by Trisha Telep
His grin was purely masculine, one that spoke of things left unspoken, one that dared her to meet his gaze, which she avoided while handling the rearrangement of the tray, the bowls and the cups. She removed the pot. Soon, he was eating and Cat sat in the chair doing the same. She understood that he would wait no longer for an explanation and that she had only the time it would take them to eat left to her.
Padruig could not help but grin. From fearing for his life to wondering what she would demand of him for his freedom, he’d thought on this situation all night. While she slept, he considered all or most of the possibilities and she had him puzzled. Her declaration the morning after they were wed, one that demanded he not trouble her again in that manner, set the pattern of their lives. If she had objected to his seeking a mistress, he would not have done so, but she showed no willingness for an intimate relationship between them. He shifted his position on the floor and waited for her to finish.
Catriona blushed then, under his gaze, and he wondered what had made her do so now. He’d watched it happen the night before, just before he lost his temper, when she’d glanced at the stairs leading to the loft above. Thinking on his own reaction to the purely decadent bed that lay waiting above them, he thought it must be that. Padruig finished his ale and put the cup and bowl back on the tray.
“So, now that I am fed and dry,” he said, enjoying the way she coloured in reaction to his reference, “is it time to learn the truth of my fate?”
Catriona’s expression changed in that instant from one of indecision. His wife had grown up in these last months under his constant watch. She did not know that he observed every move she made when they were together. She did not know that his family reported back to him about her activities, her health and even her unhappiness. Though circumspect in her words, he understood how she felt about her position within the clan and her reasons for remaining there.
Or at least he’d thought he knew until last night.
She glanced away and seemed to be struggling on the words to say, so he pushed a bit to get her started, realizing that they’d already spent more time alone together since his kidnapping than they had in the months since their wedding.
“You want a new husband.”
“I did not say a new husband,” she snapped back at him. “I said I wanted a husband.”
“You have a husband,” he replied. “Clearly you know who he is since you had him kidnapped.” He pushed himself to his feet and tried to cross his arms until the short length of chain stopped him. “Speak plainly, Cat,” he said. “Tell me why you did this and what will remove these chains.”
She started at his words before speaking. Then he watched as she straightened her shoulders and stood, mirroring his own stance. But she could cross her arms.
“I find that our arrangement is not acceptable to me any longer, Padruig. I tire of being humiliated by your whore. I tire of being a wife, but not a wife,” she said softly.
He let out his breath, stunned by her admission. Of all the things he thought he would hear, this was not any of them! He fought to keep the smile from his lips for her words could mean several things. To gain more insight, he asked, “When did you decide this?”
She shrugged and shook her head. He thought she would answer, but she did not, turning away for a moment. Dear God! She brushed tears from her eyes. Even on that disastrous morning she had not cried. “It matters not.”
He recognized pride when he saw it and allowed her to keep hers. “So, you wish to end our marriage so that you can seek another?” He held out his hands with the chains. “Could you not simply have discussed this with me? Did you have to resort to violence?”
Padruig knew the moment he’d pushed her far enough, for the glimmer in her eyes was one he’d not seen before – pure anger. And he was much more adept at dealing with anger than with tears. “We both signed that marriage contract. We both are held to its clauses and both understand the cost of failure, Padruig. My father will not allow this marriage to be ended and neither will your clan – they, we, cannot afford the cost of it.”
He understood in that moment what she sought – she’d brought him here to deal with this privately between them. To save both their pride. “Agreed. So remove these and we will discuss this.” He held out his hands.
Padruig watched as she hesitated. “How do I know that …” she began to ask. He interrupted her.
“How do you know that I will carry out my end of whatever bargain we reach? I give you my word that I will abide by whatever agreement we make here, Cat. As laird and as your husband.”
“Nay, that was not my meaning,” she whispered. She sighed and then met his gaze. “I brought you here so that I could see if I could keep the bargain I offer, Padruig.”
Confused now, but intrigued, he asked, “What are you offering? What do you seek from me if not an end to our marriage?”
“If you will rid yourself of that woman, I’ll return to your bed.”
There. She’d said it. Boldly. Clearly. Cat had not planned to expose her own doubt about her abilities to carry out this plan, never a good idea when trying to bargain, but the words had slipped out.
Would he laugh at her now? Would he threaten ungodly punishments for her actions? She knew that he might do that when she began making plans and so had taken pains not to allow anyone else near, so that she alone would bear his anger.
“Seana?” he asked, as though he had several women to choose from. That thought gave her pause, for mayhap he did have more than one.
“Aye,” she answered. “Unless there are more who I do not know about?”
He did laugh then, but she did not feel that he was jesting at her expense. It gave her confidence to stand her ground. But his next question shattered that.
“How do you propose to replace her? You made it clear on our wedding night that my touch – how did you say it? – caused feelings of revulsion within you.”
Damn but the man had committed her words to memory! He remembered nothing else she’d said but those? He was correct though, she’d said them and meant them, but being an innocent with no experience in the ways of passion, she had no idea of what to expect. The pain surprised her, as did many other things he did.
“I … I …” She could not find the words to explain. She shook her head. “This was a mistake. I knew it from the beginning,” she said, pacing back and forth. “It will not work and I would have been better never having considered such a foolish thing.”
Cat stood before the doorway – the nailed-shut-for-two-days doorway – and felt the weight of her misjudgments on her shoulders. If not for her pride, she would not be standing here, more humiliated before him than she’d ever been before her family. And worse, now she had to wait another two days before Dougal and Jamie would come back to free them from this place. She shivered realizing that he would be extremely angry when his brothers returned here and found him so.
“I accept.”
The words echoed across the distance between them and, for a moment, Cat could not be certain she’d heard correctly. She turned to face him, surprised to find him observing her with a seriousness she’d not seen in his expression before.
“I accept your bargain, Cat.” He nodded to emphasize his words. “If you prove you can bear my touch and will agree to return to my bed, I will send Seana back to her family.”
It was everything she’d hoped for, but now what?
He must have read her thoughts for he held up his hands between them, rattling the chains and pointing out the first thing she must do. Her thoughts went blank when she tried to think of what she must do after that. Retrieving the key from where she’d hidden it, she began walking towards him. Padruig climbed to his feet waiting for her.
Panic was written in her eyes and in the frown that sat on her forehead. Padruig felt the need to ease her fears and allow her to keep her pride now that he understood more about what drove her to these daft actions. He’d allowed his pride to push her aw
ay and now he would have to bend to get her back. Though he was not usually the one to bend, he saw something in her eyes that promised such possibilities and such opportunities that he wanted to give her the chance.
“You have nothing to fear from me, Cat,” he said softly.
She shook her head and he watched as the loosened tendrils of hair spun around her face, making her look softer than he’d seen. Her hands shook as she reached out with the key to remove the chains. When the chains fell away from his wrists, he stopped her from stepping away, taking her chin in his hand and guiding her mouth to his. Her mouth softened beneath his and he heard her breathing quicken.
More importantly, she did not pull away.
Her success at this was not hers to prove – it was his. He should have known better that first night. He should have taken her gently and not let his anger over the marriage contract interfere with that first experience. He should have introduced her to the pleasures of the marriage bed. But, he had failed her that night.
Padruig would not fail her this time.
Reaching around her head, he did the thing he’d thought of doing so many times – he tugged the leather tie free and let her hair unwind from its braid. Sliding his fingers through it, he tugged her towards him, holding her close as he deepened the kiss. He tilted his head and possessed her mouth as he’d recently fantasized about doing … and he did it over and over until they were both breathless. She watched him through each kiss and Padruig saw disbelief deep within her blue eyes as her body reacted even before she understood.
But he understood and his body did as well, his cock hardening and lengthening and readying itself for what was to happen between them. The blood thundered through his veins, lust heating it and pushing it faster and hotter through him. He took in and released several deep breaths, needing his control so that this time removed all the memories of the last from her mind. Padruig held her face near hers, kissing her more gently now, and sliding his other hand down along her neck and shoulder and skimming over the fullness of her breasts.
She gasped at the feel of such a caress.
Catriona waited for the inevitable as she enjoyed his kisses more than she had the first time. His tongue slipped into her mouth when she gasped and touched hers, sending shivers and chills throughout her body. As his hand moved away from her head and his fingers touched her breasts and then eased down over her belly, strange coils of tension began to twist deep within her. Just when she thought he would touch her there, he paused and kissed her more fiercely, before resting his hand on her hip.
Sensations unlike anything she’d felt raced through her blood and her heart and her body, urging her to move closer, to open to him and to this enticing heat that built from within her. When he stopped and lifted his head, she recognized merriment in his dark green eyes.
“Disgusted yet?” he asked in a deeper voice than usual. “Any revulsion or other loathing?”
He was jesting with her, but all she could think of was how different his touch was this time, how pleasant, nay, pleasurable it was compared to their first night. If she’d felt these kinds of sensations that night, the last four months would not have been wasted and empty.
“Nay,” she said, shaking her head and laughing gently. “None yet.”
The expression that filled his eyes then made her lose her breath, for it was hot and lustful. Could this truly work between them? Padruig dipped his head closer and kissed her again. She liked his kisses and allowed him to repeat that melding of their mouths again and again. Her body grew heated and wet between her legs and a strange and wondrous ache began to throb there, too. The urge to rub against him and the hardness of his strong body grew and she felt herself arch against him.
Before she knew what he was about, he’d scooped her up in his arms and began climbing the stairs to the loft. She wanted to ask him so many things but the feelings racing through her pushed all her questions and doubts aside as she allowed him to carry her towards that scandalous bed.
Daylight entered the chamber from the small windows all around the perimeter of the room. Not so large that anything could fit through them, but large enough to allow a good flow of light inside the loft, these windows made it possible to see him as he laid her on the bed and loosened his clothing. Tempted to look away, his command, or rather his demand, surprised her yet again.
“Look at me, Cat.”
She did, watching as his strong hands unbuckled his belt and then dropped it at his feet. His tunic and trews followed, even his boots and hose, until he stood naked before her. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks as she watched his body react under her gaze. Cat followed the dark thatch of hair down his chest, past his belly and then to where his manhood rose from the curls, proving his readiness to join their bodies. She swallowed and then swallowed again, fighting the fear that tried to replace the heat in her.
“Trust me, Cat.” This time his words were spoken softly, a plea more than an order and it warmed her. She nodded, though truly not certain she could.
Padruig knelt beside her, watching as her eyes widened and as her gaze flitted to touch on his cock and then away. She’d seemed to enjoy kissing so he eased her back and touched their mouths together. Tasting and teasing her lips and tongue, he waited until she panted before touching any other place on her body.
Though he wanted to touch her everywhere at once.
He almost forgot how innocent she was. He almost forgot the last four months. But when she reached out and boldly wrapped her hand around his hardened flesh, he forgot to breathe and forgot how to think at all. Trying to distract himself from the arousing caress, he began loosening the ties of her tunic and undergown and leaned down to suckle on her now-exposed breasts.
Had they always been this full? Had the nipples been this enticing rosy shade that night too? Their joining had been quick and accomplished in the dark, giving him no opportunity to savour her beauty or her lush womanly curves. This time it would be different for both of them. When she arched against his mouth as he took the tip of a breast into his mouth, he swirled his tongue around it until it pebbled tight and hard.
The gasps turned to moans, his and hers, as they teased each other with tempting kisses, arousing caresses and the need to join their bodies together. When he felt the readiness of her body and the heat and wetness between her legs, he eased on top of her, spreading her legs with his body and rubbed the centre of her arousal until he felt her body begin to tremble. Then, he pressed his hardness deep inside her, inch by inch, allowing her body to adjust as he filled her to her core.
The sounds she made drove him insane with the need to claim her, to bring her to completion now, one that he’d not accomplished that first night, and one that he could not fail to accomplish this time. Easing back out until only the tip of his cock remained within her flesh, he thrust deeper and deeper, feeling her flesh tighten around his, increasing his hardness and readying him to spill his seed there.
Cat could not believe the way her body felt in this moment. Not invaded or violated, but filled with his flesh until they were one. He urged her towards something with whispers and words and caresses and his body until hers responded in kind, rippling from where he thrust, sending waves and waves of indescribable pleasure through her, body and soul. Her muscles tightened, that tension building deep within sprang loose and she moaned out even as he spilled his seed. Her flesh responded, softening and opening, giving over to his complete possession. When she came back to herself, he lay on her, panting softly in her ear. Padruig eased off her, drawing her into his embrace and yet remaining within her at the same time.
She lay silent in his arms, listening to the steady beat of his heart and trying to understand all that had happened between them. He kissed her forehead as he eased out of her body and the place there ached with an emptiness she did not know she could feel. Had she pleased him enough to make him give up Seana though? She feared asking him anything that would mar the wondrous satisfaction that filled
her in that moment. Still though, she wanted to know. But before she could ask him, he spoke.
“Did you prove it to yourself, Cat? Can you find pleasure in my bed?” He turned on his side and touched her cheek, drawing her gaze to his. “Will you return to my bed and be my wife in all ways?”
Catriona understood the cost of his question to his pride. He was admitting his part in the debacle that had sent them down this path of separation and unhappiness. Padruig was giving her a chance at fulfilment and happiness … and mayhap even love.
“Aye, if you’ll have me, Padruig.”
He smiled and her heart raced at the beauty of it – the masculine angles of his face eased at her words and his dark green eyes sparkled in reply. Still, there was one matter that needed to be clarified between them.
“And Seana?”
He laughed then, kissing her on the mouth quickly before nodding. “She left a sennight ago, Cat.”
Catriona sat up, gathering her garments around her and shook her head. “You sent her away? Why?”
Padruig pushed up to sit next to her, quite at ease with his nakedness. “I had this foolish notion to ask my wife to return to my bed. I would have, but I was kidnapped before I could discuss it with her.”
“You jest!” she said, unsure if she could or should believe his words. “You mean none of this was necessary?” She’d risked so much, not the least of which was his brothers’ relationship with him as brother and as their laird if he discovered their involvement in her plot.
