Page 82 of Her Highland Prophecy
She took the look on his face to be a resoundingyes.
What else was going on that I had no clue about?
She sighed, roughly scrubbing her face with her hands. She didn’t want to think about it anymore or let it poison what little time they had left together. She would have to analyze her feelings at a different time. Pushing away her feelings into a corner of her mind, she turned to look at him again.
“So what happens now?” she asked. “You are Laird of the Clan now.” He looked like he wanted to protest the change in subject for a moment, but then he responded.
“I need to return to the Clan at first light. I’m sorry, Princess, but I willnae be able to help ye get home. I would leave tonight if I was convinced that ye would be safe here alone.”
“I know you need to return to help the Clan, but I’m glad you aren’t leaving yet,” she replied.
Suddenly what had seemed like a faraway ticking clock was now a loud bell, every clang underscoring how truly little time she would get to spend with him.
“I dinnae want to leave ye alone like this,” he said. “I thought we would have found yer gypsy and the way to send ye back home before I left.”
“It doesn’t matter. Either way, if I don’t find someone to help me tomorrow I’ll go looking for the cave. I sort of remember where it is from the fair.”
Neither of them mentioned that the last time she had been in that general area she had been assaulted by bandits, though she was certain that he had not forgotten how they first met. He grimaced but nodded.
Diana took a deep breath and turned to face him. With the bell still ringing out loudly in her mind, counting down the hours and minutes they had left, she spoke.
“I love you,” she said, her admission causing her voice to tremble. In the firelight she could see the immediate difference in Gordain’s face as he heard the words he had offered her that day by the lake. The brooding expression suddenly cleared, replaced by a smile that was soft and oddly vulnerable.
“I love ye as well, me Sassenach Princess,” he replied cupping her cheek.
They smiled at each other like the fools in love that they were for a moment. Despite what would happen the next morning, they had this one night and Diana was done pushing him away. She would grab any time they had left with both hands and hold on to it tightly when light came and he was gone.
“Will you make love to me?” she asked, surprised at her own boldness, but unwilling to take the words back.
He responded with his mouth instead of his body. The kiss he placed on her lips was enough to make her toes curl and her belly to explode with heat.
Their hands were everywhere. Her fingers pulled off his sporran and then his belt, making his kilt drop down around him. She could see that he was already hard and she reached out to touch him, her face blushing, remembering of how he had loved her the first time.
Gordain was not idle. His lips plundered hers as she removed his clothes, his hands busy pulling off her already loosened dress. He pulled away from her just long enough to pull her shift over her head and then went back to kissing her.
She felt his need to lose himself in her and she pulled him closer, arching her body into his in supplication as he kissed her thoroughly. He didn’t wait for an invitation. His lips pulled away from hers, skimming down the length of her neck to latch on to her nipples, suckling gently at first and then harder until all she could do was keen out into the room.
She pulled back, laying down on the bed and looked at him. The thought that he would be gone in only a few hours lay unspoken between them as his body covered hers, his hips falling naturally between her thighs as if they had already done this a thousand times instead of just once.
Every heartbeat, every breath and moan that escaped them into the darkness of the night was a harsh reminder that their time together was running out. He pushed into her with sharp thrusts as if seeking to imprint himself into her very soul.
It was unnecessary. No matter where or when she went she would always remember him. He had stolen a part of her that she would cherish forever. And yet, as he moved within her, her body already starting to feel the same ecstasy that she was certain only he could provide, she wished that she could stop time and remain in that moment forever.
He was all she could feel and she wasn’t sure where he ended and where she began. His hands urged her faster and faster, higher onto the slope from where she would tumble with him in ecstasy. Her arm hurt where it was sliding against the sheets, but it was only a minor annoyance in the maelstrom of feelings that he was conjuring within her.
They reached their peak together. He spilled into her as his thrusts turned erratic in the aftermath, her heart still racing from it, and for that one moment, everything was perfect.
30
Gordain couldn’t sleep. He knew he should, that he had a long ride ahead of him to return to the Castle, but he could not bring himself to close his eyes to the beautiful woman who was lying contentedly in his arms.
She had told him that she loved him. It was all he had wanted since he uttered the words to her, and even hours later he could still scarcely believe it. Oh, he had known that she felt the same way, he could see it in her with every touch and look she gave him, but hearing the words was special.
It was everything and he had to leave her.
Who knew what havoc the person who sent the assassin was wreaking on the Clan? Had they already tried to take over? What would he find when he arrived? A million questions swirled in his head as he thought about it.
His Father. It had not fully sunk in that he was gone. He half expected him to greet him as soon as he got home with a scold for not bringing Diana back. Things had been so good between them lately. If only he had found a way to reconcile with him sooner, but it was now beyond his grasp.
