Page 81 of The Highlander's Auctioned Wife
Anna couldn’t breathe, fearing that if she exhaled the air in her lungs, it might blow away what was clearly some vivid daydream. Obviously, she had fallen asleep beside the tree, and this was just a figment of her imagination. This couldn’t possibly be real.
Gordon mustered a small smile. “In me defense, I thought ye were just settlin’ for the best of a bad lot. I thought that if I married ye, after the threat was gone, I’d be forcin’ ye somehow, takin’ away yer choice as I did when I arranged the weddin’.” He paused. “I thought ye still believed that all I wanted was an heir, nae just ye, for who ye are, whether there are bairns or nae. But I’m here now because I want ye to choose me, because I… love ye.”
“Ye love me?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Turns out, I have a heart after all. And it’s yers if ye want it.”
All the fight abandoned her body, sweeping away like charcoal dust off a fresh page. She closed the small gap between them, rising up on tiptoe as she threw her arms around his neck, feeling his arms wrap around her waist in return.
For a moment, she just gazed at him, needing to be certain that all of this was real and the happiness blooming in her chest wasn’t going to shatter in the next moment.
His lips soothed her worries, the passionate crush of his kiss confirming that he was real, he was there, and that he loved her. She didn’t waste another moment, melting into his embrace, kissing him with all of the longing that had been building up in the week or so that they had been separated, claiming him as hers with all of the fervor she possessed.
“I love ye,” he whispered, kissing her neck. “I love ye.” He kissed her shoulder. “I love ye.” His teeth grazed her earlobe. “And God, I’ve missed ye.” His mouth found hers again, a sound like pain and pleasure both rumbling in the back of his throat, sparking a fresh wave of desire.
Holding his face, unable to get enough of him, she murmured against his mouth, “I love ye too.” She kissed him harder. “I missed ye, so very much.”
They kissed fiercely, a smile forming on her lips as he pushed her back into the tree, reminding her of the first time. As he pressed her against that shaded trunk, a noise rose above the breathy sounds of their passion: the crumple of paper, underfoot.
Gordon withdrew, eyebrow raised as he stared down at the ground. The drawing had slipped from Anna’s grasp in her hunger to be close to him.
“Nay!” she gasped. “That’s nae for ye!”
But he smiled and stooped to retrieve it, a sparkle of amusement in his gray eye as he observed the sketch. “Freshly drawn, too.”
Anna’s cheeks flushed with heat. “Aye, well what was I to do when ye banned me from yer sight and yer touch? All I had was me papers and me charcoal.” She managed a shy smile. “Like I said, I missed ye terribly.”
“I thank ye for this gift,” he said softly, folding up the piece of paper. “I mean to have an entire gallery, in truth.”
“Nay chance!” She laughed, though he seemed perfectly serious.
Stowing the drawing away, he came back into her arms, kissing her slowly, tantalizingly. And as she lost herself in him once more, she realized whatshewanted as a reunion gift.
It didn’t matter that there was an entire castle filled with suitors who would be wondering where she was; she had already found what she’d been looking for.
Boldly, she took Gordon’s hand, and led him away from the ash tree, sneaking toward the gate that would take them down into the woods. No one would think to look for her there. They would be entirely, perfectly alone.
CHAPTER 39
Twenty minutes later,Gordon’s lips were on hers again, in the peace and sanctuary of the sheltering woods beside the loch. A light breeze rippled the surface, making it glitter exquisitely, but Anna preferred the brutal beauty of her betrothed: his strong arms around her, his rough palms exploring her body, his mouth moving with hers in a slow ebb and flow, their tongues gliding together.
Bursting with the heat of her passion, Anna let her own hands wander, smoothing over the hard muscle of his chest, tugging her closer by the collar of his shirt, pressing herself against him. Her fingertips slid into his hair, caressing the nape of his neck, enjoying the friction of his shaven jaw against her soft palm, relishing the closeness of him.Thiswas freedom.Hewas her freedom.
And as their kiss deepened, the air crackled around them, something shifting in the atmosphere. Spurred on by the feeling, Anna grasped Gordon’s shirt and began to ease it from his belt,wanting more than anything to feel his warm skin beneath her touch.
“What ye do to me…” Gordon growled, lifting her leg, guiding it around his hips.
He pressed her back against the tree behind her, her breath catching as she felt the hardness of him between her thighs, held back only by the fabric of his kilt.
Half-mad with desire, she hurried to remove his shirt, sparking a delirious, delicious frenzy between them. His hands pulled and ripped and grasped, freeing her from the confines of the plain gown she’d worn, tossing the garments to the ground, while she fought with the buckle of his belt and the fastening of his kilt, desperate to feel him, desperate to experience what she should have done over a week ago.
As she stood there in the shade of the tree, stripped bare of everything, Gordon took a step back. A smile lifted his lips as his gaze roved over her body, admiring her.
“I wishIkenned how to draw,” he purred.
“I wishIhad me paper and charcoal in hand,” she replied, admiring him in return.
Naturally, her eyes fell upon the part of him that she had felt but never seen, her breath hitching at the size of that hard flesh. She didn’t know exactly what would happen next, but she had aconfident idea; a burst of nerves rippled through her, her heart racing.
