“That’s rather mortifying.” Her tone definitely was not enthusiastic.
Alec laughed aloud. “No need to be embarrassed, my lady. He’ll not say a thing.”
Just the idea that Malcolm would know what they were up to was embarrassing enough. Though if she intended to have an affair with Alec, at least for as long as she could, she might as well get used to other people potentially knowing. She was a widow now and could do such things, as long as she was discreet.
Connie suspected that widowhood was going to suit her just fine.
He helped her down from the animal, and Connie gulped when she found herself sliding down the front of him, his hands circling her waist. Her feet touched the ground, her whole body just inches from his. Instead of stepping backward, he tilted her chin up and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
It was tender and filled with the promise of what was to come.
He slowly drew his mouth away from her own and took a few steps back. “I’ve been thinking of nothing else since we kissed earlier this evening.”
“As have I.” His touch did the strangest things to her. She felt like she could literally melt at his feet, and all she wanted to do was grab him and pull him back against her. But then his words penetrated her clouded head. “Does that mean you preplanned this, then?”
“God, no. I was doing my best all night to try to resist you.” He stepped away from her, picked up the horse’s tether, and tied it to the post. “I didn’t have much luck restraining my thoughts about what I wanted to do to you, though.”
She was relieved that was the case, but she wasn’t all that pleased that he was actively trying to resist her for the entire night, either. Did that mean he didn’t want to actually be with her?
“But you are a damn hard lady to resist.” Alec held his hand out to her. “That’s for certain.”
But she couldn’t take his proffered hand. Not yet. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve been doing a rather good job of resisting me, actually.”
“Nay, lass.” He walked over to her and tilted her chin up slowly to face him. “I’ve been doing a very poor job of it indeed. Haven’t you been able to tell that every time I look at you, all I can think about is having you naked and wrapped around me? I haven’t been able to get the images out of my head all week.”
“Oh.” She gulped, hard. Suddenly all she could think about was the same thing. “Well then, continue on.” She’d intended for her voice to sound confident, but instead it came out in a breathless whisper.
“Are you certain about this, Connie?” There was genuine concern in his eyes as he continued to gaze down at her. “I don’t want you to feel pressured, and if you prefer that I stop, at any time, just tell me, and I promise you, I will.”
She nodded, her throat and lips suddenly dry, with the knowledge of what was about to occur. She wanted it with all her heart, but she was also scared. Not of Alec, never of him. “What if I can’t pleasure you? What if I can’t…bring you any satisfaction?” Like she’d never been able to do with Duncan.
With infinite gentleness, he unwrapped her arms from across her chest and carefully guided one of her hands down to his pants at the junction of his thighs. “Can you feel how hard I already am, just being this close to you? We’ll be able to pleasure each other, lass, of that I have no doubt.”
To hear him speak of them pleasuring each other was exactly what she needed to hear. This was Alec. Her Alec. And with the intense desire simmering between them, of course they would satisfy each other. How could they not?
He felt so hard pulsating beneath her hand that the thin layer of his trousers suddenly felt like a horrible impediment. She couldn’t resist rubbing her hand along the length of him. Alec’s groan in reply gave her courage to repeat the action.
For a few moments, she took pleasure in stroking him up and down, his cock growing harder and harder with her every touch. She felt empowered by his reaction, and seeing his desire created a deep longing to feel him inside her, filling her with his seed, until they were both spent from exhaustion.
Without warning, he swung her into his arms and stalked over to the entrance of the lodge. Tonight would be for them, regardless of what came on the morrow.
Chapter Forty-Three
Alec maneuvered the door open, with Connie still in his arms, and strode into the lodge. He kicked the door closed with the heel of his boot before gently easing her from his arms to her feet.
He’d been trying to resist her for the longest time, and if he was honest with himself, he’d been doing so since she’d been a debutante and he’d seen her for the first time in years as she descended the stairs of the Merriweather ball. He could still picture exactly what she was wearing that night, how the bodice of her emerald silk gown fit her to perfection, and her hair pinned up high, with soft ringlets cascading down to frame her face.
He’d first heard the collective gasps around the room, and when he’d turned and seen her, an absolute vision for all to behold, his breath had caught in his chest, just like everyone else’s clearly had. His reaction had scared him, particularly after what he’d experienced with Elise only a few years prior. It was at that moment he knew she would be dangerous to the walls he’d erected around his heart, so he’d steeled himself against her and tried to find fault in practically everything she’d done.
No wonder they’d clashed so much back then.
But they weren’t clashing anymore.
Connie was staring at him with such hope and such nervousness, he suddenly very desperately didn’t want to let her down. Perhaps they shouldn’t do this? He didn’t think he’d ever be able to properly give her his heart. He didn’t think he’d be able to give it to anyone, so was it fair to go ahead and sleep with her, knowing that? “Perhaps this isn’t a goo—”
She reached up and placed a finger against his lips, effectively silencing him. “Stop trying to convince yourself this isn’t a good idea. Tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone, Alec. And most especially not to me.” She smiled softly up at him and began to gently caress her fingertips across his cheeks. “I want you to make love to me. I want to know what it’s like to experience pleasure for once in my life. Don’t you want me?”
God, he wanted her. Desperately. Which was what he was afraid of.
“You know I do. But I want you to be sure, and I need you to know that I can’t promise you anything after. I don’t think I’m capable of giving much more apart from my loyalty.”
“I’m not asking for anything more from you.” Slowly her hands trailed down his chest and began to undo the buttons of his shirt, one at a time. “Tonight, with you, is what I want.”
“Are you certain?”
She smiled up at him. “More than I’ve ever been certain of anything before.”
And just like that, his resistance crumbled. The feel of her fingers brushing softly against his chest as they trailed lower and lower, inch by inch, was pure ecstasy. And as her hands brushed against his hard length, he couldn’t help but groan before leaning down and capturing her mouth in a searing kiss.
She tasted of honey and was warm and silky smooth. He couldn’t get enough. He deepened the kiss and flicked his tongue against hers. She moaned in response and mimicked his action. Alec had never tasted anything as good as Connie.
His hands reached around her back and began to untie the laces of her dress, until her gown pooled around her feet in a puddle of fabric. Then he undid the string of her crinoline.
She stepped out of the thing, and Alec quickly kicked it to the side. He feasted on the sight of her in her undergarments. She was so perfectly proportioned, with her beautiful peach-sized breasts cupped by her corset, and her tiny little waist and softly curving hips. All he wanted to do was bury himself in her.
He swept her up into his arms and carried her over to the four-poster bed positioned in the far co
rner of the room. He laid her carefully down on the mattress and then kicked off his boots before lying down beside her.
They kissed, on their sides, almost with a desperate sense of knowing this could be their one and only time together. But then Alec slowed the pace. He wanted to savor every inch of her. To remember this night with her, in detail, for the rest of his days.
He reached over and began to unlace the front of her corset. Inch by soft inch, her bosoms were revealed to his hungry gaze as the corset fell away. “You are so beautiful. So perfect,” he murmured as he pulled out the contraption from underneath her and tossed it to the floor. She was now in just her chemise and undergarments. His fingers brushed across the fabric and slowly pushed her chemise above her head, until she was lying there, her upper body bared to him.
But then he saw the yellow and brown bruises that marred her perfectly porcelain skin, all the way from her rib cage down to her waist. And as he peeled down her undergarments, he could see the bruises continued down onto her thighs, too. The sight made him ache for her. The pain and torment she’d had to endure was clearly evident by the mottled bruises all over her body.
“He did this to you?” Alec tried hard to keep the fury from his voice.
Connie crossed her arms over her chest, trying to cover herself up. Slowly she nodded. “Yes, the afternoon before the ball, he was upset with me.”
“And he used the tip of his boot to kick you, didn’t he?” It was not the first time he’d seen what the mark of a boot did when kicked into flesh.
“He did. I know they look ugly…” Her breath hitched in her throat. “And if you don’t want to do this anymore, I understand.”
“They’re not ugly at all.” He brushed his fingers against her cheek. “They are a testament to what you had to endure and what you survived.”
“They are?” She sounded so forlorn that all Alec wanted to do was grab her in his arms and hold her close.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “For the life of me, I have never been able to understand why some men think it’s even remotely acceptable to hit their wives. Those who do so are complete cowards. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Carefully, he moved her hands away from her chest, and slowly he began to gently kiss each and every one of her bruises, his mouth trailing a path from her ribs to her waist.
“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Constance,” he whispered against her skin. “Inside and out. And no bruises could ever change that.”
…
They were the sweetest words Connie had heard anyone say about her, and for once in her life, she was starting to realize the truth of them.
For years she’d had first her mother telling her she was never good enough, and then Duncan, but now with neither of their harsh voices dominating her inner dialogue, Connie was starting to see who she truly was as a woman and the strength she had within. And by God, she’d survived things many others had never had to experience, and she was stronger for it. She was a survivor and she was beautiful, inside and out, just as Alec said.
Not too long ago, she wouldn’t have believed him. She knew of course, externally she was pretty, but she’d always been terrified that there was nothing more to her. Though after everything she’d been through, combined with the fierce look of desire and need in his eyes, she definitely knew Alec believed it. And that he wanted her, desperately.
He kissed every inch of her skin, starting from her rib cage and ending on her thighs, and she definitely didn’t feel as ugly as when she’d looked in the mirror earlier that evening. In fact, the soft touch of his lips against her flesh was making her ache so completely that she all but forgot about her bruises.
At first, she’d felt completely vulnerable lying there naked in front of him, but seeing his reaction, and how he seemed to desire her more than ever, gave her courage.
Her body was craving his, urging her to press closer to him. She reached her hands underneath his shirt and pushed it fully from his torso. He was all hard lines and smooth planes of muscle. “If I’m naked, then I think it only fair that you are, too, Alec McGuiness.”
“Forgive me, my lady.” He winked at her and quickly reached down and unbuttoned his trousers, then pulled them off. He swiftly removed his undergarments, too, until he was as naked as she was.
He was the most marvelous specimen of a man she’d ever seen. Bronzed skin and muscles everywhere. All she could think of was running her hands across every single inch of him. And Good Lord, his manhood was all but thrumming, begging her to touch the hard silkiness of him.
Thinking she’d have to work up the courage to touch him there, she started to skim her hands across the broad expanse of his chest first and wound her fingers over his nipples. She began softly rubbing them between her fingers and was rewarded when Alec groaned.
Then he did the same with hers, teasing and tormenting her nipples until they were taut little peaks before moving his mouth to cover one of them. She sucked in a sharp breath and arched her back, urging more of her breast into his mouth. The feel of his lips and tongue caressing her nipple was unlike anything she’d experienced before.
It was wicked. It was delicious. It was wanton.
He lifted his mouth from her breast, and she whimpered.
“Please don’t stop,” she begged him.
He chuckled lightly as he continued to trail kisses over the cleft between her breasts, until his mouth engulfed her other nipple and began sucking it, flicking his tongue against the hard bud while his hand cupped her other breast, his thumb rubbing across the nipple. She twisted her fingers in his hair and pressed him even tighter to her breast as his mouth feasted on her flesh.
Alec settled next to her, one of his thighs pressing between her legs. Connie couldn’t help herself, she began rubbing the very center of herself against him, back and forth, over and over again. The pressure in her began to build unbearably as her body begged for release.
He lifted his head from her breast and traced kisses up her neck until he captured her mouth with his own, all the while Connie continued to rub her sex up against his thigh. She could feel the dampness between her thighs, and a tingling sensation pulsed and began to build to unbearable heights within her.
“That’s it, my darling, rub against me until you reach your peak,” Alec murmured.
And just when Connie thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, her whole body clenched tight as wave after wave of pleasure cascaded through her every cell.
Chapter Forty-Four
Having Connie rub her sex against him, the tight little curls at her very center brushing against his thigh until she orgasmed, was one of the most erotic experiences of Alec’s life.
Right before she’d reached her peak, the blue of her eyes had gotten as dark as a stormy sea, and then when she’d moaned over and over again, her breathless sounds of delight had nearly sent Alec over the edge, then and there. It had been only through sheer willpower, and wanting to keep pleasuring her, that he’d been able to stop himself from spilling his seed over her stomach like a randy schoolboy.
Now, looking at that satisfaction glowing in her gaze, Alec felt contentment wash through him. For a minute, all he wanted to do was spend the rest of his life making sure she was safe and completely satisfied every day.
But those thoughts were quickly brushed aside when her hands started exploring all over his body. Alec nearly leaped off the bed when her fingers danced over his cock.
He rolled onto his back, and his manhood sprung up, proud and strong. “Now it’s me telling you to please don’t stop,” he mumbled.
The sound of Connie’s husky laugh brought a smile to his lips, but then when she dipped her head and began to kiss in between his thighs, the smile was quickly wiped from his face as intense pleasure consumed him.
Her lips trailed soft kisses along his inner thighs and up to just below his belly
, and when her tongue licked along the ridge of his shaft, he groaned aloud. But when her lips closed around him and she took him into her mouth, sliding up and down over the length of him, Alec thought he’d die of pleasure, and after a few minutes, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to hold out for too long if she kept caressing him so. “Lass, you’re killing me.”
Immediately, her head came up and there was an expression of horror on her face. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I thought you were enjoying it.”
Alec groaned and chuckled, all at the same time. “Aye, I am, and if you keep going, I’m literally going to explode, and I have other plans for us before I do that.”
“Oh.” There was confusion but interest in her gaze. “What did you have in mind?”
“Climb on top of me and take me inside you.”
Connie’s mouth dropped open. “You want me to climb on top of you?”
He winked. “Aye. I want to see myself inside you while you ride me and orgasm over and over again.”
A delightful flush of pink spread across her entire body. Aside from the blue of her eyes, it was Alec’s new favorite color.
“Ride you?” She licked her lips. “Goodness, I didn’t think such a thing was done!”
He’d thought of nothing else for the past day and, considering the terrors she’d been through when Duncan forced himself on her, had reasoned having her on top and in control might be just the thing to alleviate any of her fears. “Aye, lass. With you on top of me, you’re the one in control. You can set the pace and decide how deep to take me inside of you, then if you want to stop, all you have to do is jump off.”
A slow smile blossomed across her face. “I like the idea of being in control, Alec McGuiness.” She straddled her body over him and positioned herself over his cock.
Very slowly, she began to push herself against him. Alec held himself as still as he could, all the while fighting the urge to plunge himself inside her warm passage.
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