Highlander’s Broken Love by Fiona Faris

Chapter Twenty-One

Ian didn’t need asking twice. He took Elisabeth’s waist and moved her further back on the altar stone before clambering up himself. He laid back down on the long stone, thankful it could take his full height before reaching for Elisabeth and pulling her down to rest against him. She rested her head on his shoulder and put one hand against the center of his chest. He brought up both arms around her, wanting to keep her as close as possible.

“Is that better?” he whispered, turning his head as he spoke so that his lips brushed her temple.

“Much. Thank you,” she said, just as her hand moved on his chest.

It went down to his stomach and rested there for a second. The simple and innocent action had his mind whirring, for all he could think of now was of what could happen if her hand dropped even lower. He closed his eyes and tried to push the thought out of his mind.

“How long do you think we have until they come for us?” she asked.

“A few hours at least,” Ian said confidently. “I ken Alex; I ken the way his mind works. He’ll get the people somewhere safe first before comin’ back this way, as he should do. He may nae come until the mornin’.” He thought it quite likely. Even now, he could see the sun dipping down beyond the walls of the priory church, casting them in a dark apricot-colored light. It wouldn’t be long before it was dark, and Alex wouldn’t want to endanger the few soldiers they had by traveling in the dark. “We might be here all night.”

Elisabeth wriggled on the stone as though moving even closer toward him in response.

“It will be a cold night then,” she murmured.

“Nae if we stay like this,” he assured her, turning his head back toward her so that he could brush his lips against her forehead another time. With one of his arms, he slipped his hand under the plaid covering and went for her shoulder, brushing up and down it slowly to try and bring her warmth.

When he felt her shiver, he realized what little good it was doing.

“Ye’re still cold,” he said, and stopped moving his hand.

“No, that shiver wasn’t because of the cold,” she said so quietly he had to strain to hear her. The words drew a soft chuckle from him.

“Was it because of this?” he asked as he moved his hand again. In response, her hand across his stomach tightened and she pressed the loose material of his waistcoat between her fingers.

“It was,” she whispered. “Don’t stop.”

“I willnae,” he promised as he continued to move his hand.

“No, Ian,” she said and lifted herself up onto her elbow. It changed their position slightly, so that now she was looking down at him just a little. “I mean…I want more.”

With her words and the way that she bit her lip, it was impossible for him to misunderstand her.

The sunset above them was changing now, casting deep reds and yellows in the sky as the moon rose above them. The changing light lit her features in a new way, making those pale blue eyes somehow shine almost silver. He felt his body stirring, wanting exactly what she had suggested.

“Elisabeth,” he said softly and closed his eyes, trying to fight the temptation. “I vowed nae to harm yer honor.”

“Is it harming my honor when I’m asking it of you?” she whispered.

“We cannae.”

“Why not?” she asked. She moved against him, forcing his eyes open again. “You and I both know that I’m going to have to go home. If I have to go back, if I have to leave you, then I want to know what it could be like with you first. Give me one memory to hold onto.” She was pleading with him. The honesty of her words broke him. “Please, Ian.”

“Sithiche, I want to, believe me, I do –”

“Then don’t say no,” she whispered softly. Her hand began to move, and she lifted it up his chest. With each movement she made, he felt the stirring far below. Excitement coiled in his stomach and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. As her hand reached the collar of his waistcoat and shirt, touching the bare skin above it, his resistance snapped.

“I cannae stay away from ye,” he said quickly and reached up toward her.

* * *

As Ian’s lips crashed against Elisabeth’s, she felt the sparks she had experienced before exploding. This time, nothing was off limits. He was giving her exactly what she wanted, to know just what could happen between them, to experience intimacy with the only man she’d ever wanted to be intimate with.

He’d reached up to her, capturing her neck with his hand and pulling her into a kiss. This time, there was none of that gentle nibbling at her lip to beg her to let him pass. He was insistent, bold, too, and he claimed her tongue with his. She loved it.

The kiss changed as he moved their bodies. Elisabeth was barely aware of how it had happened, she was too busy thinking of her lips on his, but soon he was above her and she was the one lying back down on the stone altar. He was leaning over her, as one hand went to undo the plaid covering from her.

It was removed quickly before he parted from her lips and urged her to sit up.

“Lie on this,” he urged and placed the plaid back down over the stone before motioning her back down on top of it. This time, he came with her completely and climbed over her.

They kissed again, but, as the kiss deepened, her hands wandered. She had marveled at the strength in his frame for so long that she just wanted to explore it a little more. Her arms were hooked under his as she reached up to his back and across his shoulder blades, feeling the muscles there. When he growled in the back of his throat into their kiss, it gave her confidence, and her hands wandered lower, down the sides of his waist and then to his hips. The moment she touched him there, she felt his hips buck.

She gasped in surprise as he pulled back from their kiss, holding her gaze.

“Elisabeth,” he murmured, before stealing a kiss to her neck then returning to her gaze. “Ye said ye daenae ken what happens?”

“No,” she said. “Only that no clothes are needed,” she added with a small smile.

“Well, that’s a start,” he returned the smile. “If at any time ye want to stop, just tell me. Aye?”

“I promise,” she said and bit her lip. He smiled back before raising himself up on one arm and using his other hand to release her from her dress.

The torn material wasn’t being held together by much anymore. She went to help him, and together they released the laces before sliding the silken material down off her body. He let it drop off the side of the stone altar, leaving her in just her chemise and corset. Next, came the corset. He made quick work of it, soon leaving her in just her chemise.

The breeze she could feel strongly whipping between the open walls of the church, only for some reason, she wasn’t cold anymore. Each time Ian touched her, whether it was another stolen kiss or a brush of his hand against her waist and hip, she grew more and more heated.

Before releasing her from her chemise, his hands went to his clothes. She eagerly sat up to help him. They held each other’s gaze as she unbuttoned his waistcoat. That quickly followed her dress onto the floor, as did the shirt they tugged over his head. As his chest was revealed, her eyes dropped down. She stared at the carved muscle before placing a hand against his chest. He growled again at her touch before reaching for her.

As he moved, she caught sight of the wounds on his back.

“Ian,” she murmured in panic, stopping herself from touching his back. “Yer wounds.”

“I’m fine,” he assured her with a smile, “nothin’ seems to hurt right now.” She couldn’t help but return his smile.

Imbued with confidence, she lifted her arms over her head, giving him the opportunity to remove her chemise. He pulled it over her head and tossed it to the floor on top of the growing pile of discarded clothing. His eyes danced across her bare body. She felt nervous and was about to cover her body when he reached out and stilled her hands.

“I am admirin’ ye, sithiche,” he said as he stole another kiss. This one grew heated again.

Quickly, Elisabeth was tumbled down to the plaid again as his kiss became passionate. She clung to his shoulders and marveled at the strength in his hands as they traveled over her body. First, they stayed around her waist, then they moved…everywhere. They went across her arms and then down the valley between her breasts, before one came up to cup her breast. She gasped into their kiss as his soft squeeze sent coils of excitement through her.

To her surprise, she felt a wetness between her legs. She tried to hide it by pushing her legs together, but in response, Ian’s other hand took one of her knees and pulled her legs apart, allowing him to rest his body between hers.

The friction of his trews against her center started something she didn’t know was possible, a kind of excitement that burned between her legs. It lasted just a second before he parted from her kiss and lifted his body just enough to reach down to his trews and unfasten them.

He made quick work of removing them. In surprise, Elisabeth covered her mouth with a hand, staring at his length. She hadn’t seen a naked man before and hadn’t expected that part of him to be quite so large.

“Trust me,” he whispered to her as he pulled her hand away from her mouth and replaced it with his own lips. This kiss was gentle, tantalizingly so. She was the one who reached up toward him and made him deepen it.

In response, he lowered his body back down to hers between her legs. Her eyes widened at the sensation of his length brushing against her center.

Is this what is supposed to happen?

He pulled away from their kiss to move to kiss the very top of her neck just beneath her ear. He switched between soft kisses and nibbles, making her moan and arch her back into him, desperate for more of his touch.

As he lifted himself up, he met her gaze. She could see he was breathing just as heavily as she was, with their chests constantly coming up to meet each other’s.

“What happens now?” she asked, her voice but a whisper.

“It will hurt at first,” he said, “but I promise after the pain has passed to do whatever I can to make ye feel pleasure.” She nodded, just desperate to feel what could pass between them next.

He returned to their kiss. Elisabeth grew distracted by it, thinking so much of his lips that she wasn’t prepared for what he did next. He reached down and angled his length, placing it directly at her center, then he thrust inside of her. The pain was sudden.

In shock, Elisabeth pulled back. As she looked down at the way their bodies were pressed together though, everything felt so right about it. With the sun setting completely now and the moon and stars coming out to light them, it looked like they were where they both belonged.

“Ah, sithiche, I’m so sorry for the pain,” he whispered, kissing the top of her neck again. To her surprise, the pain was already gone. He murmured more things in Gaelic; as it became a stream of words, she grew more and more curious and lifted her hips up to meet his.

The effect was instant; they both moaned. A pleasurable sensation coiled around her center, a sensation she hoped would continue.

Ian braced himself above her, both hands on either side of her head as he held her gaze and began to rock their bodies together. It was slow at first, almost gentle, with this pleasurable feeling she was growing accustomed to beginning to burn in its intensity.

Then, he grew bolder. What started as rocking became full on thrusting, with their bodies excitedly coming up to meet one another’s.

Elisabeth felt in ecstasy, her body just wanting more of this and never wanting it to stop. She marveled as she watched Ian above her, seeing the growing need on his handsome face.

He changed their positions. He rocked back on his knees and lifted her with his hands, taking her knees and raising them around his hips a little more. In this new elevated position, she could have sworn he was reaching a new part of her.

Unable to hold onto him anymore, she reached back and clung to the plaid beneath her, just as the sensation she was experiencing changed into something else. It seemed to be growing greater, as though she were ascending to some new, pleasurable height.

“Ian, I…” she tried to tell him what was happening, wondering what it was, but the feeling was coming too quickly, and she didn’t know how to put it into words.

“Sithiche, let it happen,” he whispered as he continued to thrust.

Suddenly, the pleasure crashed. It was as though the sensation had shot through her entire body, reaching every muscle of her being. Her back arched as she clung to the plaid, moaning and calling Ian’s name repeatedly.

The Gaelic words he’d been muttering grew faster, until he thrust into her one last time, then he turned his head to the sky, saying her name loudly with the movement.

As she came down from the high, she reasoned that whatever had happened to her, seemed to have happened to Ian too. A sort of pinnacle of pleasure.

With his body exhausted, he leaned down over her, their bodies crashing together. She brought her hands up to hold onto him, being careful of his back as she pulled his head in for another kiss.

“Sithiche,” he whispered, parting from her lips to kiss her neck again, being careful of her wound. “I adore ye.”

She felt tears start though she refused to let them fall, for she knew the truth. She adored him too, and she didn’t want to leave him.