“Go on. You’ve nothing to fear, Nora. All is well.”
Again she nodded, not knowing what else to do but oblige him. Yet just before she stepped inside the dwelling-house, she glanced over her shoulder to see him leading the horse toward what must be a stable.
She could not deny that his care for the exhausted beast moved her, which spoke even more to the character of this man she had wed. A stranger to her only hours ago, but now who soon might share her bed—
“Oh God.”
She fairly ran into the dwelling-house, but came up short once inside.
A warming fire indeed burned brightly in the central hearth, a pale blue cloth freshly draped over a table, and the floor clearly swept in haste from the swirls of dust marking the planked floor.
Incredibly, Nora smiled for the first time in what seemed like days.
Had Niall truly left her waiting outside the settlement to see that it was safe, or to attempt to make things more comfortable for her?
A little of both, she imagined, undeniably touched by the effort he’d made on her behalf…and amused, too. She felt a giggle welling in her throat, and her laughter burst forth as she imagined this tall handsome rebel wielding not a sword, but a broom!
“You should do that more often, Nora.”
She spun, startled to find Niall staring at her from the doorway where he set a bucket of water at his feet.
“Laugh. Smile. You’ve a beautiful smile.”
He smiled now at her, too, and if Nora had thought him handsome before, even with his beard, now she doubted she had ever seen a man more striking to look upon. She brought her hand to her mouth, tears filling her eyes.
No one…absolutely no one had told her she had a beautiful smile other than her twin sister Kristina, whom Nora had loved so dearly. And now this man…her husband of only a few hours—
“Nora, forgive me.”
Nora gulped back a sob as Niall rushed to her side, his expression filled with concern.
“What have I said to distress you so? Tell me.”
Another sob bursting forth, Nora could not say a word, only shaking her head. At once Niall took the bag of food from her and led her to a stool, which she sank onto gratefully.
All her life she had been called passing fair, or plain, and she had grown used to it and never expected anything different.
Even Sigurd Skullcrusher had mocked her when he’d first seen her, roaring out to everyone in her father’s hall that she didn’t need to be beautiful to bear him sons, as long as her hips were full and rounded. How Sigurd’s men had jeered and hooted while she had simply wanted to melt into the floor—
“Nora.”
She felt Niall lift her chin to look at him, and she realized he had sunk to his one knee beside her. Tears welling in her eyes, she could but look at him and whisper brokenly, “This…is a dream. It has to be…”
Chapter 5
Niall felt a catch in his throat, never having felt more moved as he stared into Nora’s lovely blue eyes.
Blue as the sea with tiny flecks of gold like sunlight. Yet filled with tears as if her heart were breaking, and it didn’t take much for him to reason why.
A virgin. An innocent. With this their wedding night, she must be frightened…
“No dream, Nora, and I pray you don’t think it a nightmare—”
“No, no, I did not mean…” She didn’t finish, but appeared to swallow her tears as she brushed the back of her hand across her eyes. She seemed to smile then with embarrassment, sniffling, and met his gaze. “I had thought I wanted to die…and then you saved me. Married me to protect me. And me a stranger to you—”
“No stranger now, but my wife. We’ve a lifetime to learn about each other…starting tonight.”
There. He’d said it, Niall thought, gauging her response though she simply stared back at him and nodded. She must know that as husband and wife now, they must consummate their marriage…and given the circumstances, the sooner, the better. Finding himself drawn again to the uncommon beauty of her gaze, he cleared his throat and rose to his feet.
Another woman’s gaze had once drawn him so, Caitlin’s, though her eyes were a deep emerald green. Just a glance from her had made him weak in the knees like a besotted fool—damn it all, he would not think of her!
Especially not this night with his new bride looking up at him with trust shining in her eyes that undeniably moved him, too. What the devil was coming over him? He didn’t want to be made weak in the knees or stirred so by the gaze of any woman ever again!
Niall abruptly left her side and tossed the bag of food upon the table. He jerked his head toward a side door as he pulled out a round loaf of bread, a wedge of cheese, and strips of salted meat.
“An outhouse lies beyond that door. I’ve lit a lantern there so you may see to your needs.” He’d spoken more gruffly than he should have, but couldn’t seem to help himself as he sensed her movement behind him. “Ronan and I use this place when hunting, so it isn’t entirely lacking in comfort. Just dusty. When you return, I’ll have a bowl of water for you in the sleeping room if you wish to bathe.”
He heard her murmured thanks, and a soft thud as she passed by him and placed the leather pouch she’d worn around her wrist upon the table. Flecked with dried mud from the riverbank and water-stained, the pouch was a stark reminder of the terror and anguish Nora had suffered, which only made Niall angrier at himself.
Caitlin’s treachery was none of Nora’s doing! By God, when would these wretched memories of the woman who had broken his heart leave him in peace?
With a low curse, Niall focused on the tasks at hand, determined to speak only kindly to Nora from then on and to put her as much at ease as possible.
Some moments later when he heard the creaking door as Nora came back inside, he was finished with his efforts to make things comfortable for her.
The fire in the hearth stoked against the night’s chill.
A bowl of water with a soft cloth awaiting her in the adjoining sleeping room.
The blanket upon the bed shaken outside and then draped back over the lumpy mattress.
Anything fine or valuable left by the fleeing Normans had long since been taken as plunder back to Glenmalure, so he’d done the best he could for their wedding night. As Nora wordlessly came toward him, her eyes wide and luminous in the firelight, Niall gestured to the table.
“Come and sit. You must be hungry—”
“I-I’m not really. If you don’t mind, I’ll wait for you…I mean, in the other room…”
She faltered, clearly nervous from the way she fidgeted with the rope belt at her waist as she glanced toward the sleeping room and then back to Niall. He saw the anxiousness in her gaze and he sought at once to reassure her.
“You’ve nothing to fear, Nora O’Byrne. I’ll not hurt you…never hurt you.”
She nodded, gave him a tremulous smile, and then fairly fled to the adjoining room before Niall could utter another word.
***
Where was he? Nora wondered.
Her heart beating fiercely against her breast, she pulled the musty-smelling blanket up to her chin and stared at the strip of light from the doorway.
She had heard Niall moving around in the other room for what had seemed an eternity to her, though she couldn’t really say how much time had passed.
Not long after she had run into the sleeping room and closed the door but for a few inches, she had heard him stoking the fire. She had never stripped so fast and bathed herself, believing he might join her at any moment and not wanting to be found standing stark naked at the wash bowl. She had done her best to work her fingers quickly through her long tangled hair, but had given up for lack of a comb. Then she had jumped into the bed, barely wide enough for two, and coughed at the puff of dust emanating from the worn mattress.
In truth, she had never slept before on anything so rustic, though she had felt touched again by the neatly draped blanket and hastily swept floor. Nial
l’s efforts to make her comfortable were so kind and caring, how could she not be moved?
Such gratitude had overwhelmed her as she lay there waiting for him, that to her the room had transformed into the most magnificent bower. Yet she couldn’t deny that breathless nervousness had swept her, too, every time she heard sounds coming from the adjoining room.
The scraping of a chair as he must have sat at the table for a few moments to eat.
His footfalls upon the floor until she had heard him kick off his boots.
The sound of water splashing in a bowl as he, too, was taking the time to bathe before he came to her.
His sharp intake of breath and then a low curse, though she could not imagine what might have happened. She had been tempted to call out to him to see if all was well, but she did not. Instead she had remained still and silent in the bed, waiting for him.
As she waited for him now…waiting and wondering if perhaps he had fallen asleep at the table. It had been such a long ride that he must be exhausted—
“Are you still awake, wife?”
Nora blinked in surprise at Niall’s imposing silhouette in the doorway, his powerful body limned in firelight from the hearth.
A powerful body, she realized with a start, that was completely bared to her gaze, and she sharply drew in her breath.
“Y-yes.” Her voice no more than a squeak, Nora felt as if her face was afire as he moved toward the bed with athletic strides. She thought her heart might leap out of her chest when he flipped aside the blanket and climbed into the bed beside her, the mattress depressing beneath his weight.
She was naked. He was naked. Oh God…
“Breathe, Nora.”
Breathe? She heard his low chuckle, but could no more take a full breath than she could calm her racing heartbeat. Only when he rolled onto his side and propped himself on his elbow to look down at her, did she gasp in surprise.
His beard was gone! He smiled at her amazement, a slow lazy smile that stilled her breath anew and sent a flush of warmth to her toes. Truly, she had never seen a man more handsome than Niall O’Byrne.
And never before had she felt so lacking to be lying next to such a man…married to such a man. She swallowed hard, blinking back tears.
Foolish tears that made her feel even worse and more wretchedly sorry for Niall that she hadn’t been born a stunning beauty like her sister Kristina, who would have been a far more fitting match—
“More tears, Nora? Here I had thought my shaving might please you. I even cut myself—”
“You cut yourself?”
He nodded and she saw it then, the nick at his jawline that still oozed a fine streak of blood. That must have been why he’d cursed earlier! Forgetting her distress, Nora sat bolt upright in the bed.
“Oh, Niall, is there anything I can do? Shall I fetch a cloth for you? It’s still bleeding!”
“Easy, wife. I’ll not expire from a shaving cut…though perhaps I might from looking upon you.”
His voice had grown so husky, Nora could only stare at him blankly…until she realized his gaze had strayed to her breasts.
Her breasts that were fully bared to him when she’d sat up, the blanket pooled at her waist. Her cheeks firing, she sought at once to lift the blanket but he stayed her hand, slowly shaking his head.
“No, woman. I want to see you.”
Niall found that it was suddenly difficult for him to speak, his throat having grown tight at the perfectly rounded breasts mere inches from his mouth.
At the hardened nipples so taut and rosy as if beckoning to him.
Aye, he had seen her naked earlier at the church…but that was before she had become his bride. He had seen the flawless beauty of her figure beneath a soaked sleeping gown clinging to her bare skin…and so had the priest, who had immediately turned away while Niall had focused upon the urgent task at hand.
Now he focused as well upon the new task at hand…one that rested with him to make as pleasurable for her as possible.
Oddly enough, he felt somewhat like an untried youth, much to his chagrin. He was well versed in satisfying a woman, but he had abstained from any dalliances once he had become betrothed to Caitlin. As their wedding day had grown closer his hunger to possess her had reached a fever pitch, only to be doused as if with ice-cold water once she had chosen another man over him.
To soothe his torment, he could have bedded any number of women at the tavern in Ostmentown, but drinking heavily had proved his only solace. Now Niall felt his hands trembling, it had been so long since he had known a woman…and this wasn’t just any woman.
Damn it all, he would think no more of Caitlin MacMurrough this night but direct all of his attention upon his new bride!
“Lie down, Nora.” Again Niall found it hard to speak, as a part of him too long restrained grew hard and thick beneath the blanket. Seeing to his own needs for over two agonizing years had been no substitute for the heated softness of a woman’s body, but he knew he must take care to move slowly. “I want to look at all of you.”
Still propped upon one elbow, he could see that she trembled as she nodded, which did not surprise him. With a ragged sigh, she lay back down while he flipped the blanket to the foot of the bed. At once her hands flew to cover her nakedness, her fingers splayed above the dusky triangle at the heart of her thighs.
Slender thighs and long shapely legs that made Niall’s throat grow tighter.
She was neither tall nor short but somewhere in between, her body perfectly proportioned. He ached suddenly to touch her, to caress the tempting curve of her narrow waist and the ripe fullness of her hips, but somehow restrained himself.
Not yet. Instead he caught her hands in his and drew them to his lips, and began to tenderly kiss her long, slender fingers. He felt her shivering suddenly as if cold, her pale pink areolas puckering, and her creamy flesh dimpling with goosebumps, which told him much.
His innocent bride had never been kissed before. Never been touched by a man before. He could not deny that the realization pleased him, and without wasting another moment he lowered his head and pressed his mouth to hers.
She started, her body going rigid beneath him, but only for an instant as he kissed her soft lips until he felt her start to relax.
He kissed her still as he heard her sigh against his mouth, her breath warm and sweet and melding with his own. Unbidden thoughts of the last woman he’d kissed assailed him again, but he did his best to force Caitlin from his mind.
Nora was his bride. Nora was the only woman that mattered to him now, Niall told himself fiercely. She was his to protect, to cherish as well as he would allow himself to, and to make love to as should any husband and wife.
Aye, and he wanted to make love to her. Already his breathing had grown faster, harder, his shaft swelling almost painfully. Yet once again he reminded himself to move slowly and awaken her gently to the ways of man and woman—God grant him patience!
He lifted his mouth from hers to find her eyes closed and her body gone limp against him, although her lovely breasts rose and fell in a manner that also told him much.
His kiss had moved her. His touch had stirred her. He found himself smiling that mere kissing could arouse her so. Such a response bespoke a deep passion inside her just waiting to be unleashed.
“Did you enjoy that, wife?”
Chapter 6
Nora fluttered open her eyes to find Niall smiling down at her, that same lazy smile that made her heart beat faster.
Had she enjoyed his kiss? All she could muster was a soft “Aye,” she felt so breathless and lightheaded, Nora certain she could never have imagined anything so wondrous.
“Would you like some more?”
His smile had broadened as if her reply had pleased him, and she smiled too, at his husky teasing. “Aye, husband—”
The words were no sooner said than he’d found her mouth again, his kiss so achingly tender that she moaned against his lips. She’d never made such a sound before
but could not help herself…and she heard herself moan again when the pressure of his mouth suddenly grew harder, more insistent.
Instinctively she parted her lips beneath his and he swept his tongue into her mouth, something so raw igniting within her that she felt shaken to her toes. She seemed to know innately what to do, her tongue swirling with his, and this time it was Niall who groaned against her mouth.
“Woman…”
Oh no, had she displeased him? Feeling a sudden sense of panic, Nora drew back from him to find Niall searching her face in the firelight emanating from the door left ajar. It seemed his eyes locked with hers, something wordless passing between them, and he shook his head as if fighting with himself.
“Nora, it is your first time. I don’t want to rush you. Hurt you.”
She knew nothing of the passion shared between a man and a woman, but Nora realized then that she hadn’t displeased Niall at all.
He had groaned against her mouth because he wanted her. Desired her.
And she desired him. So deeply, so wildly that she reached up to caress his face, her fingers trembling even as she felt his body trembling against her. He seemed to shudder at her touch, and took her hand in his larger one to press a heated kiss into her palm that took her breath away.
Yet it was his mouth suddenly at her breast that made her cry out. Something animal seemed to explode in him as he drew her nipple between his teeth and slid his fingers into the slippery wetness between her thighs.
As he lightly nipped her and then suckled hungrily, it seemed she had lost all power over her body. Unconsciously she parted her thighs to him, allowing his fingers to slide even more deeply inside her even as she arched against his hand.
Something animal exploded in her, too, as she reached up to clutch his shoulders while he covered her with his body, his heavily muscled weight pressing her deep into the mattress.
She felt him spread her legs wide with his knee, his breathing hard, her breathing ragged, his splayed fingers cupping her bottom as he thrust himself into her so fiercely that she screamed.
Wild Moonlight (The O'Byrne Brides Book 3) Page 4
