When she felt him move to rise, she opened her eyes and sat up quickly.
“Where are you going??” she asked.
The cold draft that kissed her skin as the bed covers slipped down made her aware of the fact that she was very naked. Her body warmed as Ruaridh’s eyes raked over her heatedly, but the expression soon vanished when he looked up into her eyes.
“I have to return to me chambers before anyone notices I am here,” he answered gruffly, straightening his clothes and running a hand through his hair.
“Why?”
It wasn’t as though there would be a big scandal if anyone saw him leaving her chambers so late at night. They were going to be wed anyway.
Shocked by the improper thought, she giggled to herself.
A few weeks ago, she never would have considered thinking such improper thoughts, but her body was still reeling from the memory of his lips and hands on her skin, and the blinding heat that had seared her when he had lapped at her sex.
Thinking about it had her pulsing with the need to feel him again, but the stubborn man was insistent on leaving, though his eyes stubbornly refused to stay on her face.
It wouldn’t take much to get him into her bed, she thought, bemused as she watched him clench his hands into fists at his sides. The telling bulge at the front of his breeches made her mouth go dry, but she didn’t want to be distracted. So she sat up higher and pulled the covers up to cover herself, tossing her hair over one shoulder.
She resisted the urge to smile when he groaned softly, his nostrils flaring.
His reaction to her made her feel desirable, like a woman and not the girl she had thought herself to be. It was such a heady feeling, she didn’t know what to do with it.
“Ye’re torturing me, lass,” he groaned, closing his eyes.
“You don’t have to leave,” she coaxed.
“Ye daenae ken how much I want ye,” he whispered. “I daenae ken if I will be able to stop if I touch ye again.”
Her heart thudded hard in her chest at the thought of him ravishing her. If only kissing her and touching her had stoked such a fire within her that she couldn’t help but want him, would she be able to survive him claiming her completely?
“What if I don’t want you to stop?” she asked in a small voice.
He growled, moving quicker than she had expected, and soon his lips were on hers again. She smiled against his mouth as he groaned, his frustration evident.
He kissed his way down her lips to her chin and then her neck, stopping at that junction that scrambled her senses till all she could think of was him. His mouth barely grazed the swell of her breasts when they heard footsteps and voices outside her door.
He pulled away from her just as quickly, smoothing his clothes as if remembering his earlier resolve.
“I bid ye good night, Violet,” he whispered. “I shall see ye tomorrow.”
The door closed with a soft click, and she sighed, pulling the covers tighter around her. Even the slight friction of the fabric against her heated flesh had her burning with a need she now knew how to soothe.
She hadn’t known that there were such delights to be had when one was married, and now that she did, she wanted to experience it over and over again.
Tomorrow, she would tell Ruaridh that she accepted his proposal and that they didn’t need to complete her darned list any longer. They might not love each other yet, but what they had was more than enough to start.
She rolled onto her side, and the kiss of the cool fabric against her sex made her moan softly.
She really hoped she would survive the wait until they were man and wife, and he would no longer deny her the ecstasy he had shown her today.
18
“Da says ye are going to join the games,” Keira said, looking up at her in wonder, as if to confirm that her father was being serious and not pulling a prank on her.
Violet wouldn’t blame her; it was relatively unheard of for a lady to join the Highland games. After all, the events themselves were designed for the brute strength of men: caber tossing, weight throw, sparring, wrestling, swordplay, and the occasional archery.
Of course, there were rare cases of very bold ladies who decided to join the games, but these were usually ladies of nobility who had very remarkable skills in archery or perhaps homemaking skills like dyeing cloths and spinning yarns for knitting. After all, those skills require very high precision. She would know this, since she had very silently come to the conclusion that she lacked that precision.
