Page 47 of Claimed by a Highlander
“I don’t mind,” she said. “’Tis hardly raining and blowing at all, so I’d call this a bonny night to sleep outdoors.”
Rory lifted a tendril of her hair and twirled it around his finger. “I promised ye a hot bath and servants to wait on ye.”
“With so much weighing on your shoulders, ye shouldn’t trouble yourself over my lack of a hot bath.” She tilted her head. “Or do I smell that bad?”
Her effort to cheer him was rewarded with a brief smile, but his eyes soon clouded again. She leaned her head against his shoulder and wished she knew how to comfort him.
“I can’t understand why Brian took the risk of leaving the protection of MacKenzie lands to travel to Edinburgh,” Rory said. “It was not in his nature to act rashly.”
“Then he must have had a good reason,” Sybil said.
“I need to know what that reason was.” Rory clenched his fist. “Brian died because of it.”
“Didn’t Malcolm say Brian went to see your sister before he left for Edinburgh?” she said. “Perhaps he told her.”
“Perhaps,” Rory said. “In any case, I must see Catriona and break this sad news to her. She lives at Killin, the property I inherited from my mother. It’s just a few miles from Castle Leod.”
“We have a plan now.” Sybil brushed Rory’s hair back from his forehead with her fingers. “There’s nothing more ye can do tonight. Try to save your worries for tomorrow.”
When Rory turned and their gazes locked, the raw need in his eyes made her breath catch. Men had wanted her before, but not like this. The strength of his hunger was a bit frightening—and all the more thrilling for it.
Before she could make her mind work and figure out what she wanted to do about it, he broke their gaze and stood.
“’Tis been a long day,” he said. “Ye should get your rest.”
“What about you?”
“I’m not ready to sleep.”
“I don’t want to sleep yet either,” she said, and clasped his hand before he could walk away.
Sybil had made up her mind. She was not going to argue with herself about it anymore. Rory needed her, and tonight she wanted to be whatever he needed.
“Lie with me,” she said.
“I don’t know if I can sleep beside ye tonight and not touch ye like I want to,” he said in a strained voice. “I need ye too much.”
“I know that,” she said, and flipped back the blanket for him to lie down.
His eyes flared with heat, but he remained standing over her, his stance rigid. “You’re certain that ye want this? That ye want me?”
Her life was in turmoil, changing every day. She and Rory could have died today, and they could die tomorrow. No matter what the future held, she wanted this night with him.
The men at court had seen her as a prize to be won, a beauty with a large dowry and powerful family. But Rory saw her for who she really was, stripped of her dowry and jewels and position. He wantedher.
Even if it was only for one night, she wanted to be made love to by a man she trusted, a man who understood her. Better that she have that once in her life than not at all.
“Aye,” she said. “I’m certain.”
Rory dropped to his knees. Gripping his fingers in her hair, he kissed her fiercely.His mouth was hot and demanding, and his tongue thrust into her mouth in a sensual assault that sent her reeling. He kissed her with unchecked passion, holding nothing back.
Though she had not known it before, this was precisely what she wanted from him. Nay, what she needed. Throwing all caution to the wind, she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him down onto the blanket.
With a need on the edge of desperation, they tugged at each other’s clothes until, at last, they were skin to skin. The sensation of his hard-muscled body against hers made her moan into his mouth. When he pressed his full erection against her, she had to break their kiss to gasp for breath.
She felt drunk on the pleasure of touching and being touched. She ran her hands over his rock-hard body, wanting to claim every inch of him for her own. Never had she expected it would feel this good.
He held on to her, fingers bruising, as if she was his anchor in their storm of passion. All the while, he covered her face and throat with endless kisses that stole away every sense of caution and made her forget where she was and even who she was.
