The Highlander Takes a Bride (15 page)

Greer released a small breath and then glanced down at himself. He was a muckle mess, his plaid half unpleated and hanging askew, his shirt stained with what appeared to be whiskey. Greer supposed he’d passed out with his whiskey in hand. That, or Saidh’s brothers had poured their drinks on him after he’d passed out.

Grimacing, he left the room to head to his own.

“Oh Greer, good morn, son,” Aunt Tilda said with a smile as he entered his room. “Did ye sleep well?”

He glanced to where she sat at Alpin’s bedside, nodded and asked, “How’s the lad?”

“Still feverish,” Lady MacDonnell said with a sigh, reaching to caress the sleeping boy’s head.

Greer frowned and then opened his chest to retrieve a fresh shirt and plaid. Slinging them over his shoulder, he then walked over to feel Alpin’s head. He was warm, but not as bad as he’d been the day before and Greer relaxed and straightened. His gaze shifted to his aunt. “There’s no need fer ye to sit at the boy’s bedside. One o’ the maids can do it.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” Lady MacDonnell said with a smile, brushing a strand of hair off Alpin’s forehead. “I do no’ mind.”

Greer bent to kiss her cheek lightly, murmuring, “Thank ye.”

Straightening, he then headed for the door. “I’m heading to the loch to clean up. I’ll no’ be long.”

“Ye should really order a bath up here instead. Ye’ll catch yer death swimming in that cold loch,” Aunt Tilda said quietly.

Greer opened his mouth to respond, and then paused abruptly as he recalled that her son had drown in the loch. In the end, he merely murmured, “Mayhap next time,” and slid out of the room.

He didn’t see Saidh at the table when he passed through the great hall to reach the doors. Her brothers were all there though, and every one of them was smiling or laughing as they ate and talked. It seemed they were not affected by the excessive amounts of drink they’d imbibed last night. Even Dougall, who had been the first to pass out, was chuckling at something one of the men said, looking completely untroubled by the same throbbing Greer was suffering.

Scowling to himself, Greer headed outside.

“Good morn, m’laird,” the stable master said in greeting as he led Greer’s horse out of the stables. “I saw ye coming and thought ye might be after yer wife and want yer horse.”

Greer had taken the reins and started to mount, but paused with a hand on the saddle horn and one foot in the stirrups to glance to the man with surprise. “After me wife?”

“Aye. She left on her horse but moments ago,” the man said with a nod. “Headed toward the loch, it looked to me.”

Greer nodded and mounted his horse, his mood suddenly lifting a bit.

Saidh dove under the water and swam for a distance, then surfaced again. The water had felt ice cold when she’d first entered the loch, but she’d adjusted rather quickly and was now enjoying herself. She’d come here because it had seemed a better idea than staying at the keep and knocking her brothers’ heads together. If she had to listen again to them chuckling about the fine trick they’d played on Greer last night, Saidh thought she could happily run at least one of them through. The bastards had deliberately set out to leave him an unconscious mess. Had he succeeded with Rory as he had with Dougall, then Geordie had intended to challenge him next. Saidh was not sure how they’d phrased the challenge to ensure he accepted, but whatever it was had apparently been effective.

“Ye should ne’er swim alone. If nothing else, Allen’s death should tell ye that.”

Saidh spun in the water to peer to shore, her eyebrows rising when she saw Greer sliding off his mount.

“Aye? And so ye ne’er swim alone then?” she asked dryly as she watched him tether his beast next to her own at the edge of the clearing. He then walked over to set a clean plaid and shirt on a boulder by the edge of the water.

“Oh, aye, all the time,” he admitted with amusement as he began to remove his plaid and shirt from last night. “But I should no’.”

“Then I shall make a deal with ye,” Saidh offered. “You ne’er swim alone and I will no’ either.”

“Done,” Greer agreed easily, tossing his plaid and shirt aside and pausing to prop his hands on his hips and contemplate her. “Are ye naked lass?”

“No more naked than ye are,” she assured him, her gaze sliding over his body. If the man was standing there posing in the hopes of raising her lust with his magnificence . . . well, it was working, she admitted to herself with derision. Really, God had gifted him with a fine body. “Are ye just going to stand there all day, or will ye be coming in?”

“Oh, I’ll be coming,” he assured her with a wicked smile and started into the water. He walked out until the water was just above his knees, then raised his arms and made a shallow dive under the water’s surface.

Saidh watched the water between them, trying to spot his approach, but didn’t see him until he suddenly splashed up out of the water directly in front of her.

“Good morn,” he growled and she felt his arm slide around her waist under the water, and then he dragged her against his chest and claimed her lips. Saidh smiled against his mouth and wrapped her arms and legs around him to keep from swaying in the water. Feeling his erection bob against her bottom, she pulled back from his kiss and arched an eyebrow.

“How are ye feeling this morn, me laird?” she asked sweetly.

“Better now,” he said with a grin, shifting his hands down to clasp her bottom and squeeze gently.

“And did ye enjoy playing with me brothers?” she asked dryly.

“No’ nearly as much as I enjoy playing with you,” he assured her, shifting her slightly. Saidh’s eyes widened when his erection rubbed against her and then was caught between them.

“How did they convince ye to play their drinking games?” she asked a little breathlessly as he shifted her to rub against him again.

“They said ye could drink all o’ them under the table and surely I wanted to prove I was a better man than ye,” he admitted wryly.

Saidh chuckled and shook her head. “I have drunk all o’ them under the table, all but Aulay,” she added. “And only one at a time.”

“Ah,” he said dryly and then shrugged. “If nothing else, they seem to hate me a little less now. At least only one o’ them threatened to kill me this morning.”

“Aulay?” Saidh asked with amusement.

“Aye,” Greer said wryly. “Although he did include the others in the threat, saying they’d all come after me if I hurt ye.”

Saidh tilted her head and eyed him with interest. “Ye do no’ appear to be overly concerned by the threat.”

“Because it’s no’ a worry, since I ha’e no plans to hurt ye,” he assured her solemnly.

Saidh stared at him silently, and then tightened her legs around his waist and stretched up to kiss him.

Greer kissed her back briefly, but then pulled back to point out. “Ye ken we’ve yet to consummate the marriage?”

“That is no’ my fault,” she pointed out dryly. “I was waiting patiently abed last night when me brothers carried yer drunk arse in and dropped ye on the bed, antlers and all.”

“Antlers?” he asked with a start. Greer had been carrying her toward shore, but paused now to peer at her with amazement.

Saidh nodded. “Ye had antlers strapped to yer head. The strapping was tied under yer chin like a bairn’s bonnet. Ye looked quite ridiculous,” she added.

“Yer brothers must ha’e done it,” he said grimly as he continued out of the water, and then added, “They do no’ seem to like me much.”

Saidh nearly laughed at his confounded expression as he said that. She managed not to though, and simply pointed out, “Ye seem surprised.”

“Aye, well, e’ery one likes me usually . . . except mayhap the men I’ve killed,” he allowed thoughtfully.

Her eyebrows rose. “Ha’e ye killed many men, then?”

“Oh, aye,” he said as if it was of no account. “I would ha’e had to be verra bad at what I did to earn me coin if that were no’ the case.”

“Oh, aye, ye were a sword fer hire,” she recalled as he stopped in the middle of the clearing. Saidh waited until he’d set her on the plaid he’d discarded earlier, and then leaned back on her elbows and asked, “What was that like?”

Greer was silent for a minute, his gaze sliding over her naked wet body. Once he’d looked his fill, he turned his attention back to her face and arched an eyebrow. “Would ye rather I talk or get to the consummating?”

“Can ye no’ do both?” she taunted.

“O’ course. I just did no’ think ye’d want me to,” he said as he dropped to his knees beside her. “Since it would mean no’ being able to kiss ye.”

Saidh’s eyes widened at that announcement and she sat up. Slipping one hand around his neck to urge him toward her, she whispered, “Ye were right,” against his lips, and then slid her tongue out to run along them.

Releasing, a low growl, Greer slid his arms around her and covered her mouth with his in a slow, sweet kiss that left them both breathless and clinging to each other.

“I need ye, lass,” Greer groaned, urging her back to lie flat on his plaid, his hands now moving over her body, caressing every inch revealed to him.

Saidh shifted restlessly under his touch, her hands covering his and giving a brief, encouraging squeeze before moving on to touch him. One hand slid up his arm to find and massage his chest, but the other dropped to the knee beside her and began to run up it. She’d nearly reached the stiff erection poking up between his legs when Greer gave off caressing her to snatch the hand away.

“ ’Twill be over ere we’ve begun do ye—” his words died on a startled gasp as Saidh suddenly sat up, letting her other hand drop to claim the prize the first had failed at grasping. Holding him firmly, she prevented any protest he may have offered by kissing him.

Greer hesitated, and then opened his mouth to kiss her back. Saidh sighed her pleasure into his mouth as his tongue plunged inside, and was so distracted by his kisses for a moment that her hand remained still, merely clasping him. When she did recall what she’d intended to do and started to slide her hand tentatively along his sheath, Greer broke their kiss.

“But—” Saidh began in protest, and then snapped her mouth closed in surprise when he abruptly caught her by the waist and turned her in front of him so that she knelt with her back to his chest. “What—?”

Saidh nearly bit her tongue off with surprise when he plastered his chest to her back, his arms snaking around her body so that he could cup and caress a breast with one hand, while the other slid down between her legs.

“Oh,” Saidh moaned, pushing back against him as his skilled fingers slid between the folds of her womanhood to find the nub it hid. When his fingers then began to dance lightly over the sensitive flesh, she shifted into the touch, gasping, “Oh, husband.”

Greer nipped and then suckled at her neck in response, then removed the hand at her breast to urge her face around for another kiss. Saidh responded eagerly, alternately thrusting her own tongue out to meet his, and then retrieving it so that she could suck on his instead. All the while her hips were riding the caressing hand between her legs, her bottom pressing and rubbing against his rock hard erection where it was caught between their bodies and then moving forward again into his touch.

When he suddenly broke their kiss, Saidh moaned in protest, then gave a gasp of surprise when he pressed on her back, forcing her forward on her knees. Releasing the stranglehold she hadn’t realized she’d had on his hands, Saidh reached out to catch herself, hands flat on the ground, and then she cried out with surprised pleasure as he suddenly thrust into her from behind.

Already on the verge of succumbing to her pleasure, his suddenly filling her pushed Saidh over the edge and her surprised cry was followed by a scream of pleasure that sent the birds flapping in the trees overhead.

Greer froze, his erection planted deep inside her as her body convulsed around him. But he didn’t stop caressing her, and, finding herself extremely sensitive there of a sudden, Saidh braced herself on one hand and started to reach back with the other to urge his caressing fingers away, but then gasped in surprise and quickly returned her hand to the ground to brace herself as he withdrew and then thrust into her again. Much to her amazement, after three or four thrusts, the excitement that she’d thought was spent began to build in her again, stoked by both his touch and his erection sliding in and out of her.

Planting her hands more firmly and shifting her knees a little further apart to adjust to a more pleasing angle, Saidh began to push back into his thrusts almost violently, demanding the release that lay just out of reach. She had nearly found it again when Greer suddenly withdrew both his hands and his body. Saidh glanced sharply over her shoulder, ready to bellow at him for it, then gasped instead when he caught her by the hips and flipped her like a bairn in a cradle. She landed on her back with an “oomph” and then simply stared in amazement when he caught her by the ankles, lifted her legs and thrust into her again from this new position.

Saidh simply gaped at the man’s face where it was framed by her ankles, not at all sure she liked this position. Apparently, he wasn’t as pleased with it as he’d thought he’d be either, because just as quickly as he’d changed positions earlier, he released her ankles, then caught her by the waist and lifted her up even as he sat back on his haunches. Now she was straddling his lap and she was able to wrap her arms around his shoulders and hold on as he raised and lowered her with his hands on her bottom.

Her breasts rubbed against his chest with each motion and while he wasn’t able to caress her with his fingers this way, his cock did that for him, rubbing against her core each time he withdrew. Saidh liked it, especially when he began to kiss her as well . . . although, she soon had trouble concentrating on the kissing, and began merely to suck on his tongue almost desperately as her body pulled into a tight ball of anticipation.

This time they both found their pleasure almost at the same moment, Saidh barely beginning to cry out with release before Greer joined in with a bellow that was probably heard all the way back to the castle. They rode out the waves together, clinging to each other like children lost in a storm, and then Greer tumbled backward, taking her with him to lie on his chest in the safety of his arms as they both struggled to regain their breath.