If Jamie was in awe, Sheena was in shock. Each thrust of Jamie’s powerful body brought her to a higher plane. She had felt a rush of blood through her body before, but now there was a flood, all directed to the small area that was on fire. But the flood didn’t put out the flame. It nourished the fire instead, gathering there, every part of her swirling round and round that fire.
She knew she couldn’t contain it. Too great an intensity was building. It was going to kill her, explode and shatter her to pieces. She couldn’t possibly survive this.
The moment was at hand, and Sheena knew it. But instead of her life flashing before her eyes, she saw only Jamie’s face in her mind’s eye, that handsome face grinning with a secret knowledge that sheunderstood at last. The floodgates burst, and Sheena screamed, but the scream was smothered by Jamie’s ravenous lips. There was no end to the waves washing over her, pulsing against every nerve. She heard him moan, knew he was dying the same sweet death. They plunged downward together.
He was so still, so heavy. She floated high above him, gliding ever so slowly, dreamlike, delighting in her new world, the peace of it, the warmth, the delicious—movement of his lips?
Her eyes opened a little. He was looking at her, too, his hazel eyes a warm gray-green. He was still holding her head, his thumbs moving softly on her cheeks. His lips touched hers with a feather-light movement she wasn’t sure she felt. He kissed her chin, her cheeks, her eyes. He leaned back to look at every bit of her face, and a smile curled his lips, a smile of utter contentment. If he were a cat, she thought, he’d be purring.
Sheena’s eyes were round with wonder. “I’m seeing you, James MacKinnion! You’re real, then?” she gasped. “I’m no’ dead?”
His smile widened. “I dinna think so, sweetheart.”
“But I thought…” Bright color washed her cheeks. “How foolish of me!” She thought a moment, then rushed on, not quite meeting his gaze.
“’Tis just…I never knew what it would be like, Jamie. I knew there would be pain at first, I did know that. But the rest…” She lowered her eyes, willing to admit everything, yet still just a little embarrassed with this new intimacy. “No one could have prepared me for it,” she continued, awed. “I was frightened by the intense feelings, since I didna know to what end they would bring me. And when they increased, I knew there would be an explosion. I feared the worst. I thought I would surely die, yet I wouldna have stopped you for the world.”
Hesitantly, she looked up, meeting his eyes again. He was not looking at her with triumph. Pride, aye, but not a conquering pride. The look in his eyes spread a warmth through Sheena that surprised her. Tenderness? Maybe even…love?
“You’re no’ alone in what you felt, Sheena,” he murmured softly. “I canna say I’ve no’ been pleasured ’afore, but never like this. In all the years since I’ve called myself a man, I never felt anything to compare. I knew, somehow, it would be this way with you. I always knew.”
“You could’ve told me,” she chided.
“Would you have believed me?”
“Nay,” she answered simply. “Will it always be so, Jamie?”
“For us it will, I do believe so.”
She giggled, squeezing him. She was happy, surprisingly, amazingly, happy. Who would have thought it possible?
“Nay, Jamie,” she teased with a sigh. “I dinna think it can ever again be like this first time. But we can try to make it so. Often, eh?”
He laughed deeply, kissed her soundly, and laughed again. “By the saints, you’re a jewel,Sheena. And to think I feared you might be like my first wife. What a fool I was! I ought to’ve known better.”
Sheena confessed, “I had crazy thoughts when the fire was in me, and no’ just of myself dying. I thought you were the devil, and no mistake. I also thought…” She stopped.
“What?”
She shook her head. “Nay. I’ll no’ repeat those thoughts.”
“Och, but you will. You’ve got my curiosity riled,” he said lightly.
“You’ll be angry, Jamie, and I dinna want to spoil—”
“As if you could,” he interrupted with a grin. “There’s nothing you could say to make me angry at this moment. But never fear making me angry, sweetheart. I do have a temper, as you can attest. You’ll see it no doubt, time and again, but I’ll never harm you, I swear.” She still hesitated, and he added, “Come now, lass. You must learn to trust me.”
She sighed. “’Tis only when I thought I would die, I thought of…of your first wife…that she had died that way, too. In your arms. Happy.” As he tensed, she added quickly, “I know how ridiculous it was to even think it. I canna believe you even touched her, for if you had, she would never have killed herself.”
Jamie’s eyes were inscrutable, but his body was tense, as if he was fighting for control.
“Och, Jamie, I’m sorry. But you see, I thought theworst of you ’afore today. I believed the stories. I may as well say it.”
“Say it all, m’dear, by all means.” His voice was hard as an iron blade.
Sheena did. “The story was your first wife killed herself because of your brutal raping of her on your wedding day. I believed the story because I never heard any tale to the contrary. I heard only of rape, murder, and mayhem. Is it any wonder I couldna tell you who I was, any wonder I believed you would kill me if you knew? I was wrong,” she said. “Wrong about you and about your wife. Wasn’t I?”
He was enraged that she felt she had to ask him that. Could she not see clearly enough who he was?
