Page 30 of Captured by a Laird
“Leave her be,” David snapped when he could not bear the tortured look on his bride’s face another moment.
The two women straightened and stared at him wide-eyed.
“Out!” he shouted at them, then he turned to the others. “You’ve seen enough! Everyone out! Now!”
They emptied the room as quickly as captured wild horses escaping through a broken gate. David got up and barred the door behind them.
At last, he was alone with his bride.
He paused to calm his temper before turning around. How did this lass provoke such unwieldy emotions in him? Not only rage at those who upset her, but a throbbing desire that threatened to rob him of his reason.
He told himself it was damned lucky he found her appealing since he was stuck with her for life. But he should not want her this much. Alison’s beauty had a fragile quality that reminded him too much of his stepmother.
He thought of how his father’s blind affection for his second wife had caused him to make decisions that endangered the clan and ultimately cost him his life. Surely David was not at risk of that fate. Love would never find him. What he felt for his bride was only lust, and lust could be sated.
He had all night to do it. His breath grew shallow and his cock hard as he anticipated the hours ahead. Finally, he turned around to join his bride.
God help him.Alison was holding her hands over her face as if the sight of him was past bearing. When he lifted the bedclothes and climbed in next to her, she made a high-pitched squeak.
He stretched out on his side, propped his head up on his elbow, and examined his reluctant bride. Though he was not even touching her, she was trembling.
He had the sense to realize that how he started this marriage could set how things would be between them for a long time. While he could not abide a woman who fawned over him, he wanted a wife who welcomed him into bed—not just tonight, but every night.
Alison presented a problem, another challenge to overcome. He would succeed, it was just a matter of how.
As he watched her, he thought long and hard about that burned bed.
“Alison, look at me.”
She jumped when he ran a finger across the back of her hand. Ach, she was drawn tighter than a bowstring.
“I won’t hurt ye.” He would try his best not to, but she was such a frail thing.
When she finally dropped her hands from her face, his breath hitched and hot desire flooded through him. He was a healthy young man in bed with an absurdly lovely woman. And this was his wedding night. He had imagined being in bed with her from the first moment he saw her.
He could not wait any longer to touch her. Her violet eyes went wide as he enveloped her small hand in his and pressed his lips to her knuckles.
“You’ll become accustomed to me in time,” he said.
Though it would take all his control, he would make love to her slowly. He wanted to discover how she liked to be touched, to learn the meaning of her sighs, to explore every inch of her.
She bit her plump bottom lip, sending another surge of lust pulsing through his veins. Yet the terror in her eyes warned him to be cautious. Lord above, he wanted her so badly his teeth ached. But not like this. Nay, he wanted her hot and wet and willing.
He was a determined man.
He would make her want him.
CHAPTER 13
Strange, but there was something inexplicably comforting about the way Wedderburn’s huge hand engulfed hers. If only he would stop at that.
“No need to be frightened.” His lips turned up at the corners in a slight smile that made him look somewhat less forbidding. “Since ye have two children, we both know you’ve done this before.”
Just because she had done it did not mean she wanted to do it again.Ever. She glanced at his chest and shoulders, which were all rippling muscle, and her heart beat frantically.
“We’re married, no matter how it came about,” he said. “We both have needs.”
Alison refrained from rolling her eyes. She knew whose needs he was concerned about.
