But when she bent over and moved that mouth of hers closer to his aroused flesh, he took her by the shoulders and straightened her back up. Her mouth on his cock. He needed to be lying down or he would fall over at such a thing.
So he kissed her and began to untie and undo the various layers she wore, touching and caressing her body as he did. He let his hand linger on her breast and he untied the laces of her gown. He let his finger graze over the curls at the juncture of her legs. He touched and tasted her skin as he uncovered her bit by bit. When he felt her tremble beneath each caress, he knew she was ready.
Reaching down, he took the edge of her shift and began to lift it up. Anxious to hold her naked, with nothing between them, her hand on his surprised him. Ah. She did not want him to see her leg, no matter his words that it mattered not. He let the garment go—there were ways to deal with it—and lifted her into his arms to carry her to bed. Rob laid her down and climbed in next to her, kissing her mouth and keeping the fires of passion stoked within her.
Not allowing the thin shift to slow or stop him, he kissed her breasts through it until she arched beneath him. The heat pulsed through him at her reaction, his body demanding that he take her soon. Instead, determined that this was for her, he turned his attentions to her other breast, suckling the tight bud this time. She gasped and stiffened under him.
Kneeling over her, he slid down her, using his face and mouth and teeth to tease a path towards the place he wanted to taste. The fabric was no barrier to what she felt, for her breathing became erratic and when he placed his head on her stomach, he felt the pounding of her heart. He slid down a bit and moved his mouth over the curls there, just once, but she let out a moan and so he used his tongue to tease them over and over. When her legs fell open, he moved his face down and kissed the uninjured thigh, easing his way towards his goal—the place that would make her soar in pleasure.
At first, she urged him on with her hands tangled in his hair, but then they fell aside and her fingers curled in the bedcovers. Her hips urged him on that way.
‘Take it off,’ she rasped out then.
Rob raised his head to make sure he’d heard her correctly. ‘Your shift?’
‘Yes.’
He would not waste time now so he grasped the top edges of the garment and ripped it open. Her lovely body lay open to his view, her soft curves making his mouth water once more. Although it had been a big step for her, he did not want her uncomfortable during this, so he tucked the now-freed edge around her scarred leg, giving her a measure of privacy in that.
The rest of her was more spectacular now than before—her body had matured into a lithe, curvaceous woman from the girl he’d known. He’d adored her then—he loved her now.
Lifting her uninjured leg up and over, he opened that most sensitive place to his gaze. Kissing down from her knee, along her thigh, he finally placed his mouth where it wanted to be and she moaned out a sound of hunger and longing and pleasure. Rob tasted her arousal, until she panted, barely a moment or two away from reaching satisfaction. He plunged his tongue deep and sent her over the edge. Her body pressed against him, her hands tangled again in his hair, but he did not stop until she throbbed.
She pulled his hair then, dragging him up to face her, their bodies sliding along each other and letting her know that they were not done yet. Lilidh’s eyes were wild, filled with pleasure and desire when she gazed at him.
‘Now, Rob,’ she urged. ‘Finish it.’
* * *
Lilidh’s body sung, from his touch and from the scandalous kisses between her legs. She was ready for the next step—she wanted it, wanted him. Inside.
Inside where no man had ever been.
Rob moved over her, once more working his magic as he sent her body into another needy frenzy. Her hips lifted, begging him to fill her. Her breasts, heavy and aching, needed him inside her to ease the building tension. Her very core throbbed in anticipation of having his flesh within hers, touching her there, joining their bodies as one.
He moved slowly, tasting his way along her body, until she was ready to beg him.
Nay, she would beg.
‘Please, Rob,’ she whispered. ‘Please.’ When he placed his erection at the opening to her most intimate place, she held her breath and waited that incredibly small amount of time before he began to push inside her.
Would he notice? Would he know? Did it matter to him?
As he moved in, pressing deeper, he paused and looked at her. She met his gaze and saw the question there. Holding her breath, she arched and lifted her hips, seating him deeply within her aching flesh. Then, for a moment, she could not tell where he ended and she began. Closing her eyes, she revelled in the feeling of joining with him.
It was all that she’d imagined and dreamt it would be.
‘Lilidh?’ Rob asked. She opened her eyes and met his beautiful blue gaze. ‘Are you well?’
‘I am.’ There had been only some tightness, but that eased with each moment he remained inside of her.
‘You should have told me.’
Did he regret this already, then? Tears began to burn in her eyes and in her throat. His mouth on hers was a surprise.
‘I would have had a care for you, my love.’ He kissed her lips and chin and then her neck. The touches inflamed her body once more and she felt him lengthen and thicken inside her.
She thought he would withdraw, but instead he began to move, slowly at first, drawing out a bit and then sliding back in. Then he moved faster, pulling back and plunging until he could go no further. Her flesh clung to his, creating an exhilarating tension there and all through her. The same excitement he’d caused before, but this time so much more intense. Her heart pounded and her blood boiled as he thrust over and over, bringing her to that edge once again.
Lilidh grabbed his hips and pressed against him, urging him to the same edge and then she felt all the tension and tightness inside of her release. She gasped as their bodies pulsed together.
It was some moments before she came back to herself after such an experience. She lay still, enjoying the closeness of him.
A few seconds or minutes passed before he moved. Slowly he withdrew from her, leaving her feeling empty in a place that she’d never known could be. Lilidh knew a reckoning was coming and she dreaded facing him, now that he knew of her deceit. His actions surprised her instead.
She watched as he silently left the bed and gathered some things together before returning. A basin, some hot water from the pot on the hearth, cloths, a cup of wine. He carried them back to the bed and, after pulling the bedcovers and torn shift from under her, he first handed her the wine. Its sweet flavour eased the dryness in her throat as she sipped it.
Then dipped a cloth in the hot water and cleaned himself...of her virgin’s blood. The next cloth he offered to her and she accepted it, handing him the wine, and cleaned the signs of their joining—and her first—from between her legs. Using the ruined shift as a drying cloth she finished as quickly as she could.
Her body felt heavy everywhere and when he climbed back next to her in the bed and pulled her to his side, she moulded to his body. Surrounded by his arms, warmed by his heat and the layers of blankets and eased by the wine, she found herself drifting into sleep.
* * *
Rob watched as her eyelids fluttered once and then twice before shutting altogether. Her body lay against him, skin to skin now, and she gave herself over to sleep much as she’d given herself to him.
Totally.
He was just as stunned now as when he’d felt the thin barrier inside her as he’d claimed her. He’d had no idea of how complete that claiming would be.
First. Her first. No one, no other man, had enjoyed her body since last they’d been together. He’d been saving that special joining until their marriage. He’d expected that, with her marriage to Iain, her virginity would have been taken by that man.
So, how was she yet untouched? Why had her husband not claimed his mari
tal rights? He smoothed the hair from her face and studied the arch of her brow, the curve of her chin. He eased his arm out from under her and
drew the covers higher around her shoulders. Lilidh turned on to her other side and sighed in her sleep.
Rob climbed from the bed and found more wine. Filling a cup, he walked to one of the two windows in the chamber and stared out into the darkness.
Lilidh a virgin?
He swallowed deeply from the cup and considered how a thing would have been possible. Had Iain been ill during their marriage? Hell, Rob would have had to be dead before he would neglect her as his wife. Yet, clearly Iain had not.
If you did not want me before because of my leg, how can you want me now?
The question she’d asked him gave him pause now. Had her injury presented such an obstacle to her new husband that he did not bed her because of it?
Daft man, then. But had she told her parents of her marriage’s failure? Was that why she returned home? Did anyone know the truth?
But now he’d not only taken her virginity, he’d spilled his seed within her. That changed everything...or did it? In the way in which this whole situation would play out over the coming weeks? He just did not know. Did it make him want to claim her and keep her? He wanted to scream out the words now.
But could he? Chances were that the most likely outcome would be Lilidh’s return to her family and his alliance with the MacKenzies—hopefully without losing too many of his kin. The worst? Well, his clan dead and decimated and his body hung in pieces on his wall as a warning to others not to cross the MacLerie.
She stirred in his bed, in his bed where he’d always dreamt of having her, so he finished the wine and went back to her. As he moved behind her and drew her close, his body reacted. Instead of waking, she just wiggled back against him, nestling beside him.
* * *
Rob had many questions to ask and things to think about, but when the dawn came, he was no closer to resolution than before. Lilidh slept through the knock on the door and never moved as he left. His questions would have to wait until this night.
Chapter Fifteen
Lilidh heard the knocking on the door, but her body resisted the call to wake. As she pushed the covers back, she discovered herself completely naked. She tried to gather her hair into a neat queue, but it was wildly loose all around her shoulders. Sliding to the side of the bed, she glanced around for something to use as a bedrobe. Finding none, she pulled her gown over her head and tugged it into place.
Before she could find the brush needed to conquer the tangles in her hair, the door opened and Beathas led a cadre of servants in behind her. Two men rolled in the wooden tub and placed it near the hearth. In this bigger chamber, there was more room to move around it. Buckets of steaming water followed. Other bathing supplies as well as bedclothes were delivered before everyone turned and left—except for Beathas, who stood by the door giving her a very knowing look.
‘Let me check your head, dearie,’ Beathas said as she walked over to Lilidh. ‘Rob said it might have been bleeding last night.’
Bleeding? Her head had not bled...
But that would explain away any signs of blood on the bed, if any was there. So she sat and let Beathas have her look.
‘The stitches look fine, but they will need to come out soon,’ the woman declared, still watching her with a strange expression. ‘Here, now, let me help you into the bath. Rob was quite insistent that you have one this morn.’
‘I can manage on my own, Beathas,’ she said, rising from the chair where she sat and walking over to the tub. She turned back to dismiss the woman when she found her frowning.
‘Did no one ever see to you, lass? I’ve seen your leg, so there’s no reason to try to hide it from me.’
Ah. When she was unconscious. She should have known.
‘Did Rob also see it?’ she asked. Beathas tsked as she moved around the chamber, gathering up dirty clothing that needed washing and pulling the used sheets from the bed.
‘Anyone who has seen the injuries of a battle would think it tame in comparing it.’
‘Only Isla has seen it recently. Before that the healer and my parents when it happened. ’Tis not something I wish to show others.’ If her tone was a bit sharp, surely Beathas would understand the private nature of her injury.
‘Isla is your maid?’ Beathas asked. Walking towards her, the older woman motioned towards the gown she wore and Lilidh nodded allowing her approach.
’Twas true. The healer had seen her leg before so there was no use or purpose to be gained by hiding it from her. And having help in her bath would be a luxury. She stood as the woman lifted the gown off and then held her steady as she climbed into the tub. Sliding down, she noticed that the soreness in her leg was not the only one in her body.
‘She was. Until she was killed when Symon attacked me.’ It simply did not feel real to her that Isla could be gone.
The woman continued to help her wash, untangle her hair and see to her needs.
* * *
Some time later, as Lilidh sat by the fire dressed and brushing her hair out, there was a quick knock on the door and it opened. Rob walked in and she waited to see if matters between them had changed now that he knew her truth.
‘Can you come down to the kitchens?’ he asked. ‘There is something I think you should see.’
He stood with his hand out to her and she could not tell much from his expression or words. Knowing her difficulties with the stairs, he would not have asked this of her on a whim. Beathas handed her a plaid shawl and she followed Rob to the steps. It took some time, but he did not rush her at all. When they reached the main floor, he waited for her catch her breath.
‘I should have ordered the bath after you did this,’ he offered, smiling at her.
‘No, I had a good long soak and it feels fine.’
She wondered if he would speak of more intimate issues between them. They walked in silence, though he let her walk on her own as they passed through the great hall and headed for the kitchens. This was much different from the last time she walked this path. Though there were many within the hall, none seemed to bother with her for now. Escorted by Rob, she made her way into the kitchen area where Siusan stood waiting.
‘Am I to work here again?’ she asked, uncertain about what was his plan in this.
‘No,’ he answered as they followed Siusan down a smaller corridor to the chamber at the end.
Siusan opened the door and allowed them to enter. Although neither had said anything alarming, Lilidh held her breath as she walked into the chamber. There, on a small pallet, rested an older woman. Isla?
It could not be!
But it was her and she lay with her eyes closed. Lilidh stumbled over to her side, taking her hand and whispering her name over and over until her maid opened her eyes and met her gaze.
‘Isla. I am gladdened to see you alive,’ she said. ‘How do you feel?’
‘A bit weak, my lady,’ she whispered. ‘But I wi’ be on my feet and takin’ care of you soon, I promise.’
‘Hush now, you rest and recover, Isla. I am fine.’
She closed her eyes once more and seemed to fall into a deep sleep then, but Lilidh could not let go of her hand. Glancing around through the tears that now filled her own eyes, she found Rob watching her from the doorway. ‘I thought her dead.’
‘I know. And until just this morn when Beathas declared her strong enough to live, we thought she would not survive.’ Rob walked to her side. ‘I did not want you to mourn twice if you did not need to,’ he said softly against her ear.
She nodded her head because words were not possible at that moment.
‘You may remain with her until nightfall. Call a guard if you need to return to my chambers before that,’ he instructed.
Lilidh turned to thank him, but he’d gone and only Siusan remained. ‘How long has she been here?’
‘They found her the day after you were brought here. A wo
und to her head, much like yours.’
‘And you have been caring for her?’ Lilidh asked.
‘Some of the women, too,’ Siusan replied.
‘I will sit with her now,’ she offered. ‘Is there anything I should know about her care?’
Siusan pointed out several items, a concoction left by Beathas as well as fresh bandages if she had need of them, and then left her with instructions to keep the door closed at all times. Something she’d not noticed before—a tray of food along with broth for Isla—also waited for her to break her fast. Nodding her understanding, Lilidh watched as Siusan left.
She pulled a stool over and rearranged the table that held the food and supplies so she could reach everything and still touch Isla’s hand. She ate and watched the rise and fall of her maid’s chest. At least she lived. When her father arrived, she would try to convince Rob to let the woman go home to Lairig Dubh.
* * *
The day was moving slowly, all the while memories of the night before kept seeping into her thoughts. She relived it all in her mind, every touch, every kiss, everything. A good thing no one else was there and watching or they would wonder at the constant blush on her face. The wanton had had her way and was satisfied by what had happened between her and Rob. But what now? What came next?
Siusan returned from time to time with clothing to mend and small tasks she could do while at Isla’s side. She spoke to her maid, though she was unsure if she heard anything throughout the day. Isla roused several times, mumbled a few words and then slept again. When the noises from the kitchens grew louder, she knew it was nearing nightfall as they finished the work on the evening meal.
And time to return to Rob’s chambers.
How would it be between them now? Would he demand the truth from her? She guessed that a man liked to know if he was or was not a woman’s first, but did it matter now?
As she waited for the guard, she thought on her own feelings about this. It had been thrilling. More pleasure than she could have guessed could happen. She knew how a man and woman joined, but the way he used his mouth on her was a shock to her. Who could have thought something like that possible? Her body shivered then, reminding her of just how wonderful it had been between them.
Terri Brisbin Highlander Bundle Page 33
