She tensed against the unfamiliar invasion. "Is this ye?"
"It's my finger. I'm trying to ease my way so I dinnae hurt ye." He kissed her again, and lost in the magic his lips made on hers, she relaxed enough to receive him.
"It feels odd," she said in a tight voice.
"Dinnae resist," he crooned, kissing the side of her neck in a place that always created cascades of thrills.
Mhairi sucked in another breath, and her body accepted his incursion more naturally. It was almost…enjoyable. Then he touched a hidden place inside her and pleasure sparked. Soon his finger was moving in and out of her. When Callum shifted to the side, she rose on her elbows to see what he was doing.
There was something primally exciting about watching him put part of himself inside her body. The insistent rhythm made her blood pound hot and heavy. She lay back against the pillows and gave him his will.
A stretching sensation told her he'd changed from one finger to two. This time, her untried body accepted him more easily. Soon she tilted her hips to encourage his powerful caresses.
Through her haze of joy, she hardly noticed when he caught her hips and lifted her toward him. This time the pressure was heavier and larger.
And uncomfortable, despite all his care in preparing her.
She opened her eyes to see him poised above her, his torrent of dark hair tumbling over his cheeks. "That's ye," she whispered.
"Aye, that's me. Does it hurt?"
She frowned as the insistent pressure built. "It's no’…pleasant."
Callum grunted and inched forward. She winced as her body adjusted to accommodate him.
"Lift your knees higher," he said hoarsely. "It might help."
Mhairi shifted to take him at a different angle.
"That’s better," she said as he edged deeper, then her breath escaped in a sharp huff as she felt something tear. Pain lanced through her, and she dug her fingernails into his back.
He groaned and took her in one massive thrust that pushed her deep into the mattress and shocked the breath from her body. She braced for more pain, but there was just a delicious sensation of fullness. She was no longer sure where her body ended and his started.
Callum lifted himself up on his arms and met her eyes. She read such love in his face that the tension flowed from her body and she softened under him.
"Now you're mine in every way, mo leannan."
"Aye," she said in wonder, as discomfort seeped away to be replaced by an emotional completion that left her astounded. This moment united them in a way she couldn't define, but she knew was invincible. She and Callum were joined forever, whatever happened.
When he’d first pushed inside her, her hands had formed talons in his back. Now they flattened and began to stroke him with a possessiveness she'd never felt before. Because while he might claim her as his, no less did she claim him as hers.
Strife, danger and defiance had propelled them to this sublime moment. With her husband resting hard inside her, she discovered a surpassing peace. Excitement and arousal still hovered close, but in these few radiant seconds, she recognized that her husband was the other half of her soul. This was just where she was meant to be, lying in Callum Mackinnon's arms in the big bed where God willing she'd give birth to the next laird of Achnasheen.
For time beyond measuring, they remained still. He buried his head in her shoulder. Her body gradually became accustomed to the hard, huge masculine presence inside her. The brief pain became a distant memory, and Mhairi started to pay attention to other things. The musky scent weighting the air. The smooth, hot skin beneath her hands as they played up and down that powerful back. The soft tickle of his hair against her neck.
The muscles she caressed were taut, and he breathed in great gusts. There was something shatteringly intimate about feeling every breath Callum took, as if they now shared a single life.
Mhairi shifted and made an incoherent grumble. This was marvelous, but even with him supporting himself on his elbows, he was heavy. Her protesting wriggle made her release a startled gasp. When she moved, the sensations inside her changed most delightfully, and she felt a renewed tingle of arousal.
Callum raised his head, and she met his gaze. His eyelids lowered heavy over his dark eyes, his mouth was fuller than usual, and the skin drew tight over those spectacular cheekbones.
"Are ye all right?" She brushed that fall of raven hair from his face. "You're shaking."
A smile eased his strain, and he bent to kiss her. Her whole body tautened at the touch of his lips, and he groaned as he lifted his head. "Do that again, mo chridhe."
This time she deliberately clenched around him. He closed his eyes with a luxuriant enjoyment she couldn't mistake.
"Like that?" She already knew the answer. More, moving around him like this sparked all kinds of lovely sensations inside her, too.