Page 62 of Highland Treasure (Highland Brides 9)

The last word had barely left her lips when she found herself in Rory’s arms, with his mouth on hers. A sigh of relief slipped from her as she parted her lips to him, welcoming him inside, overwhelmed by passion and need as he claimed what she offered.

By the end of the first kiss, Elysande was on her back on the fur, her arms tight around his shoulders, and her fingers buried in his hair as his hands began to move over her body. His touch was like fire, searing its way from her waist to her breast where it cupped and squeezed briefly before concentrating on the excited nipple there.

Elysande moaned into his mouth when he pinched and rolled the hard nub, her back arching eagerly into the caress. But the next moment she was groaning with disappointment as his hand glided away. But it was only leaving to examine other pastures, gliding over her shoulder, drifting along her collarbone, following her sternum to the valley between her breasts, before sliding left to claim the yet-untried one and palm and caress it now. All the while he was kissing her, his lips firm and demanding, his tongue thrusting and then rasping over hers until she thought she would burst into flames or die of the wanting. Instead, she kissed him back, unsure if she was doing it right, but emulating what he was doing and, if it felt good, doing it again.

Elysande thought she could go on kissing him until the end of time, so was most disappointed when his mouth left hers to sojourn across her cheek. That disappointment died when he reached her ear though. In a hundred years she never would have believed that his licking her ears and sucking the lobes into his mouth would be pleasurable, but it was and she found herself squirming, her hips rising in search of his, before dropping so that she could arch her back and press her breast into his caress.

When his mouth next made its way down her throat, nipping and sucking, she gasped and clutched at his hair. But when it trailed down to the breast he wasn’t caressing, and closed over the hard, tingling nipple, Elysande had to release his hair and clasp her hand over her mouth to stifle the excited cry it brought out. It felt like he was drawing her soul out of her body through that hard nub, and filling her with flames at the same time. She was melting from the inside, liquid heat gathering in her lower stomach and then rolling down to pool between her legs where she suddenly felt swollen and achy with need.

As if sensing that need, Rory’s meandering hand found its way down over her belly, and slid between her legs. His first brush against that most private juncture had her hips jerking, though she wasn’t sure if it was from pleasure or shock, and then his fingers slid between her folds and found a spot she hadn’t even realized existed; a button that swelled eagerly under his caress and began to pulse with shockwaves of mounting pleasure.

Almost frightened by the overwhelming passion now trying to claim her, Elysande gasped his name, and then his mouth left her breast and covered hers again, his tongue thrusting in a rhythm to match his caress. She was strung tight as a bow, her body almost vibrating when she felt something pushing inside of her even as he continued to caress her. The combination merely increased her pleasure and her fear as she became aware that her legs and hips were moving into the caress, wanting it, urging him on as he rimmed her entrance, slid deeper and then eased out to slide in again.

His mouth was still on hers, catching her cries when the dam burst and her body began to vibrate and convulse with the explosion of pleasure he’d brought on. Her legs closed instinctively around his hand, her mouth opening, unable to even pretend to kiss anymore as she lost control of her body.

Elysande thought he would stop then, or simply mount her and thrust into her body claiming her maidenhead, and she would have been perfectly happy to let him. It seemed a fair trade for the bliss he’d shown her. But he didn’t. Rory didn’t even stop caressing and kissing her, and before she could recover from the first wild ride, he was sending her on another.

By the third time he drove her to that pleasure again, Elysande was a mindless mass of trembling flesh on the furs, clutching at him as the only port in a storm. She hardly noticed when he shifted to rest between her thighs. She was aware though when he began to push into her, and noticed that what was entering her was much, much bigger, but her body stretched to welcome him, muscles she hadn’t even realized she had tugging and pulling eagerly at him.

“Wrap yer legs around me, love.”

Elysande heard that growled order, and automatically obeyed, curling her legs around his hips, her feet pressing eagerly at his bottom. Then Rory’s mouth covered hers again and he thrust into her, breaking through her maidenhead and drawing a startled cry of pain from her before he froze, seeming to wait.

When he lifted his mouth from hers, she blinked her eyes open and peered up at his face in the light from the fireplace as she asked uncertainly, “Is it done?”

“The hard part is, love,” he responded, and then lowered his head to kiss her again. This time it was a slow, sweet kiss that made her body slowly unclench. Once she relaxed, the tone of the kiss changed and he began to demand a response that she was happy to give now that the sharp sting was gone, and the earlier passion was returning.

When he began to move, Elysande was ready for it and moved with him, shifting her hips up into his thrusts even as she dug her heels into his bottom to urge him on. This time when she found her release and cried out into his mouth, he cried out with her, and it seemed the most perfect thing in the world to her that they found those heights together.

“Are ye all right? Does anything hurt?”

Elysande smiled at the question. Rory was on his back with her half on his chest, and his arms around her. One of her legs was thrown over his, and her fingers were skimming lightly over his chest, running through the coarse curls there.

“Nay,” she said after a moment. “Nothing hurts, and I am more than all right. I am wonderful.”

“Aye, ye are,” he assured her, and she could hear the smile in his voice as his arm tightened around her briefly.

Elysande let her fingers drift down over his stomach, and asked, “Is it always like that?”

Rory hesitated, and then asked carefully, “Do ye mean will it always be like that between us? Or are ye asking would it be like that with another maun?”

“Both, I suppose,” she said, rubbing her cheek against his chest. “I cannot believe that ’tis always like this for everyone, else no one would ever get out of bed.”

Rory chuckled, and then said, “I can only tell ye that it has ne’er been like that fer me before. So I do no’ think it would be like that with just any maun. As for whether it will always be like that between us . . . I hope so.”

Elysande was considering that when he asked, “Shall we try again and see if ’tis just as good a second time?”

The question made her still, at least on the outside. But every nerve ending in her body seemed to jump at it. For an answer, she turned her face and pressed her lips to the almost flat nipple that had been resting under her cheek and sucked on it experimentally.

“Mmm,” Rory murmured, his hand sweeping down to clasp her bottom and squeeze firmly. “Ye’ve an adventurous spirit. That’s a good thing, lass. For I ha’e so many things I want to do with ye, I do no’ ken where to start.”

Elysande let his nipple slip from her mouth and glanced to his face with surprise. “There is more than what we already did?”

“Oh, aye,” he growled, suddenly rising up and sliding over her. Holding his weight with his arms, he nestled his hips between her thighs and began to rub against her.

Elysande’s eyes widened at this new caress. Moments ago, his shaft had been deflated and resting peacefully. Now it was hard as he pressed against her. Feeling her own excitement burst back to life within her, Elysande reached for him, wanting to draw him down for a kiss, but he eluded her hands by sliding farther down her body.

“No’ this time, love, there are other lips I’ve a mind to kiss.”

---