Tyler, Lynn - For Her Honor [For Her] (Siren Publishing Classic) (18 page)

Jocelyn’s heart filled with an unfamiliar emotion. This was a side of Robbie she had yet to see. The softer side. The vulnerable side. It made her want to wrap him in her arms and protect him from the gossips and rumors that must have hurt so much.

She linked her arm through his and walked with him back to the main keep. His eyes flashed with suppressed heat, and she knew what was running through his head. What he said next surprised her. “I could hear you speaking so calmly to Anna. You did well, sweeting. You really do enjoy being a healer.”

“Yes,” she said clearly. “I like helping people, and I’m good at it.”

He nodded and tightened his grip on her arm, helping her up the stairs leading to the primary doors of the main keep. “I must apologize. I must confess I’m not used to the wives of lairds wanting to do anything. But if it pleases you, you shall be our healer.”

They walked companionably into the dining hall and found it crowded with people. The birth of a baby was both joyous and scary. So many mothers died in childbirth that, until an announcement was made, the gathered people would assume the worst.

Robbie cleared his throat as he wrapped his arm around Jocelyn’s waist and tugged her closer. She tucked herself against him and let him stroke her hair.

“Another MacGillivray has been born,” he boomed. “A sweet baby girl who will make her parents and her clan proud. Anna will be fine.”

The entire crowd sighed with relief. Someone let out a joyful whoop, and the celebration began in earnest. Will called for mead and ale, and Caleb marched out with platters of sweets in honor of the new child. Music filled the air, and soon, the crowd was dancing.

Jocelyn laughed as Jamie swept her into a reel, dancing her merrily around the room.

“Look at him,” Jamie said as he spun her around expertly. She looked over at her husband and saw he was grinning at everyone, even laughing with a few of his men. “You did that.”

“Did what?” She gasped as he swung her around again.

“He is happy!” Jamie exclaimed in delight. “Truly, I cannot remember a time when he has been happy. You have brought him back to life.”

He danced her over to Robbie’s side, delivering her neatly into his arms before grabbing a young maid and dancing her off. “My lady,” the men said, smiling at her.

Jocelyn smiled back. “Gentlemen,” she said.

She turned her gaze to Robbie’s and met his eyes. His brown eyes twinkled down at her. Suddenly, she couldn’t hold back her elation, and she threw her arms around him, laughing with pure joy when he picked her up and swung her around. He kissed her soundly and thoroughly, ignoring the hoots around them. When he pulled back, they were both panting.

She pulled his head down so she could whisper in his ear. “Take me back to bed, my husband,” she requested with a smile. “Make babies with me.” She laughed out loud with anticipation when he lifted her into his arms and rushed them up the stairs toward their bedchamber. She repeated the request over and over, separating each word with a kiss on his lips until he had her secure in their rooms, the door locked.

Fusing his mouth to hers, she felt his fingers working the laces of her gown. She yanked at the hem of his tunic, ripping it under the arm in her haste to get it off of him.

Her dress fell in a pool at her feet, followed by his tunic and kilt. She shivered at the delicious feel of his bare skin against her own. He backed her toward the bed and followed her down on to it, coming to rest over her.

“I need you,” he groaned before he fastened his mouth over one of her nipples.

She gripped the back of his head, sure she was going to jump out of her skin with the sensations rushing through her body. Surely, the human body was not built to survive the pleasure Robbie was giving her. She had never been this desperate for anything ever before.

She squirmed under him as his fingers burned a path down her stomach and into the sparse curls covering her mound. “Please, Robbie,” she begged as he parted her folds and stared at her pussy.

She felt as if a spring was being coiled tighter and tighter inside her, and she was sure she would die before he finally made her his wife. His finger touched her intimately, one stroke on her tight, swollen clitoris, and she shattered, her world narrowing until her husband and what he was doing to her were the only things that mattered.

“Robbie!” She gasped out his name, quite unable to make her voice work properly. Somewhere in the distance, she felt Robbie pierce through her virginal barrier. Her sisters must have been trying to scare her when they told her the first time having sex would hurt. She felt incredibly full but there was no pain.

He froze inside her and squeezed his eyes shut, a look of agony spreading across his features. “Are you all right?” She stroked her fingers over his eyebrows, trying to soothe his sudden discomfort.

“Aye,” he breathed. He cracked his eyes open, the brown depths glittering with lust. “’Tis hard for me to keep still, loving. You feel so good wrapped around me. Like wet velvet.”

His response confused her. “Then why are you keeping so still?”

He laughed, though it didn’t sound like he was very amused. “I do not want to hurt you, lass.”

Her heart warmed at his concern but she really didn’t need him to be so still. “It does not hurt. You can move.”

“Oh, thank God,” Robbie moaned. He pushed in farther before pulling out again.

Running her hands down his spine, she hitched her hips higher and hooked her legs around his waist. She laid passively under him, relishing his big body laboring over her.

He reached behind him and hiked her legs a little higher, changing the angle at which he was sliding into. Suddenly the delicious feelings were back and she arched her back, reaching for that climax she could sense just out of reach. Robbie wedged his hand between their straining bodies and pinched her clit lightly.

Her entire body jerked as she exploded again. She cried out her pleasure and became aware of his own roar of satisfaction. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hung on for dear life as his hips thrust harder until he shuddered to a stop.

Jocelyn floated back to herself, feeling Robbie’s big body slumped over hers. He was heavy, but it was nice, almost like a warm blanket on a cold night. But this blanket had arms that held her securely.

“I am too heavy,” he muttered as he attempted to roll off her.

“Nay,” she said, tightening her grip around his shoulders. “You are perfect.”

He laid his head down on the pillow next to hers and stared at her through sleepy, satisfied eyes. They stayed like that for a long time, with him nuzzling into her neck while she ran one hand up and down his spine.

Finally he rolled off her and gathered her close to his side, settling her head on his chest. “I meant to go slower.” He yawned, his eyes drifting closed for a second.

“We have years to go slower,” Jocelyn soothed as she stroked his chest gently.

He didn’t answer, and she felt his breathing deepen and even out. She smiled to herself, content to snuggle against him. The poor man, she thought. She had brought down the mad MacGillivray simply by lust. She couldn’t wait to try it again.

* * * *

Will grabbed Jamie as he swung by with yet another pretty lass. Jamie swatted the girl on the ass and sent her on her way.

He grinned at Will as he caught his breath. “When was the last time the MacGillivrays celebrated like this?” he asked, sweeping his arm in a wide arc to indicate the spontaneous party that had sprung up with the announcement of the safe delivery of Rowan’s child.

Will smiled back. “It has been far too long,” he agreed over the din. “And did you see Robbie? He was positively giddy.”

Jamie laughed and accepted a mug of ale from a pretty servant. “Do not go far away,” he said, winking at her suggestively. “We can find a quiet corner before long.” The maid blushed but giggled sweetly as she nodded her agreement.

Jamie reached out and fingered a curl lying against her cheek before she made her way to the other side of the room. “Ah,” he said to Will. “All it takes is the loving of a good woman to put a man in a giddy mood.”

“You mean love,” Will corrected with a grin.

“Nay, brother,” Jamie denied. “Love brings nothing but heartbreak. Robbie’s had enough of that. But loving…well, we all know he could have used more of it before he met Jocelyn. Let us just hope she gives him enough loving to keep his black mood from reappearing.”

Will shook his head with a frown. “You are too young to be so jaded about love, Jamie. Whatever happened to you that makes you fear love?”

Jamie just shook his head as a strange sadness passed through his normally jovial eyes. “It is no matter,” he said. “What matters is that she is good for him.”

“Aye, that she is,” Will agreed. He spotted the servant glancing at Jamie from the corner of the room, tracing her fingers along the collar of her dress. “Ah, Jamie, your lass awaits.”

Jamie’s expression cleared, and he grinned mischievously. “She is mine only for tonight.” He nodded to her and slapped his brother on the back. “Go find yourself a pretty little thing to play with tonight. Do not let your fool ideas about love ruin your fun.”

Will’s eyes wandered over to a young woman who had recently taken up a job as a kitchen maid. Elizabeth. She was kind and sweet, and everything a man could like him ever hope for.

As he made his way over to her, he imagined her coming down the steps, dressed in her wedding finery, on her way to him.

He bumped hard into someone in his rush to get to the blonde across the room, and he turned to see Sarah looking ruefully at her gown, which was soaked with wine.

“You made me spill my drink,” she accused, her eyes flashing.

Will took a deep breath and sighed, praying for patience. The girl he had known nearly all his life had matured into a spitfire. The lass sparred with him at every turn. It was enough to drive a man mad. “Then you should watch where you are going,” he said dryly.

Her eyes sparkled with rage, and he couldn’t help but notice their unusual violet color. “It was you who crashed into me,” she hissed.

He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “It was hardly a crash,” he said. “It was more of a little bump, nothing to get so upset over. You can always get another drink. Now if you will excuse me, I have other things I must see to.”

She sneered into his face, but he didn’t miss the flash of extreme sadness streak across her face. “Sarah? What is wrong?”

She shook her head, and the despondency faded into pure, icy condescension. “You are so caught up in her, you do not even see what is right in front of you,” she spat.

Will’s eyes widened at the statement. He had never been anything but nice to her. What had he done to deserve this? “What the hell is wrong with you?” he nearly shouted. “I see everything around me. I see you, do I not?”

“I am not talking about your eyes, you fool!” she shouted.

Will was surprised to see the sparkle of tears gathering on her lashes. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. Before he could ask, she pressed the back of her hand against her forehead. “I have a headache. I should retire.”

Concern replaced the anger immediately. Sarah was never sick. Something must be seriously wrong. “What can I do?” he asked, laying his hand on her forehead to check for fever.

“Nothing. I am sure a little rest will clear it right up. Good night,” she said, rushing away from him.

He stared after her, more confused than he had ever been in his life.

A small hand touched his elbow, and he jumped, turning to find Elizabeth standing next to him. “I thought you might have been coming for me,” she said shyly.

“Mmm…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck broodingly. “I was just wondering if everything was all right with Sarah. She seemed a little upset.”

“Oh, her,” Elizabeth said dismissively. “She is a strange one. She fancies herself in love with you. Can you imagine? Plain old Sarah falling in love. It is quite humorous actually.”

Everything in Will started to tingle. Sarah was in love with him? God’s blood, they had known each other for years. He used to pull her braids, and once he and Jamie had snuck a frog into her pallet when she and her family had been spending the night.

He smiled at the memory. The brothers had been kicked out of their room so she and her family could have a bed.

Robbie had taken it in stride, bedding down in the dining hall with the servants without complaint. Jamie had been greatly put out and had insisted Will accompany him to the moat so they could find the “moat monster” to put in her pallet. They had to settle for a frog.

Jamie had been greatly disappointed when Sarah simply cooed over the frog as if it was a fawn, and he had left in disgust. Will, on the other hand, had been impressed.

The next day, he took her all over the grounds, showing her where the best bugs were, where the birds had laid their eggs the previous spring, and the little waterfall in the woods. They had talked until the sun went down about books and plants and their hopes and dreams.

It was still, to this day, one of his happiest memories. But he had assumed she carried only sisterly feelings for him and always put the odd thought of wedding her out of his head.