Chapter 12

12

I t was Edina who threw herself into Aidan's arms again, and in a moment he had swept her off her feet and laid her down tenderly on her bed. Then, he lay down beside her, his gaze not leaving her for a second. He knew he should not be doing this. There was no future for them, and he did not want to use her like some kind of plaything then abandon her, but once more his traitorous man's body betrayed him. At that moment, he was utterly helpless.

She was far too tempting, he thought, with her long tawny hair, bewitching violet eyes, and a body that every woman in the castle envied, and he was far too needy. How long had he wanted her? He realised that it had been from the very first moment he had seen her after all the years they had spent apart.

Did he love her? Did she love him? At this moment, it did not matter, since nothing mattered but the pressure of her body against his and the fusing of their lips, which was driving them both into a kind of sensual madness.

At last, they drew apart and looked at each other, then Edina smiled.

"I would love to do that again," she whispered. "And again, and again, then more. I have never been with a man before, Aidan, and I have often wondered what it would be like, and who I would choose to be the first. Now I know."

"Me?" Aidan was astonished. "Edina, we cannot do this. According to my father, my duty is to be married to a worthy Laird's or Baron's daughter and give her many children, preferably all boys. I don't want that, but I have no choice. I am not an innocent, Edina, but you are. You know that women are always judged more harshly than men. You must be a virgin on your wedding night, and I will do nothing to take that away from you."

His voice was gentle, and although he was rejecting her, Edina could tell that his heart was not in it. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, and she was not ready to give up. However, she had to be subtle about it, since men did not like to be told what to do.

"You do not want me?" she asked sadly. "I thought…"

She shook her head and began to turn away, but her words had the desired effect.

Aidan hauled Edina roughly into his arms and gave her another hard, hot kiss, which left them both breathless.

"Does that seem as if I do not want you?" he growled. "I want you at this moment more than any other woman I have ever wanted in my life, Edina, but your future has to come before my desires. I am a man, and we are selfish creatures, but I do not want to be selfish with you. You-you mean too much to me."

Edina took a moment to understand what he had just said.

"You love me?" she asked gently, for fear of scaring him.

The last thing she wanted was for Aidan to think she was trying to pressure him into a relationship.

"I care about you, but let us not say it is love because it is too big a burden to deal with right now," he answered. "We are both under pressure from our families, and perhaps now is all the time we will ever have."

"If you are worried about my maidenhead, well, it is not really your problem, is it?" Edina asked. "It belongs to me, and I may give it away to whomever I choose. If I choose to give it to you, that is my business, unless, of course, you do not want it."

Looking into Edina's smoky violet eyes, Aidan knew he was lost.

"I do want it, more than anything I have ever wanted before," he replied huskily, then, as he had known he would, he gave up trying to resist. "But Edina, are you sure?"

"Be quiet and kiss me, Aidan," she replied, smiling at him mischievously.

Aidan needed no second bidding. He kissed Edina almost savagely and cupped the cheeks of her backside so that he could pull her towards him, then began to undress her, peeling off her dress and chemise so fast that he almost tore them. When he came to her corset, however, he frowned in frustration.

"I did warn you," Edina said, laughing, before turning over to allow him to undo her laces.

After that, it took seconds before she was naked, and Aidan was transfixed by the sight of the most desirable woman he had ever seen.

"Oh, god," he said huskily. "Edina, I knew you would be beautiful, but now I see you are more than that—far more."

He drank in the sight of her, from her silky tawny hair spread out like a banner on the pillow, to her long slender neck and the perfect orbs of her breasts topped with rose-pink nipples. Her waist was slender, and flared out into curving hips and long, shapely legs, between which was the thatch of tawny hair that covered the source of her femininity.

Aidan tore off his clothes as though they were burning him, and in a moment he was as naked as she was.

Edina looked at him in astonishment. She had never seen a naked man before, and had no idea how different their bodies were from those of women. Everything about him was different from her; where she was soft, he was hard, where he was square, she was curved, and where she was smooth, he was hairy. Yet, this contrast was what called out to the primitive animal inside her. He was everything she was not, and she wanted him with every fibre of her being. Already she could feel her nipples tingling and moisture flooding between her legs.

Aidan's chest was muscular and flat, and looked quite unlike that which she had imagined. There was a line of tiny muscles on his stomach leading down to his navel, and his hips were much narrower than hers. His thighs were powerfully muscled, but Edina could not take her eyes off what was between them, and for the first time she felt afraid.

Surely, her body would be unable to accommodate this long, thick column of flesh? It was far too big, surely?

Lewis, having seen the fear in her eyes, followed her gaze as he lay down beside her again.

"Edina, if you would rather not?—"

"I have never wanted anything more in my whole life than I want to be with you right now," she murmured. "This is new to me, but I want to feel you inside me. I want to know what it feels like to be a woman at last, and I want you to be the one to teach me."

Then she said mischievously, "I promise not to scream too loudly."

She ran her hand across his chest, loving the feel of the soft dusting of hair under her palms, so different from the rough stubble on his face. As her eyes moved over every delicious inch of him, she felt the need inside her building, and she moaned as his lips captured hers again.

However, as he cupped his hand over her breast again and gently teased her nipple with his thumb, Aidan realised that he might not have this time with Edina again. If his father and mother had plans to marry him off to someone else in his brother's place, he would have to stay away from her, because he would never dishonour himself or her by becoming an adulterer.

As Edina arched her hips up to him, Aidan murmured, "Edina, wait."

He cupped her face with one hand and looked deeply into her hypnotic violet eyes.

"This may be our only time together. Let me make it special for you. Let's not rush."

"But I want to," she whispered.

"But there is much I have to show you," he replied, smiling mischievously. "Like this."

Then he parted her thighs and ducked down between her legs to tease her clitoris with the tip of his tongue, circling it and scraping it gently with his teeth.

"Oh!"

Edina's hips bucked off the bed involuntarily, and she clutched handfuls of Aidan's hair then clamped her lips together to stop herself from screaming. This was beyond enjoyable; it was a sensation she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams.

After he thought Edina had had enough, Aidan swept his tongue through Edina's wet folds again and again, making her moan as its gentle pressure left pleasure behind it wherever it touched.

Aidan was in heaven and all was really his to enjoy. This was what he had wanted to do ever since the first moment he had laid eyes on Edina the woman, and his dream was finally coming true. Her smell and her taste was everything he had imagined.

He had taken his pleasure with many willing women since he became a man, but he had never imagined that he would ever make love to Edina. She tasted sweeter than he had ever dared to imagine. As he kissed his way up her stomach and latched on to her nipple to suckle her breast, he hoped he could stay in control of his body long enough to satisfy her. He was so very, very hungry.

Edina felt a jet of sheer pleasure shoot from her breast to her core, and would have screamed if Aidan had not clamped his hand over her mouth to stop her. This was beyond her wildest fantasies; nothing had prepared her for this.

Her mother had taught her what to expect the first time she was with a lover, but she had not even hinted at this, or perhaps she had not experienced it. Every inch of her was tingling, and as she felt Aidan's finger moving in and out of her channel while his thumb tickled her sensitive nub, she gasped with surprise and delight at the sweet torture.

"What are you doing?" she whispered desperately.

"Making you ready for me," he answered, "but I can stop if you wish."

"No!" Edina cried desperately.

She was past the point of no return; she was helpless. All she could do was hang on and let Aidan take the lead and take her to…where? Edina had no idea, but she knew by the pleasure erupting all over her that it was somewhere she absolutely needed to be.

Then he grasped her hips and rubbed the shaft of his manhood against her most sensitive spot, making Edina see stars; she had never believed that any such feeling could exist. This time she opened her mouth to scream, but Aidan stifled it with a hard, powerful kiss.

At last, the moment that they had both been waiting for came as Aidan gently pushed the tip of his shaft inside her.

"Tell me if you want me to stop," he whispered.

"I will," Edina replied. "Please, Aidan, I cannot wait any longer."

Then, inch by inch, he eased inside her, looking into her eyes as he did so, and Edina gazed back, almost mesmerised.

This must be what it feels like to be in heaven, she thought, then a stab of pain shot through her, and Aidan stilled at once.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked softly.

"Go on," Edina whispered. "I will be fine."

He did so, very tenderly, and after a moment the pain disappeared, and they were moving in a rhythm that was as old as time itself. Then a new sensation began, something so utterly beautiful that later Edina would be unable to describe it. As Aidan thrust harder and harder, faster and faster inside her, Edina felt as though she was climbing towards the peak of a mountain, but the harder she tried, the farther away it seemed.

Aidan knew he would have cuts on his arms later, because Edina's fingernails were digging into his flesh, but at that moment it did not matter. Nothing mattered but the feel of being inside Edina, feeling her clench around him as he thrust more and more deeply. No woman had ever made him feel this way before, and it was glorious.

All of a sudden, a wave of something that could only be described as rapture washed over Edina, and once more Aidan had to seal her cry with a kiss. She was trembling with ecstasy, and every inch of her skin felt as sensitive as if she were being kissed all over by a gentle pair of lips. She let out a long sigh of satisfaction; she had never felt so happy or fulfilled.

Aidan watched Edina as her climax hit her, and it brought on his own, which hit him with a force he had never felt before. He managed to pull out of her just in time to spill himself onto the sheets in the nick of time as he rolled away from her. The last thing he wanted to do was make her pregnant.

Edina lay looking at the ceiling, dazed, until Aidan raised himself on one elbow to look down at her.

"Is-is it always like that?" she asked in disbelief.

"You will not feel any pain next time," he replied, smiling at her tenderly. "But Edina, are you happy?"

"I have never felt happier," she answered, with a beatific smile. "I never knew anything could feel like that. It was heaven."

Aidan stroked her cheek and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"Good," he whispered. "I don't think I could have stayed away from you a moment longer."

"I am so glad you came to me." She smiled at him tenderly. "Before we met again, I had never been attracted to any other man, but when I saw you, I knew this had to happen."

"So did I." He smiled at her and sighed. "But now, I must go, Edina."

"No, stay just a little while longer," Edina begged. "This is all so new to me. I want to enjoy it for as long as we can. Who knows if we will ever get the chance to be like this again?"

Aidan pulled her into his arms and draped his thigh over hers, then felt Edina's arm go around his waist as she put her head on his shoulder. For the moment, they were sated, all passion spent, and Aidan felt utterly and completely at peace for the first time in his life. He knew that being with a new lover was always a different and interesting experience, but this time had been unlike anything he had ever known before, and he realised that he did not want to let Edina go—ever.

They lay for a long time, their bodies tangled together in a peaceful, almost sacred silence, but it had to end eventually.

"Edina, this time I really have to go, or my father will miss me. God knows, I would much rather be here, wrapped around you like this, but I have other duties."

He stood up and began to put his shirt on, and once more Edina was treated to the sight of his magnificent body.

"Do you think we will be together again?" she asked. Now that Edina had tasted his lovemaking, she could not imagine ever doing without it.

"I honestly do not know," Aidan admitted. "We were fortunate that no one found us today, but we may not always be so lucky."

He was dressing as he spoke, and soon he was fully clad. He put his arms around her waist and looked down at her tenderly.

"I wish it could always be like this," he said, "but my father and mother have other plans for me, and I am sure your parents have too."

Edina nodded sadly, then hugged him. He kissed the top of her head, then, before he could change his mind, Aidan turned on his heel and left without looking back.