Page 42 of Highlander's Captive Bride
“All right. If ye’re sure it’ll work,” she finally agreed, turning to him. “I’ll stay. For Elodie’s sake, not yers. I must say, I’d like to ken what sort of monster would poison a wee child of seven meself. And see them punished,” she admitted with a disdainful curl of her lip.
He let out a sigh of obvious relief. “Thank ye, Daisy. Thank ye from the bottom of me heart. I’m sorry I cannae let ye go right away. Now I ken how close she was to dying, all because some cowardly bastard was poisoning her,” he growled, once more clenching his fists in impotent fury. “I ken that without ye, I’d have lost her for sure and never kenned the true cause. Ye’ve saved me daughter’s life.”
Daisy stared at him. She had never seen him so openly vulnerable before, not even when Elodie had been in the throes of her seizure. His hands were outstretched before him, his eyes full of gratitude.
She felt an ache in her heart just looking at him, and she was so moved by his change in demeanor that she suddenly found herself stepping close to him and taking his hands in hers.
“Ye dinnae have to keep saying it,” she told him, looking deeply into his gray eyes. “I’ve said I’ll stay.”
He squeezed her hands gently in his and took a step closer to her, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her face as he looked down at her.
“I’ll never be able to tell ye how grateful I am for all ye’ve done. I’ll never be able to repay ye for saving Elodie’s life,” Bellamy said softly, bending down to look into her eyes as if to convince her that he meant everything he was saying. “After this, I’ll do anything for ye, Daisy, I swear it.Anything.”
The word hung in the air between them, resonating like the chiming of a glass bell. They stood motionless, clasping each other’s hands in silence, their eyes locked, their lips almost touching.
All at once, all the tension that had always thrummed between them converged in Daisy, galvanizing her with a compelling energy that filled her whole being.
His proximity and the heat that emanated from him, his scent, the sheer strength and power that flowed from him, the touch of his hands, the beautiful, shadowed hollows of his face, and the dark locks of his wild hair—it all descended upon her, overwhelming her senses as though she had been caught up by a whirlwind.
It was too much, and yet it was not enough.
The fire he had lit inside her ignited in her belly once more, and tongues of flame flickered white-hot through her veins, driving her forward to press herself against him, her face tilted upwards.
Letting go of his hands, she suddenly gave in to her impulses, reaching up and pulling his head down to hers. Urgently, she pressed her lips to his, a creature of pure, untrammeled desire.
“Anything?” she murmured as his mouth met hers with equal passion.
Bellamy groaned deep in his throat as he clasped her to his chest, lifting her and holding her against him. The sound was like fuel to the flames now burning hot in Daisy’s belly.
She caressed his face, her fingers running over its hard, angular planes, reveling in the soft prickling of his stubbled chin against her palms. She buried her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer still, deepening the intensity of their kiss. Boldly, with a new sense of freedom, she leisurely explored his mouth with her tongue, delighting in the feel of it as it tangled with his.
Overcome by a hunger for more of him, she caught his lip between hers, caressing it softly with her lips and tongue before nipping it gently with her teeth, drinking in the sweet taste of him and moaning softly while he plundered her mouth deeply with his tongue.
Suddenly, with rasping breaths, he raised his hands to her shoulders and gently pushed her robe off her. Daisy gasped as he cupped her behind in his hands and lifted her higher, right off the ground, so her shift rode up her thighs to her hips.
It felt perfectly natural to wrap her legs around his waist, crossing her ankles behind his back. With her exposed core now pressed against his shirt, beneath which she could feel the hard, flexing muscles of his belly, she wriggled against him lasciviously, relishing the previously unknown pleasure.
Bellamy whirled her around and groaned deep into her mouth, his hands squeezing her behind, pushing her shift higher up her hips, his fingers gliding teasingly so close to her naked sex. Daisy quivered and pressed her lips to his once more, wanting to devour him.
“Mmm,” he murmured into her mouth, grazing her lips with his teeth as he moved his mouth lower, nibbling at the soft skin of her neck and ears, trailing his lips down her neck in a tantalizing flurry of soft, hot kisses that made her dizzy.
Craving more of the indescribable pleasure he was giving her, she arched her back and threw her head back, her hands wrapped around the strong column of his neck, small moans spilling from her unchecked.
Their eyes met, and the hunger in his made her even wilder for him, and she squeezed his waist between her thighs.
Breathing heavily now, he lifted her again as she leaned back and ran his tongue down her chest, capturing the stiff peaks of her breasts with his lips, sucking, licking and biting enticingly until she thought she would go mad.
“Ah!” she softly moaned, thrusting herself against him. “I never kenned…”
“Oh, there’s more, bonny lass, much, much more,” he murmured as he toyed with her, smiling and gazing into her eyes with a half-dazed look.
“Show me, Bellamy,” she breathed.
“Say it again,” he whispered, pulling her close and pressing his face into her breasts as he nuzzled them.
“Bellamy, Bellamy, Bellamy,” she whispered in his ear, her arms around his neck as she rubbed her breasts against his face wantonly, her sex hot against his belly.
With a low growl, he walked them over to the bed, laughing softly as she writhed in his arms, still devouring her breasts with his mouth.
