Page 16 of Saved by the Cruel Highlander (Lairds of the Loch Alliance #1)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

E lias lunged at her.

Holly’s arms snapped up to her chest, instinctively protecting herself, and a scared moan escaped her lips before it turned into a shriek, just like the one Cole had let out when running from the beast in the woods.

That beast had been her cat, Ollie. The beast pouncing on her was much more fearsome. He grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off her feet. A scream died in her throat as he carried her away from the door, his eyes locked onto hers. Holly clutched her arms close to her chest, hoping to make it through the encounter unscathed.

He placed her down on his desk with a soft thud and immediately pressed his lips to hers. He trapped her arms between their two bodies, and she was stunned into submission. Her eyes remained open as his closed, and she stared at his eyelids, still shocked that he had kissed her and not done something worse.

He jerked his head back from her, opening his eyes to glare at her.

“Is this what ye wanted? Is this why ye came to me study? Ye cannae get enough, can ye?” Elias growled. His voice was harsh, colored by anger.

Is this how ye mean to distract me? By kissin’ me and hopin’ to fluster me?

“Aye, it is,” Holly retorted, her arms still pinned to her chest. “That’s exactly why I came to yer study, so what are ye goin’ to do about it?”

It’s nae the reason, but I cannae show weakness before him.

Rage flashed again in his eyes, but she saw a flicker of something else—something indescribably outwordly. But as she saw it, she felt it mirrored in her body, amplified by his intensity. The pit in her stomach swirled.

“What am I goin’ to do about it?” Elias said dismissively.

He leaned forward again and kissed her, but this kiss was different from the first. He grabbed her by the back of her head, pressing his lips to hers for a second, before his tongue shot out like a dagger from its sheath, attacking her, forcing its way into her mouth.

It stuck into her mouth like a blade, and the feeling rushed through her, a discomfort at being attacked like this. So, she fought back with her tongue, not fencing this time, but pushing against his, trying to force his tongue out of her mouth to show that she could also fight.

The Laird pushed harder, overpowering her tongue with his. He held the back of her head tighter, pulling her toward him, and their lips moved sloppily against each other, unable to remain still for a second.

The kiss was an attack, and Holly wanted to be attacked by him.

As their tongues tangled, she forgot the real reason she had come to his study. She forgot about Cole and the mysterious cabin in the woods and the way Elias had spoken to the lad about his scars. She forgot about the way he had lunged at her or looked at her before that. She forgot how angry he was and only knew that they were kissing.

Her arms were still trapped between them, and she managed to turn them enough to place a hand on his hard chest. He pressed it to him hard, knowing that she had no chance of pushing him away. Not that she wanted to.

Then, she wiggled an arm free and pushed her hand up to his cheek—a roughness with soft skin below—and then to the top of his head, where she pushed her fingers through his hair. She touched his scar lightly, but it ended the kiss.

Elias drew back and grabbed her wrist, holding it an inch from his face. He looked at it, not her. His chest heaved, expanding and shrinking like a tent flapping in the wind. He regarded her hand as if it were an enemy’s sword.

His nostrils flared as he breathed heavily. Holly breathed heavily, too, her chest heaving. Elias glanced down her chest, then back to her hand, the offender. Holly pushed her arm gently toward him, unable to overpower him.

“Ye want to control me?” he asked.

“Nay,” she replied quietly.

Yet, he let her. He held her wrist as she moved it slowly back to his face, and he let go of it when she touched his scar again.

Holly ran two fingers down it, feeling the pain beneath but not questioning it for now. She ran her fingers down the entire length of it before pulling her fingers away.

“I didnae mean to…” Her hand trembled.

The Laird gazed at her fingers, then her face. There was a tightness at the corners of his eyes, as if he had been insulted, but it was not because of her touch. It was because he had been touched intimately by someone else, and he had not touched them.

“Ye didnae men to what? Elias growled.

He lunged for her again, pressing himself against the desk and taking her by the neck, but not harshly. He was still rough in his movements, but his touch did not hurt. He held her by the neck and kissed her again, forceful but tender. He held her just under the chin as his tongue probed her mouth again, but not attacking.

The kiss was a hungry one.

Then, a shift. His head moved to the side, gaining a better angle to kiss her more deeply. His hands moved up to her cheeks, his touch firm and commanding, and she let her body relax as he touched her. She placed her hands on his shoulders, needing somewhere to place them, or they would flop to her side.

“Ye didnae mean to what, Holly? Do ye want to tell me that ye didnae plan to come here and get exactly this?”

“Nay, I dinnae want?—”

“Ye dinnae want this?” Elias snarled. “Ye want me to stop?”

“Nay, It’s nae that,” Holly gasped. “I… do want this.”

The Laird’s hands moved down from her head, over her shoulders, down her waist, and he took hold of her again, moving her up the desk as he settled between her parted legs to take control of her.

Holly let out a shaky breath through her nose as he cupped her breasts, and she squeezed his tight shoulders. Her nipples stiffened below the fabric of her dress, and she longed for him to touch her elsewhere. She wanted to move her hands but found that all she could do was hold onto his, holding on for her life.

Elias looked into her eyes. The anger was still there, but it had been pushed far back, hidden deep down. He held her gaze for a moment.

“Aye?” he asked.

Holly nodded. “Aye.”

He leaned down to conquer her, kissing her lips firmly and then pressing his lips to her neck, kissing one side gently and then the other. He held her waist again as her back arched, and she looked up at the ceiling. She wore a simple cotton dress down to her calves, and the strings were tied over her chest, but there was enough room for his lips to kiss the skin between the black strings.

Holly moaned as he kissed her bare, milky skin. She held on to him and moaned a second time. She became lost in his passion, forgetting everything else.

This was the man she would wed, the man who could make her feel like no one else ever had. She was not yet wed but was willing to give everything to him.

Elias came back up to kiss her neck again, then her lips, her cheeks, her collarbone, and her lips once more. He pulled her body to his, so she was flush against him.

The bulge in his trousers aroused her more. She had barely done anything, and the response had been elicited. It excited her to know how aroused he was. She was still gripping his shoulders, and she wanted to reach down to take his member into her hands, but she was scared. She didn’t know what to do or if she should do it.

No one had mentioned her wedding night, but she knew it was the tradition to wait.

The Laird reached up and tugged at the strings across her chest, battling to see her breasts. He ran his hands over them, rubbing her nipples through the fabric with his thumb. She could feel her wetness down below. Then, his fingers followed the ribbons to the back of her dress, and he pulled at the first one.

Holly ran her hands through his hair again and rubbed his back, egging him on. She leaned forward a little to ease the tension and make it easier for him.

What am I doin’? Am I really this willin’ to give meself to him?

The answer came to her immediately. Aye!

Holly breathed out. “Aye, Me Laird. Aye.”

A growl, a passionate one, rumbled in the Laird’s chest.

Holly felt the thudding in her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut.

The Laird grunted angrily, and she was brought back to the present. It was not her heart making the noise, but someone knocking on the door.

The Laird stood still, one hand on her breast and the other on her back.

“Me Laird,” Fergus called from the other side of the door.

“What is it, Fergus?” Elias growled.

“There’s a dispute over the land we share with Clan Murdoch.”

Elias straightened with his hands still on Holly, his touch impatient. His lips twisted into a snarl, and he looked down at the floor. He fought inwardly with what he must do.

Holly wanted to beg him to send Fergus away and continue what he had been doing to her, but that was not her place.

“Aye, a minute,” Elias growled. “I’ll meet ye in the hall.”

“Aye, Me Laird,” Fergus replied. His footsteps echoed down the hallway, growing quieter.

“I have to go,” Elias said softly.

“Aye,” Holly breathed.

“‘Tis me duty,” Elias told her.

“Aye, I ken. Ye should go.”

“The clan comes first.” Elias withdrew his hands.

“Aye, the clan comes first,” Holly repeated.

“I didnae mean?—”

“Nay, I didnae mean to say it like that,” Holly interrupted. They almost tripped over each other as they spoke. “I ken ye must.”

She did know he had to go, no matter how disappointed she was. Her core throbbed from how he had touched her up to that moment. She longed to feel it again.

We will be wed, and I hope he will make me feel like that and more. He told me once that I had to do me duty in the bedchamber, and it scared me, but it doesnae scare me anymore.