Possession of a Highlander Page 16

  Alec spoke true. No matter how good the soldiers, no matter how well trained, Colin could not turn the number of men into more than what actually existed.

  He swallowed the bitter taste of a fear he wouldn’t allow himself to think on. “Have the castle searched again for Brianna or the cook. Magda too for that matter.” Colin turned toward the window. His eyes settled on the pristine garden below, half expecting to see Brianna sitting at her usual spot beside the roses. “Notify the men to contact me immediately when she arrives. She’s been gone too long, and it’s far more dangerous out there than she realizes.” He squeezed his fist. “And for God’s sake, hire some more damn guards.”

  An hour later, Colin climbed the twisting stairs to the room he and Brianna shared. One foot in front of the other, resisting the urge to take three steps at a time. No, he needed the extra time to cool off.

  His hand wrapped around the cold iron handle and squeezed in a final attempt to drain some of his rage. He tugged the door open, stepped into the softly lit room, and stilled.

  Brianna stood beside their bed wearing an unbelted robe of white satin, her taut nipples standing out like pearls against the sheen of the fabric. Her hair fell in riotous waves down her back, and her eyes were lit with excitement. Mischief. As if she intended to do something wicked.

  The anger pumping through his veins turned molten, pounding. A low growl sounded deep in his chest. His cock pulsed to life with a hardness so sudden and intense, it left his breathing tight.

  And she knew it.

  “You may want to close the door.” Her lips curled in a slow smile, and the robe slipped from her shoulders.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The warm air of their chamber caressed Brianna’s skin, though it was cool in comparison to the burn of Colin’s stare. Her hair rested against her naked back, raising bumps of anxious excitement over her flesh.

  She sauntered toward him, her hips loose and suggestive. The way she had seen Marie walk. The way she’d practiced in front of the looking glass before the shuffle of Colin’s footsteps sounded in the hall.

  “Are you going to close the door?” she asked.

  Colin kicked his leg behind him and the door slammed shut. His eyes restlessly skimmed her body, lingering on intimate places she longed to shield with her hands. She resisted the pull of modesty. Men liked a woman with confidence, according to Marie.

  “I’m mad at ye.” Colin’s voice was tense even as his eyes caressed her breasts.

  Nervousness fluttered in the pit of her stomach. How would Marie respond?

  When she reached him, Brianna drew her fingertip across his bottom lip. “I know,” she purred. No explanation. No detailed apology.

  She placed her hands on his chest and tilted her head up, teasing him with a kiss she would never deliver. “I’m sure you’ll forgive me when the night is done.”

  He groaned and leaned forward to kiss her, but she stepped away with a coquettish smile. She shook her head and wagged her finger playfully in front of his chest. “No touching.”

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Ye canna stand naked before me and tell me I canna touch ye.” His gaze turned fraught, desperate.

  Brianna gave a soft, throaty laugh. “Yes, I can.” She openly admired him with the same intensity he’d gazed upon her. “And I will.”

  She walked around him, inspecting him, keeping her eyes locked on his until she could do so no longer.

  Marie had said to flatter.

  “I like to watch you without your leine on.” Brianna winced at the awkwardness of her shallow attempt.

  She was a reader of poetry and possessed the skills of language and expression. She could do better.

  “I love how the sun touches the lines of your body, so hard and masculine.” She stopped in front of him and let her fingertips stroke the leine over his torso. “So strong.” Her hand closed around the soft fabric and slowly plucked his leine from his kilt. Colin needed no further encouragement. He yanked it over his head and tossed it aside.

  Brianna arched forward so her nipples scraped his naked chest. Pleasure needled through the sensitive buds. “I love to caress your carved body, solid granite beneath the softness of my hands.” She stroked his powerful torso, gliding over the muscular planes of his chest. “I love the tightness of your stomach.” Her fingertips trailed across the ridges of his abdomen. “And the way you suck in your breath when I dip my hand lower.” She followed the narrow strip of hair below his navel and let her finger curl inside the waistline of his kilt.

  He drew a sharp breath.

  Colin’s hands balled to tight fists at his side, but he did not touch her. His heart raced beneath her hand, his breathing deep and heavy. The hardness of his lance jutted out with need.

  “Ye torture me, wife.” He stared down at her with a wild gaze.

  Her heart sped in anticipation of her next action. She could not allow her nerves to show. She would be brave. Seductive. “I’ve only just begun.” Her weak knees gratefully folded to the floor before him, her face directly in front of his kilt.

  With hands that trembled more than she liked, she reached for his belt and tried to shove aside her shy anxiety.

  • • •

  Colin’s body clenched tight, his cock near bursting with Brianna’s teasing words and touch. God’s teeth, had it been over two weeks since he’d loved her?

  It felt like a whole damn year.

  Brianna’s fingers tangled with his belt, her mouth so deliciously close to the source of his desire, it was all he could do to stay his hands. She tugged the leather once, twice. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth sank into her lower lip. She gripped the belt with two hands and jerked.

  He braced his weight with both feet and a grin of endearment broke on his face. For all the part of a seductress she played, her actions were still those of the wife he had come to care for so dearly.

  He covered her hands with his, offering the assistance her reddening cheeks begged for. The soft pop of the leather sounded and the belt slipped free from the buckle. Dutifully, he moved his hands back to his sides and waited.

  Brianna’s fingers were graceful, caressing the leather in a way that made him long for her delicate touch. A longing that was apparent when the kilt slid from his hips, a longing that pointed directly toward Brianna’s sensual mouth.

  Her fingertips slid up the base of his cock and his body lurched.

  “I’ve missed you.” Her warm breath bathed his rigid flesh. Teasing.

  His fists squeezed tighter.

  The tip of her forefinger brushed his swollen head, and pleasure blazed through him.

  She looked up at him from her position. Her knees were spread, her breasts full and round, parting her long unbound hair. Her lips were so damn close.

  “I know what you’ve been doing at night.” She gave him a coy smile.

  A soft note of alarm tapped in the back of his mind.

  Her fingers continued to explore his aching cock. His body was hot, pounding. So hard.

  She wrapped her hands around him and slid her fist up his length. He flexed forward, into the warmth of her maddening embrace. Sweat prickled his brow.

  “You have something I want.” Her voice was husky.

  She wanted this as much as he did.

  She leaned forward and every muscle in his body tensed. Her lips were a hair’s breadth from the head of his cock. “I want the letters.”

  Her whispered words skimmed across his flesh, stoking the flame of his desire.

  Letters?

  Her lips parted.

  “I said I want the letters.”

  Warm breath.

  Her mouth would be hot. Moist.

  “My mother’s letters.”

  Damn.

  He threw his head back in frustration. “I canna.”

  “You can.” Her sultry tone pulled his attention back down to her. “They are of great importance to me.”

  Her tongue brushed the plump head of his cock.
Reason slid away and stole his speech.

  “I know how to decipher them,” she continued.

  He grunted, his gaze fixed on her mouth. Waiting. Hoping.

  Her lips spread wide, and she moved her mouth over him, not touching, not closing. A mockery of what he longed for.

  She pulled her head back, away from him, her gaze searing into his. “The letters are mine.”

  The warm summer air was cold against his cock compared to the heated grip her mouth promised.

  She brushed the underside of his cock with her tongue, just beneath the tip, and his mind went blank.

  “Say yes,” she purred. Like a siren.

  Another flick of her tongue.

  “Yes,” she coaxed.

  She gripped him in her hands and looked up at him. Poised. Ready to take him in her mouth.

  “Yes,” he groaned.

  Victory flashed in her eyes and the warmth of her lips wrapped around his cock. The breath dragged from Colin’s lungs in a strangled cry. The muscles along his arms and back burned with the cost of barely held control. Bliss tangled through his veins, boiling his blood and singeing all thoughts from his head.

  She pulled him in, sucking him back against her throat. His buttocks flexed and his breathing went harsh and ragged.

  Her tongue trailed along the underside of his cock as she pulled her head back, only to take him deep once more.

  He couldn’t keep from touching her any longer. His fingers threaded through her silky hair and cradled her head while she pleasured him. He stared down at her full lips, watching his cock disappear between them.

  One of her hands slid from the base of his shaft to the cleft between her legs. Her fingers curled in a slow, languid stroke. Sparkling brown eyes hooded, and a moan vibrated against his cock.

  Her fingers slid deeper, and her breathing grew as erratic as his own.

  His balls tightened with impending release. He wanted her. Not just her mouth—her.

  He wanted his fingers where hers were, soaking in the moistness of her passion. He wanted his tongue caressing the tang of her arousal. He wanted his cock plunging into her tight, wet sheath. He wanted to take what he’d gone too long without.

  His hands tightened in her hair, stilling her efforts. He’d let her toy with him long enough.

  Brianna stared up at Colin, suddenly unsure of her lascivious actions. Had she scraped him with her teeth? She’d been careful.

  His gaze settled on her hand between her legs, and her cheeks burned. Marie had told her men enjoyed watching a woman pleasure herself. Perhaps Colin’s tastes were different.

  Her hand dropped away and reached for his length once more, shame glistening against her fingertips. She’d been reluctant to the idea of having him in her mouth. But his hard heat against her tongue, the slide of his silky flesh there, it was enticing and erotic.

  Delicious.

  She opened her mouth to take him once more, hungry for his groans of pleasure and the incredible surge of power she knew she could wield.

  “No.” His hands tightened further against her scalp before releasing her hair. He clasped her shoulders and helped her to a standing position.

  Desire burned dark in his eyes, and his naked chest rose and fell with his deep breath. He gripped her behind the neck, locking her in his grasp before his lips crushed against hers.

  There was no coy teasing, only raw, hungry strength behind his kiss. The stroke of his hand against her thigh eased her murmur of protest.

  His fingers spread where her own had been only moments before, his thumb administering slow, maddening circles. She ground her hips against his hand, eager to feel him filling her, eager for the promise of release already drawing close.

  His tongue swept into her mouth and caught her hungry cry. She caressed the muscular contours of his back, his skin slick against her fingertips with the sweat of his restraint. He was powerful. Beautiful.

  His hand pulled away from her legs and cupped her bottom. He stepped forward, urging her back in a sensual, awkward dance until the cool painted wall pressed against her back.

  He caught her left leg under the knee and swept it up, pinning her into place. She was open for him, waiting, ready for the thrust that would stretch her and bring her to the climax she so impatiently sought.

  Instead he dropped to his knees and covered her sex with his mouth. Her standing leg lost its strength, and she would have sagged to the ground had he not grasped her thigh and held her in place. His tongue found the source of pleasure his thumb had abandoned and carefully, slowly stroked again and again and again. Heat tingled through her body and hardened her nipples.

  “Yes,” she moaned.

  He sucked her bud into his mouth and flicked his tongue against its peak until stars danced in front of her and whimpers of her release filled her ears.

  She looked down at where Colin knelt between her legs. “I want you,” she said breathlessly.

  He got to his feet and pushed his hard body against her. “I’ve been wanting ye.”

  His nose nuzzled her neck and tickled the sensitive skin there with a long, slow, indrawn breath followed by a low growling exhale. “On the floor and on the bed.” The length of him nudged between her legs. She arched her hips, trying to draw him within her. “Against the wall.”

  He pushed inside her and slanted his lips over hers. He caught the knee of her standing leg, lifting her, so her legs draped over his massive arms and her body was pressed between him and the wall.

  His thrusts were deep and long, driven by a pent-up longing that brought them both to a fevered passion. He groaned against her lips, his hard breathing matching her own.

  The tightening of another climax caught Brianna in its decadent clutches. Colin’s teeth nipped her lower lip. “Come with me, Brianna.” He plunged into her. “Come with me.”

  He swelled within her, and her body clenched tightly against him with the force of her incredible release. Her back pressed into the wall, thrusting forward to catch the full force of Colin’s narrow hips between her legs. He leaned his head back and gave a low groan. The lapping waves of her pleasure coincided with his final jerking pumps until they both gasped for air.

  Colin lowered her trembling legs to the ground and rested his forehead against hers. “Ye never stop surprising me, wife.”

  Brianna closed her eyes and waited for her heart to stop racing.

  Would he be so complimentary when he realized he’d promised her the letters?

  • • •

  Colin lay in the embrace of his bed with his wife beside him, her body gloriously naked in the first dark shades of night. Her long hair draped across her back and tickled the side of his arm.

  The tension had eased from his back, drained away with the release of his frustration. His fingers laced through the silky strands of her hair in slow, languid rakes, and a contented smile lifted the corners of her lips.

  “Are you still mad at me, husband?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. The lass knew how to placate a man. “I’m no happy with ye being gone so long, but I’m no angry with ye.” He studied the delicate lines of her face, the softness of her lips in the fading light. “I was worried about ye.”

  “You? Worried?” Brianna propped herself up on her elbow and stared down at him. “I didn’t think you ever worried about anything.”

  He caressed the velvety softness of her cheek. “Ach, I do when it comes to ye. I dinna realize meeting with the cook would take a whole day, nor did I realize he would be going to market.” He flipped a lock of hair from her brow. “Ye should have had a guard with ye.”

  “I didn’t go see the cook.” Her cheeks went pink and she turned her eyes away from him. “I went to see Marie.”

  Relaxed muscles knotted once more. “Marie?”

  Brianna’s eyebrows rose. “Where do you think I learned everything I did tonight?”

  “I thought ye’d located another wee pamphlet.” He sighed and leaned his head back on
the pillow.

  “Where do you think I discovered you had the letters?” she asked.

  Letters?

  The memory of her luring request slammed into his mind.

  Damn it!

  A frown pulled at his lips. “I dinna want ye to find out about those.”

  Brianna sat up and clutched the sheet to her breasts. “How could you keep them a secret? Don’t you realize what they mean to me?”

  Colin rose to a sitting position beside her and met her hurt glare. “I dinna know what they’d say, Brianna. Ye had too much ye worried over already. How could I hand ye something that might add to that burden?” He rubbed his fingers over his chin. “And then ye told me about yer mother and her alleged infidelity.” He shook his head. “I wanted to make sure those letters dinna have anything that might hurt ye.”

  “I still want them,” she said stubbornly.

  Colin was old enough to know when he was defeated, and his wife was an unyielding opponent. “Then ye can have them.”

  “Thank you. And now that I know about the letters, I can help you in place of Marie.” She chewed her lower lip before opening her mouth to speak again. “And you can come to bed with me at night again, yes?”

  Wide brown eyes met his with such innocent hope, he could not help but grin. “Aye, lass. I’ll be joining ye in bed again.”

  She lay back, her gaze still trained on his. “And you’ll be here when I wake?”

  He eased himself to the mattress and pulled her warm body against him. “Aye, I’ll be here when ye wake.”

  She laid her head on his chest and nuzzled against him. “Please don’t lie anymore, Colin. Be honest with me.”

  He ran his fingertips over her smooth back and she made a soft little hum of pleasure. “I’ll be honest with ye, wife.”

  His body was sated and his wife was safe in his arms. Sleep pulled at him, luring him into the unconscious darkness of its embrace. A low chuckle rumbled in his chest as a sudden thought occurred to him.

  “What did Magda think of Marie’s instruction?” he asked.

  “Magda?” Brianna asked, her voice thick with the edge of sleep. “I didn’t bring Magda.”