Stealing a Kilted Heart (Temptation in Tartan #8)

Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

F ia’s heels clicked against the stone floor as she swiftly made her way to Knox’s chambers. She had to speak with him that very moment; it couldn’t wait any longer.

She had made up her mind. It was time for her to tell him the truth, no matter the cost.

“Halt!” one of the two guards who stood sentinel outside Knox’s chambers said, holding up a hand for Fia to stay back. She came to an abrupt stop, surprised by the sudden command, since she was quite certain the guards knew who she was. They had seen her in the castle before. She, too, had seen them, and so she didn’t understand what the problem was.

“I need tae speak tae Laird Stuart,” she said. “It’s urgent.”

“Wait here,” said the man as he turned around and knocked on the door, entering the laird’s chambers. Fia waited there, shifting her weight from one foot to the other nervously, her hands clasped behind her back as she fidgeted with the broken edge of a nail.

It was another reminder of how foolish she had been to think her plan would ever work.

A few moments later, the door opened again and the guard waved her inside without another word. After a moment of hesitation, during which she tried to gather her courage, Fia entered the dimly lit room and spotted Knox by the fire, sitting over a pile of papers with a drink in his hand.

“Fia,” he said, immediately putting his drink down and standing to approach her. Before she could speak, he pulled her into a fiery kiss, brimming with passion, and at least momentarily she forgot why she had gone there.

Right… I must tell him the truth.

“It’s a good thing ye came,” Knox said, once again stopping her right before she was about to speak. “I wished tae talk tae ye about somethin’ very important.”

That wasn’t how Fia had thought the conversation would go. She gave Knox a small, confused frown, but now that he had started talking, it seemed that he couldn’t stop, the words tumbling past his lips as if he had little control over them.

“I’ve given it plenty o’ thought an’… an’ I want ye tae be me wife, Fia,” he said. “Before ye say anythin’, I ken. I ken it may nae be easy, but I love ye. Ye’re the love o’ me life an’ I willnae let ye go simply because some may think ye’re nae a good match fer me. It’s what I want. An’ if… if it is what ye want as well, then I willnae let anyone stand in our way.”

Fia’s heart dropped to her stomach, her eyes brimming with tears. They stung as they fell down her cheeks, and Knox must have mistaken them for tears of joy because he laughed softly and pulled her into another kiss.

She allowed it. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth, not now; not when she could feel the love radiating off him, enveloping her entirely, like a warm summer breeze.

Perhaps he daesnae need tae ken the truth. Regardless of how everythin’ started, me feelings fer him are true.

And Fia was determined to do anything in her power to make Knox happy. It didn’t matter what it would take. Anything he wanted, she would give it to him. She would atone for her lies in her own way, and she would make sure he was always happy by her side.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Fia finally reciprocated the kiss, pulling him closer. Knox laughed once again, his hands coming to rest on her waist as he pulled back to look at her, pressing their foreheads together. “Am I tae assume this means aye?”

Through the tears, Fia couldn’t help but laugh as well. “Aye.”

With a pleased hum, Knox picked her up and gave her a twirl in the air, drawing a surprised yelp out of her. When she wrapped her legs around his waist to hold on, though, something shifted between them. Fia saw it in the way Knox’s gaze darkened, getting hazy with lust. Before she knew it, his hands grabbed her rear and he pressed her against the nearest wall, devouring her mouth in a kiss.

Fia couldn’t help but moan into the kiss, her back arching off the wall as her core demanded attention. Knox echoed her moan and Fia could feel him harden against her, his hips twitching restlessly as they kissed, as though he had trouble holding himself back.

But Fia didn’t want him to hold back. She wanted him to give her everything, to take all the pleasure he wanted from her.

“I want ye inside me,” she told him, whispering against his lips, and Knox let out a broken moan in response as he gingerly put her down and then proceeded to all but tear her clothes off her. Fia gasped in surprise. She could have sworn she heard some of the stitches of her tunic rip, but that was far from a concern when Knox grabbed her again and kissed her neck, her chest, pulling her up against him to draw one of her nipples in his mouth. Fia arched into the touch, barely standing on her tiptoes as Knox teased her breasts, biting and kissing the swell of them. It made her shiver from head to toe, all this attention that was focused solely on her, Knox putting all of his efforts into pleasing her.

With eager hands, Fia tugged at Knox’s clothes. She wanted to see him too, to feel him under her hands, to please him like he pleased her. Knox pulled back just enough to allow it, letting her undress him hurriedly until all his clothes were on a pile on the floor beside their feet. Then, she pulled him close once more, dragging her hands all over him—over his shoulders, his back, down the swell of his rear, feeling the strong muscles under her fingers ripple as he moved.

Battle scars, silvery under the dim light in the room, seemed to cover most of his body. Fia traced some of the raised bumps, wondering how he could have gotten so many—how many battles had he fought? How many times had he come close to death and how many more would he have to face? The thought sickened her, and so she quickly pushed it out of her mind. She didn’t want to think about such things, not when Knox was so alive, so warm and solid under her hands, ready to give her what she so desperately craved.

Once they were both undressed, he wasted no time before he plunged a finger inside her, the digit slipping with ease past her folds. She was already so wet and eager, that he was quick to add a second finger, pumping them and finding that spot deep inside her that had Fia crying out in pleasure.

She didn’t know how he always seemed to know just what she needed. She didn’t know how he could be so attuned to her body already, knowing where to kiss, where to press, just what to do to drive her mad.

One leg coming up to wrap around his waist, Fia pulled Knox flush against her, easily accepting the kiss he gave her. His fingers worked her fervently, coaxing more moisture out of her, along with more moans of his name, stoking the flames of desire that burned in her core. Fia could feel him everywhere around her. She was surrounded by his presence, his touch, his scent, all of it working in tandem to make her lust bubble over, her hips moving on their own accord as they worked to draw his fingers even deeper.

“Ye’re so bonnie like this,” Knox whispered in her ear, the silky baritone of his voice coating her like honey. “So eager… drawin’ me in. Tell me what ye want. Tell me how I can best please ye.”

Fia blushed at the mere thought of giving Knox instruction, telling him how she wanted him most. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, but her core burned even hotter, demanding her attention. Her entrance throbbed around Knox, her flesh clenching at the thought of having his manhood inside her instead of his fingers, and so she reached between them, taking him in her hand.

The moan he released sent a ripple of lust through her.

“Inside me,” she gasped, hitching her leg even higher, their hands a tangle between them. “I want ye inside me, please. I cannae wait any longer.”

With a growl, Knox spun her around in one swift movement, pressing her against the wall. His hand found her entrance again, fingers slipping inside her once more as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Come fer me an’ I’ll give ye what ye want,” he said, his other hand closing around the small swell of her breast. He groaned as if he was the one being pleasured like this, single-mindedly and relentlessly, and Fia couldn’t help but melt in his embrace, letting the sensations crash over her again and again. “Ye’ll be so wet an’ ready fer me that I’ll just push right intae ye, hmm? Ye’ll take me like a good lass.”

She was entirely at his mercy, caught between his hands and forced to take this sweet torture until she fell apart in them. It didn’t take long for heat to spread over her core, the pressure building and building until it finally exploded inside her, her first orgasm ripped out of her by those clever fingers.

Fia pressed a hand over her mouth to muffle her moans, knowing the guards were still outside. If, by some miracle, they hadn’t already heard her and Knox, then they were bound to hear them now if she couldn’t control herself. But how could she when her pleasure struck her so violently, when her core throbbed and twitched around Knox’s fingers, which were still working her through the aftershocks? She couldn’t. All she could do was tremble and shake, and let the sensations ever so slowly fade away.

And then, just as she started to come back to herself, she felt the hard length of Knox’s manhood against her rear, hot and rigid like a branding iron, and she knew she was nowhere near finished. Her body craved more; her entrance pulsed at the mere thought of Knox pushing inside her, and she knew he was right. She was ready for him, her body offering no resistance.

“Spread yer legs. Let me see ye,” Knox said, though he didn’t wait for her to do so before manhandling her in the position he wanted her. Fia braced herself against the wall on her forearms, her hips pushing back, and she heard Knox inhale sharply behind her as his fingers traced the length of her spine, dipping into the grooves. “Gorgeous… just gorgeous.”

It wasn’t long before she felt the blunt tip of his length push against her entrance. Just like he had promised, Knox entered her in one smooth thrust, slowly pushing inside all the way to the hilt, until his pelvis met the swell of her buttocks. Instantly, his hands gripped her hips, the touch as tender as it was firm, holding her in place as he began to thrust in earnest.

There was a rhythm to his movements, but no real finesse. They were both too eager, too worked up, too consumed by lust to care about anything else other than reaching their completion. Once again, Fia slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet, but Knox was quick to growl and drape himself over her, his thrusts getting more insistent, more forceful.

“Stop that,” he demanded. “I wish tae hear ye.”

Silently, Fia shook her head, but Knox let his head fall between her shoulder blades, pressing a kiss to the heated skin there.

“I dinnae care who hears,” he said, delivering a hard thrust that had Fia’s walls clenching around him and her body going on tiptoes to take it. “Let them all hear. Let them ken ye’re the only one I want, the only one who can reduce me tae this. Heavens, Fia… ye feel so good, so hot, so tight . Like ye were made just fer me. Dae ye feel how deep inside ye I am?”

Fia nodded, drunk on her pleasure. She could feel him deep inside her, indeed, filling her up completely, taking up every bit of space inside her. Every drag of his length across her walls, every deep thrust had her moaning again, her entrance stretching pleasurably around him, her core throbbing desperately.

When he slid his hand from her hip to her mound, giving her something to rub against as her hips rocked with each of his thrusts, Fia knew she wouldn’t last long. The sensations built and built inside her, the coupling of his wild thrusts with that hand on her sensitive spot and those filthy words in her ear once again bringing her over the edge until she came apart around him.

Distantly, she heard Knox curse as she pulsed around his length. After that, it only took him a few more thrusts before he joined her, spilling himself deep inside her with a grunt, much to her surprise.

They weren’t wedded yet. The thought sparked a sense of apprehension in her, but it felt so good to have him let go, to have him reach his climax like this and take him in her body that she couldn’t bring herself to care.

A few moments later, Knox pulled back with a soft laugh, gathering Fia in his arms. For the first time, she noticed the strain put on her body by the position, the soreness of her muscles, but Knox was quick to soothe her by massaging her shoulders, as though he knew exactly what she needed once again.

“Me bonnie wife,” he said, and though Fia was well aware of their reality, of the fact that they weren’t married yet and may never be if the council put up enough resistance, she allowed herself to smile, to feel that word warm her chest. “All mine.”

“All yers,” she told him, turning around in his arms to face him and pull him in a soft, tender kiss.