Page 24 of Highlander’s Escaped Prisoner (Highlands’ Partners in Crime #7)

Despite all of Bryce’s valiant attempts to escape, it took hours before the bridal couple were able to sneak away.

Bryce managed to slip away first and crept around to the servants’ steps, followed a few moments later by a giggling Nessa.

Half a dozen maidservants stood at the bottom of the staircase and congratulated them, laughing as Bryce swept Nessa off her feet again and sprinted upstairs as if she weighed nothing.

“I think they are a little shocked,” Nessa remarked as Bryce set her down in front of the door to the laird’s bedroom.

“You are looking at a man who is too happy to care what anyone thinks, my lovely wife,” he replied, cupping her face in his and gazing deeply into her eyes. “You have no idea how much I have dreamed of this moment, Nessa.”

“I have too,” she murmured. “But I am a little afraid, Bryce.”

“I thought you might be.” His voice was tender as he led her over to the silk-draped bed and poured her a glass of deep red wine. “You do not have to do anything if you would rather not.”

Nessa looked at the hope in his eyes that he was desperately trying to hide. He would stay away from her and sacrifice his deepest desire, which was to make love to his new wife on their wedding night, to make her happy.

“Do you remember the day I tied you to a tree?” she asked.

He frowned in puzzlement. “In vivid detail!” he replied. “Why?”

“I swore to myself that day that I would never again hurt you,” Nessa answered.

“And although I can never erase that day from our past, nothing will ever make me do such a thing to you again. I made a vow to you today to be the best wife I can be, and I will hold to that. I love you, Bryce, and I want to show you how much. Nothing will keep me away from you. Nothing can ever part us again. Show me... Teach me about love, my husband.”

Bryce swallowed the lump in his throat and smiled at her lovingly. “You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that,” he breathed.

He turned her over on her side and began to unlace her dress, covering her back with tiny kisses as he did so.

Nessa arched her back and moaned as the touch of his lips sent pulses of pleasure straight to her core. Bryce had kissed her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, but this was different. He had never kissed her like this before, and it was driving her into a hot, passionate frenzy.

Bryce, seeing her reaction, smiled as he undid the last of the laces.

“You are a passionate woman, are you not, Nessa?” he whispered, turning her over.

Her eyes were half-closed, dark with desire, and Bryce felt his manhood thicken and stiffen as he pulled the dress over her shoulders and drew it down to her waist, exposing her breasts.

“Oh, God,” he whispered, wondering how he was going to resist her long enough to give her the pleasure he wanted to give her.

“You are more of a woman than I ever dreamed you would be.” He cupped one of her creamy globes in his hand, and drew the rosy pink nipple of the other into his mouth, then circled it with the tip of his tongue before suckling her, feeling her body buck and writhe underneath him.

When he changed sides, she cried out and dug her fingers into the thick mass of his hair to keep him from moving again.

She gave a little moan of protest as Bryce moved his mouth downward and ever downward until he reached the barrier of her dress, which was bunched at her waist. He moved his hands underneath her and pulled the dress down over her waist and hips before sliding it down her legs and throwing it on the floor.

“Nessa,” he whispered, “you are glorious.”

He surveyed the curve of her hips, the little pit of her navel, and the long shapely columns of her legs, but he focused on the little thatch of hair between her thighs, wherein lay the secret of her femininity. “And all this is mine.”

“All yours,” she replied, stroking his face. “But where is mine?”

He grinned at her before he stood up and tore his clothes off without ceremony as if they were burning him.

Nessa had seen his body before, but only the upper half of it.

Now she found herself gazing at narrow hips and a powerful pair of thighs, but between them was something she had never seen before.

She was helpless to look away from the thing that pointed at her so threateningly.

She could not believe that this enormous shaft was what her body was meant to accommodate, and Nessa’s eyes widened with fear as she looked up at Bryce.

He saw her panic as he lay down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. “There is no need to be afraid,” he said tenderly. “God made us for each other, Nessa. Do you trust me?”

She nodded, for she could not speak, but she squealed a moment later as he did something so shocking that it was beyond her power to imagine.

Bryce lowered his head to her soft, wet folds, and ran his tongue tip between them, then thrust it inside her and pulled it out again, repeating the movement again and again.

At the same time, he was running his thumb over and around the nub of sensitive flesh at her core, then tweaking and squeezing it between his thumb and forefinger until Nessa was mad with almost unbearable pleasure.

Bryce raised his head and looked at her flushed face. She was bewildered; she had had no idea that this was going to happen to her. “Are you all right? Am I hurting you?” he asked, worried that he might have gone too fast.

“I am better than I have ever been in my life, Husband,” she replied hoarsely. “But I can wait no longer!”

Bryce slid up her body and settled himself between her legs, feeling her tense and tremble beneath him. “This may hurt a little,” he whispered. “But then, I hope you will love it.”

“Please!” Nessa moaned, arching her hips upward until he slipped inside her quite naturally and without effort.

Bryce forced himself to stop to allow her to accustom herself to the new sensation of having him inside her, then began to thrust forward gently until he met resistance.

He heard her sharp intake of breath, then her cry of pain, and he stopped, but when she raised her hips again, he pushed forward, breaking the barrier of her maidenhead.

Becoming one with Bryce was nothing like Nessa’s imaginings.

First, her body stretched painfully to admit him; then, there was a feeling of satisfying fullness before a lightning bolt of pain shot through her.

She cried out, and Bryce paused, but when she raised her hips, he began to move again, and some primitive instinct told her how to move in time with him.

She gloried in the delicious friction of his skin against hers, his breath in her ear, his moans of passion, while sensations that were altogether new and delicious pulsed through her.

She was reaching for something, something wonderful, but she had no idea what it was.

“Come, my love,” Bryce whispered. “Come. I love you. Let go now.”

And then she did, screaming as a tidal wave of ecstasy washed over her, tossing her over its peak until she reached a place of peace, and a blissful languor settled over her as she came to rest in Bryce’s arms. A moment later, his body stiffened, and he let out a long moan as he too reached fulfillment.

So this was the mystery that had remained unsolved until this moment!

“Why did no one tell me?” she asked, still breathless from their joining.

“Tell you what, sweetheart?” he asked lazily as he rolled her onto her side to face him.

“About...about that feeling,” she answered, her eyes wide with wonder. “Does it always happen?”

“To women?” He kissed her. “It depends on her lover, but I will make it my mission to ensure that it happens to you every time we make love.”

She gazed into his amber eyes for a moment, then kissed him as she felt him withdrawing from her. “I think I am going to enjoy being married,” she said mischievously.

Bryce wrapped his arms tightly around her. He had never felt such fierce, all-consuming love before, and he knew he would spend the rest of his life protecting and providing for Nessa with everything he had.

“I had never intended to marry,” he murmured. “Not even to get an heir. But as soon as I saw you, something inside me told me that you were my destiny.”

“I have always known it,” she murmured.

Bryce pulled her into his arms and gave her a soft kiss on her upturned lips.

“I will never let you go until my last breath,” he whispered. “Then I will see you in heaven.”

Thank you for reading my story!