Never Love a Highlander (19 page)

She smiled hesitantly. He nodded in her direction, but his gaze continued to linger as she looked away.

“You must tell me how marriage is suiting you, Rionna. I must confess you look quite well. And … happy. You have a glow about you that was absent before. You’ve always been a beautiful lass, but now you outshine the sun.”

Flustered by Mairin’s words, Rionna ducked her head and then reached clumsily for Isabel when Sarah arrived with cider and a trencher for Mairin.

The babe squawked in protest but then nuzzled against Rionna’s breast when Rionna held her close. Mairin chuckled. “She’s not a picky child. Any breast will do. ’Tis amusing to watch Ewan’s face when she roots against his chest.”

Rionna laughed softly and touched her fingertip to Isabel’s tiny palm. Isabel promptly curled her fingers tight around Rionna’s finger and waved it about as her unfocused gaze found Rionna.

“She’s just beautiful, Mairin.” Rionna sighed.

“I thank you. She is a true treasure. Ewan and I delight in her every day.”

It was hard to hold Isabel and not imagine holding her own babe in her arms one day. A son or daughter with Caelen’s green eyes. Aye, that would be perfect.

Mayhap she was already breeding.

The thought sent a jolt through her veins, shocking in its discovery.

Could she be carrying his child already? It had been some weeks since they’d arrived here on McDonald land. Even now, a child could be growing in her womb.

She slid her hand from Isabel’s bottom to her flat belly and splayed out her fingers. ’Twas a marvel she hadn’t considered it until now.

Oh, she knew children were inevitable if God chose to bestow such a gift on them. But she hadn’t considered that it could happen so soon, even though Caelen had all but guaranteed she’d deliver a child within a year of their marriage.

She’d thought his prideful statement to be a natural boast of a newly married man.

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and nibbled as she contemplated the possibilities. She knew it was her duty to provide heirs for Caelen. ’Twas a duty she owed her clan as well, to provide them with the next laird.

But ’twas God’s truth, she wasn’t sure she was up to the task quite yet.

It wouldn’t cause her distress if ’twas a little while longer before her womb bore fruit.

C
HAPTER
20

Rionna was fair to falling over by the time Caelen sought their chamber. She’d sat by the fire yawning for the past hour, waiting for him to come to bed.

When he opened the door and stepped inside, he looked surprised to see her. Then a faint frown drew his brows together.

“You shouldn’t have waited up for me. ’Tis late and you have need of your rest.”

It would have been a thoughtful statement if he hadn’t accentuated it with that frown.

Ignoring his gruffness, she rose and went to help him undress. He went still as she unlaced the leather ties of his trews. So still that she wasn’t sure he was even breathing.

When her fingers brushed his firm belly, he flinched. She was sorely tempted to run her palm up his midriff to his chest, but she was going to properly attend him first.

She guided him toward the chair she’d vacated by the fire and urged him down. He watched through half-lidded eyes as she tugged at his tunic and then pulled it over his head, baring his broad, hair-roughened chest.

She sucked in her breath. The man was beautiful. Never had she seen his equal. She fingered a puckered scar across his right shoulder and slid her hand lower to a much older, nearly flat scar on his left flank. She frowned as she studied it. ’Twas a knife wound.

“Someone stabbed you from behind,” she mused as she knelt to give it a closer look.

He stiffened, his muscles coiling and going rigid. His profile was set in stone as he stared into the fire.

“Aye.”

She waited but he offered nothing more.

“Who did this?”

“No one of import.”

She leaned forward and kissed the scar. He reacted in surprise, turning, his arm raised so he didn’t elbow her in the head. Then he lowered his hand to her hair and stroked his fingers through the strands.

He ran his fingers over her jaw and then cupped her chin, tilting it so that she looked up at him. A teasing glint twinkled in his green eyes.

“I barely recognize the woman before me. She’s acting almost like a wife. What has happened to my fierce warrior? I came in to a fine table. The lady of the keep directed the welcoming of my kin and she played hostess to my brother’s wife. And if that wasn’t enough, she awaited me in my chamber to attend me with a gentle hand and a soft mouth?”

She scowled up at him. “ ’Tis true what they say of men.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Aye. They never know when to keep their mouths shut.”

He chuckled and rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip and then lowered his mouth to hers until they touched in a most gentle fashion.

“I was proud of you this day, Rionna. You speak of having none of the social graces of a lady and yet you performed as a laird’s wife would be expected.”

“I would not shame you in front of your kin,” she whispered.

He kissed her again and then drew away to pull at his boots. When he was done, he sat there, laces undone at his waist, shirtless, his flesh gleaming in the firelight. He was a feast for her eyes and she was determined that on this night she’d have him.

Her gaze skittered downward to the bulge at the apex of his thighs. With only a little encouragement, he would be free of his trews.

“I’ve been thinking.”

Caelen regarded her lazily, the spark of amusement back in his gaze. “ ’Tis a universal truth that when a lass says she’s been thinking, a man ought to be wary.”

She moved between his legs and ran her hand up his thigh to cup him intimately. “I was thinking that since I did harm to a portion of your anatomy you favored that I could make it up to you. But if you’re wary.…”

He caught his breath. “Nay. Not wary. Not wary at all.” Then he reached down to cup her chin again, his thumb brushing over the spot where her bruising was fading. “Are you sure ’tis something you wish to do, lass?”

Her heart clenched at the concern in his voice. He’d treated her with the utmost care since her attack. He’d only touched her to offer comfort or to ensure himself that she was all right. It was almost as if he’d worried that he would frighten her or remind her in some way of the men who had hurt her.

“ ’Tis my wish that you allow me to have my way this night.”

“Your way? ’Tis the truth I’ll grant such a wish every night if you desire it.”

She reached inside his clothing and caressed the long, rigid length of him. His breath hissed out in the silence. He gripped her shoulders with both hands and then abruptly stood. In a moment’s time he’d torn the offending material from his body and tossed it across the room.

Her gaze slid up his body, illuminated by flame, so exquisitely rendered. The body of a warrior, not a lad. Heavily muscled. Scarred. Rough.

At his groin, his manhood extended from the dark whorl of hair, thick and heavy.

“ ’Tis a sight destined to seduce a man,” Caelen rasped as he stared down at her kneeling at his feet.

She smiled. “You like a woman at your feet?”

“I’m not a stupid man. Admitting such would be akin to cutting off my cods.”

She shifted and rose up, her hands skimming along the outsides of his thighs. “But you like it.”

He groaned when she cupped his sac and massaged the weight in her hand.

“Aye, I like it. I like it very much. ’Tis no sweeter sight than you between my legs on your knees ready to pleasure me.”

Tentatively she circled his length with her other hand and lightly caressed. ’Twas the truth that she’d begun this seduction, but she had no idea how to go through with it. Keeley hadn’t been overly detailed with the how. Just what to do in the beginning.

Caelen was a man who valued control. He liked the sight of her on her knees enough. ’Twas clear he liked a submissive wife. ’Twas entirely possible that the best seduction she could give him would be to allow him to conduct it. And then she wouldn’t have to admit just how ignorant she was of such matters.

“Instruct me, husband,” she said in a husky, sweet voice she hoped was pleasing. “Show me what you like for your lass to do.”

The flicker in his eyes should have alarmed her. ’Twas a fierce, animalistic light that sent a shiver down her spine. His fingers tangled in her hair and he pulled back just enough that her head tilted back and her neck arched forward as she stared up at him.

“I want you naked so I may look upon you and know that every inch of your beauty is mine.”

“May I rise then so that I may do your bidding, husband?”

She watched desire smolder like coals in his eyes and realized that the coy game she played pleased her husband very much. The intricacies of a man’s mind never ceased to fascinate her.

Not awaiting his answer—’twas needless after all—she slowly got to her feet and then backed away a pace so that the warmth from the fire flickered over her skin.

Hiding her smile, she turned until her back was presented to him and then she began untying the sash at her waist. She glanced over her shoulder to find him watching her with avid fascination.

“I have need of your help, husband.”

His hands shook against her nape as he unfastened her dress. When he’d undone enough that she could step from the folds of the material, she let it fall to the floor so that she stood in only her undergown.

Turning so that she faced him once more, she reached up and threaded her fingers underneath the straps over her shoulders. Then she hesitated before pulling ever so slowly until they eased over her shoulders and down her arms.

The neckline caught at her breasts but with a gentle tug, it slid over her nipples and fell into a pool at her feet.

“Now shall I attend you, husband?”

“Oh aye, wife. Aye, indeed.”

She slid to her knees in front of him, her hands gliding down the sides of his legs. She memorized every swell, the bulge of his muscles, the uneven puckers of scars, new and old.

Then she tilted her head back and stared up at him. “Show me what pleases you.”

“God’s teeth, but you’re beautiful, lass. Your eyes shine like a thousand sunsets. And your mouth, so perfectly formed. I cannot wait another moment to feel such sweetness around my flesh.”

He grasped his straining erection with one hand and cupped her nape with his other before guiding himself toward her mouth. Such intimacy shocked her, though it shouldn’t. After all, he’d loved her thoroughly with his own lips and tongue until she’d been senseless with pleasure.

The idea that she could make him just as insensible thrilled her. She licked over her lips in a nervous gesture just as the tip of his cock brushed against her mouth.

“Open for me, lass. Take me inside your heat.”

His husky drawl drifted over her, bringing her body alive with the images his request invoked. She was alternately nervous and excited. And restless. She wanted to rub her body against his and purr her satisfaction like a cat being stroked.

She parted her lips and tentatively took him on her tongue. His fingers rubbed impatiently at her nape and then threaded upward into her hair.

Growing bolder and more confident in his reaction, she slid her lips farther up the base, taking more of him into her mouth. ’Twas a sensation like she’d never imagined. She shook from head to toe, her body tight and aching with need.

Letting her instincts guide her, she began to suck lightly, using her tongue to further torment him. His taste was wholly masculine and a hint of musk danced through her nostrils.

The sound that came from his throat was one of agony. His hand tightened in her hair and he moved his other hand from his cock and cupped her face as he slid deeper into her mouth.

“I’ve never known such fire and sweetness,” he said behind clenched teeth. “You are a temptress, wife. ’Tis the truth you kneel at my feet, but ’tis I who am for all practical purposes at yours.”

His words brought her feminine power roaring to life. She’d always considered that embracing her womanhood somehow made her weak, but ’twas the truth, she’d never felt more powerful than at this moment.

Here was this man, a fierce warrior, and he was completely and utterly at her mercy. She held his pleasure, his pain, his satisfaction in her very hands.

She curled her fingers around the base of his manhood and followed the path of her mouth, up and down, exerting pressure as she served him with her lips and tongue.

He dragged both hands over her head, clenching and unclenching as if he were in unspeakable agony. His face was drawn into harsh lines and his head thrown back, eyes closed as he thrust his hips forward.

She sucked to the tip and pulled his erection away before leaning in to press her lips and tongue to the plump vein on the underside. She licked a sensual trail from base to tip before sucking the head back into her mouth.

Warm liquid seeped onto her tongue as his harsh groan split the air.

“You’re going to be the death of me, wife. Cease this torture, for I cannot take any more.”

“I know not what you speak of, husband,” she said innocently. “ ’Tis for you to show me the way of things.”

He reached down, grasped her arms, and dragged her up his body. He found her mouth in a heated, impatient rush. Breathless. Raw. Bone-melting and shiver-inducing.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with a fervor equal to his own.

He turned and carried her to the bed, his mouth never leaving hers. “ ’Tis what I like most about you, lass. You give no quarter in loving. You’re so passionate and wild in your responses.”

She landed with a thump and he came down over her, his body pressing urgently to hers.

“And here I thought ’twas my submissive side you liked so well,” she teased.

“ ’Tis the entire package. You can be so devilishly coy and yet so sweetly innocent that you make me daft with wanting.”