The Raider (Highland Guard #8)(97)

Suddenly, her expression changed. She sat up, her eyes quickly darting from his chausses to the clothes that he’d discarded on the chair in his rush to climb back into bed with her. “You’ve been up.”

It was not a question, but he nodded anyway. “Aye.”

She waited, watching him silently, but he knew what she was asking.

“I sent Seton and Douglas with a message for your brother demanding an explanation.”

Given their divergent interests, by sending both of them, he hoped to get an accurate answer. It also meant neither of them would guess what had happened, and he would be free from their judgment for a few days. Seton would be enraged. Why did he dread his partner’s finding out so much? Since when did Seton’s opinion matter? They never agreed on anything. But maybe this time, it was justified.

Her eyes widened to fairly insulting proportions. “You did?”

One side of his mouth curved. He supposed he deserved her shock. “Aye, you will have your few days.”

She looked at him as if he’d just handed her the heavens. “You did this for me? For us? Does this mean…”

Robbie didn’t know what it meant. He’d done it partly for her, and partly to ease his guilt. Hell, what he’d done to her last night could be considered retaliation enough.

But he knew what she was asking, and he wouldn’t give her false hope.

She was already stretched out against him, but he drew her in tight and snug. Their eyes met. “It means we have a few days until they return, that is all. But beyond that…” He looked at her intently. “I have to do my job, Rosalin. No matter what that entails.”

She nodded. “I understand.”

Did she? He wasn’t sure she did. Too much was resting on this. His duty would always come first. And he had no idea how he could reconcile the feelings he had for her with the determination to win Scotland’s freedom and punish the oppressors that had driven him for years. For so long nothing had mattered in his life but war. He still wasn’t sure there was room for anything else. How could an Englishwoman—even one sympathetic to his cause—fit in with that? “I don’t know if I can give you what you want.”

She blinked up at him. “But you care for me.”

He wouldn’t deny it. But caring wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted a future.

“Then is this about my brother? About me being English?”

“Yes. No.” He raked his fingers back through his hair. “Christ, isn’t that enough?”

“It doesn’t have to be. This can work, Robbie. I know it can. Just give it a chance.”

When she looked at him like that, she could almost make him a believer. “I’ll try.”

She beamed up at him, and he felt something hot and tight catch in his throat. His chest swelled so hard it felt like it was going to explode. It had been so long since he felt anything like this, it took him a moment to realize it was happiness. Happiness that was so big and powerful it almost felt threatening.

All he could do was kiss her, which, as she was already halfway up his chest, simply required a little lifting of his arms to drag her up the other half.

He groaned at the warm, willing taste of her and at the sensation of having her stretched out on top of him.

Aye, he liked that. Liked it a whole hell of a lot.

His hand slid down her back, coming to rest on the gentle swell of her bu**ocks. He held her against him, letting her feel him thicken and lengthen as his tongue licked deeper and deeper into her mouth. She was like the sweetest ambrosia and he couldn’t get enough.

But when she moaned and started to squirm, he had to pull away. “Christ, sweetheart, there isn’t time.”

She gave him a mischievous grin, but it was the glint in her eye that alarmed him. The glint that was far too wicked for a lass who’d just lost her virginity. “Are you sure?” She was still draped on top of him, and he swore the little vixen circled her hips against him purposefully. “I was rather hoping you would make it up to me.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean ‘make it up to me’?”

She gave a careless shrug. “You know, about the second time being better than the first.”

He flipped her on her back and came down on top of her to pin her with his body so quickly, all she could do was gasp in shock.

“How did you do that?” she demanded, half outraged and half awed.

He smiled slowly. “Practice.” His combat skills were being put to unexpectedly good use. He glared down into her eyes. “What do you mean ‘better’? I’m not sure what you were expecting, but that was bloody spectacular.”

She had the impudence to appear surprised. “Was it? How should I know when I have nothing to compare it to? But if you aren’t up for the challenge, I understand.”

She started to try to roll out from under him, but he wasn’t about to let her go anywhere. No self-respecting Scotsman would let a slur like that go unpunished.

Taking her wrists, he pinned them above her head and proceeded to kiss, lick, and rake his teeth gently against her neck until she started to shiver and shudder.

“Oh, I’m up for it,” he whispered huskily in her ear. “Very up for it.” He slid his length up and down between her legs until she wasn’t just shivering and shuddering, she was shaking. “Perhaps we have time for a lesson after all.”