Page 39 of The Highlander's Captured Bride
She flashed him a confused look. “Ethan?”
His clouded eyes cleared and he jerked away, “Sorry, me mind is—”
“Elsewhere, I know,” she said.
Silently, Ethan took both horses and led them to a tree where they could be under the shade and graze. Following them, a step behind, she waited patiently for him to speak his mind. While the horses were lazily munching on soft grass, Ethan sat on the ground to rest his back on a tree trunk. Sitting near him, she folded her leg to the side and still waited.
Only to have an arm wrap around her shoulders and Ethan tug her to his chest. Her soft gasp of surprise was little more than a soft breath but it was lost on him. His chin rested on the side of her head and his voice was dim. “All this…it feels like a night terror that is never ending. I keep wondering when I’ll wake up from it.”
For once, she had no words ready for him, and the ones she scrambled to find felt paltry. “I’m sorry,” was all she could mutter.
His shift was subtle as he turned to face her, and when she looked, she was met with a fierce, haunted look in his eyes. Then his expression changed to something warmer and soon, heat began to flicker in his eyes.
“A thasgaidh,” he whispered hoarsely. Then his mouth was on hers, and her mind went white. His kiss was tender but persistent. He cupped her face in both his hands, caressing her cheek with his thumbs before slowly sliding one hand behind her neck to caress the tender skin there. Her lips parted in welcome and his tongue entered to caress her tongue. His touch sent shivers down her spine. His kiss became deeper as he pulled her even closer.
He kissed her with emotion; her body felt weak. His tongue thrust in, caressed her tongue, then retreated, gliding in an intimate rhythm. Pressed on his broad, warm chest she moaned softly into his mouth. Her hands were pressed on his lower stomach, and felt his rigid muscles ripple under her touch.
Ethan’s hands slid under her knees and she was hauled onto his lap. This close, her body sparked to life, heedless of the circumstances that preceded this intimacy. Perched on his hips, she braced her knees on either side of his legs and arched against him with her fingers gripping his hair and pulling him closer.
He groaned, and a shiver ran through her body at the heady power she was giving him, making her feel wanted and desired. His kisses claimed her; she was being devoured and had no will to stop him. If he stole her last breath, she would give it to him.
Breathing heavily, he pulled back slightly and now his eyes were an inferno. His nostrils were flared and his lips were parted. She barely sucked in breaths to calm her burning lungs when Ethan was running kisses along her jaw and down to her neck.
Her body felt electrified and every limb was malleable clay under his masterful hands. With his lips wreaking erotic mayhem in her body she whispered his name, “E-Ethan.”
His hands slid to her back and under her shirt to rest under her skin. Another point of contact that was driving her mind to an edge of bliss. Then he pulled away from her neck but still held her close. Perched somewhere between reeling from pleasure and feeling that he was going to regret his actions, Violet held her breath.
When he looked, the world stilled. And she knew. It pounded through much as blood did though her veins or air ran through her lungs. She’d fallen in love with Ethan. Her mother had warned her and she felt it, though it was not the powerful lightning clap she had expected. Rather, it was like ribbons wrapping around her heart and slowly tightening. She’d been struck at last, and felt—without any base for her feeling— that there would not be a second time. If Ethan was it for her…there would never be another man she trusted this much of loved so dearly.
She tried to keep her composure calm even though everything in her midsection was flipping over on itself. His knuckles brushed over her cheek. His expressive eyes were calm, “I want to say sorry but…” one of his shoulders shrugged while his smile was lopsided and wry.
Relief flooded her heart and she sagged on his lap. “I’m nay complaining.”
“Ye’re bound to leave,” he murmured, smoothing her hair away from her face with a knit brow.
“Dae ye want me to?” she asked hesitantly.
He shook his head, and his expression showed it. “Nay, but is it nay inevitable?”
“We—I—cannae ken that yet,” she smiled while slipping from his lap to sit near him and felt even more satisfied when his arms slid around her shoulder and she wrapped a hand around his waist. Cuddling close to him his warmth permeated her shirt and gave her a sense of comfort. “I love being here.”And being with ye.
“It was better before,” he sighed. “There was nay fear, nay uncertainty, naything that we’ve seen before. We were a happy clan.”
“And ye will be again when this trouble passes,” she assured. “And one way or another it will pass.”
“Ye truly believe that,” his tone dipped into doubt.
“Aye,” she said as her eyes fluttered close. “Me faither’s never lost a case yet and he willnae lose this one. We will find out who killed yer brother and who is trying to scare ye.”
Resting against him, she felt the soft wind flutter against her face and the calm peace of the glen. Ethan was not moving and she did not plan to until he did. Soon, she slipped into a doze, safe and comforted against the man she was in love with. Mayhap she was dreaming but she felt Ethan’s lips brush against her hairline once or twice.
Drifting in and out of sleep against him, Violet had never felt more comfortable in her life. So, when Ethan began prodding her to wake, she resisted. “…Nay.” She grumbled sleepily.
He chuckled, “We have to get back to the castle, Violet, our faithers might soon send out the search party for us, dogs included.”
Grumbling under her breath she peeled herself away from his side and forced her eyes open. “Can we stay, only for a little while?”
He shook his head and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Nay, and they might need us. Come on, we need to go back home.”
