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  He raised his head to gaze down at her.

  “This is only the beginning, my sweet Augusta.” He covered her mouth with his, molding, shaping his lips over hers, gently exploring, as if he were tasting a fine wine.

  Gusty placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned forward until their mouths were a breath apart, but instead of kissing him she turned her head and brushed his cheek with her lips, trailed a path of soft kisses to his ear, where she took the lobe into her mouth and suckled then nipped him with her teeth.

  She could not tell from his low growl if he was pleased or not at her boldness but he was definitely hot and bothered. He thrust his swollen, hard erection against her thigh.

  Somewhere along the way he had eased back against the pillows until she lay sprawled across his chest, letting her have her way with him. The idea intrigued and excited her. She tortured him with her mouth and lips and hands, hoping to drive him mad with desire. But to her consternation, he lay passive, eyes closed and hands fisted at his sides.

  When she finally worked her way back to his chin he stiffened and she smiled with satisfaction. At last a reaction… She moved her mouth toward his but at the last moment she hesitated. She stared solemnly down at him. Alexander opened his eyes.

  “What is it, my sweet? Tell me.”

  “I…I’ve never…”

  She paused and her face and neck grew warm. She dropped her gaze shyly. How to tell him? He studied her for a moment and then smiled, obviously catching her meaning.

  “I’ve never done this sort of thing. I have never seduced a man and I’m not sure how to proceed,” she whispered, her voice strained and cracking.

  “I would expect no less from an innocent, sweet Augusta. You are mine now, to have, to hold and to protect from this day forward. I will teach you how to please only one man, your man. I am your first and I will be your last. Forever,” Alexander declared passionately, sweeping her onto her back with one great motion.

  He pressed light kisses over her brows, her eyes, her nose and down over her cheeks to her neck, then finally settling on her mouth. She sighed and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, pulling him closer. Gusty gave back in equal measure the passion she received.

  “Touch me, Gusty. I want to feel your hands on me,” Alexander whispered against her lips. “Make me burn!”

  Gathering her courage, Gusty let instinct take control of her hands and slowly began to explore his body. Smoothing her palms down over the hard muscles of his brawny back, she reveled in the heat under her fingertips. She caressed the smooth skin along his flanks, ran her hands down over his hips and buttocks. With her fingers splayed, she clutched his ass, squeezing and kneading. She raked her nails lightly over his skin and his groan of pleasure encouraged her to continue.

  Hesitantly she moved her exploration to the front of him, feeling, touching every inch of him as her hands trailed down the line of crisp hair that ran down to his abdomen and lower. But when she moved to take hold of his thick erection he grabbed her hand and stopped her.

  “I won’t last if you continue, Augusta.” He placed kisses on both of her hands before placing them on his shoulders. His head dipped and he whispered a command. “Open your mouth, sweet selkie.”

  He flicked the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue to show her what he wanted. She parted her lips and he thrust his tongue into her mouth, stroked his velvety tongue against hers and she responded by tentatively imitating his motions. He teased and caressed until she lay writhing beneath him, pulling at him, arching against him as if she could burrow right into him.

  As he ravaged her with his mouth, his hands moved over the sensitive skin of her neck and shoulders, stroking her gently. She moved beneath him, trying to ease the tightening and tingling of her flesh, her nipples pebbled against the movement of the fabric of her nightgown. She ached for his touch, wanted to feel his hands on her breasts, caressing them with his strong, calloused fingers.

  “I want to feel you, Gusty. I need to touch you.”

  She nodded her encouragement, burning up with a feverish lust she did not know how to relieve. She knew only that she needed his touch, wanted him to caress her and make her skin dance with pleasure.

  Silently thanking Violet for her choice of nightgowns, Alexander moved his hands down until he found the hem of the delicate garment. With a flip of his wrists he had it up and over her head, and he tossed it aside. Then he pulled her into his arms, his mouth covering hers, his tongue laying siege to hers. The sensation of bare skin against bare skin sent him reeling with passion. His hips moved against hers, adding a new urgency to the mixture.

  Alexander felt her hardened nipples against his chest and moved ever so slightly to add to her pleasure. She moaned and he smiled and moved again. And then he lowered his head and gave her pleasure with his mouth and tongue. He took one dusky-tipped breast into his mouth, suckling it until she writhed beneath him. Then he switched to lavish the same attention on her other breast. She clutched at his hair, pulled him closer, arched up, offered him more.

  He proceeded with care, not wanting to rush things, wanting to linger over every little inch of her. They had all night to discover each other and he would not take his new bride in a rough, hurried fashion. As his kiss deepened, Gusty responded to his passionate fervor. She threaded her fingers in his hair, keeping him pressed to her, rubbing her breasts against his chest. His hard cock pressed against the inside of her thigh.

  “Say you want this, Augusta. Let me love you. Dear God! I want you now. Say you want me as well.”

  Alexander moved against her, letting her feel how badly he needed her. The sweet, passionate kiss she gave him was all the answer he needed, told him better than words that she trusted him and was ready to accept him completely as her husband. She greeted his tongue with hers and he deepened their kiss. Leaving her lips swollen and thoroughly ravished, Alexander moved on to other territory.

  “Open yourself for me, my selkie,” he whispered as he moved over her, his knee coming between hers, spreading her silky white thighs wide.

  “Sweet, sweet Gusty,” he murmured, taking her lips once more. “You are so beautiful.” His hand found the soft curls between her legs.

  “I need…oh God, I want… Kiss me, Alexander.”

  Her seductive whisper turned to a low moan of pleasure as she moved her hips against him. He didn’t waste any time giving her what she asked for. In a slow caress, he moved his hand down over her mound and eased a finger into damp curls and then deeper. His mouth covered hers, tasting her as if he were a starved man and she was his only sustenance. He slowly manipulated his finger to caress the swollen nub hidden in the hot, wet folds of her womanhood.

  Gusty nearly came off the bed at his touch. Her muscles convulsed around his finger and her hips moved against his hand. She moaned with pleasure as he inserted a second finger and moved it in and out, rhythmically working her into a frenzy as he continued plundering her lips with his.

  “Alexander?” Gusty moaned as she moved her hips in time with the thrusts of his fingers. “I’m… I am… These sensations…they frighten me.”

  “Let yourself go, sweet. I will be here for you.”

  His words had their desired affect and she came apart in his arms.

  After waiting only a moment for her to recover, Alexander moved between her thighs, his cock engorged and throbbing as he brushed the head against her dewy womanhood. She gasped and he bit back a groan of pleasure. He was more than ready to take his new bride in every sense of the word. His breath came fast and shallow and his heart beat with a rhythmic staccato as he grasped her hips to keep her still while he eased into her tight passage. Gusty moaned beneath his invasion and he knew she was tender from their mating the night before. He hated to hurt her but he didn’t know if he could stop…not even if she asked him to.

  “Don’t stop. Oh God, Alexander, don’t leave me hanging.” She gripped his buttocks and pulled him tight, taking the decision out of his ha
nds.

  He pressed forward until his cock was fully seated deep within her welcoming heat and her passage muscles convulsed around his hard shaft.

  “Ah God. You feel so good.” He breathed against her neck as he withdrew from her and then thrust, repeating the motion again and again.

  He gripped her hips and lifted her higher, thrusting deeper and harder. The woman in his arms moaned as she began to move with him, lifting her hips to meet him. She dug her nails into his shoulders and screamed her pleasure as she reached her climax a second time. The feel of her muscles clamping down hard as they convulsed around his cock took him over the edge with her. He pumped his hips hard, once, twice and with a roar he stiffened over her slack body and found his release.

  * * * * *

  Hours later, in the middle of the night, Alexander awoke to find a soft, warm body snuggled tight against his side. He raised his head to glance around. The fire in the hearth had burned out and the room was cold. He thought to get up and start a new blaze but a noise out in the hallway made him hesitate.

  What the hell? Turning his head, he listened.

  “Well damn it to hell!”

  Someone banged at his door. He cursed under his breath at the interruption. His people would only interrupt him if it were a dire emergency, especially tonight. Every man in his keep knew he was not to be disturbed! He had given specific orders.

  He let out another curse that brought Gusty awake. She sat up and brushed the heavy fall of hair out of her eyes.

  “What is it?” she muttered, obviously still more asleep than awake.

  “Someone is at the door,” Alexander snarled.

  He muttered a series of curses and Gusty moved back against the head of the bed, pulling the blankets up to her neck. The sight of her shrinking away from him had him rolling over and pulling her back into his arm. He proceeded to kiss her breathless before leaping from the bed. Without bothering to cover himself, he strode angrily to the door.

  “What is it?” Alexander demanded as he flung open the door.

  Duncan stood in the hallway, looking up at Alexander with wide, frightened eyes but the boy did not flinch.

  “Cousin, there was a raid on a croft to the north last eve,” he informed Alexander.

  “Why hasn’t Davin come to tell me of this?”

  “He bade me to come and get you while he assembled the men, Cousin.”

  “Good, tell him I will be right down.”

  Alexander was not happy leaving his warm bed and willing wife but this was a serious matter that needed his immediate attention. She would have to understand that his duties to his people were of the utmost importance.

  He closed the door in Duncan’s face and cursed under his breath as he snatched up his tunic and plaid from where he had laid them. He dressed quickly then dragged on his boots and strapped on his dagger. Lastly he picked up his claymore.

  “I am sorry to have to leave like this, Gusty, but duty calls. I will return as soon as I can. Stay in this chamber until I do.” When he didn’t get an answer, he lifted his head and glanced at the bed. It appeared to be vacant.

  He approached the bed, seeing only a lump in the middle of the mattress beneath the coverings. The only sign of Gusty was one delicately arched foot sticking out the bottom of the covers. Taking hold of her ankle, he gently hauled her from beneath the blankets until she was revealed to him in all her naked glory.

  He took a long look at what he was leaving behind then pulled her up into his arms and covered her mouth with his in a deep, passionate kiss that branded her as his. A kiss meant to remind her of the pleasure they would share upon his return.

  “We will continue this later, love,” he whispered hoarsely against her mouth. After giving her one last embrace, holding her tight for a moment, he finally drew back.

  Gusty watched as he opened the door to leave. He stepped aside to allow Melinda entrance before he disappeared. The maid went straight to the hearth and stirred the coals before adding fresh kindling and several logs.

  “Violet sent me to keep you company, my lady. It will be morning before the men return.”

  “Thank you, Melinda. But I don’t want to keep you from your bed. I will add another log later to keep it warm in here. That should do until morning. Thank you.”

  The maid hesitated.

  “Come back at first light and bring me something from the kitchen, please. I don’t want to go down to the hall until my husband returns,” Gusty said. “Go now. Really. I’ll be fine.” She made her way to the chair before the warm hearth and sat staring at the flames jumping and twisting around the burning logs. Only now did she understand the weight of responsibility that was laid on her new husband’s shoulders.

  Chapter Twelve

  Alexander rode through the cold, dark night as if the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels. His hackles were up and his temper was fierce. The villains who had set into motion the chain of events that brought him out on a night like this had no concept of how much they would suffer when Alexander got his hands on their bloody hides. They were assured of a swift death…if they were lucky.

  He had expected to make love to his new bride off and on throughout the dark hours of the night and then again in the morning before he rose to begin his daily chores. His temper steamed at having his personal affairs—which he had been planning for days, for weeks, aye even for months—interrupted. The thought of the sweet, warm body he had left behind in his bed had his temperature rising another notch. He needed the cold night air to give him some relief from the rampant, unquenched ardor heating his blood. Even now he was in exquisite agony, as his semi-erect cock made riding astride his stallion a little uncomfortable. Caesar seemed to sense his master’s mood and flew through the night, the cool air streaming over his lathered flanks.

  As they made their way over the hills and dales of this land that was his to protect, Alexander cursed his fantastic fortune. He was a reasonable man, a tolerant man. Hadn’t he always seen his people fed and clothed to the best of his ability? His reputation as a fierce warrior had always kept his enemies from his borders. But in the last few months his life had been turned upside down and inside out, and as a result he had let down his guard. Of late his mind had been on more personal matters.

  That someone had the audacity to raid the properties of the mighty Sutherland while he was in residence showed a great amount of stupidity. To bring down the wrath of one such as he was asking for disaster. Alexander had little tolerance when it came to someone threatening or harming his people. By the end of this night, he vowed, these predators would feel the iron fist of the leader of Clan Sutherland.

  Somewhere behind him, Alexander could hear the thundering hooves of his men’s mounts as they struggled to keep up. But he had no intention of slowing his furious pace. He wanted to get this business over and done with and get back to his new bride.

  Ahead in the distance the orange glow of flames brightened the night sky above the treetops. He urged Caesar to go faster, praying his crofters had escaped the raid unharmed. He did not wish to go hunting but he would if that was what it took to rid his land of the brigands who had done this. As he reached the crest of the small knoll overlooking the farmstead he surveyed the damage that had been done. He expelled a series of vicious curses, his harsh breath billowing in the cold air. He stared down upon three large stacks of hay that sat in the middle of the yard between the croft and the outbuildings.

  Alexander made his way down the incline, circling as close to the infernos as he could. The heat put out by the blazes took the bite off the bitter night air. Near the small croft, tied together back-to-back and sitting on the cold, hard ground, were the elderly farmer, Stuart Guthrie and his wife Aili, who worked this farmstead with their two sons. Alexander wasted no time dismounting and going to them. With his dagger he cut through the leather binding that bit into their fragile old flesh.

  “Who did this, Guthrie? Did you notice their colors?”

  Rai
ding clans usually wore muted colored plaids when they went foraging so they would blend into the underbrush and wooded areas but sometimes they were bold enough to exhibit their true colors. He cursed at the look of fear and horror on Aili’s face. There were tears in her eyes as well as Guthrie’s even though the old man sat straight and proud in his old age.

  “It was too dark to see them clearly, Laird. They came out of the dark, screaming like banshees, and my sons…Ian and wee Kenny. They tried to fight them off. They tried to save the haystacks.”

  He swallowed harshly as he stared across the yard toward the side of the hut. Alexander followed the direction of Guthrie’s gaze and then watched as the old man walked toward the two shadowy mounds of rags that lay there. Alexander took in the scene before him and as realization dawned his anger grew. Guthrie’s sons lay dead on the ground, murdered in the raid. The old man dropped to his knees next to the bodies and with his head bowed and shoulders heaving, he wept unabashedly. Aili Guthrie moved to her husband’s side, wrapped her arms around his shaking shoulders and wept with him.

  The sight of the two old people grieving over their only sons caused a red haze of rage to veil Alexander’s eyes. He fisted his hands and swore long and hard as he gazed at the destruction of property and loss of life. Such a waste… Would that he could stop such acts of brutality. This was not the first time something like this had happened. In the last two years he had buried three members of his own family under similar circumstances. Were the same men responsible for both raids?

  As Alexander debated the possibility, Davin arrived, moments ahead of the rest of his men. He pulled his mount to a halt as he dismounted in one smooth motion then turned and waved the rest of the men on. The large, fierce, heavily armed band of Highlanders spread out and moved into the surrounding wooded area to look for any signs that might point to who had done such a horrendous thing. After a few minutes torches twinkled between the trees like distant stars as the men searched the area.