Page 48 of Sighs of the Highland Wind

“I think he is ready to propose,” Maxwell observed drily. He turned to Kenna, and his silver-grey eyes were loaded with intent. “Time to go, I think,” he said, his voice low and husky.

Lost in his gaze, Kenna could only nod.

21

Maxwell stood up and filled a glass of wine for himself and Kenna, then called for silence. A hush fell over the crowd, and everyone looked up expectantly.

“From my lovely wife Kenna and myself,” he began. “Thank you all for coming to celebrate our special day with us. Sláinte Mhath!”

“Sláinte Mhath!” came the loud response, accompanied by a few cheers and some very ribald remarks.

“Enjoy the feast!” Maxwell called, before he grabbed Kenna’s hand and they fled, listening to the good-humored cheering behind them as it became fainter and fainter. By the time they reached the door of their bedroom, they could hear nothing, and then at last he swept her into his arms.

Kenna reached out and opened the door. Once inside, Maxwell set her down and gathered her to him.

“I don’t want you to be afraid, my love,” he murmured. “I know that the first experience of lovemaking is difficult for a woman,but I promise you need not do anything you don’t wish to, and I will be as gentle as I can. Do you trust me?”

Kenna nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“I do,” she said huskily.

Hearing her nervousness, Maxwell moved as slowly as he could. He poured Kenna more wine and they sat on the couch by the fireside for a while. Strangely, they felt calm and content not to move or speak until Maxwell emptied his glass and placed it on the table, then turned around to look at Kenna. There was a question on his face.

Before he could speak, she said, “Yes,” smiling at him lovingly.

Maxwell sighed with relief.

“Thank God,” he whispered.

He leaned over to kiss her, and as if a match had been touched to tinder, desire flared up in Kenna like a flame.

The kiss was long and deep as Maxwell thrust his tongue into her mouth, then swept it over her lower lip and began to caress her to madness. Kenna was shaking, and her closed eyes were seeing stars on her eyelids, yet she held on to the back of Maxwell’s neck to keep him from moving away from her.

Maxwell had kissed Kenna before, but never like this. Now that he knew she was truly his, that she would never leave him, he could pleasure both of them as much as he wished. Now they were free.

Her breasts were soft and yielding under his big hands, and it was all he could do not to let his wilder instincts run away with him and make her his there and then.

“I have to see you,” he said huskily. “I need to know what my wife looks like.”

He helped her to her feet, then swiftly undid the laces on her dress with a haste born of need, desire, and love. Maxwell had never wanted a woman so much, and he gasped as he saw her standing before him in nothing but her filmy, transparent shift. He tore off his clothes, almost ripping his shirt in the process, and finally stood before her, naked and unashamed.

Lindsey had told her not to be intimidated by the size of a man’s erection, so when she saw Maxwell’s, Kenna tried to show no reaction, even though her eyes widened and her heart began to hammer.

Everything about him was the opposite of her. He was angular where she was curved, bony and hard where she was soft and fleshy, and above all, he was hairy where she was smooth.

Yet he was beautiful in the way that a man is beautiful, not in her delicate feminine way. His beauty was in the strength and power of his muscular frame. Her body began to react as it usually did, and she swallowed nervously as he took her shift off over her head and tossed it on the floor behind him.

Maxwell did nothing but stare at her for a moment, looking her up and down from head to foot, increasing her nervousness and making her worried that there was something wrong with her.

“I can’t believe you are real,” Maxwell whispered. “You take my breath away, Kenna. Everything about you is perfect. You will be mine forever, will you not? You won’t leave me?”

His voice was uncertain, and Kenna laughed softly as she stepped into his arms again.

“Never,” she whispered, placing a soft kiss on his lips. “Never, never, never.” She punctuated each word with another soft brush of her lips on his before he lifted her off her feet and placed her tenderly on the bed.

He palmed each one of her breasts before taking a nipple into his mouth and suckling it, then moving to the other, leaving Kenna tingling with pleasure and crying out for more.

“More?” Maxwell said wickedly. “Do you want more, Kenna?” His eyes were dark with wicked desire.