Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Logan stared up at the vaulted ceiling of his bedchamber, unable to sleep. It was the same, most nights—him lying awake, thinking about Adeline, wondering what she was doing.
He was beginning to lose the memory of her face, the details hazy. And the more he tried to claw it back, the less defined it became, until he feared he might lose the true memory altogether.
A loud knock jolted him upright.
“Come in!” he called.
Theo burst into the room, wild-eyed and panting. “A woman,” he wheezed. “On the beach. Now.”
Logan could not believe his ears. Indeed, he wondered for half a second if he had fallen asleep and was in the midst of a dream.
“A woman!” Theo repeated, twice as loud. “On the beach!”
It was no dream. Theo would not be yelling at him in a dream.
Logan was up and on his feet in the blink of an eye, forgetting his shirt and fastening his kilt around his waist as he ran. If Adeline was lying there on the sand, he would not feel the cold.
He tore through the keep like a man possessed, barreling out onto the shrubby field that led up to the lip of the beach where he had first encountered her. He jumped the shelf of earth that separated soil from sand and sprinted down the last stretch to the fishing boats.
Rounding the corner of one boat, he stopped in his tracks. Adeline was already sitting up, looking around her in confusion. Looking for him.
“Ye came back,” he choked out. “Love, ye came back.”
Adeline scrambled to her feet and threw herself into his arms. “I thought I’d gotten the wrong spot. I don’t know why I thought you’d be waiting for me, but… you’re here now. You’re here, and I’m here, and—”
He kissed her quiet, hoisting her up into his arms. Her legs locked around his waist, her hands caressing his face as she kissed him back, melting into the memory of what they had cherished before.
And just like that, it was like a great weight had lifted off Logan’s shoulders.
He had hoped and prayed without much faith at all, yet there she was, solid and real, kissing him back the way he had dreamed about a thousand times.
“Take me to bed,” she whispered against his lips.
He grinned. “Aye, m'lady. Whatever ye wish.”
With her clinging to him like she never intended to let go, he carried her back to the keep, knowing he was holding the most precious cargo in his arms.
After two months away, she was finally home.
They had rushed to reach Adeline’s old bedchamber, but once the door was closed behind them, Logan had no desire to be hasty. He wrapped his arms around Adeline, dipping his head to catch her mouth with his, pressing a longing kiss to her lips.
A dream he would have waited forever to feel again, returned to him.
“I love ye,” he murmured, lifting his hand to brush the windswept hair away from her face.
She smiled up at him. “I love you, too. I’ve thought about nothing but saying that ever since you cut me off on the tower.”
“I couldnae hear it, kennin’ I was about to say farewell to ye for what I thought was forever,” he told her, kissing her brow.
She cradled his face in her hands, bringing his head back down so she could kiss him again. “I thought that might be why,” she said, brushing her lips against his.
They stayed like that for a while, wrapped up in one another’s arms, their kiss slow and tender, both aware that they did not have to worry about the other being gone in the morning. They could take all the time they needed, exploring one another.
Not pausing in his kiss, Logan walked Adeline backward to the bed in a leisurely sort of dance, relishing the satisfaction of having her back where she belonged—right there, in his arms, being kissed and adored by him.
As her thighs bumped against the edge of the bed, they toppled onto it together. Logan’s hand came down to break her fall, his other arm tight around her waist, and he laid her down more gently onto the soft mattress. She smiled up at him, and he took a moment to just gaze into her eyes, hardly able to believe that she was really there.
He bent to kiss her, scooping her against him as he rolled them onto their sides. His hand caressed the curve of her waist… and paused.
“What is that?” he asked.
“What?”
He rolled her onto her back and sat up, easing up the hem of her dress. Beneath, she wore layers of curious clothes that he had never seen before.
She burst out laughing. “I’d completely forgotten about all that. I know I’m probably not supposed to, but I wanted to bring a few things with me for when it gets really cold.”
“I suppose I ought to start undressin’ ye now. We might be here for a while,” he teased as he set to work.
It was the gift that kept on giving, peeling away the layers, revealing more of her exquisite figure with each unveiling. Soon, Logan glimpsed bare skin, noting the two unusual undergarments she wore: a very short sort of corset, and a very small pair of drawers. Several, actually.
“I’ve missed ye,” he confessed, peeling her undergarments down her thighs and then dropping them to the floor.
Adeline ran her fingertips down his bare chest, sighing. “I’ve missed you so much, and I wasn’t even waiting that long. I can’t imagine what it was like for you.”
“That doesnae matter now,” he told her, freeing her from the peculiar half-corset.
He pulled her onto his lap and kissed the curve of her neck, smoothing his hands across her arched back, reveling in the heat of her. He’d wished for it on the colder nights when sleep had not come easily, if at all.
“Never leave me side again,” he murmured against her collarbone, tracing kisses down to her pert breasts.
“I won’t,” she moaned as he drew her nipple into his mouth, sucking gently.
Meanwhile, his hand skimmed down the flat of her stomach, seeking out the heat between her thighs. His fingertips touched the pulse of her swollen bud, already anticipating the cries of bliss that would slip from her lips.
He circled that hidden pearl in slow strokes, while his mouth explored every inch of bare skin he had almost forgotten, letting the hazy details grow sharp again in his mind. And as he savored her, she savored him in return, her kisses dancing across his shoulders and down his throat, her tongue tasting his chest, his lips, his neck.
His breath caught in his throat as her fingertips deftly unfastened his belt, her hands peeling away the coarse wool of his kilt. And as she touched him, he had to catch her by the wrist.
“I want this to be slow,” he told her, smiling.
She pretended to pout. “As long as you keep doing what you do so well, I suppose we can save this for another day.” A grin brightened her eyes. “Any day. We’ve got them all ahead of us.”
“Aye, love, we do. As many as we’re blessed with, ‘til we’re gray and old.”
She chuckled. “And still doing this, I hope.”
“Aye, we will,” he promised, gliding his manhood along her folds.
She gasped and tilted her hips, telling him exactly what she wanted. He was only too happy to oblige. Smiling, he pressed a searing kiss to her lips, holding her close as he eased himself inside her. A shiver of bliss rippled through him as he sank deeper into that sweet warmth, all the way to the hilt, where he stilled for a moment to let her adjust.
In that pause, he let himself believe it was real—they were united again, joined together, entwined as one. Nothing could be better, other than the love that spurred it all.
Adeline clung tightly to him, her hips moving in a slow ebb and flow, rocking back and forth against his length.
“Aye, love,” Logan growled, sliding his hand over the swell of her backside, guiding her movement.
A soft moan slipped from her parted lips as she arched her back, her slender neck curved, and sank into the rhythm of their bodies. All he could do was marvel at her ethereal beauty as she swayed and writhed, teasing him toward a conclusion that he would hold back for as long as necessary, until she was thoroughly and completely satiated.
With that in mind, he strummed her swollen bud and dipped his head to draw her nipple into his mouth once more, listening to the sounds of her pleasure. It was the best way to know what she liked, and he planned to dedicate his life to knowing everything she liked.
They moved together as one in the warmth of her bedchamber, for he had kept the fire lit every night, even in her absence. A beacon of faith that she would come back to him, as long as she knew there was somewhere to go back to.
Their silhouettes, cast upon the walls, were one body, one soul, one heart, their gasps and sighs filling the air. Adeline’s panting breaths intensified, her hips quickening their rhythm. She grasped his shoulders, sinking her fingernails into his flesh, and rode him toward the conclusion of her desire.
Her fierce gaze met his, her lips crashing against his, while he sank into her again and again, relishing each plunge. And not once did he pause in lavishing his attention on that secret pearl, for it was the key to her greatest bliss.
“Oh, my love!” she cried out, her body seizing. “Yes, my love! Yes!”
She gripped his shoulders harder as her climax struck, rippling through her entire being like a wave on the ocean, quivering this way and that. Her thighs trembled around his hips, color creeping up her cheeks as she threw her head back, savoring the intense rush before it ebbed.
He knew the moment it faded, for she collapsed against him, melting into his embrace. She kissed his neck lazily, making her way up to his mouth, where he felt her blissful smile.
“I missed you,” she whispered. “I can’t describe how much.”
He brushed a lock of sweat-dampened hair behind her ear, smiling. “I guarantee that I missed ye more,” he told her. “But there’s somethin’ I’ve been wonderin’.”
“What is it, my love?” She moved against him, making his breath hitch.
He smiled at her wildness, in love with every facet of her. “What brought ye back?”
“The snow globe.”
He shook his head. “That’s nae what I meant. I mean, what did ye wish for? Did ye wish nae to be alone again, as ye did before?”
She pulled back slightly, so she could gaze more deeply into his eyes. Shy, she gave a small shake of her head. “No, not that.”
“Then what, love?”
Her eyes widened, her tender smile like pure magic to him, as she whispered, “I wished to be with you.”
The End?