Page 40 of Highlander's Wild Lass
“No,” he said quickly. “Well, it’s nae anymore, at least.”
“Anymore?”
“Aye, my faither was one of those clients, but when I took over the chiefship, I told yer faither that I wanted to pay the tax.”
“Ye did?”
Anthony nodded; his brows set in a firm line. “I have nae quite decided if I’m goin’ to outright support the Jacobite cause or nae.”
Celestia looked at him wordlessly, but her eyes expressed something he could not pinpoint.
He ran his hands up his jawline into his hair. “There’s been talks of another uprisin’, to try to put King James back on the throne. Many people are angry about how the unification talks are goin’. But I’m nae too willin’ to throw my men into a needless, senseless war.”
Celestia stood from the haystack and nodded solemnly. “I hope it doesnae come to that.” She didn’t stray far from him, so they could keep their voices hushed. She shrugged. “Both the unification and the war.”
“The unification is more than likely goin’ to happen,” he told her, impressed by the knowledge she had. She would make a fine wife if she ever quit being so stubborn.
Then, Celestia reached out and took his hand that rested on his knee. He looked from their hands to her, the weight of what had been keeping her quiet seemed to have given way to an easier expression.
She squeezed his hand and smiled kindly at him. Her smile did something odd to his brain. “Thank ye for lettin’ me speak of this to ye.”
A spell had befallen him, and he hoped that she felt it too. He gave a small, gentle pull of her hand, reeling her in toward him. She didn’t fight it and soon she stood between him, her skirt billowing against his bare legs.
Her free hand lingered barely an inch away from his face, he could feel her warmth radiating from her palm. He gently wrapped his hand around hers and placed it on his cheek. Anthony leaned into her touch.
The look in her eyes was soft, so unlike the stern, angry attitude he was so used to getting from her; Anthony could have laughed in that moment at the difference in Celestia.
He wanted to keep the promise he made to himself, to maintain restraint with her. But before he could think another thought, Celestia ran her thumb across his bottom lip.
And kissed him.
Anthony felt the pull towards her, his body responding in ways he hadn’t felt with others. A spark was lit; he felt it first in his lips, as if it came from Celestia herself, and traveled down his back into his arms and legs.
He felt himself unraveling and breathless.
She began to pull away and his heart skipped a panicked beat, not wanting it to be over yet. His hand slid up the delicate skin of her neck and held her face, pulling her into him again.
He kissed her this time, pressing his lips to hers, feeling a pleasurable ache deep in his gut. He hoped that she felt the spark between them, that same tingle that had shot through his body just a moment ago.
Anthony stood, feeling an eager wanting take over his mind. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up. He turned and placed her heavily onto the haystack.
He dragged his hands from her waist to her breasts. He played with the coarse fabric of her bodice before looking at her. Celestia nodded, looking from his eyes to his lips as her own parted. She tried to tug him forward, closer to her.
Anthony grinned, running his hands up her chest and palming her breasts through the bodice. He lighted his fingertips across the tops of her exposed breast, feeling the gooseflesh rise as he did.
If they were any closer, she would feel how badly he wanted her then.
He kissed her again and allowed his lips to travel the length of her jaw down her neck to the crook where her shoulder began. Celestia’s hands explored his chest and dropped, lower and lower to the belt of his kilt. Anthony’s brain shut off entirely and he began lifting her skirts out of the way.
And then, “Celestia!”
The voice was close, one of the twins to be sure. Celestia stiffened in his arms and the spell broke. They drew back from one another, a panicked, awestruck look in her eyes as she looked at him.
Slowly, Celestia’s hand withdrew from his neck and pressed against his chest, partly pushing him back from her. There it lingered and grabbed lightly at the thin linen of his shirt. A shy smile flashed across her face; cheeks emblazoned with heat. She looked incredible.
“Anthony?” This voice was Sebastian’s, and he sounded very close. He and the twins had obviously made it back from the meadow.
Anthony moved his hand that still held her cheek, brushing it lightly with his thumb before breaking apart from her. “Come on, stand up,” he whispered with a grin. “Cannae have yer brothers find us like this.”
