Because,” he rasped, “it belonged to my mother. ’Twas lost the day she died in the hunting accident.” His throat tightened with emotion as he swept his thumb over the gemstone. “Never did I believe I wouldsee it again.”
The years rushed past as he remembered being a young lad watching his mother brush her hair, drawn to the finely crafted cross around her neck. Of how she’d explained that the necklace was an heirloom, one that she would pass down to the woman he married.
She withdrew the cross from his fingers, drawing him from his memories, and started to lift itover her head.
Something within Cailin made him still her hand. Though she thought her being given his mother’s cross was due to circumstance, he believed ’twas his mother’s silent blessing that Elspet was the woman for him. “Nay, wear it, ’tis fitting youwould have it.”
“Are you sure?”
His doubts of moments before faded. “Aye.” Cailin cupped her chin, again brushed his mouth over hers with a lazy slide, her sigh, a soft moan, burning through his body straightto his groin.
* * * *
At his kiss, heat scalded Elspet until her every thought was of this moment. Though Cailin hadna said he loved her, he wanted her, and had promised to come backto her as well.
A vow few men would have given a woman unless he cared.
Savoring his touch, she arched her neck, moaned as his lips skimmed along her jaw, then down the sensitive skin of her neck.
She pressed her body against his. “I want you.”
On an unsteady breath, he lifted his head, the desire in his eyes making her shudder with need. His breath unsteady, he lay his brow against hers. “And I want you as well, but you deserve more than my taking you in a moment of lust.”
Hurt, she moved back, searched his eyes. “Is that what our making love would beto you, lust?”
“Nay. What you make mefeel, need is…”
“What?”
He brushed away wisps of hair that had fallen against her cheek. “You have never been with aman, have you?”
She ignored her bruised hope that he’d say that he loved her. For now, that he cared for her deeply would be enough. “Nay, but neither have I been in love before.”
“Elspet, listen to me. However much I want you, I canna promise that I will return from battle.”
“I know.” She reached up, loosened the ties of her gown, allowed it to billow to the ground, exposing the thinshift beneath.
His throat worked and his eyes darkened as he raked her body with his gaze. “God in heaven.”
Aware she was taking a huge risk but needing him, aching to feel his touch, and wanting to share with him the most intimate of moments, she pushed the first strap off her shoulder. Elspet moved to the secondstrip of cloth.
His fingers stilledhers. “Let me.”
Pulse racing, her body burned as his sultry gaze seared into hers as he slid the cloth down, then cupped her breast.
Body tightening, she gasped as he brushed his finger over the rigid tip, gasped as he leaned down and suckled, teasing until she lost herself in hisevery caress.
Her body trembling, he lay her upon the pallet they’d made earlier. Bathed in the warmth of the fire paces away, with soft, gentle caresses, he explored her every curve, and ’twas as if she was floating, her world naught but sensation and whispers of need.
With his every touch, desire built, and when he edged lower, released the few ties to bare her to his view, she didna feelshame but joy.
She’d wondered how she’d feel beneath a man’s intimate touch, if she’d be overcome with nerves or shy. But with Cailin she felt empowered, as if this was the moment, the man she’d waited for her entire life.
Naked before him, with his hands stroking her as his mouth paid homage to her every curve, she relished the bursts of sensation his touch ignited, the care he took to ensure her pleasure. Anxious to feel his body against hers, she loosened the ties of his garb.
On a groan, he tossed off his clothes. Naked, his breathing unsteady, he met her gaze.“Are you sure?”
“Morethan anything.”
