A Wallflower at the Highland Court: A Slow Burn Highlander Romance

by Barclay, Celeste

  “Need to keep yer strength up, ma laird,” someone called from the tables below.

  “Yer bride willna appreciate ye wasting away this eve,” another cheered.

  Maude ducked her head and picked at her food. The comments and attention were knotting her stomach despite Kieran’s soothing caresses under the table.

  “I’m sorry, mo chridhe,” Kieran murmured. “I didn’t mean to draw even more attention. I’m a tad overeager it would seem.” Maude nodded, but continued to pick at her food until the clan members lost interest and focused on their own meal. Maude ate more, but not as much as Kieran would have liked. He glanced down at Lady Sutherland and offered a rueful smile, since she had noticed her daughter’s discomfort. Lachlan glared at him until he shot his brother-by-marriage an apologetic expression. Since it was the midday meal, they kept their time at the tables short since there was still work for most clan members. They would return in the evening for a cèilidh, but Kieran intended to tuck himself and Maude away in their chamber well before then.

  Relief flooded Maude when people trickled out of the Great Hall and Kieran took her hand. He kept his gaze directed at the stairs as he led them away from the dais. A few people caught sight of their intended destination and offered randy suggestions, but Kieran refused to acknowledge them. He tucked Maude against his side until they were halfway up the stairs and noticed even her ears were red. He lifted her into his arms and tucked her head against his chest as he took the remaining stairs two at a time. It only fueled more comments but helped them reach the landing faster. He carried Maude to her chamber door, relieved to see someone had already sent a tray of food and two pitchers of wine. He set her down before locking and barring the door.

  Maude waited for Kieran to approach before unpinning her new brooch and plaid. She laid the plaid across the chair near the hearth and placed the brooch with her other jewels. She removed the necklace and earbobs she wore. She looked at the amethyst ring Kieran placed on her third finger during the ceremony. She turned it around her finger twice but left it in place. She sucked in a breath as Kieran pulled the bow loose from her kirtle’s laces. The gown slipped loose around her shoulders until she freed her arms. Kieran tugged the ribbons at her shoulders until the chemise slid over her globes and pooled around her waist as the kirtle did. He stepped around her until he could brush the back of his fingers over her nipples, his mouth watering as they hardened into deep raspberry darts. He bent his head to take one into his mouth as his fingers continued to circle the other. He suckled as he flicked his tongue over and over. Maude’s head fell back as she mewled. A neediness that surpassed anything Kieran had previously stirred took root deep in her core.

  Maude reached for Kieran’s belt and loosened it before catching it, his sporran, and his plaid. He laid them over her own MacLeod plaid. With his already hard rod now freed, her hand glided along the smooth skin. Kieran pushed her skirts past her waist as his hands stroked her thighs. He sank to his knees as he inhaled her floral scent. He hummed as he kissed along each inner thigh before flicking his tongue along her seam. Kieran was already looking up at her as his tongue rasped against her heated skin. His tongue once again flicked her, this time tapping her hidden bud. As he worked it from its surrounding petals, Maude grasped the edge of the table behind her. When Kieran’s fingers entered her, she could no longer remain upright. She lowered herself onto her elbows as she continued to watch her husband lavish her with attention, but she was growing impatient. She tugged at the material at his shoulder. Kieran obliged and lifted his leine over his head. He led her to the bed and braced her hands on his shoulder while he bent to ease off her slippers and roll down her stockings. He gave her time to examine his body, certain it was the first time she’d seen an undressed and aroused man. Her fingers kneaded the tight muscles in his shoulders before sweeping over his chest and down his arms.

  Kieran guided Maude onto the bed and climbed on but laid beside her. His fingers trailed over her belly until they reached her mound. He moved with slow purpose as he readied her body for their joining. They had shared intimacies before but always knowing that it would end before he breached her maidenhead. He didn’t want to scare her now that he would make her his. As his finger entered her, he tested her responsiveness. He slipped another finger into her tight sheath and stretched the flesh as he stroked. When her moans grew, and she writhed with need, he struggled to restrain himself.

  “Kieran.” She arched as she pressed his hand against her mons, the heel of his hand rubbing against her bud. “When?”

  Kieran could resist no longer. His need was as frantic as Maude’s. He rolled between her legs and stroked damp hair from her temples.

  “Now, mo chridhe. Now.” He eased the tip of his cock into her and waited for Maude to panic or at least cry out, but a gasp and a moment of tension was her only reaction to his invasion before she rocked her hips again. He’d grazed the barrier as his fingers worked to prepare her, and her maidenhead gave way as he thrust into her with less finesse than he intended. A tightness swelled within his chest as he realized that Maude was truly his wife, and no one could change that, and no other man had the privilege he did.

  Once the pain ceased, Maude’s eagerness returned. She enjoyed the feel of Kieran’s body joined with hers, but she felt restless and unsatisfied despite the joy of knowing they were truly married and the exquisite sensation of him filling her.

  “Please tell me there is more. That was divine, and I don’t want the feeling to end.”

  “Yes, little one. This is only the introduction to what I hope to offer you today and every day for the rest of our lives. There is much, much more.” To prove his point, he rocked against her, his cock throbbing as Maude’s back arched off the bed and her moans filled his ears. He rested his weight on one forearm as the other hand kneaded her breast before his tongue drew circles around her nipple. Maude’s breathy gasps encouraged him as her fingers pressed along the ridges of muscle in his back. She stared up at him, mesmerized by how his chest and shoulders rippled with each of his movements. The contained strength Kieran possessed awed her as she watched her warrior husband make love to her with such gentleness. When he suckled her breast, Maude was certain she would explode. The same aching sensation once more thrummed through her sheath as the tightening in her belly bloomed into a powerful climax.

  “Kier!” Maude’s neck arched along with her back as she called out her release.

  Unable to wait any longer, and thankful Maude had found pleasure so soon, Kieran slipped over the edge. His seed jet from him as spots danced before his eyes. His body tautened as his own release seemed endless. He slid his arms beneath her and pulled her body against his as he continued to thrust over and over. Maude clung to him as she wrapped her legs over his, her body reacted once more to him.

  “Again,” she panted. “Happening again.” Maude strained to find the motion that would keep her climax going, but it faded. Kieran feared he would be too heavy upon her spent body, but when he tried to roll off her, Maude tightened her arms and legs.

  Kieran looked at his bride and wished he had lasted longer. He’d intended to not to rush and to draw out their first time, but too many moons of repressed longing had made his body demand immediate satisfaction. He was aware she didn’t know any better, but he did. His cock remained hard despite the rush of release that had just surged through him. It had been a climax unlike any other, and now a need to cuddle Maude warred with his need to take her again. He prayed his body would cooperate with his mind and be able to make love again sooner rather than later.

  “Please. Not yet,” she whispered as he shifted, embarrassed by the neediness in her voice.

  “I dream of being inside you. I spend most of my day hungering for your touch, and I will have it now.” Kieran confessed as his body rocked against hers. “I would stay inside you every minute of every day if I could.”

  Maude lifted her chin to kiss Kieran with an unleashed passion only a woman who had d
iscovered the power and delight of coupling could possess. It surprised Kieran when his body reacted to the kiss with his own need. He’d never recovered so quickly before, and certainly not from a climax he was certain surpassed any he had ever experienced before. He titled his hips as he tested his cock within her sheath.

  “Oh God, Kier. Please. More.” Maude’s own need drove her kiss as she abandoned any hope of control. Her kiss was demanding and unrelenting, and it drove Kieran far past the brink of control as his body surged back to life.

  “I want you,” Kieran breathed between thrusts.

  “You have me.”

  “No. You don’t understand. What I want isn’t gentle nor tender. It isn’t what you deserve your first time.” Kieran tried to slow down and remember that only minutes ago his bride had been a virgin, but her responses were those of a natural seductress.

  “I don’t want gentle. I want to know you want me as much as I do you.”

  Kieran growled as his cock thrust into her over and over.

  “Christ’s bones, Maude. Demand every damn day and night.” Kieran’s body slammed into Maude’s as she rose to meet him each time. He had never experienced need the way he did with Maude. It overcame all reason and caution, and demanded that he claim her and mark her as his.

  Their pants and moans filled the chamber as Maude returned Kieran’s passion and aggression with her own. When his arms shook with exhaustion, but he was not ready to be done, he rolled them over so Maude straddled him. He saw her shock at the new position, but her instincts told her what to do. He bucked his hips as she ground her mound into him. Her swaying breasts captivated his attention as his fingers dug into her hips. He was sure they would leave marks, but he couldn’t ease his grip. He clung to her as though she might float away.

  “Kier, help.” Maude leaned forward, bringing her breast closer to his face. “I’m close. But I can’t — I don’t know— Please.”

  He pressed her breasts together, alternating suckling and pinching her nipples. When he knew he would not last any longer, he bit down on one, careful not to be too rough, while tweaking the other as hard as he dared. Maude exploded around him, her inner muscles clamping his cock as he once more spilled inside her. He had just done something twice that he had never done before. Not once had he dared to find his release before pulling out. With Maude, he couldn’t imagine finishing any way other than being joined with her. Breathless and overwhelmed, Maude stretched across Kieran’s broad chest. She wondered if she should move off him and give him his space. She had already begged once, but she refused to be pathetic and beg twice.

  “Don’t go,” Kieran panted. “Not yet. I need it as much as you did.”

  Maude watched Kieran as his chest heaved and he lay with his eyes closed. He flung one arm out to the side while the other pinned her against his chest. She knew if she tried to move, he would let her, but his desire for them to remain together was the same as hers. She relaxed, and his fingers caressed her back. If his hand hadn’t continued its lazy sweeps over her skin, she would have thought he’d fallen asleep.

  “I never imagined it could be like that, buttercup.”

  Maude froze as she laid across him. She was the one who had been a virgin until only moments ago. She had no desire to think of Kieran with any other woman, but his comment made her curious.

  “I can’t imagine how that was any different from other times,” she ventured.

  Kieran toppled her off him as he lurched upward. He rolled them onto their side and hooked Maude’s leg over his hip, but his depleted body eased free of hers.

  “Every single moment of that was different. I have never loved a woman before. I’ve never made love to a woman before. I didn’t understand how different it could be with someone who means the world to me.”

  “I don’t know how to respond to that. Thank you?”

  Kieran chuckled as he pushed damp hair from Maude’s neck. He kissed the spot at the end of her jaw.

  “I never knew I could love this spot on a woman’s body as much as I do on you. A spot that no one else would ever touch. A place I can claim as only mine.”

  “All of me is only yours,” Maude’s hand rested over his heart.

  “And all of me is only yours. But that is a spot that others wouldn’t notice, wouldn’t touch. It’s a secret I share with only you.”

  “That is easy for you, since no other mon has ever touched me. What can I claim as my own?” Maude wondered aloud.

  “All of me. No woman has touched me the way you have. I’ve never made love before.” Kieran thought for a moment before continuing. “I’ve shared something with you I never have another woman. The very essence that makes me a mon.”

  Maude furrowed her brow. She assumed he meant his seed, but surely he’d spilled it every time he’d coupled with a woman. She didn’t want to admit her innocence, so she remained quiet.

  “Buttercup, I have never climaxed within a woman’s sheath. Never. Not even the first time. My father warned me of the dangers of losing my seed without consideration. I’ve never wanted to sire a bastard and have taken precautions. I’ve always pulled out well before I found my release. Making love to you is entirely different from the times in the past. The emotions, the sensations, the everything.” Kieran kissed her temple, the tip of her nose, and her forehead before tipping her mouth up to his. She returned his kiss, drugged by the passion he stirred within her. She tightened her leg over his hip as he rolled her onto her back. His fingers slid inside of her as he brought her to climax twice more before he pulled the covers over them. He held her as she slipped into slumber. He followed her soon after, but not before he watched his wife fall asleep in his arms, just as he had dreamed since he met her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kieran was true to his word. They remained sequestered in their chamber for a sennight. They received trays three times a day and spent the time not only making love, but talking about their hopes for their life together as both a married couple and as laird and lady. They shared more stories of their childhood, and Maude learned that Kieran had a flare for storytelling, making her laugh and cry as he spun tales of a childhood filled with love from his father and restrained affection from his mother. In turn, she shared more about her upbringing and how she had been a fierce competitor against the boys her age until they became adolescents and male pride turned against her. She told tales of how her cousin Mairghread Sinclair encouraged her to stand up for herself when they were younger, and the boys challenged her as she learned to climb trees and shoot her bow. The four Sinclair brothers had given up trying to discourage Mairghread from joining them. Even Lachlan distanced himself for a while, but the five Sinclairs had always welcomed her. Kieran wished he had such endearing stories from his past, but his family had consisted only of him and his sisters, who preferred to remain in doors to sew and gossip with his mother. He had cousins, but beside Kyle, none were as close to him as Callum, Alexander, Tavish, Magnus, and Mairghread were to Maude. He remembered Father Michael and how Maude had explained that they grew up together. He’d met the priest’s parents while he waited at the kirk for his bride.

  When seven days passed, the newlyweds admitted that they had hidden as long as they dared. They didn’t want to be rude, and the reality that they needed to depart Sutherland also took hold.

  “Aught you wish to bring with you, buttercup? What we can’t carry on horseback can follow us in the wagon along with your dowry,” Kieran watched as Maude moved about the chamber she’d called her own since she was a child. She’d left most of her belongings behind when she departed for court, but now she accepted she would never return to Dunrobin as her home. They might use this chamber when they visited, but it wouldn’t be hers any longer. She nodded absentmindedly as she considered what she wished to send to Stornoway. There were several gowns and other pieces of clothing, along with her favorite books that she wanted, but she realized that Kieran and Trioblaid were the only two things she needed. Her mother ma
de the same offer as Kieran the night before, when they emerged from their love nest at last. She shook her head only to pause when she caught herself having nodded and shaken her head in a matter of only moments.

  “There is little that I need to have with me. What I wish for I already placed in my satchel. I am ready, turtledove.” She looked at Kieran, and a smile played at the corner of her mouth. “While you may call me buttercup around others, I think I should save ‘turtledove’ for the privacy of our chamber once you are among our people and once more the battle-hewn laird.”

  Kieran snagged Maude as she walked past and lifted her into his lap where he sat on the end of the bed. It was the first time Maude had referred to the MacLeods as her people. It made him inordinately happy to know she considered herself a MacLeod before they arrived in Stornoway.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Can’t a newly married mon want to touch his wife? All the time.”

  “Aye, and I like it, but I don’t understand the look on your face.”

  “Look?” Kieran leaned far enough to the side that Maude grabbed his shoulders as he attempted to peer into the looking glass. “I enjoy hearing you refer to the MacLeod clan as ‘our people’.”

  “That’s what they are, aren’t they? I’m a MacLeod now.”

  “Aye, ye are, lass. Let me see my plaid on you.” Kieran eased Maude to her feet and fingered the brooch, but she slapped his hand away with a giggle.

  “It’s ma plaid now. Ye canna have it back,” she teased, and Kieran tickled her ribs as the sound of her burr had its usual effect on him; his cock rose to attention.

  “Continue on like that, and it’ll be another sennight before I let you go.”

  “Promise?” Her hand traveled between his thighs, but he grasped her wrist lest they never leave.

  “Cheeky wench.”

  “Only for you---turtledove.”

  “Aboot that. You may call me that or aught else you wish in front of anyone. I’m not embarrassed. I’m proud to call you wife, to be wed to a woman who loves me nearly as much as I love her.” Kieran ceased his tickling when he saw the stricken expression on Maude’s face. “What is it?”