Page 142 of Highland Spy

She gave him a sharp look and shook her head. “You were promised a final kiss only.”

“Aye, ye’re right.” He took her face in his hands and stared down at her for a long moment, as if he meant to trace every line into his memory.

Or perhaps she was romanticizing the moment and wishing that was what he did.

His warm lips came down on hers, so softly she almost did not feel the touch. It was too delicate a kiss. Too tender.

She wanted something final and fast.

The spicy scent of him spun around her like a spell, teasing out memories best left forgotten and coaxing her body to respond.

She lifted her face without meaning to do so.

She didn’t want this sweetness. She wanted to feel the kind of hard kiss that would scrape her teeth against her lips and flare into a blind passion in which she could lose herself.

But his kiss remained tender, loving.

Dangerous.

His tongue brushed her bottom lip and finally, finally, he pulled away. He looked so deeply into her eyes, she felt as if he were brushing her soul. There was something deep in the way he gazed at her, something powerful enough to squeeze her heart. “Ariana, I love ye.”

His words plunged her from a languid state into the cold shock of awareness. “What?”

He stroked her cheek. “I love the way ye laugh and how it makes me feel.” His lips pressed against her cheek, warm and firm.

She stayed silent, wanting to believe and yet fearful to do so.

“I love yer determination and how ye accomplish things most others canna.” He kissed her forehead.

“I love that ye’re able to love others, despite yer own hurt. Despite yer determination not to.” His mouth brushed the tip of her nose.

A ridiculous kiss.

Ariana leaned her head away from him and gave what felt like an awkward smile. “I believe I told you one kiss.”

He held her face in her hands and didn’t let her turn away from him. “And I love how damn stubborn ye are.”

His mouth came down on hers, once more tender and sweet.

And while no less dangerous, this time she did not fight it.

His tongue swept across her bottom lip and she let her mouth part open. Connor groaned and deepened their kiss. His hands slid over her body, underneath the plaid to her waist.

The coolness of his palms seeped through the thin fabric of her sark and was like heaven against the heat of her skin.

Connor administered kisses down her jaw to the place just below her ear, where his lips made prickles of pleasure dance down her spine. “I dinna think I deserved ye.” He kissed her there once more before letting his mouth slide lower.

“And do you think you do now?” She pushed him back slightly and stared up at him. His mouth was pink from their kisses and his hair was slightly mussed.

“No.” His gaze was dark with tortured honesty. “But I canna stand the thought of no’ having ye in my life.”

His mouth came down on hers with the fierceness she’d wanted earlier, though for an entirely different reason.

Then she’d wanted it to erase the tenderness of his touch. Now she wanted it to sate the desire raging through her, the one wanting to touch all of him, the one wanting to claim and be claimed.

“I love ye, Ariana.” His declaration was growled between their lips. He pulled back and stroked her face with a trembling finger. “I’ve no’ anything to offer ye but my love and a dark past. I promise ye, everything I am, everything I have, is yers.”

His words fell on her ears like a sweet melody and poured golden hope into her heart, sealing off the sting of pain.