Page 84 of The Scot

Chapter 34

His kissed her harder, longer than ever before. Terric loved her with his lips, begging for forgiveness he didn’t deserve. Had he truly been tired before? Before her arrival, thoughts of his bed had overpowered all others. But now, a rush of exuberance claimed him.

He wanted to touch her everywhere.

To see the woman who would be his wife.

Court her, indeed.

Terric would claim her. Make love to her.

But not with so many clothes between them. He tore open her robe, tossing it to the ground so that she was left wearing only a thin shift. “Oh God, Roysa.”

Never had he wanted to be rid of something more than the remnants of fabric that separated them. But as he reached for her, Roysa stopped him.

“Let me.”

Something about the words, and the way she’d said them, alerted him to a subtle change in her manner.

“Wait.”

Had he really said the vile word?

“Something about you is different.”

He hadn’t meant for it to sound accusatory, but he wished to know her better than anyone. He wished to understand her better than anyone.

“’Tis a long story.”

“I’ve all night.”

She laughed, the sweet sound a welcome respite from the whoosh of arrows whipping through the air, and from men’s screams—it did not matter that they came from the other side of the battlements.

“Nay, you do not.” She nodded to the bed. “Sleep, remember?”

“You will tell me when we do have time.”

“Out there”—she indicated the door—“you may order your men about. But here, in your bedchamber—”

“Our bedchamber.”

“In here, in our bedchamber . . . we are equals.”

She defied him to deny it.

“Not equals,” he said, much to her surprise.

Terric closed the distance between them. “You are lovelier”—he reached for the hem of her shift—“more clever.” Lifting it over her head, he gave her robe a companion on the floor. “And in every way, you are my master.”

If he’d intended to say anything else, he lost track of it. She was blessedly nude, and Terric could talk no longer. He divested himself of his clothing and kissed her. Swallowing her gasp of surprise as their bodies touched for the first time.

He needed sleep, aye. But he needed Roysa more.

They stumbled toward the bed, falling onto it, their bodies melding together as if they had been intimate many times before. Even though this was not her first time, Terric treated it as such. He gave equal attention to her breasts and the vee between her legs, his hands everywhere at once.

Though he positioned himself above her, Terric had no intention of making love to her just yet. He sat up, his body protesting at the loss. But he needed to see her. He needed Roysa to understand.

“When I said you are the master here, I meant it. Anything you want, ’tis yours, lass.”