“I am not feeling too well,” he said.
She nodded and gestured that he needed to rest.
He reached out to run his hand gently down the side of her face. “I’ll get no rest unless you’re in my arms.”
He had come to her in need, wanting her in his arms so that he could rest, for it seemed he could not do so without her. Her heart soared for surely it was a sign that he loved her.
“You will not leave my side.”
It was meant as an order and yet it sounded more like a plea to Dawn and she tapped his arm once. She then finished undressing him and pulled the blankets back for him to climb in bed.
He stopped her from covering him. “I want you beside.”
She nodded and pointed to her garments to let him know as soon as she undressed she would join him.
Still he would not let her cover him. “Hurry, for I will not seek any warmth until you are beside me.”
Stubborn, she thought, though it did please her to know how much he wanted her in bed with him. She rushed out of her clothes and slipped into bed curling herself around him. Only then did he pull the covers over them.
His arms went around her drawing her tightly against him and draping his one leg over hers. “This is what I’ve needed. Now I will heal.”
My love will heal you; it will always heal you, Dawn thought and wished with all her heart that she could speak those words to him. She let him know the only way she could that she loved him. She squeezed her hand between their chests, pressed it to her heart and then to his.
Cree was already half asleep when he whispered, “You belong to me.”
Dawn nestled her head against his bare chest wondering if that was the only way he could let her know that he loved her.
Chapter Six
Dawn woke early the next morning with Cree still wrapped around her. His breathing was steady and his body warm, though thankfully not feverish. It was good he still slept, rest would help heal him. And she intended to see that no one disturbed him. She would chase away anyone who came searching for him, no matter who it was.
Cree didn’t budge when she eased herself out of his arms and out of bed. She slipped on a wool skirt and linen blouse and used the plain bone comb Paul had made for her years ago to get the tangles out of her hair, then she used a slim strip of leather to tie her long dark red hair back. Her hair was straight, not a curl or wave to it, though it was soft and had the loveliest shine to it.
She quietly left the room and being it was so early, and not knowing if food would be sent to her this morning, she decided to make sure she had food for her and Cree when he woke. She grabbed a bucket and went to the door.
Elwin, the warrior who first guarded her, stepped in front of the door as soon as she opened it. “You’re not to be going anywhere,” he said. “And Cree ordered that no one was to enter until he permitted it.”
That brought a smile to her face and she held the empty bucket up.
Elwin smiled and nodded, filled the bucket from the rain barrel, and returned it to Dawn. She was pleased to learn that Cree thought the same as she did and had ordered that no one was to disturb them. She had him all to herself, if only for a while.
She got busy setting leaves to brewing for a tasty drink she and her mum used to enjoy on cold days. She also had enough oats and barley to make porridge and to make bread, though it would not be as tasty as Turbett’s. It would however fill them.
It felt good to prepare her own meal again and this time it was not for her alone, which made the task that more pleasant.
She had just taken the last of the bread loaves she had made off the hearth stone when she heard...
“Dawn?”
She hurried into the other room to find Cree, cover pushed back and ready to come find her. And ready for much more since he was as hard as stone. She rushed over to him and pushed him down on the bed, pulling the covers over him to his waist with her eyes focused above his hard chest... hard... damn but he was hard for her.
“You left me,” he said upset.
She shook her head and sat on the bed beside him. She pushed her eyes wide and then gestured holding a bowl and stirring and pointed to him and then herself.
He smiled. “You’re cooking for us.”
She nodded, then patted her stomach and pointed to him.
“I’m feeling better, though I’d feel much better if you crawled in beside me and kept me warm.”
Dawn was ever so tempted, but he needed his rest and she was curious as to what happened that had caused him to fall ill. She pointed at him, shrugged, and narrowed her eyes.
“A bit of bad food I suppose,” he said and stretched his hand out to her.
She shook her head not believing that.
“Do not worry about it; I am fine. Now get in this bed.”
She shook her head adamantly and placed her hands on her hips.
“You’re going to be stubborn about this, aren’t you?”
She gave a sharp nod.
“My stomach soured, there is nothing more to it,” he insisted. “Now come over here.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes.
“You’re going to make me come get you?” he asked with a grin that warned and tempted.
She pointed at him, her stomach, the bed, and then stepped back.
“I am well enough. I don’t require anymore rest and did you just back away from me?”
She wanted nothing more than to crawl in bed with him and make love. The sight of his naked chest thick with muscles and the size of his organ thick and hard had made her wet and turned her legs limp, not to mention what it did to her resolve to see that he rested.
She had to remain strong and see that he healed and so with her chin set firm, she took another step back.
“Oh, my love, you’re going to pay for that.” He grinned and jumped out of bed.
She was so shocked that he called her my love that she failed to react and she was even more shocked that he had loosened her skirt and pushed it to the ground. Her mouth dropped open.
He pressed a finger to it. “Not a word.”
He startled her again by speaking to her as if she had a voice, though she should be used to it by now, he had done it so often. And again he distracted her so that her blouse was dismissed without a thought.
His grin grew wicked when he grabbed her shoulders and walked her backward to the bed, giving her a shove when the back of her legs touched the edge. As she fell back he took hold of her legs and yanked off her boots. Then he came down on top of her nesting his hardness between her legs.
“Now that’s where I want to be.” He kissed her softly. “Do you want me there, love?”
Love. The word turned her into a simpering fool, but what did she care. She wanted him snug inside her just as much—perhaps more—than he wanted to bury himself in her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with a fervor that had stirred in her from when she first entered the room and saw him naked and hard.
He responded in kind, his kiss deep, and hungry. His arm went around her waist, lifting her to move her further along the bed so that their legs did not hang off the edge. Then he nestled over her raining kisses down along her neck until he reached her breasts and then he nipped playfully at her nipples that budded tightly like a flower before full bloom.
She ran her fingers through his glorious soft hair, digging into his scalp, holding him against her wanting him never to stop. But he did, not that she complained since he moved slowly down her body worshiping it with gently nips and tender kisses.
He raised his head for a moment and said, “Damn, but I love the taste of you.”
He worked his way slowly down her body and before he could settle his face between her legs, she tugged at his arm. He looked up and she shook her head and gestured for him to enter her and relieve her torment.
With a wicked grin he shook his head. “I am going to make you come over and over
until you’re so spent you can do nothing but collapse in my arms... where you belong.”
Belong. Yes, she belonged in his arms, belonged here in bed with and belonged in his heart. His love was silent like her voice but she heard it as clearly as he heard her. Her heart swelled along with her passion as his tongue pleased her in ways she never thought possible. He did make her come over and over until finally, he could no longer stand it himself. He entered her quick and fast, though he did not climax that way. He took his time pleasuring her as well as himself with deep penetrating thrusts. And she locked her legs around him taking him deeper and deeper, locking tightly around him until neither one of them could contain it any longer. In unison they exploded in a climax that sent them hurdling, surging, and erupting over and over until Cree collapsed spent on top of her.
After a moment, when sanity returned, Cree felt Dawn’s body shake with laughter. He looked at her and saw that she wore a wide grin and that her body still rumbled against him with laughter.
“You find our love making funny?” he asked teasingly, knowing her too well to think their love making anything but satisfying.
She shook her head and continued smiling as she tapped his chest, sighed soundlessly though heavily, her shoulders drooping and then wrapped her arms as far as they would go around his back.
He laughed. “I’m spent and in your arms.”
She nodded, patted her chest and hugged him.
“You love me in your arms.”
There was that word again. Love. And he was right; she loved him in her arms and all others ways too, though for now she nodded and smiled and hugged him tighter.
“I love being in your arms,” he whispered and brushed her lips with his. “And I love being inside you.”
She wiggled against him.
“You like it too.”
She nodded, pressed a finger to his mouth, then to hers and patted her chest.
He scrunched his brow for a moment. “You like the way we talk?”
She pressed once against his arm.
He brushed his lips over hers once again and slipped off her, settling her in his arms to rest against him and pulled the blanket over them. “I have found it easy and pleasing to talk with you from when we first met.”
Dawn raised a brow.
“You communicate much better than you think, although when you get angry it is a bit more difficult to understand you. In time I’m sure that won’t matter, I’ll understand you perfectly.”
In time. They had time and it would seem much of it and that pleased her, though feeling a prisoner didn’t. Now, however, was not the time to burden him with such a discussion. He was still healing, though she could attest to the return of his stamina.
“I’m hungry,” he announced with a hug.
She scrambled over him and he teasingly wrapped his arm around her waist and his hand went to her buttocks to give it a firm squeeze. “We spend the day in bed, you and me. I have left instructions that no one was permitted to disturb me until I allowed it. So we have the day and the night, for I need the time to heal and I need... you.”
She pointed to herself and then to him.
“I know you need me as well. We are one, you and I, and we always will be.”
His hand went to the back of her neck and he forced her head down so that her mouth met his and he kissed her with a fiery fury that let her know in no uncertain terms that he meant it.
She rested her brow to his for a moment to catch her breath. Her hands cupped her face and he brushed his lips over hers. “I have never know such tasty kisses until I kissed you.”
Her heart soared, she smiled, patted her chest, shook her head and tapped his chest.
He laughed. “You have no one to compare my kisses to.”
Her smile faded and she kissed him lightly, shook her finger, tapped his lips, tapped lips, and shook her head.
“You want only my kisses?”
She nodded.
“That is good, for my kisses are the only ones you will ever taste, the only ones you will ever need.”
She smiled again and nodded enthusiastically.
He smiled and laughed and kissed her soundly. “You make me laugh and smile, things I have not done often enough.” He slapped her bottom playfully “And now it is time to feed me, woman, for I have an insatiable lover and I must keep up my stamina to please her.”
She laughed soundlessly and tapped his chest.
“I’m insatiable?” Cree huffed.
Dawn grinned and crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself.
“You love that I am.”
Her eyes went wide, her brow went up and she nodded slowly.
Cree laughed again and hugged her tightly rocking them back and forth. “Damn, woman, but I’m glad your mine.”
She gave a pat to her chest to let him know she felt the same about him as she scrambled off him. Cree reluctantly released her.
Dawn leaned over to pick up her clothes.
“Don’t dare dress. I want you naked. We will stay naked all day and stay in bed all day. We will eat, talk, sleep, and make love throughout the entire day.”
That sounded perfect to Dawn and she hoped it would be so. She hurried to gather the food she had made and they were soon feasting on porridge and bread.
“I have sent for my sister to come live here,” Cree said tearing a piece of bread off the flat loaf.
Dawn’s eyes turned wide and she didn’t need to gesture for Cree to understand.
“Yes, I have a sister. I let no one know about her for fear my enemies would harm her,” he said. “I have not seen her in a few years. She is a woman grown now, ten and nine years. I hope to make a fine match for her; a man of substance, one who will look after her and treat her well.”
Dawn wondered how is sister would feel about having a husband chosen for her. But then being of nobility, his sister had little choice. She would have to obey her brother’s edict whether it pleased her or not.
“Wintra is like you,” he said with a tweak to the tip of her nose, “getting herself into all sorts of things she shouldn’t. You two will get along well.”
Dawn looked forward to meeting her, though she wondered how friendly they could become. She was after all a lowly peasant. It was Cree’s wife his sister would befriend.
He rested a hand to his stomach and Dawn was quick to place her hand over his, his eyes having taken on a pained expression.
“I am fine; my stomach but sours slightly. Elsa had told me it was to be expected and that I should rest a day or two and limit my intake of food. But my body calls for sustenance and I have never lain abed all day.” He smiled. “But then I never had reason to. Now I have you.” His smile faded as a heavy yawn hit him and he dropped his head back.
She hurried to clean away the food. When she went to tuck the blanket around him he stopped her.
“Not until you are in this bed with me.”
She nodded and quickly added more logs to the fire before slipping into bed beside him and tucking the blanket around them both. She snuggled against him and his arms went around her.
“You will not leave me,” he said. “I want to wake with you in my arms.”
She nodded and rested her head on his chest. She did not know if she would sleep but it did not matter. She was content to have him here beside her and she would enjoy this time she had with him even if it meant lying there in his arms while he slept, for she knew not when she would have such an intimate moment with him again.
She woke with a start, not knowing if she had slept a few moments or several hours. When she realized that the room had taken on a chill. She cast an eye at the hearth and saw the flames low and she knew they had slept hours. Cree still slept and she did not want him to wake to a cold room so she eased herself out of her arms, though she didn’t get far.
“I am not awake yet and you are to be in my arms when I wake.’
She poked him playfully and then pretended to shiver.
> “The room has chilled. You stay; I’ll tend the fire,” he said opening his eyes.
She shook her head and wiggled out of his arms.
“Dawn,” he warned but she was out of bed and at the hearth before he stretched himself awake.
She added three logs, some kindling, and stoked the embers until the wood caught and the hearth was ablaze and then she added another log. She held her hands out in front of the fire for a moment before hurrying back to bed.
Cree held the blanket back for her and she climbed in beside him. He shivered when she pressed her chilled, naked body against his.
“I’m going to have to warm you,” he said hugging her tight.
She agreed with an eager nod.
“This lying abed all day is not bad at all,” he said and nibbled at her neck.
She scrunched her shoulders, against the tickling sensations running throughout her body.
“I think we’ll take this love making slower than before.”
She grew wet at the thought, thinking that they certainly hadn’t hurried the last time. And wanting to give him as much pleasure as he gave her, she slipped her hand down to take hold of his hard organ and relished its silky feel.
“Hmmm that feels good,” Cree whispered in her ear and then nibbled at her earlobe.
Not sure what to do, Dawn let instinct take hold and she found herself stroking him, up and down, harder, softer, harder again. Then she suddenly got the urge to taste him as he had done to her. She wiggled her way down and when she gave a tentative taste, she discovered that she liked the flavor.
She gave no thought to anything but enjoying herself and she licked and tasted delighted and fueled by her passion. When he moaned loudly she realized she had fueled his as well and liked that she held such power over him. So she set to work, though it was no work at all but rather pure pleasure, to driving him mad.
After several minutes Cree groaned, “Good God, woman.”
She grinned before taking him deeper into her mouth and that’s when the pounding on the door interrupted them.
“Cree! Cree! I insist that you open this door now.”
Dawn jumped off the bed upon hearing Lucerne’s demand.
Forbidden Highlander (Highlander Trilogy 2) Page 5
