Highlanders Collection. Ann Lethbridge

she felt his hand between her thighs, Nairna couldn’t stop the startled gasp that escaped.

      ‘I want you to feel good this night,’ he swore, bringing his mouth to her stomach, moving even lower. As if she were a holy offering, he worshipped her flesh.

      He stroked the soft inside of her thigh and she struggled to calm the shivers that he’d provoked.

      ‘Close your eyes,’ he whispered. She did and his breath warmed the intimate skin that guarded her womanhood.

      ‘Bram,’ she breathed, reaching to grasp the back of his head. When he raised up to look at her, she confessed, ‘It doesn’t seem right, not to touch you.’

      She wanted to open up the guarded side to him, so that it would be a shared moment between them.

      The scarred flesh on his back was rough, mingled with smooth, unmarred surfaces. Bram’s brown eyes seared into her own as she explored the texture of his shoulders.

      ‘Don’t, Nairna. It’s better this way.’ He removed her hands from him and confusion clouded her mind. Jenny had told her that a man liked to be touched, that if she kissed him on any part of his body, he would enjoy it.

      She almost asked him why, but when his fingers moved to touch the folds of her womanhood, the sudden flare of heat took her without warning.

      Against his fingers, she grew embarrassed as her flesh grew wet and aroused. He touched her intimately, changing the pressure as he learned what pleased her. And when he lowered his mouth to her entrance, the unexpected tenderness sent her body into a pool of sensations she didn’t understand. Her fists gripped the coverlet as he feasted upon her with mouth and tongue.

      He tasted her secret flesh and the gentle pressure rose hotter. She was nearly sobbing with frustration, arching against him in search of the fulfilment that lay just out of reach.

      ‘I need you inside me,’ she begged. ‘Please, Bram.’ But she couldn’t seem to break past the mask of control he wore. She reached out and tried to loosen his clothing, but the moment she touched him, he slid a finger inside her.

      Her body trembled and she bit back a gasp. When his thumb pressed hard, rubbing against her centre, she found herself panting for breath. He kept up the relentless rhythm, watching her as she arched to receive him. She was drowning in his touch, and when he leaned in to kiss her the needs cracked apart, sending a wave of heated delirium throughout her body. She shuddered, crying out when the release pulled her under.

      He stroked her again and Nairna convulsed in the aftershocks. She understood that he was trying to please her, but she needed more from him now. Her hands moved up to unfasten his trews.

      Bram stopped her, shaking his head. ‘Not tonight, Nairna.’

      He’d meant only to touch her, taking nothing for himself, but it made the act meaningless. Did he truly believe that she would want to experience lovemaking without him? She couldn’t understand why he was punishing himself, but it seemed he intended to leave her alone now.

      ‘I want a child, Bram,’ she murmured. ‘And I need you inside me for that.’

      He said nothing, so she reached up to touch his hair. She stroked the side of his face, running down to his neck. ‘Look at me, Bram.’

      He did, and in his eyes she saw the raging needs locked away beneath the surface. Right now, she wasn’t about to let him push her away. Not if she had the power to seduce him.

      The first night they’d shared had been his first. And she wanted his second time to be even better. Stubborn, was he? She’d show him stubborn.

      ‘You’re going to let me see you naked now,’ she ordered, reaching for the tunic that covered his chest.

      ‘Nairna—’

      ‘No,’ she cut him off. She walked over to her belongings, moving slowly to catch his eyes. After digging around, she found a dagger and brought it towards him. ‘I’m a reasonable wife. But you’re not behaving like a reasonable husband. So you’re going to take off your clothing for me now or I’ll be cutting it off you.’

      She brandished the knife, asking, ‘Which will it be?’

      He propped his head up, leaning against his elbow as he stared at her. His eyes flared with interest. ‘You wouldn’t dare.’

      She moved over to him and straddled his waist, bringing the tip of the dagger to his tunic. Holding the fabric firm, she put a slight cut in the linen. ‘Wouldn’t I?’

      He eyed the dagger, but he didn’t look as uncomfortable around the blade as he once had. Instead, he looked interested in what she planned to do.

      Nairna took both sides of the fabric and tore it apart. The edges fell to the sides, revealing his chest. She leaned against him, pressing her bare breasts to his skin. The darkness in his eyes turned hooded with even more desire.

      ‘You’ve ruined my tunic.’

      She shrugged. ‘And I’ll ruin your trews as well, unless you stop denying me.’

      He raised his hands behind his head. ‘What are you planning to do?’

      She didn’t really know, but he’d given her permission to lower his trews, so she did. His erection was thick and long, springing to rest against his stomach. When she’d removed his clothing, she took her hand and explored the velvety texture of his manhood.

      Bram looked intrigued as she stroked him. She rather thought she could bring him to his own pleasure in this way, but there was something else she wanted to try.

      Though she was slightly embarrassed about it, she lowered her mouth to him. Bram’s reaction was instantaneous, as he let out a growl.

      ‘Nairna, I … What are you doing?’

      She suckled against the head of him, using her tongue to stroke his length. ‘Seducing you.’

      He dragged his hands through her hair, and as she took him into her mouth he let out a rigid groan. ‘Nairna, I don’t think I can hold back if you do that.’

      She released him and straddled his waist. Jenny had been right, she realised. She could indeed bring her husband a great deal of pleasure.

      Bram guided her up and lifted his shaft to her wet entrance. She lowered her body atop him and a tremor seized her at the sensation.

      Bram let out a slight hiss when she adjusted herself, rising up and down. His fists were clenched, his muscles taut.

      ‘Am I hurting you?’ she ventured. She kept her movements slow and smooth, rising and falling as she took his length inside her.

      He looked as though she were torturing him, and with every penetration his body grew tighter.

      She remembered that her previous husband would sometimes increase the pace, so she experimented with taking Bram faster, bouncing against him as she sheathed him.

      Strangely, the motion began to conjure up the startling warmth she’d experienced earlier, the shimmering tremors that echoed inside her womb.

      Abruptly, Bram took her waist and started driving inside her, in counterpoint to her own thrusts. Her breathing grew shaky and she felt herself building tighter, her body shifting and reaching for something.

      Then she felt it, the pulsing of her body melting against him, shuddering with wetness as he forced her to ride him. His palms filled up with her breasts and he suddenly let out a shout of his own, lifting her a few more times until she collapsed upon him.

      She couldn’t put into words her own feelings right now. Neither did he. Instead, she lay over him, with his body still joined with hers.

      And wondered if she’d done anything at all to break through to him.

       Chapter Fifteen

      The next morning, Bram lifted the heavy claymore with both