Page 42 of A Forbidden Night with a Scot
Alicia stood there frozen, stunned by the sudden kiss to her lips. She smiled to herself, a hand coming up to touch her lips, feeling the echo of that kiss still lingering.
It was all worth it, she thought; all the hiding, all the risk of being found out. It was worth it just for this, the fluttering of happiness she felt in her stomach whenever Samuel kissed her. Every time seemed like the first time, and Alicia thought she would never tire of his kisses.
I must hurry, Faither cannae find me here.
They had barely avoided a catastrophe. Alicia was not going to risk attracting her father’s attention by lingering too long in Samuel’s room, so she finished dressing and then headed to the door. Before she could leave, though, she paused for a moment, looking around her until her gaze landed on a shirt that he had discarded on top of his belongings. Glancing around her as if she expected to be caught, Alicia reached for it, taking it with her as she left the room.
Then, it was only a matter of sneaking back into the one she was meant to share with Katherine, a task that proved to be easier than she had thought it would be, as there was no one in the corridor outside the rooms. Slipping inside hers was only a matter of a few steps.
When she opened the door, she found Katherine already awake and dressed for the day, her eyes wide when she spotted Alicia. Before she could even close the door, Katherine rushed to her, the questions tumbling out of her mouth.
“Where were ye? Were ye with Samuel? All night? What did ye dae?”
Alicia shushed her sister with a hand over her mouth as she shut the door and pushed her farther into the room. “Hush! What if Faither hears?”
“Faither is already downstairs,” Katherine said, and though her words were muffled by Alicia’s hand, she could understand them perfectly. Removing her hand, Alicia rushed to her bags and shoved Samuel’s shirt in one of them, stuffing it between her other belongings. “Ye took that from him?”
“Well, he willnae miss it,” Alicia said with a sly grin. Even if he noticed the shirt was gone, she knew he wouldn’t mind. “I was with him. An’, well, I was with him all night.”
She didn’t elaborate on that, but Katherine gasped and jumped onto the bed, landing on her stomach as she leaned close to look at Alicia. “All night?”
“All night,” she confirmed, and she couldn’t keep the smile from her lips.
“Did ye …?”
Though Katherine didn’t finish her sentence, Alicia knew what it was she was asking, but she didn’t know how to answer her. “Well, in a way. But nae exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
In that moment, Alicia realized that the only good source of information Katherine could have about such things was her. She now knew a little more about what happened between a man and a woman, and she could prepare her sister for what she would encounter on her wedding night, and it was that thought which helped her push past the embarrassment of recounting the events of the previous night.
“He said he wouldnae… ruin me.” Though it had disappointed Alicia at that moment, she knew why he had refrained from going all the way with her. She was still unwedded and there was no telling what would happen between them. Neither of them could count on the possibility that they could one day be together. They had to be prepared for any outcome, including one in which Alicia married someone else. “So, he pleasured me only with his mouth an’ his hands.”
Frowning, Katherine asked, “Ye can dae that?”
“Och aye,” said Alicia, nodding fervently. “An’ it’s very nice. It’s unlike anythin’ else, Katherine. I dinnae ken how tae explain it.”
“So it’s good, then?” she asked. “It doesnae hurt?”
Alicia was about to reassure her sister that it didn’t hurt at all, but then a thought occurred to her; Samuel had not taken her. She considered the possibility of his manhood entering her and she suddenly found it daunting, now that she was not in the throes of passion.
“What he did didnae hurt at all,” she said. “But I dinnae ken…”
“What?”
“… how it would fit…”
Katherine and Alicia stared at each other in silence for a few long moments before they both burst into giggles. Once they had started, it seemed impossible to stop, both of them gasping for air and doubling over the longer they laughed. Not for the first time, Alicia wished Emmeline was there with them, laughing along, but it had been so long since the last time the three of them had been together.
Slowly, she and Katherine fell quiet, Alicia losing herself in her memories for a short while. She missed Emmeline terribly, but she didn’t want Katherine to think of their sister, too, and lose her good mood.
“We should prepare fer breakfast,” she said instead, trying to push her own thoughts away for now. Though Emmeline was always at the back of her mind, and there was a part of her that always missed her, just as she knew there was a part of her sister and a part of her father that always missed her, Alicia had to keep her thoughts occupied by other things, otherwise she would never stop mourning her sister’s fate.
Katherine hummed and rolled off the bed, stretching her arms over her head. “I’m ready,” she said, running to look at Alicia with a teasing smirk. “Ye’re the one who spent all night somewhere else.”
Alicia grabbed the first thing she found among her belongings—a slipper—and chucked it at Katherine, who expertly avoided it, ducking just in time. Laughing, she left the room, and Alicia was left to stare at her retreating back, shaking her head in reluctant amusement.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
