When she was like this, either defending herself or the twins, it was like Archer was finally getting a glimpse of the real, true Emilie. And it was a sight he very much liked to see.
“I willnae stand here and have ye keep tellin’ me that,” she insisted. “I willnae stand here to have ye tell me that I belong to ye.”
“That’s where ye’re wrong, lassie,” Archer growled, allowing all of his desire to seep into his voice. “Because whether ye like it or nae, ye do belong to me. Ye have since the moment ye said ‘I do’ in that church.”
“I am me own person!” Emilie insisted, but her words shook.
Was she feeling the same desire that he was? Was she standing there and staring at him, filled with lust like him?
Archer’s eyes swept over her, taking in every gracious curve and beautiful bit of skin. He felt himself hardening beneath his kilt. Felt the need for her coursing through him and heating his blood.
“Ye can be yer own person,” Archer growled, moving forward to bring himself mere inches away from Emilie’s body. “Ye can do that, and ye can be me wife, all at the same time. Now, why daenae ye tell me what this is really about?”
A look of uncertainty crossed her face, and Emilie sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. She shook her head.
“It’s about today,” she said, but it didn’t sound like she believed the words. “Ye stepped in to defend me, and I appreciate that ye did that. I truly do. But ye protectin’ me doesnae mean that ye get to command me. I daenae want to be commanded. I daenae want to be ordered. I want to be respected.”
“I respect ye,” he said. “I respect ye more than ye ken.”
Emilie startled a bit, his words clearly taking her off guard.
“If that was true, then ye’d stop orderin’ me around all the time,” she argued back after a brief pause.
Archer just shook his head.
“I’ll still be orderin’ ye around,” he growled, taking a step closer to her.
Archer’s chest and body flooded with warmth, his desire for his wife reaching an all-time high as he stared down at her. With every step that he took, Emilie’s eyes grew wider, going almost glacial in their clarity.
“And ye’ll be fightin’ me every time I try to order ye around,” Archer continued.
She was studying every one of his movements, and Archer couldn’t help but grin down at his wife. He moved slowly, remembering the night a few nights ago when she had broken off their kiss and run out the door.
Archer didn’t want to spook her again, didn’t want to turn on her heel and run out the door. He was certain that if she did, he wouldn’t see her again for a few more days. And Archer simply could not abide by that.
But Emilie did not turn and run. She did not move at all, aside from shifting her weight a bit between her feet as Archer reached out his arms.
His hands came to rest on either of her hips, holding firm. He could feel her warmth through the swaths of fabric.
Emilie adjusted her body, moving so that she was even closer to him as she stepped into the embrace of Archer’s arms. Her chest pressed against his.
And finally, ever so slowly, Archer bent down, allowing his mouth to claim his wife’s.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
This is nothin’ like before.
Emilie sucked in a breath, allowing everything about the moment to wash over her. Archer’s mouth was warm against hers, moving in time with her own lips in an unhurried motion.
Every time they had kissed before, it had been hurried. It had been the action of something primal and desperate. But this did not feel like that.
Emilie leaned forward, plastering herself against her husband, allowing his mouth and his tongue to claim her entirely. The kiss was slow, it was deliberate. And it was filled with more passion and fire than she had yet to experience.
A moan rose in her throat, vibrating through her chest as Archer’s hand began to roam. His tongue darted out, swirling into Emilie’s own mouth.
She wanted more. Sheneededmore.
Desire coursed through her, hot and fierce and more alluring than anything she had ever known.