Morna's Legacy 04 - Love Beyond Measure (18 page)

As far as I could see, motherhood was the greatest blessing one could receive in life, but with it came a sort of constant, eternal sense of guilt I’d yet to learn how to shake. I’d spent much of my childhood alone under the care of nannies or Jeffrey’s father, and I remembered wondering why my parents didn’t want to spend time with me. What was so important that they were always gone?

I didn’t ever want Cooper to wonder where I was, to ever question whether I thought something else was more important than him. I’d not been able to take a yoga class or get a massage since his birth without feeling guilty for leaving him.

Eoghanan must have sensed my hesitation for he stopped kissing me. Although he kept our bodies pressed together, my back still against the wall, he cupped my head in his hands and spoke. “Where are ye lass? For ’tis no right here with me.”

I closed my eyes in resignation of how right he was. I wanted nothing more than to be present, in this moment, to enjoy him in every imaginable way, but something resisted. “Coop, he…”

Eoghanan didn’t allow me to finish, covering my mouth with one of his palms. “Hush, Grace. This night is no about Cooper, nor Jeffrey, nor anyone else within these walls. Ye needn’t worry about him. He’s with his dad and our new guests, one of whom I know has him up in her lap talking all about his wee dinosaurs. Bri loves children and, even if ye were with Cooper now, she will be the one who has his attention. Tonight…” he released his grip on my mouth and lifted me away from the wall, keeping both hands behind me as he worked at my laces. He spoke in between kisses he placed strategically along my collarbone, “…only ye and me exist in the world. We must help rid the other of the chains we place ourselves in.”

He travelled his kisses up the side of my neck, along my jawline as he let go of the laces. He gripped the top of my sleeves and pulled, sending my dress to the floor as he kissed me on the lips once more.

His breathing escalated instantaneously, though I knew he’d yet to glance down at my naked body. His eyes were locked with my own, his voice deep and husky with desire.

“I love ye, Grace. I am no saying it because I want ye in me bed. I say it because I’ve loved ye since the first time I saw ye. Before ye knew of me existence, I loved ye.”

I’d fallen for a similar line once before and wound up with Cooper, but unlike the time before when the man’s confession had been laced with beer and delivered simultaneously with the opening of a condom, I felt the truthfulness of Eoghanan’s words somewhere deep inside.

It was not the first time I’d felt such a conviction—Eoghanan said nothing he didn’t mean. I wouldn’t either.

“I won’t tell you that part of me doesn’t worry that I’m just too caught up in this, that it’s foolish of me to say it, because it wouldn’t be true. I am worried. I’m scared to death, Eoghanan. I’m scared because I know what you mean. That first time in the kitchen, I felt something too and that seems completely crazy to me.” I was rambling but I couldn’t stop, my breath coming so rapidly that each intake of air caused my breasts to push against his chest. “Completely crazy. I mean, who does that? Feels this way so fast. It’s nuts.”

Both of my hands lay on his shoulders, and I found that I was shaking him a bit, and he regarded me with a confused expression.

“I only understood mayhap three words of that, lass. That was a good deal too many words when all I can think about is how much I want to pull those teasing breasts of yers into me mouth. Please say it again, lass, only with less words.”

I laughed, leaning in to kiss him gently before moving my lips to his ear. “I only meant, I love you too.”

He groaned a deep, delighted sound. In that instant, he lifted me, my legs coming around his waist, his mouth crushing mine as he carried me to his bed. He lay me back gently, rising slowly so that he could stand and look down at me.

I was entirely exposed. I’d not been naked in front of a man since before pregnancy, and my body didn’t have the same flawless look it once had. I moved my hands to cover my stomach self-consciously, hoping he wouldn’t notice the effort. He did of course.

“Move yer hands, lass.”

I kept them in place, shaking my head side to side on the bed. “I’d rather not. It’s…”

“I know what they are, Grace. Do ye really think I’m someone that ye should be worried about yer scars with?”

Valid point, but his scar was sort of beautiful. It made him look brave, rugged, and slightly dangerous. I tried to tell him as much. “Yeah, but your scar is sexy. These things…”

Again, he interrupted me, bending to pry my hands off of the flat of my stomach. He kissed the marks, trailing the faded white lines with his lips. “These ‘things’ as ye call them are reminders of the wonderful lad that ye created, lass. Ye should be proud of them, for they make ye even more beautiful than ye already are.”

I surrendered then, allowing him to kiss me at will, any sense of self-consciousness gone. He trailed his kisses lower, nibbling along the inside of my thigh, moving perilously close to the center of my thighs. I couldn’t take it, and I squirmed beneath him. I’d gone too long untouched, and if he kissed me there…I wanted to climax with him inside me.

“Eoghanan…take off your clothes.”

With his scar no longer tender, he’d been free to don his kilt. He removed it with far too much ease, hardly looking up from his pleasure. I reached down to pull on his hair, hoping he would rise up and meet me.

He crawled slowly over me, nudging my legs apart with his knee before drawing one of my nipples deep into his mouth. I moaned and my hips arched upward, brushing against his erection.

I’d already seen him naked, but to feel him hard and ready against me was enough to make me buck against him in the hopes that he would enter me more quickly.

He smiled up at me knowingly but made no move to hurry himself. Instead, he shifted over me so that he could slip one hand in between my legs while kissing me.

He groaned in response to my readiness. His fingers slipped easily inside me as he sucked on my lower lip, dancing his fingers in and out and over my sensitive nub.

“Eoghanan…I, you have to stop, or I…I’ll…” I could hardly form a cohesive sentence.

He delighted in it. “Or ye’ll what, lass? ’Tis it no the great pleasure of women that ye may find yer pleasure more than once?”

I simply cried out in response to him, arching my hips into the palm of his hand as I quivered in response to his touch.

“Aye, ’tis, lass, and this night I shall do all I can to help ye find it over and over again.”

He kissed me, patiently waiting for my trembles to subside before pushing me open once again, readying me to accept him. Slowly, he pushed inside me, his breathing escalating with every increasing inch.

“Oh, Grace, I have spent many a night dreaming of what ’twould feel like to be inside ye. No one of me dreams prepared me for this. I could live inside ye.”

We moved together and another climax built quickly within me, and I matched him as he neared the edge of release. When he shuttered within me, I clenched around him, and both of us cried out, my fingernails digging into his shoulders.

“Ach, I knew ye would do that, lass. I doona know why, but I knew it.”

I laughed as he relaxed against my shoulder, slowly rolling onto his side.

“I know,” I rolled over to face him, my body still humming with aftershocks. “You said something about that the other night.”

He grinned, kissing my fingertips that lay loosely between our faces. “Ach, I said many things I no should have.”

“Why not?”

“Mayhap ’twas no so much that I shouldn’t have said them, only that I would no usually say them.”

I nodded, agreeing that was most definitely what it had been, and slowly my eyes started to drift closed. I was happy, and loose, and exhausted. Just as I’d begun to dream, Eohganan wrapped his arms around me and pinched me on the rear.

“Oh no, ye doona get to sleep yet, lass. Do ye no remember what I told ye?”

I opened one eye, leaving the other closed. “What’s that?”

“Twice does no equal ‘over and over.’ I am no done with ye yet.”

He had to be kidding. How could he possibly have the energy? “Let’s at least take a cat nap first.” I scooted in to him, moving my head to his chest and draping one of my legs across him.

“Ye are mad if ye think I’ll be able to sleep with ye lying naked across me.” He pulled his head back to look at me. “Grace, what is a ‘cat nap’?”

I yawned, stretching into him. “It’s an expression, it just means a short nap.”

He shook his head, rolling me off him so that he could face me. “A short nap would turn into a long sleep.”

“Mmmhmm…” I allowed my eyes to drift closed once again. This time he didn’t argue, instead standing to pull back the blankets.

“At least get in the bed, lass.”

I did as he asked, rolling to the open part before tucking my legs inside. He joined me, pulling me close to him.

“Thank you,” I whispered, planting a kiss on the side of his cheek.

“For what?” He grinned into my lips.

“For not allowing me to talk myself out of this.” Voices travelled down the hallway outside his door and I spoke to him, my voice teasing. “See? Everybody is going to bed. It’s time to sleep.”

“Aye, our guests are being shown to their rooms.” He paused, his eyebrows scrunching up in the middle.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m counting. I doona think we have enough bedchambers.”

I smiled, laughing into his chest. “You didn’t, but you do now.”

“Did ye build us one, Grace? ’Tis a talent I dinna know ye had.”

“No. Your mother kicked me out of my room.”

“She what?” The covers flew back and he tried to leave the bed, but I jumped up to stop him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him backward.

“Cool your jets. She assigned me to another room.”

“Aye? And whose room is that? I doona think Baodan will make room for ye in his bed.” He paused and grinned, “Actually, he’d be a fool to no allow two women inside it, but his wife would put a stop to that.”

I rolled my eyes. It didn’t matter what century they were from, men’s minds still thought in much the same way. “No. Your mother asked, no instructed, me to sleep in your room.”

“No, she dinna?” Eoghanan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Yes. I promise you she did. I was rather surprised myself.”

“Aye, I doona know what to say. I doona think I’ve ever been so surprised.” He laughed a moment before reaching over and pulling me on top of him, pulling my head down to meet his kiss. “Ye wouldna want to disobey me mother, would ye?”

I laughed but remained straddling him, no longer feeling so sleepy. “No, but I think the word she used was “sleep” not…not this.” I swept my hand downward to motion to the both of us.

“Oh, we’ll sleep lass. ’Til midday if I have anything to say about it, but no just now.”

True to his word, he exhausted me so entirely that I did sleep until midday, only to find myself alone in his room when I woke. He meant it as a courtesy—rising before me so that we would not appear before the new guests at exactly the same time, coming from exactly the same direction. I’d been worried about it all night, so I relaxed upon finding myself alone.

I would be able to greet the Conalls without it being quite so apparent what Eoghanan and I had been up to all night, although if their rooms were close, I had no doubt some of them knew well enough.

“Mom! Hey, which room are you in, Mom?”

The little voice sent my heart pattering a million miles a minute, and I leapt from the bed in a panic looking for my dress so that I could slip it on before Cooper burst through the door. I managed it with not a second to spare, reaching for the handle just as the door flung open.

“There you are, Mom! You missed breakfast by a long shot. Dad said you were around here somewhere.” He peeked his head inside. “Isn’t this E-o’s room?”

I was suddenly very warm. “Umm…yeah, with all of the new people in the castle, I had to give my room up for their guests.”

He shrugged. “Oh, okay, cool. Did you sleep on the floor or something?”

I nodded, leaning down to pick him up. “Yeah, something like that.” It wasn’t a complete lie…we had been on the floor for part of the night.

“Maybe tonight you should ask E-o if you can switch places. You get the floor and he gets the bed. That would be only fair. I bet he’d let you.”

I laughed, kissing his temple as I walked out of the room with him still on my hip. God bless the innocent minds of children. “Yeah, I’ll be sure to ask him.”

“Hey, guess what, Mom?”

“What, Coop?”

“There’s even more people coming! Ba-o, that’s my new name for Mitsy’s husband, and this other guy Donal, just told everyone. They said like a bunch of clans or something. I don’t know what a clan is, but it sounds like a lot of people are coming to stay here for a gathering.”

He really emphasized the word ‘gathering.’ It had clearly been spoken of as if it were something very special.

“Oh yeah?”