Sins of the Highlander (A Highland Erotic Romance) Read Online Free

on his cock met with a harsh exhalation. Aileen fisted the fabric of her skirt tighter and watched a crimson flush spread from Niall’s neck to his ears and down his chest.
    Still staring at the ceiling, he spoke, the word coming out as a half whisper, half groan. “Aileen.”
    Aileen bit back a whimper. He was thinking of her, fantasizing about her. He desired her, perhaps as much as she desired him.
    She wanted to go to him so badly, wanted to offer herself to him, wanted to ask him to take her in whatever way he pleased.
    She couldn’t. It would be wrong, so wrong in so many ways. She needed to heed her duty to her clan. Within the month, she’d be betrothed to another man.
    Niall’s muscles stood out in stark relief all over his body, rippling with exertion. The bronze glow from the fire made the sweat covering his chest and arms sparkle. With a final harsh grunt, Niall released his seed into the water. Aileen watched, fascinated, mad with lust, terrified, as the filmy cloud appeared.
    All at once, Niall slumped. “Aileen,” he said again, but this time her name sounded like a mournful whisper.
    Aileen fled.
    She ran down the long passageway, straight to her bedchamber on its opposite end. Flying inside, she slammed the door shut behind her. Jannet, who had been waiting for her in a chair beside the fire, rose in alarm.
    “Is something wrong, lady?”
    Aileen put one hand flat on the door to steady herself. “It is nothing.”
    “Are you sure? I could summon—”
    Aileen rounded on her. “Summon no one, do you hear?”
    Jannet’s face crumpled. “Aye, lady.”
    Aileen immediately softened. She had given Jannet the esteemed position of lady’s maid only a few months ago, and she sometimes forgot how young the lass was. Barely thirteen and quite softhearted. Aileen had never lost her temper with her before.
    “Shh…it is all right. Just comb out my hair, then you can sleep with your mother and sisters tonight,” she said gently. Jannet usually slept on the pallet beside Aileen’s bed, but tonight she wanted to be alone.
    Jannet curtsied and fetched the hairbrush. Thankfully, she kept silent as she helped Aileen undress and combed out her hair. After she left, Aileen lay under the covers, shivering, staring at the top of her embroidered canopy.
    She didn’t understand what had happened tonight. Why had Niall MacRae’s presence affected her so strongly?
    All she knew was that she wanted him desperately. And he wanted her too.
    How could it be? How could this happen so quickly, and with such force? He had just arrived at Dornoch this morning.
    She had always liked, Niall. She’d always respected his strength and his deeply honorable nature. In those first days of her marriage, however, she was struggling with surviving with her husband in her new life. Niall was young and focused on his training. They might have shared an attraction if life hadn’t been in their way.
    Now, she was no longer married. She was free.
    Nay, she admonished herself. She was not free—she was bound to her half brother the laird and her clan. Ever since she was a child, she’d been used as a tool. Her marriage to Walter was nothing more than a political move involving a shuffling of lands and loyalties.
    Aileen squeezed her eyes shut. What she wouldn’t give to be free. Just for one day. To be who and what she wanted to be. To be with Niall.
    Niall. Aileen shuddered, remembering how the cords on his neck had tightened as he neared his completion. The bead of sweat sliding down his cheek…
    How she wished she’d been free to join him in the bath. She would have been naked. He would have touched her. His big hands would completely engulf her breasts.
    She pinched her nipples through her shift. How much better it would feel if he held them instead of her. He would be gentle with her, she knew—gentle yet firm. He would roll her nipples between his broad fingers…
    He would teach her things she’d never dreamed of.
    She pulled