Highland Hero by Hannah Howell

of curiosity and amusement.
    Lucais looked into her eyes, saw the faint glitter of laughter, and grinned. “Aye, just a wee bit more.” He quickly grew serious and brushed a kiss over her mouth. “Is the pain gone?”
    “What pain?” she whispered against his mouth.
    When he moved, the last of Edina’s amusement was swept away. She clung to him as he moved, greedily meeting his every thrust. A brief spasm of confusion and fear broke through the desire that so completely possessed her when her need grew almost painful, her body tightening with an anticipation she did not understand. Then something inside her broke free and she was lost. Edina was only faintly aware of crying out Lucais’s name, and of the way he suddenly held her still, pushing deep within her as he shuddered and called out her name. Her inability to think clearly, to even know what was happening around her, did not really fade until Lucais had cleaned them both off and returned to the bed.
    Edina cautiously opened her eyes as Lucais gently brushed the tangled hair from her face. He did not look disgusted or surprised, only gently amused, so she began to think that what had just happened to her was normal. She slowly reached up to touch his cheek and realized she was making sure that this was no dream, that he was real. That made her smile at her own foolishness.
    “Does something amuse you?” he asked, brushing a kiss over her cheek.
    “Only myself. I just realized that I touched you to be sure that ye arenae a dream.”
    He chuckled and briefly kissed her when she blushed. “And I have been touching ye so much for the verra same reason.”
    “Ah, I am disappointed.”
    “Why?”
    “I thought ye were touching me for another reason.”
    “Ye must let a mon rest, dearling,” he said, laughter shaking his voice as he turned onto his back and pulled her into his arms.
    Edina looked at him and idly wondered how she could love him so deeply when he gave her no love in return. She smoothed her hand down his chest to his taut stomach, toying with the tight dark curls encircling his navel as she marveled at her own greed. Her body ached from her first taste of lovemaking, and yet she was hungry for more. She suspected some of that greed was born of the knowledge that this could not last for long, that her time with him was fleeting.
    As she slid her hand around to his waist, she leaned down and touched a kiss to his rippled stomach. He shivered and she smiled against his warm skin. There might be weeks left in which they could be lovers, but there could also be only hours. Edina decided that she would give in to her greed and worry about the right or wrong of it later, when she was all alone at Glenfair.
    “How long do ye need to rest?” she asked as she slipped her hand beneath the coverlet and curled her fingers around his staff, feeling her desire return as it hardened beneath her touch.
    “I think I have rested enough,” he replied in a hoarse voice as he pulled her back into his arms.
    Edina laughed when he turned so that she was sprawled beneath him and greedily welcomed his kiss. “Aye,” she said hoarsely when he tore his mouth from hers and began to kiss his way toward her breasts. “Your strength does appear to have returned.”
    “Lass, do ye mean to love me to exhaustion?”
    “What a lovely idea.”
    “Weel, I challenge ye to try. We have time enough.”
    She threaded her fingers through his thick hair, arching toward his mouth as he lathed and sucked the aching tips of her breasts, and heartily prayed that he was right. Instinct told her, however, that their time together was rapidly slipping from their hands. Edina hoped that if all she would be given was this one night, that she had the strength to be satisfied with that.

Chapter 7
    A cold draft brushed against Edina’s back, and she muttered a curse as she tugged the blanket around herself. When she heard the sound of someone approaching the bed, she tensed and warily opened