“So, what are you going to do now?” Ailis asked quietly. “Are you going to punish me for leaving the banquet?”
“Well, I was going to thrash you senseless for causing me such worry,” Alexander said, “but I understand you a little better now. I believe a simple spanking with my hand will suffice.”
Ailis looked down at the floor. Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a breath and then she glanced up.
“Very well, my lord,” she said, her tone one of resignation, “what must I do?”
“Remove your clothes and get on the bed,” Alexander instructed. “I want you on all fours with your head lowered and your bottom raised.”
She nodded meekly and began to remove her clothing. Alexander couldn’t help but smile. It pleased him that she was willing to take her punishment without complaint. His wife, it seemed, was finally learning that actions had consequences.
* * *
Even with Alexander’s assistance, it took Ailis some considerable time to strip down to her undershirt. The dress had complicated fastenings and its sleeves were more difficult to remove than she’d thought they would be. As he helped her to disrobe, Ailis shuddered with anticipation every time her husband’s fingers accidentally brushed her skin. By the time she pulled the linen undershirt off over her head, her nipples were impossibly hard, and she felt that same restlessness she always did when she wanted to feel Alexander’s touch between her legs. She shook her head in disbelief that the simple act of undressing could be so arousing.
“On the bed, Ailis.”
The instruction from Alexander was laced with impatience. She clambered up onto the bed and assumed the position he’d told her she was to take. With her head resting between her forearms, she raised her bottom high. She wriggled her hips in a sign of her own need to get on with the spanking as she waited for Alexander to undress. Listening to one item of masculine clothing after another dropping to the floor, she found herself almost panting with anticipation of what was to come. It was perplexing. How could she be looking forward to being punished?
Finally, the bed dipped, and she felt Alexander’s hand curve around her hip.
“Let’s make it ten, shall we?” His suggestion of so low a number surprised Ailis, especially when he intended to use his hand other than some implement such as a belt that would deliver a more stinging chastisement. “And then, mo ghraidh, I am going to take that pretty wee arse of yours.”
Somehow, hearing her husband addressing her as his love in the Gaelic tongue of her people mitigated the fear she might have felt about what he planned to do to her. The tenderness of his words gave her hope that she could trust him not to hurt her.
“Spread your legs a little wider,” Alexander instructed. “I want to see that glistening cunt of yours.”
His crude words sending a thrill through her, Ailis complied immediately. Cool air lapped her soft moist flesh and she couldn’t resist shifting her hips. A large hand caught hold of her and stilled her movements. She felt a rush of air as Alexander’s palm flew toward her. It landed, not on her bottom as she’d expected, but right between her legs. She gave a little cry that was more from surprise than pain. There was a fleeting sting in her tender flesh, but it disappeared almost instantly to be replaced with a delicious warmth.
Again, and again, his palm connected with that most intimate part of her as he delivered a rhythmic spanking. The bud of her clitoris pulsed furiously, and she felt herself growing wetter with each stroke. This was like no other punishment she’d ever known. The blurring of pleasure and pain, the stoking of her desire to the point of madness, was the most erotic torture she’d ever experienced. She wanted it to stop, whilst hoping it would never end.
“You like getting your pussy spanked,” Alexander observed as he struck for the ninth and tenth times. “Don’t you?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Ailis had no words to respond. Her body had come alive, but her brain was so fogged with arousal, she could barely form a thought.
“You were such a good girl,” Alexander praised. “Would you like to come?”
Ailis could only nod. She heard a knowing chuckle from behind her before Alexander plunged two fingers into her sopping wet pussy. Her response was instantaneous. Ailis shrieked as her body convulsed with spasms of pleasure that blocked out the rest of the world. For long seconds, she could neither see nor hear properly. Blood rushed through her head and her body jerked as the orgasm seized every part of her. The thought flashed in her mind that she might die from the sheer ecstasy but, in that moment, she really didn’t care. If the end came now, she would embrace it.
Of course, it was not the end and, as she slowly regained her senses, Alexander took hold of her hips and arranged her limp, pliant body so she was on all fours once more, with her bottom positioned for his penetration. She twitched as Alexander ran his cock along her feminine cleft, bathing it in her juices before moving to press his manhood against the tight ring of her bottom.
“Be at peace,” he instructed her as she wriggled fretfully, “and this will go a lot easier.”
Ailis moaned as he pushed the head of his cock inside her. As her bottom hole was stretched, there was a deep burn in her flesh, but she made no protest.
“You’re very tight,” Alexander commented. “Perhaps I should have trained your bottom to take me.”
Ailis had no time to ponder how a woman’s bottom could be trained for this, as he drove forward, slowly and steadily, inch by inch. He pushed in against her body’s initial resistance, to embed his cock deep in her untried channel. She whimpered as she adjusted to the foreign sensation of being penetrated in a place she never imagined could be breached. As she breathed deeply, the discomfort lessened, but she was still intensely aware of being stretched impossibly wide.
“Please,” Ailis groaned, not knowing quite what she was asking for.
Alexander seemed to understand what it was she needed as he began to withdraw from her before pushing back in. After a couple of thrusts, Ailis was ready for more.
“Harder,” she panted.
“As you wish, my lady.”
He slammed into her, with greater force this time. Picking up the pace, he drove in and out of her tight channel. The air was filled with the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh and Ailis clawed at the fur cover on the bed as her lusty moans grew louder.
“Good girl, Ailis.” Alexander ground the words out and she knew that he was as close to reaching his peak as she was.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her back against him as he plowed forward. His other hand slipped between her legs and played with her clitoris. When he suddenly pinched the little nub tight, Ailis squealed and drenched his fingers with a flood of her feminine fluids. As she jerked back against him, Alexander barked out a startling sound. As he pulled out of her, Ailis felt the heat of his seed trickling from her bottom and down her legs.
As he pulled her into his arms and drew the cover over them, Ailis sighed with satisfaction. If that was his idea of a punishment, she’d have to be a little bit naughtier in the future.
Chapter Fifteen
Alexander woke with a start as something that sounded like men engaging in battle cut through his dreams. It took him only a moment to realize what was happening and he quickly leapt out of bed. As he pulled his shirt on over his head, he heard shouting from outside and the clanging of metal as swords clashed. The fighting sounded incredibly close and, as the frantic screams of women ripped through the air, Alexander knew the castle walls had been breached somehow.
Pulling on his boots, he grabbed his sword and ran for the door. There was no time to put on any armor, but it hardly mattered. If the fighting was taking place within the confines of the castle enclosure as he suspected, armor would be an unnecessary encumbrance.
As he made his way quickly downstairs, it occurred to him, fleetingly, that Ailis had not been in bed with him when he woke. He just hoped that wherever she was, she had the sense to hide until the danger h
ad passed. He’d have words with her about sneaking out of their bedchamber in the early hours of the morning later.
The scene that greeted him as he charged into the courtyard was one of total chaos. His men, highly trained soldiers, were engaged in fierce battle. Thankfully, his elite guard had not overindulged in ale at last night’s banquet and were completely fit for combat. Several of the invaders already lay dead on the ground. As a man wearing MacDougall colors came at him, Alexander swung his sword and cut him down. He looked around, making a quick assessment of the situation, and spotted Gregor MacDonnell standing on the sidelines. It seemed he’d recruited some of his cousins from the MacDougall clan to aid his attempt to retake the castle. Like the coward he was, Gregor was holding back, allowing his men to fight and die on his behalf. It made Alexander’s blood boil.
As Alexander strode toward him, striking down several men with brutal blows from his sword as he went, he spotted his brother out of the corner of his eye. He saw Iain knock a man to the ground and plunge his sword deep into his chest. He pulled the sword from the man’s body and immediately used it to split another man’s skull open. There was a real ruthlessness in the way his brother fought that Alexander could not help admiring.
“Behind you, my lord!” A shout from one of his men alerted Alexander to imminent danger.
He spun around, just as one of the MacDougalls rushed toward him, his weapon raised. Alexander drove his sword into the man’s stomach and left him mortally wounded on the blood-drenched cobblestones. Letting out a roar, Alexander moved with speed and efficiency, striking down his enemies as they swarmed into the enclosed space. He had no fear that his men would lose the battle. They appeared to be outnumbered but they were by far the more skilled warriors, having fought alongside the king himself for many years.
Despite the tumult surrounding him, Alexander kept his focus determinedly fixed on Gregor MacDonnell. He was going to make him pay for daring to show his cowardly face here. Upon reaching the other man, he disarmed him quickly and tossed his sword aside. Like the sniveling rat he undoubtedly was, MacDonnell cowered on the ground, pleading for his life. Alexander had no intention of letting him live, but he wasn’t about to give him a swift end either. The man deserved to face the humiliation of a trial and public execution for his treachery. Dying at the point of a sword was too honorable a death for him.
As he leaned down to grab Gregor, he saw the other man’s hand shoot out to the side. Too late, he realized that MacDonnell was reaching for a large stone. Before he could react, a heavy blow struck him across the head. Alexander reeled back. Eyes blinking furiously, he turned and took a couple of steps across the courtyard. He felt his body lurching forward, and everything went black.
* * *
Pacing back and forth along the length of the great hall, Ailis cursed the fact that she was essentially helpless. She, and the other women of the household, had taken refuge here along with the few children who dwelled within the castle walls. One of Alexander’s men, a great brute of a man, stood guard at the heavily barred door. He would be the last line of defense if the castle’s inner fortifications were breached. From the way his hand gripped the hilt of his sword, Ailis knew he would rather be out there in the thick of the fighting, than in here babysitting them.
When the attackers poured into the courtyard, Ailis had been heading toward the kitchens to fetch some bread and meat in the hopes that she and Alexander might break their fast together. She’d planned to try to persuade him to spend the morning in bed with her, rather than gallivanting around their estates as they usually did. Last night, he’d taken her body in a way she’d never dreamed could be so intensely pleasurable and when they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms, she’d felt closer to him than ever before.
Thinking that she would be returning to the bedchamber straight away, she hadn’t even bothered to dress properly. Trying to slip out without waking Alexander, she’d just grabbed a linen undershirt and a fur to wrap around herself. As she’d made her way down to the kitchens, she’d heard shouts as her husband’s soldiers ran to deal with the intruders. She would have followed them outside to find out what was happening, if she hadn’t encountered Ruaridh coming up the stairs. Knowing that she had to get him to safety, she’d taken him here, to the Great Hall. Its doors were sturdy, designed to withstand the most ferocious assault, so the women and children always gathered there when the castle was under attack.
As she’d passed by the main door before Alexander’s men closed and barred it, she’d glanced out into the courtyard and spotted her brother. He’d brought a small contingent of her father’s MacDougall kinsfolk with him, men who’d fled their own lands at Dunstaffnage when Alexander and the king’s army had seized their castle. Gregor, it seemed, had come to reclaim what he thought was his by rights.
Ailis hated not having a hand in deciding her own fate. She knew that one of two things would happen when the fighting was over. Either Alexander would prevail, and he would seek to assert his dominance once and for all, or her brother would defeat her husband, and everything would be turned on its head. She doubted Gregor would show her any mercy if he succeeded in retaking the castle. He would make her marriage to Alexander out to be a betrayal of the family name, even though he’d happily abandoned her to her fate. Poor wee Ruaridh would most likely be put to the sword as well. If he was victorious here today, Gregor could not risk the boy growing up and challenging him for the lairdship.
Being stuck with a group of anxious women and children, waiting for the outcome of the battled that raged outside, was driving Ailis to distraction. Dangerous or not, she had to go and find out what was happening.
“Look after Ruaridh,” Ailis told Margaret, who was sitting next to the boy, clutching his hand.
“Why? Where are you going?” the other woman asked.
“I have to go out there,” Ailis replied.
“No, you can’t…”
Margaret’s protest was cut off by an impatient clucking sound from Edane.
“Let her go,” Edane said in her usual sneering tone. “What is it to you if the foolish girl gets herself killed?”
Ailis didn’t wait to hear Margaret’s response. She hurried across the room, toward the door, glancing briefly at the women who were preparing clean water and bandages to tend to any wounded warriors who were brought in. As she reached the door, the man who was posted there stepped forward, preventing her from passing.
“I want to go out there,” she said, receiving nothing but a blank stare in response. Perhaps he was one of Alexander’s foreign mercenaries. He certainly didn’t look as though he understood a word she was saying. Ailis spoke more slowly and mimed what she wanted. “Open the door. I’m going out.”
The man slowly shook his head. Ailis took another step toward the door, but his arm shot out, physically blocking her from going any farther. As she was about to protest, there was a loud banging on the door that made her fall back. Had the enemy got inside the building? The thought was terrifying, and her heart pounded furiously.
Suddenly, someone outside the door began to shout. Even though they were words she didn’t understand, spoken in French and muffled by the thick wooden door that stood between them, Ailis recognized Iain de Moray’s voice. Quickly, the burly guard turned and drew back the heavy wooden post that held the door shut. Before the door was even fully opened, Iain rushed in, a man she immediately realized was her husband slung over his shoulder.
“Alexander!” Ailis shrieked. She ran after Iain as he strode to the long table that ran down the length of the hall and lay him down on it.
“Give him some air, woman!” Iain snarled at her as she threw herself over her husband’s unmoving body.
Ailis stood back, wiping tears from her eyes and studied the gash on Alexander’s forehead. It appeared to be quite deep and it was bleeding profusely. His face was pale and his breathing shallow. As one of the clanswomen stepped forward to tend to Alexander’s wound, Iain pulled Ailis o
ut of the way.
“What happened to him?” Ailis had seen plenty of injuries caused by swords over the years and the mess on Alexander’s head didn’t look like one of them.
“Your coward of a brother struck him,” Iain snarled, as though Gregor’s actions were somehow her fault.
“Where’s Gregor now?”
“In the courtyard.” Iain’s lip curled viciously. “You can gather up the pieces if you want to bury him.”
Ailis gasped at the brutality in his tone. She was not particularly sad to hear of Gregor’s demise, but the hateful way Iain broke the news shocked her to the core. She turned to see if Edane was still in the same spot where she’d left her. Thankfully she was at the back of the room talking in animated fashion with Margaret. Ailis might not like her sister-in-law very much, but she really didn’t want her to go outside and stumble upon her husband’s mutilated body. She began to walk toward her with the intention of breaking the news gently, but Iain grabbed her arm in a bruising grip and pulled her back.
“You’re going nowhere,” he growled, before raising his voice to address the crowd. “Nobody leaves this building.”
Despite the noise of people speaking, crying, and rejoicing that the fighting was over, everyone seemed to hear Iain’s bellow. Immediately, the hubbub died down and even those tending to the wounded seemed to freeze.
“Someone opened the gates to our enemy.” His voice boomed through the quiet that had fallen. “Nobody leaves until the culprit is found.”
Ailis jerked her arm out of Iain’s grip. She looked around, to see Alexander’s men moving into position to prevent anyone from trying to get away. They were bloody and bruised from the fight and utterly terrifying as they scanned the crowd. No doubt, they were looking for someone acting suspiciously. Ailis studied the people around her too. Nobody here would betray her husband. She was quite sure of that. Perhaps they did not yet know him well, but to allow his enemy into the castle was treachery against her also and she was certain she held the people’s loyalty.
His Conquered Bride Page 14
