He dove down and started a nipping, licking path from her heel up to the back of her thigh. Shivers of blissful desire raced up her skin and settled heavy in her passage. Her pussy moistened further, increasing its fluid in abundance, while her clit throbbed in waiting for his touch. He moved up her leg, his hands starting a trail his mouth then followed. John reached her ass, both hands cupping and squeezing, until she thought she would go limp with ecstasy.
“Such soft skin, such a nicely rounded derrière…mmm, such a tight asshole you have there.”
Catriona’s eyelids had been heavy with languidness, but now they flew open at his cryptic words. She stiffened, recalling stories from other women in the band of Gypsies she and Duncan had traveled with. Stories of men using that particular…hole for sexual pleasure. And women enjoying it.
Despite the sudden tingling in her anus and the increased throbbing between her legs, she squirmed and shouted, “Nae! Do not even think of usin’—”
His chuckle and the light pat on her ass cut her words short. “‘Tis all right, Cat. I will never do anything to you that you do not welcome.”
The low, level tone to his voice coupled with the intimate, shortened version of her name had an instant calming effect on her racing nerves. The love-tap on her rear did the opposite to her pulse. Somehow, she believed the cad’s honest assurance only made her want him more. Long-buried desire burned deep in her core. Her heart and her body had made the decision for her…be damned with the self-wrath her conscience insisted upon! What became uppermost was the fact she was safe from those witch-hunting predators for the time being. Therefore, she would give herself this gift, this loving warmth her widow’s sense knew could only be attained through a man’s dominant, firm touch. This loving warmth she had grown accustomed to and had once taken for granted. But never again! She needed desperately to savor it once more. Just as her stomach welcomed nourishing food and her parched mouth drank greedily of cool water, so did her cunt thirst to be filled with cock.
“We shall never ken, for at this moment, I welcome yer advances. Bein’ a widow, it has left me without a mon’s touch for nigh on a year. If I may be so bold as to say, that sort of pain, I tell ye, it can be tryin’ on a woman’s body and soul.”
“Aye, and ‘tis with great care I tend to that wounded widow’s soul and most exquisite body.” He growled it out even as he nipped one cheek of her ass before moving on to her waist, her shoulders. Pinpricks of gooseflesh swept her from rear to scalp. His hands glided along her flesh, molding, worshiping, making her muscles relax while her libido ignited into a ferocious inferno.
“Nay, no lad here, to be sure,” he whispered in her ear. He inhaled, sighed. “Mmm, nothing but complete, ripe and delectable woman.”
His breathing came hot and deep making her tremble with delight. Sprawled on her belly with her head turned to one side, she could catch bits and glimpses of him as he rained soft kisses across her cheek, her ear, her neck and shoulder. Heat enveloped her bare back when he slowly lowered his weight onto hers, forcing her legs fully apart. She could feel the tickle of his sparse chest hairs as they brushed her shoulder blades. Rippling abdomen muscles blanketed the small of her back, the upper swell of her rear. It made her head spin with excitement to be surrounded and overpowered by the fever and strength of him. It was the sort of tempestuousness only a lover could bring, the sort she had forced into the dark recesses of her mind for nigh on a year. But no longer…
The scent of aroused man engulfed her making her mouth water, her labia and clit engorge. Catriona gasped and clutched at the bedclothes when his penis probed her wet mons, dragging up and down the swell of her lips. The sensation of being filled by a cock seemed an eternity ago, yet she knew precisely what would come. She hungered desperately to be torn into from behind.
“Your wetness…” he rasped, his hands skimming over her bent arms until he could twine his fingers into hers. “It pours out onto the bed like a rushing waterfall in spring, fresh, awakening the new season and putting the winter to rest.”
“Do not talk, me thief. Just give me what I yearn for, what I remember to be a pleasin’ experience between man and woman.”
“Pleasing? Ah, you have much to learn, milady.” He finally aligned the tip of his rod with her hole, its silky head barely entering her, stretching her tight slit. It made her suppress a strangled sigh of relief for what was to come, made her insides contract in welcome anticipation. “I will do much, much more than simply please you. I will take you to the brink of madness and never permit you to return.”
And he rammed into her making her scream with bliss. A long, beastly groan followed when he dropped his forehead to her shoulder, gripped her hands tighter and struggled to hold still.
“Jesus, Cat, you are so damn wet and tight!”
She heard the tone of barely contained restraint in his voice and knew a moment of woman’s satisfaction surpassing any in her entire past. It made her grind her teeth together, made her body tense until she shoved her rear up against him to drive him completely into her.
Her eyes widened. Her mouth formed into an involuntary O, and a sort of savage cry tore from her lungs.
“Oh…and ye are so…big! I do not ken if I can…” Catriona suddenly saw the irony in his name. Little John, indeed, she scoffed silently. Nae, quite the contrary. Enormous, and yet she surprised herself in being able to take him all in.
She reared back again, amazed when the outer edges of the orgasm already reached for her. But it receded when John stilled his motion, preventing her from repeating her thrusting moves. He taunted her, she was sure of it, making her wonder if he had planned it this way, to dangle ecstasy before her as if she were his trained dog in heat.
“Hold still, filly,” he murmured, and a tremor went through him from toe to head.
“Nae, I—”
“Shh,” he interrupted, his teeth scraping at her nape. It sent a wave of chills down her spine, renewing the passion that simmered in her womb. “Would you have me hinder your own pleasure by spilling my seed prematurely? What sort of witch are you, Catriona Graham, that you can so easily make a man renowned for his stone heart, lose control so easily?”
She did not like the accusing tone in his voice. It smacked of arrogance. But the antipathy that had instantly reared its head went up in smoke as soon as he slid a hand down between her belly and the bed, and found her hardened pearl.
Catriona gasped and rooted for the blanket until she had it clamped between her teeth. Fire raced through her blood when he increased the pressure on her knot. Close, she was so very, utterly, maddeningly close to the edge of paradise…
But ecstasy, she suddenly determined, would only be hers when this man deemed it so. And that manner of male control wielded over her, making her helpless and at his mercy, only made her want him more.
“Ah, mmm…a witch,” she groaned, her voice muffled, “who must get relief—now! Please, I beg of ye, John, please have mercy upon me.”
“Oh, Catriona…” Words were not enough to express the ferocity of his need. He withdrew, penetrated, withdrew again. With each forceful entry, he shoved her further across the bed until her head hung over the edge, then her breasts.
Ah, to be filled by cock once again! It had been so very long. But no amount of celibacy could have prepared her for the sensations that bombarded her at this carnal moment. John’s hot breaths increased in intensity, the panting and deep moans thundering in her ears. Her head spun with the heady scent of sex and frantic arousal. Sweat coated flesh, his melding into hers, hers into his. The slickness of skin glided over skin sending her body into a pleasant shudder of ecstasy. Heavy fire licked at her womb, making her mouth water and her wet pussy tighten around his enormous shaft.
No doubt about it, John had been forthcoming in claiming that he would do much more than please her. Already she welcomed the madness he had promised her, already she felt herself spiraling out of her normal boundaries of control. Duncan’s penis ha
d not been nearly this large, and she briefly wondered how she had ever been able to derive any pleasure at all from his small cock.
Aye, John reached depths that had not ever been traversed in her marriage, that had never before been touched. He pounded into her with relentless, animal force until she plunged over the edge of the bed, her hands slapping the wooden floor. John’s hands followed, his arms flanking hers, but their lower bodies remained joined upon the edge of the bed.
“Oh. Oh, my God!” Catriona had never experienced such naughtiness. The angle of his cock inside her drove her into a crazed frenzy. Using the strength of her arms, she pushed up and against him. Her hair fell in a dark curtain around her face and she watched as it swirled and swished with each pounding. Sweat dribbled off John’s chest and down her back, down into the hairline at her nape. The fire in the hearth seemed to spark and flame higher, while the musky scent of her own juices mixed with that of smoke and man became stronger, more addicting.
She could not get her legs spread far enough, or her ass up to an adequate height to sate her urges. All she wished for was his thick erection to spear her straight to her throat, to scratch that itch and bring her relief.
Her wish catapulted into reality, into the most explosive orgasm she had ever experienced. It hit her with the force of lightning, the power of thunder. She cried out at the same moment he did. Her body twitched. Catriona moaned out a long, unintelligible song as the fire torched her center and spread to her very toes and fingertips. Together they convulsed as one, their twined, sweaty bodies tumbling to the floor in a heap of spent muscles.
Breathing gradually returned to normal. Catriona lay there with her back to him, her knee raised, watching over her shoulder as the firelight danced upon the sharp, handsome angles of his face. His erection, now half hard, was so long it still partially remained within her passage even though they were no longer pressed groin-to-ass. His eyes were closed. With the half-smile curving the full lips, he appeared to be the epitome of a sleeping cat who had just slurped down his prey. One large paw spread possessively over her hip. The whole incident, the entire breathtaking picture he made, caused regret to flourish in her chest.
This would be the last time, she vowed silently. She needed to move on, to reach permanent safety. To never allow herself to be tempted by this sorcerer again.
Ah, but he tempted ye beyond the devil’s power, did not he, Catriona? Such a magnificent lover! But ‘twould not be wise to become involved with some arrogant thief who would put yer life in constant danger one moment and cast ye out the next. Eh, God help ye, fool—ye harlot! Ye should never have given yerself up so easily to this caddish bandit!
A knock sounded at the door.
“Who goes there?” John asked, rising to locate his braies.
“‘Tis Falcon and Salena.”
Catriona noted how John’s eyes lit with surprise and warmth. “What the devil? I was not expecting you so soon.”
“May we enter?” came the deep voice from the other side of the door. “I prefer not to speak through the thick wood of this blasted portal.”
John chuckled, securing his garment. “Nay, I have a…guest within my chamber. We will meet you down in the dining hall shortly. Nelda has prepared the evening meal.” He turned to Catriona and said in a low voice, “Get dressed. I would like you to meet my friends, as well as get some nourishment before you fly the coop.”
She drew the sheet up and clutched it to her breast, dread and regret at what she had just done weighing heavy on her heart. “I do not wish to meet yer friends—or anyone else, for that matter. I must be on me way.”
“You’ll not be on your way, milady, not yet. You’ll be staying here for the time being, and you’ll be putting some victuals between those luscious lips of yours.” He drew on the jerkin over his bare, wide chest without bothering to don a shirt. The strong, chiseled build and bulging muscles revealed beneath the strips of leather made her pulse flutter.
With a concerted effort, she focused on his handsome face. But she realized her mistake too late. The roguish good looks made her heart race with excitement. But resentment flourished there as well, resentment that he could affect her senses with such ease. She spoke through clamped teeth, focusing on her mission. “Ye cannot tell me what to do!”
He smiled, an expression designed to calm her, though instead it stoked the desire simmering in her abdomen. “‘Tis all right, princess. You are free to go whenever you like. But I prefer you rested and fed first. And I request that you spend some time acquainting yourself with my special guests.”
She shot to her feet, dragging the sheet with her. “I have survived these past weeks for days on end with little food. And I will continue to do so in order to be on me way.”
He sauntered forward, his eyes never leaving hers. When he approached, she caught the faint aroma of his unique muskiness twined with her own scent. Something about it, about the warmth his huge body enveloped her with, made her knees go weak. In pathetic defense, she clutched the sheet, raising it until her fist nestled beneath her jaw. She could detect the determination in his gaze, in his wide stance and in the tautness of the muscles as he folded his arms across his chest.
“You will eat before you walk out my door, my love, or by God, I will chain you to the table until you have eaten an entire roast duck.”
She gasped. “Ye would not do such a thing!”
He smiled, but not one flash of tenderness reached his eyes. “Try me.”
“Oh…” She stomped a bare foot for lack of a sufficient retort.
“Here, upon the bench I’ve placed some clean male garments for you. Get dressed…or shall I do it for you?” He arched a brow. His pupils dilated, lending the blue of his eyes a roguish gleam that sent delicious shivers up her spine.
“Nae.”
“Nay, you will not get dressed, or nay, I will not do it for you?”
“Both.”
“Very well.” He gripped her arm and bent, snatching up the shirt and braies. Backing her into the bed, he forced her onto the mattress so that she lost her balance. The sheet fell away. His gaze flashed to her breasts like a snap of lightning, sending a jolt of paralyzing fire to her loins.
“Nae…” She shook her head and scooted out of reach—almost.
He had his huge hand clamped around her ankle before she could scramble to the opposite side of the bed. “Oh, aye,” he warned, yanking so hard, she feared her bone would break.
In a split second, she found herself naked and lying flat beneath his clothed body. The sensation of the heavy leather of his jerkin dragging over her nipples made her groan. The nubs ached, plummeting a whoosh of heat into her groin. Her pussy throbbed, and with humiliation, she felt a warm trickle of juice between her legs.
His mouth swooped down on hers, soft yet potent. She braced herself for the devastating invasion of his tongue, but it did not come. Instead, he held her face between his hands and kissed her with a tenderness that shocked her. Her body relaxed and the sorcerer swept her up into his wicked magic. Her toes curled, her hands fisted at her sides. Unable to resist, she wrapped her arms around his torso and sighed into his mouth, loving the wet, silky feel of his lips upon hers.
“Cat,” he whispered against her mouth. “Please do not fight me. I beg of you to don the clothes and come below stairs with me. I simply wish to put some nourishment into your lovely body.”
Her stomach chose that very moment to betray her with a growl.
“See? Even your body speaks to me of hunger.”
Her face warmed. “Oh, all right. But then I must depart.”
He grinned and smacked his lips against hers. “Good.” Rising, he added, “I cannot wait for you to meet Falcon and Salena.”
She sat up and located the clean garments where John had deposited them just before overpowering her. Her heart still fluttered as she replayed it in her mind. Hands trembling, she slid into the shirt and braies then sat to pull on her boots.
“Y
er friends, who are they?”
John started for the door just as she stood and snatched up her cloak. “You’ll find out soon enough. Hurry. I do not like keeping them waiting.”
She followed him down a long corridor, her stomach fluttering with nerves. What if this Falcon were an acquaintance of the Scots king or someone in his court? Lord help her, but she could not take the chance. Her eyes darted around in search of an escape route. But she had dawdled too long. John turned and took her hand in his, its big, warm expanse closing around her cold hand.
“Do not even think of it, my dove. Come. You will dine with us, then we shall see about preparing you for your departure.”
“It must be tonight.”
“Mmm,” he nodded, casting her a sidelong glance that defied his previous words of assurance that she would be free to go. “We shall see…”
At his evasive comment, she nearly stumbled, her legs trembling. We shall see? What exactly did that mean? Aye, Catriona knew she would soon find out. Nerves ate away at her stomach as he led her down a wide sweeping staircase and into the company of his friends. But were these friends truly foes determined to burn her to her death?
As she pondered that concern, they entered the great hall. The soaring ceiling drew her gaze, along with the open hearth in the center, and a raised dais set with a long fixed-top elm table and chairs. The room was empty, save for a woman setting up a side table with various foodstuff, including fresh-baked bread, wine and cheeses. The scrumptious aroma of roast fowl and stew wafted across the space to tempt Catriona. Her stomach clenched and the hunger pains intensified. It seemed all worries over her current dilemma dissipated and were replaced by her body’s urge for nourishment.
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