Page 51 of Never Second Guess a Lord
As did the feeling of being swept up in his arms and laid in the warm grass. Where things had gone slower in her fantasy, reality proved more frenzied. Her fanciful imagination could never have foreseen how much she would need him inside her again. The near-crazed desperation they would feel when his lips found hers again and removing clothing became the last thing on their minds.
Instead, upon her insistence that she could not wait a moment longer, Jacob hiked up her skirts, freed himself, and entered her. They both groaned at the feel of it. The incredible sensation of coming back together this way after so long.
“Bloody hell, lass,” he breathed, cupping her cheek again. His lustful gaze roamed her face. Lingered on her eyes. “How is it you feel better and better every time? Better when you felt so verra incredible our first time?”
She tried to respond, but the words died on her lips when he thrust again. When she gave herself over to how he made her feel. He had a way of moving against her that elicited intense pleasure. First between her thighs until it expanded into her womb, then fanned out to her outermost extremities.
“Jacob,” she moaned, arching into the feeling. “My love.”
He seemed to like that endearment because he moved harder. Faster. Deeper if possible until he pressed so deeply neither could hold back any longer, and they found release at the same time. Found such intense gratification, they trembled against each other and struggled to catch their breath.
Eventually, he adjusted their clothing, lay back in the grass, and wrapped his arm around her when she rested her cheek on his chest. Cherished the beat of his heart. She had thought herself quite the modern woman and free thinker refusing his marriage proposal and having such a scandalous affair, but truth be told, their time apart had become incredibly difficult. She loved all she had found here in Dalness, but there was a hole in her heart when he was not here. A void no amount of freedom and happiness could fill.
How could it when he was her greatest love and dearest friend?
They lay there for a while, simply holding each other before he spread out the blanket and took her much more languidly. Removed her clothing like unwrapping a precious gift. Kissed her from head to toe before flipping her onto her stomach and starting all over again.
Ready for him, so eager it hurt, she propped her backside up enough that he could slide into her all over again. Make her groan as he braced himself up with one arm, gripped her hip with his free hand, and thrust in such a way he hit particularly sensitive areas. Ones that had her sobbing from the sheer ecstasy of it.
Pleasure so intense it almost felt painful.
Right there with her, feeling the same building euphoria, he lowered even more, his front flush with her back, and moved slower. Deeper. With long, intense strokes that made her seize up and let go seconds later. In turn, he trembled, groaned, and released as well, pulsing inside her in a way she could never get enough of.
They stayed that way for a time, lost in how they made one another feel before they dressed and enjoyed a light lunch along with a bottle of claret. Soon enough, they were laughing and chatting as they always did. And such did not stop over the duration of his stay. More than that, as expected, the gap in her life fell away, and everything was absolutely perfect.
In fact, they were the best two weeks of her life.
They spent their evenings enjoying each other’s company and making love. Their days overseeing restorations in the nearby village. As promised, he involved her in everything, and she adored every minute. He also taught her to fish in their spare time. A wonderful pastime she enjoyed more than expected.
“I cannot tell you how much I have cherished this time,” she said as they left the village on the last day. “I shall think of all we accomplished here whenever I visit.” Rather than have him see how sad she had become, she looked out his carriage window and blinked back tears. “It has been a most delightful and worthwhile project.”
“It has.” Clearly aware of her distress, Jacob pulled her onto his lap and cupped the side of her neck, so she had no choice but to look at him. “What is it, my love?”
“You know full well what it is.” She pressed her lips together when they wobbled and tried to gather herself. “I have had such a lovely time and loathe to see it come to an end.”
“Then we should do this again,” he said softly, wiping away an escaped tear. “We shall restore the whole of Scotland together if that is your wish.”
“I would like that.” A lump formed in her throat. “But these things tend to take time to put together. Time to…”
Jacob seemed to understand what she was really trying to say because he rested her cheek against his chest, stroked her hair, and let her weep. She knew she was the only one standing in the way of being with him always. Of feeling this immense happiness all the time.
The months between seeing him had become more than torturous. She suffered such melancholy after he left in February and suspected it would be worse this time. That she might never recover. And that undoubtedly translated later that night when they made love. In the heartfelt passion between them as they came together time and time again.
“We cannot keep on like this.” He rubbed her back to soothe her when she found herself adrift in melancholy once more. Spent from lovemaking, she remained partially draped over him. “I cannot bear it any more than you. To that end, you must stop second-guessing this.”
Her heart seemed to stop in her chest. Was he ending things? Could she blame him if he did?
“I understand,” she whispered, her voice useless. Fear and sadness washed over her.
“I do not think you do.” He adjusted their position until he could see her face. “You are not supposed to feel this anguish any more than I, Prudence. It implies we are meant to be together always. So I beg you to think long and hard about my proposal. More so than I suspect you already have.” He traced her eyebrow and trailed his finger along her jawline. The pain in his eyes reflected what he felt. “I am so incredibly in love with you, lass, and that will never change.” He hesitated a moment. “But I fear you are caging yourself in yet again by not doing what you truly want.”
Before she could counter him, he went on. Repeated what he had already made clear. “We both know marriage to me would not be the rhetorical cage you suffered with your late husband. What is happening to you now, however, tous, the moment we separate, feels like the worst kind of prison, does it not?” He shook his head. “Surely, you feel it too. The way everything grows duller when we are not together. The sense of loss when we reach out for each other at night only to find our arms empty? The ache of not being able to hold one another when we want to?”
She felt all those things and more. And they did, in some strange way, feel much like the place she had been in with Randolph. A cage of sorts only this time, as he said, of her own making.
“As you know, the MacLauchlins have invited us to their Midsummer Day ball next month,” he went on. “Might you take the time in between to give us a great deal of thought, my love? Consider finally accepting my proposal? I will not take another and continue as we are as long as you will have me, but it grows more and more difficult. Is this the newly minted cage you want to live out your days in?Ourdays?”
She tried to answer but could not because the same old fear got in the way.
