“We could stay the night,” Alex said, his breath tickling her lips. “But only if ye are willing to release me from my promise to leave at once.”
He was supporting her back with one strong arm while he ran his other hand up her side. When he brushed the side of her breast, she bit her lip to keep from sighing aloud. How she’d missed his touch.
“If this is what ye want, ye must tell me,” he said.
Why did he insist that she say it? Because she had pricked his pride, suggesting he might force her one day if she refused. She should not have said it, for she knew he was not like that. She remembered how her first husband had pushed her back on the bed and taken her virginity with little preamble—and certainly without waiting for her permission.
But Alex demanded that she give her consent explicitly. It was hard to confess that she wanted him, for it forced her to admit that this was not purely a selfless act to protect a child. Nor was it merely a practical decision to choose a husband before her father did it for her.
“Aye, this is what I want,” she whispered. “I want you, Alex MacDonald.”
He walked her backward until the bed was against her back. She was grateful for the support because her knees grew weak as he ran kisses down her throat. When he pressed his warm lips to the hollow above her collarbone, a sigh escaped her. His breath on her skin made her breasts ache. When his hands finally covered them, she closed her eyes.
When Alex kissed her mouth again, their tongues moved in a primal rhythm that filled her with longing. She twined her arms around his neck and slid her fingers through his hair. When he pulled away, her body followed, pressing against him.
“Do we delay our departure and stay the night?” he asked in a voice rough with desire.
“Aye,” she said again. “Take me to bed.”
“The right answer, wife.”
Alex swept aside the bed curtains, sat her on the high bed, and lit the candle on the table beside it. He was often playful in bed, but there was nothing lighthearted about the way he was looking at her now.
“Your gown,” he said in a strained voice. “Take it off.”
Glynis swallowed and decided to start with her shoes. She slipped one off and then the other, letting them drop with soft thuds in the silent room. As she eased her stocking down her calf, she looked up and saw Alex’s chest rise and fall in slow, deep breaths.
He was staring at her so fiercely that her fingers shook a little as she removed her head covering and unwound her hair from the coil Bessie had pinned up only a short time ago. After unfastening the first two hooks at the back of her gown, she dropped her arms.
“I can’t do the rest myself.”
Alex’s jaw was clenched tight, but he gave her a curt nod, so she slid down from the bed. She was so tense that she felt light-headed as she took the three steps to reach him and turned around. When his fingers grazed the back of her neck, she drew in a sharp breath at the shock of his touch.
A little of her confidence returned when she realized that Alex, who was usually disconcertingly adept at removing women’s clothing, was fumbling with the hooks. Once he had them undone, he dragged the gown off her shoulders and let it fall in a pool around her feet.
His lips were gentle as he brushed soft kisses against her neck, but his hands gripped her upper arms so tightly it almost hurt. When she leaned back against him, she felt his solid heat through her thin shift. He kissed her hair and the side of her face as he eased her shift off her shoulders. She felt the cool air on her breasts for an instant before he held them in his hands.
“Ah, Glynis.” His breath was hot in her ear. “I was going to die if ye held me to my promise and made me wait.”
He scraped his teeth along her shoulder as he slid one hand beneath the shift that still clung to her hips. He groaned when his hand cupped her between her legs. Then pleasure shot through her as his fingers dipped and explored.
Her legs grew weak, and she sagged against him as heat pooled low and heavy in her belly. But then he began to move against her, pressing his hard shaft into her, and she strained against him.
She turned in his arms, wanting his kiss. His clothes were rough against her sensitive nipples. Gripping her hips, he held her tight against him as he gave her long, deep kisses.
She tore her mouth away. “Alex, I must lie down.”
He threw the bedclothes back with one hand, and then swept her off her feet and laid her on the bed in one easy motion. Before she could blink, Alex had unfastened his plaid and pulled his shirt over his head.
Glynis watched the muscles of his back and thighs as he stretched and leaned over to remove his boots. Then he stood upright facing her in all his glory. Ach, he was magnificent. The candlelight played across every contour of his muscular arms and torso. Glynis swallowed as her gaze moved down from his chest to his flat belly and full staff.
When she lifted her gaze back to his face, Alex’s eyes scorched her skin.
Her heart pounded against her chest and her breath came fast as he climbed onto the bed. Anticipation sparked through her as he reached for her. At once, she was enfolded in his heat, under his weight, and drowning in reckless passion. His hands were everywhere—and every part of her ached for his touch. She tried to catch her breath as he kissed her eyebrows, her cheeks, her jaw, her ear. As he worked his way down her throat with his lips and tongue, she tilted her chest upward.
“Aye,” she breathed when his hands covered her breasts and found her nipples. She heard herself making incoherent sounds as he pressed openmouthed kisses down her breastbone while teasing her nipples with his thumbs. She thought she might die from the pleasure—and that was before he dragged his tongue across her breast to her nipple.
She clenched her fingers in Alex’s hair as he first circled her nipple with his tongue and then drew it into his
