Page 95 of Highland Sword
He paused. “I can still take you to our bed.”
“Here. Now.”
He pushed her skirts up, and she shuddered as he slid his hands along her thighs and over her hips. Stepping forward, he pressed himself between her knees.
She’d never imagined this would be the way. All the nightmarish memories of a night long ago were gone. As Aidan pressed his hard body ever closer, she welcomed the change in him, too. He was losing control.
“Wrap your legs around me.”
She did what he told her as he opened the front of his breeches.
The moment was coming, and she held her breath. But when he touched her so gently with his fingertips, parting the folds and then probing and stroking her, she lost any lingering shred of hesitation. She rode his fingers, pressing herself against his palm, welcoming the pressure of his thumb. Her release was sudden and explosive, and she muffled her cries against his shoulder.
When he entered her, waves of pleasure continued to roll through her. She felt him deep within her. Slowly at first, and then with gathering speed, he began to move. Morrigan’s brain began to take flight once again. To have him fit so perfectly inside her. To feel his breaths so warm on her neck, in her ear. To hear his heart drumming so solidly in his chest. He was driving them both to near madness.
Ever higher they rose, and she found herself matching the driving beat of his body with her own, until once again,as ecstasy obliterated all thought within her, she felt his straining body go rigid, and she knew, somehow, that they were soaring into the same sky.
Moments later, he placed his forehead against her cheek and softly kissed her. She felt wonderful. Amazing. Gathering her husband closer into her embrace, she also felt whole. New. Strong. And happy.
CHAPTER34
MORRIGAN
Two weeks later
The duke’s ship was expected to arrive in the harbor any time now, and the past few days had been a whirlwind of activity. Everything was in place, however. At least, Morrigan hoped so.
Inviting Sir Rupert Burney to dine with Niall Campbell, Maisie, and Aidan at Searc’s house in the Maggot gave Morrigan the distinct feeling that they’d invited the fox into the henhouse. But because the dinner was being held with the added company of Colonel Wade from Fort George, the Lord Mayor of Inverness, Captain Kenedy, and the surgeon Mr. Carmichael, there was at least some sense of safety in numbers. Cinaed and Isabella had remained at Dalmigavie; they were both still wanted as enemies of the Crown by the Home Office.
As she looked around the table now, Morrigan was reminded that so many people in the room had suffered at the hands of Sir Rupert. Once he arrived, the tension in the room was barely restrained within the paper-thin veneer of civility.
For her part, Morrigan had promised Aidan that shewouldn’t cut the man’s throat. She stayed true to her oath when she was introduced as Mrs. Grant, and the news of their recent nuptials was shared. Her foe stared at her with a look that insinuated he’d not given her the permission to be anyone’s wife.
In recent weeks, the two of them had remained at loggerheads. She wanted her father’s letter from him. Sir Rupert wanted to know the location of the meeting between Cinaed and the duke. After tonight, Morrigan guessed none of it would matter.
Searc had strategically arranged the seating so Niall would not sit anywhere near the Home Office official. The former lieutenant would certainly take Burney’s head off with a butter knife at the slightest provocation. The bad blood between the two men was prodigious since, on one side, Niall’s sister Fiona had been imprisoned for months by Sir Rupert and, on the other side, the Highlander had been a vital player in the reunion of Queen Caroline and Cinaed, an event that sent Burney’s career spinning off course. In the process, Niall’s efforts had cost Sir Rupert the service of an entire network of spies.
As course after course of food was served, Morrigan noticed Sir Rupert taking in his surroundings with an expression of understandable surprise. The dining room was grander than anyone would imagine, looking at the house from the outside. The finest crystal and silver gleamed in the light of hundreds of candles, and attentive servers circulated with the finesse one might expect only in the households of Britain’s aristocratic elite. It was all part of the façade that the master of the house delighted in. A diamond had many sides, and so did Searc Mackintosh.
“Are you a first-time visitor to this wee oasis in the Maggot, sir?” Captain Kenedy asked of Sir Rupert, who was sitting beside him.
“I am, sir.”
“Mackintosh is known for his hospitality and for spoiling his guests.” The ship owner raised his voice, addressing the host. “If you would only improve the outside of this place, then we could be entertaining His Grace, the good Duke of Clarence, here instead of at my humble abode across the river.”
“Humble, you say.” Searc snorted. He raised his glass in return.
“You’re entertaining His Grace?” Sir Rupert asked. One would never have guessed from his expression that the fox knew anything about it.
“Aye, that I am. In three nights. A great honor, I don’t mind saying. I’m only hoping that the weather holds, and his ship comes to port in time.” Kenedy paused. “I’d have assumed that you would be accompanying His Grace?”
“Those arrangements will be determined once the duke arrives.”
“This will be an historic meeting,” Colonel Wade said from across the table.
“You know about the meeting, sir?” Rupert asked, unable to keep a hint of accusation out of his tone.
“I learned of it here this evening,” the officer replied. “But can you imagine, Sir Rupert, a prince of the Hanover monarchy and the scion of the Stuart dynasty breaking bread together? History in the making, indeed.”
