The Highlander’s Rescued Maiden by Anna Campbell

Chapter 11

Will drowned in Ellen’s eager kisses, even as the image of her magnificent body burned against his eyelids. The milk-white skin, the tumble of golden hair, the rose-pink nipples crowning round, high breasts. The graceful lines of her arms and waist, and the hips full of womanly promise. The soft plain of her pale belly, above the sweet nest of dark blond curls at the delta of her slender thighs. What a delightful mixture of shyness and boldness she was.

At the sight of her nakedness, he became as hard and ready as a stallion with a mare, God save him. No surprise there.

But the most powerful element wasn’t his raging desire, mighty as that was. What ripped a chasm in his heart and left him floundering was the weight of emotion powering every second. Something beyond the profane elevated this encounter in a way he couldn’t explain, something that beggared even his rich experience. It made him feel like a rank beginner, in a way he hadn’t felt since…

Damn it, since he was a rank beginner.

Thank heaven, he wasn’t a beginner, and he knew how to summon the magic slumbering inside Ellen’s slender body.

By the time he lifted his head, she sagged in his arms, as if standing proved a challenge. He adored her wholehearted yielding. When she raised heavy eyelids, her dilated pupils were pools of darkness in a narrow circle of ice blue. Her eyes held a universe of sensual mystery.

“What ye do to me,” she murmured.

What she did to him. Will reminded himself to rein in his impulse to lay her on the elaborate bed and bury his aching cock between her thighs. He’d made promises. He meant to keep them, even if it killed him.

Which was a possibility, given the agony in his balls.

Ellen gasped with surprise when he lifted her in his arms and carried her toward the bed, juggling her for a breathless moment as he swept back the covers. There was something fiendishly erotic in knowing that he was the only man who had ever shared this bed with her.

Erotic and moving, as so much about this slow, purposeful seduction proved moving. His hands were gentle as he set her upon the sheets. Instead of following her down, he took a moment to fan out that opulent mane around her exquisite face. A face stark with a longing that echoed the longing he felt for her.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, as if he set foot inside a holy place.

The joy in her smile made his heart skip a beat. She didn’t need to tell him that joy was no frequent visitor to her life. “When ye say that, I believe it.”

Anger spiked for that thoughtless brute, her father, and that spiteful witch, her stepmother, and every other half-witted denizen of Inchgallen. Then he dismissed all thought of them. This wasn’t the occasion to dwell on bitterness. This was the occasion for delight and discovery and happiness. “Ye should always believe it.”

Poignant emotion tinged her smile. “I will.”

He kissed her with more tenderness than passion, although passion massed inside him like a gathering storm. Her lips were soft and seemed to make vows of forever that she wasn’t yet ready to speak in words.

When he raised his head, she slid across the bed and extended her arm toward him. “Come to me.”

Will needed no further invitation. He settled beside her, rising on one elbow so he could watch her face. “Some of what I do might seem strange.”

Her lips twitched with the humor that he’d always liked. It wasn’t just her delicate beauty that attracted him. What he felt for Ellen went beyond shallow physical appeal.

Shallow physical appeal? Right now, the demands of his body felt more powerful than an earthquake. Shallow didn’t even begin to describe this soul-deep craving.

“I’m sure it will.”

“I’ll go slowly.”

“I’m no’ sure I’ll survive slowly.”

Will wasn’t sure he’d survive slowly either. “It’s all part of the torture.”

Her choked laugh sounded like anticipation. He kissed her and stroked her body. He trailed his fingers down her throat to find the frantic hammer of her pulse at the base of her neck.

She whimpered and squirmed against the sheets. “When ye touch me there, it makes me feel all wild and wanton.”

“That’s excellent.”

“It’s alarming.”

He smiled. “Och, away with ye. Nothing alarms you, even a man climbing through your window in the middle of a tempest.”

Ellen caught his hand and brought it to her lips. Gratification shuddered through him. So far, she’d proven an ardent partner, but she’d been too reticent to take the initiative. He wanted to lure her into playing his equal in pleasure. “I was alarmed.”

“You didnae look it. I thought I’d end up taking a bullet.”

“What a dreadful waste of a handsome Highland laddie.”

He kissed her. “I’m very glad ye didnae shoot me.”

Amusement lit her remarkable eyes. “At this moment, so am I.”

His hand traced the line of her collarbone and ventured down the slope of her breast. This was torture, but he found delight in taking his time, too. Arousal added spice to his tender curiosity. There were rewards in savoring each moment, stringing them together like perfect pearls on a thread.

Ellen’s skin was so fine-grained, it felt like silk beneath his seeking fingers. Her lavender scent was the air he breathed. He loved how what he did to her proceeded to a ragged rhythm of gasps and sighs.

He fondled her breast and toyed with a nipple that hardened against his palm. Her cracked exhalation told him that any remaining fears ebbed.

Will took her nipple between his lips, drawing on it until she quivered. His thumbnail scraped the other nipple, and she jerked in reaction before she raked her fingers through his hair in wordless encouragement to continue.

He lingered over her breasts, kissing each in turn, learning the honeyed taste of her skin. With gradual daring, still teasing her nipple with tongue and teeth, he slid his hand lower, spreading it across her stomach and dipping into the sweet indentation of her navel.

As she writhed, a shaky exhalation of laughter escaped. “That tickles.”

He smiled against her breast then kissed the places his hands had just claimed. When she parted her legs, the rich scent of her excitement made his nostrils flare.

As he combed his fingers through the soft curls covering her mound, he took her lips with fierce hunger. The feathery hair was damp under his hand. Her thighs loosened, but still he tantalized her. And himself. A seduction by inches might risk ripping him apart, but it was working.

He slipped his hand between her legs. When he stroked the slick folds for the first time, she cried out against his lips and caught his wrist. “That’s…that’s depraved.”

He smiled as he lifted his hand from her sex, giving her a chance to accustom herself to the idea of him invading her secret places.

“Aye, that it is. Let me show you how depraved.”

An uncertain gaze searched his face for reassurance. Her reaction reminded him again that he needed to take care. The trust Ellen placed in him was a gift, but it was also an enormous responsibility.

Something in his expression must have soothed her fears, because the desperate grip on his arm eased. She ran her hand up his arm in a caress that had his heart crashing so hard against his ribs that he feared it must break free. “I’m being a henwit.”

He dipped his head to kiss her. “You’ll like this, my darling henwit.”

“I have nae doubt I will.” Wry amusement curled her lips. “I’ve liked everything else you’ve done.”

“And we’ve hardly started.”

Her eyes went round with shock. “The mind boggles.”

He laughed and kissed her again, taking his time until she lay relaxed under the hand he rested on her midriff.

This time when he touched her, she murmured her approval and her legs eased open to permit him access. Satisfaction surged through him at her willingness.

He traced the delicate petals of her sex, relishing her satiny heat. She shifted, and her sigh this time conveyed pleasure.

When he found that secret pearl of flesh, she stiffened. Her breath emerged in panting gasps, and astonishment turned her eyes glassy. “Will, that’s…”

He waited for some protest.

She bit her lip and angled higher. “That’s wonderful.”

He growled in agreement and concentrated on pleasing her. As she arched up, female excitement bathed his hand. “What on earth…”

Her frank surprise drew another choked laugh from him. “I’m going to put my finger inside ye,” he said softly.

“Will it hurt?”

“I’ll be gentle.”

In a silent act of trust, she spread her legs wider. Her hand drifted down to rest on his bare chest. Her touch sizzled through him, and made his cock swell against his kilt. The soft wool over his throbbing hardness was a reminder to maintain control, even as control became more excruciating by the second.

He stroked her until she trembled. Carefully he slid his index finger inside her. She made an incoherent sound but didn’t pull away.

“Are ye all right?” He watched her face for signs of discomfort. Despite her tightness, what he read in her eyes was burning curiosity. How he adored her daring.

“It feels odd, but it doesnae hurt.”

“Good,” he said, although touching her where he so wanted to put his cock made talking an almighty effort.

Will withdrew his finger then pushed it inside her again, feeling her resistance. Then when she shifted, he sensed a slight easing.

Ellen’s hand flattened against his chest, and he felt the sting of her fingernails. He worked her until her body welcomed his invasion. She was shaking, and she tilted her head back against the pillows as she dragged air into her lungs. With her eyes closed, she looked like she strove after the unattainable. Her soft mews of pleasure were music in his ears.

This time, he placed two fingers inside her and curled them against her inner walls. She opened startled eyes and pushed her hips up. He kissed her as he built a relentless rhythm. When she strained for her peak, he pressed his hand to her center of pleasure and watched in an agony of arousal as she crossed over.

Lost in the rapture of her first climax, Ellen was glorious. Will loved that he could do this for her.

Dazed blue eyes sought his, as she slumped against the sheets. “That was…”

When words failed her, she touched his face. The tender gesture cut as deep as those moments when she’d shuddered under his caresses. His heart gave another of those disconcerting lurches, as if she took it in her slender hand and squeezed it.

She kept catching him on the raw. He’d imagined that he’d teach her about what a man and a woman did together. It turned out that he ventured into new territory, too.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He wanted to smile, but he was too moved. “There’s more.”

Her eyes rounded. “More?”

“Aye.”

“Good heavens above.”