Chapter Eleven
Eilidh paused outside the door, leaning on it for strength afore she made her way back home.
She kenned she was playing a dangerous game, but she had to see Torquil.
What she had not expected to see was the torment swirling in his beautiful green eyes.
The full impact of what they had done had come crashing down on her in his cottage.
Their families would rein hellfire down upon them if they found out what they had done.
But the feelings they had for each other were real. She had nay doubt about that. Torquil pushing her away was his way of protecting her. But she didn’t want to be protected if it meant they could not be together.
She pushed off the door, her shoulders slumped as she stepped onto the path. A steady rain began to fall. The drops quickly seeping through the wool of her gown.
“Great,” she mumbled.
Above her, angry clouds moved across the sky. Around her, a fierce wind picked up, whipping the branches of the trees around haphazardly.
A crack of lighting lit the suddenly dark sky, and a thunderous boom shook the ground.
She screamed, terrified. She couldn’t walk home in this fierce storm, it was too far.
Eilidh did the only thing she could. She turned and ran back to the only safe place nearby, Torquil’s cottage. She pounded on the door.
Within seconds, he was pulling her inside. She was dripping wet from the storm. Her hair plastered to her face as a puddle formed around her on his floor.
“Are ye hurt?” he asked, concern lacing his voice.
“Nay,” she answered. “Ye thought ye could send me away, but it looks like someone else had other plans,” she jested.
“I ne’er wanted to send ye away, Firebrand. Ye have nay idea.”
She laughed, and then shivered.
Torquil’s eyes widened. “Ye must be chilled to the bone. Ye for certs are wet to the bone.”
They both laughed and she stripped off her cloak. “The storm came on so suddenly.” She grew serious. “I had no choice but to return.”
He closed the distance separating them. Silence smoldered betwixt them as Torquil caught her gaze. Breathless, she waited.
He cupped her face and brought his lips to hers. She melted into the kiss, grasping at his shoulders as if she were drowning in the loch and he was the only one that could save her. “Stay with me tonight,” he whispered.
That was the Torquil she kenned. The caring man that she had grown so fond of. Could she dare say, the man she was falling in love with?
She nodded, not saying a word as she began to untie the wet laces of her gown. Slipping it off her shoulders and letting it pool on the ground. Then she pulled her wet chemise over her shoulders and threw it to the side.
Torquil watched her with hungry green eyes, dark with passion, as she stood in front of him unashamedly naked.
His tongue darted out to wet his lips and she stepped closer to him, lifting the hem of his tunic.
He pulled it over his head, letting it fall to the floor.
Then toed his boots off and shoved his trews down his long, lean legs and stepped out of them.
They stood there for a moment. Taking each other in. Admiring one another. Torquil’s shoulders were wide, the smooth skin of his chest free of hair. He was muscular, but not in a bulky way as her brothers. His tapered waist was small.
His manhood was erect. It looked hard, but soft.
Torquil watched her as she reached her hand out to touch the taut, hot skin of his shaft. It jerked at her touch, and she jumped. Then giggled, and felt her cheeks heat. She ran her finger down the length of him. He shuddered under her caress. Hard as steel, but soft. A contradiction.
Torquil hissed and grasped her wandering hand, bringing her fingers to his lips.
“If ye keep doing that, Firebrand, ’twill be o’er afore we start,” he said with a wink as he scooped her up in his arms and walked to the fire.
She squealed at the sudden, unexpected movement, and wrapped her arms around his neck, as she placed small kisses on his cheek.
He laid her down on the furs laid out in front of the fire. The cool air pimpled her skin, but Torquil was soon there, warming her with his body heat as he captured her mouth in a searing kiss that she was sure was hotter than the flames that burned in the hearth.
The thunder roared as the lightning lit up the cottage. The ferocity of the storm outside matched their frantic kisses, their heated caresses. Their urgent need to be one.
Torquil nudged her legs apart, settling betwixt them.
He broke the kiss and trailed his lips down her neck, to her collarbone, then lower, to her breast, his tongue circling her nipple, then drawing it into the warm heat of his mouth.
When he let it go with a pop, the cool air caused it to tighten into an even stiffer peak. Torquil blew his warm breath over it.
She moaned, the feeling unlike aught she had ever felt afore. When he began to move lower, she whimpered. She didn’t want him to stop. But when his mouth reached her most intimate parts, his tongue darting out to lick at her folds, her hips jerked off the furs as she grabbed handfuls of the throw.
If she thought the sensation afore was one she had never felt, this one was not even comparable. As Torquil spread her folds and feasted on her like she was his last meal, her body heated. Coiled. Turmoil built inside her that rivaled the storm outside.
He licked, and sucked, and pushed his fingers inside. In and out, slow at first, and then they built up speed. Her breathing came in quick gasps and the moans escaping her mouth filled the space of the cottage, echoing off the walls.
Her stomach bunched, growing tighter and tighter. Her legs and arms stiffened as she shook her head from side to side.
And just when she thought she was going to burst from the inside out, Torquil entered her in one long, hard thrust, burying himself to the hilt.
She screamed out his name. Not in pain. Nay, there was no pain in this act.
He pushed into her, moaning her name in her ear, his hot breath tickling her neck as his hands grasped her hips to keep her steady.
Her stomach coiled, tightening with each thrust of his hips.
She felt as if she were spiraling off a cliffside until suddenly, everything exploded.
She saw lights behind her eyelids, as racking shudders overcame her.
She called out Torquil’s name and he quickened his pace, until, he too, with a deafening roar, called out her name, driving into her one final time.
His body, jerking in a series of shudders to match her own.
He collapsed beside her, panting heavily. His smooth chest heaving as he rested his forehead on hers, then captured her mouth to claim her once again.
Torquil rolled onto his back, and Eilidh lay upon him, resting her head on his chest, over his heart and listened to his heartbeat as it beat strong and fast beneath her ear. She listened as it began to slow, a steady staccato to match the sound of the raindrops outside.
“Torquil?” She asked softly.
“Hmmm,” he answered, his voice low, as he drew lazy circles on her back.
“I love ye,” she admitted and his hand stilled, making her believe she confessed her feelings too soon.
Lifting her chin with his finger he brought her face up so she could meet his gaze. “I love ye, too, Firebrand. Against my better judgment, but I do. I have for some time, methinks.”
She smiled and snuggled into him once again.
“I enjoyed that,” she said with a smile. “’Twas quite nice.” She said with a giggle.
“Did ye now?”
“Aye.”
“Me too.” He chuckled, against her ear it sounded like a deep rumble.
The storm continued to rage on as they lay there. Neither one wanting to move. Night had fallen and they were bathed in darkness. The only light coming from the hearth and the flashes of lightning.
“I dinnae want the night to end,” she murmured.
Torquil kissed her hair, nodding his head. “Nor do I. But we cannae spend the night here.”
Eilidh sat up, confused. “Then where should we go?”
He stood and offered her his hand. Accepting it, she let him lead her through a door.
Torquil’s bedchamber. The room wasn’t large, but there was enough space for a bed big enough to fit them both.
A small wardrobe was set in the corner and an intricately designed chest was at the foot of the bed.
He pulled back the throws and gestured for Eilidh to climb in.
She did so, and he followed her into the bed, drawing the covers over them.
Pulling her back close to his chest, she lay in the outline of his body.
Nuzzling her neck, he placed soft kisses against her skin.
“Sleep weel, my Firebrand.”
A crack of thunder sounded an ominous warning that Eilidh ignored.
Torquil squeezed her tight. Saying without words that he was there to protect her.
Soon, his soft breathing evened out as slumber overtook him.
After that, it didn’t take long for Eilidh to fall asleep, feeling safe and sound in the comfort of Torquil’s strong arms wrapped around her.
Neither of them kenned how this storm would change everything for them from this point forward.