Page 30 of A Wife for the Ruthless Highlander
“Well,” Marissa continued, reluctant to end their conversation, “if ye willnae tell me what ye learned about me, mayhap I can learn about ye. Tell me about yer family. Do ye have any siblings I’ll meet tomorrow? Any cousins or anythin’ that I need to be aware of?”
“Ye’ll meet me braither and me sister,” Arthur grunted. “They both live at the castle.”
Marissa paused, certain that he would go into greater detail. But he didn’t.
She opened her mouth to fire off more questions, more things that she wanted to know about the siblings she would meet the next day. However, they had arrived at the door to her chambers.
“These are me rooms,” she said with a sigh, pointing to the beautifully carved oak door. “Ye got me here safely.”
“Ye ken ye’re goin’ to have to get used to that, right?” he asked.
Marissa turned to glance at him. Something was smoldering in the depths of his grey eyes—something she couldn’t put her finger on. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her stomach fluttered.
I should go into me chambers right now. I should thank him for walkin’ me to me rooms and I should go inside.
But she did not.
“What do ye mean?” she asked, her voice coming out a bit shaky.
“Protectin’ ye,” Arthur answered simply.
He took a step forward. There was very little space between them now.
Just like when they were dancing, she could feel the heat rolling off his massive body. She could smell him. And more than anything, she wanted to be able to touch him.
The air between them was charged, as if they were standing in the middle of a field the moment before lightning struck. Everything around her felt like it was about to spark, her skin tingling with a need to touch and be touched.
“I told ye, ye dinnae need to do that,” she answered.
Her voice was rough, betraying the desire coursing through her. Her throat was thick with it, her fingertips aching to reach out and caress him. His grey eyes, lit with the rage of a storm, darkened for a moment before he moved.
Arthur reached forward. His large hands fell onto each hip as he stepped into her, closing the final few inches between them.
“I will always protect what’s mine,” he growled, before his lips crashed down onto hers.
Marissa had never done this before. She had never felt the all-consuming presence of a man this closely before. Even when they had been dancing, their bodies pressed together, it had not been like what she was experiencing at that moment.
Never in a thousand years had she thought that it would feel like this.
His mouth moved against hers, and something instinctual within her knew that she should reciprocate it. His tongue darted out, pressing against her lips, begging for entry.
Without hesitation, Marissa parted her lips for him. His tongue swept into her mouth, dancing with her own.
A soft moan sounded, and it took a few seconds for Marissa to realize that it had come from her. But she didn’t care. There was no part of her that wanted to hide her desire from this man.
She wanted to lose herself in it, give herself over entirely to it. Her hands rose, grasping at his back. She could feel the muscles of his broad shoulders beneath the fabric of his shirt, could feel the way they flexed beneath her palms as he pulled her more tightly against him.
One of his hands came up, fisting in her short curls.
Another moan of pleasure sounded low in her throat. Need like she had never known before coursed through her.
Arthur took several steps forward, and Marissa followed suit, allowing him to guide her. Her back crashed into her door, pressing him even more firmly against her body.
Fisting her hands into the fabric of his shirt, she tugged at it. She felt like a woman possessed, clawing at his clothes as her mouth moved against his.
He never once broke their kiss. He released his grip on her hair, and his hands started trailing over her body. She felt the pressure of them roving over her shoulders, down her back, around her sides, coming up to cup her backside.
If this is the feelin’ I’ve heard the maids titter about, I ken why they were so excited now.
