Highland Magic (34 page)

She lowered her head and looked at her hands,
clasped in her lap. She shrugged. “I was curious. They seemed to
like what they were doing very much, and I wanted to know what it
felt like, so...I asked you.”

Callum nuzzled her neck. “And now you know
from experience,” he whispered. “Tell me, is it as good as you
hoped? As it seemed to them?”

A gush of moisture flooded the junction of
her thighs. “Aaaye,” she sighed, her head lolling to the side to
give Callum better access to her neck. Her nipples tightened and
abraded the material of her chemise and tunic.

“I think its time, love. We’ve waited long
enough.”

“Aye,” she agreed.

The two of them stood and Branwenn watched
shyly as Callum hauled first his tunic and then his shirt over his
head—him with a knowing grin on his face the entire time!

“Now, ‘tis your turn,” he told her.

“Bu—but you still have on your braies and
hose!” She glanced even further down. “And your boots as well!”

“Aye. Those will come off last—after you’ve
removed your tunic and shirt.” He came closer and lightly ran his
finger over the hem of her shirt’s neckline. “Let me see those
sweet breasts, love. I crave another sight of that delightful
freckle I found that night.”

She dipped her head and, with numb fingers,
released the clasp of her girdle and let it fall to the floor.
Next, she began pulling up the hem of her tunic. With a jolt, she
felt Callum’s hands move her own aside and he quickly swung the
article of clothing over her head and onto the ground at their
feet. “Callum!” she squeaked. But, before she had time to recover
from that surprise, he did the same with her shirt.

The cool air of the cave had not been
lessened to much of a degree by the fire she’d made earlier and her
skin pebbled. Her nipples constricted so tightly they stung. She
tried to lift her arms to cross herself, but Callum took hold of
her wrists and forced them to remain at her side. The sound of his
rough breathing amplified and she forced herself to look up at him.
The heat in his eyes as he gazed upon her sent rivulets of heat
coursing through her, over her. Like warm honey, it traveled across
her skin, making her tremble.

“God, has there ever been a lady fairer than
you?” Callum said. He was in such a thrall to his bride that he was
not even aware he’d spoken the words aloud, until he heard her
answer, “Aye, many are much more fair. You should visit the court
at Pembroke, if you believe me not.”

“Branwenn,” Callum chided, “have you forgot?
I’ve seen my share of lasses and ladies in my time. Question me not
on this—you put the stars in the heavens to shame, your beauty
burns so bright.”

“Well, you have yet to see the rest of me—you
should hold your judgement until then, I trow.”

Callum chuckled. Stroking a stray lock of
silky black hair away from her cheek, he said, “Branwenn—I may not
have seen you with my eyes these past moons, but I’ve certainly
‘seen’ you with my hands, my mouth, my tongue, my body. I believe I
know your loveliness quite well.”

Wait until you see the
horrid blot on my thigh!
This made her
even more nervous. He’d found her attractive thus far—but, God! How
she hated that ugly thing. It made her cringe just to look upon it.
Which she rarely ever did. How could she expect Callum to feel any
differently about the thing? The old nurse was right. He’d surely
find it as disgusting as she and the nurse did. Could she bare to
see him turn from her in horror? Or worse, to try valiantly to hide
his revulsion? Nay, she could not.

Her heart began to pound and she grew dizzy
as she tried to catch her breath.

“Branwenn!” Callum stepped closer still.
Placing his hands on her shoulders, he bent his knees and tipped
his head to the side a bit so that he could see her face more
clearly. “What has you so afraid? How can a lass so bold as to
secretly watch two lovers coupling be so fearful of allowing her
lover—her husband—to see her in the bare?” He pressed his lips to
her temple and said softly, “Help me understand, I beg you.”

She began to tremble in his arms, and he knew
‘twas not from desire, but fear.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her
tightly to him, cradling the back of her head in his hand and
pressing his lips to her brow. The feel of their naked upper torsos
pressed so tightly together after so many sennights of waiting for
this very contact nearly made him go insane with the need to make
love to her once more. But he tamped down tight on that urge,
understanding that there was something vital regarding her
continued shyness with him that needed to be explained and finally,
finally, put to rest. “Tell me.”

Branwenn squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
“I—I’ve a...patch, a mark on me.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh,
God! I know you’ll find it as hideous as I do when you see it!”

Tho’ the last had been muffled, he still
understood the words. He lifted her chin and kissed her. Deeply,
passionately. She fought him at first, but in moments she was
returning the kiss with just as much feeling. When he felt her body
relax into him, felt the tension leave her limbs at last, he broke
away slightly and murmured, “Take these faery threads from your
delectable frame, my love. Let me see this thing that has you so
afraid—will you?”

After a brief pause, she nodded and stepped
out of his embrace. “Turn around and close your eyes.”

He knew better than to argue with her on that
score, for ‘twas plain how skittish she was and he had every
intention of doing all in his power to first lessen and then
finally rid her of that fear. He did as she bade. In moments, he
heard the familiar rustling of ties being loosened, of fabric being
slid from bare skin, followed by the light plop when it fell onto
the ground. Finally, an even more arousing sound came to his ears:
That of her sliding beneath the top sheet on the makeshift bed of
furs and the flapping sound of the woolen blanket as she opened it
and tossed it atop her as well.

In another moment, she said softly, “All
right, you may open your eyes now.”

Callum turned around and gazed upon her for
long minutes before he at last reached down and took his boots off.
He kept his braies and hose on, however, wanting to take things
slow this time. He got in bed beside her. Remaining on top of the
blanket, he unhurriedly rolled to position himself snugly over her.
Dipping his head, he kissed her. Softly at first, but then ever
more passionately, until, at last, he was exploring the recesses of
her mouth with his tongue.

Branwenn’s bones soon felt as if they were
consistency of warm honey, but somehow she managed to wrap her arms
around his waist. As the kiss progressed, her hands began to move
over him, exploring first the ridge of muscles along his back and
then going lower to rest over the hard, muscular mounds of his
linen-covered buttocks. He began to move. Lightly rocking against
her as she continued her long caress of his backside. Even through
the layers of clothing and bed covering, she could feel the urgency
of his arousal pressing against her mons, unerringly searching for
that tenderest of places just below its rise that would send her
reeling with little effort.

She wanted desperately to open for him, but
her lower limbs would not heed her demand. Instead, they remained
tightly clamped shut, tho’ all other parts of her body were as
fluid as mulled wine warmed o’er a winter hearth.

As Callum kissed his nervous bride, he
planned the course of his conquest. Who would have guessed, he
thought with amusement, that the tactics of warfare he’d been
taught by Bao and Daniel, might easily and successfully be employed
when seducing a shy bride?

First, learn your conquest’s weaknesses by
thorough exploration and then besiege them using every piece of
equipment in your arsenal.

Callum slowly broke away
from her mouth and lightly trailed kisses across her cheek; over to
her ear, where he spent considerable time teasing her earlobe with
his teeth; and then down her neck. At the base, where her neck met
her shoulder, he opened his mouth wide, suckling and lightly biting
the skin for long minutes. Branwenn whimpered, trembling beneath
him and his blood rushed, nearly out of control. But this time he
forced his mind to counting bottles of
uisge beatha
. For he would not hurry
this thing. Not this night, and not as had been their habit these
past moons. He would take control of his passion for her and he
would at last see this mark on her body that she was so afraid for
him to see.

Second, employ stealth, where necessary.

He released her at last from his mouth’s
grasp and soothed the teeth marks he’d left on her tender skin by
circling the design with the tip of his tongue.

“Oh!” Branwenn cried out, arching her back as
a shudder of sheer delight swept through her. When he blew on the
spot, her canal clenched tight and then widened. She was having
trouble catching her breath.

With light, damp kisses, Callum moved further
down, ever so slowly tugging the edge of the blanket and sheet away
to reveal her naked breasts as he went. He felt her tense beneath
him when she realized her upper torso was fully exposed to him, but
when he took the peak of her left breast into his mouth and softly
tickled it’s rosy bud with his tongue as he began a gentle suction
on it, she relaxed for a mere second before furiously arching into
him. Her hand came up to the back of his head and she pressed him
further against her. “Ohhh God!” she ground out.

Callum scooted his hand under the sheet and
blanket that was still pulled up to just below her waist and
splayed his fingers through the silken, curly hair covering her
mons. He rested it there a moment, gently caressing the soft,
cushion-like flesh beneath the hair as he released her left breast
and licked, nibbled and kissed his way over the rose-scented, warm
flesh valley to her right one and began the same onslaught on that
succulent mound.

When her pelvis began rocking against his
hand, he crept lower still. Finding her thighs still tightly
clamped shut, he wriggled his middle finger down between them and,
first taking a bit of her dew onto it from her drenched canal, he
brought it up and rotated it over the tender hooded nubbin that
crowned her lush sex.

In seconds, her thighs were spread and her
hips were churning in rhythm to his finger’s ministration. She was
growing so slick now, he was having a hard time staying on
target.

Branwenn thrashed her head back and forth and
threw her arms high over her head. “Ohgodohgodohgodohgod,” she
moaned. She felt her body begin to tremor and quake as Callum
brought her ever closer to release.

Knowing she was nearing orgasm, Callum
suckled harder on her taut nipple and redoubled his teasing
caresses of her sensitive core until she at last climaxed.

“Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!” Her body went rigid with
the shattering pleasure of release. When it was over, she collapsed
back, breathing hard. Too weak to even open her eyes, she lay there
with her head turned to the side, enjoying the slight dizzying
effect such an experience always gave her.

Third, wait until your conquest’s guard is
down.

Callum swept the covering off her, and off
the makeshift bed as well, and for the first time saw the gorgeous,
red center of her, ornamented by lovely black curls.
“Godamercy!”

Fourth, attack.

Callum swooped.

Branwenn’s eyes flew open
and her legs clenched firmly shut. “Oh, God! You hate it! I
knew
you would! It’s
horrid!” She covered her eyes with the base of her palms, her face
crumpling.

Fifth, when all else fails, know when to
make an organized retreat.

Callum raised up on his knees and looked down
at her, mentally kicking himself. “I didn’t see the patch,
Branwenn. ‘Twas merely an utterance of desire I gave.” She slid her
hands from her eyes and looked at him. He saw hope reflected there,
but also dread. “Enough, love. I’m putting out the tapers, for ‘tis
not my wish for any portion of our night together to be unpleasant
for you.”

He began to rise to his feet, but Branwenn
stayed his movement by taking hold of his wrist. “Nay, you mustn’t.
For, I promised you that I would reveal all to you this night, and
I want you to know all. I beg pardon. Please, give me another
chance to do this thing.”

Callum studied her for long seconds. Her
dew-misted, crushed violet eyes held regret and earnestness in
their depths. “You are sure?” he said at last.

“Aye, I am sure,” she replied.

She surprised him then. She bent her knees
and spread her legs wide, revealing even more of herself to him
than he’d seen earlier.

His heart tripped and began a hard thudding
beat against the inside of his rib cage. Again, his eyes focused
only on that lovely feminine berth he longed to explore and,
ultimately, find dock in.

Branwenn gritted her teeth and forced her
eyes to remain on Callum’s countenance. His eyes were hot emerald
coals, his nostrils flared with harsh breath. Curiously, his gaze
had yet to settle on the grotesque mark on her left thigh.

“I want to taste you,” he ground out.

Her heart began to pound, both with the
familiar anticipation those words always built in her, but also the
dread that came with it. She couldn’t explain it, tho’ she’d tried
often enough, both to him and to herself, but she feared that he’d
be revolted by her flavor. It just didn’t seem clean for some
reason. After all, ‘twas the place her flowering came from. Tasting
Callum just wasn’t the same thing. Not at all.

“What if you find me...ill-flavored?”

Callum hastily settled on his side beside
her, leaning up on his forearm and elbow. “How can you say such?
For you are a succulent morsel, my sweet. Sometimes, in fact, I
think you are too succulent.” He settled his hand over her abdomen.
“Let me taste you finally, the way you’ve tasted me so oft.”