Page 113 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

Donaldina watched his hand travel down to her wrist. Roy lifted each finger, cleaning the honey from between them.

“Ye missed a place,” she murmured.

His mouth brushed near her ear. “Where?”

The warmth of his breath made her shiver with delight. Donaldina turned within the circle of his arms. Water lapped softly around them, against the wooden sides of the tub. Roy’s dark hair was damp, pushed carelessly from his face. Droplets clung to the scar along his jaw, traveling slowly down his throat.

She touched the streak of dirt near his collarbone. “There.”

Roy looked down at her fingers. “A grievous failure.”

“I expected better.”

“Then ye may correct it.”

She removed the cloth from him and started at his shoulder, gradually sliding it over skin bearing old scars and recent scratches from the hives. His sizable form filled the tub, making their legs to remain tangled beneath the water. With each movement, her knee brushed against his thigh. Neither of them looked down, maintaining a shared silence.

She washed the line of his chest, following the paths of pale scars beneath her fingertips. Roy remained still, but his gaze never left her face. She did not want to pretend any longer. Donaldina leaned toward him and pressed her mouth to his.

The kiss began slowly, almost gently, carrying all the ease they found working beside one another in the garden. Then Roy’s hand entered her wet hair, and his restraint gave way beneath her lips.

He kissed her more deeply. Water spilled over the edge of the tub as he drew her across his lap. Donaldina’s knees settled on either side of him, leaving no distance between their bodies. His hands moved over her back, strong and certain, yet still carrying that impossible care he never seemed able to abandon with her.

His mouth left hers and traveled down the side of her throat. Donaldina tipped her head back as his lips found the place where her pulse beat hardest. Heat followed every touch, spreading beneath her skin until the steam-filled air no longer seemed sufficient to breathe.

He lifted her from his lap and set her upon the broad edge of the tub. Warm water ran from her body and gathered beneath her upon the linen spread across the wood. Donaldina caught his shoulders, uncertain only for the instant before his mouth found her again.

Then, his lips traveled down her collarbone, licking the pebbled nipple of her left breast. His tongue remained there for one tantalizing moment, as he took her nipple into his mouth, sucking on it, flicking his tongue over it. The gentle pressure made her entire body yearn for him in ways she could never have imagined.

Then, his lips released her and found a different place. Her breath caught sharply, and she saw his wild curls buried between her thighs.

“Oh…” she moaned, closing her eyes and grabbing a fistful of his hair, keeping him in place.

Roy’s hands settled at her hips, holding her steady as the room dissolved into heat and sensation. There was no haste in him now. The fierce impatience of their kisses became something slower and more devastating, where every movement was deliberate enough to make her tremble.

She tried to remain quiet. The effort did not survive long, especially not when she felt his tongue delve into her slowly and tantalizingly. He added his finger, circling her wet pearl, while all she could do was dig her nails into his back.

“Faster,” she heard herself say, though she had no idea how she knew that this was exactly what she needed.

She could feel his lips grinning devilishly against her most sensitive flesh, as he slid his finger inside of her, curling it at just the right angle, while his tongue kept sucking her, playing with her, bringing her to the edge of the abyss of ecstasy.

The pleasure gathered until it became unbearable. When release overtook her, her head fell back against the stone wall. Roy held her through it, refusing to let her turn away from the intensity of what he had drawn from her. She was still gripping her hair when the aftershock released her from its grip, and when he smiled at her, his lips were still wet with her dew.

Her breathing remained uneven as he rose. Donaldina reached for him immediately. Roy settled between her knees, and she pulled him into another kiss. She tasted warm water and the faint sweetness of honey on his mouth. The knowledge of where those lips had been sent another shiver through her.

Neither of them attempted to move. His hands remained at her waist while hers rested against his chest, over the steady violence of his heartbeat.

“We are still dirty,” she whispered.

Roy looked toward the abandoned cloth floating in the tub. “A grave failure.”

Donaldina smiled and drew him closer. “Then we shall have tae begin again.”

The scout arrived shortly after noon with mud to his thighs and blood dried along one sleeve. Roy saw him from the battlements before the horn sounded. The man rode hard through the outer gate, his horse lathered beneath the saddle and stumbling upon the courtyard stones.

Roy was already descending the stair when Hamish called his name.

The scout dismounted badly. One knee struck the ground before Malcolm caught his arm.