A Very Highland Holiday - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,173

ever had.

“To soothe the ache,” he murmured.

“Thank ye,” she said.

“If ye’ll still have me…I’d like to finish what we started, only make it better this time.”

Tentatively, she nodded. But then she knew he’d want to hear her say it aloud. “Ye have my permission to make love to me.”

And then he was laying her back down on the bed, and once more she was melting into the sheets and sighing with pleasure. He kissed his way down the length of her body until he hovered over the very center of her.

“I want to kiss ye here.”

“That is…” That had not been discussed by the maids. “It sounds…”

But she couldn’t find the words, and it didn’t matter anyway because he robbed her of all sense as his tongue stroked the sensitive folds of her sex. Again and again, he stroked until she was clutching at the sheets and crying out in pleasure. Wave after delicious heady wave crashed over her. Oh my…Thane was a skilled lover. Made her feel powerful one moment and weak in the knees the next. And pleasure, there was so much of it.

“That was what I meant before,” he said, crawling up the length of her still-shuddering body. “Now, ye’re ready.”

This time when he pushed inside her, there was no pain, only more pleasure. She gasped, letting the last vestiges of control go. Wrapping herself around him, she followed his lead, kissed his shoulders, his mouth. Gripped his arse, stroked his back. Cried out when he somehow made her body break apart once more and drank in the sounds of his rapture as he whispered her name over and over again.

“Ye’re mine forever now, lass,” he said, nuzzling against her neck before meeting her gaze. There was not even an inkling of regret in his words or eyes.

Sarah grinned, placing her arms around his neck and threading her fingers into his hair. “Who knew revenge and abduction could be so…satisfying?”

Thane let out a roar of laughter and gently bit her lip. “Ye are satisfying.”

Chapter Seven

They lay in bliss for an hour or so, whispering, touching and eating the rest of the scones. This was the first time Thane had ever done this with a woman. Just lying there languidly sharing stories from their childhood. Their likes and dislikes. Exploring one another, both in mind and body.

In the span of an hour, he’d learned more about Sarah than he knew about any other person—even his twin sister Thea.

Sarah was ticklish behind her knees and at her ankles, but not on her ribs. She loved sunrise more than sunset, and her favorite time of year was in spring when dewdrops dripped from trees onto the tip of her tongue. The lass had a penchant for sweets and disliked spirits, but she’d drink them if she must and agreed to taste the whisky he distilled himself at Tordarroch.

They’d both learned to play the lute when they were young, but he was the only one who’d continued to play. He told her about how he and Thea would combine their musical talents to entertain the clan, to which Sarah belted out in the most angelic voice he’d ever heard a ballad of winter and the spring that was to come.

When they were willing to brave the cold, they pulled on their cloaks on the pretense of checking on the horses, but in reality, it was to check the weather.

The crowd in the common area had slimmed now that the scones were gone. In the corner, an older man sung and played his lute. The brim of his hat pulled low, casting a shadow on his face. The two of them were very tempted to join him, but at that moment, Balthazar came barreling into the room, demanding the man change his Christmas tune to one of battle.

Rather than brave the kitchens and more of Cook’s ladle flinging, they went out the front door, the cold of winter slapping against their cheeks, along with a gust that brought with it dustings of snow from the ground. They slammed the door shut to keep it from entering the tavern, though it was likely too late.

The snow was easily above their ankles, but the lads had shoveled a path leading from the front door around the back of the tavern toward the stable.

“Still coming down,” Thane mused.

“Aye, but at least the sky is not only white with clouds. A bit of blue peeking through the white means we may yet get a reprieve.” The