Page 44 of Highlander's Rebellious Affair
They heard Hope sigh and murmur something on the bed, but she didn’t open her eyes. Ian was at her side immediately, and he took both her hands in his and lifted it to his lips. “Can I be with her? Lie with her tonight?”
“Aye,” Orlaith replied. “I should go check on the other girl,” she said after giving him another sympathetic smile, then walked out of their chamber.
Ian gave Hope his entire attention then. He slowly touched her forehead, then pushed the short tendrils of hair falling to her face back. His hands moved over her cheeks to her lips and then he outlined her jaw with his fingertips. “My bonnie Hope,” he murmured. “I am just glad that ye’re back with me.”
He stood up, took off his clothes, and slipped into the bed with her, then gently gathered her close to him, and placed her head on his chest. Ian sucked in a deep breath, and her fresh scent filled his nostrils. The subtle floral scent of the oils Orlaith had used in the water she cleaned her with hit his nostrils, and he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head as he closed his eyes.
“I love ye, Hope,” he whispered as tears slipped out of his eyes, and his heart clenched in his chest. “I need ye to wake up so I can tell ye that.”
He felt lonely for days, and now with her in his arms he could relax, put behind every other thing, and fall asleep. He held her close to him the entire night, and Ian didn’t rouse from his sleep until dawn when he felt the soft feel of her palm as it glided over his bare chest and stopped on his neck.
He sighed in his sleep, then slowly opened his eyes to find Hope’s shiny brown eyes fixed on him. His eyes widened when she whispered. “I love ye too—I fought hard to get back to ye because I had to tell ye that.”
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Hope heard his whisper through her deep sleep, and it had warmed her. When she opened her eyes, and saw him sleeping peacefully next to her, she couldn’t stop herself from touching him, just to make sure he was real and wasn’t just a part of her dream.
“I love ye,” he said to her again, and this time moved closer and took her lips for a kiss. She parted her lips, and kissed him back. His tongue moved over her lips, and into her mouth and she tasted him.
It sent a spiraling wave of heat and passion through her. Hope wrapped her arms around his chest and he pulled her closer to him. His hands moved over her body. Her back, the curve of her waist, and over her bottom, and she heard his deep growl.
Ian pulled his lips away from hers, and she missed his taste immediately. “Are ye strong enough?” he asked in a husky voice. “I want ye, Hope, but I dinnae want to hurt ye, and if ye are nay strong enough then we need to slow down.”
She shook her head, and murmured, “Nay, nay, dinnae slow down.”
Hope kissed him this time, and took his hands. She guided it to one mound of her breasts and placed it there so he could feel her heart beating inside her chest and feel the heat already rising on her skin.
“I missed ye, and I want ye now.”
Ian responded by pulling her against him, so she lay above him. He spread her thighs so she straddled him, and Hope felt his hardness rub against her already moist center through the sheer fabric of her nightdress.
His hands moved into her hair, and he pushed her head back a little so he could feast on her neck, and Hope moaned out in pleasure. She had missed this… his hands on her body causing wreckage to her senses. Her teeth sunk into her lower lip as he kissed his way down her neck to her cleavage and breasts.
Hope shivered when he suckled on one nipple, and his hands moved to her bottom. He flipped her over again, and this time he was in between her thighs, poised and ready. She sucked in a deep breath as another moan escaped her lips, and his hands moved to her jaw.
He lifted her chin and murmured in a thick voice. “Look at me, Hope.”
Slowly, she opened her eyes and her gaze met with his. The air surrounding them heated further, and his gaze searched hers. “I love ye,” he said. “I was scared that I had lost ye when ye went missin’, and I dinnae want to ever feel like that again.”
“I love ye too, Ian,” she replied, barely recognizing the husky tone of her voice. She wanted him now, wanted to feel him moving inside her, giving her body pleasure she had never experienced until she met him.
Ian pushed into her with one thrust, and her back arched on the bed. She raised her legs, wrapped them around his waist, and felt him slide even deeper inside her. Hope moaned and shuddered, and her pleasure heightened with each stroke of his body deep inside her.
She met his thrusts by raising her hips and when he buried his face in her neck and groaned, she could tell she brought him as much pleasure as he gave her. Her nails dug into his back as he increased his pace, but he didn’t go too fast.
His hands moved to her face, down her arms, and he touched her everywhere. “Ye are beautiful… perfect,” he murmured. “Ye are mine.”
Hope toppled over the edge, and he bucked his hips into her one last time before climaxing. Ian lay by her side afterward and pulled her to him. Hope smiled, content that she was in his arms again, and she enjoyed the bliss for a while before the image of Callum talking to Lyall’s guards flashed in her mind.
She tensed and Ian stirred. “What is wrong?” he asked, and she shook her head.
“Nothin’, I just remembered Lyall’s men,” she whispered and closed her eyes, not wanting to think about it. She just wanted to put the past few days behind her, and never leave Ian’s side ever again.
* * *
Ian decided to spend the next five days with Hope and away from everything else. She was able to walk on the third day without feeling pain in her feet and she insisted on walking to check on the servant who helped her escape.
He went with her, not willing to allow her leave his sight because he still feared that she would go missing again. He didn’t think he could keep himself together if anything like that ever happened again, so he had to prevent it.
