Medieval Ever After (106 page)

He grunted in annoyance, and she realized that he was still trying to loosen the ties on her dress.

“Is everything all right back there?” she said. He craned his head over her shoulder to try to get a look at what his hands were doing.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered. “I think it’s knotted.”

The intoxicating combination of their bodies so close, of their heated kiss, and of his bare torso was making her feel giddy. She laughed wildly.

“Just break the ties.”

He pulled her closer so that she was pressed against his chest. Then he swept a hand around her hair to brush it over one of her shoulders. He took the ties in hand, and she could feel his muscles flex as he gave a tug. The ties popped and her dress loosened.

He set her back from him by a foot, and she helped him pull down the thick woolen dress. Then she was standing before him in nothing but her linen chemise. The relative coolness of the chamber against her skin was like a breath of fresh air. But before she could get used to it, he pressed his half-naked body against her once more, and heat suffused her.

He took control of her mouth with a deep kiss. She clung to his shoulders, digging in her nails to stay anchored in the storm of sensation barraging her. Without warning, he scooped her up in his arms as if she were as light as a feather and placed her on his large bed.

He loomed over her, but he kept his weight on his hands so as not to crush her. He leaned down to kiss her again, but instead of finding her mouth, he sought her neck. His mouth and tongue worked up toward her ear, causing her to shiver despite the heat coursing through her. Then he moved to her collar and the edge of her chemise.

He shifted his weight onto an elbow so that one of his hands was free. This time, he made quick work of the ties on her chemise, and before she knew it, she felt cool air brushing against her breasts. He remained motionless, though.

She lifted her head off the bed to see what he was doing. He was frozen above her, gazing at her exposed chest.

“I have dreamed of this moment,” he said lowly, his eyes devouring her.

“You have? Why?”

He glanced up at her with one dark eyebrow cocked. “Because you are beautiful. And because we are making love.”

She frowned in confusion. “What do my breasts have to do with it?”

“Do you know what making love entails, lass?”

She felt her cheeks heat, but she wouldn’t cower like a silly girl. She knew the basics, at least.

“I know that it involves you putting your…” She swallowed. Perhaps she
was
just a silly girl after all.

“Cock.”

Her pulse hitched with a combination of embarrassment and anticipation at his voice.

“It involves you putting your…cock…inside me.”

His eyes seared her for a moment. “Aye, it does. But it involves a lot more than that. It involves pleasure—for both of us. Tell me, Rona, does this give you pleasure?”

He lowered his dark head toward one of her breasts and flicked his tongue across her nipple.

A bolt of lightning could not have scorched her deeper or hotter. She jerked and arched at the sensation, her head falling back on the bed.

“How about this?” He took her nipple into his mouth and laved it slowly, teasing and caressing with his velvety tongue.

She moaned in response. If she had thought her body was enflamed before, now she was engulfed in a raging fire.

“What about this?” he said against her breast. One of his hands slipped under the hem of her chemise and moved slowly up her inner thigh. His fingers inched toward the crux of her legs torturously. When he reached the juncture of her legs, he slid one finger down the seam of her sex.

She gasped, and her legs opened a bit more for him. She suddenly realized that she was damp there, though she didn’t know why.

She didn’t have time to think about it, though, for his mouth closed on her other breast as he parted the folds of her sex with his fingers. He brushed against a spot above her opening, and she bucked and moaned with abandon as pleasure consumed her.

The sensations kept piling on top of one another, crashing into her relentlessly as she struggled for breath, struggled just to feel it all. His fingers moved faster between her legs, and his mouth teased first one breast and then the other. Time fell away, and all that existed was pure sensation.

She felt like she was wheeling higher and higher, climbing toward the sun, reaching for its warmth and light. Then suddenly she was soaring through the radiant heavens. She cried out as pleasure broke over her and she was suffused with it.

As she drifted back to earth, her eyes fluttered open and she was met with Daniel’s hungry, penetrating stare.

“Open for me,” he commanded raggedly. Languidly, she opened her legs wider, and he pushed her chemise up so that it pooled around her waist on the bed.

Never taking his eyes from her, he fumbled with his belt. Once it was unfastened, his kilt slid from his hips, and he tossed the material aside. She raised her head slightly, and the sight before her cut through her dreamy pleasure.

Daniel was illuminated from behind by the now-low fire in the chamber’s brazier. The hard lines of his torso continued down the rest of his body. But her eyes focused on one particularly rigid part of him. His manhood—his cock, as he had called it—stood out from the dark patch of hair between his legs. It was hard and long and very large.

She swallowed. She only knew one thing about lovemaking, and she didn’t think it would work with his size.

Before she could voice her concerns, he was positioning himself between her spread legs.

Seeming to read her mind, he lowered his body over hers but paused. “It will only hurt the first time,” he breathed.

She swallowed again and nodded silently. She was no coward, and she wanted this.

He guided the head of his swollen cock to her entrance and then slowly pressed inside an inch. She tensed at the new sensation, but it wasn’t entirely painful—just different. His fingers rose to one of her breasts, and the heat she experienced before began to burn once more. She relaxed a little, but then he pressed forward farther.

Now there was a pinch of pain, a tightness that was growing uncomfortable. She tried to shift a little to alleviate it, which drew a pained groan from Daniel. She darted a glance at his face, which was next to hers, and she realized that his jaw was clenched and sweat beaded on his brow. He looked like he was fighting for control—and losing.

She tried to shift again, and it was the last straw. With something between a groan and a curse, Daniel plunged all the way inside her.

She cried out as she was torn in two, the pain searing through her. He covered her cry with a kiss, and then he slowly began rocking their hips together. The rocking motion sent more tendrils of pain through her, but her body began adjusting to the new fullness. She kissed him back even as a few tears slipped down the sides of her face.

Just as the pain ebbed to a manageable level, he withdrew slightly, and she suddenly felt empty where she had never before felt full. But quickly he slid back inside her, and the fullness returned, this time with less pain.

He began to build a slow rhythm with his thrusts, all the while letting his fingers tease and caress her breasts. Somewhere along the way, the pain shifted to pleasure, and she found herself climbing toward the heavens once again.

He quickened his rhythm, sending her careening into release. A mere heartbeat after she reached the pinnacle, he groaned, and she felt him tense under her fingertips. Then he collapsed on top of her, even more spent than she was.

Several moments passed where the only thing they could do was try to catch their breath. But eventually, he rolled onto his back next to her.

“I see what you mean now about lovemaking involving pleasure,” she said breathily, casting him a sideways glance.

To her surprise, he chuckled. His normally serious face transformed in the firelight, and he looked much less fearsome.

“Aye, when it’s done right.”

That sparked her curiosity. “Are there other ways of doing it?”

He turned fully toward her and pinned her with a heated look.

“Aye, there are. We’ll have to do some exploring later. But you need your rest. You might be a bit sore.” He sobered suddenly. “I’m…I’m sorry I doubted you, Rona. I’m sorry I questioned your honor.”

His apology, awkward and halting as it was, struck her like an arrow in the heart. “Thank you,” she whispered.

But then she blushed and averted her eyes. “But you had reason to doubt me. I
gave
you reason.”

He frowned and opened his mouth, and Rona was sure that he would ask her again about what she was keeping from him. But then he stopped himself and sighed. Finally, he spoke.

“I suppose that’s the rub when it comes to trust,” he said quietly.

She lay silently next to him, contemplating his words. She wanted him to trust her, but she didn’t want to risk telling him her secret. He wanted her to tell him the truth, but he couldn’t force it out of her.

Even these troubled thoughts couldn’t keep sleep at bay for long, though. She drifted into oblivion as Daniel pulled her into his arms.

HIGHLANDER’S RECKONING

CHAPTER TWELVE

Rona woke just
before dawn. She was disoriented at first, but then slowly the memories of her fight with Daniel, their lovemaking, and a night of sleep in his embrace filtered back to her. Despite her fatigue, she had slept fitfully, chewing on her thoughts like a bitter cud all night.

She had to tell him the truth. Mairi was right—if she could share a bed with him, then she’d better be able to share more than that. If their marriage was ever going to be a happy one, she had to take a leap of faith.

But the secret she kept wasn’t just hers. It was also Ian and Mairi’s—and they would pay the higher cost. She had to speak with them before she told Daniel about their falcons.

Even in just the two weeks she’d known him, she sensed intuitively that he was fair and just. But he also placed a high value on respect and loyalty. Would he see their practice of falconry as a dangerous act of rebellion against their King? Would he see her as disloyal or even traitorous?

The risk was great, but she couldn’t continue lying and hiding things from him. She just hoped that Mairi and Ian would give her their blessing to reveal their secret to Daniel.

She disentangled herself from Daniel and rose from the bed slowly. As she gathered her discarded clothes, she cast a glance at his sleeping form. She sent up a prayer that he would understand, then silently slipped out of his chamber.

Daniel remained motionless as Rona moved quietly around the chamber. He counted to ten after she closed the door behind her and then sat up.

Could the lass be shy even after the incredible night they had shared? Perhaps she just wanted to go to her chamber to freshen up. He tossed the coverlet back and decided to do the same.

He found his discarded kilt and belt and slowly went about the task of repleating and buckling the plaid. He let his mind roam over the events of last night. Christ, he’d never had such a powerful connection with a lass before. Her body, her little noises of pleasure, her responsiveness to his touch—she drove him half-mad with desire.