Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
A single candle
flickered on the bedside table. The only other light came from the
fire that blazed on the hearth.
Through the open balcony window came the
fragrance of spring flowers carried on the evening breeze.
It was quiet. The only sound in the room was
that of strained and shallow breathing.
Jamie studied the woman in his arms. She
shimmered in a golden halo of light.
Though he was half mad with desire, he knew
that he must go slowly. He would bank his needs and take the time
to allay all her fears.
“How long I have waited to love you.” With a
kind of reverence he removed the combs from her hair and watched as
it drifted like a silken veil around her face and shoulders. She
heard his quiet moan as he drew her close. With a sigh he plunged
his hands into her hair and drew her head back until he was staring
deeply into her eyes. He nibbled the corner of her mouth with great
tenderness until he felt her respond, hoping it put her at
ease.
“Soft, my lady. You are so soft, so small and
delicate.”
“And you are so strong, it frightens me.”
“You need never be afraid of me, Lindsey. I
know I displayed a wicked temper. But it was the passion driving
me. I would never hurt you.” I would kill for you, he thought. I
would die for you. But I would never hurt you.
Lindsey smiled, and he saw the way her lips
trembled. “I know, Jamie. I know I am safe with you. But I
am—afraid, all the same.”
“As am I,” he whispered.
“You?” She smiled. “You tease me.”
“Nay, my lady. You terrify me.”
With a rush of feeling she wrapped her arms
around his waist and brought her lips to his throat.
Her touch brought a flare of desire that
nearly drove him mad. He dragged her against him and covered her
mouth with his. Though he longed to take her, he cautioned himself
to hold back.
With great tenderness he kissed her lips, her
ear, her throat. When he brought his mouth to the sensitive flesh
of her throat, she gave a little moan and arched her neck, giving
him easier access. He ran open-mouthed kisses along the column of
her throat, then brought his lips lower, until he encountered the
ruffled neckline of her gown.
He needed to rid himself of the barriers
between them. Lingering over her lips, his fingers found the
fasteners of her gown. With a rustle of satin it drifted to the
floor. He ran wet kisses across her shoulder, causing her to
tremble and clutch blindly at his waist. As he drew her close he
untied the ribbons that held her chemise. It drifted like a flower
petal to the floor, where it joined the rest of her clothes.
“God in heaven, Lindsey, how lovely you
are.”
His hands moved over her, touching,
exploring, seducing.
With an unexpected boldness Lindsey reached
for the buttons of his shirt. As it slipped from his shoulders she
brought her lips to his hair-roughened chest and gloried in the
freedom to touch him as he was touching her. But her courage failed
her when she fumbled with the waistband of his breeches. Her
fingers were stiff and awkward, and he was forced to help her,
until, at last, his clothes joined hers on the floor at their
feet.
“I want you, Lindsey. How I want you.” He
spoke the words into her mouth as he covered her lips in a
possessive kiss.
She lost herself in him, drinking in all the
dark, mysterious tastes that were his alone. The scent of pine
forest clung to his hair. On his breath was a hint of ale. She felt
drunk with the heady taste of him, the musky male scent of him. Her
man. For all time, he would own her heart.
As he took the kiss deeper she felt her knees
weaken. Scooping her up, he carried her to his bed and lay her
among the linens, then lay beside her and drew her into the circle
of his arms.
His kisses were by turn harsh, then gentle,
as he cautioned himself that this, her first time, must be savored
slowly.
Leaning up on one elbow he studied her as she
lay beside him. Her hair, glinting red and gold in the firelight,
was a splash of color against the white linens. It spilled across
one breast, then fanned out around her like a silken veil.
He caught the strands, lifting them away from
her neck. He stared, fascinated, as they sifted through his
fingers. With a fingertip he traced her collarbone, the slope of
her shoulders, the curve of her breast.
He lowered himself until his lips could
follow the trail his fingers blazed and he felt her tremble as his
lips closed around her nipple. With his tongue he teased it until
he heard her little moan of pleasure.
His lips covered hers in a kiss so demanding,
she prayed it would never stop. When at last his lips left hers to
explore her body, she felt bereft. She had a need to take and give
until she was both filled and drained. Never before had she wanted
to open herself to someone. But this man, his touch, his kiss, had
taken her higher than she had dreamed possible.
His kisses seared a fiery trail across her
tiny waist to the smooth, flat skin of her stomach. He chuckled as
she flinched, then ran his hands across the softly rounded flare of
her hips. His touch was so gentle, so easy, Lindsey lay seeped in
pleasure, drifting on a cloud of contentment. But when his touch
suddenly moved to her inner thigh, she started to protest. Her
words were swallowed when his mouth covered hers in a savage kiss.
And as his touch became more intimate, his mouth sought her breast
and his lips closed around her hardened nipple. All she could do
was absorb pleasure after pleasure as his lips and his fingertips
continued driving her until her body was alive with feeling.
She was no longer shy or afraid. Her head was
thrown back, her body arched for him. As he hesitated above her she
clutched at him, drawing him to her.
“Love me, Jamie. Please love me now.”
Jamie was determined to be gentle. But as he
entered her, he forgot everything except his need for this woman.
He was kissing her lips, her cheek, her hair. And as he began to
move, she moved with him, matching his incredible strength.
Her lips were avid, and hungry, as they found
his. He murmured incoherent words of love against her mouth. He
pledged his life, his heart, his soul, and knew that it was not
enough. He needed her with a desperation that bordered on
madness.
The taste of her, the scent of her, enveloped
him, filling his mind, his senses. He heard the cry that broke from
her lips as she shuddered and reached the final crest of intense
pleasure. Her name was torn from his lips as he followed her high
among the stars. Together they hovered a moment, before exploding
into a million tiny pieces. Then slowly, slowly, they drifted back
to earth.
Jamie rolled to his side and drew Lindsey
into the circle of his embrace. With great tenderness he touched
his lips to the sheen that covered her forehead.
He felt the little tremors that rocked her
and lifted her face for his inspection.
“Tears, my lady?” His tone roughened. “I have
hurt you.”
“Nay.” She touched a finger to his lips to
silence his fears. “I am just so filled with wonder at what we
experienced. I never dreamed...” She swallowed. “It was
beautiful.”
“As are you.” He pressed his lips to her
temple.
They lay in silence a moment, feeling their
heartbeats slowly return to normal.
Idly she traced the scars that crisscrossed
his chest and shoulders. “You have been wounded so many times.”
He lay very still, loving the feel of her
fingertips on his flesh. “They have all healed.”
“But you are scarred. I wish—” her voice
lowered “—I could erase all your scars.”
“You already have,” he said softly. It was
the truth, he realized. With her he was renewed, refreshed. With
her love he had been reborn.
“This was not supposed to happen,” Lindsey
murmured against his throat.
“What was not supposed to happen?”
He lay very still, loving the tiny thread of
contentment that curled along his spine. She fitted so perfectly
into his arms. And into his life. She was the missing piece to this
puzzle. With her, he was whole, complete.
“Being loved by you.” Lifting herself on her
elbow, she traced the outline of his lips with her finger and gave
a laugh when he bit it.
“And why is that?”
She traced his nose, his cheek, his shaggy
eyebrow, while he lay steeped in pleasure. Hers was the gentlest
touch he had ever known. While she leaned over him her hair swirled
forward, tickling his chest. Already he could feel his passion
growing, and he marveled at the magic of her touch.
“I heard my mother tell my father after
my—accident that the Highland lads would be put off by my shattered
leg.” At Lindsey’s words he suddenly felt chilled. For a moment
even his heart forgot to beat. “And she made my father vow that he
would always keep me with him, to atone for the fact that I would
never have a husband.”
He felt her pain as if it were his own. “That
is why your father has always been so protective?”
“Aye.”
“But all this was said before they knew that
you would walk again. Surely, when you regained the use of your
limb, they recanted.”
“Nay. Even after I could walk, they felt that
I was somehow—flawed by my limp. I remember lying in my bed and
dreaming of a proud Highland laird who would storm my father’s
fortress and carry me off to his fine castle. But always,” she said
with a sigh, “I knew that it was only a silly dream. For my mother
was right. No man would want a flawed wife.”
Jamie sat up so quickly she was startled.
Pushing her gently down against the linens, he caught her foot in
his hand and lifted it for his scrutiny. Then slowly, reverently,
he lifted it to his lips.
Lindsey chuckled. “Stop. Whatever are you
doing?”
He pressed a kiss to the bottom of her foot,
causing her toes to curl. Then he kissed the top of her foot and
her ankle and each of her toes.
“I am worshiping the foot that saved you from
all those other men,” he said softly.