Page 13 of Kidnapped by her Highland Enemy

“Before I explain that, ye need to understand, me clan doesnae believe in handing over power if the older laird is dead or out of his mind. If a heir of age and has proven himself, he will take the lead. I ken it’s an unusual arrangement but it worked for us.

But back to the forest, it’s a test. If I made it back to my home before dawn, it was a sign that God would help me to lead my people,” Lucas said.

“Any laird must ken his land and how to survive by it. Why—” he cocked his head, and another lock fluttered over his eye while a rakish grin slanted his lips, “—were ye worried for me?”

“Aye,” she nodded, “Ye were a child.”

“T’was a needless worry,” Lucas said. “By that age, I’d been handling a dagger and when I wasnae at me lessons, I took fun in scouting the woods. I’d come to know them like the back of me hand. I got to me doorstep three hours before dawn lifted.”

“And what if ye had not gotten there?” Maisie asked.

“I’d have been put to the test the next year,” Lucas clarified. “Tis nae that I would have been disinherited, nay. I would still have taken the lairdship but it’s a preference for the coming laird to have mastered the test at his first try.”

“I still ken it’s a bit cruel,” Maisie shuddered. “Then again, it could be because I have seen children mauled by wolves.”

Lucas smiled and reached out for her, touching her cheek. “Yer sweet.”

“Almost as ye are stubborn,” Maisie laughed softly, while leaning her cheek into his palm.

Their eyes met, and their breaths joined between them—a heartbeat before Maisie leaned in and kissed him.

Softly, just so softly, she touched her lips to his and Lucas, oddly, did not move—not because he did not want to, he craved her, but because he wanted her to make sure this was what Maisie wanted.

To his delight, she kissed him, opening her mouth against him, taking his bottom lip between her teeth.

Finally, with a groan, Lucas moved against her, pulling her against him.

The slow and shy kiss she had given was shattered as Lucas took charge and crushed her lips with his.

She danced her tongue around his, her hands gripping his shoulders.

He pulled her onto his lap, fixing her knees to straddle him while he framed the back of her neck and he explored her mouth with sweeps of his tongue. Finally, he allowed himself to sweep his hands up her body to cup her breasts. His fingers found a nipple, taut and hardened by her arousal.

Tugging at the strings of her dress, he tugged the cloth down, peeling the bodice from her breast and baring her to his hungry gaze.

“Ah,” she gasped as cold air skittered along her skin.

Lurching forward to cover her body with her hands, her lustrous hair framed her long, graceful throat and delicate shoulder.

“Nay, lass,” he said while peeling her hands away. “I want to see ye.”

Her breasts, plump, high and firm, yet perfectly rounded, the dusky buds that peeked out from beneath her long tresses. Smoothing her hair away from her, Lucas dropped his hands to the small of her back and pressed her to him.

“I said ye were sweet, aye?” he murmured while dropping his head. “Let’s see if ye taste like that as well.”

When his lips and tongue found her nipple, Maisie arched over the band of his arm that had circled her back.

Trembling, she held his head, streaming her fingers through his hair to keep him close.

Lucas lavished attention on each breast, his fingers and mouth caressing the sensitive, swollen nipples while his thumb and palm caressed the other.

He then trailed a molten path of fiery kisses down one delicately boned shoulder to the crest of her breast, his tongue tentatively flicking the pale nipple. Cupping the perfect mound with his hand, he suckled hungrily and she cried out.

After several moments, he drew back, glanced at her, sliding one hand up to cradle her face again and take her lips. While his other palm stroked the narrow indentation of her waist, his lips gradually became more demanding, plundering her mouth.

“So bonnie…” he murmured after pulling away to breath. “So perfect.”

Maisie arched her back at this new sensation, her fingers unconsciously entwining in Lucas’s blond hair. How could she fight what he was doing to her! Did she want to?

“May I touch ye, lass?” his breath was hot against her ear.

The sliver of rationality in her mind told her what he meant—as he was touching her everywhere else but the part that ached and throbbed for him— he wanted to touch her womanhood.

She could feel his strong fingers stroking the silken skin of her outer thigh ever so lightly and it would not take him long to slip beneath the cloth crumpled on her lap. Shuddering, Maisie whispered, “Aye.”

Then his hand slipped purposefully under her dress, his fingertips skittering over the softer skin of her inner thigh to the moist core of her. Lucas’s lips were coasting over her neckbone, kissing, suckling, and nipping sensation right through her body.

At the light touch of his fingers, Maisie let out a gasp. All the air had been knocked out of her lungs and then, his fingers were stroking, searching, titillating her senses into a whirl of thrills.

Lucas murmured thickly, kissing her breasts, her throat, her love-bruised lips.

A ragged sigh tore from her as his expert fingers found the sensitive point he had been seeking.

Maisie arched against his hand, her body no longer under her control as wave after wave of heady sensation rippled through her, all resistance to his touch, forgotten.

Now—she craved him. Craved the heady feeling that was building in her body, a gossamer feeling that was teasing, flitting out of her hold but was growing. His tongue thrust into her mouth, delving, searching, even as his fingers—two now— stroked her from within.

She arched against him, driving him deeper and deeper within her.

Matching his sensuous movements with her own, she cried out when his expert fingers found the swelling bud of her womanhood.

She trembled uncontrollably; her small frame wracked by such incredibly delightful sensations that Maisie feared did that she could not take much more.

“Daenae hold back, Maisie. Let me see yer pleasure.” Lucas ordered before seizing her mouth with his own.

She felt as if she were spinning toward an unbelievable height of piercing, exploding sensation, until at last she shuddered against him, wave after molten wave of blinding ecstasy washing over her.

“Lucas!” she cried out, collapsing upon his chest, her body as light as a feather while resting her head on his broad shoulder. He wrapped his arms about her and held her tenderly, stroking her hair as Maisie’s breathing slowly returned to normal.

She shifted to press her lips on his throat, and this time, Lucas shuddered. Unbidden, Maisie smiled; it was proof that she affected him as equally as he did to her.

“Hm,” Lucas nosed at her ear. “Ye respond so wonderfully, Maisie. I can tell there is passion with ye. I want to be the one to unravel it within ye.”

Once again, she was cradled against him, her breaths drawing in the fresh, river-water scent of his body.

It was oddly comforting as he turned and crossed the space back to the bed.

Gently, Lucas sat her down on the edge of the mattress and then sat next to her.

He stroked her face, sending a shiver down her spine, a jolt of warmth that burned right through her.

Peering at him, Maisie said, “I’m questioning everythin’ inside me heart about ye.”

He cocked his head, “And what conclusion have ye come to?”

“I never kent I would say this, but I trust ye,” she said after swallowing. “The only thing I ask is that ye daenae do anything to make me regret it.”

Bowing over her, Lucas kissed her softly. “I give ye me word. Get a good night’s rest, lass. Ye willnae see me in the morn, but Ian will be here.”

It’s too late now, I want to be with him, even if it’s a short while, an’ I may pay for it later, I want this… want him.

“Good night, Lucas,” she touched his face.

“Same to ye, lass.”

He held her fast and murmured soothing words to Maisie as she slipped off to sleep, and right before slumber took her over, she felt that, maybe things would be all right.

Dead to the world, she did not hear Lucas whisper a promise to keep her safe from all harm, right before he slipped out of the room.