such a long time since I had a woman," he said, looking into her eyes. "I can't wait much longer."
"I've waited forever for you," she whispered.
Connor didn't know what she meant by those words, but she was pulling on his hips. His body understood that and was screaming for release.
His shaft found her opening with an unerring sense of direction. He squeezed his eyes shut as he forced himself to slide just the tip in. O shluagh, she was so tight. He tried to go slowly, but she felt so good that she was going to kill him. Then she lifted her hips again and destroyed his last shred of control. His ears rang from the surge of pleasure as he thrust deep inside her.
"Ouch!"
That was the last thing he expected to hear. Through the pulsing need that shook him to his core, the realization broke through that he had felt something give way inside her. A tear.
Oh, Jesu, no, she's a virgin! The words blazed through his head, but it was too late. He was already deep inside her.
He tried to make himself pull out, but Ilysa held on to him as if he were saving her from drowning. Need thrummed through him, straining his control like a rope taut to breaking. Her legs tightened around him, urging him on. Then all he knew was the sensation of her tight, wet heat around him and her soft gasps in his ear as he pumped into her again and again. He exploded in a violent burst of unbearable rapture that left him stunned.
As soon as he could gather himself, he rolled off her and covered his eyes with his arm.
"Dear God. What have I done?"
Guilt crashed down on him. He had violated every rule he had made for himself. The one about not risking having a child outside of his marriage was the least of them. Even before he was chieftain, he never took innocent virgins to bed.
And worse, this virgin was his best friend's sister. Duncan's last words to him burned in his ears: See that it doesn't happen with my sister. Loyalty mattered more to him than anything, and he had violated his friend's trust. He had violated Ilysa's trust, too. She was his responsibility.
As chieftain, he had blatant offers all the time from women who wanted the status of being the chieftain's lover, or better yet, of having his child. For two and a half long years, he had resisted every attempt to seduce him, only to fall to the subtle charms of an innocent lass.
A coldness gripped his heart as he realized he had not pulled out before spilling his seed. It had not even crossed his mind. But then, his mind had played no part in this at all.
"Why did ye not tell me ye were a virgin?" he asked. "I would not have done this if I'd known."
"That's why I didn't tell ye," Ilysa said in a soft voice.
He should be furious with her. Instead, he was just confused. And beneath the confusion, he was foolishly pleased that she had chosen him to be her first lover. What an idiot he was.
Why had she wanted him to take her virginity? Did she hope to bear a chieftain's child? Was she simply curious? Was it because she trusted him, as he trusted her? Or did she fancy herself in love with him? He groaned. God help him, that would make what he'd done even worse.
"You were married," he said. "How could ye be untouched?"
Ach, no, he'd made her cry. Could he do nothing right? He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hair.
"I didn't think ye would regret it so soon," Ilysa said in an unnaturally high voice.
"I should regret it."
Ilysa leaned her head back to look at him with her big, brown eyes. "Why?"
"Because I cannot wed you," he said, brushing back a strand of hair that had come loose from her braid. "You're the last woman in the clan I should have bedded."
"I know ye can't marry me," she said.
Connor sat up straight, suddenly remembering the guards outside his door. How long had he and Ilysa been in here?
"We must get ye out of here before anyone suspects," he said as he leaped from the bed.
It was too late to save her virginity, but he could protect her from having everyone in the castle talking behind their hands about her sleeping with the chieftain. Duncan was right. Though she had been alone