Page 81 of To Wed an Heiress
Time meant nothing. In one sense it was racing. In another, each second was elongated, pulled thin.
He kissed her neck and she shivered at the sensation. The inside of her elbow, between her breasts, even her wrists were especially sensitive. His lips on her nipples were tied in some magical way to a place deep inside her.
When he raised himself over her, she pushed back her momentary fear. She knew this next part might be painful at first, but how could that be when everything felt so wondrous?
He hesitated, kissed her, and said her name. Just her name, but it was a question, permission sought.
She nodded and then she was no longer a virgin. It pinched, but that was all. Just a momentary pinch, not pain.
She’d never imagined that the act of love would make her feel part of another person. She was joined to Lennox physically, but it was more than that. She’d always remember this moment when she was no longer innocent and unaware.
The discomfort was gone, the pinch eased. He bent to kiss her as he entered her again. She raised her hips as he left her, then sighed at the feeling of him once more deep inside.
Her body felt as if it was preparing for something. Her breath caught, her pulse was racing, her heart thundering in her chest. Pleasure began deep inside her like a tiny explosion, one that grew bigger with each movement Lennox made. She extended her arms around his shoulders, her hands flat against his back. She wanted to call out his name, ask him what was happening, but she remained silent as the sensations grew.
When Lennox bent to tongue her nipple, the pleasure magnified like the fireworks she’d once seen in New York. In those seconds she lost her sense of herself. She wasn’t simply Mercy. She was part of Lennox and he was part of her.
He murmured her name before collapsing on top of her. A moment later he kissed the area just in front of her ear. His breath was harsh; his heart beating as rapidly as hers. She closed her eyes tight, feeling the rhythmic beat inside her body where they were still joined.
This was sin.
This was bliss.
Mercy woke because something tickled.
She blinked open her eyes to find Lennox smiling down at her. He was using a lock of her hair to brush the end of her nose.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
She glanced away, embarrassed by the question. Still, she did a quick inventory. Her breasts ached a little and she was sore in other places. She pressed her fingers against her chin.
“It’s a little red,” he said, brushing her hand away and replacing it with a kiss. “No doubt it was my beard.”
He had always been clean-shaven before, but then she’d never seen him at dawn, either. He looked almost swarthy this morning, and when she said as much to him, he smiled.
“I probably look like my ancestors,” he said.
“Do you wear a kilt?”
“Not really.”
“I’d like to see you in a kilt,” she said.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he sat up on the edge of the bed, his back to her. He had marks on his skin, faint red lines that made her wonder if she had gouged him with her nails. Should she apologize for that?
“The storm has finally stopped,” he said, standing and finishing dressing.
“Good.”
“We should see about arrangements to Inverness.”
She nodded. She shouldn’t be disappointed. Lennox wasn’t suddenly going to claim undying love for her simply because he had taken her virginity. No, that wasn’t right. He hadn’t taken it as much as she’d given it to him.
Draping her legs over the side of the bed, she reached for the bedspread. He must have retrieved it from in front of the fireplace early in the morning. She wound it around herself, shielding her nakedness, but not her vulnerability.
He came to stand in front of her.
“Are you all right?”
