Page 29 of Married to the Icy Highlander (Unwanted Highland Wives #3)

EPILOGUE

“ I didnae even get to say goodbye to the lass before she was runnin’ down the road!” Neil huffed as he stepped back into their bedroom.

He had insisted that all of Ceana’s things be moved into the master suite the moment she had come back. He had said that if they were going to do this, they were going to do it the right way.

“I told ye she got on with me maither very well. I think she’s determined to make friends with Peter’s cat as well.” Ceana sighed as she rose out of the bathtub.

“Sure, but she didnae have to be so excited about it. All of her beggin’ and pleadin’ to bring ye back here, and then she takes off just like that.” Neil shook his head. “The servants have retired for the evening, so we have the castle to ourselves at least.”

“I’m sure that wasnae an easy task to accomplish,” Ceana hummed, drying off as much as she could and pulling her dressing gown on before she started toward their bedroom.

She pulled the pins out of her hair, letting the blonde waves cascade around her shoulders.

The moment Neil caught sight of her, he staggered.

“Now that’s the reaction I want to see every time I come into a room.” Ceana grinned.

“If ye dressed like that where other people could see ye, wife, we would have a whole other issue on our hands.”

“Mm, want to keep me all to yerself?” she teased, her fingers hovering over the small bow that held her dressing gown together.

Now that they had made up after their fight, she longed to feel him. She wanted to know that he meant his words. Neil couldn’t hide from her when they touched—it had always been that way. If that was the only way he was comfortable with being vulnerable, she was more than all right with it.

Only, he moved away from her. “If I take ye right here and right now, wife, then I’ll have wasted all of me efforts since we returned.”

“What are ye talkin’ about?” Ceana asked.

“Ye’ll just have to wait and see,” Neil said mysteriously. He extended his hand toward her once more, but this time she accepted it. “Close yer eyes.”

“How will I see where I’m goin’?” Ceana giggled.

“I suppose ye’ll just have to trust me,” Neil teased.

“Do ye nae want me to get dressed first?”

Neil paused for a moment and then scoffed. “Absolutely nae. There’s nae a soul who would set eyes on ye apart from me.”

“The only eyes that I would ever want on me,” Ceana agreed.

The stone floors were cold under her feet, and she walked on her tiptoes to keep the chill from spreading up her legs. With her eyes closed like this, following his lead, it was almost like a whole other kind of dance that he was leading her through.

Heat pooled in her core, spiking higher every time the cool air slipped through the opening in the front of her dressing gown. It was the promise of something more.

“Careful now,” Neil cautioned as she stepped onto the cool grass.

“Can I open me eyes?”

“Nay. Count to ten, and then ye will ken where to go,” Neil said as he released her hand.

Ceana heard a rustle beside her and was distinctly aware of the fact that he had moved away from her. She counted slowly in her head, ticking off the numbers until it was time to open her eyes.

She wasn’t properly prepared for the sight that greeted her. Lanterns illuminated a path across the lawn, clearly meant for her to follow. It felt like something straight out of a fairytale.

Ceana walked slowly at first, tiptoeing over the cool grass as she followed the path. She couldn’t hold in her girlish giggle as the lanterns led her to the gardens, opening up into the flowers that Alice had taken such great care in planting and cultivating.

There, in the middle of it all, stood Neil. With his boots off, his shirt untucked, and his hair unbound, he looked every bit as handsome as in her dreams. Only, this wasn’t a dream. This was reality.

She felt as if her smile was going to split her face—her cheeks ached so badly. She felt the joy filling her all the way to her fingers and her toes. There was a blanket laid out on the ground, and a wine bottle and goblets for them to use if they wanted to.

It was absolutely perfect. She couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend her evening.

“Ye did all of this for me?” Ceana asked.

She needed to make sure that she wasn’t somehow imagining things or that she wasn’t asleep.

Neil nodded his head, holding out his hand to her with an easy smile. He laced his fingers through hers, pulling her into him until she could feel the warmth of his body. “Do ye like it, then?”

Ceana nodded. “Very much.”

“I was hopin’ ye would say that.”

He lifted her off her feet before lowering them both onto the blanket and sitting beside her.

It was so much like the other night they had shared but without the comfort of privacy. Which was sorely needed.

“I feel like ye’re overdressed, husband,” Ceana teased, running her hand over his loose linen shirt, slowly pushing it up his toned torso.

She didn’t think she would ever get used to this—being able to touch him, knowing that he was hers and hers alone. Someday, she would know the story behind every one of his scars. She wanted to know everything there was to know about him and then some.

“Is that so?” Neil murmured, kissing her softly, only stopping when she pulled his shirt over his head and threw it aside.

“That’s much better.” Ceana grinned.

Neil’s hand slid up her stomach and over her breasts until he reached the bow that kept her dressing gown together. “Ye ken, ye can see the stars much better if ye…” He laid her back until she was splayed out in front of him, pulling at the bow delicately until the fabric fell open and bared her skin to his hungry eyes.

His hands followed his eyes down the curve of her neck, trailing almost reverently over the swell of her breasts, the flat plane of her stomach, and then lower. He nudged her thighs apart, watching her chest heave as she kept her focus on him and only him. She had never imagined that she would want someone this badly, that this wouldn’t just be something that she was forced to endure.

He cupped her, his long middle finger parting her wet folds and teasing her bud. A low groan rumbled in his chest before he kissed her deeply. Her tongue danced with his own, inviting him in even before he slid a finger inside her. She gasped—she was still getting used to that feeling, even as he added a second finger.

Neil shifted, no longer beside her but hovering over her without breaking their kiss. He pumped his fingers inside her until she was panting and writhing beneath him, and then he started trailing kisses down her body. The floral scent in the air mixed with his musk in a way that made her dizzy. The stars above twinkled brightly, illuminating their union. Everywhere that Neil wasn’t touching was cold, but the fire he was stoking inside her roared higher by the minute.

Ceana’s thighs dropped to the sides slightly, her breath hitching as her pleasure started to build. How was he so damned good with his hands? It was as if he could sense what her body needed before she realized it.

His lips trailed down her belly to join his hand. While he had brushed her swollen bundle of nerves before, now he teased it with his tongue, savoring her essence as if it was the sweetest nectar he had ever tasted in his life.

He lifted her parted thighs over his shoulders as he feasted on her, the flat of his tongue licking a path from her entrance to her sensitive nub before swirling around it, teasing and sucking while his fingers worked her open. But all she could do was fist her hands in his hair and hold on tightly. She writhed beneath him, a steady stream of garbled, nonsensical pleas escaping her lips as her pleasure built.

The night was far too beautiful for her to keep her eyes closed. The stars twinkled and danced above her, but they paled in comparison to the bright, shining pleasure bursting inside her.

“Neil, please—I need ye,” she begged, tugging on his hair so he would give her what she wanted.

Instead, he merely grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the blanket. Her hips were trapped between his face and the blanket as he ravished her, his low groans of pleasure vibrating into her skin until she was certain she would go mad. Perhaps she was already spiraling into madness as it was.

Just as she teetered on the edge, he stopped.

Ceana moaned in frustration as he released her wrists, moved his hands to the backs of her thighs and pushed them up so that her sex was fully exposed to him. He notched his hard length at her entrance, and she didn’t even have the time to brace herself for what came next before he slid into her. It was easier than their first time, but she was nearly blinded by the sensation anyway.

“Ye feel so good, Ceana,” Neil groaned as he thrust inside her over and over again.

She could feel him everywhere, and it still wasn’t enough. She didn’t think that it would ever be enough. Not with him.

Ceana wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. She couldn’t explain why her heart felt so full. Perhaps it was the setting or the fact that he had gone through all of this trouble to make the night so perfect for them. Whatever it was, she was feeling overly emotional.

“Thank ye,” she whispered.

Neil slowed his thrusts. Somehow, it felt as if he were going deeper , hitting a part of her that she hadn’t even known existed before this very moment.

“What for?” he asked, kissing her softly.

“Everything. I just…” Ceana’s voice trembled, but she forced herself to keep talking. “I love ye. So much.”

Neil grinned and kissed her sweetly. “I love ye too, Ceana.”

Something shifted between them. No longer was their lovemaking fast and full of need. Now, it was sweeter, more tender. Ceana never wanted it to end. She wanted to stay this way with him forever.

He was her husband, and she was his wife. Every part of her would always belong to him.

The End?