The Highlander Who Stole Christmas - Eliza Knight Page 0,17

and he too moved beneath her, increasing the friction as his arousal stroked against hers. She moaned against his mouth, a little surprised at the sounds she was making. Then he was flipping her around so her back was flush to the mattress, and he was over her, between her thighs.

He kissed her harder, with more vigor and passion, tossing all her sensations into the air like fairy dust until she felt like she was in a magical dream. His hand swept up her ribs, clutching at her breast, and then he tore his mouth from hers and traveled heatedly over her neck and downward until his lips clamped over her nipple.

Sarah cried out at that, bucking upward. Goodness…She’d not thought touching could feel any better, but it just kept getting more intense and more pleasurable.

“Dear God, I love the way ye respond,” he said, panting, his eyes on her. Desire filled his gaze, made his eyelids dip.

Sarah grinned encouragingly. This was going quite well. “Your touch is magic.”

He kissed her again, caressing her everywhere until she was floating in a sea of delicious awareness she never wanted to be rescued from.

“I want ye,” he groaned against her lips.

His words, spoken so passionately, pinged off all the right spots in her mind and body.

Seduction had been so easy. And so exciting. “Ye can have me. I give myself willingly.”

There, she’d said it. And soon she would be ruined, and it would be wonderful.

Thane pushed her skirts up, fumbled with his breeches, and then she felt the very heat of him at her core.

“Are ye certain?” he asked, gaze locked on hers, eyes filled with question.

“Aye,” she said with a confidence she’d never felt so keenly before.

Thane let out a satisfied groan and surged forward, the invasion accompanied by a sharp clamp of pain. Sarah cried out unbidden at the ache, surprised that it should have felt that way when everything else had been so wonderful.

Thane stilled, letting out a curse, the force of which blew the hair from her forehead. Sarah’s eyes had been clamped closed, but his angry tone made her snap open her lids.

“Ye were a virgin,” he accused, a thunderstorm clouding his expression. Gone was the heady look of his lowered lids.

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Aye,” she whispered.

“Why did ye no’ bloody tell me?”

Sarah swallowed hard. Perhaps tricking him into taking her virginity had been stupid, but she had given her full permission. “I did no’ think it mattered. I consented.”

Thane cursed, withdrawing from her body, leaving her feeling empty and lost. She reached for him as he climbed off, but he backed away from the bed and shoved himself back into his breeches. “I would no’ have done that. ’Tis no’ honorable.”

Exactly as she’d imagined he would act if he’d known. Tears fell in earnest now, hot waves down her cheeks. “It was no’ your choice to make.” She shoved her skirts back down, pulling her legs up tight to her chest, aching all the more.

“Why?” There was true anguish in his tone.

“Because if my brothers come for me, and they will, I can be of no use to them if I am spoiled. I dinna want to be their pawn.”

“But why would ye have me be the one to spoil ye?” He pressed his fist to his chest.

Without hesitation, she answered, “Because ye’re so honorable. A good man.”

“And so ye wished to trick me into marriage then?”

She shook her head vigorously, everything spinning out of control. That had been the last thing on her mind. And she hated the way his anger had turned to pain. “Nay, I thought…If I were to ruin myself, I’d want to do with it a man like ye, rather than just anyone.”

All the anger dissipated from him now, his shoulders sagging, and he trudged back toward her. Thane sighed and sat down on the bed next to her, gathering her in his arms. He was quiet for a long time, and she remained very still. Afraid if he remembered that he was holding her, he’d walk away. “If I had known, I would have taken my time. Made sure ye were ready.”

“I am ready.”

“I mean, your body.”

“Oh.” She sucked in a weary breath and stared up at him, meeting his gaze head-on, wanting him to see the truth in her eyes. “I was no’ trying to trick ye, I swear. I dinna seek marriage. I only sought to rid myself of the bargaining chip my brothers are trying