sheath, she was certain she would float away.
“Thistle,” Brodie murmured as he continued to lavish his attention on her core. She writhed as her belly tightened. “You’re close.”
“Yes,” Laurel whispered. Increased pressure and speed from Brodie’s fingers and a long draw on her nub between his lips pushed her over the edge. She willingly surrendered to the sensations Brodie created. She clawed at his back, silently begging him to shift so she could embrace him. When his length was within reach, she stroked with deliberate slowness. She brushed the tip against her entrance, smiling when Brodie growled. “I didn’t want to wait, but you made me. I shall do the same.”
Brodie nipped at her ear as she guided the head of his cock into her sheath. The moment her hand released him, Brodie surged forward, seating himself to the hilt. As their bodies moved together, they locked eyes and gazed at one another as the passion and need enveloped them. Nothing existed to them beyond their embrace. They rocked together in a rhythm they learned the first time they made love before the very fireplace that crackled beside them.
“Brodie,” Laurel pleaded. She clung to him as their lips fused together, and they both increased the pace and force of their thrusts until they cried out together. Laurel’s entire body tingled as pleasure coursed through her. Brodie’s cock twitched as his seed emptied into Laurel. He rolled them so he rested on his back, his stitches reminding him that he shouldn’t move with such disregard. But he’d gladly accepted the twinges of pain for the powerful release that came from making love to his wife. Laurel sighed, “I ken it’s only been four days, but it feels like forever.”
“Aye. I wish there were a way we could soar like a bird and fly as the crow does. We could be home without days of travel, days of hideous abstinence.”
“To have such magic,” Laurel smiled wistfully. “I don’t want to be in Stirling, and I don’t want to be at court. But I am happy to be before this fire with you. It reminds me of the first time. I’d never imagined a body could feel the way you make mine feel. I didn’t know then the happiness you bring me now.”
“I loved you then, Laurie. But I feared you didn’t feel the same. I wanted to tell you, but I was too cowardly to face the possible rejection.”
“I felt the same. I desperately wanted to tell you, but I feared making a fool of myself. But I knew even then what I know now: I love you and marrying you was the richest blessing I’ve ever received.”
The couple laid before the fire, talking about everything and nothing as they held one another until they drifted off to sleep. The world outside their chamber door long forgotten.
Laurel gritted her teeth as Margaret Hay glared at her. Her courtship ended when Nelson died on the battlefield. But the woman whose eyes shot daggers at Laurel seemed to have forgotten that Liam Oliphant now courted her. Unimpressed with Margaret’s attempt to intimidate her, Laurel rolled her eyes so everyone could see and turned her back on Margaret. But she came face to face with Catherine MacFarlane. The lady-in-waiting before her wore the same angry expression as Margaret. Her uncle, Andrew Mòr, refused to sign the betrothal agreement with Edgar Gunn once Andrew Óg explained Edgar’s role in Laurel’s abduction. From what Andrew Óg admitted when Laurel and Brodie found him at the evening meal the night following their arrival, his father had nearly torn him to shreds for suggesting the betrothal move forward. The irate laird asked how his son could be so daft as to think he’d create an alliance with a man who tried to harm the clan they’d just fought a battle alongside.
Sarah Anne came to stand beside Catherine and folded her arms, as though her posturing would intimidate Laurel. Rather than cower at the matching glares, Laurel laughed. Loudly. She folded her own arms and used her height to tilt her head forward and look down at the two women.
“Sulk and hiss as you please. I survived abduction, a battle, a night lost among the mountain peaks, and an attempt to kill me. Your pathetic attempt to intimidate me is just that: pathetic. Find someone else to bully. It didn’t work on me when I was stuck with you before, and it won’t work now.”
“You’re awfully full of yourself for