Tavis read the fear in her wide eyes and reached out to touch her face. He felt a flare of hope when she did not jerk away, but remained still, amber eyes locked with his own. It was proving easier than he had thought it would be to reveal so much of his inner self. Easier still when such a coveted reward drew nearer.
"I'll nay deny I planned to use her." He felt her flinch beneath his fingers. "Aye, I was telling myself the lie that I could ease the intolerable nights, wear myself out in Kate so that I could sleep at last without ye torturing my dreams. It was going to be a struggle, little one. I kenned that ere I finished kissing the woman. I had to fight to ignite a tiny spark, but I was determined to end my days as a monkish fool tied to a dream. Ah, Storm, I swear I have touched no woman since ye. On my honor, I swear it."
She believed him then. Slowly, her fingers as unsteady as the ones that traced her upturned face, she began to unlace her gown. He said nothing as she stood and shed her clothing piece by piece.
"Ye look a hungry man, Tavis MacLagan," she said softly as she began to unlace his tunic.
"Near dead o' starvation," he rasped as his hands moved lightly over her lithe frame, and he pried his shoes from his feet using the toe-to-heel method. "This vision is all that has kept me sane."
Her lips moved over his chest, bringing feral sounds of pleasure to his throat. Unlacing his braes, she let them fall, hearing him kick them away. Sitting down on the bed, her kisses moved to his taut abdomen as her hands unlaced his chausses. When they fell and he kicked them away she made no attempt to hide her admiration for him. Reality was so much better than a dream.
"A vision of this, Tavis?" she murmured as her tongue played with his navel, her hands moving gently over his taut backside. "Or this?" she whispered as her kisses moved lower.
A strangled cry escaped him as her gifted tongue paid homage to his passion. When he felt her draw him into the moist heat of her mouth he nearly fell to his knees. It proved too much for his starved senses. Burying his hands in her hair, he pulled her away, bending to kiss her gently. He then crouched before her, aching with the need for possession, but needing even more than that.
Storm shuddered as his mouth moved hungrily over her breasts, latching onto each hardened nub with ill-concealed greed. Her hands touched all of him that she could reach. When his kisses moved over her stomach and lower she tensed, still unused to that depth of intimacy, but he forestalled her attempts to push him away.
"Nay," he rasped as he nuzzled the silken, copper vee. "I need to ken the taste o' ye again."
The hands that caressed her slim thighs pushed them apart as he knelt by the bed. Storm blushed beneath his gaze. As his hand caressed and probed, she sat engulfed with embarrassment even as she felt exhilaratingly bold and beautiful. When his lips touched her she cried out and fell back onto the bed, her eyes closing with the pleasure that flowed over her in waves, bringing his name to her tongue in a moan of need.
Tavis held her steady as she bucked and writhed. He was insatiable. Storm felt the culmination of their passion upon her and tried to move away, but he held her still.
"Tavis," she groaned as she fought to control a passion run mad. "I am ... God, 'tis time. Ye must cease."
"Nay, give it all to me. I have such a thirst. Let go and quench it. Ah, aye, 'tis the sweetest of nectars."
He drank deeply of her love as she cried out his name and gave herself over to her ecstasy. Then he leapt to his feet. Lifting her hips, he drove into her languid body, bringing it to life once again. Bracing himself with his palms flat on the bed on either side of her, he bent his head to her breasts. His suckling was in rhythm with his thrusts. The dual assault brought Storm to the heights yet again. When he felt her passionate inner tremors he drove deeply, finding his own release, one that had been so long denied him.
When they finally lay wrapped in each other's arms beneath the covers he said, "I have kenned many women. Nay, dinnae stiffen, lass. Hear me out. Ne'er has it been so good. I didnae crave them, just the act. Once done, I would leave their arms ne'er caring to linger. I had had all I wanted o' them."
"Even Katerine?" she asked softly, her hand moving with loving awe over his hard chest, touching her amulet that he wore with pride.
"Aye, e'en Katerine. I kenned in my heart e'en as I tried to ignore it that ye were far more. The first time I saw ye, fighting off Sir Hugh, I wanted ye. Not just a lovely woman but ye, Storm Eldon MacLagan. It was a while afore I saw the difference. I wasnae lusting for a woman only, but for ye alone."
"It was a near mortal wound when ye held silent that day," she whispered.
"I ken it. I near killed myself as weel. 'Twas an awakening that came too late." His voice grew hoarse as her fingers idly traced the arrow of hair that trailed from his chest down to the seat of his passion. "My lust was still there, but it responded only to the memory of ye."
"And mine to ye alone. I let no other man touch me, Tavis, though they offered." She felt his sigh of relief. "I lied to hurt ye as I was hurting when I thought ye back in Katerine MacBroth's arms."
"I hoped 'twas so, but I kenned that I deserved no faithfulness. I had neither asked it nor offered it."
" 'Tis yours despite that. I cannot stop my love for ye, though I did try to." She felt his hold tighten.
"Am pos thu mi?" he asked thickly, feeling nearly unmanned in his love for her.
"What does that mean, Tavis?"
"Will ye be my wife?"
"I am now."
"Nay, ye but hold my name. Will ye hold my heart as weel?"
"Oh, Tavis, 'tis a most precious gift, and I will cherish it as it deserves," she whispered huskily, and proceeded to show him so to the best of her ability throughout the night, an endeavor that Tavis did his best to reward in kind.
None of those in the hall were surprised to see nary a sign of the pair as day proceeded into night and edged toward day again.
* * *
Copyright © 1988 by Hannah Howell
Previously published as Amber Flame.
All rights reserved.
Published in 2004 by arrangement with Leisure Books, a division of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
Thorndike Press® Large Print Core.
The tree indicium is a trademark of Thorndike Press.
The text of this Large Print edition is unabridged.
Other aspects of the book may vary from the original edition.
Set in 16 pt. Plantin by Carleen Stearns
Printed in the United States on permanent paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Howell, Hannah.
His bonnie bride / Hannah Howell.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7862-6537-X (lg. print : hc : alk. paper)
1. Highlands (Scotland) — Fiction. 2. Kidnapping
victims — Fiction. 3. Large type books. I. Title.
PS3558.0898H57 2004
813'.54—dc22
2004045960
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His Bonnie Bride Page 31