To Wed A Wild Scot

by Bradley, Anna

  She looked surprised. “I know you wouldn’t. It’s just that I was anxious, and when I get anxious I stiffen up. I don’t suppose that helped matters much, and I kept thinking of…well, it doesn’t matter.”

  “What? What were you thinking?”

  She tried to hide against his chest, but he touched his thumb to her chin and raised her face to his. “Juliana? What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking of Alison McLaren.”

  “Alison McLaren?” For a second, Logan couldn’t even remember who Alison McLaren was. “What, you mean Fergus’s daughter? Why in the world would you be thinking of Alison while we were…”

  Oh. Oh.

  He’d completely forgotten they’d met Alison at the Sassy Lassie earlier that day. Alison had flirted outrageously with him, just as she always did, and he’d laughed at her, just as he always did, but to Juliana it might have looked like a great deal more than that.

  Her next words confirmed it. “I saw you with her, and it occurred to me your affections might already be engaged. She’s very pretty, and you looked so happy—”

  Logan pressed a finger to her lips. “Juliana, listen to me. I’m not in love with Alison McLaren. She’s a good lass, and I’m fond of her, but it’s not romantic. We’re friends, nothing more.”

  A shy smile curved her lips. “Oh. Well, I suppose it’s all right, then.”

  Logan gazed down at her, admiring the way the candlelight played over her golden waves. It struck him as unbelievable Juliana could think he’d even look at another woman. Since she’d come to Castle Kinross, he could think of nothing but her.

  “I think you’re beautiful, Ana,” he whispered, his lips close to her ear. “I can’t take my eyes off you long enough to even notice another woman.”

  A soft, sweet sigh left her lips, and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck.

  “I’ll promise I’ll take care of you tonight.” His voice lowered, deepened. “Do you trust me?”

  She nodded, her eyes searching his.

  When he bent to brush his lips over hers she met him halfway, and returned his kiss with the same innocent passion she had the first time he’d kissed her at Widow Macaulay’s. He was determined to build her desire slowly, however, and he spent long moments nibbling and teasing at her lips. When at last he slipped his tongue inside, she dug her fingertips into his shoulders and sighed into his mouth.

  She was already trembling for him, but Logan held himself ruthlessly in check as he kissed and stroked her. By some miracle she’d given him a second chance, and he wouldn’t squander it.

  He gathered her in his arms and carried her to the bed, taking care to smooth her skirts down her legs before he joined her. He trailed his knuckles across her cheek before he took her lips again. Logan kissed her and kissed her, his mouth growing just a bit hungrier as she tangled her tongue with his.

  He rested a hand on her waist as he plundered her mouth. She whimpered when he dragged the tip of his tongue across the inside of her upper lip. The breathless little sound made him dizzy, and he slid a hand up her back.

  Slowly, slowly…

  He paused to kiss and nuzzle her as he bared her, worshipping every inch of that smooth, pale skin. He tasted her throat, her neck—kissed each of her shoulders and ran his tongue across one delicate collarbone, then the other. She whimpered when he pressed passionate kisses to the curves of her breasts, and cried out when his mouth found her sweet pink nipples.

  “Logan.” She arched against him, her fingers tugging at his hair, but Logan took his time, rubbing his rough cheek against the hard peaks, then sucking them between his lips to soothe them. It wasn’t long before she was writhing beneath him.

  And still, he didn’t stop. He held her shoulders against the bed, always gentle with her even as he tongued her relentlessly, licking at the stiff peaks. His cock was straining against his falls. He ached to sink into her damp heat, but he also thought he could stay here all night, teasing her nipples and listening to her sighs and moans.

  He kneaded the slight curve of her belly, and traced light circles on her abdomen with his fingertip. He stroked her hips and sides, his palms gliding over her supple flesh. He pressed dozens of kisses between her breasts. He caressed and played and coaxed her body until at last he dragged his hand down her belly and slid his fingers between her legs.

  Logan’s lips parted and his eyes slid closed when he felt how wet she was. “Ah, God, sweetheart, you’re so ready for me.”

  “Yes. Please, Logan.” She arched against him, and her core rubbed against his hard length. Logan groaned and nudged between her legs as his mouth closed around a nipple.

  She gasped and curled her fingernails into his shoulders, then leaned up and pressed her lips to the hot skin of his throat. Logan threw his head back with another moan, stunned to find how badly he wanted her mouth on his bare skin.

  Juliana tugged on his shirt, trying to reach more of him. “Take this off.”

  Logan didn’t need to be told twice. He leapt up from the bed, shed his boots and tore his shirt over his head.

  But then he hesitated, his fingers hovering over the buttons of his falls. He was painfully hard for her, his eager flesh rigid and straining, and she was watching him, her heavy-lidded gaze taking in every inch of him. Would the sight of his engorged cock distress her? They’d been under the covers last night, so she hadn’t gotten a good look at it, but she’d certainly felt it when he’d entered her, battering at her tender flesh, making her bleed—

  “Logan.” She held her arms out to him. “Come here.”

  He stared down at her, his mouth opening in wonder at what he saw. Her skin was dewy, and she was trembling. Her hard, pointed nipples were flushed a dark pink from his mouth, and the curls between her legs were damp with her arousal.

  He sucked in a quick breath. She wanted him. Against all odds, and even after last’s night disaster, she wanted him.

  He tore at his buttons, then ripped off his pantaloons, his stiff cock bobbing eagerly as he joined her on the bed. He rested his hands on her inner thighs and gave a gentle push. “Open your legs for me, breagha bhean.”

  She obeyed him at once, putting to rest any lingering doubts he had about her desire for him. “That’s it, Ana.” Logan took himself in hand and carefully nudged his head against her entrance, but he didn’t slide inside. Instead he hovered there for long moments, his body shaking with the effort to keep still.

  Then, so slowly he wasn’t sure he was actually moving, he pushed the tip inside.

  His back bowed with pleasure when her warmth closed around him. He was barely inside her, and already he was in danger of releasing. He slid in another inch, gritting his teeth. “You feel so good, bòcan. So good. Am I hurting you?”

  She shook her head, wild tendrils of her hair tumbling over her bare shoulders. “No. I want all of you, Logan. Please.”

  He groaned at her breathless murmur, that sweet plea on her lips. He moved forward another inch, then another, a bead of sweat rising on his forehead. He could feel her stretching, her body working to accommodate him, yet still he hesitated.

  Slowly, slowly…

  “Logan.” Juliana arched under him, her hips meeting his.

  Logan swallowed as he slid deeper inside her. Christ. He was going to explode.

  Another inch. Another. He was so deep now her body was working him, pulling him in. “Ah, God. Juliana.”

  With one final push of his hips, he was buried inside her. Then he stilled again, panting as he waited for her to adjust to him. “Are you all right, bhean?”

  “Yes.” She gave a tiny thrust of her hips to urge him on.

  He drew back slowly, then thrust into her again. Then again and again, until she took up his rhythm. “Yes, Ana. Move with me.”

  She pressed her face to his neck with a moan. “Logan, I—I—�
��

  “Let go, Juliana. Come for me.” Logan’s neck corded with strain as he struggled to hold on, his hips working quickly now to give her what she needed. Right before she shattered she let out a breathless cry, and wrapped her legs around his hips.

  Then she was tightening around him, her body squeezing him—

  Logan threw his head back with a groan as the tingling in his spine spread to his legs, his belly, his cock. His own release took him hard, then left him dazed and shaking in its wake.

  He looked down at Juliana to find her staring up at him, a dreamy smile on her lips. He leaned down and pressed kisses to her forehead, eyelids, and finally her mouth.

  He shifted away to relieve her of his weight, but this time he didn’t retreat to his own side of the bed. He caught her in his arms, pulled her close, and eased her head down to his chest. “Sleep, Ana.”

  “Mmmm.” She let out a contented sigh, kissed his chest, then curled closer. Within minutes her breathing deepened and she melted against him.

  Logan buried his face in her hair and followed her into sleep.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The journey from Dalwhinnie to Surrey took ten days, and they were the most confusing ten days of Juliana’s life.

  She worried about her father every day, and when she wasn’t worrying about her father, she was worrying about Grace. She startled awake before dawn each morning, torn out of her nightmares by her own gasping breaths. In the darkest of her dreams—the one that left her clammy and shaking with horror—they arrived at Graystone Court only to find her father dead, and Lord Cowden dragging Grace away.

  She’d known it would be this way. She’d known she’d spend every moment of every day between Inverness and Surrey agonizing over Grace and her father, and every night trapped in nightmares of grief and loss.

  What she hadn’t known was that somehow, between the nightmares and the long, tedious days on the road, she’d fall in love with Logan Blair.

  But that was what happened. The most anxious ten days of her life were also the most breathtaking, because of Logan.

  There was no more talk of separate bedchambers. They spent every night of the journey together. She fell asleep each night with his arms wrapped around her, his big hands folding her to his chest, and every morning when she came hurtling out of her nightmares he was there, waiting to catch her.

  He didn’t speak much in those moments. He simply held her tightly, stroking her hair and murmuring to her in Gaelic until her shaking stopped and she relaxed against him. He’d kiss her softly then, and whisper that he wanted to make love to her, if she wanted him.

  Juliana always wanted him.

  Yet he still asked her, every time.

  It went on that way until very early in the morning on the day they were due to arrive at Graystone Court. That was the day Juliana didn’t wait for him to ask.

  Instead, she asked him.

  For the first time since they’d left Castle Kinross, she’d woken calmly. Logan was still asleep beside her, sprawled across the bed with his arms flung wide.

  She lay there for a long time with her eyes closed, thinking she’d never before felt as warm and safe as she did when she was cradled in his arms.

  The next thought came upon her slowly, softly, as naturally as following one breath with another.

  I’m in love with him.

  He was her husband, she was in love with him, and she’d never again let him wonder if she wanted him.

  Juliana reached across the bed, searching for his warm, solid form. Her hand landed on his chest, and she slid her palm up to stroke his collarbones and throat. Her fingertips dancing across his bare skin made him stir, but he only rolled onto his back and threw an arm over his head.

  He didn’t wake.

  Ah, good. She didn’t want him to wake just yet.

  Taking care to be quiet and not to jostle him, Juliana rose to her knees and dragged her chemise over her head, shivering a bit as the cold air drifted over her bare skin.

  No matter. She’d be warm soon enough.

  She leaned over him, intending to wake him with a kiss, but seeing his body spread out before her, like a feast just waiting to be devoured made her pause. She bit her lip, her gaze lingering on his broad chest, the long, muscular length of his thighs.

  Did she dare?

  Well, she’d dared any number of other things, hadn’t she? She’d ended her betrothal to Hugh, and chased Fitzwilliam hundreds of miles to Scotland. She’d trailed Logan for days, and demanded he take her to Castle Kinross. She’d ridden across the Highlands with the Robertson boys, and she’d saved Fiona.

  She’d coerced a wild Scot into marrying her, and dared to fall in love with him.

  It didn’t make much sense to stop now, did it?

  Her mind made up, Juliana swung one leg over his torso. Logan slept on, oblivious to the fact she was now straddling him. That is, until she sank lower, and let her bottom rest on his thighs.

  That woke him up.

  “Juliana?” He tried to sit up, realized she was on top of him, and fell flat against the bed again. “Juliana, what are you—”

  “Shhh.” She fumbled around until she found the hem of his shirt, then dragged it over his head. When he was naked beneath her, she ran her eager hands over his bare chest and then lower, stroking her palms over the hard planes of his stomach.

  She’d woken him from a deep sleep, but if Logan was groggy, he shook it off the moment he realized his wife was on top of him, bare as the day she was born, and had just stripped him of his clothes.

  Juliana leaned over him and dropped a tiny, teasing kiss on one corner of his mouth. “I want to make love to you,” she whispered, her tongue grazing his earlobe. “Do you want me?”

  His lips curved. “What do you think, lass?” He took her hand and pressed her palm against his rigid length, hissing softly when her fingers curled instinctively around him. “Stroke me, Ana.”

  He’d explored every inch of her body—touched her everywhere, with both his hands and his mouth—but he’d never before asked her to touch him. “Like this?” Juliana gripped him carefully and moved her hand up his hard length, then back down again. She stroked him once or twice, and then, emboldened by his panting breaths, caressed him in a steady rhythm until Logan’s neck arched, and his head fell back against the pillow.

  “Yes. God, yes. Just like that.” His voice was husky, strained. Juliana continued to stroke him, her lips parting in surprise when he twitched and pulsed against her palm. A tortured groan left his lips, and his hips jerked beneath her.

  “Come here, bhig galla.” He grasped her hips and held her steady as he shifted to sit up against the pillows. Then he tugged her closer. “Wrap your legs around my hips.”

  Juliana did as he asked, her breath leaving her lungs in a heated rush when he dragged his hands up her sides and filled his palms with her breasts. The faintest hint of light was now peeking into the room. Logan’s gaze remained riveted on her face as he stroked and teased her nipples into hard, straining peaks. “Jesus, you’re so beautiful, Ana. Do you want my mouth on you, mo bhean?”

  Warmth pooled between her legs and her hands twisted in his hair. “Yes. I want everything.”

  Logan’s hands slid from her hips up her back. He held her steady and leaned forward to nuzzle her neck and the soft skin between her breasts. Juliana’s head fell back, and Logan groaned as her long hair brushed against his thighs. He took one of her nipples into his mouth and darted his tongue over her before sucking at the tender peak. He tormented her like this for what seemed to Juliana to be hours, his hot mouth nipping and teasing until she was writhing against him and whimpering.

  Her soft, pleading sounds seemed to madden him. He trailed his hand down her stomach and slid his fingers between her legs. He parted her soft folds, and a harsh groan tore from his chest. “You�
��re so ready for me. So slick and hot.”

  His fingers tightened around her hips and he lifted her up. Juliana expected him to ease her flat against the bed and move over her, but he didn’t. Instead he took himself in hand and positioned her over him. “Sink down onto me, Ana.”

  Juliana’s eyes went wide. She hesitated, but Logan was guiding her down, and she could feel his hard length easing into her. She wanted him so much, loved him so much…

  “Yes, galla. Move with me. Dia tha. Yes, just like that.” He teased and coaxed her, his hands steady on her hips, easing her down onto him each time he thrust upwards until they were moving in perfect sync.

  “Ah, Logan. Please.” Juliana had never felt him so deep inside her before. Her fingernails curled into his back as he drove her closer and closer to the edge with each thrust of his hips.

  “Come for me, Ana. Now, galla. I want to see you.” He jerked her down hard over his length, surging up into her at the same time. Juliana cried out as the pleasure slid closer and closer. She was right on the edge when Logan’s mouth closed over the tip of her breast. He dragged his teeth lightly over her nipple just as his hand slid between her legs and his clever fingers found her center.

  One stroke was all it took. Juliana’s entire body drew taut, and she unraveled with a sharp cry. Logan buried his face in her neck with a harsh groan, his hips arching helplessly as her body sent him hurtling to his own pleasure.

  They were quiet afterwards as they waited for their breathing to calm. Juliana held him as tightly as she could, her heart thundering, her fingers tangled in his hair.

  * * * *

  “We’re less than two hours from Guildford, Ana. You should try and rest before we reach Graystone Court.”

  Juliana turned from the window toward Logan, gazing at his mouth as he spoke. He had such a lovely mouth, with full, firm lips. They were soft, too. Much softer than such a fierce man’s lips should be, and he kissed her so gently. Just the memory of the way he’d nibbled and teased at her lips made her breath quicken even now. His kisses left her dizzy, and the touch of his big, rough hands made her ache with a desire that stunned her.