Page 84 of The Laird's Masked Passion

“Aye. Say me name. Ye may scold me with it later.”

Then his mouth found her. Elspeth’s whole body jerked. He held her steady, one hand spread firm over her hip, and the other at her thigh. She made a broken sound and opened her knees even more, granting him access to her most intimate flesh.

He licked her with his tongue again and felt the moment pleasure overcame shock. Her hand slid from his shoulder into his hair, holding him there. The knowledge burned through him.

He used his fingers carefully, giving her only what she could take, watching every response as if his life depended on reading it rightly. Her hips moved once. He praised her for it, low and wicked, and she shook beneath his mouth.

“That is it. Let me feel ye want it, Elspeth.”

She whispered something that might have been a plea or a prayer. Colin did not stop. He learned her quickly: the pressure that made her gasp, the rhythm that stole her speech, the soft circling touch that made her grip his hair hard enough to sting.

He welcomed the pain. He deserved worse and wanted more.

Her breathing changed. He felt the gathering tension in her thighs, the helpless arch of her body, the trembling that began deep and spread until she was nothing but sensation held upright by his hands.

“Colin,” she cried too loudly.

He rose just enough to cover her mouth with his free hand, his eyes lifting to hers in the dimness. “Quiet, wife.”

Her eyes were wild above his hand. He pressed one last kiss where she was most sensitive, sucking in her swollen bud, touching her again with tongue and fingers together.

At that exact moment, she shattered. The cry broke against his palm. Her body bowed, then trembled violently, pleasure taking her in waves she did not know how to resist. Colin held her through it, gentling his touch only when the tension softened and she sagged against the desk, breathless and astonished.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Elspeth looked down at him. Her face was flushed. Her hair had fallen loose about her shoulders. Her lips were parted, and in her eyes lay shock, wonder, and a new, dangerous knowledge.

Colin rose slowly. He should have stepped away. Instead, he kissed her, letting her taste herself on his mouth. She made a small sound that went through him like a blade. Then her hands moved down his chest, uncertain but eager, reaching for the fastening of his belt with instinct rather than understanding.

He caught her wrists at once. She froze.

His body protested with such violence that his voice came out rough. “Nay.”

Hurt flickered across her face before confusion overtook it. “Did I dae something wrong?”

The question nearly killed him. Colin lifted her hands and kissed her knuckles, one after the other, until the uncertainty in her eyes eased.

“Nay, Elspeth. Ye did naething wrong.” He forced a smile that felt more like restraint than humor. “That is the trouble.”

Her gaze dropped, and he knew by the widening of her eyes that she understood at least part of what he denied himself.

“Then why stop?”

Because if he let her touch him now, he would forget every noble intention he dragged out of the wreck of himself, because she asked for knowledge, not possession and because he wanted the first time she took him in her hands to be free of shock, fear, confusion, and midnight discoveries in linen rooms.

He cupped her cheek. “Because that will be fer another time.”

Her breath caught. “Another time?”

“Aye.” His thumb stroked her heated cheek. “When ye ask because ye want me, nae because ye dinnae ken what tae dae with yer hands after pleasure has made a wreck of ye.”

Her mouth opened, then closed. For once, Lady Elspeth MacKenzie had no answer.

Colin bent and picked up her shawl from the floor. He set it gently about her shoulders, though every instinct in him rebelled against covering what he had just been permitted to worship. Then, he stepped back before the last thread of his honor snapped.

Elspeth clutched the wrap closed, still breathing unevenly. At the door, distant footsteps passed down the corridor and faded. Her eyes flew to his.

Colin smiled faintly. “Now, lass, unless ye wish tae explain tae me household why their laird’s wife is in his study at midnightlooking as if she has just survived a sermon on sin and found it lacking, I suggest ye let me return ye tae bed.”

Her blush came swiftly. But this time, she did not look away.