Page 46 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
But he could not. As Eliza slept, all Conall could think about was rolling over and claiming her.
It is goin’ to be a very, very long night.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
She was hot, stiflingly so.
That was the first thing that Eliza noticed as she began to wake. The next thing was her horrible, pounding head.
She groaned, one eyelid peeling itself open as she glared toward the windows that was allowing bright light to stream in.
Was the angle of it wrong?
Her senses slowly came back to her, making the pounding of her head all the worse. She shifted, moving her hand so that she could push herself to sitting.
But where she expected to feel a soft, stuffed mattress, she felt hard rippling muscle.
A yelp of surprised escaped her, and Eliza scrambled back from where she was lying, tucked into the crook of Conall’s arm with her hand on his chest.
His eyes flew open at the sound, sleepy and a bit dazed as they landed on her.
Eliza skittered across the mattress, pushing herself back as quickly as she could until her back hit the headboard.
“What are ye doin’?” he groaned; his voice thick with sleep. “And why are ye makin’ all that ruckus?”
“I was…” her words died off.
How did she tell him that she’d been laying in his arms? How did she tell him that they’d been entwined rather intimately as they slept?
Did we only sleep?
The thought brought Eliza up short. Her mind scrambled, searching back to the night before. But it was all blank.
The last thing she remembered was a small girl named Rose twirling with her as they danced. Everything else about the night went black after that. She didn’t even remember getting up to their rooms.
“We were layin’ together,” Eliza whispered, and even that made her head pound.
I shouldnae have drank so much.
“What do ye mean?” His brow furrowed in confusion, and he stared at her.
It was then that Eliza noticed he had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked exhausted. He looked more tired than she felt.
Why does he look so tired? Were we up that late? What were we doin’?
She closed her eyes, relief flooding her as the light assaulting her senses was banished for just a moment. She tried to scan her body, checking with her limbs and all of her parts to see if she felt anything different.
Because surely if she had lain with him, she’d be able to tell. Wouldn’t she? She still felt the same. She didn’t feel like she had lost her maidenhood to him. But she couldn’t be for certain.
“Did you…” Eliza stammered, uncertain of how to ask.
All she could think about was the kiss they’d shared a few nights ago. She remembered how she had responded to him. And how if he had wanted to go farther, if he had wanted to claim her, she truly might have let him.
She had loved the feeling of his hands on hers. Had reveled in the way that their lips had moved together and the way his hand had fisted in her hair.
Had something like that happened last night? She certainly wouldn’t have been in any state to stop it if it had.
“We did nothin’ but sleep,” Conall said, his words causing Eliza’s eyes to fly open once more.
