Highland Deception (Highland Pride) (11 page)

She was perched in the seat next to him, so close her arm kept brushing against his and shivers of awareness rushed through his already fevered nerves. He’d thought her bonny in her rags, but now, he could not keep his eyes off her. The green plaid had slipped loose from one shoulder and her low-hanging shirt offered an enticing view of the pale skin just above her breast. Her black hair curled in perfect spirals, and his fingers itched to delve into its mass and pull her lips to his.

The candlelight from the hall reflected in her deep blue eyes, and they sparkled as if they mirrored the stars of the sky. She looked both shy and confident, with rosy cheeks presenting the perfect picture of a priest’s innocent niece with the carefree spirit of a tavern maid. Why would she be running from her uncle’s protection? But then he remembered what had befallen Robbie’s guardian, and he let the doubt slip from his thoughts. Maggie was full of contradictions he wanted to puzzle out, but he would not fall under her spell.

A delightful shade of red crept onto her face when she caught him watching her. He wanted to see more of that blush—he would not mind seeing it forever. Damn, where had that come from?

Maggie would be his.

No one had ever had the privilege of touching her; he’d work to keep that in mind and not go too fast with her. That would be hard, considering his perpetually aroused state.

Already, he had waited an eternity—she belonged in his bed. He wanted her there so he could touch her whenever the mood struck, because it seemed to strike every time he glanced at her. The thought of having her at his beck and call heated his blood.

As she laughed at something his mother said, her dark locks bounced. How he wanted to run his fingers through her thick tresses, to feel the silky strands as they tickled his chest. He thought of those curls cascading down around her face as she rode astride him. But he had to stop this, or he wouldn’t make it through dinner. Thankfully, Alan broke into his thoughts.

“Yer mother seems to like her.” He tilted his head toward Maggie and Elspeth, and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Aye,” he said as he eyed the pair with a crooked grin.

“I dinnae remember her ever talking with Aileen that way.” Alan’s smile broadened, showing straight, white teeth.

“Nae, she didnae approve of her.” Still trying to get his wayward thoughts under control, Lachlan gulped his ale.

“Ye should give her a chance, get to ken who she is. She might make a good wife.” Alan’s tone and impassive expression meant he was serious. It was a tenor he only used when they discussed serious matters.

Lachlan froze and inspected Alan through squinted eyes. “Have ye gone daft, man? Ye ken how I feel about that.” Taking another swallow, he realized the normal conviction behind his protest was missing.

He didn’t want to analyze how those words that only days earlier were granite in his heart now seemed hollow to his own ears. He slammed down his cup in a vain attempt to show his friend he still meant it, but all he succeeded in doing was spilling his drink.

“I think she may be the one to change yer mind,” Alan continued, ignoring the scene Lachlan was making for his benefit. “Kirstie would like her.” His eyes glazed as he spoke of Lachlan’s sister. He looked off in silent contemplation, then his hopeful eyes returned to Lachlan’s, not knowing how much he revealed on his face. “She might come home for the wedding.”

“There will be no wedding.” Lachlan ground out as he leaned in toward Alan. He glanced back to make sure no one had heard, because the last thing he wanted was to embarrass Maggie in front of everyone at the table before he could get her up to his room. If she wished, she could feel distressed tomorrow after they’d spent the night together, but now was not the time to jeopardize the evening he had planned by soothing her sensibilities over an ill-timed comment.

Alan laughed. “I cannae wait to see how this turns out. It is going to be a pleasure watching ye fall.” With a mock salute and a twinkle in his eye, he lifted his glass.

The scary thing was his friend had always been able to read him. That’s why they worked well together in battle—they knew each other so well they were able to anticipate the other’s next move.

He wanted to laugh, too, but somewhere deep inside, he already knew he might be waging a war he couldn’t win. That he was losing his resolve scared him. Maggie spoke to the part of his heart he had believed dead; she made him feel whole again, giving him back what Aileen had taken.

At the same time, were the mysteries she concealed as deadly as Aileen’s had been? He prayed not. He couldn’t give his heart to another only to be betrayed again.

His gaze slid back to her. It was worth the risk. She was worth it.

Och, this was madness, and he had to get her out of his system.

The crowd gathered for dinner tonight was small, and he was thankful it went quickly. Finally, the meal was complete, and his pulse sped as he took Maggie’s arm in his and guided her up the stairs. She trembled but came willingly.

At the top of the landing, he spun her to face him and looked into her frightened doe eyes. “Do ye know what will happen if ye walk through that door with me tonight, lass?”

He had to make certain she was willing. Blushing, she looked up at him through lowered lashes.

“Aye, I do.” Her voice had taken on a husky quality. It hummed through him and heated his blood.

“Do ye want to be with me, then, Maggie? I willnae take ye against yer will.”

Her quivering hand rose to his cheek, caressing it tenderly. Dazed, dilated eyes gazed directly into his own. “Aye, Lachlan Cameron, I want ye to take me to yer bed.”

His staff hardened, and a primitive growl rose from somewhere deep inside. A sudden urgency swept through him—he had to get her in his chamber before she changed her mind. Too afraid to talk, not wanting to break the spell, he took her hand and guided her down the hall to his room. Once inside, Lachlan bolted the door shut.

Finally, I have her to myself.

Chapter Nine

Lachlan’s room took away Maggie’s breath. It could be compared to the size of her father’s, but his had woolen tapestries covering each wall, where her father’s seemed relatively bare. They were probably as much for function as decoration. It must get cold up here, farther north in the Highlands.

Holding her hand, Lachlan walked in behind her. The sound of metal scraping against metal let her know he had latched the heavy wooden door. She could not back out now, but she did not want to.

Her eyes landed on the massive canopy bed, and her heart started to race. She would be splayed across those thick woolen blankets on the mattress soon and would no longer be a maiden. It was terrifying, but at the same time a shudder of excitement thrilled through her veins, because she would learn what the maids only whispered about and experience the sinful pleasures Lachlan had murmured in her ear. Afterward, she would be able to move to the final phase of her freedom and take her vows, but tonight was about being a woman. Before she had time to form another thought, Lachlan spun her in his arms, and they were face to chest. She looked up to meet his wolfish gaze, which looked hungry, as if he were about to devour her.

With one arm he held her, while his other reached to gently glide his fingertips across her cheek. The room was suddenly hot, her breathing becoming shallow and her skin flushing at his caress. Although she had been looking forward to this all evening, now she had become the shy innocent she had hoped not to portray.

She swallowed and licked her dry lips. “I have never been with a man.” Her body trembled.

“I ken, Maggie. I will be gentle with ye.” He worked to unpin the headpiece from her hair. Her scalp tingled and shivers ran down her spine as his fingers danced in her hair. Dark ringlets fell like a cascade down her cheeks, and she had to peek through them to see him.

The headpiece was tossed away and quickly forgotten. His hands returned to splay through her hair and massage her crown. She moaned as his tender ministrations released the tension she had unknowingly kept locked inside. Her chest tightened and breasts swelled at the heated exploration of his gaze trailing slowly down her body, then back to her eyes.

“I am going to undress ye now, Maggie.” The words sent electric pulses coursing through her to culminate in her most private, feminine areas. “Do ye want me? Do ye want me like I want ye?” His eyes didn’t leave hers as she nodded. “I want to hear it. Tell me ye want me. I need to see it in yer eyes.” She gulped as desire surged through her at the husky tenor of his voice.

Her gaze locked with his. “Aye, I do, Lachlan. I want ye to teach me how to please ye.” A need took hold of her, a powerful longing she’d never before experienced as she struggled to control her breathing.

A primitive groan sounded deep in his throat, and he leaned down and connected his lips to hers. It was a gentle kiss, slow and seductive, but she sensed him holding back and realized he was trying not to push her too hard. But she wanted to see him lose control, desired to see him mad for her and her alone. She needed for this night to be everything she had dared ever dream, because she might never get another.

Gazing up into concerned eyes, Maggie pulled back, and as she carefully removed the intricately carved silver pin holding her arisaid, she watched him intently. His pupils dilated at her attempt to become a temptress, and his breathing turned shallow. The power she wielded over him emboldened her.

Maggie sashayed over to an ornately carved wooden table, where she set down the pin and then turned back to Lachlan. Seductively, she pulled the overlay off one shoulder, then the other, and placed it reverently on the nearby chair. He looked like a wolf ready to pounce on its prey.

She sat on the chair and bent to remove her slippers. As her hair fell over her face, she glanced through the curtain to see Lachlan devouring the sight of her. He was still, focused on her alone. Only his fingers moved, rubbing up against each other, as if itching to touch her.

Stockings and shoes removed, she rose and walked toward him in only her shift and stays. Her heart beat fast and out of time like a drum she couldn’t control, nor did she want to. Their gazes met again, and she froze. Fear and excitement warred inside her at the fevered intent of his stare.

In a blur, his plaid was unbelted and fell to the floor. As it was pulled up and over his head, his shirt ripped, and he threw it to the floor without inspecting it.

His nakedness shocked her. Although she had seen her brothers when they were younger, Lachlan was larger in stature, and his manhood stood straight up. She had never seen a cock so considerable in size. She gasped. He would rip her apart.

“’Twill be all right, Maggie, I willnae hurt ye.” Amusement danced in his blue depths.

Taking her cheeks in his hands, he kissed her. Their tongues mated, swirled, and tasted. She forgot all else but that kiss until he reached down and deftly untied her stays and tossed them to the ground.

His eyes returned to linger on her in the nearly transparent garment. The heat in his gaze frightened and excited her with its intensity while his hands ran down the length of her body and reverently traced her curves. Then, in one swift movement, he grabbed and brought her shift over her head. The whoosh of cool air and lack of clothing left her bare and exposed.

Involuntarily, Maggie’s hands flew up to cover her naked breasts.

“Nae, I want to look at ye.” Lachlan’s hands cradled hers and lowered them to her sides. “Stay,” he ordered as one finger touched her chest lightly. His finger circled then crept lower to the apex of her breast, where her engorged nipple stood poised, erect and sensitive. His touch gave her skin goose bumps, but made her blood hot at the same time.

His other fingers extended to grasp the globe, then his heated stare returned to hers. “I am going to taste ye now.” Her core heated. She could feel a strange need taking root deep within her.

With his head lowered, his tongue laved the tip of her breast, and the peak hardened almost painfully full. He had one hand on each now. He nipped at her breast, and she gasped. Withdrawing, he looked up at her with a devilish grin, then his mouth returned to the inflamed peak, causing sparks to ignite in unfamiliar areas of her body as he sucked.

One hand trailed to the apex at her legs, and his fingers massaged the curls then delved farther. Slowly, one slid over the nub at her core, sending a shock wave pulsating through her entire being. The finger went deeper and slid easily back and forth over the entrance to her passage.

“Oh, God, ye are wet for me.” He growled.

She had trouble keeping her breath steady and controlling her hips when he touched her there. “Wet?” she questioned. “Is something wrong?”

An amused laugh escaped, and his heated gaze returned to her face. “Nae, it means ye are ready for me.” In one move, he scooped her up and carried her toward the bed.

After he set her down, she sank into the soft worsted-wool blankets as he backed up to study her. Tempted to climb under the warm material and hide what no man had ever seen, she blushed and squirmed under his scrutiny. His eyes were hot and dilated as they took in every curve, and his gaze promised her there was nowhere left to hide.

Lachlan climbed on, and the mattress shifted with his weight. Her bare skin rubbed his flesh, and her heart began to pound with trepidation and anticipation. His coarse, callused hand was gentle as he eased her legs apart and seated himself between them. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned to the side.

“Look at me, Maggie, ’twill only hurt for a motherent. I’ll go slow.”

Positioned at her entrance, he braced himself on one arm, and with the other cupped her face. The pressure at her core ignited a flame so intense her body instinctively pushed up into his shaft as it sought to alleviate the growing desire consuming her. He grinned at her eagerness and teased her by sliding the head of his erection up and down her engorged, slick passage.

An intense pressure filled her as he slowly slid into her channel. She felt full and complete, but somehow it wasn’t enough to soothe the ache that coursed through her.

Stormy blue eyes pinned her with a possessive glance, and he stopped as the head of his penis came up against her maidenhead. He drove forward. Her back arched up, and her fingers dug into his sides as she gasped with the force of the invasion. As her body accepted him completely and stretched to take his long, thick member, she trembled and her eyes watered. He stilled to give her time to adjust, and when her gaze returned to his, his stare had turned primal, with a hungry glint that begged to be sated.

“Mine,” he ground out as his eyes bored into her. “Ye are mine.” All she could do was nod and hold on.

As if she would argue; she’d give him anything he wanted. He surveyed her as if he revered her, leaving her feeling desired and cherished, like she was a woman, not a token for men to barter and scheme with, but someone to be treasured and respected.

He slowly pulled back, and she tightened her grip to keep him where he was. One side of his lip curled up with approval, and he thrust forward again, but this time more gently. It didn’t hurt as much. She relaxed, and the pleasure of his touch returned, along with a new pressure that built and made her long for more.

Lachlan’s thumb on her cheek lowered to her chin, pushing it up and forcing Maggie to look into his lust-filled eyes. He continued to pump in and out of her, the friction with each thrust becoming more intense as it threatened to overwhelm her. A slow, pleasurable torture over and over until tremors assailed her as a dam inside her gave way and waves of ecstasy engulfed her.

The currents of her release pulled her under, and everything outside this room ceased to exist. She couldn’t control or comprehend the ripples of sensations that coursed through her as thousands of tiny tingles burst all over her body. She whimpered uncontrollably, and her gaze locked with Lachlan’s, not understanding what was happening. His face had tightened, and his intent eyes stared directly into her soul.

He moaned as his eyes widened, and his thrusts deepened. One, two, three more times and he exploded inside her. His hips still moved up and down as the contractions still throbbing in her passage walls milked his seed.

It took several motherents for their beating hearts to calm and for Maggie to contemplate what had just happened. He switched arms and continued to brace himself over her as he peppered her with kisses on her mouth and cheek and forehead as if he worshipped her.

When he pulled back, she whispered breathlessly, “I think I see stars.” She blinked and tried to come back to earth. He chuckled, deep and hearty as his member still pulsated inside her.

“That would be one way to say it.” He laughed again and then rolled over to her side and drew her in close against his hard, sinewy chest. She was boneless and couldn’t move, could barely think.
So that is why women fall in love.

…

Lachlan studied the sleeping lass in his arms as he lazily trailed his fingers over the sensitive flesh of her collarbone. She was small and delicate, and he had been careful not to let the full weight of his body rest on her, too scared he would crush her.

He had never allowed a female in his room before. Something just did not seem right about having a string of women passing through the laird’s bedroom, and he admired how his father had always been faithful to his mother.

Maggie was different. She was an innocent, and bedding her and leaving her in some room in one of the towers was not palatable, so he had brought her here. He had never slept with a woman in the same bed, either, but having her beside him seemed natural.

He was her first, and he would be her only. He never wanted another man to see that look she’d given him as she’d climaxed beneath him. It had shattered his defenses and he’d lost all control, even spilling his seed inside her. From the motherent he’d touched her in the river, he had become strangely possessive, and now he knew why—she was made for him.

The stares and appreciative looks she received all night had driven him mad with a jealousy he had not known he was capable of. All the men tripped over themselves to get a look at her, and he’d been sorely tempted to pummel several of them. If he hadn’t taken her to his bed, he was sure someone else would have, but now he had staked his claim, and no one else would dare touch her.

The slow rise and fall of her chest fascinated him as he studied her pale, milky skin and breasts, which just fit in his hand. He cupped the gentle weight of one then trailed his fingers down her flat belly.

When she squirmed closer into his chest, his cock jerked. He was hard again. If this hadn’t just been her first time, he would wake her and take her once more, and that probably still wouldn’t be enough. He had to restrain his desire and be careful not to push too far.

She had enjoyed lying with him. Aileen had treated it like a duty, while the others seemed to try too hard, because they all wanted to be in line to be the laird’s lady wife, but that was something no one would ever have. He had never been himself around the other lasses. It was hard when he knew they were just looking to him to raise their lot in life.

Maggie was different—she wasn’t looking to stake a claim on him. Maybe that’s why he had this comfortable and simple ease with her that had not been possible with any of the Cameron lasses. It lifted all the pressure and relaxed him.

There was still the matter of her deception, and he didn’t like secrets. No form of dishonesty was acceptable, but with time she would open up to him. His little lass didn’t appear to be afraid of anything except what she had left behind. He wouldn’t push too hard, because he didn’t want her to flee again. He’d had her, and now he was certain he wouldn’t tire of her anytime soon, because she belonged here, in his bed.

It no longer mattered what she was running from—she was his and he could not imagine sending her away. She would not be going anywhere until he was ready to say she could leave.