Page 26 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
He stepped up onto the bottom step, finally raising himself above her. She sidestepped him, her back hitting the wall as he advanced on her, and she let out a small cry of surprise.
He was a hair’s breadth from her body now as he raised one foot to the step above, his hips at an angle, tantalizingly close to the join of her legs.
“Are ye ready to beg me, lass?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Ye’ve disregarded me all week, and now ye decide ye need me?”
He lowered his head to hers, his wide mouth and full lips inches from her own.
“Ye didnae speak to me either, lass, perhaps we should both do better with each other.”
She scoffed. “Ye are the one who wanted a bride, Laird MacLennan, the effort is yours.”
Her breath stuttered as he whispered his lips over the skin of her cheek.
“Call me by me name, lass, seein’ as ye are to be me wife.”
“I will dae nae such thing.”
“Say it, Maisie, or I shall call ye Thomasina for the rest of yer days.”
Maisie glowered at him, but the need that was flooding through her body was undeniable. She wanted to resist but found it impossible to do so with him so close, his scent enveloping her as he moved ever closer.
“James,” she murmured, lowering herself as her back connected with the wall behind.
“Will ye beg me then, lass?” His body was fully against hers, his weight pressing into her as his hand moved between them. His fingers curled over her thigh, and she shuddered helplessly.
“Never,” she whispered softly.
Hang her rules—she is mine!
James crushed his lips over hers, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and pushing his hips into her as his hand moved gently over her breast. She gave a low moan of surprise, and he pulled back a little.
“I’ll make ye feel things no one else ever can,” he growled. “I’ll ruin ye, and ye’ll plead with me to claim ye,” he said rocking his hips against hers, the thin nightgown barely stopping him from pushing inside her there and then. “This is nae yer bedchamber, lass, ye will please me here in whatever way I command of ye.”
But even as he dove back in for another kiss her hands came up and pushed him away violently. He landed back against the wall on the other side of the step.
They were both panting, regaining their breath as she glared at him furiously.
“Ye can claim anotherprize, of yer choosin’, James MacLennan. I wouldnae lie with ye if ye were the last man on earth!” she hissed, and then she stormed up the steps and away from him, leaving him with his legs cocked on the step, and so aroused he could barely stand.
CHAPTER 10
“Good mornin’,Lady MacLennan!” Jean cried, pulling open the drapes.
Maisie groaned, turning over in bed and covering her face with her pillow. Her body ached from her restless night.
“I am nae Lady MacLennan yet, Jean,” she said despondently.
“But ye will be after today. Isnae that excitin’?” the maid replied wistfully and sighed. She was by the window, and her gaze was caught by something in the courtyard for a time before she continued bustling about the room, fussing with Maisie’s deep blue wedding gown that lay across the chair before the fire.
The seamstress had done a beautiful design of wild stags around the hem. A tiny part of her hoped that James would like it, but the more dominant part insisted that she should not care for his opinion at all.
Maisie rose, wandering over to where Jean had been standing, listening to the clink of glasses from downstairs. She looked down into the grounds below and noticed James’s man-at-arms in the courtyard training with one of the guards.
“What a beautiful day for a weddin’,” Jean said happily as she came up to stand beside her. The sky was blue and clear, a hazy light awakening before the real warmth of the day.
Jean sighed again and Maisie glanced at her. Jean’s eyes were on Harris in the grounds below and Maisie looked between them curiously.
