The Highlander's Forbidden Bride(98)

“Make love again.”

“You’re not too tired?”

“I am, but I want you more than sleep,” she said, and kissed him with the desire of a woman for the man she loved, and it set his soul on fire.

They joined eagerly and impatiently, yet didn’t rush. They wanted this joining to last, to linger in every touch, every kiss, every moment of pleasure.

They explored each other with their hands and with kisses and nibbles and laughter and sighs. It was a cherished joining, a beautiful memory that would linger long in their minds.

When finally they found it too hard to deny themselves, they came together in a frenzied rhythm that had them catapulting in a climax that left them both completely breathless as ripples of pleasure burst over their damp, tingling flesh.

And then they finally slept.





Chapter 39




“Are you sure of this wedding gift?” Zia asked.

“I couldn’t be more confident,” Ronan said.

“But mother has offered you the emerald necklace she wore on her wedding day to give to Carissa,” Zia said.

“I will not do what Mordrac did to her. Dress her in fancy jewels for all to admire,” Ronan said. “I know this gift will bring great pleasure to Carissa.”

“All right,” Zia agreed with a smile. “You obviously know what pleases your future wife, and I will have it ready.”

Ronan leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“Hey, what are you doing with my wife?” Artair teased as he joined them in Zia’s healing cottage.

“Thanking her for the perfect wedding gift to give to my wife,” Ronan said.

Artair slapped his brother on the back. “A few more hours, and the last of the Sinclare brothers marries.”

“I can’t wait,” Ronan said with a broad smile.

“It will be here too soon,” Zia said, hurrying to grab her cloak off the peg. “There is much to do. I will see you later.” She gave her husband a quick kiss, then stopped, grinned at him, and gave him a kiss he wouldn’t soon forget. She left the cottage with a grin.

Artair turned on his brother. “Damn, why did you have to be here?”

Ronan laughed. “If I have to wait until tonight, so do you.”

“Let’s go find Cavan and Lachlan and make sure that they’re suffering too,” Artair suggested, and Ronan agreed.



Carissa hugged Addie as the woman tried to help get her into her wedding dress. “I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for me, but I am particularly grateful for having my aunt and her family here to share this very special day.”

“They are very nice people,” Addie said, finally getting Carissa’s arms into the long sleeves of the dark green velvet gown.

“I am sure Aunt Kate is just like my mother, and Uncle James is delightfully funny and then there is Cowan, so intelligent for ten years old and Wallace, who is an excellent bowman at fifteen, and oh, sixteen-year-old Colleen has her mother’s skill with yarn and twelve-year-old Aggie chatters all day! I love them all.”

“As I’m sure they love you.”

A knock sounded at the door of Ronan’s bedchamber, and it was Addie who cried out, “If it is a man, go away.”

The door opened, and Kate peered in. “May I enter?”

“Of course,” Addie said, waving her into the room. “It was men I looked to chase away. They have no business here now.”

Kate agreed, though her smile faded. “You have a gown. I thought since it has only been two months since the wedding was decided that there would not be time to stitch a gown.”

“Addie had this fitted for me from one of her older gowns,” Carissa said, realizing yet again how much she resembled her aunt and, therefore, her mother. The thought filled her with loving warmth.

Kate stepped forward. “I took the liberty of bringing your mother’s wedding dress with me. Shona stitched it herself, she was so talented with needle and thread. You are your mother’s size, and I thought you might like to wear it.”

Carissa reached out and took the folded white wool she had thought a shawl at first glance. When she lifted it, the garment fell to reveal the most gorgeous gown she had ever seen.

Even Addie gasped. “That is stunning.”

Kate lifted one of the long sleeves and gently touched the handsome embroidery along the edge. “Your mother worked on this dress day and night, and when her wedding was done, she washed it with gentle hands, and after it dried by the fire, she wrapped it away with plans to give it to her daughter.”

The wool was so soft Carissa could not stop touching it.

“Your mother was wed in the winter, just like you are about to be,” Kate said.