Page 61 of Sweet Home Highlander
“Ye’re right, he wouldnae have,” he said. “But I’m no’ that man anymore, Aisla. Losing ye made me want to change. I wanted to offer ye the man ye deserved.”
And the truth was he still did.
He stared blindly into the flames of the hearth. Everything had changed. His plans for revenge, her comeuppance, the wager, all of it. None of it mattered anymore. He did not feel the driving need to punish her, change her mind, or make her sorry for leaving him. He just felt…empty.
He cleared his throat and made to rise, but Aisla’s slim hand on his shoulder stalled him. Her eyes were limpid. “Stay,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“Because I want you to.”
…
The bold, heartbreaking words were out before she could stop them. But Aisla knew she did not want him to leave. She did not want to lose the warmth that had made her feel more alive than she had in years. She slid off the chair to kneel in front of him, meeting those Maclaren blue eyes that gleamed like dark indigo in the firelight. She wouldn’t think about tomorrow. For now, they hadthismoment, and only this moment.
She lifted her hands to cup his face. “I want to know that man.”
“What are ye saying?”
“You know.” She couldn’t help the blush that enveloped her.
“Aisla…”
“Don’t think, just feel,” she told him as she tugged on the ribbons to her night rail. Within seconds, the fabric opened over her breasts. “Please, Niall. Don’t make me beg.”
He didn’t. His mouth was on hers in a kiss so hot she felt it in her toes. She bit at his lips and sucked on his tongue even as he devoured her with kisses that swung between sweet and savage. She grasped at his shoulders as he turned her, shifting her flat on her back on the soft carpet in front of the hearth. He propped himself up on one elbow alongside her and drew a lazy fingertip through the valley between her breasts.
“Have ye any idea how lovely ye are?” he said hoarsely.
“You’ve seen me before, Niall,” she said blushing.
He shook his head. “Nae, I havenae. Aye, the promise of perfection was there, but no’ this.” With a deft movement, he removed the entire garment from her body. Aisla’s breath deserted her, but the carnal, appreciative look in his eyes as they swept her nudity more than bolstered her failing courage.
He bent his head to capture a taut nipple with his mouth, making her back arch in a burst of pleasure. He paid homage to the second, and by then, Aisla could barely see straight. “I’ve wanted to do that for weeks. Everything about ye is perfect.”
With her muddled senses, Aisla understood that his touch and his words were both combining to seduce her senseless. Though he hadn’t lacked as a lover, he’d never been much of a talker in bed. This was yet another improvement she liked in Niall the man.
“What else has changed?” she gasped as his tongue found her again.
He smiled up at her, decadently, his chin resting between her bared breasts, and had the audacity to wink. “Besides these?”
She blushed at his obvious approval. “Yes.”
“Well, let’s see, shall we?” Niall’s laugh was wicked. His knuckles brushed down the sensitive exposed skin of her belly, leaving cinders in their wake. “If I recall, ye were ticklish here.” His thumb grazed the bottom of her last rib, but she wasn’t of a mind to laugh when his long fingers reached lower to the rise of her hip bone. He traced the slight swell of her belly to its twin on the other side. “And sensitive here.”
His voice had taken on a husky quality as his palm brushed over the fine, wispy curls at the juncture of her thighs. Aisla nearly leaped out of her skin.
“You have on far too many clothes,” she said and proceeded to yank the soft lawn shirt off his body.
Her husband obliged with a huff of laughter. “Impatient, are ye?”
Aisla was too busy staring in wonder at the golden expanse of bare chest to respond. Good Lord, he was in prime form. Her mouth actually watered at the sight of his sleek, defined muscles and the spattering of deep russet hair that narrowed to the line she remembered. It bisected the prominent ridges of his abdomen and disappeared into his breeches. She refused to look lower…she wanted to savor every moment of discovery.
Her fingers reached out tentatively to touch his hot skin. His muscles leaped at her touch. “You’re so much…larger than I remember.” Her tongue felt thick in her mouth.
Niall chuckled. “That’s what laboring in the mines will do to a man.”
Aisla touched her lips to his chest and let her open mouth trail against his skin. She heard him drag in a breath. “I appreciate your mines even more now,” she whispered, kissing and nibbling at him. She skimmed her fingers over the hard muscles of his chest, her greedy mouth following. As her thumb brushed against one taut, flat nipple, her tongue swirled over the other, the skin there smooth in comparison to the roughness of the rest of his skin.
