Bride of the Solway (22 page)

'Ross?' Her voice sounded drowsy. And tempting.

'You're safe, Cassie. Go back to sleep. It's still dark.'

'
Mmm
.' She snuggled up against him, rubbing her cheek against his bare skin.

He managed to suppress a groan. But his body was reacting, no matter how much he willed it to behave.

'
Mmm
. It feels so warm, so safe.' She turned slightly in his arms. 'Ouch!' She sat up. If she had been half-asleep before, she must be wide awake now.

'What is it, Cassie?'

'Something bit me. I think.'

It was still too dark to see so Ross ran his hands over their makeshift bed. He pulled out a piece of sharp straw and touched it to her hand. 'Not a bite, I think, just a piece of straw. But if you wait here a moment, I will fetch your shift. It should be dry enough now and it will protect your skin.'

Cassie sat hugging her knees while she waited. She felt so much better now, having slept a little. Her feet still hurt, but she was determined to ignore that. Besides, she had been enjoying the extraordinary sensation of being naked in the arms of the man she loved.

She gasped aloud.

'Cassie, what is it?'

'N.. .nothing.' She swallowed hard. She was burning all over. Did she really love him? How had that come about? She barely knew him. These tangled thoughts continued to tumble around in her brain while he sat down beside her and helped her into her shift.

'You will feel better now that you are at least partly clad,' he said with a smile in his voice.

'Thank you,' she murmured automatically. But something inside her wanted to shout No! No, I want to be as we were. Breast to breast and skin to skin. Good God, she was clearly a total wanton. She shivered a little at the thought.

'Cassie, you are getting cold. Come back under the greatcoat. Let me warm you.'

How could she let him hold her now, now that she knew? She slid back into his arms, nonetheless. It would be foolish to do anything else in the chill of the night. He drew her close and tucked her head against his shoulder. His scent was all around her, caressing her skin like a silken wrap. She could feel the rasp of his stubble against her temple. Deliberately, she moved to feel it more. It was proof positive that he was here, and that he was real. It might be all she would have, for if James caught them, he was bound to kill them both. Cassie was sure of that. She wriggled a little, trying to bring Ross even closer.

He groaned. 'Cassie, please.' His voice sounded deeper than normal, and hoarse. 'Please try to keep still.'

'Oh. I beg your pardon. Am I stopping you from going to sleep?'

He groaned again. 'I.. .er... Cassie, it is.. .not easy for a man to sleep with a woman in his arms, especially one like you.'

What did he mean? 'I don't understand. Am I hurting you?'

'Oh, Cassie.' He laughed softly. 'I had forgotten what an innocent you are, in spite of your soldier's courage. My dear, when a man has a beautiful woman in his arms, it can be...er...a struggle to control his body. Forgive me,' he added quickly. 'I do not mean to embarrass you.'

Cassie might have been embarrassed if it had been light, but here, in the dark, tucked up close beside him, she felt as if they were in a fairytale castle, with high walls all around, protecting them from the horrors of the world outside. Jamie was out there somewhere, prowling with his pistols. But as long as the dark lasted to protect them, he could not come near. She pressed a tiny kiss on the skin at the base of Ross's throat.

She did not want the dawn to come.

'Cassie, please... It is difficult enough already. If you do that, I may not be answerable for my actions.'

She smiled against his skin. And kissed him again. Touching him was magic, too.

'Cassie, you don't know what you are doing. Please stop.' She lifted her head and began to feather tiny kisses down the length of his jaw.

'No!' He threw back the greatcoat and started to sit up, but Cassie would not let him go.

'Don't leave me, Ross. Please. Stay with me.'

'I cannot.' His voice was harsh, and strained. 'If we continue to lie together here, we will end up making love. We must not do that. My duty is to escort you to safety. I cannot
dishonour
you. It is best if you stay here, under the greatcoat. I will put on my other clothes and walk about. That way we will both be warm. And away from temptation.'

Cassie hesitated for only a second. She could not allow Ross to leave her enchanted castle. The moment he did, Jamie might shoot him down. They had only this one night. And, accepting now that she did love Ross, Cassie was burning for him. She knew well enough what happened between a man and a woman—she was a country girl—and she knew, too, that Ross Graham was the only man she could ever love. She would have none of his notions of duty and honour.

She sat up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her breasts against his naked back. She cursed the thin shift. She wanted no more barriers between them.

'Cassie! Stop! You don't know what you are doing, what you are risking!'

She leant her cheek against his back. She could feel the tension in his muscles. 'I do know, Ross,' she said softly, but very firmly. 'I know exactly. I know that, tomorrow, my brother may shoot me, or both of us. I know that tonight I want to be in the arms of the man I love.'

She heard his sharp intake of breath. His body froze, every single muscle now rigid. She rubbed her cheek gently against his back. 'Do you not believe me? It is true. I understand it now, though I did not before. I want us to be together, Ross. Now.'

He moaned slightly.

To Cassie, it sounded like a rejection. She tried to swallow the sob that rose in her throat. 'I...I had not thought you would not want me. I am sorry, I—'

'Oh, Cassie.' He turned round in her arms and pulled her close. 'You goose. Of course I want you. Desperately. You are proud and brave and beautiful. And I desire you with every
fibre
of my being. But I cannot.'

Cassie smiled then. She put a hand to his cheek, gentling him. 'There is no
dishonour
. I love you, Ross Graham. And I give myself willingly. I need you to make love to me.' She drew his head down and kissed him, trying to show him the depth of her passion and to ignite his own.

He moaned again, but this time it was a response. 'You are a witch, Cassie Elliott,' he breathed. It seemed that he, too, had
realised
that there was magic in this place.

He kissed her until her mind was reeling and her body was screaming for more of his touch. Her breasts had begun to ache. The thin stuff of her shift rasped across her erect nipples like rough-hewn wood on finest lawn. She knew she could not bear it a moment longer. 'I must take this off,' she gasped, breaking their kiss for a second. She ripped the shift over her head and would have cast it aside, but he took it from her hand.

'Sit up a moment, Cassie,' he said. 'There are better uses for this.' He smoothed the shift across their bed of hay and laid her down on it. The shift felt transformed against her skin—from coarsest sackcloth to sheerest silk.

Cassie reached up to pull him down to her. He was fumbling with his breeches. 'They are damp,' she said chidingly. 'You should have removed them before.'

He gave a strangled laugh. 'If I had done so, I would have made love to you hours ago. And if I do so now... Oh, Cassie, it will be too late to change your mind. Are you really sure this is what you want?'

She put her hands over his. 'Yes. I am sure. I cannot see you, but I need to touch you. All of you.'

That was more than Ross could bear. With clumsy fingers, he unfastened his breeches and pushed them down. Then he pulled Cassie close. He expected her to recoil in fright at her first contact with a fully aroused man. But she did not. She moved her body slightly, so that her breasts teased the skin of his chest. It was a most glorious torture. There was no going back now.

He kissed her beautiful mouth, darting back and forth with his tongue until her lips opened to admit him. She was an apt and willing pupil, for soon she was kissing him with more passion than he had ever known from a lover. He put his hands to her breasts, teasing both nipples until they stood in hard peaks between finger and thumb. Tempting. Too tempting to miss.

He moved to take one of her breasts in his mouth and began to suck. Hard. Cassie moaned with pleasure. He smiled against her delicate skin and began to suck even harder, at the same time allowing his hand to drift down her belly to the junction of her thighs. When he cupped her, she did not resist. She opened to him like a flower to the sunshine. Oh, she was beautiful. And so very desirable.

Her hands were on his back now, moving up and down, her nails digging into his flesh with every pull of his mouth on her breast. He moved his fingers into her moist warmth and caressed her. This time the groan came from the depths of her belly and her nails dug deep into his back.

He returned to her mouth and began to kiss her more passionately yet, his tongue keeping pace with the movement of his fingers at the core of her. She had begun to move against his hand, in rhythm with his touch. She was more than ready.

Without lifting his mouth from hers, he moved to cover her fully and made ready to take her. He hesitated. It took all his self-control, but he waited.

She would have none of it. She smoothed her fingers down his back and put her hands on his naked buttocks. Then she pushed, at the same time rising up to meet his thrust.

Her cry was instant, swallowed in his kiss.

He froze. He had hurt her. He must stop.

In that single moment, her body had gone rigid, but now it softened again and she began to kiss him back. Her hands started to stroke the skin of his bottom.

Once more, he moved within her and she responded, more strongly than before, rising to meet his every thrust. Stronger. Faster. And then she cried out his name. A second later, he too reached the moment of ecstasy and collapsed on her quivering body.

Cassie beamed into the darkness, loving the feel of his weight upon her. Her body was humming with pleasure and sated passion. She had known—somehow—that it would be like this. And this memory of her magic castle could not be taken from her. Not while she lived.

Tentatively, she stroked his shoulder. He raised himself on his elbows. 'Forgive me. I am too heavy for you.' He rolled over on to his side, bringing her with him and holding her close. 'Thank you,' he whispered.

She beamed again. Then,
realising
he could not see, she tried to think of something to say in response. No words came. Feeling suddenly very shy, she said nothing at all. Instead, she touched a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth.

'Sleep now,' he said huskily, pushing her head down on to his shoulder. 'We will speak of this later.'

Cassie woke to find that it was still dark. Ross was lying beside her, but he was awake. She could tell from his breathing. There was no other sound to be heard except the dripping of rain outside.

'Ross?'

'
Mmm
?' He seemed to be staring up into the darkness, his right hand tucked behind his head. His left was still under Cassie's shoulders. She doubted that he could have any feeling left in it.

'What are you thinking?'

'Oh, nothing much. About unanswered questions, I suppose. Who I am. And where I really come from. And how I come to be here. Making love to a beautiful Scottish lass.'

She put her fingers to his lips. She had guessed right. He was smiling. 'Do you really know nothing about your family?'

'Almost nothing. I was sure my father's family was here. I have searched, but... I asked Colonel Anstruther and various others about the Graham family from Dumfries, but no one could tell me anything. One strange thing did happen, however. When I visited the church at
Ruthwell
, a few days ago, I saw a crest on an old gravestone. It seemed somehow familiar. Unfortunately, the stone was so old and worn that no one could tell me exactly what the inscription had been. Though they were sure that the name had not been Graham. So I am no further forward in my quest. Perhaps I shall find the answer at
Longtown
. You did say, did you not, that the inn there was called the Graham Arms?'

'Yes. I am sorry you have found so little. It must be difficult to feel alone in the world. And rootless.'

'No, Cassie, I am not alone. I have no family, to be sure, but I have friends, good friends. Whereas you...you have no one.' He stroked her hair back from her forehead.

'I—' Her voice cracked. For a moment she could not speak. 'I have good friends, too,' she managed at last. 'Morag, and Alasdair. And Colonel and
Mrs
Anstruther, now. And.. .and you.'

He dropped a kiss on her hair. '
Mmm
.'

Cassie could think of nothing more to say. She was increasingly conscious of her nakedness. And of the fact that she had offered herself to him. Nay, she had thrown herself at him like the
veriest
trollop. He was holding her close. But what did he really think of her? It did not matter that she loved him. She should never have told him so. For he did not love her. That was clear. If he loved her, he would have said so. Surely he would? But he had not.