Page 38 of Seduced By the Reckless Highlanders

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Do you not like it?” he asked softly, flicking a mischievous smile at her.

“I do,” she confessed. “But no one has ever done that to me before.”

“But we have kissed before,” he reminded her.

He was now so close that she could see every one of the golden bristles on his face and feel his breath on her skin. His lower lip was full and rounded, almost like a ripe plum, and Keira longed to taste it again.

Her wish was granted a few moments later as he dipped his head and took her mouth in a soft yet incredibly sensual kiss. She opened her lips to him and once again they began their dance of tongues, and he explored the sweetness of Keira’s mouth until she thought she would die of pleasure. She tiltedher head back and surrendered to him completely, moaning with delight.

Murdoch was so aroused that he would have taken Keira at that moment if she had consented. However, they were lying on the floor of a mean little room with nothing but a small cushion between Keira and the hard floor. It was neither the place nor the time for them to be intimate. Murdoch wanted Keira’s first time with him to be in a beautiful bed with perfumed sheets so that he could press her into its soft mattress as he gave her all the pleasure she deserved.

Oh, God, what am I going to do without her if she marries someone else?he thought, suddenly panicking.

He tore his mouth away from hers and said desperately, “Marry me, Keira. I cannot live without you. You are the most wonderful woman I have ever met, and I love you. Say yes, please.”

His words were a desperate plea.

Keira was shocked at the suddenness of his proposal, but as she looked up into Murdoch’s hopeful pale-green eyes, she knew that there was only one answer. She loved him, and she would love him until her dying day.

She felt her face stretching into a smile as she whispered, “What else can I say, Murdoch? Yes. You are the only man I will ever want, and I love you too.”

He leaned his forehead against hers and tightened his arms around her, gathering her so closely that she could hardly breathe.

“I think you should loosen your grip a little,” she suggested, laughing. “You might kill me before the wedding.” She could have stayed there all day listening to the steady thud of his heartbeat with his chin resting on the top of her head.

“I am so sorry, I was a little carried away!”

Keira let out a sigh of utter contentment and heard his laugh rumble through his chest as he heard her.

“You are sighing. Tired of me already?” he asked, twitching a smile.

“Never,” she answered, tilting her face up for another kiss. “It was a happy sigh. Kiss me again.”

“Yes, milady,” he laughed.

He was only too happy to oblige, and once more they became lost in each other. He knew that from now on he was going to find it very difficult to keep his hands to himself when his betrothed was around him. Every time she came too close to him, he knew he would feel the urge to hold her again.

When they broke the kiss, Keira traced a line around the outside of his lips with her forefingers, frowning.

“You told me about one of your strategies but not the other.”

“But I did,” he replied, cupping her face in his hands. “I want to unite all of us into a clan of our own, starting with you and me. So we must marry. But we will need a clan name since there is a Holmes clan already.”

“Let us discuss it with the others,” Keira suggested. “I have no doubt that we will find something to call ourselves!”

“There is another thorny problem that needs our attention,” Murdoch reminded her, grinning. “Where shall we be wed? The nearest church is miles away.”

Keira laughed merrily. “I hardly think that is an insurmountable problem, my darling.”

Her voice sounded carefree. Everything was right in her world. Well…not quite. It would only be perfect when Murdoch was lying in her bed making her his.

“Well, my Keira,” Murdoch said gently, “let us start the way we mean to go on. Everyone must have a voice since we are a community, and that voice must be listened to. Agree?”

She nodded, then gave him a mischievous grin. “And when we have heard everyone’s voice, I demand that you listen to mine.”

“Of course,” Murdoch agreed.