The Highlander's Warrior Bride (20 page)

She’d not even noticed how far he’d backed her into the room until that door closed. Leaving them utterly alone.

“Does anyone know that ye came to my chamber?” she asked.

Ronan shook his head leaning nearer; his hand snaked around her waist and tugged her close.

The last time they’d seen each other, she’d been cross with him. Tried to push him away, but it didn’t appear that her viperish attitude worked on him. Only seemed to pull him closer. Literally.

He’d had a bath too. His scent was intoxicating and she closed her eyes, breathing in his fresh, clean aroma, underplayed with masculine tones. Ronan’s scent. She licked her lips, tilted up her face. He pulled her flush against him so their pelvises touched. A shudder passed through her, and her legs became a little unsteady. She wanted to reach out and hold onto him to secure herself, but if she did, she’d drop her plaid.

Why hadn’t she at least put on a chemise? Had the more wanton side of her hoped for this very occurrence?

Probably. Because she tingled everywhere—from the tips of her toes to the hair on her head. She parted her lips, about to ask if he would kiss her when Ronan descended the rest of the way, claiming her mouth in a soft, yet fully sensual kiss. His warm lips pressed to hers, her lower lip between both of his. Ronan stroked his tongue into her mouth at the same time she flicked hers out to meet his. He tasted good too. Like sugar and spice.

Julianna recalled he liked sweets. Had probably indulged in some confection before coming to find her.
But thoughts of anything sweeter than being in his arms were soon gone when he fully pulled her into his embrace. She could feel his hard length jutting through his plaid, and pressing hotly against her quickly dampening center.

How easy it would be to simply let go of the plaid, let it drop on the floor and lead him to her bed where
they’d make love for…hours.

In another world. In this one, Robert would send someone to find Ronan if he didn’t show up at his chambers soon. Not that he’d look here, but it was too risky.

Keeping hold of her plaid, she managed to push against his chest. “We must stop,” she said breathlessly.

Ronan’s eyes were heavily lidded, his lips full and wet from their kiss. She wanted nothing more than to lick the
m, nibble them, and feel them on every forbidden part of her body. But they couldn’t. Not now.

“Aye, I know.” He took a step back, raked his hand through his hair. He turned a mischievous grin on her. “I simply canna help myself when I’m around ye. Especially when ye keep presenting me with your near nakedness.”

Her cheeks burned and she clutched the plaid to her tighter. “Ye make it seem like I keep seeking ye out, but ye are here in my chamber, and when we were at the croft…well…” They’d both wanted it.

Ronan’s grin was lopsided and he nodded. “Well, indeed.”

Julianna turned her back on him and walked across the room toward her hearth. Her toes had started to turn numb against the cold plank floor, no matter that the rest of her was a flaming mass of desire. She held up each foot individually until her toes were warmed. Ronan didn’t leave, but he didn’t say anything either. He simply came to stand beside her, warmed his hands. Theirs was a comfortable silence, the kind borne to those who were naturally at ease with one another. The thought both annoyed her and startled her. She didn’t want to be comfortable with him—it lent too much to the thoughts she tried to avoid of the possibility of a future together.

After her chat with Robert this afternoon, she was even more determined to prove herself as his guard and Ronan was only going to get in the way of that.

But still, she was stunned to feel so contented around him. Julianna never felt so relaxed and on edge at the same time with anyone. The man had to have bewitched her. He was, after all, a Sutherland. Rogues at heart, handsome to a fault, charming the skirts up on every woman who walked their way. Though she’d not met his brothers, their reputations preceded them.

Julianna was aware that it wasn’t entirely fair to judge Ronan and his brothers on courtly conjecture. But to be fair, rumors did abound. Ronan’s eldest brother
, Magnus, had stolen his bride from a battlefield—and out of the arms of her betrothed. Although, Julianna had heard the bastard was English so Magnus was doing the lass a favor. But his other older brother, Blane, had stolen his bride from the church. What kind of man corrupted a nun? What would Ronan do? Steal the king’s sister for his wife? She gasped, it would be perfectly within the pattern.

“What are ye thinking
about?” Ronan asked suddenly.

“Nothing,” Julianna said a little too qui
ckly. She cast a glance at him to see that he looked skeptical, but didn’t mouth it. “I was…merely wondering what ye were still doing here?”

She tried for haughty, but in all actuality, she was curious.

“I was hoping ye’d admit to me—“ Ronan broke off when Julianna whirled to face him.

“What?” she asked
, eyes widening.

“
I was hoping ye’d tell me what the Bruce wants.” The way he flicked his gaze toward the fire and then back to her made Julianna question his true motive.

What did he really wish for her to reveal? Her feelings? Her desire for another kiss?

“I canna. Now ye must go. If someone were to find ye here...even just a servant, rumors will quickly escalate and Robert will have us both whipped or worse.”

“Worse? Do ye truly think he’d be so cruel?”

Julianna laughed with a bit of bitterness laced in. “I never presume to guess what Robert will do. But I know he’s a stubborn arse, and vicious when crossed.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ronan grabbed her by the elbows and pulled her close. “But if I’m going to be punished, I think it should be for more than a mere kiss.”

And he claimed Julianna’s mouth with a carnal ferocity that made her knees buckle.

Chapter Twenty

R
onan kissed Julianna with a passion he’d not known he possessed, and she kissed him back just as fervently. Almost like they both worried this might be their last kiss. But it couldn’t be. He wouldn’t let it.

Her mouth was too sweet. Too perfectly fit his own.

This was his woman. Damn, he couldn’t be thinking like that unless…

“Tell me to stop,” he said, his voice gruff.

“Stop,” she said breathlessly, but pressed her mouth harder against his.

Mixed signals. How, he wanted to continue
kissing her. To toss her onto the bed and ravish her, but that wasn’t the right thing to do, and though he was normally a rogue with the ladies, for Julianna he wanted to be different. Already, he’d taken what she offered.

“Tell me ye dinna want me,” he said, sliding his lips to her chin and then her earlobe. “Tell me this is wrong.”

“’Tis wrong. So wrong,” she murmured. “But I canna lie. I do want ye, Ronan.”

He growled under his breath, lifted her into the air and carried her to the bed where he laid her out gently on the soft wool coverlet.

Their gazes connected. “There is still time for ye to say no.”

Julianna smiled at him wickedly, her eyes dancing with invitation. “But I willna.” She opened her plaid, baring her soft, sculpted form to his gaze.

Ronan was already hard, but now his cock pulsed with the urgent need to be inside her. Now. Right now. But first things first. He climbed onto the bed and knelt between her parted thighs. While sliding his hands up her thighs, massaging her hips, he dipped low to tease her puckered nipples.

“Ye are perfection. A sweet escape,” he murmured between suckling one nipple and the other.

Julianna writhed on the bed, ran her hands through his hair. “Oh, Ronan, ye make me…”

“Say it, lass.”

“Ye make me hot all over.”

“’Tis the same for me.” While he continued to nuzzle her breasts, he slid his fingers between her thighs, groaning when her slick heat met his fingertips. “Och, lass, ye’re so wet.”

Julianna answered by bucking her hips upward. She pulled his shirt from inside his plaid and splayed her hands across the expanse of his back. Lord, how he loved when she touched him, explored him.

“Ye said, next time…” She didn’t have to finish her sentence, he knew what she was asking, and the thought of her lips wrapped around his cock was almost more than he could handle.

Ronan chuckled. “Next time.”

“There will be no excuses then,” she said, though her threat was undermined by the sweet breathiness of her voice.

“None. I am yours.”

Her fingers skimmed inside his plaid and she gripped his arse. Ronan moaned and reared back. He unhooked his belt and tossed his plaid to the floor. His cock stood out, ready to be sheathed. Julianna leaned up until she was sitting, her legs spread around his thighs. She smiled up at him as she reached out and gripped his cock, her long, slim fingers wrapping around him.

“Your cock amazes me.”

Bloody hell, she amazed him!

Ronan was heavy, thick and smooth as velvet in her hand. Her heart skipped a beat, then pounded against her ribs.

“Bar the door,” she said, their eyes locked in a heated stare.

Ronan nodded and stepped to do her bidding. The bed creaked as he left it and while Julianna mourned the loss of his heat in her hand, she rejoiced at the sight of his bare arse. An amazing display of hard muscle. Trim hips, a wide corded back and shoulders that spanned the breadth of a doorframe. He was massive, solid and for the next few moments, all hers.

She wasn’t naïve enough to realize that inviting him to her bed was not in their best interests. Nor was she fool enough to say for sure they
wouldn’t get caught. The thing of it was, she didn’t care. She never did anything for herself, and Ronan seemed to be the one indulgence she had no willpower to deny.

Julianna craved him. Even when she wasn’t thinking about him—she was.

Ronan made quick work of barring the door, then turned back. Her gaze roved from his handsome, sculpted face to his contoured torso and then…the weapon that jutted from between his hips. She licked her lips instinctively, shivered. Her nipples were hard, aching tips, and her sex, wanton and quivering for his entry.

Julianna held out her arms as he neared the bed, but instead of sliding on top of her, Ronan
lay down and pulled her astride him.

“I’m guessing the squire didna show ye how to make love like this.”

She shook her head, bit her lip as the thick length of his sex pushed against her sensitive folds. Ronan gripped her hips, massaged them, then slid upward until he cupped her breasts, stroking his thumbs over her nipples.

“Ye can be in charge like this,” he said, a wicked grin curving his scrumptious lips.

“I like to be in charge,” she said, with an answering smile.

“I know it.” He took her hand and
placed it on his shaft, wrapping her fingers around him. “Guide me inside.”

Julianna settled on her knees, her feet tucked beneath his thighs and lifted a little, sliding the tip of his length between her folds, toward her center.

“That’s it, lass.”

Julianna did as he instructed, the head of his
shaft slipping inside. She let go and pushed her pelvis down until he filled her completely, stretching her with decadent pleasure.

“Oh, my,” she whi
spered.

Their gazes locked, an ocean of emotion pass
ing between them. Julianna wanted to ignore it. Wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, simple pleasure making them feel that way, but she knew to do so was false. There was more between them then either of them was willing to admit.

With his hands holding tight to her hips, Ronan showed her how to roll them. “Not unlike riding a horse, sweets,” he said. He moved slowly beneath her, pushing up and withdrawing as she rode him.
Ronan leaned up on an elbow, capturing one of her nipples in his mouth and suckling gently. The pull of his mouth went straight to her core, her muscles clenched with sweet ecstasy. She gripped his chest, fingers digging into the muscle. He’d said she could be in control, but she felt more out of control than ever before.

Thighs trembling, Julianna clenched tight around Ronan’s hips. Her toes curled under his legs.

“Oh, Ronan,” she moaned, her body sparking with flames.

Ronan slid his hand over her cheek and into her hair, pulling her lips to his. Their mouths melded in a frenzy of tongue, as though they fought for who could give the other more pleasure.

Julianna gripped the back of his neck, not wanting to let go. She ground her hips into his, feeling blissful tremors ricochet from her center outward, and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

And there might not be. Not if someone were to catch them. But the added rush of being caught only seemed to fuel her desire. She shuddered and increased her pace, rolling her hips
. Her moans echoed around the room and Ronan shushed her, whispering that they’d be heard, but his own growls rivaled her noise. He gripped her buttocks and guided her in moving up and down.

“Och, lass, you’re so tight…” He thrust upward rapidly. The muscles of his abdomen tightening, and she couldn’t help but stroke over them, touching each ridge with leisure.

They moved in tandem, like they’d made love a thousand times—or as though they were meant for each other. The latter scared Julianna straight to her soul. Her heart skipped a beat and whether that was from fear or from the way her body responded to his she didn’t know. Wasn’t willing to examine. She shut her mind to all thoughts, absorbed only in the pleasure radiating from their loins. Sweet heaven.

Glor
ious pressure built inside her. The delicious releases that Ronan had given her before…it was going to happen again. And she wanted it so badly. Rode him harder, wanting that completion.

“That’s it, lass, let it come.”
Ronan didn’t cease his thrusts. Stroked the flat of his hand down her belly until his thumb brushed over her curls. Just that subtle touch sent a shockwave through her and she gasped. But it was nothing compared to the flame that struck when he stroked his thumb over her nub. Then it was like the world shattered, the bed rocked and the castle could have fallen down around her for all she knew. She opened her mouth to shout out his name, her body spasming, but Ronan captured her lips with his, seizing her cry. Hungrily, she kissed him back as she rode out the vibrations of crushing bliss.

At the same time, Ronan’s fingers dug into her hips and he kissed her all the harder. Between her thighs
, she felt him shudder violently, and liquid heat poured inside her. They rocked until their tremors subsided, kissing lazily.

A loud knock shattered the blissful cocoon Julianna found herself in. She spiraled back to reality in a sickening whoosh that left her belly somewhere around her feet.
Leaping off of Ronan’s lap, she grabbed her plaid that had been tossed to the floor and wrapped it around herself.

“Ye have to go!” she whispered harshly.

“Where? There is someone at your door,” he whispered back. He too jumped from the bed and started to don his plaid and shirt.

“Who is it?” Julianna called.

“’Tis Myra.”

Julianna shoved her fist in her mouth and bit down on her knuckles. She glanced with fear at Ronan. What had she been thinking? A fantasy, that was all this was and all it could ever be, and she’d tried to bring that fantastical ideal to life. For shame, she was a fool.

“I’m in my bath. I’ll come find ye in the great hall when I finish.” Julianna glanced at Ronan who raised a brow, and then made mock movements as though he was washing his hair.

She
bit her lip to keep from laughing, quickly tiptoed forward and hit him on the shoulder. “Stop that,” she hissed.

“I can wait,” Myra said through the door.

Julianna exaggerated an eye roll at the door. “Ye know, it’s been awhile since I had a bath. I wasn’t going to hurry.” Julianna knew her words made her sound less than pleasant, and she’d have to make it up to her friend later. For now, she needed Myra to go away so she could get Ronan out of here.

Myra didn’t answer, and from the tension seeping through the oak door, Julianna was a little worried her friend might try to break it down. Myra was no weakling. She’d had her own fair share of battles.

“I’ll come back. The great hall is full of warriors.”

“All right. I will try to hurry.” Julianna tiptoed to the door and listened for Myra’s footsteps as they faded down the corridor.

Ronan came up behind her, fully dressed and pinned her to the door, his muscular build molding to her back. He kissed her neck and whispered in her ear, “I must speak to the Bruce.”

Julianna nodded, turned
, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. But after he left, she worried that he meant to tell her brother about them.

And part of her hoped he did. The other part feared it so much she hurried to dress. But by the time she’d tied her boots, common sense kicked in. Ronan wouldn’t have the ballocks to tell her brother that the two of them had been rutting like rabbits in spring.