Page 57 of Rogue with a Brogue
“So ye reckon ye’d have ended up leg-shackled to him if ye’d never seen a MacLawry, and whether I’d ever kissed ye or nae.”
“I think I might well have. Without your presence, well, even though Roderick seems milder, I honestly wouldn’t call him much of an improvement. And there would have been no one to ask whatIwanted. There certainly wouldn’t have been anyone to assist me when I said I didn’t wish to marry Charles because he’s cruel and a snake and I couldn’t… tolerate him touching me the way you do.” Nor could she imagine herself conversing with any other man the way she could talk to Arran.
“Then I have another reason to be glad I came to London,” he said quietly.
She touched his arm again. It seemed vital to touch him every few minutes. “What about you, though? Do you regret that we met? You must have dozens of pretty Highlands lasses hounding you for a wedding. Deirdre, for example, is quite pretty.”
“Mostly the lasses hounded Ranulf. There was some talk last year aboot him marrying a Stewart, but naught came of it. Whenever he’d pointed Deirdre at me, I would have fought him aboot it, and whatever mess I’ve made between Ranulf and me, I’ll live with it. But in general, aye, there are lasses in the clan MacLawry who wish to be MacLawrys in fact. They’d take any of us, I suppose.”
“I didn’t mean because of your pedigree, though. I meant because of… Well, look at you. You’re more handsome than any man I’ve ever set eyes on.”
“Am I?” he returned, a slight frown furrowing his brow. “That has naught to do with me. I dunnae carry a mirror in my pocket. I only know how I feel. And I’ve never felt as alive as I do when I’m with ye. I wouldnae have wanted to go through my life withoot feeling that. Or without knowing ye. So nae, I dunnae regret meeting ye, my bonny Mary. Nae fer a second.”
She sat back again, trying to hold in a sudden flood of tears. No one had ever said anything so splendid to her. If this was a fairy tale—and it was beginning to feel more and more like one—perhaps it was one of the few that could be true. Perhaps she could make a future somewhere with this dangerous, forbidden, devilishly handsome rogue. He certainly seemed to want to go forward with her.
If she could just look forward as well, stop worrying over what her father and her grandfather and all of her friends likely thought of her now, stop thinking she was a traitor to her clan because she’d dared to defy orders in favor of her own happiness, this could be her grand adventure.Hecould be her grand adventure.
Arran tilted his head at her. “I thought ye’d at least give me a kiss fer my gallantry,” he suggested.
She grinned at him. “Why is it that we can be fleeing for our freedom and our lives, and you still make me smile?”
“I’m a charming fella. And ye should kiss me. Now.”
“Hm. I’ll have to consider th—”
He lunged halfway across the coach and captured her mouth. Before she even had time to brace herself, he had her on her back. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, settling into a long, deep, openmouthed kiss that sent excitement swirling down her spine and between her legs.
“When do we need to change horses?” she asked, putting one hand between them and pulling his shirt from his trousers.
“In a half hour or so,” he returned, breaking away from her mouth to look down at her. “Ye still need to ask me, bonny lass.”
She swallowed. A proper lady would never ask to be bedded. Of course, a proper lady wouldn’t be alone with a man in a carriage fleeing for the Scottish border. A proper lady would be gathering her trousseau for a wedding she’d neither wanted nor agreed to.
“I want you, Arran,” she murmured, brushing hair from his face.
His mouth twitched. “Ye want me fer what? Lawn bowling?”
“I want you for… sex.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Aye? Tell me more.”
Her cheeks warmed. “I want you to take off my clothes and kiss me everywhere,” she ventured, and was rewarded by a smile and his mouth trailing along the base of her jaw.
“Anything else, lass?”
Considering she could barely remember how to speak, Mary thought she was doing quite well. She drew a shaky breath. “I… I want you inside me, Arran. Now, if you please.”
“Well, why didnae ye say so?” Rising up on his knees, one shoulder braced against the back of the seat for balance, he unbuttoned his trousers and shoved them down to his thighs. Judging by his jutting manhood, he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.
Last night he’d been slow and careful and gentle. None of that seemed to be on his mind today. Rather, he seemed very single-minded about what he wanted. Being the recipient of his lust was quite thrilling, really.
Arran wrapped his hands into the bottom hem of her gown and gathered the material up, past her knees and over her hips. Then he went down again with his hands above her shoulders, spread her legs with his knees, and pushed inside her.
She gasped, the sudden sensation of his large cock filling her making her jolt into a sudden ecstacy of pleasure. Biting her lip to keep from crying out, she dug her fingers into the muscles of his back and arched against him.
Good heavens.They both still wore most of their clothes, and even so it felt like the most intimate, erotic moment of her life. When she could breathe again she pulled his face down for a kiss, their bodies rocking as he drove into her again and again. The world fell away until only the two of them remained, the only sounds the creaking of the carriage, their hard breathing, and his low exclamations of pleasure.
Faster and faster, deeper, harder, until with a moan she climaxed again. He followed immediately, pushing hard into her and holding himself there as he spilled his seed. This was the moment she’d already come to relish, when there were no doubts about the future or their present circumstances, or anything else. This… this was perfection. And they could only find it with each other.
