Page 23 of The Highlander’s Untamed Lady

He opened the door for her, allowing her to enter first before he followed. He stood there, his green eyes hooded with something she didn’t need to bother trying to read. “Will you close the door?”

He closed it with far more care than she could have. Diana’s body trembled now with the most incredible desire she’d never felt before. Her heart raced and her breath came erratic. Everything in her betrayed her desire, and it was all she could do to bother attempting to control it.

Her legs threatened to fall out from under her.

Evander did not seem to notice. Instead, he caressed her cheek and sent a delightful shiver dancing over her skin. “Ye look so verra beautiful.”

She remained silent, unsure how to respond, the same as earlier when he’d been so complimentary. Part of her didn’t trust the admiration when she had been told otherwise for so long, and yet part of her saw Evander as different.

His praise was a spell curling around her, embracing her – a thing so dangerously fragile she was fearful of it breaking.

His fingertips touched her chin.

“Will you kiss me?” she asked.

A soft groan came from the back of his throat, and the hand on her face swept around to the back of her neck, gently holding her in place. He closed his eyes and Diana did the same, her face tilting farther upward in anticipation for what she had spent far too many days wanting – her husband’s kiss.

Chapter Nine

One kiss nearly broke Evander’s control. Diana’s mouth was so silken beneath his, so lush. And Evander’s hunger was so very great.

He brushed his lips over hers and grazed them with his tongue. She gave a soft moan of encouragement and opened for him. He deepened the kiss and slid his hands to her waist. His body trembled deep inside with restraint. With want.

She leaned against him, her body pressed against the length of his while her tongue carefully danced with his. Her desire was brilliant, passionate, and fragile with an inexperience that left Evander fearful of frightening her.

She rose on her tiptoes, pushing herself against him, gently bumping where his cock strained against his kilt. He groaned at the delicate pleasure of so slight a touch and his mind spun. Diana’s hand found its way to his chest where her fingers spread in timid exploration. A whimper came from her throat.

Their tongues caressed while they kissed and nipped and searched one another’s bodies with their hands. Evander cupped her bottom and pulled her against him where his cock raged with hard, blatant need.

Diana stiffened. “Stop. Please stop.”

Evander’s body tensed at the interruption, but he quickly let her go and drew back. Diana’s mouth was swollen and red from their kisses. Indeed, his own mouth tingled still.

His breath came fast and everything inside him trembled with frustrated desire.

Diana was not unaffected. Her own chest lifted and lowered with her heavy breath and her eyes glowed with shared pleasure. “I – I’m not…”

Evander’s stomach clenched. She wasn’t ready. Still.

She turned away from him so a wall of golden hair swept between them. “I’m not a virgin,” she said quietly.

Of all things Evander had anticipated Diana would say, it was not this. Not with how her kisses had displayed such innocence, not when she’d been hesitant to touch him.

And then the realization came to him, a douse of cold water to his lust. He reached out to find the softness of her cheek with his hand and tilted her face back to him. “Tell me what happened.” His voice was surprisingly calm despite the anger roaring through him. For he knew what she would say before she even spoke. And it made him want to kill her father.

She kept her eyes downcast. “I chased off all my suitors and refused to marry.”

Evander took her left hand in his right one, and comforting warmth rushed between their palms.

Diana’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “He pushed the dowry higher and higher, but apparently my manners, my demeanor, my feral nature, were so notorious, every man he attempted to wed me to demanded we meet. I made sure they would not want to marry me. My father tried everything to get me to be compliant: starving me, beating me, imprisoning me. He even tried to kill my wolves once, but they fled and hid. I don’t know why he didn’t just kill me.”

Evander rubbed his thumb over their clasped hands. The hurt of her father’s retracted love echoed through him as surely it must her, cavernous and painful.

“He thought if I…” Diana pursed her lips. “If I had my maidenhead taken, I would be more inclined to marry. And so he asked me to meet him in one of the rooms we used for guests. Only it wasn’t him waiting for me, but a determined suitor.”

“Give me the man’s name and I’ll kill him.” Evander snarled the words out before Diana had a chance to finish speaking.

She lifted her attention to him and gave a malicious smirk. “He received his punishment, in addition to a reassurance he did not want to marry me. I suspect he’ll never have children, let alone lay a hand on a woman again.”