Page 16 of MacAlister's Hope
“I need to say something, Fia. I dinna want you to think…”
“What is it?” she asked, her voice breathy as if she, too, was having a hard time slowing her heart.
“I need to say…” He closed his eyes again, steadying himself lest he get lost in her gaze and the sweetness of her breath upon his face, lest he divest her of her clothes and make her his this very moment. He took another long shuddering breath.
“Whatever it is, Kieron, just say it.”
He opened his eyes and ran a thumb over her cheek. “I love you.”
The most wistful smile he had ever seen spread over her heart-shaped face as if his words saddened her. “I know.” And now it was she who closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath. “I am sorry I did not tell you earlier today.” She lifted her chin and gazed up at him. “I thought it would be easier to leave you if I did not say the words, but even the few hours when I kept myself away from you this afternoon proved to me that it was too late. I love you, too,” she said, laying a hand on his chest just as she had when she slept in his lap. “I always will.”
“Oh, thank God,” he said, pulling her into a kiss that was more fierce than loving, more claiming than coaxing by both of them.
Chapter Eight
Fia was nervous and happier than she could ever remember being. Kieron loved her and she loved him. The man made her body hum in a way she’d never experienced before just by saying her name, or looking at her, but now…this…now she was on fire and the only thing she knew was that Kieron fanned the flames higher and hotter with every touch of his lips, every caress of his hands.
“We should stop,” he said, raining kisses down her neck and back up to that sensitive spot behind her ear that she had not known was there.
“Aye.” She leaned her head to the side. “Aye,” she said again on a sigh of pure pleasure. Neither of them ceased their explorations of each other.
Fia slid her hands up his arms, as he cupped her breasts in his hands, running his thumbs over the peaked nipples. She pressed into his hands, wondering what it would feel like to have his skin against hers. Kieron growled and Fia could not help but laugh, delighted that she inspired such a fierce response in her Highlander.
“You laugh at me, my lady?” He threaded his fingers into her hair and kissed her before she could answer. Heat gathered within her, low and needy, with every stroke of his tongue against hers.
“Aye, I laugh at you,” she whispered against his lips as she unfastened the pin at his shoulder, then pulled his belt free. His plaid fell to the floor and his desire for her was hidden only by his tunic.
Shyness and curiosity warred within her. She wanted to see all of him, wanted to run her hands over his skin, wanted him to touch her in the same way, but before she could act on her desires he was loosening her gown and slipping it down her arms, to puddle at her feet, leaving her clad only in her kirtle. He lifted her into his arms again, and in three long strides laid her on the bed in the corner of the single room.
The mattress dipped as he stretched out beside her, rolling her toward him so they faced each other. He ran a hand down her side, over her hip, and back up, skimming over her breast with the lightest of touches. Shyly she reached out and mirrored his caress, sliding her hand down his side, but she did not trail her way back up as he had. She hesitated for a moment, then slid her hand between their bodies. He closed his eyes and a low throaty groan escaped him as she ran her hand over him. The heat and hardness of his desire stole her breath and pushed everything out of her mind except Kieron. Her Kieron. Instinct took over as she hooked her leg over his hip and pressed herself to him.
He slid his hand up her thigh, under her kirtle and cupped her bottom, pulling her harder against him, moving against her slowly, seducing her senses and her body until she was a haze of need, a maelstrom of desire. She pulled at his tunic, needing to touch him, needing his skin against hers as she’d never needed anything before. Quickly, he pulled the tunic over his head, then sat her up to divest her of her kirtle. They sat there, breathing hard, just looking at each other.
“You are so lovely, my Fia,” he whispered as he reached out to run the backs of his fingers over her breast and down her belly, stopping just as he reached the apex of her thighs.
“And you are the brawest man I have ever seen,” she said, mesmerized by his touch.
He pressed her back and settled himself between her thighs, kissing her and moving against her until she thought she might die from wanting him.
“Kieron, please,” she whispered. She knew what must happen next, though only from the gossip of other lasses newly bedded, but she had not understood the desire that fueled such couplings. The need to join with him, the desire to share this ultimate intimacy with the man she loved with all her heart, had her writhing beneath him. “Please, love.”
Kieron stilled and looked her in the eyes, his own filled with more tenderness than she ever thought possible, and as he kept her gaze locked with his, he slowly filled her, pausing as they both felt the tug of resistance. “’Twill hurt, love, but only for a moment.”
She nodded and he retreated, then surged into her. She gasped, but more from the incredible feeling of being one with him than from the swift flash of pain.
He stilled. “Are you all right?” His tone was worried but she could only smile up at him and hook her leg over his hip again as she tried to get even closer.
“That is not all there is to this, is it?” She smiled at him and let her instincts guide her movements.
He groaned, and kissed her, then began to move with her, into her, over and over, driving her up into heights she had never known, spinning, flying, until they both cried out their joy.
Annis watched as Kieron pulled Fia from the hall and as soon as she could, she slipped away from the gathering. Imagine, a ceilidh to celebrate Fia healing the chief. She’d probably done nothing more than let the man heal on his own, but as usual, Fia was deemed remarkable though Annis could never understand why.
Annis stood in the shadow at the top of the outer stair, letting her eyes adjust to the night, but she could not see Fia or Kieron anywhere. She started down the stair, fuming that she had been shut away in that tiny dank cottage while the scrawny, fey Fia was deemed remarkable. It was bad enough that Fia always got whatever she wanted, with the entire MacLachlan clan doting over her every whim just because she was orphaned, as if that were something unusual. But now she’d managed the same feat with the MacAlisters, so much so that Kieron could look at no one but Fia, and men and women alike smiled fondly at her while scowling at Annis.
And why did they scowl? She had not harmed the chief. She had only failed to mention that the willow was destroyed and Fia treated her as if she had committed some terrible crime. Just once, she would like to see Fia brought low, she would like Fia to learn what it was like to have everyone look at her like she was nothing special, just another lass amongst many.
A familiar voice drifted to her from somewhere past the last of the torches. A door opened, and closed again. Annis’s blood sped as she moved from shadow to shadow, sure now, at last, she would discover Fia in a less than perfect light.
