The Highlander's Christmas Quest (The Lairds Most Likely 5)

A strangled laugh emerged, as he bumped his hips forward so her hand shaped itself to his virility. Even through the doeskin covering him, he felt so powerfully alive. The pounding pulse between her legs became more insistent, shaking her whole body. This was the part of him he’d put inside her when he made his ultimate claim on her. Once he did that, she’d be a virgin no more, but Dougal Drummond’s woman.

He reached up to release the cord tying his hair. It fell about his shoulders in a rich red tumble. Kirsty’s heart squeezed with longing. He was so beautiful, and she’d been so sure he was lost to her. She could hardly believe that he was with her now, in a fever to make her his.

"Are ye afraid?" He cupped her breast, and his thumb played with the tight point of her nipple until she shifted in impatience.

"No…" she said on a moan. She wriggled again. "Aye."

Her heart played a violent game of leapfrog in her chest. She closed her eyes in rapture as he rolled her nipple between thumb and index finger. "Blast ye, Dougal, how on earth do you expect me to think, let alone talk when ye do that?"

He gave a soft laugh and bent to kiss the other nipple. The soft flutter of his tongue tightened every muscle in her body and made her press her hand against his breeches. To her amazement, she felt him harden beneath her touch, when he was so hard already.

"You’re ready for me," she said on a raw exhalation.

"Aye." He drew away to roll out of the bed. With dazed eyes, she watched him drag off his boots and unbutton his breeches and haul them down. Painful tenderness scraped at her heart when she noticed that Dougal, who was never clumsy, had difficulty controlling his hands as he fumbled with the fastenings.

Once he stood bare in front of her, awe replaced tenderness. Tall, potent, perfectly made. Her gaze dropped to the huge, insistent part of him that rose against his belly from a nest of russet hair. Another thrill coursed through her, made her shiver.

Kirsty swallowed to shift the overwhelming emotion constricting her throat, a mixture of pride and anticipation, and most of all love so piercing, it made her giddy. "Dougal, you’re magnificent."

"Go on with ye, lassie," he said gruffly, and his cheeks turned pink.

"I’ve made ye blush again," she said in delight.

"Aye, ye have."

She pushed herself up against the plain wooden bedhead as her eyes devoured him. What a lucky, lucky girl she was. "You’re magnificent, but you’re too far away."

She watched his blue eyes darken to indigo and that impressive jaw firm with determination. "Aye, that I am."

He covered the space between the floor and the bed in a bound and swept her up into his arms.

Chapter 12

Dougal tumbled Kirsty beneath him and kissed her in an ecstasy of hunger. She kissed him back as if she starved for him. How he loved her. He never thought he could love anyone as much as he loved the woman in his arms. He touched that glorious body everywhere, stroking, exploring, exciting her until she shook and panted and called out his name.

Soon he poised between her thighs. He stared down into her glowing face and bent to kiss her again with the promise of pleasure to come. "I love ye, Kirsty," he whispered.

He noticed how her expression changed every time he spoke those simple words. When he’d first told her, she’d looked gratified, but surprised and a wee bit disbelieving. With every repetition, he saw her confidence in him and the strength of his love grow. Now her eyes lit with such joy and trust that he felt like a king.

"I love ye, too, Dougal."

"Are ye ready, mo chridhe?"

She took his face between her hands and brought him down for another kiss. "I die with readiness." Her husky voice vibrated with longing.

"Lift your knees." He stroked the slick heat of her cleft.

She gave a ravishing shiver. "Do that again."

"That?"

"No…" He touched her differently, making her shudder again. "Right…there. Touch me there."

He caressed the small pearl of flesh, until she was writhing under his hand. "Dinnae make me wait any longer, please, please..."

Her choked cry was all the encouragement Dougal needed. He surged forward into her. He felt a wondrous tightness, as she cried out and scored his back with her fingernails.

The sudden sharp sting made him pause. "Kirsty, are ye all right? If I’ve hurt you, I’ll never forgive myself."