Page 127 of Wicked Highland Heroes

“Your sister was kind enough to loan it to me.”

“You should have purchased more clothes during our visit to Belfast,” he said. “But never mind, you can easily buy any essentials in Tobermory, or have my mother’s dressmaker make you anything you like.” Erroll stretched out onto his side and levered himself onto an elbow.

“I will, thank you, my lord.”

“’My lord’? Have I fallen in your esteem since last night?”

She looked sharply at him. “My lord, I—”

“I see I shall have to redeem myself.”

Erroll grasped her arm, pulled her down, and rolled onto her.

*****

Eve’s body melted when her husband’s warm chest pressed against her breasts. She spread her legs enough for him to settle between her thighs and flushed warm when his engorged member dug into her belly. He covered her mouth with his. For an instant, memory flashed of him entering the ballroom from the privacy of the balcony, a beautiful woman on his arm, then Eve did exactly as she had last night and wrapped her arms around his neck. She tangled her tongue with his and he groaned with deep, rich desire.

She plunged the fingers of one hand through his thick hair. He kissed his way along her cheek to her neck, then pushed up and made quick work of the buttons on the pelisse. He nearly tore the last button free, then covered a breast with his palm and kissed her again. She arched into his warm hand, her body already aching with desire.

Wanting him so badly last night had startled her. He’d kindled her passions, but she hadn’t realized the depths to which she could need him. Was this love? He stroked the breast, his fingers grazing the sensitive nipple and sending a jolt straight to her sex. She wanted him inside her. Eve slipped her arms beneath his, flattened her palms on his back, and slid them down over the firm curve of his buttocks. When she squeezed and arched into his erection he shuddered.

“Eve, if you keep this up, I’m liable to embarrass myself.”

“As long as you embarrass yourself while you’re inside me, I will be satisfied.”

He bolted up and stared down at her. “You are cheeky, Wife.”

A tremor rippled through her at the name of wife. She squeezed his buttocks again. “Am I too bold, my lord?”

“Eve.”

Her name came out as a growl that sent a flush of warmth through her. Her heart beat fast and before her embarrassment could censure her impulses, she wrapped one leg around his hip. Eve jammed a hand between them, cupped his erection, and massaged. He hissed a breath and thrust into her palm. She massaged faster. He muttered something unintelligible, then sat upright so quickly he broke free of her hold. He undid the falls on his breeches, then yanked up her skirt.

“Not very eloquent, madam, but you did say as long as I was inside you when I embarrassed myself you would be satisfied. You shall have your wish.”

He levered himself over her and drove inside her channel with one powerful stroke. Eve cried out. His eyes remained locked with hers as he thrust over and over. Muscles in his arms corded as he drove deeper. She grasped his arms and brought her knees up to meet him thrust for thrust. He growled and pumped faster.

Need tightened her sex and she thought she would go mad before reaching for her release. Over and over, he thrust until a fire burned inside her. Then she burst apart. Hot moisture gushed from her core on a rush of pleasure so intense it swamped her mind in gray. Eve called out his name as he collapsed on top of her. She gulped air. Holy God, she’d had no idea she could feel this way.

He jammed his arms between her back and the blanket and hugged her so tight her breath caught. Another spasm rocked her and this time he captured her cry with his mouth. He suddenly went rigid, his breath hot on her ear, and a strange emotion flooded through her. A shudder went through him, then he went limp.

Moments later, Eve became aware of her husband’s weight on top of her. He rolled off onto his back.

“Madam, I have not forgotten myself so shamefully since I was nineteen. I hold you personally responsible.”

“Me? Really?”

He looked at her and grinned. “Who else?”

The first of the ladies they visited received them with warmth, and Eve realized the marchioness had been right. Folks were curious about her. Mrs. Reid agreed to bake a dozen pies, and Erroll said he would purchase the supplies in Tobermory and have them delivered soon after.

They visited three more ladies, each delighted to accept the work, and even more delighted, Eve thought, to meet her.

They reached Tobermory, and her husband sought out a butcher, then met with a shopkeeper with a store large enough to supply all their needs. Erroll promised her tea at a small inn where he said the cook could rival any in London and, not long after, they settled in a private dining room of the inn with an array of foods spread out on the table, enough to feed a king.

“I vow,” she said after taking the last bite of a piece of shortbread, “I will not be able to eat another thing for the duration of the party.”

“Perhaps we should stop at the waterfall on the way home and work up another appetite.”