Page 66 of In Bed with a Highland Brute

“Ah, that seems so long ago now.” Murdoch dropped a kiss to her forehead. “Suffice it tae say, I dinnae want tae pull back from ye, Eloise. I cannae pull back.”

Such warmth spread inside of her that Eloise turned in his lap. She shifted to face him completely, her face moving closer to his. She couldn’t put into words what she felt for Murdoch at that moment. All she knew was that she wanted to be nearer to him, had to be, to hold onto this privileged and intimate moment where they supported one another, and nothing else mattered but them being there for each other.

Unable to find the words, she chose an action instead and moved toward him, placing her lips to his. It was a slow kiss, tender, for she was nervous about him pulling back from her again. When he didn’t, she grew bolder, pushing the kiss a little more.

His hands shifted and he suddenly grabbed her waist and held on much tighter than before, holding her to him, with intense passion. Emboldened by his actions, her hands reached for his shoulders, clinging to him.

They kissed so strongly that not a word passed between them, they just experienced the moment, holding onto one another.

Determined to be closer to him, Eloise shifted his knees, ending up straddling him. His hands slid down from her waist, reaching for her hips where he pulled her against him. The brush of their hips elicited that thrill she had known two nights before in his arms. She did it again, of her own accord this time, brushing herself against him, where she felt his hardened length.

At the suddenness of it, she pulled back an inch, the better to look him in the eye.

“Dinnae stop,” she whispered.

Murdoch closed his eyes, a taunted expression on his face.

“I willnae take ye completely, Eloise, nae like this.”

“Then show me something more,” she pleaded. This was the distraction she longed for, and she didn’t want to give up on it yet.

He kissed her again, this time with more fervor than before. His hand tangled in her hair, tearing it out of what little remained in its updo. With it wild about her head, he drew her back to the rug, so she was laid flat, moving above her.

Eloise clung to him, deepening the kiss as much as she could, raising one knee around his hip to feel him closer and closer to her.

His hands went wandering. One braced himself against the floor, holding him above her, as the other reached for her gown. Eloise thought he was going to show her what he had already shown her a few nights before, but the touch of his fingers never quite reached her core. Instead, when her skirt was gathered around her hips, he released her from her kiss and moved down.

Raising herself on her elbows, she watched him, curious as to what he was going to do next. He latched one of her thighs over his shoulder and moved his lips to her center.

The pleasure was so sudden, it was like a bolt of lightning inside of her, striking up from where he touched her through her insides. She fell back down on the rug, one hand reaching for his hair as the other toyed with the rug beneath her.

He was bold with his kisses, pushing her a little, treating a bud of nerves outside of her that sent her mad with wanting more of this feeling, more of him. At one point, she raised her head to watch him, to find him looking at her. The connection of their eyes made the pleasure somehow greater, the knowledge that he wanted to do this to her somehow overpowering.

When he moved his hand, reaching his fingers inside of her as he kissed outside of her, she lost all sense of being. She could no longer moan his name, and only managed sounds as her head dropped back down to the rug. She was certain sweat was beading down the center of her back, she even feared how much noise she might be making, in case others overheard her, but she couldn’t stop. She just needed more of this sensation.

Then her peak washed over her. It struck her suddenly and she stilled on the rug, feeling Murdoch’s touches as he continued to pleasure her through her high. She kept moaning, struggling to come down from that height, as he lifted himself over her. His fingers slowly left her and trailed along her thigh, a teasing reminder of what they had just shared, as he moved his lips to her forehead and kissed her.

“God, Eloise,” he whispered, continuing to kiss her through the mess of her hair. “I cannae stay away from ye. Nae now.”

She shuddered with pleasure at his words, knowing it was exactly how she felt. Yet a new certainty washed over her, a knowledge that was so strong, she was afraid to utter it.

Whatever she had thought or felt for Murdoch before paled. The frustration and the anger at the difficult man was all nothing compared to the heat, the excitement, the care, everything.

God’s wounds. When did I fall in love with Murdoch?

The mere thought had her tearful. Unable to say the words, for she feared what he would say to such a thing, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and held him closer to her. He folded his body against hers, keeping her warm and close on the rug. Eloise fought her tears, hiding her face in his shoulder. When the tears eventually did come and she lost that battle, she didn’t know if it was because of her fears for Avery and the battle, or because she feared that Murdoch might never be able to love her back quite as she loved him.

Eloise plunged her head under the bath, bobbing under the water and letting her hair dance above her head. It had been a long morning.

After the night she had spent with Murdoch, the two of them distracting each other from the world, the moment she had woken in his arms on the library rug, she had gone to see Avery again.

Thank God fer Callie and Wilson! Aye, he is doing so much better.

Avery had sat up to greet her in bed, saying some foolish things which he blamed on the strong sedative that Callie had given him. He felt no pain at the moment though Callie had whispered he would do, when the sedative wore off. Fortunately, the strike to his stomach had not caught any vital organs. Though Wilson had insisted he sit down and barely move, an order that was likely to last for some weeks, all the signs that morning were positive ones.

Callie had cried in relief and Avery held tightly to her hand.

Between Callie and Wilson, they had saved his life. The result could have been much worse had Murdoch and Ian not brought him back to the healers in time.