Page 51 of A Laird and a Gentleman

“How can you say that? I still do not know who or even what I am.”

He reached for her, wrapped her in his arms and simply held her. He waited with his cheek against her head until at last she relaxed, until she leaned against him. He tightened his hold, allowing her to feel what was in his heart, in his soul. “I know what you are. You are a gifted woman. You are magic. You are the embodiment of hope and life and love.”

“Those are just words. Nothing to build a life upon. These last few days have taught me that I will be hunted by those who fear me because of my gift. And anyone close to me will be in danger as well.”

“I have fought many battles. This is only one more that I will win with you at my side.”

She offered him a hesitant smile. “You are very persuasive, but everything between us must remain as it is until I know what I face on the Isle of May.”

“Everything?” He brought her hand to his lips. His gray eyes locked on hers, he kissed her fingertips, then turned her hand and pressed his lips into her palm. He let them linger just long enough for her to feel their heat, before he lifted his head. With his hold on her hand, he tugged her closer. Of their own volition, her hands lifted to his shoulders as his lips came down to take hers.

Soft kisses teased her senses until she melted against him. He held her close, but not so close she couldn’t pull away if she wanted to. He was giving her a choice about where this moment went.

And she knew what she wanted. “Nay, not everything. Neither of us knows what awaits us on the isle. Let us grasp this moment while we can. We will worry about the rest later.”

She brought her hand up to his chest, atop his racing heart. “Love me.” The words drifted from her lips to his as she gave herself over.

He kissed her gently, waiting for her response before coaxing her into more, until her passion escalated, burning hotter, brighter, into full-blown need.

Without releasing her, he led her toward the bed at the side of the chamber. Only once they were there, with the mattress at the backs of her legs, did he release her as he worked at divesting her of her dress while her own hands hastily unlaced her stomacher beneath. He stripped away her chemise without ever taking his gaze from hers. Then her shoes slipped from her feet and her stockings followed until she stood naked before him.

Her heart pounded in her chest, so much so that she thought it might leap from her breast. Cool air whispered against her skin, but she wasn’t cold. Raw, unveiled passion reflected in his gaze, fastened on the pink tips of her breasts, warming her from the inside out.

“You are so lovely.” A trail of scorching heat caressed her skin as his gaze shifted from her nipples down her body to the soft hair that encircled her womanhood. He reached out and touched her belly, then his fingers trailed down to the curls that had so absorbed his attention and beyond to her thighs. The feel of his touch was so indescribably erotic, that she gasped.

His eyes grew darker. “You like that?”

She couldn’t answer. Her voice no longer worked. Her breath jumped to her throat as awareness pulsed in the tips of her breasts and between her legs.

His fingers moved behind her, until his palm stroked the back of her calf, moving higher past her knee, skating up her thigh to cup her bottom.

A hot shiver went through her as she closed her eyes and concentrated on the heat of his hands and the roughness of his calloused fingertips against her silken flesh. He gently guided her down onto the bed for which she was grateful because she was trembling so violently, she wasn’t sure she could have remained upright. He followed her down as his hand curved around her bottom then up and over her hip to graze the small red triangle between her legs.

His fingers brushed her, tracing little swirling patterns in her curls first on her pubic bone, then lower and lower until his finger delved inside her folds to flick the most sensitive part of her. Shock. Heat. Hunger.

She arched back with a cry as his thumb pressed and then began moving in a slow, erotic circle. Sensation after sensation tore through her, spreading like wildfire across her nerves as her flesh heated, flushed.

His dark eyes were intent as he pulled back and reached for his boots. They were off as well as his breeches before she could so much as catch her breath. When finally he stood naked before her, she let her gaze roam as his had done. He was all muscle and strength, with wide, strong shoulders, and the light sprinkling of dark hair that spread across his chest. She followed the narrowing line down, across the rippling flatness of his stomach to the most male part of him. At the sight of his arousal, a wild, almost uncontrollable heat flared inside her.

The mattress gave beneath his weight as he settled against her, allowing her to adjust to the sensation of his skin next to hers before he kissed her neck, then her shoulders, then farther down until he reached her breasts. He nuzzled them slowly, for endless moments, before his lips closed over her taut nipples, first one, then the other.

She tangled her hand in his hair, feeling the thick, cool silk slide through her fingers and breathed in the heated, musky scent of his skin. “Cameron,” she gasped, her senses spiraling. Each touch, each kiss sent all rational thought further from her mind until she could only feel something wild and primitive building inside her, racing through her veins, seeking an unknown release.

He pulled back, allowing her to see the unbridled passion reflected in his eyes. He wanted her, needed her, every bit as much as she needed him. Moving over her, he eased his hard thighs between her legs until his swollen shaft met the soft folds of her womanhood. He thrust into her, filling her body with promise and heat.

She gasped as pain shot through her. He became still, buried deep, joined, pulsing within her. As the pain faded, other sensations took hold. Fullness then hunger. Slowly, she moved against him. “There is more, is there not?”

“Aye, my sweet. There is more.” Only then did Cameron begin to move, slowly at first, then faster, deeper, filling her with each thrust of his hips. The fire that had smoldered like embers in her belly burst into flame. The heat of it filled her, consumed her, as she moved her hips against his, seeking whatever it was he tried to give her.

Over and over, he pushed himself into her depths only to retreat and push forward again. Mariam teetered on the brink of oblivion, filled with sensations too intense to bear in silence. She heard breathless cries of pleasure she knew must be hers, but she could no more control them than the mounting waves of honeyed fire that tightened her muscles and arched her back.

Heat spiraled inside her, growing stronger and stronger, until the tension inside her erupted, releasing in a wondrous rapture that shook her to the depths of her soul.

Above her, Cameron’s features were tight. He thrust deep once more until he cried out as the same rapture claimed him. She tightened around him, pulling him with her over the edge of glory. Every inch of her body, every fiber of her being vibrated with satisfaction, completion. “I never knew a touch could make me feel like that.”

“That is just the beginning. There is so much more I want to show you, teach you.” He withdrew from her then pulled her alongside him, resting his chin at the top of her head. He pressed a kiss in her hair and curled himself against her back.

With her next heartbeat, Mariam went rigid. Desperately she tugged at the coverlet, trying to hide what she did not want him to see. How could she have forgotten her back? Her scars? The reminder she carried with her every day of what her life with her father had been like?