Page 102 of A Highland Bride Disciplined
She dared not name it. Not yet.
Instead she leaned back on her hands, mirroring him, letting the silence stretch between them. This time, though, it didn’t feel like a gulf. It felt like the beginnings of a bridge.
She hadn’t realized how close they’d leaned toward each other until Kian shifted and the warmth of his arm brushed hers. A shiver rippled down her spine, though the night air was still and cool. She swallowed, her throat dry despite the whisky.
He was watching her, not the loch, not the stars. Just her. And for the first time since their marriage, the weight of that gaze didn’t feel like scrutiny. It felt like… seeing.
Her lips parted. “Why are ye lookin’ at me like that?”
His voice was low, rough as gravel. “Because ye’ve ruined me.”
The words struck harder than any heated insult ever had. Her heart jolted. “Ruined ye?” she repeated, almost breathless.
“Aye,” he said, leaning closer still. “Every vow I made to meself, every line I drew… ye’ve crossed them all. And I cannae stop ye.”
Scarlett’s pulse thundered in her ears. She should say something sharp, something clever to keep him at a distance, but instead she whispered, “Maybe I daenae want ye to stop.”
The silence shattered between them like glass. His hand lifted, fingers brushing against her jaw, tentative at first, as though afraid she’d flinch away. She didn’t. She leaned into it, her skin warming beneath his touch.
Her thoughts tangled wildly.This isn’t duty. This isn’t obligation. This is choice.
When his thumb traced the line of her lower lip, Scarlett’s breath hastened. The small, unthinking sound she made undid him. His mouth covered hers in a kiss that was nothing like the desperate clash of lips they’d shared before. This one was slow, deliberate, reverent. He kissed her like a man discovering something precious for the first time.
Scarlett melted, her hands fisting into his shirt, pulling him closer. Her mind screamed that she should hold back, that to surrender was dangerous, but her body betrayed her as it leaned, arched, and pressed into him as though starved.
When he deepened the kiss, her head spun. The whisky, the stars, the loch, everything blurred away until there was only Kian. His hand slid from her jaw to the nape of her neck, anchoring her, steady and sure, while the other splayed against her waist. She felt the strength in his grip, but also the restraint. He could claim her utterly, but he didn’t. Not yet.
Scarlett’s thoughts churned.He could crush me. He could command me. But he doesn’t. He lets me choose.That knowledge alone sent heat pooling low in her belly.
When his lips broke from hers to trail along her cheek, her jaw, the sensitive place beneath her ear, she gasped. “Kian…” Her own name for him sounded foreign on her tongue, almost wanting.
He groaned against her skin. “Say it again.”
“Kian.” Softer this time, trembling.
His teeth grazed the curve of her neck and she shuddered. He pulled back only far enough to look at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. “Tell me to stop, Scarlett, and I will.”
She shook her head before the words could even form. “I’ll nae say it.”
It was as if something inside him snapped. His mouth claimed hers again, hungrier now, fiercer.
She met him with equal fire, matching every stroke, every press of tongue and lips. Her skirts tangled around her legs as she shifted, straddling his thigh without thinking. The sudden friction dragged a moan from her throat that startled even her.
Heat flooded her cheeks. “I —”
“Daenae apologize,” he rasped, his forehead pressed to hers. “Never apologize for wantin’ me.”
Scarlett’s breath came fast, ragged. The sheer audacity of him should have stung, but instead it set her alight. She wanted him to know. She wanted him to feel how much he undid her.
Her hands slid up beneath his shirt, palms skimming over hard muscle, the ridges of scars earned from battles she hadn’t seen. He hissed, his whole body taut beneath her touch. She marveled at the power of it. How a simple brush of her fingers could unravel a man like him.
“Kian… please…” she whispered again, her voice breaking this time.
He kissed her fiercely, swallowing her trembling confession, before gentling again, lips soft and slow. His hand slipped up her side, over her ribs, stopping just shy of her breast as though asking permission without words.
Scarlett covered his hand with her own, guiding him higher. When his palm cupped her through the fabric of her gown, she gasped into his mouth. Her body arched instinctively, craving more, cravinghim.
Her thoughts scattered.This isnae duty. This isnae legacy. This is us.
