Page 93 of A Rogue in Twilight
“Odd,” he said. “It is as if time has slowed inside here, do you feel it?”
“I do feel that.” She closed her eyes, breathed in the odd sense of magic, desire, a leisurely stretching of time, as if her dread had lifted and she had no need to leave the place now. With him, she could trust that all was well. Once she set foot outside again, it might return, but she would be changed. She was changing, beginning to expand beyond the girl she had been, becoming a woman with a stronger sense of power, of purpose.
He kissed her again and her thoughts vanished like shadows before light. She bent her head back, accepting, sighing, feeling good and safe, loved and cherished. Time dissolved and passion warmed the atmosphere.
As he kissed her again, lips tracing downward, she felt a tenderness burgeon in her, limbs gone buttery as she moaned and sank with him to the nest of blankets. As they stretched outtogether, as he pressed his muscled body against hers, hard to soft, yield to thrust, she knew he felt urgent with passion, as she did.
When he traced his fingers over her throat and upper chest, her heart leaped. She arched to ask for more, savoring the supple touch of fingertips that grazed over her skin, making her breath catch, heart pound. Where his hands moved, she breathed, moaned, encouraged him to more. His hands were compelling, gentle, raising desire in her like lightning, like magic. She pressed against him, her ache for him matching his hunger, and the surge of love that filled her started tears in her eyes.
She rounded hands over his shoulders, his back, sliding under his shirt, letting her hands, her lips, her body tell him what she felt and what she wanted. He worked at small buttons and rucked up fabric and she helped, she invited, she deeply wanted the exquisite feeling of his touch. Then he kissed her, rolling with her in the piled plaids.
“This is right,” she whispered. “This was meant to be.”
“Love,” he said, and kissed her again, flaring his big hands over her hips, bringing her to him as she shifted, opened for him, arched. Circling her arms around his shoulders, she stretched back, then surged with him as he delved. A kind of honey and fire ran all through her as she went into a cadence with him, sweet and hard, body and soul, time vanishing as the promise they made quickened.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“We didn’t finda legendary treasure, but there is some significant geological evidence worth studying,” James said later, extending a hand to help Elspeth enter the larger, outermost cave. “So we accomplished something.”
“There was a wedding too,” she reminded him with a laugh.
“Well worth the journey, my dear.” He settled his arm around her and hefted the leather satchel on his shoulder. Even if the Goblin Cave only held signs of smugglers and interesting rock formations, he was deeply grateful they had come. And he planned to return as soon as he could, intrigued by what he could discover for his research.
“We should search the smuggler’s things again before we leave,” Elspeth said. “They might have found something that they hid away.” She took the blue agate from her pocket to turn it in the low light. “Why would my father leave clues that led us to this cave if there is nothing here to help us?”
“We found a cache of rare gems again. But no more talk of geology,” he said, holding up his hands as his bride slid him a glance. “And it is a good thought to take another look before we leave.”
“Your siblings and the rest will worry if we do not meet them soon. At least we have some crystals and agates to show them,” she added. “And we married ourselves.” He looked at her quickly. “Should we tell them?”
“Perhaps not yet. Let’s keep it to ourselves for now, and just tell Grandda.”
James nodded agreement. He wanted her to be happy, wanted to see her smile like sunlight, but he was not sure yet what she most wanted. The rare blue agate was a puzzle to him, its map-like formation mirroring this cave. When next he came here, he intended to search for a pocket containing similar agate. He had a feeling it had originated here.
“I need to sit down and record some information before we go. Do you want to take a few moments to look in the smaller cave, Lady Struan? I can work here.”
She nodded, looking pleased, and hurried to duck through the lower entrance. Sitting on a wide ledge, he rummaged for notebook and pencil and began to jot down his thoughts while Elspeth knelt to look at the wooden crates.
Trap rock lies under all,he wrote.Interior walls primarily limestone with abundant evidence of shell fossils.He glanced up to see Elspeth moving just on the other side of the secondary entrance.
“I should bring my sister here to examine the fossils,” he called. “She is quite knowledgeable about such things. As long as no smugglers are about, it seems safe.”
“Even the fairies are not here,” she called back. “I am a bit disappointed.”
He smiled and continued to scribble his observations.There are traces of granite composite with rock quartz, feldspar, mica, basalt, flecks of crystal formations throughout. Great heat once occurred beneath the limestone layers…
Elspeth stooped to come back, then turned. “Oh! I left my bonnet.” She slipped back into the smaller chamber while James made a few more notes.
Putting his things in the satchel, he walked to the back to fetch Elspeth, bending the enter the smaller, more intimatespace. At first he did not see her—then realized she was on her hands and knees in a dark corner.
“Did you find something?” he asked.
“Behind these crates I found some rocks hiding an opening to another wee cave!”
He joined her, dropping to his knees. Elspeth was attempting to remove some rocks that blocked a cleft in the wall. They were the size of bread loaves and puddings, easy enough to move.
“Here, let me,” he said. “These ought to be limestone and shale,” he noticed, shifting them aside. “But these look like mica, schist, and iron ore. Odd. This is not a natural rockfall. These were put here deliberately. Perhaps they hid their finest whisky or some French gold.”
“Gold?” Elspeth looked up.
