The Highlander's Forbidden Bride(96)

“You are so very beautiful,” Ronan said, his hands roaming lovingly over her.

Every part of her body tingled, and she quickly grew wet with the want of him. “I don’t want to wait,” she said, and took hold of him. She chuckled. “Obviously, you don’t either.”

“I’ll not have you only once tonight, woman,” he teased.

“You would disappoint me if you did.”

He laughed as he lifted her about the waist, and she locked her legs around him to rest on his hips.

“I will not disappoint you,” he said, and lowered his lips to her hard nipples.

She dug her fingers into the back of his head as he suckled her and made her moan with pleasure. His mouth continued to torture her until, finally, she could stand it no more.

“I will come here and now, Highlander, if you do not stop.”

He chuckled and, while his mouth continued to feast, his fingers found their way inside her, and in mere moments he had her screaming out in pleasure. But as ripple after ripple claimed her body, he hurried her to the bed and came down on top of her, delving inside to set her flesh tingling again.

She wrapped her legs around him to take him deeper inside her, and it didn’t take long for them both to cry out as they exploded in pleasure together.

When calm returned to them, Ronan rolled to the side, taking her with him to lie close beside him, his arm wrapped snug around her.

She laid her head on his chest and settled contentedly against him.

“Rest, for it will not be long before I want you again,” he teased.

“I will be ready before you.”

“How lucky am I to have found an insatiable wife.”

Wife.

Carissa had never thought to be a wife to a man of her choosing, and she silently thanked the heavens for this miracle.

“Are you all right?” he asked with concern. “You tense in my arms.”

“It is I who am lucky,” she said softly, placing her hand over his heart. “I never thought I would be a wife to a husband of my choice and that he would truly love me.”

Ronan lifted her chin for her to look at him. “Hear me well, Carissa. I love you with all my heart, and I intend to have you as my wife because of that love and for no other reason.”

She had to ask, “You want Carissa not Hope?”

“You are hope,” he said. “You gave hope to me and you have given hope to many. Hope resides in you whether you want it to or not. And I love every part of you, Carissa.”

She smiled. “You can love any part of me anytime you want.”

“Do you know what that smile of yours does to me?”

She shook her head, and he took her hand and guided it down over him.

“I’m going to have to smile all the time.”

“You may just kill me if you do that”—he laughed—“but what a way to die.”

She climbed on top of him. “I’ll temper my smiles since you have trouble keeping up with me.”

“A challenge?”

She ran her hand over his hardness. “You seem to be up to it.”

He laughed again, but before he could take charge, she slid down over him, and he cried out with the exquisite feel of her.

“My turn,” she said, and proceeded to love him.



They lay snuggled together, Carissa yawning.

“I tired you,” Ronan boasted.

“The night is still young,” she challenged, and yawned again.

“You are tired and need to rest.”

“I have not had enough of you yet,” she said, draping her leg over his and snuggling closer.

Ronan hugged her tightly. “We have the morning and the day after and the day after that. We have forever.”

“That sounds delightful.” She sighed and couldn’t help recall a time she thought differently. “I once believed that I would never have you, that it was an impossible dream, and now I can’t imagine not being with you, not having you hold me, not growing old with you.”

Carissa looked up at him. “That tale your mother made up for me to tell Cregan was so sad. While I suffered greatly when I sent you away, at least I knew that you were alive and well.”

“About that tale, Carissa,” Ronan said with a tender stroke of her cheek. “It was no tale. It was the truth.”

Carissa popped up in bed, her long blond hair falling over her bare breasts as the blanket fell away from her. “What do you mean?”

“My mother told you that you looked familiar,” he reminded. “She finally realized who it was you reminded her of, and had Hagen take her to the village. The woman, Kate, whose fine yarn my mother favored is who she thought you resembled and it was Kate’s sister, Shona, who was your mother.”