Page 56 of Highlander’s Protector

“A wee bit,” she said and drew him closer with her hands, “Just a wee bit… ’Tis a sweet pain…” Her eyes glistened. “Like the first time stepping onto a warm pebble beach… Yer feet are warm and some pebbles are sharp, and others are smooth… And there’s that sea at the end of it and ’tis where ye belong.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” he said. “The hard part is over. You tell me any moment you want me to stop. Any time it’s too much. All right?”

Her eyes melted, glowing with that warmth and love that made him want to be a better man. Made him want to stop time and let her warmth wash over him. Wash all his suffering away.

He kissed her and moved inside her, removing his finger from her clit as his hand was pinned between his body and hers. He moved slowly but angled himself so that he was also stimulating her clit. She let out a long, porn-star-like moan into his mouth. Liquid pleasure, better than any alcohol, spilled through his veins as he moved.

She was so smooth and hot and tight and so wet he slid easily in and out. She was wriggling under him, thrusting her hips into his with his rhythm, searching for her own pleasure against his cock. It was slow at first as he let her get used to him. And he was letting himself get used to this…to his first time…learning how to move to give her the most pleasure.

And how not to come inside her like he’d feared most of all…like he couldn’t allow to happen.

They sped up, both hungry, both breathless. Both unable to stop or think or breathe.

This tightness, this sweet pleasure was building in him, and he knew it was building in her. He saw the signs. He knew how to make a woman come without penetrating her; he’d done it for years.

Now it was even better.

She was sweaty and flushed; her eyes were half-closed and never leaving him. Her lips were red and full, and she was biting her lower lip, licking it. She was gasping and yelling and digging her nails into his back.

And he missed it.

She was coming. Her flesh was milking him, tightening around him in a perfect, gorgeous rhythm… She was screaming his name…

He should have pulled out.

His own orgasm slammed into him in a fiery flow.

And he was coming inside of her, all tense and helpless. And as the intense pleasure of the orgasm was dying out, he collapsed on top of her, their breaths coming and going in the same rhythm.

He stretched in the bed and took Anna into his arms. As he kissed her forehead and held her, warm and his—truly his now—he couldn’t fall asleep. He listened to the storm raging outside. And he wondered what would happen once it was over.

And how he could ever return to his miserable existence after the glory, the fullness of the life he’d known with her.

Even if it would be in the twenty-first century.

CHAPTER 22

Anna stirred and woke up, enveloped in a hot, hard male body. The storm still battered the house, though she didn’t hear thunder anymore. The fire had died, but they weren’t cold at all.

It was still dark inside the house, but strips of dull light had appeared between the shutter slats and along the stone windowsills. So it must be morning. Nine days until John the Baptist.

Nine days of freedom.

She kissed David’s hard chest, and he stirred and pulled her closer. She closed her eyes, inhaling his scent. He still smelled like river, but also like horse and like leather and steel. Like a warrior.

The warrior from the future who had made her a woman. They had made love three more times during the night, and even though she hadn’t felt it then, she was sore now.

God forgive her, she was a maiden no more. She had sinned, and why oh why did the sin taste so good? She’d given her most precious commodity, her virginity, to a man who would never be her husband. Her chest ached and tightened from guilt. So she’d need to think of ways to fake it. She would need the help of her maidservant. She could be trusted. Anna had heard that blood could be collected from the kitchen, from a chicken or other slaughtered animal, then carried secretly in a small vial hidden in jewelry. And she could lie still and cry in pain as her future husband took her…

God, she hated herself for thinking of such lies… But if that was the price to pay to bring her father Stirling Castle, she’d do it. She’d burn in hell for it, but at least she’d have a life worth living.

Only two days until she’d need to meet Philip for the secret introduction meeting. God, what were they all thinking? Did they still believe she was alive and would return? She needed to hurry, even though she didn’t want to. With the thunder having passed, the storm would likely cease today, as well. Though part of her hoped it wouldn’t.

“What are you thinking about?” came David’s hoarse voice, and she looked up at him. His sleepy face was handsome and so dear her heart ached.

If only he could belong to her like her heart belonged to him…

“This,” she said and stroked his face. “This heaven here. Part of me wishes I could have ye here forever. We’d work the land on this farm. Raise children. Lie here every night, lawful husband and wife, loving each other, sharing every day until the day we die.”