Page 50 of Highland Jewel
Maisie felt impatient to satisfy her growing hunger for him. She pushed his coat off his shoulders, and he let it drop onto the floor. Her hands traveled down his back, feeling the powerful muscles. It was miraculous, the way her body molded itself to his hard contours.
Maybe it was the fear that she might never see him again. He’d hinted as much by saying he wouldn’t ruin her future. Or maybe it was recognizing that her freedom was as fragile as his. Fiona was here one day, and then she was gone. The same thing could happen to her.
Even as she began, she knew that it was the combination of those churning thoughts and feelings that spurred her on. Her tongue rubbed against his. She took his hand and pressed it to her aching breast.
“Make love to me.”
He groaned. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I do.”
She climbed onto his lap, and he pulled her tight against him. She knew he was fighting it, but she felt the hardness of him against her body. The flames licked at the coals in the hearth, but it was Niall that burned her.
She grew more and more frantic, kissing him, touching him. She was parched, and Niall was the only thing that could quench her thirst. But despite all she did, he was holding back. He didn’t touch her. He didn’t move.
“I can’t do this alone,” she complained.
“We shouldn’t be doing this at all.”
Maisie wasn’t giving up. She started to undo the pearl buttons down the front of her dress.
“Maisie.” He spoke as if he were in pain.
“You don’t tell me where you’ve been or where you’re going or who you are going to work for. You don’t tell me anything that I can pin one ounce of hope on. I don’t know when or if you’re coming back.” The front of her dress opened inch by inch. “Do you really blame me for wanting this? For wanting one memory to keep and savor?”
She tugged at the neckline of her dress, trying to expose her breasts.
“Maisie.”
A thrill flooded through her when he took her by the waist and rolled her onto the floor. The feeling of his body on hers was something she’d long dreamed of.
“Finally,” she breathed.
“Is it a memory you’re after?”
“If that’s all you can give me now.”
He kissed her, attacking her mouth. His hands moved over her body, squeezing her breasts as she arched her body into him. She came alive in his arms. Her mouth was as ravenous as his, her fingers as probing, as rough. She tried to pull his shirt from his pants, hungry for the feel of his skin, but he captured her hands and pushed them away.
“Let me.”
She tried to focus, but his actions emptied her mind of all rational thought. She felt him lift off her body, and her dress opened in front. Her nipples tightened at the feel of the air. A calloused hand cupped and shaped her flesh. The sweetness of it was excruciating.
Maisie wanted this. She rejoiced that he was finally with her, wanting her.
Niall’s lips left her mouth and trailed down her neck to her breasts. He was impatient as he pulled at her skirts. Maisie gasped at the feel of his warm mouth suckling her nipple. Her fingers dug into his hair as she felt his hand brush upward along the inside of her thigh.
The shock of his finger slipping inside her caused her to cry out loud. His palm pressed at the mound, his fingers entering her wet folds and retreating, again and again. Maisie found herself growing short of breath. Her body was humming with sensations so new. His mouth recaptured her lips, his fingers relentless in their sweet torment.
She was lost in a timeless, frenzied world of sensation and passion. She’d imagined this moment since the night of his proposal. But in her dreams, there was a wedding. They were together, night after night. They had a life that stretched before them.
Maisie tried to focus on Niall’s face. On his eyes. His clenched jaw. But the feel of his warm hand teasing hertender flesh, caressing, stroking, overwhelmed her. Pressure was building within her, pulsing with molten streams that shot into her very core. And then, the world disappeared as the climax exploded within her like a storm.
She cried out from the power of her release, and as the waves subsided, he enfolded her tenderly in his arms. He touched her hair, her face. He kissed her lips and whispered words of endearment against her throat. In those few moments, Maisie was enveloped in the palpable glow of love and affection. At that moment, guilt was once again buried deep in her heart, and she dared to hope that soon all could be well again.
When he rolled off of her, she reached out to touch him as he touched her. Niall stopped her.
“That was for both of us, my love. A memory for both of us.”
