She fought him like a true warrior, making him grow harder and harder.
He threw her on the bed and mounted her, ready to take her once again. But when he looked down at her she had a sultry look on her face. Her eyes were half-closed. “I want you,” she said softly. “Yes, take me, my dear husband. I would like that ever so much.”
God’s eyes, why did she have to say that?
“Please,” she begged him sweetly, killing the moment completely. His lust was fading fast.
“Fight me,” he shouted, angry that she was being so kind. “Call me names. Tell me you hate me and throw something at me, right now.”
“Nay, MacKay,” she said with a smile. “I don’t want to hurt you or to be mean to you anymore. I want to make love to you like a regular husband and wife. I enjoyed our time in bed together yesterday. I want to cry out in passion and then hold you tight as we fall asleep in each other’s arms.”
MacKay let out a frustrated breath and fell to the bed next to her on his back. Throwing his arm over his face, he groaned.
“Oh, you want me on top. That is fine. I like that.” She hurriedly got atop him and spread her legs around his waist, but it was too late. She frantically grabbed at his groin, realizing his desire for her had shrunk. She groaned now, too, and collapsed next to him on the bed. There was no way either of them was going to enjoy the frolicking acts of lovemaking now.
MacKay turned on his side, away from his wife, feeling the pain in his heart even stronger. This time it wasn’t the curse he felt. This time it was the agony of defeat. He couldn’t fulfill his duties of being a proper husband – or for that matter, a decent man. Bid the devil, he couldn’t go on like this much longer. This curse was driving him mad!
Chapter 13
MacKay awoke the next morning to find his wrists and ankles tied to the bedposts. He was lying on his back in a spread-eagle position.
“What the hell is this?” he growled, pulling at his bindings.
“Good morning,” came Eira’s cheery voice from the other side of the room.
He looked over to the hearth to see Eira, dressed only in a night-rail, holding an iron poker in her hands.
“What did you do to me?” He pulled at his confinements, feeling the bite of the ropes sinking into his flesh. “Untie me at once!” he commanded.
“Nay,” she spat, tapping the poker against one palm. “I tied you up because I wanted to talk to you without having you constantly trying to bed me.”
MacKay stopped pulling at the ropes and chuckled. “If my memory serves me right, you were the one who was begging me to take you. You wanted me to make you cry out in passion as you reached your peak and found the fulfillment of desire that you know only I can give you.”
Her eyes fastened to him, and he swore he saw her gasp and then let out a slow, deep breath. “You are a pigheaded, pompous man!” She turned around and poked hard at the logs on the fire. “I can have any man I choose and whenever I want him.”
“There you go again,” he told her. “Look what you are doing to me, my little fae. Your heart of ice warms my blood hotter than the fires of Hell.”
When she looked up, he nodded at his hardened form. Dressed only in his braies from last night, he had been so tired he must have slept right through her tying him up. Or, perhaps, she was that skilled of a warrior that he hadn’t heard, seen, or felt it coming. Very impressive, indeed.
She threw down the rod with a loud clank and stormed over to the bed. “I am trying to tell you why I accepted Hecuba’s deal.”
“Oh, that,” he said. “I already know the answer.”
“Really? Then tell me.” She walked up and stopped right next to him.
“It was because you don’t believe in love. Instead, you believe only in war and what you can gain for your personal satisfaction.”
“That’s not true. I am only trying to protect my late father’s holdings.”
“Why bother?” he asked. “You don’t need the throne of Skol. You are my wife now. Together we will rule my holdings at Sineint Castle in Wickhambreaux.”
“That’s England,” she answered.
“That’s right. Did you forget I am an English knight? You will be my lady if you come back to England with me.”
“Lady?” She winced. “I am queen here. Why would I want to give that up?”
“Because if you did, you would have me.” He smiled and winked, but she didn’t think it was funny. “Besides, you are not a real queen. It is a title you only gave yourself.”
“So, what if it is?” she spat. “What does it matter? It is a small island and needs a queen. I don’t like the way you speak to me, MacKay. As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure I did the right thing in marrying you.”
“Then, why did you?” he asked.
“You tricked me into it. You never gave me a chance to say no.”
“As it should be,” he said, seeing her disposition softening. He didn’t want anything to soften right now. If he didn’t want to go mad with desire, he was going to have to make her angry. “Then again, I suppose it is best you don’t return with me after all.”
“What?” She raised a brow in confusion. “Why not?”
“The ladies of England are beautiful,” he told her. “They wear gowns of silk and velvet. They are adorned with jewels such as diamonds and rubies covering their bodies.”
“What are you saying?”
“I am only saying that they don’t dress and act like men.”
“And I do?”
“You tell me.” He smiled, and she frowned.
“The English ladies bathe their bodies in rosewater, smelling sweet, driving a man to want to kiss them. And their hair is different, too.”
“What is wrong with my hair?” She reached up to touch her pure white hair that was yanked back and tied with coarse rope that looked like the rope she’d used to tie him to the bed.
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with your hair. If you like it plain, then so be it.”
“How is my hair plain?” She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out a defiant chin as she waited for his answer.
“Englishwomen weave flowers into their hair to make them more desirable.”
“It is the middle of winter, and my lands are covered in ice and snow. Did you really think I’d have flowers at my disposal to weave into my hair?”
“I’m just saying – look at Medea.”
“What about Medea?” she asked. Her eyes turned to mere slits. His plan was working.
“You’ve seen the face paint she wears?”
“You said you thought it was ridiculous.”
“I only said that because you sounded jealous.”
“I am not jealous.”
“Oh, on the contrary, I think you are more than jealous, my queen. Perhaps you made the right choice to help Hecuba after all because I don’t think you would make it far trying to keep up with the beautiful, elegant, very desirable ladies on English soil.”
That was all he had to say before she snapped. He chuckled, seeing how well his plan had worked, and that only made her angrier.
“I am every bit as beautiful as Medea or any Englishwoman,” she snarled.
“Sometimes, looks aren’t all that matters,” said MacKay. “After all, you can fight like a man and don’t need a man to protect you. So, you will do just fine all alone on your frozen, little island. You will live here and someday die here as well, never stepping foot off your hallowed grounds. Nay, you might not fit in with the ladies of England after all. Perhaps a girl like you is much better off hiding here, out of the eyes of nobles, kings, and queens.”
“But I am a queen!” she shouted.
“Whatever you say, my Snow Queen.”
“Stop calling me that.”
As her anger grew, MacKay felt himself getting more and more excited. Yes, his little plan was working well.
Eira was so upset that she couldn’t think straight. She had been awake most the
night going back and forth with her decision, thinking mayhap she was wrong wanting to stay on Skol Island and that she should go back to England with MacKay after all. But now MacKay had insinuated that he didn’t want her to return to England with him. It sounded as if he didn’t think she was good enough or pretty enough to compare to the English noblewomen. He didn’t believe she was good for anything but fighting. He had also cut her to the bone saying she would be better off staying on the island all alone, living and dying there, forever being lonely.
This was Eira’s biggest fear. She was tired of being lonely and didn’t want to live that way anymore.
“I will show you that, although you think I am plain, I am every bit a woman under these clothes. I can surpass your expectations of your precious Englishwomen any day.” She tore off her night-rail and threw it to the ground, standing naked at his side with her hands on her hips.
MacKay’s eyes drank her in, slowly scanning her body, making her feel very desirable, indeed.
“It’s not what a woman has, but what she can do with it that makes her most desirable,” he told her.
“I know what you’re doing, MacKay and it won’t work.” She bent over to pick up her night-rail. When she did, his foot shot out and tapped her on the rump. She spun around to see him laughing. His one foot had managed to come untied.
“How dare you kick me.”
“I should be punished for that,” he suggested.
“You would like it far too much.”
His leg reached out for her again. She grabbed his foot and pushed it back on the bed. Kneeling on the edge of the bed, she started to tie his foot back to the bedpost. But this time, his other leg shot over, untied. He wrapped his leg around her waist as he tried to pull her closer.
“That’s enough!” She slapped him, trying to get away from him.
“I want you, Wife,” he said, nodding to his hardened groin.
She had planned on leaving him squirming on the bed, but when she laid her eyes on his perfect body, she felt a tingling sensation between her thighs. She wanted him, too. If she walked away from him now, they both would be left unsatisfied. Nay, she couldn’t leave him now. If he didn’t want her for his wife because she didn’t live up to his standards, she would use him for her own enjoyment one last time. Medea told her to use him for her needs, and that is just what she planned to do.
“You want to couple, do you?” she asked.
“Do I really need to answer that? I think you’ve seen the evidence for yourself.”
“This evidence?” she asked, reaching out and closing her fingers around his erection.
His eyes closed and he inhaled deeply. “That’s the one,” he said in a low voice.
“I suppose you want me to do something like this.” Not sure what possessed her to try such a thing, she leaned over, opened her mouth and took him in.
He groaned and squirmed and used his hips as she used her lips and tongue to please him.
“Oh, Eira, I can take it no longer. Mount me quickly, and let me enter you.”
She sat up slowly, liking the way it felt to make him squirm. “I will take you at my speed and as hard or as often as I want.”
“Bid the devil, enough with the foreplay,” he shouted. “I need to make love to you right now.” With his hands still tied, he was her prisoner. She enjoyed it.
Eira stood over him on the bed, one leg on each side of him, bending over and running her fingers down his chest in slow and sensuous swirls. His muscles quivered beneath her touch.
“Don’t do this,” he said.
“Oh, you want me to leave?” She smiled and stood up straight, meaning to step off the bed.
“Nay! Stay.”
“Beg me to make love to you,” she told him. “Beg me like a dog, because that is the only way I’ll do it after all those horrible things you said about me even though I am your wife.”
“I don’t beg,” he snapped. “And I never said anything horrible about you. I was speaking of the women in England only. If you have a low opinion of yourself, I can’t help that, love.”
“Don’t call me love!”
“Ah, yes. I love the sound of your stern voice. You are making me feel even randier if that is at all possible.
“If I want to tease you, I will, and you will have nothing to say about it.” She got down on her knees, pulling off his braies. Then she placed her womanhood above his erection, hovering above him, spreading her knees to make her slide lower but not letting him enter her.
“No more teasing.” His legs came upward, making her fall forward onto his chest. Her eyes met his. In that instant, she realized what she was doing was wrong. This man was under a curse and couldn’t help the way he felt. He was the victim of Hecuba, and under the old witch’s control. She was under Hecuba’s control, too, since she’d taken the witch’s deal.
It didn’t make her feel good about herself. She kept thinking of the beautiful ladies of England and how they would never behave this way. They also would never be half as lonely as she was. She didn’t want to give up her lands but neither did she want to be alone for the rest of her life. She wanted to prove to MacKay that she had what it took to please an English knight even if she wasn’t an Englishwoman.
“Do you want me to untie your hands?” she asked.
“Nay. I like it this way.” His hooded eyes already made love to her even though he couldn’t touch her. She smoldered with desire under his intense perusal.
“You’re in a subservient position. Especially with your hands tied,” she pointed out.
“Then you’ll have to do all the work, won’t you? Do you think you can still bring me to completion this way?”
“There is no doubt in my mind that I can. The question is . . . can you bring me to completion?”
“I guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we, Wife?”
She liked that he’d called her wife when a minute ago it sounded as if he no longer wanted her. It scared her to death to think about having no one to love in this lifetime. She didn’t want to lose him. Eira had fooled herself into believing all men were betrayers and she didn’t need a man in her life. But now she realized she’d been lying to herself all this time, because she liked having MacKay around. To think he was planning on going back to England without her only made her want him to stay. She didn’t want to be lonely anymore. This might be the moment to prove to him that she could far outmatch any noble Englishwoman he could throw her way.
Spreading her legs, she slid lower, inviting him in. With his hands still tied, she worked her own magic. Together they swayed and jolted, doing the dance of love. Within a matter of minutes, they both cried out in passion as they climaxed and found their releases.
She dropped next to him on the bed. It took a few minutes for them to both catch their breaths, but when they did, she looked over and smiled.
“Still think I am not as beautiful and as elegant as an Englishwoman?”
“Eira, I never said you were ugly just because you don’t paint your face or wear fine clothes. Mayhap you don’t bathe in rosewater or wear jewels to please a man, but you are a real hellcat in bed.”
“Thank you, I think.”
The more she thought about it, he never directly came out and said she was ugly. He had called her plain, but that was it. Still, she couldn’t help feeling as if he would never look at her in the same way as one of his precious Englishwomen. This made her sad.
“You will make some man very happy in bed after I am gone,” he told her.
Her head lifted, and she pushed up to a sitting position. “What do you mean? I’m your wife.”
“A wife who won’t leave her frozen kingdom to come back to England with me.”
“So, you are still planning on leaving?”
“I’ll have the marriage annulled when I get back to England. My father can use his magic to get us out of this mess we’re in. When he’s finished, it will be as if we were never married at all. Then you can choo
se any man you want to rule next to you on your throne of ice.”
She didn’t like what he said. In one motion, she slid off the bed and quickly started to dress.
“Where are you going? I thought we could try it again just as soon as I catch my breath.”
“I wouldn’t want to keep you from leaving for England. After all, you are in such a hurry to get away from me.”
“Come back here, Eira. Let’s do it again.”
“Do it by yourself!” She pulled her tunic over her head and fastened her weapon belt around her waist.
“You are teasing me again by being so mean, aren’t you? Don’t you know what you’re doing to me?”
As she donned her boots, she looked over to see him hot, hard and ready to couple once again. She smiled. “Yes, I know what I’m doing. Now, I guess you will have to take care of this one on your own, won’t you?”
She grabbed her cloak and headed for the door.
“B-but my hands are still tied,” he complained. “At least untie me before you leave.”
She chuckled this time, liking the position he was in. “Have fun,” she said, returning his smile and wink, hurrying out the door.
There was no mistaking his cry of frustration from within the room as she hurried down the corridor, still angry with him for making her feel so unattractive even if he’d never come out and said it. But the worst part was the empty, gnawing feeling in her gut that she would be lonely for the rest of her life.
Chapter 14
Eira! Eira, come back here,” MacKay cried out, but it was too late. His wife was gone and had left him as her prisoner. He was so randy right now he could burst, but couldn’t even take care of it since she’d left him with his hands tied. Damn, why did the thought of what she did to him make him want her even more? He hated this damn curse. A tightness gripped his heart. The pains of his curse were getting worse. He clenched his jaw and stared up at the ceiling and let out a loud scream.
The door opened a crack, and Ollie peeked around the wood. “My lord? Are you all right?”
“Get in here, Squire, and hurry.”
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