The Highlander’s Gift: Book One: The Sutherland Legacy

by Eliza Knight

  “Just lie with ye. Beside ye.” She swallowed hard when the image of them lying beside each other and him turning to kiss her flashed before her eyes.

  “Under me. Over me. Beside me… It doesna matter. I’ll have ye anyway.”

  “Oh…” She did sigh then. “But why? If I canna have children…”

  “Men and women dinna just lie together to make bairns.”

  “Why else would they?” Again, she regretted not allowing her mother to give her further instructions.

  Niall leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, and the tingles that were already forming on her skin sprang to life once more, making her shiver as he pressed hard, swiping his tongue over the seam of her lips. He trailed his fingers over her ribs, tickling her, but she didn’t want to pull away. If anything, she leaned in closer, wanting his touch.

  “Oh my…” she murmured and then gasped at having said the words aloud.

  With his lips still on hers, he whispered. “What did ye feel just now?”

  “I felt…so many things.” Want so many more.

  “Pleasure?” This he said with his warm mouth trailing over her jawline toward her ear.

  “Oh, aye… I like this. A lot.”

  He chuckled as he scraped his teeth over her earlobe, sending another tawdry shiver through her. “That is why men and women lie together, love, besides for making bairns. For pleasure.”

  “Pleasure?” She tilted her head to the side as he trailed kisses down her neck. Oh, aye, that was what she was feeling. Her mind was a whirl of incoherent thoughts, but one thing came out loud and clear—she was enjoying his kisses and touch very much, and she didn’t want him to stop.

  “Aye. I want to make love to my wife.”

  Saints! Bella gulped, swallowing hard and finding it equally difficult to breathe. “I…dinna know what to do.”

  A gravelly chuckle came from his lips where they toyed with her neck. “But I do. And I will show ye.”

  “Oh…”

  He trailed his hand down her spine and then circled around her ribs, and if she thought she felt heavy and weak before, that was nothing compared to now.

  Niall reached around front and plucked at the ribbon tying her robe closed. The fabric gave way, and Bella shrugged it off her shoulders and let it pool on the floor behind where she knelt.

  “We are really going to…” The words evaporated from her mind.

  Niall grinned wolfishly, and that look of want in his eyes made her shiver all the more. “Aye, love. We’re really going to.”

  Next, he tugged at the ribbons on the front of her night rail and slid a single finger down the opening between her breasts, making her shiver at the warm contact of his finger on her bare flesh.

  “Your skin is so soft. Softer than mine.”

  Without thinking, Bella reached for him and touched the exposed skin at his throat and unlaced his shirt to touch his chest. A sprinkling of hair covered the exposed skin, and his shirt fell open to form a V over his heart.

  “Ye’re warm.”

  He chuckled, the sound like a caress, then pressed her hand to his skin, stopping her from removing his shirt. “So are ye.” He bent to kiss her, speaking softly against her lips. “And before this night is through, we’ll both be verra, verra hot.”

  Bella let out a whimper as he snaked his arm around her back and stood, pulling her up against his hard body while deepening their kiss. The feel of his linen shirt against her bare breasts was more sensual than she would have guessed, and she longed to feel herself skin to skin. But when she tried once more to lift his shirt, he stilled her hands. He wasn’t ready yet to reveal himself fully to her, she guessed, and she wasn’t going to push him, but would rather wait until he was ready.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, on tiptoe now, and press herself tighter against him, gasping at the heat of their bare skin and at the spark of need and hunger it caused.

  With his palm at her back, he started to scrunch up her night rail with his fingers, lifting the fabric slowly over her legs until her buttocks were exposed to the evening air.

  Bella gasped, thinking at first to pull away, never having been so exposed to a man in her life, but Niall pulled his lips from hers, gazed into her eyes and said, “Do ye trust me?”

  Slowly, she nodded, realizing that she absolutely did trust him. With all her heart.

  “Take off your night rail. Let me see ye.”

  Bella took a step back from him, slid a sleeve off one shoulder and then the other, letting the fabric fall around her feet. She stood there completely naked, firelight dancing over her skin, watching as his gaze devoured her.

  Prickles of desire rose up on her flesh, and she trembled, but not from cold or from nerves, but with the need to feel him against her, to have his lips on hers, his hand on her back.

  “Ye are so incredibly beautiful.” Niall’s voice was tight, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. “I still canna believe ye wanted me for your own.”

  “I did, I do. More than a husband in name only. I like the way ye kiss me… I want us to…” She flicked her gaze toward the bed. “Have pleasure.”

  Niall groaned and reached for her, sliding his fingers over her hip as he drew her back to him. He covered her mouth with his, kissing her deeply. Bella breathed him in, shocked at the contact and delighting in the clean, woodsy scent of him.

  He backed her toward the bed, and when her knees touched the mattress, she sat down and scooted back as he covered her with this body. He rolled to the right side of her, her arm cradled behind his back. She drew gentle circles on his spine, wondering at the rippling muscles. Niall trailed kisses down her neck and along her collarbones. The backs of his fingers moved gently up and down her leg, over her waist, then up her ribs to her breast. He cupped the flesh and kneaded it gently, and she moaned, never having guessed that a man touching her would feel this good. His kiss traveled lower, mouth hovering over the opposite breast, tickling her skin, and teasing her tight nipple. When he flicked his tongue over its tip, she arched her back and cried out, not having expected him to do such a thing, nor expecting the sharp tremor of pleasure that went right from that spot to between her legs.

  “I love the way ye respond to my touch,” he murmured before flicking his tongue out again.

  “I…” But she couldn’t speak, nor could she even form a thought.

  His fingers had moved from her breast to her hip again, and now he trailed them gently over her belly and down over her pubic bone and back.

  She instinctively clamped her legs shut, but every time his fingers came back toward her center, she found her legs falling open, beckoning him to touch her in her most sensitive and secret of places.

  Still, he taunted her, going back and forth as he laved at her breast and then kissed her hard on the mouth, building a tension and pressure within her until she finally grabbed his hand and pressed it firmly between her legs, gasping at the sensation that shuddered through her, at her own boldness and the feral growl that issued from his throat.

  “Och, Bella… Ye’re so wet…”

  Wet. Was that good? He seemed to think so. He slid his fingers between her folds and found a knot of flesh that pulsed and quickened every time he brushed the pad of his thumb over it. He kissed her again, murmuring against her lips about how much she pleased him. And she hadn’t even done anything. He moved back to her breast, sucking her nipple and pushing a finger inside her, and she arched her back again.

  Moans and sighs escaped her, and she found herself completely surprised at her reaction to him and wanting more and more.

  Niall’s fingers worked magic between her legs, caressing and sliding in and out, she writhed with his ministrations, her hips moving up and down of their own accord. Then that fiery tension that had been building and pulsating sharpened into a point, concentrated in her center and exploded outward.

  Bella nearly came off the bed, eyes flying wide, fingers digging into his back.

  “That was
incredible,” he murmured against her mouth. “I want to see ye do that again.”

  “Can I?” She breathed out.

  “Och, aye, ye can. Over and over.” And he proceeded to show her, stroking her into a fiery passion once more until her body bowed on the mattress.

  Except this time, he came over her, supporting himself on his elbow. “Wrap your legs around my hips.”

  She did as he asked, feeling the plush tip of something hard press to her still-pulsing center. The part of him she’d believed he didn’t possess. And oh, how he possessed it. She reached between their bodies and stroked a finger down the long, velvet hard length of him.

  Niall’s eyes bulged, the muscles in his jaw clenching. “God, lass, if ye keep doing that, I’ll not last a breath. ’Twas hard enough watching ye writhe from my touch.”

  “I want to see ye do the same.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, I will. Guide me in.”

  She swallowed, suddenly nervous again. “How?”

  “Slide the tip of me between your folds.”

  Bella did as he instructed, gasping at how it felt when the head of his erection stroked over her sensitive flesh. As she guided him from that knot of flesh downward, he pressed his hips forward, notching himself at her entrance.

  “Good, lass. Ye can take your hand back.”

  “But I like the feel of ye.”

  He grinned down at her, catching her lips and kissing her deep, his hips pushing forward, the tip slowly entering her. She kept her hand wrapped around him, their hearts pounding against each other.

  “This might hurt,” he whispered, “but only for a second, and I promise it willna hurt again. Do ye trust me?”

  Bella’s eyes flew open at the mention of pain, and she gazed into his eyes and nodded. “I trust ye.”

  “Move your hand. Hold on to my shoulders.”

  She did as he instructed, holding to the muscles of his strong shoulders beneath his shirt tightly, her legs clutching his hips. Keeping their gazes locked, he surged forward. There was a pinch of pain as he passed through her maidenhead and filled her up, stretching her. The discomfort was not acute, but she still felt invaded and wanted him to move away. All pleasure seeming to evaporate with that one plunge.

  “Are ye all right? Did it hurt a lot?”

  She blinked, realizing tears had gathered in her eyes, and she contemplated shoving him off. But already the pain and discomfort seemed to be easing. “Not too bad.”

  “Tell me when it stops hurting.”

  “Already it fades.” And it did. She shifted, getting used to the size of him, and she felt a spark of that heated tension that stirred in her when he touched her with his fingers, only intensified.

  “Och, sweetheart, ye feel so good. I’m going to move.”

  She nodded, and he pulled out of her slowly before pushing back in. Bella had thought when he touched her with his fingers that she’d never felt such pleasure, but with him inside her, there was a whole new amount of euphoria that threatened to consume her.

  “Feels…good,” she murmured between gasps of pleasure.

  “So good.” Niall kissed her again, an erotic tangling of tongues. A possessive, demanding kiss.

  Bella was a quick learner, lifting her hips to meet his thrusts. She braced her legs higher around his hips, stroking her hands up and down his back, tugging his shirt up so she could touch his bare skin. Even daringly, she roved her caress over the hard, yet soft swell of his buttocks. The man was a god.

  That same tension spiraled into her center, threatening to unleash its power, and Bella gave herself over to it—to him. Niall led her to a magical place that had pleasure coursing through her, around her, over her. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, could only feel.

  She cried out at her release and felt him shudder over her as he, too, rumbled his pleasure.

  When the trembling within them subsided, Niall rolled to the side and tugged her with him. She lay in the crook of his arm as he drew circles on her back and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  “What did ye think?” he asked, a measure of uncertainty in his voice.

  “I think I canna believe anyone would say ye couldna…or didna have…”

  Niall chuckled. “I pleased ye then, lass?”

  “Oh, Niall.” She leaned up on her elbow and kissed his chin, not daring to tell him she was now more certain than ever that Princess Elizabeth was a great fool. “Ye pleased me verra much. Taught me even more. And did I please ye?”

  “More than I could have ever dared hope for.” There was a light in his eyes that she’d never seen before, and it warmed her through and through.

  “Are we allowed to do that any time we wish?” she asked, eager to join with him once more.

  “Aye,” he winked, pinching her bottom. “We are married, after all.”

  Bella squealed. “Then I wish to do so again.”

  In one move, he climbed over her, parting her legs. “And I will endeavor to make your every wish come true, Bella.”

  Warmth spread through her at his words. Oh, but the world seemed to be complete at that moment.

  Bella sighed, leaning up to kiss him on his very beautiful lips. “And I ye.”

  Chapter 12

  I wish ye could stay longer,” Greer pouted.

  “Me, too.” Bella pulled her sister in for a hug. Bella had asked that they remain at Dunrobin for another sennight, but given Niall’s father’s failing health and the many weeks he’d already been gone, they had decided to leave for Dupplin right away. Not to mention that since the weather was clear, Magnus had advised they leave as soon as possible before another Highland winter storm kept them from traveling.

  The journey to Dupplin Castle from Dunrobin was going to be a week if they didn’t run into any weather problems, which was wishful thinking given that it was winter in the Highlands. But if they were lucky, they might only have to deal with a day or two delay. They had extra blankets and provisions in case anything happened. Niall was well acquainted with the route they’d travel and several inns along the way they could take shelter in each night so as not to camp out in the cold.

  “Ye’re not far,” Bella said when her mother and father approached and tugged her into their arms.

  “Not far at all. Come spring, we’ll come to Dupplin,” her father said, beaming down at her with his soft-gray eyes. Oh, how she was going to miss his morning hugs and the way he challenged her.

  “Truly?” Bella glanced up happily at Niall, who had a grin on his face.

  “Aye, love,” her father said. “We’ll make a nice visit of it, and then ye can come to Dunrobin for Beltane.”

  “We would be honored,” Niall said. “My brother will be wed to the princess in the spring, we shall celebrate together there as well.”

  “Aye.”

  Bella felt a little better knowing she was going to see her family every few months or so. Besides, after last night with Niall…marriage had taken on a whole new meaning.

  They walked out to the waiting horses, Walter and Niall’s men, their feet crunching on the snow that covered the bailey. The sky overhead had only a few clouds marring its blue landscape. Walter stood with the princess, and it looked as though their goodbyes were more heartfelt than Bella would have guessed. Princess Elizabeth actually had a genuine smile on her face, and Walter leaned to whisper something in her ear that made her laugh.

  How funny the way things had turned out.

  Not wanting to drag out the rather somber idea of leaving her family behind, Bella mounted her horse with Niall’s help, biting her lip at the feel of his hand intimately pressed to her thigh. Her mother caught her gaze, gave a half smile and winked, as if she knew without Bella telling her that all had gone quite well in the bedchamber. Well, she supposed her mother would have been told about the blood on the sheets, proving that the marriage had been consummated, as witnesses were key in case there was any dispute.

  Bella blushed a deep scarlet and waved goodbye to her
family, blowing them kisses as she followed the line of horses beneath the portcullis and down the long road to the outer walls. As she went, she breathed in the scent of the ocean air, the pine trees and the crisp smell of winter, trying to memorize exactly the way it looked right then and there. All white and beautiful, with icicles sparkling on the bare branches of the massive oak trees and making the green of the fur needles sparkle.

  The clan’s children ran behind their caravan, waving and shouting goodbye until their parents called them back.

  Tears stung the backs of Bella’s eyes. She’d never left the castle without one of her parents, or at least a sibling. And now she was leaving forever. Visiting the castle would never be the same as living there. A brief moment of panic set in. Was she making the right decision?

  “Are ye all right, lass?” Niall’s soft voice called to her from her left, and she glanced over at him, immediately calmed by his presence and the smile on his lips.

  Locking eyes with him, she knew she had nothing to fear. In fact, she had everything to look forward to. He could have been a total stranger, but instead, she was riding off to live with a man she’d been infatuated with since childhood.

  Though cold, the ride for the next several hours was pleasant. Niall kept their pace slow enough so as not to jar her, which at first she didn’t understand, but soon she became sore in her nether area and knew she would have been quite uncomfortable at a faster pace. Besides that, the roads were covered in snow and icy patches, and to have gone any faster would be a danger to the horses, not to mention themselves. Though the conditions were not ideal, many had traversed the way before them, so their horses where able to trod upon already trampled surfaces, which made the journey easier. In any case, given the circumstances of the road, Niall made mention that they might end up taking a day or two longer than when he’d journeyed to Sutherland lands previously.

  “How are ye holding up, my lady?” he asked some time around noon.

  “Well, but I think I’ve a need to stop soon.” She blushed. How did one tell their husband that they needed to make use of a chamber pot or bush?