Page 91 of Sighs of the Highland Wind
“My God!” Cameron laughed in happiness and disbelief. “What have I let myself in for? All these women!”
“Most men would envy you, M’Laird,” Hector said, winking at Cameron.
“As they should.” Cameron laughed, and Ava joined in.
It was the happiest day of Ava’s life up till that moment, but of course her wedding day was still to come.
22
Ava wore a simple cream cotton dress to her wedding, one which she had commissioned from one of the farmers’ wives in Kilcarron, who had been very thrilled to be chosen for such an important task. Her sisters’ dresses had been made by local women too, although Rona and Janet were quite capable of making their own.
Ava had insisted that all the work for the wedding should be given to the villagers, and everyone who lived there was invited to the simple but moving celebration. The little church was packed to the rafters, and after the wedding, some of the stronger village men hoisted the bride and groom onto their shoulders and carried them to the castle. This was a source of great hilarity!
The feast was magnificent, and there was more food in one place than the people of Kilcarron had ever seen in their lives, but Ava and Cameron were only hungry for each other. They waited for what they considered was a decent time then tried to sneak away, but they were ambushed by half a dozen tipsy villagers at the bottom of the stairs.
“M’Laird, M’Lady!” One of the children, a little boy called Angus, ran up to them with a bottle of whisky. “We got this for ye!”
Cameron looked at the bottle. It was neither the cheapest nor the most expensive, but it had obviously been bought with contributions from all the people of Kilcarron, since whisky was an expensive commodity.
“Thank you all so much!” Ava’s eyes were full of tears as she looked at the little gift. Whisky was consumed by the gallon at every banquet, but this bottle came from the hearts of people who had so very little that they had to have sacrificed something to buy it for them.
There was a massive round of applause and many ribald comments as they ascended the stairs to their chamber.
“I have never been so happy,” Ava said, wiping tears from her eyes.
Cameron gave her a wicked grin before he swept her off her feet and into his arms. “I will make you even happier,” he promised.
Ava was spellbound as she gazed at her new husband. She had seen his upper half before, but that was before he had belonged to her. She did not realize that she was staring at him, or that her mouth had dropped open with amazement. “You are so beautiful,” she breathed as she stepped up to him and placed her hands on his chest, which was lightly dusted with silky fair hair. The feel of it under her palms gave her a thrill of pleasure that went straight to her core.
“A man cannot be beautiful!” he said, chuckling as he put his arms lightly around her waist. “That is what you are, sweetheart.”
“Why not?” she countered. “Not in the way that a woman is. We are small, soft and smooth, but you are big, muscular an’ hairy, still beautiful, but in a different way.” She ran her hands down his powerful upper arms, then returned them to his chest, before caressing the bumpy little muscles on his abdomen. His skin was soft, but the muscles underneath had a rubbery handness that barely yielded to the pressure of her fingers.
When Ava looked at the shape of him, his broad shoulders, wide chest, narrow waist and hips, she could not believe that this enormous man was hers, all her own for the rest of her life. She reached up and ran her fingertips over his Adam’s apple, which made him swallow involuntarily, then laugh softly. After that she swept her thumb over his soft full lower lip, then raised her eyes to his and gazed into them, mesmerized.
They were still the most stunning eyes she had ever seen, a ring of cobalt blue surrounding a circle of turquoise, fringed with golden lashes and shaded by thick blond brows.
“What are you thinkin’, you wicked woman?” he asked mischievously. His voice, throaty and deep, made her quiver with desire inside, and she took a step towards him to close the distance between them. The naked skin of his chest was pressed against the barrier of her dress, but even though he was still clothed below his waist, she could feel the hard bulge of his arousal against her.
“I am thinkin’ that I want all our babies to have blue eyes like yours,” she murmured. “Sometimes I cannot believe they are real.”
Cameron laughed softly. “They are, an’ they work very well, which is why at this moment I can see the woman I love and desire more than any other in my life standin’ before me waitin’ to truly become my wife.”
When he had set Ava down on the bedroom floor, Cameron had wanted nothing more than to tear her clothes off and take her right there and then. Every primitive instinct that he possessed as a male animal wanted her, but he knew he must take things slowly.
She was an innocent lass, and as such she needed to be led carefully, not pushed. He could not force her to enjoy the delights of love, but he knew that if he took care to be gentle, to ease her into the throes of passion, she could experience complete ecstasy.
“Come here,” he whispered, pulling her more closely against him. “You know that I want to kiss every inch of you. I want to suckle your breasts and lick you in places you have never imagined any man’s mouth had any business touchin’ you. I want to make ye scream wi’ delight because you cannot imagine that anythin’ could feel so wonderful. Would you like that?”
Cameron could feel her trembling against him as if she had a fever, and her voice was thick and husky as she whispered, “I would love that.”
He certainly had a fever; he was on fire with it, and holding back from achieving what he wanted most was torture of the worst but sweetest kind.
“I think we have waited long enough,” he remarked, his turquoise eyes dark with desire. He turned her around and began to undo the laces at the back of her dress, kissing his way down her back as he did so, tiny, feather-light touches that made her moan and sigh with pleasure. She could feel a delightful tension building up inside her, and knew that something momentous awaited her.
Cameron sensed that she was almost ready to be pleasured even further, so he turned her around to face him and kissed her lips hungrily. He thrust his tongue inside to tangle with hers, then heard her whimper and felt her strain against him.
The pressure of her body against his was making his erection throb almost painfully, and he drew back from her, panting, as he pushed her dress from her shoulders. Now she was standing in front of him clad only in a filmy shift, through which he could see the outline of her rosy nipples, peaked with desire.
