Page 183 of Wicked Highland Heroes

“Tonight,” she said.

He stared for a long moment, then nodded.

Night fell and with it came a light drizzle. Rhoslyn wrapped her cloak more tightly about her, but as the darkness deepened, so did the chill. Her teeth began to chatter, which helped keep her awake.

Rhoslyn woke with a start when she realized she was falling. She cried out and grabbed for the pommel, but found instead that her fingers closed around warm muscle.

“You are safe,” came a male voice.

St. Claire.

His warm thighs beneath her buttocks reminded her of last night when he’d held her. She had fallen asleep and he had pulled her from her horse. Unexpectedly, panic swept her.

She shoved at his chest. “Release me. I can ride.”

“You nearly fell from your horse,” he said.

“I can stay awake,” she insisted.

“We’re two hours from Castle Glenbarr,” he said. “You will ride with me or we will stop and you will rest.” She didn’t immediately answer and he added, “We will rest until I am certain you can safely ride.”

“Do no’ think ye can order me about, St. Claire. I am a grown woman and I can think for myself.”

“Then use your brain,” he said. “If you fall and hurt yourself that will delay us.”

“Ye are no’ as logical as you believe yourself to be,” she muttered. But she couldn’t deny that she had already begun to relax in his arms.

“Take this,” her grandfather said.

Rhoslyn felt a cozy warmth settle around her and realized a plaid had been draped over her. St. Claire tucked the blanket more tightly around her and she burrowed closer to the warm wall of his chest.

* * *

Talbot snapped alert at the pounding of hooves on moist ground.

Seward’s horse let out a snort when the old baron pulled back on the reins. “Ye hear that?”

Talbot slowed beside him. “Two, maybe three riders.” He twisted and looked over his shoulder, but discerned only dark shadows beyond the darkness where their company of men ended.

Seward called out a quiet order for his men to face the riders. “Ride with Rhoslyn,” he ordered Talbot. “I will deal with these men.”

Talbot spurred his horse into a gallop and Baxter joined him with their men riding behind. Rhoslyn stirred in his arms. He felt tugs on the blanket that encircled her.

“What is happening?” she murmured.

The last hour with her rounded bottom pressed snugly against his cock had been torture. Now, her sleep-filled voice made the erection pulse with a vengeance.

“We are nearly home,” he said.

She pushed against his chest to straighten, the shift of her weight pressing down on his erection with such force he had to grit his teeth against the exquisite pain.

“Why are we galloping?”

The force of her body jostling against his groin with the gallop of the horse made him wonder—and almost wish—that he would spend himself in his braies. He hadn’t desired a woman this badly since the age of nineteen. Then again, he hadn’t denied himself having a woman he wanted as he had Lady Rhoslyn this last day

“St. Claire,” Rhoslyn demanded.

“We heard riders approaching from behind,” he replied.