Page 57 of The Highlander's Captured Bride
Prying her hands away from the bowl, Ethan plucked up a cloth and dried them. “Come with me.”
Pushing the backdoor open, he led her to sit on the step below then sat behind her, hugging her close to his chest. When her body went lax against him, he kissed her ear. Cool night air cossetted both of them with a soothing touch and the moonlight flickered through the thin clouds above with a mystic touch.
A burst of cackle from night birds drew his attention towards the river where a swarm of lightning bugs soon danced in the night sky in dots of brilliant gold. Holding her this close, staring out into the calm night sky, breathing the river water scent from her skin and knowing she was going to share his bed that night, Ethan felt tranquility in his soul. The worries about his father and finding his brother’s murderer did not present themselves to steal the quiet happiness he held.
It had taken his brother’s death, to send this angel to him, a death threat from a murderer, asylum in his father cabin and the sublime sharing of their bodies for him to realize what fate was trying to show him. He just had to fulfill his promise to protect her and see them through the time away from the castle.
Violet was a sweet, lovely, beautiful and wise young woman with an innocent child-like soul even after seeing the most hideous human acts. Only when the danger was over and that murderer was caught, would he be free from his worry to ask her to marry him.
“It’s remarkable how being away from the cities or villages makes ye realize the peace ye get from nature,” he murmured.
“I ken,” Violet said, tracing tiny circles on the back of his hand, while her eyes were on the sky. “I wouldnae live here though.”
“Why?”
Her slim shoulder shrugged, “I suppose I’m much used to city life. It's lovely out here and I am nay complaining about yer company but I’d like to interact with more than ye and the two horses we have.”
Chuckling, he shook his head, “We’ll get back soon enough but now,” he kissed her hairline, “I ken we should get some rest.”
Standing, he helped her up and closed the door behind them. “I’ll have to go to the nearest town to get some more supplies for us on the morrow, so tell me what—” Shucking his shirt, he tugged off his boots and was reaching for his long léine when Violet’s hand rested on his. “—ye need and I’ll—”
Her nightgown was not one he had seen before. It was a silky, gossamer thing that floated like thistledown and was so sheer he saw her body. His heart began to race while his eyes ran over her from glossy mass of hair tumble over her shoulders to her slender body down to her bare feet on the wooden floor.
Mesmerized, he slid his hand from her hair, to her neck to her shoulders and down to her arm. When he did find his voice, it was rough and scratchy, “What’s this?”
“It’s one of the last remnants of me schooling days at Edina,” she said. “Father had it made so I’d nay look so apart from the other wealthy girls there. It’s made of silk. Dae ye like it?”
Daring to touch the soft material, Ethan nodded, “Very much.” brushing his knuckles down the front, right over her nipples and she sucked in a breath.
“Confound it,” he cursed under his breath, dipped to the hem of the dress and pulled it over her head and draped it over a chair. She was bare beneath it. “Ye’ll be the death of me, love.”
Framing her face, he kissed her, liberally breathing in her scent that sparked his desire. Slanting his head, his kiss was slow but enough to have her sinking her fingers into his bared back. As she pressed against him, her skin met his and while he groaned, she sighed.
Her arms looped around his neck and he slid his to her hips. She kissed him back with the slow, smoldering fervor that had him backing her to the bed. Instead of lowering her down to it, he pulled away, spun and laid himself down. Violet straddled him and bowed her head over his, and he swept her hair away from her eyes.
Rubbing her cheekbone with his thumb, he voiced a question more to himself than towards her, “What did I ever ken I’d need anything in a woman more than what ye’ve given me?”
“I should be asking ye the same,” she replied, “I dinnae ken what the future days might bring, but I dae have this time with ye and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right now, with ye, in yer arms.”
With his stomach clenching in knots, he softly tumbled her unto the mattress, rolling on top of her to kiss her jaw, sliding down to her neck. Her skin was as smooth the discarded silk and though the fear of marking her skin with his rough touch, he dug his fingers into her hips and kissed down her chest. Suckling her breast, he felt the urge to give her everything, to worship his lover like a peasant offering homage to a goddess.
Lifting off her, her slowly turned her on her belly, taking a moment to observe her pert backside and the smooth curve of her back. His fingers danced over her spine, loving how she shivered under his touch. Her skin glowed under the firelight as he bent to kiss every knot of her backbone. Violet swept her hair from her neck and twisted to look at him.
“What are ye—ah,” she hissed as he kissed the dip in her spine.
Sliding his hand up her inner thigh, she shifted and opened her legs enough for him to touch her dewy wetness. Kissing her hip, he softly turned her on her back. Arching slightly on the sheets, Violet stole his breath. There was nothing he would not do, give up, or sacrifice for her and the heaviness of his love sat like a mountain on his chest.
Lying beside her, he angled her head to him and kissed her languidly while the need to join her was making lust heat his blood. He drank her kisses like a parched man, wanting more. Grasping her hip, he cocked her leg over his waist and with his hand circling her thigh, he slid his fingers inside her warm heat, yearning to seal their bodies together.
She shivered and he felt her warm breath on his cheek before she hooked her hand behind his neck before she pulled away to his cheek, jaw, and the underside of his neck. Her hair tickled him as he pulled his fingers from her and held her knee-high on his waist.
Slowly, he entered her, keeping her knee on his hip as he came flush against her bottom. Violet sealed a heated kiss to his lips and flexed her hips against his. Taking the cue, he held the curve of her knee as leverage for his slow thrusts.
Rarely did his part from hers, just for him to kiss her neck or nip at her jaw. Her breathy cries were in his ears, tiny mewls of pleasure that dipped to the primal part of his nature. It was indescribable: the heat of her body in his arms, the soft rub of her skin against his and the pleasure spiking through every limb of his body from their joining but nothing compared to the swelling of his soul.
“Yes, love,” he rasped, “Move with me, let me feel ye.”
Violet was beginning to quake under his touch, her body tightening and her gasps were getting shorter. He shifted his angle and hilted himself, and reveling in her tremors.
