Page 38 of Scot of Desire
She closed her eyes, basking in this happy feeling as he kissed down her body again. He reached her breasts, playing with one between his fingers as the other he took in his mouth. She gasped at the sensation.
“I didnae ken what I felt fer ye,” she confessed. “But it was always there. Always.” She tangled her fingers in his hair. “I just didnae ken how tae put it intae words.” Her confession made him kiss her harder again.
“Ah, Ilyssa.” As they pulled back from one another, Bran raised himself on his hands over her. “I need tae talk tae Tad. I need tae talk tae him about what happens now.”
“Will ye ask…” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
Fer his blessing?
Yet Bran seemed to know what she meant without the words. He nodded, and she couldn’t help smiling.
I dinnae think I have ever been so happy in me life.
“Kiss me again,” he playfully ordered. She tugged on his shoulders, pulling him down for that kiss.
Ilyssa left Bran’s chamber sometime later. She felt dizzy and lightheaded after what they had done, but thrillingly happy too. She knew she should return to her chamber, bathe to freshen up, yet she was unable to concentrate on her route and found herself quite lost in the corridors.
I cannae stop thinking about him.
Distracted, she kept reliving what they had done, thinking of how Bran had made love to her with such passion, taking her as if they had known every part of one another’s bodies for years. She longed to return to him now but knew she could not. Bran had said he wanted to talk to Tad.
“Ilyssa, there ye are.” Tad’s sudden voice made her turn around in surprise. He had a face like thunder. He was so enraged that as he walked, his hands were balled into fists.
Nay. Does he ken? Has he guessed what Bran and I did in that chamber?
Then Tad was suddenly beside her.
“That bastard!” he raged under his breath.
“Who?” she said, her hands going to her chest as she thought of Bran.
“Laird Gilroy. He has refused me latest offer.”
“W-what?” Momentary relief that Tad was not talking about Bran was quickly swallowed by horror. “Ye mean he still insists on the marriage? On the contract’s conditions being met?”
“Aye, he does.” Tad paced up and down beside her. “I have just heard straight from the vicar’s mouth that Cillian has set a date with him fer the wedding too. Ilyssa.” He paused in his pacing to look at her. “It’s in one week.”
Terror washed over her body. All warmth she had known from Bran’s touch left her as if Jack Frost himself had settled on her heart. She stumbled against the wall beside her, falling onto a stone windowsill. Tad took her shoulder, steading her.
“It willnae happen,” he declared with earnest intent. “The time has come fer me tae leave though, tae see what more I can offer him. I shall return before the wedding, ye have me word on that.”
Ilyssa didn’t have the strength to speak. Her expression must have said it all though for Tad looked in pain and squeezed her shoulder.
“I will get ye out of this. I’ll go talk tae Bran now. We’ll make a plan of what we dae from here.”
Ilyssa watched him go, disappearing fast down the corridor. Once he was gone, she found her strength again. She leapt to her feet and ran, scurrying as quickly as she could back to her own chamber.
Inside, she found Catreena, who was waiting with a smile on her face.
“Well, I thought leaving ye alone with Bran a good thing.” Abruptly, her smile vanished. Clearly, she had seen Ilyssa’s expression. “What is it? What is it I dinnae ken?”
Ilyssa walked into the room. She sat down heavily in a settle bench placed by the fire and covered her face with her hands.
“Me braither’s wondrous plans have come tae nothing. Laird Gilroy has refused his latest offer.”
The creaking of a wooden seat showed to her that Catreena had capitulated down into the seat on the other side of the fire.
“Ye look devastated.”
