Highland Destiny by Hannah Howell

what I am agreeing to.” She twined her arms around his neck and tugged his mouth closer to hers. “Now, I hadnae thought that ye were asking to talk.”
    “Nay. Howbeit, I do wish to say one thing, and that is to bless your mother for keeping ye from suffering her fate.”
    Maldie let his kiss silence any answer she might have been compelled to make. He did not need to know the full ugly truth, that it was she and not her mother who had preserved her chastity. From the moment she had changed from a child into a woman, men had tried to steal or buy her innocence. There had been times when her mother had been desperate enough to be angered by her stubborn refusal to accept any of the offers. Those were painful memories, and she was more than willing to let Balfour and passion push them from her mind.
    “I wish I had the skill to caress you with bonny words,” he said as he began to unlace her gown with unsteady hands. “’Twould be most fine to speak love words to you like some minstrel.”
    “I have no need for poetry and song.” She grasped his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. “If words fail ye, speak with these.” She touched a kiss to his lips. “And these. They and how they make me feel are what have drawn me here, nay pretty words.”
    Balfour groaned and hungrily kissed her, yanking the leather thong from her hair and burying his hands deep in its silken thickness. Her soft words made him half-mad with desire for her. They were a clear, sweet affirmation that she felt the same passion he did. He prayed that he could retain the will to go slowly with her, to help her feel the full reward of their desires despite it being her first time.
    Maldie tried to pull his mouth back to hers when he ended the kiss, then murmured her pleasure as he covered her throat with fevered kisses. A small part of her was aware of the removal of her gown, but she simply lifted her hips to make it easier for him. She closed her eyes when she felt him tug off her shoes and begin to pull off her stockings, afraid that if she saw him removing her clothes modesty might make her hesitant. Maldie wanted nothing to interfere with the way he made her feel. The way he stroked her legs with his big, lightly calloused hands stole her breath away, making it very easy to think of nothing but him and the passion he ignited within her. When he returned to her arms, she clung to him, but his kiss was too brief to satisfy her greed.
    She trembled as he unlaced her chemise, his long fingers brushing against her skin. When he kissed the space between her breasts, she gasped and clutched at his shoulders. He gently loosened her grip and she felt a brief coolness on her skin as he slipped off her chemise. She felt his fingers slowly trail across the top of her braies, and she cautiously peeked at him from beneath her lashes. He was staring at her braies as if he had never seen the garment before, and she suspected he had never met a woman who wore them before.
    “Protection,” she said, astonished at how thick and husky her voice was.
    “Clever,” was all he said as he began to take off his clothes.
    Without the touch of his hands or his lips Maldie had begun to feel her passion cool, enough so that she was becoming uncomfortably aware of her near nakedness. Watching him disrobe pushed aside that unease. She had to clench her hands tightly to keep from reaching out for him. His skin was dark and smooth, stretched taut over hard muscle. He had no hair upon his chest but small dark curls began just below his navel, the line broadening out to cushion his manhood. His legs were long and well shaped, lightly coated with black hair. She did not flinch away from the sight of him in a state of full arousal. It bemused her that she could suddenly find attractive something that had always frightened or disgusted her before. Passion, she decided, was a wondrous thing. It not only made one ready to cast aside all reticence, but could make what had always