by Jane Godman
Iona laughed and hated the high, breathless sound. “Whatever can you mean, Sir Garwen?”
“Why only that you are the guilty person who has ruined Lady Lachlan’s fine linen with your carelessness.” He smiled into her eyes. “What did you think I meant?”
Iona was conscious of Edwin on her other side, straining to listen to their conversation. The knowledge steadied her. “The Falcon has so far managed to evade all attempts to bring him to the scaffold.” She parried his probing question with one of her own. “How will your efforts result in a different outcome?”
“I have no intention of letting him live to reach the scaffold.” His voice was an icy promise as he turned away to pour more wine into his goblet.
Since there did not seem to be any answer to that, Iona fell silent. On a dais at one end of the hall, a group of musicians had set up their instruments, and a young Lachlan cousin played the harp and sang a sweet ballad. While Sir Garwen was distracted, Edwin took the opportunity to lean close to Iona.
“Be careful what you are about. Hendry is a dangerous man. Remember it at all times and in all your dealings with him.”
She turned her head. He was so close that his breath stroked her cheek, and she knew an urgent desire to rest her head on his shoulder. To just stop being rebellious for a brief heartbeat and allow him to hold her. She forced the emotion away. “I will take care.”
He flashed his heartbreaking smile and turned back to talk to the woman on his other side. Why should that small action leave her feeling bereft?
“Will there be bagpipes tonight?” Sir Garwen’s smooth tones drew her attention back to him.
“Ye know fine well there will not since the pipes are considered a weapon of war by the Duke of Cumberland and have been outlawed.” The flash of anger in her words surfaced before she had time to prevent it. Fortunately, he appeared not to notice.
His smile deepened. “One can hardly blame His Grace for such a decision. I remember my brother describing the dreadful caterwauling sound made by the bagpipes at Fort William. He said he’d half a mind to throw the piper from the walls of the keep.”
“Were you twins?”
“We were. How did you guess?”
“Because you looked so alike…” The words were out before she had thought them through. Sir Garwen’s expression told her all she needed to know about the awful mistake she had just made.
“But how could you possibly know that, Lady Roxburgh? Did you ever meet my brother?” Numb with misery, Iona shook her head. “So someone you know has described him to you? And that someone must also have seen me in order to make the comparison between us.”
To Iona’s relief, Edwin leaned across her and spoke directly to Sir Garwen. “Yes, I remarked to my wife only today that the resemblance between you and your late brother is quite striking.”
Sir Garwen’s eyes narrowed then dropped again to Iona’s troubled countenance. “How chivalrous of you, Roxburgh, to come so swiftly to your lady’s rescue. I cannot dispute your claim because, of course, you knew Augustus so well, did you not? Perhaps better in the years before his death even than I. Oh, yes, Lady Roxburgh.” He nodded as Iona lifted her face to Edwin’s, a question forming on her lips. “Your husband served as a junior officer under my brother’s leadership, rising through the ranks to become his second-in-command. How strange, Roxburgh, that you should take the trouble to describe the minor matter of our resemblance to each other yet omit to mention that important fact.”
Chapter Ten
“What is it to be tonight, Iona?” Edwin asked as, dressed in her nightgown, Iona emerged from behind her dressing screen. He was clad in his breeches and shirt and was tossing back a dram of whisky. “You have been brooding on something since we left the great hall. What are you plotting? Will it be the chamber pot over my head this time? Another knee in the balls? Or should I fear worse… Perchance a nighttime attack in which you take the point of your dirk to my cock?”
She returned his gaze calmly. It was true she had been lost in thought since dinner. It was her husband not herself, however, who had been most affected by the earlier conversation with Sir Garwen. She had seen the look in Edwin’s eyes at the revelation of his close association with Augustus Hendry. His initial flash of rage had been swiftly replaced by something else. She had seen fear there and a deeper emotion. She thought it might have been sorrow.
Now, he was restless, pacing the room. His mood resembled a cannon ball, waiting only for the fuse to be lit before it would burst forth tearing a swathe of destruction in its path. Yet, while the depths of those beautiful dark eyes clearly harboured secrets, they also reflected vulnerability. Iona knew instinctively that he had suffered greatly. The more time she spent with him, the more she could feel it. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, Edwin’s suffering was always with him. Tonight, Sir Garwen had deliberately probed that rawness. Iona had felt an intuitive empathy with him, an emotion that went far deeper than mere physical attraction.
There was no way to broach the subject when he was in this dangerous mood. Aware that she was playing with fire, she decided to attempt again to remove the barrier that she might just be able to breach. The easiest one, perhaps. The physical impediment, the one that was driving them both to the point of distraction and beyond.
“I was just thinking how little we really know of each other.”
He shrugged dismissively. “Inevitable, I suppose, with a marriage as hasty as ours.”
“Is this a marriage?” When he didn’t answer, she drew a deep breath and came to stand before him. “I knew nothing of Sir Donald before we wed, yet we quickly grew to know each other. I always thought that marriage was about allowing another person to become close.”
“Is that what you want from me, Iona? Closeness? Is this close enough for you?” His hands were rough as he grasped her upper arms, and his voice was hoarse in her ear. “You really want our marriage to be exactly the way it was with your first husband?”
“Yes, I do. I just think ’tis not natural for us to be married and not…oh!”
Without warning, Edwin pushed her onto the bed. Tipping her over onto her back, he threw himself down beside her, hauling her nightgown up around her waist. “Very well, since you insist, I will strive to do exactly what he did. You must show me how it was.” His fingers probed roughly between her legs. “But you aren’t wet enough. How unwifely of you not to be ready for me when I want you! What did he do when that happened, Iona? Did he do this until you were ready?” He licked his middle finger before pushing it up inside her. Iona nodded, biting her lip as she rode the intrusive sensation. Edwin fumbled quickly with his breeches, freeing his cock with one hand while driving his finger in and out of her. “That should be enough. Raise your legs as high as you can, it will make it easier for me to enter you.”
Obediently, Iona lifted her knees up and back against her chest in the way Sir Donald had shown her on their wedding night. When she saw the size of Edwin’s cock as he reared over her, however, her eyes widened. Her limited experience had not prepared her for anything so huge. Long, thick and throbbing, it might have been carved from granite. Iona could not lift her eyes from the engorged, reddish-purple head as he moved between her legs.
“I’m not sure I can take that inside me.” It was a panicky whisper.
“This is what you wanted, Iona.” Although anger still hardened his features, he paused. “But we can stop now. The decision is yours.”
She swallowed hard. “It is what I want.”
“Very well, be ready to do your duty.” Without any further warning, he drove into her as hard and deep as he could. Forced back into the mattress by his weight and strength, Iona cried out, gripping his shoulders. Just as her body began to adjust to the half-pleasure half-pain sensation of Edwin inside her, stretching her and filling her, he started to move.
“You said it was over quickly with him. So I’ll do what you want and make this fast,” he panted, pumping his hips furiously
and driving his iron length rhythmically in and out. He was true to his word, and within minutes, Iona felt his cock begin to spasm deep within her body. Edwin let out a long, guttural groan and collapsed on top of her, resting his face in the curve of her neck and breathing heavily before sliding out of her. When he lifted his weight off her and turned onto his side, Iona moved away so that she could lie with her back to him. It was with surprise that she felt him move closer so that the length of his body was pressed up against hers. He slid his arms around her, drawing her back against him and holding her close.
“Iona?” She didn’t answer. “Did I hurt you?” She shook her head. “I was a brute. I know it doesn’t help if I say I’ve never behaved that way before. I’m sorry.”
“You are right. ’Tis what I wanted. It would be foolish to wish for more.” She kept her face turned away.
“Tell me what you wished for anyway.” His breath was warm on the back of her neck.
“’Tis just that someone told me recently it could be enjoyable. I’ve never known it so. I thought—I hoped—it might be different with you.”
“It was my fault that you didn’t enjoy it,” he said. “I was angry, so I deliberately tried to make it the way it was with your first husband.”
“It does’nae matter.”
“It matters to me,” Edwin murmured. His lips brushed the back of her neck so lightly that she might have imagined it. “If nothing else, I need to restore my own pride.”
Iona wanted to say something else, but the words were driven from her mind as those magical lips returned, with more determination this time, to her neck. Sweeping her hair aside, Edwin kissed and nibbled the tender flesh until she squirmed with pleasure. With agonising slowness, he inched one hand under her nightdress and up toward her breasts so that, by the time his fingers brushed her nipples, she was ready to beg him to touch her. She had a feeling the slow pace was not due to any hesitation on Edwin’s part. He knew exactly what he was doing and deliberately keeping her in a state of delicious anticipation. The thought was accompanied by a tiny whimper of delight as his thumb and forefinger teased her already hard nipple into a maddened peak.
Iona’s head fell back and Edwin used his other hand to slide her nightgown down so that his lips could follow a trail from her neck to her shoulder. He alternated sucking and biting while his fingers squeezed her nipple to a point just past torment.
She felt his cock jerk hard against her buttocks as he moved his other hand down, cupping her sex and increasing the anticipation again by not moving for long, still moments.
“Please,” she murmured, even though she had no idea what she was asking him to do.
“Be very careful what you wish for, Iona,” Edwin whispered. “This will be like nothing you have known before. Are you sure you want it?”
Unable to speak for the desperate longing that was surging through her, she nodded, pressing herself into his hand to show him that she meant it.
He moved his hand, so that his fingers lightly teased the swollen lips of her sex. Iona gasped as she pushed back against him. The erect length of his cock pressed up between the cheeks of her buttocks. Edwin’s own breathing became a little faster at the sensation. He parted her folds and pushed one finger into her sheath.
“This isn’t about making you ready to take me. This is just for you.” Even so, his voice was ragged with his own desire.
It had never felt like this. Like something she wanted. Even needed. Her muscles clenched around his probing finger. Edwin withdrew his finger slightly, and she wanted to beg him not to. Then he plunged it back inside, and her whole body trembled in response.
“God, you feel so good right there, Iona. So warm and wet.” His cock throbbed between her buttocks as he spoke.
His thumb slipped up to stroke the tiny nub that was aching for his touch, and Iona heard her own voice cry out his name. In response, he pulled his finger out, and when he pushed back inside, he added a second finger. The feeling was so maddeningly good that Iona began to buck and writhe against him. She reached a hand behind her for his cock, but he stopped her.
“No, when I feel you start to come I’ll enter you. Not before.” She had no idea what he was talking about, but her mind was such a fog of sensation she couldn’t think beyond what his hands were doing to her. Her body started to tense and shudder. At the same time, Edwin plunged his fingers to the hilt, rubbing his thumb harder and faster. Iona’s internal muscles contracted around him.
“Thank God. I don’t think I could have waited much longer to get inside you, Iona.” His voice was a hoarse rasp in her ear.
Edwin removed his fingers, replacing them with the much bigger, smoother length of his cock. This intensified the sensations so much that Iona cried out with shock and pleasure. Edwin moved his hands to her hipbones, holding her against him so that he could control their movements.
“Just so you know,” he said, almost fully withdrawing before pushing inch by tantalising inch back into her, “this time we’re going at my speed.”
Iona’s inner muscles tightened around him, drawing him deeper, and she pushed her hips back, matching the rhythm he was setting. It felt as if her every nerve ending belonged to him. Her entire body tingled in time with Edwin’s slow thrusts. Her nipples hardened and her breathing grew strained. Surely it couldn’t be happening again, that wonderful, magical release she had just felt?
“You feel so hot and tight. You feel perfect around me, Iona.”
She wanted to say something in response about how amazing he felt inside her, but all that came out of her mouth was a helpless gurgle. Another wave of pleasure swept over her. She had no choice but to let go of every thought and feeling, and surrender to pure stimulation. It was happening again. And, dear God, it was just as intense. Iona ground her hips into his thrusts, calling out in incoherent abandon. Edwin groaned and gave one last lunge before remaining still, his cock jerking out his own release deep inside her.
It seemed to take a long time for the room to stop spinning and right itself. Iona lay silent in Edwin’s arms, feeling the steady beat of his heart between her shoulder blades and trying to understand what had just happened. Edwin kissed her neck as he eased out of her body and the place he had filled ached with a sweet emptiness she had no words to describe. When she had regained enough breath, there was one very important question to which Iona needed an immediate answer. She turned on her side to face him.
“What was that?”
“It’s called an orgasm.” Edwin’s breathing was still uneven. “It was what I meant when I said I wanted to feel you come.”
“And that’s what I’ve been missing all this time? Why did no-one ever tell me?”
“It’s not generally considered a topic for polite conversation. There is only one way to learn about it, as you have just discovered.”
“I’ve learned lots of other new things this night,” she said shyly.
“What might they be?” He drew her close and traced his fingers up and down the length of her spine in a gentle caress.
“Well, first of all, that you can do it more than once,” she said. “Are ye not exhausted after—you know—having spent yourself twice?” He didn’t look exhausted. He looked the way she felt. Happy and replete and—she searched for another word—exhilarated.
“Shall I let you in on a little secret?” She nodded. “It can be done even more than twice in a night.”
“Really?” Iona swirled her fingers through the dark hair on his chest. “Do you think we could try that sometime?”
His lips twitched in an appreciative smile. “I think we might consider it. What else have you learned that is new?”
“That there is more than one way.” She felt her cheeks flame as she attempted to explain. “I thought it was always the same, with the woman on her back and the man on top. But we just did it differently. With you behind me that way it was—” she burrowed her head into his chest so that her voice was muffled, “—exciting. And it made
me wonder if there might be even more ways?”
“There are.” Iona looked up again. Edwin’s face and voice were solemn, but his eyes twinkled.
“Oh. Will ye show me some of them?”
“I might. If you behave yourself and ask me very nicely.”
Iona was silent for a minute, digesting this information. In the past, she had objected to him using a stern voice to her. Here in bed, she decided she very much liked him talking to her in that slightly strict manner. “Edwin?”
“Hmm?” His eyes were closed, but his hand still travelled up and down her back.
“This is new too.”
“What is?”
“Holding each other. Being tender with another person. I’ve never known this after. Or ever.” He opened his eyes and gazed down at her.
“Nor have I.”
She tilted her head to study his face, surprised at the words. All those mistresses and yet this was new to him too? There was honesty in his expression, however, and she smiled up at him. “I like it.”
“So do I.” She thought there was a trace of a frown in his eyes as he bent his head to kiss her.
“And, Edwin?”
“Yes, Iona?” The laughter had returned to his voice.
“I think it’s time to put your more-than-twice-a-night boast to the test. Because I’d like to do it again.” Sitting up, she tugged her crumpled nightdress over her head in one swift movement. “Right now.”
“You are insatiable, woman,” Edwin murmured. The early-morning sunlight slanting through a crack in the curtains had roused him from slumber, but it was Iona’s hand moving slowly down over the taut muscles of his abdomen that ensured he was fully awake.
She didn’t answer, bending her head to kiss him instead. He moved into a half-sitting position, burying his hands in her hair and drawing her head down so he could move his mouth over her parted lips. Iona’s eyes drifted closed, and she sighed, winding her arms around his neck. With a slow, deliberate movement, she straddled him and ground her pelvis into his.
