by Ruth Kaufman
“Now my hose,” he said, lying back on the bed with his hands behind his head. She looked down and saw his huge arousal for her right through the material, and wondered what she would find when she unwrapped this glorious present. She untied the laces that held the hose to his braies. She removed them and then yanked the braies down anxiously, no longer able to wait to find out.
“Slowly,” he said with a sharp intake of breath.
She slowed her actions, pulling his clothes away, her eyes opening wide at the size of his engorged manhood.
“Do I please you?” he asked with a chuckle.
“I am sure ye would please any girl,” she said with a nod of her head.
He helped her remove the undergarment from his legs, and she kneeled before him, just looking at him, not knowing what to do.
“Come here, sweetheart,” he told her, holding out his arms to encompass her. She leaned forward, and he pulled her down upon him. His hand cradled her chin and he rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip. It sent a shiver of delight spiraling through her.
“I – I am not sure what I am supposed te do next.”
“There are no rules in coupling,” he said. “Just do whatever comes naturally.”
She reached up and touched his face just as he had done to her. Then she ran a finger along the scar that ran from his left ear all the way to his chin. His eyes closed, and she felt him tense his jaw.
“Do I repulse you?” he asked softly.
“Nay,” she answered. “Jest the opposite. I am a warrior, jest as ye. Battle scars are admired fer courage and loyalty. I saw the whip marks on yer back also while on the ship.”
“You admire those as well?”
“Those, my heart goes out to ye for. Ye are not a man that deserves te be whipped, and I can only tell ye that I feel the pain ye endured for each mark upon yer body.”
She kissed his scar on his face lightly, from one end to the other. His eyes squeezed shut, and she thought for a moment she saw a glistening beneath his closed lids.
“You do not know what that means to me, to hear you say that.”
“Ye seem to have endured many hardships in yer life, and I do not want te be jest another hardship along yer rocky road.”
“I am sorry for being angry with you, Echo. I only want what’s best for the boy . . . for Edgar.”
“Ye said his name,” she said, smiling inside as well as out. “Ye have no idea what that means to me, either, my lord husband.”
She liked the way it sounded to call him husband. And she adored the way he’d finally called her son by his true name. This hardened warrior who had such a rocky lifetime woven into his life, was melting in her arms and dropping the walls he’d held between them. She wanted to drop her walls too.
She wanted to be married to Garrett, and she wanted her son to have a father. A real home. A real family. ’Twas something she’d never really had the entire time she’d been growing up, and she wanted so much more for Edgar. Garrett could give them this. He was the one she wanted to fill the position of husband to her, and father to her little boy.
“Make love to me,” she whispered, and she didn’t have to ask twice.
Garrett pulled her atop him, spreading her legs, running his hands down her back and around her buttocks, squeezing her playfully. She kissed him excitedly. His hands traveled around to her womanhood and made magic between her thighs with his experienced fingers.
“Good God, this feels wonderful,” she said, her breath deepening and her body tingling from head to toes.
“You haven’t felt anything yet,” he told her, replacing his fingers with his manhood, silk over steel as he slipped inside her, letting out a low moan of pleasure of his own.
“You have no idea how good this feels,” he said rocking his hips slowly against hers, deepening the thrust.
“Ye are so modest,” she told him. “I feel an excitement I can no longer contain. I have never felt this before.”
“Let yourself go,” he told her. “Do not hold back. I want to see the pirate in you come out right now.”
“Really?” she asked, feeling herself climbing higher, almost reaching her peak. “Do ye really mean that? So I don’t need te act like a lady right now?”
“On the contrary. I would like to experience your pirate side in my bed right now.”
She felt relieved she could be herself, and threw caution to the wind. He’d given her the permission, not that she needed it, but letting him think he was in charge on their wedding night. She knew not what she was doing, but let her heart and her body take her to where she would go.
She moved her hips, letting him slip from her. The look of sheer panic on his face made her laugh.
“You play with me wife, like a cat and a mouse.”
“I challenge ye to meet me in a match. Remember that day I tackled ye and straddled ye on the deck of the ship?”
“I could never forget.”
“Well, pretend we are doin’ it all again.”
“So you do like to pretend even though you say you don’t.”
“I never said that, now take me down. Just try.”
He flashed a grin and showed his playful side, and he flipped her over and straddled his legs around her, pinning her hands above her head.
“How’s this, matey? Now I am going to thrust my sword into you.”
He thrust into her, a shriek of pleasure spilling forth from her lips. Then he did it again and again, all the while holding her hands above her head. She reached her peak quickly, arching beneath him, raising her hips to meet his. Then he leaned over and suckled her breast at the same time, and she cried out his name not once, but twice.
Her breathing labored, and she opened her eyes to see him staring at her in lust. The wolf had returned, and she knew by that gaze that he had not yet been satisfied as she had. She needed now to fulfill her wifely duty.
She slipped down beneath him, out of his embrace, and used her hands and mouth to pleasure him below the waist.
“Bid the devil,” he cried, “I thought you were new to this game yet you try the tricks of whores.”
“Aye,” she answered, “but ye forget ’twas the whores who raised me, and as I told ye, I am not blind. I learned more than ye think.”
“I can’t wait to find out what else you’ve learned.”
She felt his legs giving way, and flipped him onto his back and straddled him and held his wrists in front of him since he was too tall for her to attempt to hold them over his head.
“Two can play this game,” she told him with a smile. She placed herself over him, taking in all of him, meeting him in the marriage dance of consummation until he spilled his seed inside her. Finally sated, he pulled her to him, holding her in his embrace tightly. With her ear against his chest, she could hear his heart beating rapidly against his ribs. Then, the beating as well as his breathing finally slowed.
“Like I said, Echo, I have never experienced anyone like you ever before in my life.”
“Am I te your liking?” she asked. “Have I fulfilled the requirement of consummatin’ our wedding vows?”
“Aye, my Lady of the Mist,” he replied. “That you did. That and so much more.”
She lay against his chest in his embrace until he fell asleep. Why did this feel so right, when she knew it was all a lie? He was a lord and she only the daughter of an infamous pirate. They may be married, but how long could it last? She knew she didn’t act the way that was expected of a lady. And that, she was sure, was going to put an end to the life she wanted with Garrett that she knew could never truly be.
Chapter 11
Garrett rolled over in bed, having had the best night sleep in a long time. Last night with Echo was amazing, and he would never forget it as long as he lived. With his eyes still closed, he thought of the caring, tender side of her he’d experienced and then the rough exciting side as well.
She was an amazing woman, and she was also his wife. He felt bad about getting so u
pset with her, and knew now that she was really trying to be a lady even if it wasn’t working as well as it should. But what did he expect? She’d lived with whores and pirates her entire life, not the proper, gentle ways of being fostered by a noble.
She’d touched his scarred face and even kissed it. No woman other than a pirate would say she admired his scar for what it represented. Most women would say he was ugly and deformed, but she saw it as a notch on a sword so to speak. An act of courage and loyalty, not a mark of defeat as he’d seen it for the last year. He thought of the man who’d given it to him and could say he didn’t regret that the bastard Gruffydd was dead, killed by one of his own.
It was odd that her father had killed him. Almost like it had something to do with him not wanting Echo to know that he’d sent a man to find Madoc. He didn’t understand the connection, and couldn’t quite remember the story behind Madoc being a thief one day and a lord the next. He vaguely remembered something about a ring, and Madoc being stolen as a baby. What else was it? He tried hard to remember.
“Cap’n,” Garrett said aloud, sitting upright and opening his eyes, thinking of the incident on the Seahawk. Could Echo’s father have something to do with Madoc? Why was it he wanted Gruffydd to find the man?
Damn, he wished he would have listened more carefully upon hearing Madoc’s story. But at the time, he’d about had his face torn off from the tip of Gruffydd’s sword, and wasn’t listening to family reunions, but rather wondering if he would bleed to death instead. But it was a small price to pay since Madoc had saved him from the gallows. Oh well, he would ask his sister Abbey about it next time he saw her.
He looked around the room, but Echo was gone and so were her clothes. He had to find her fast. Who knew what trouble this woman would be getting into next.
Echo had climbed the battlements and now sat in a crenel, her feet dangling over the edge of the roof as she glanced to the courtyard far below. The day had just begun and there were not many moving about yet, but she was used to being up early from her days on the sea. She looked up to the lightening sky and closed her eyes, basking in the feel of the breeze upon her face. She wasn’t used to being indoors, and especially in a bed with a handsome man who’d showed her how it felt to be satisfied for the first time in her life. More than once.
Making love with Garrett was better than she’d imagined. Prowess exuded from him in everything he did, and even in his gentle lovemaking she had no doubt that this man’s tortured life had only made him stronger. Scarred he may be, but she didn’t mind. She saw something in this man that she’d never seen in any man before. Stealth and grace. Chivalry and caring. And even a playful side she didn’t know existed until they tumbled around together in his bed.
She liked it atop the battlements of the manor, as it reminded her of the lookout basket of the Seahawk. She relished a place away from others to go to think and be by herself.
The sound of a hawk rang through the skies, and she opened her eyes quickly, her heart pounding in elation.
“Skye?” she called, seeing a bird circling over the manor. It came lower and she stood up between the merlons to see the bird’s markings. Her pet had found her after all. “Skye, I’m here!” She eagerly reached outward, and the bird landed on her outstretched arm. She was glad for the thick fabric of her gown which helped in protection from the bird’s talons.
“Ye found me! I knew ye would.” She ran a hand over the bird’s head. “I have missed ye dearly.”
She heard shouts from down below and looked over the edge of the building to see a small crowd of people gathering. A few of the women covered their mouths while the men pointed upwards toward her.
Then she saw Garrett join them and the anger was once again flashing in his eyes. The memories of their wonderful night spent together faded from her as she heard him call out.
“Bid the devil, get down from there anon. Nay, just stay where you are and don’t move. I am coming to get you.”
She had no intention of moving. She stood with her feet firmly planted, and smiled at Skye. Before she knew it, Garrett was upon the walkway of the battlements and running toward her.
“Don’t move,” he called. “I’m coming.”
“What is all the excitement about?” she asked, putting her bird on her shoulder and looking back down to the courtyard. Now there was a bigger crowd and some of the knights were rushing up the stairs to help.
He stopped in front of her and slowly reached out for her. “Give me your hand, Echo. I will help you so you don’t fall.”
“So that’s what this is all about?” She smiled and waved to the people below and jumped off the crenel to the walkway landing next to Garrett. Her hawk fluttered its wings and settled atop a merlon.
“Echo,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “You could have fallen and been killed.”
She looked up to him in bewilderment. “I climb rigging and stand sturdy atop the mast of the Seahawk without waverin’ and ye are worried about this?”
He looked at her and his eyes narrowed. “I forgot about that,” he admitted. “Still, I have no idea how I’m going to explain your actions. I thought I told you the you need to act like a lady.”
“I wanted to get away and think,” she said. “Besides, it wasn’t for naught, as being up here enabled Skye te find me.” She motioned with her head to the bird. It raised its wings and let out a guttural noise. Then Sir Jacob and Sir Dwight ran up to meet them. The bird, startled by the action, took off to the sky.
“Lady Echo,” said Sir Jacob. “You could have been killed, are you all right?”
“Of course, I am,” she said and waved her hand through the air. “This is nothing compared to the - ”
“’Tis time to go down now, wife,” said Garrett, taking her by the hand and leading her away.
As they left she couldn’t help but see the look Sir Dwight gave the other knight. She also heard him mumbling something about her mind being ill.
“What did he mean?” she asked Garrett. “My mind is as stable as my footing was atop the wall.”
“They think you’re distraught from your life happenings. That you – are not well.”
She understood only too well now.
“Ye told them I was mentally ill?”
“Well how else was I to explain your absurd actions?”
“They are not absurd, they are normal.”
“Normal for a pirate, my dear, but not for a lady.”
He escorted her down to the ground and through the crowd of mostly servants talking amongst themselves.
“Everything is fine,” he announced, “now everyone please get back to your chores.”
“Where are we going?” she asked, not liking the way he dragged her along behind him.
“Today you start your training as a lady,” he told her.
“I thought I was already doing that,” she answered.
“Nay.” He stopped in front of the mews. Skye followed and landed on the roof. “A lady is quite apt to own a hawk, so Skye may work into our plans well.”
“What plans?” she asked.
“I will arrange for you to work by Lady Eirian’s side. She will guide you in the art of sewing.”
“Sewing?” she asked. “What do I need to learn that for?”
“To make your clothes, instead of just stealing them.”
“Hmmph.” She crossed her arms over her chest, not liking this part of the plan at all.
“A lady of the castle needs to know how to weave, make candles, and oversee the household in her husband’s absence.”
“God’s eyes, is that all? Let me at it, I can handle this.”
“That’s only the beginning,” he said. “A lady often has a hawk and escorts guests on hunting trips and provides entertainment for them by singing or playing the harp.” He continued walking to the stable and she followed.
“My hawk eats fish, so the only huntin’ trip I would lead is to the sea. And though I can’t play a harp, I can da
nce and sing. Do you want to see?”
“Nay!”
He’d answered too fast and she didn’t like the tone. She stopped him by a hand to his shoulder as they entered the stable. He turned to look at her, and all the gentleness from last night was gone.
“I don’t think ye believe I can do this,” she said.
“The lady of the manor needs to be able to read and write and work with numbers. Are you telling me you can do that?”
She thought for a moment and nodded her head. “My father was bedding a learned woman when I was eight.”
“A learned woman? Impossible.”
“Not everyone is what they seem,” she told him. “Even the nobles have secret lives. Ye’d be surprised at what I’ve seen through my years. Anyway, she took a liking te me and showed me how te read and write, though I haven’t done it in a while. But I’m sure I can figure it out.”
“And how about numbers? Did she teach you that as well?”
“Nay, not that.” She moved and almost stepped in a pile of dung. She lifted her skirts and moved away, the tippet of her dress getting caught on a nail from the wall. “Hell and damnation, I can’t get used te this god-forsaken thing!” She pulled it loose and it ripped. She stumbled backward and he caught her just before she almost stepped in another horse deposit. “God’s toes, these damned things are everywhere.”
“Echo,” he said softly. “Listen to yourself. You have a mouth on you of a drunken seadog. A lady would never say the things that fall from your lips. I don’t know if you are going to be able to do this.”
“I’ll show ye,” she said. “I’ll attack the damn rotgut – I mean I’ll embrace the challenge of becoming a lady.”
He looked at her with hope in his eyes, but she could also see a weariness that she hadn’t noticed before.
“In a month’s time, I am going to visited by the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports who resides in Dover,” he told her. “He is a powerful and very important man, Echo. He is coming to evaluate me and give a report to King Edward of how I am faring in my new position. I am a baron, sweetheart. I worked hard for that title and nothing is going to take it away from me. Do you understand?”
