his back, and his chest, but he gave her a reluctant nod. “Aye.”
Chuckling, she dipped her head to where her hands had been and took him fully into her mouth. The pleasure was so great, so intense, that guttural cries ripped from his throat. She stroked him with her mouth as she had with her hands until his body tightened like a bow and he thought he may die of bliss.
“Bridgette!” he growled.
Her answer was to swiftly rise up, straddle him, and lower herself over his hard staff. She slipped him into her slowly. The farther she buried him in her hot, welcoming body, the closer he felt to losing the little bit of control he still possessed. The desire to clutch her hips and drive into her hard and mindless pounded at him relentlessly. He gritted his teeth to keep from doing exactly that.
She took his hands, moved them to her breasts, and then began to ride him, slowly at first, then faster until her pace almost matched what his body was crying for. He closed his eyes, wanting to absorb the moment, her scent of heather, and the consuming warmness of being inside her. When he opened his eyes, her head was thrown back, her hair cascading over her shoulders. The vivid shade of red contrasted sharply with her creamy skin. Her full, high breasts looked even fuller, swollen from desire and his earlier ministrations. He ran his hands up her flat abdomen to her soft breasts, and he gently caressed her until moans came from her. He knew the moment she found her release. Her core tightened around him and snapped his control like a stick underfoot.
He gasped. “Now?”
“Now!” she answered on a pant. “Take me.”
He grasped her hips, rolled her onto her back, and plunged so deep within her that he worried for a moment he might have hurt her. He stilled as she opened her eyes and a smile pulled at her lips.
“That is the best feeling in the world,” she said and then wiggled, which made him growl. “Dunnae move,” she commanded.
He wanted to cry out the agony that command would bring, but he clenched his teeth until she giggled. “I’m just teasing ye. Move now and move fast, aye!”
“I’m but yer servant,m’eudail.” He grasped her hips tighter, and together they found the perfect rhythm that drove them both to screaming and ended with him exhausted and winded on top of her.
For a moment, they simply lay there, their bodies still joined in the most primal way possible. He whispered his love into her ear, and as he did, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and whispered her love to him in return. He rolled onto his back and drew her to his side, slipping his arm under her neck to support her.
She nuzzled against him, draping one leg over his and trailing her fingers up and down his chest. “I’m afraid,” she said.
He glanced at her, a shaft of moonlight shining bright on her face. Worry danced in the depths of her beguiling eyes. He was afraid, too, but he would not voice it and worry her more. He stroked his hand down the length of her hair. “Dunnae fash yerself,m’eudail. I will nae let anything happen to ye, to us, or to Graham.”
“Ye ken ye kinnae vow such things, as do I, but I will take the pledge anyway and cloak it around myself.” She lay her cheek against his chest, and his hand found its way to her back where he traced the curve of her body down to her waist and over her lush hips.
