Page 36 of A Highlander's Bride

God help him.

He brushed the backs of his fingers along her jaw. Her skin was warm, impossibly soft. She trembled beneath his touch—but didn’t pull away.

He cupped her face in both hands and kissed her slowly, with the control of a man barely holding himself in check. She opened for him with a sigh, her lips yielding, sweet, and curious. She tasted of honey and night-kissed air, and when her hands gripped hisléinetugging him closer, Daniel nearly lost every shred of control.

Her breath hitched as he kissed her throat, lingering at the curve where her shoulder met her neck. Her hands slid beneath hisléine, her palms warm and bold as they explored his chest. He groaned into her throat then caught her mouth in a kiss that was no longer gentle—hungry now, raw with need. He slid her shift up with swift, sure movements, revealing pale skin inch by inch. She stood before him likesomething holy, vulnerable, and unafraid.

“Sweet Mary,” he muttered, staring at her with reverence. “You’ve undone me.”

He undressed with rough efficiency, never taking his eyes off her. When he came to her again, bare skin to bare skin, she gasped—her hands splaying across his chest, fingers trembling slightly.

“Tell me what you feel,” he whispered, his mouth brushing the shell of her ear.

“Everything,” she breathed. “I feel everything.”

He laid her on the bed, sliding over her slowly so she wouldn’t feel overwhelmed. He took his time, worshipping her with lips and hands, learning the sounds she made when he kissed her breasts, when he trailed fingers along her thigh, when he whispered her name into the hollow of her neck.

Her moans were soft, but each one burned through him.

When he finally climbed between her legs, and eased inside her, he did so with care, kissing her through the brief sting, holding himself utterly still until she curled her legs around his waist and whispered, “More.”

Then he moved—slow and steady at first, building a rhythm that matched her breaths, her sighs, her whispered pleas. Her nails dug into his back as her body tightened around him, and he knew he was lost.

He reached between them and circled the stiff part of her he knew would bring her the pleasure she deserved. She was wet, warm, and swollen. She began to toss her head back and forth. When he pinched the stiff flesh, she shattered beneath him with a soft cry, and after only a few thrusts, he followed, burying his face against her throat as his world broke apart in her arms.

When their breathing slowed and the room quieted again, he wrapped her tightly against him.

“I’ll never let you go,” he murmured into her hair. “Not now. Not ever.”

Beth nestled closer, her voice thick with emotion. “I wasn’t planning on leaving.”

He kissed her hair and said softly, “This is not just for tonight. You ken that, doona you?”

Beth looked up, her smile soft and full of emotion. “Aye. I ken.”

*

Lady Chisholm pinchedher maid, Meggie, on the arm. “Ye have been practicing her handwriting, why now do ye say ye canno’ do it?”

With tears in her eyes, the young lass looked up at her Lady. “I can do it, but I’m no’ sure enough that the note would be believed.”

“If ye want to keep yer position and have a roof over yer head and food in yer belly, ye better make it believable.”

The lass bent over the piece of parchment Lady Chisholm had snagged from the laird’s solar, along with a page from Lady Beth’s journal from her room when she was out doing things a well-mannered, well-raised lass such as her Alice wouldn’t do.

Lady Chisholm paced in her bed chamber while she waited for the stupid maid to finish the notes. She turned to Joshua, the man who was bedding her maid and who had agreed to help them take care of this little problem. “Things are quiet now, and the guardsmen are on the ramparts. ’Tis a good time to grab the girl and drag her to the dungeon.”

With some questioning, Lady Chisholm had discovered that Castle Leod had a dungeon that hadn’t been used in many years. It would be the perfect place to keep Lady Beth until the elders forced the laird to marry Alice. She didn’t want to harm, or, God forbid, kill the lass, just get her out of her daughter’s way.

Even when they discovered what she’d done to assure her daughter would be the next Lady Mackenzie, if they attempted to undo what had been done it would be going against the king’s edict to marryeither Beth or Alice by Beltane.

With the deadline, and Beth missing, marriage to Alice would be the only way to comply with the king’s wishes.

Happy with the results of Meggie’s notes, Lady Chisholm walked Joshua down the corridor. Just before they turned the corner, the door to the strumpet’s room opened. She pushed Joshua back into a dark corner where she joined him.

Laird Makenzie walked past them, only partially dressed, which told her the situation was worse than she’d thought. It appeared the little whore thought she’d outsmart her by taking the laird to her bed.

Once she heard his bedchamber door close, she nudged Joshua and they made their way to Lady Beth’s door. Lady Chisholm opened the door slowly and looked around the room.