Page 81 of Sins of the Highlander

“Only if the pleasure is so great ye canna contain yourself,” he said, reaching to pull her close. “But I think we might want to be more discreet than that if we can.”

She straight-armed him. “Rob, no.”

“Ye’re serious?”

“As a three-day toothache.”

He raised up, sending cold air spilling under the blankets, and looked down at her. “What’s wrong?”

“How can ye ask me that?” She wanted to leap out of bed and pace the room, but it was too cold, and his body had brought much-needed warmth to the sheets before he sat back up. Even now, he generated more heat than both the smoking braziers. “Ye sent me up here alone.”

“No, I didna. Albus lit your way.”

“Ye know what I mean.”

“D’ye think it would have been better for your reputation if I’d escorted ye to your chamber?”

Irritation fizzed in her belly. She hated it when he was right. “Ye set a guard over me while ye make merry in your Great Hall with the people who hate me—”

“No one hates ye.” He lay back down and pulled the coverlet over both of them up to their chins.

“Ye dinna wish to see the truth, then.” She turned and gave him her back. “Your people blame me for the trouble outside the gates. No one wants me here.”

His hand was heavy on her shoulder, warm and reassuring. “I want ye here.”

“As your prisoner,” she said, refusing to be comforted.

“No, love.”

He stroked her from the tip of her shoulder to the nape of her neck. She fought against the shiver of delight that danced in the wake of his hand.

“Ye are guarded for your own protection,” he said.

“As a man protects his hostage, then.” She edged away from him, but not too far. He was so warm. “Ye intend to use me so ye can draw Drummond into single combat. So ye can have your bloody revenge.”

He snorted like a stallion. “Aye, that’s how it began. I’ll no’ deny it.” Then she felt him shift toward her, and his next words were whispered directly into her ear. “But everything’s changed now.”

He planted a string of baby kisses along her neck and suckled her earlobe. Her body rioted in pleasure.

“Aye, ye’re certainly changed,” she said, tamping down her reaction to him. “So polite. So correct, ye are. So reserved to me before your people. I hardly recognize ye.”

“But I recognize ye. And every time I see ye, I ache to hold ye, Elspeth. I want to sling ye over my shoulder and carry ye off again, with a hand up your skirt fondling yer sweet arse as I go,” he said huskily, suiting his actions to his words. “But if I dinna treat ye with distant courtesy before others, how would that look, ye think?”

As if we’d become lovers during the course of our journey, she answered him silently. Her bottom warmed under his touch, but she resisted admitting he was probably wise to restrain himself in public.

“I thought ye’d appreciate that I was having a care for your good name,” he said.

He continued to stroke her buttocks, pulling up the thin chemise as he did so, till he touched her bare skin. He circled each globe of her bottom then reached between her legs to cup her sex in his palm. Elspeth bit her lip to keep from making a noise of pleasure, but she knew he could tell her body had roused to him. She was moist and warm and swollen, aching for his touch.

“But if ye dinna care one way or the other,” he said as he nuzzled her neck, “I’ll swive ye on the main table in the Great Hall on the morrow before God and everybody, instead of breaking my fast.”

“Ye willna.” She wiggled out of his grasp, rolled over, and faced him. He wrapped his arms around her, and she felt his belly jiggle with a suppressed chuckle.

“No, lass, I willna.” He claimed her lips with a quick kiss. “But not for lack of wanting to. Only because I couldna bear for anyone else to see ye in the glorious altogether. That’s a delight for me alone.”

Against her better judgment, a smile curved her lips. “Ye’ll no’ be seeing much of me now. ’Tis too cold to go about naked.”

“Then I’ll have to warm ye,” he said, pulling the covers over both their heads. Then he climbed atop her, settling between her legs before she even realized she’d spread them. “Skin against skin is the best thing for warming a body.”