body thrice did nothing to alleviate the chill that she felt deep in her bones. She glanced down at the floor where she made out Toran’s snoring shape, his teeth not chattering at all. The man had to be a human fire.
The more she thought about how warm he seemed to be, the more she wanted him up there on the cot to warm her up as well.
“Toran,” she whispered.
He muttered something in his sleep.
“Toran. Come up here. I’m cold.” He murmured something else unintelligible, and she reached out to shake his shoulder. “Please, I’m freezing.”
“Is that an order, Mistress J?”
She could hear the laugh in his voice.
“Aye, an order to warm your leader lest she catch a cold.”
Toran effortlessly rose from the floor and scooped her up in his arms before tumbling them both back onto the cot, where he cocooned her in a wealth of heat. Her back was to his chest, a heavy arm laid across her waist, and a thick, muscled leg over her own. She was surrounded by Toran and his glorious heat. Even her head was growing warm, tucked against his neck.
As her body thawed, Jenny fell into a deep sleep. She woke with the rising sun, every muscle feeling as though she’d been trampled by a horse. Toran was still folded around her, and she couldn’t bear to move and feel the cold again. Not when being in his arms felt like heaven.
She wasn’t certain her muscles had ever ached this much from a fight. Granted, she’d also never fought as hard or as long as she had yesterday. She rubbed at her neck and shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension. From behind her a strong hand clasped over one shoulder, rubbing at the knotted muscles. She bit her lip rather than moan aloud in relief.
“What ye need is a hot bath,” Toran said.
“That would be heaven right now. But alas, there are no hot baths to be procured.”
“Then I suppose ye’ll have to make do with my gentle touch.” He spoke softly beside her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin.
“There are much worse things,” Jenny mused and then laughed.
“Och, lass, ye wound me.” His hands stilled, and every fiber of her body screamed out for him to continue touching her. “Should I stop?”
“Nay. Dinna stop.”
Twenty-Three
Toran’s hands were like magic skating over her skin, loosening her aching muscles. Every inch of her tingled from the release of tension and then from the simple act of his touch.
His lips skimmed the side of her neck as he rubbed his thumbs into her lower back, having lifted her shirt enough to slip his hands beneath to touch her bare skin. One of his large thighs was draped over her legs, trapping her. But she didn’t feel trapped. She was very much where she wanted to be.
The battle had ended in victory for them. And wasn’t it this moment that she’d promised to herself, to him, if they should win?
Jenny rolled in his arms, coming face-to-face with him in the near dark. She pressed her lips to his, her breasts to his chest, her hands on his shoulders. Her legs were still trapped between his, and she rocked into him, wanting to feel him flush against her.
“Jenny,” he groaned against her lips when she teased the corners of his mouth with her tongue. “I want ye.”
“I need ye,” she answered. “Make love to me, Toran.”
Rather than answer her, he nimbly rolled her onto her back, covering her body with his. He rested a hand on her hip, tenderly massaging as he deftly shifted his legs between hers. He slid his palm down her thigh, hooking her knee in his grasp and up around his hip. He swayed his pelvis against her.
Goodness, but that felt good. As if her entire body hadn’t been coming alive before, the press of him so close to the center of her had her back arching so she could get closer to him. His kiss was tender, and his hand rising up her shirt to stroke her breast sent her heart into a tailspin. Her nipples grew into hard, aching points. Jolts of pleasure coursed through her when he brushed the pad of his thumb over one before rolling it between his fingers. Jenny had never believed that a woman’s nipples could be used for anything other than feeding bairns, but Toran was introducing her to something new.
Oh, what pleasure he was bringing her. She lifted her other leg