in a firm line. Nairna reached out a hand to take his palm, but he didn’t return the faint squeeze. His skin was cold, as if he’d been sleeping outside.
‘Are you awake?’ she whispered, already knowing the answer.
He stared right through her. What nightmares tormented him, she didn’t know. But he wasn’t aware of their surroundings, nor even of her.
‘Come and lie down,’ she murmured, hoping to coax him back to sleep. When she reached for his waist, she struggled to draw him to his feet, and thankfully it was only a few paces before she pushed him back to the bed.
He sat down and she helped him to undress. The darkness hid his body, but she eased him beside her.
When she started to cover him with the blanket, she didn’t know if he had regained awareness or was still asleep. Her answer came when he seized her, holding her in a tight embrace. He held her as if gaining warmth and comfort. She rested her cheek against his bare chest and heard the rapid heartbeat.
Though his hands were cold, his body was far warmer than she’d imagined. In his embrace, her skin grew heated, warming the damp shift. She tried to move beneath the coverlet and the motion pulled at her linen shift, baring her breasts.
Though likely he couldn’t see her in the darkness, she felt awkward and vulnerable with her bare skin against his. Bram lay on top of her with his mouth against her throat, his breath intensifying her pulse beat. The thickness of his manhood rested between her thighs.
She felt herself go liquid at the thought of him claiming her.
‘Don’t hurt him,’ he whispered against her skin. ‘Not Callum. Let me take his place.’
Nairna saw that her husband’s eyes were closed. He wasn’t aware of anything that was happening. ‘It’s a dream,’ she told him. ‘You’re safe now.’ She touched his forehead, smoothing his hair over.
‘Nairna,’ he murmured.
‘I’m here.’ She stroked his bristled cheek, trying to soothe him. His grip relaxed as she touched his face, silently easing the nightmare.
As his embrace softened, she saw the desperate need inside him, for peace. And he’d found it within her arms.
She leaned down and pressed a kiss upon his mouth. He answered it, taking her lips with his own. The years turned back and she remembered what it was to kiss the shy young man she’d agreed to marry.
As his kiss deepened, she found herself opening to him. She wanted to reclaim the past, to become the wife she’d never been.
Bram rolled over, bringing her on top of him. Nairna’s legs opened, cradling his heavy thighs. Her bare breasts pressed against his chest, while she could feel his hardened erection against her womanhood. Her shift was bunched up, bringing them together intimately. The touch of his shaft against her wet entrance was so very tempting.
Slowly, clarity transformed Bram’s expression until he no longer appeared lost in a dream.
‘Did I hurt you?’ he asked. ‘I don’t remember what happened.’
‘You were talking about Callum.’ She traced her fingertips over his chest, and as she touched him his length shifted against her. The desire to take him inside her body was provoking erotic thoughts. She wanted to feel the sensation of him deep within, and when he moved a second time, the blunt head of him evoked a sensual pleasure she hadn’t expected to feel.
Before she could realise what he was doing, Bram wrenched her shift free of her thighs and pulled it over her head. He lifted her hips, guiding her higher until he was poised against her wetness. The firm length seemed to tease at her secret flesh, and she gasped when he eased her up, sliding her against his shaft.
She moaned when he stroked over the soft hair above her woman’s flesh, the ache intensifying into a shaking desire she couldn’t control. Her body shifted against his erection and she needed to take him deep inside.
She was wet and aching, and in the darkness she didn’t know where he would touch her next. His hands slid over her waist, up her ribcage, to tease at her nipples. Without warning, a hot mouth covered one of them, and as he suckled her she felt his length probing inside.
Nairna tried to relax against the invasion, but it had been a long time since she’d taken a man. In spite of the restless needs, she grew tense.
Bram brought her onto her back, only partially inside her. He pulled back again, slowly moving deeper, until their bodies were joined. For a moment, he held still and she struggled to adjust. When he pulled back, a primal instinct made her arch to receive him. The friction when he entered caused another surge of wetness and she waited for something to happen.
Beneath her palms, she could feel his racing heartbeat. Though she tried to adjust her hips to take him in a little further, she started to forget what she was doing when he began to move in rhythm.
The pulsing motion surged against her, and as he filled her she sensed something building inside. There was a rising pleasure that she’d never felt before. Her breathing quickened and she started pressing back in counter pressure to his thrusts.
But then when she gave a slight cry, Bram slowed down. He pumped a few more times inside her and gripped her hips as he shuddered with release.
Nairna lay beneath him, unmoving. Bram rested atop her, his weight fully relaxed. Confused, she reached up to touch his hips, hoping he would start up again. It seemed incomplete somehow.
‘Bram?’ she whispered, running her hands up to his neck. But the only answer from her husband was silence and a deep breathing that told her he’d fallen asleep at long last. He didn’t even notice when she extricated herself from him, rolling over to sleep.
Her body was still unbearably aroused, despite the soreness, and she wished she knew what it was she needed.
She nestled closer to him, trying to find the elusive sleep. And though Bram never once let her free of his embrace, it was a long time before her body calmed down enough to find slumber.
Chapter Thirteen
When Bram awakened, his wife was gone. He sat up, feeling dazed, as if he could have slept for hours longer. It was the first time he’d had a single night without restless dreams.
He stretched, wincing at the stiffness in his shoulders. When he rose from the bed, he realised he was naked.
Images flashed through his mind of claiming Nairna. She’d tried to calm him after a nightmare, and her touch had driven him past reason, until he’d finally joined her body with his.
Christ’s bones, he didn’t know what he’d done. Had she agreed to the lovemaking, or had he been so caught up in his visions that he’d taken her without any care?
His shaft tightened with the memory of being inside her and plunging into her wetness. The thought made him restless, wanting her back within his bed. He wanted to spend the entire morning in her arms, tasting her skin, touching her until he learned what aroused her.
No doubt she’d be less than eager to share his bed again. A dull feeling settled inside him. He needed to make amends, perhaps with a gift of some sort. But he didn’t
