Her thin fingers crawled along my neck, and my cock strained toward her, the kiss deepening as I yielded to a quicker rhythm. She did the same until we were eating well and good at each other’s mouths.
I released her hair from its pins, one after another, as our tongues danced an erotic number, until the golden curls fell softly around her, long and winding. The scent of lavender and heather wafted through my nose, and I laced my fingers at her scalp and squeezed in order to bear the wanting of her.
Should I dare lay her beneath me right here and truly feel her softness as I sink gently into—? Wait a damn minute! Where under Epona’s sky did she learn to kiss like this? Where did she gain such experience?
Experience?
While my flesh was enjoying it immensely, my heart constricted with jealousy. The thought of her kissing another man in such a way as this cooled my passion more efficiently than the cold sea on a winter’s day. I didnae like it a damn bit, and had to know if she was chaste.
“Are ye a virgin, Jinny?” I whispered against her lips.
“What?” she said, dazed. Her eyes fluttered open. “Oh … of … course.”
She hesitated. I didnae believe her. My gut wrenched and I had to know.
I could tell if she was lying by her reactions to my touch.
I began kissing her again, and ran my hand along her outer thigh and over the round of her hip. I spread my fingers out over her ribs and tucked my palm beneath the curve of her breast—her very full breast. God! She didnae push it aside, so using my thumb I circled the straining fabric over her nipple, and flicked it once with the back of my short nail.
She moaned into my mouth. “Yes … ” she said and kissed me more thoroughly, encouraging me to go further.
I nearly growled. This was no’ the first time she’d been touched like this by a man. The thought enraged me.
I wanted to know who the hell had taught her to kiss like that. Because whoever he was, he had surely aroused her and introduced her to more intimate pleasures. One didnae engage in a kiss like that and no’ become aroused.
Though I tried to hide my anger, I pulled away, unable to go any further with this performance.
“We’d better stop.”
She blinked several times. “Oh.”
Coming quickly back to reality, she bobbed her head. “Of course. Yes, we should stop.”
She tried to scramble off my lap, but I held her and got to my feet. I carried her on toward our destination, feeling like I wanted to kill someone—the man who taught her to kiss like that. Gads, I hoped it was only one man.
Chapter thirteen
Douglass McGrail
“Oh, Douglass!” Jinny’s excited voice echoed as we broke out of the narrow tunnel and into the cavernous grotto, with its shimmering water so crystal clear one could see the bottom of the deep pool. “It is incredible! Look! The ceiling appears to be melting, with a thousand stone fingers reaching for the water below.”
The reflection of blue light danced everywhere inside the grotto and along the finger-filled ceiling. As water lapped at the walls, the sound resonated throughout.
“What is this place?”
I stood her on her feet. “’Tis called Hume Leacainn.”
“Hume Leacainn,” she said testing the name on her tongue. “That has a lovely sound. What does it mean?”
“Of the cave in the broad hillside.”
She stared at me and let out a soft laugh. “Well, it’s not very creative, but it’s fitting, I suppose.”
I gave a slight grunt, and pulled our items from her hands, setting the basket aside and laying the blanket out neatly. Squatting to straighten the corner, I turned my head and stared up at her, feeling so damn angry that she’d let some other man put his hands on her.
“If I told ye I wanted to fuck ye right here, right now, would ye be of a mind to let me, Jinny?”
Blood rushed into her cheeks, and she looked away, but turned back and held my gaze.
I was uneasy, anticipating her answer, and praying she would deny me like I would imagine any virgin would if asked such a vulgar question.
“Yes. I would be of a mind to let you, Douglass.”
Damn her! I stood and faced her fully, trying to keep the hurt off my face and out of my eyes. “Then pleasure me,” I said low and deep, wanting to discover just how educated she was.
She looked up considerably to meet my gaze and eased her arms around my neck, pulling my head low so she could press her mouth to mine. I let her but the kiss lacked its earlier passion. At least for me, as I was holding back to see how at ease she felt.
She looked unsure of what I wanted from her, and though her kisses continued, she pulled her hands from my neck, exciting my senses as her fingers trailed down my chest and abdomen … and then thighs. My heart sped with a surge of anger amid anticipation. She reached the edge of my kilt and slipped beneath, taking hold of the proof that would no’ allow me to deny any longer that I wanted her.
“Damn it to hell, Jinny!” I clutched her to me and took her to the blanket with my mouth devouring hers. She was on her back with her dress wadded high and me atop her. I slid my fingers along her center, and then pushed one in, surprised and growing harder to discover how wet and soft she was.
A groan ripped from my throat and I buried my face in her neck. “Ye’re ready.” I’d never felt anything so damn soft or anything that had provoked such a temptation to introduce my cock to it.
I moved more firmly over her and she spread her legs to welcome me. The backs of my fingers bumped against her soft mound as I hurried to get my kilt and sporran out of the way—I was now desperate to have that introduction.
She dug into my back as she clawed to get my shirt up. I yanked it over my head and felt a wave of unexpected pleasure as she bit my nipple. Again, my pride was hurt, wanting to know where she learned that. I wanted to pull away but could no’ bring myself to do it.
“Pride be damned!” I guided myself to her opening and drove fully into her.
“Ahhhh!” she cried out. The sound stirred me more than any fantasy ever had. I pulled and thrust in again—“Ahhh!”—And again—“Ahh! … Ah! … Ah! … Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!” She could no’ help crying out in her pleasure with each thrust as I gave them harder and faster. In my twenty-two years I’d never felt the like, and knew it would become an addiction.
What in hell? I shoved in, staring down at her, my eyes wide. “Jinny! Are those cries from pleasure, or pain?”
“What?” she said, catching her breath.
“I smell blood.”
A wave of crimson brightened her cheeks. “You … you can smell my blood?”
“Aye. Am I hurting ye?”
She drew a deeper breath and looked away. I knew she was embarrassed. “Isn’t it supposed to hurt?”
“No’ enough to make ye bleed.”
Her gaze snapped back to mine. “I thought all virgins bled.”
My brows furrowed … and then my eyes stretched wide. I pulled out and away from her, folding onto my knees. Pushing her legs apart, I stared between her thighs at the bright red smears here and there, and the small pool of blood on the blanket. Plagued with the regret and fear that twisted my face, I looked at her eyes.
“Jinny, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Can ye forgive me?”
Her brows pressed together and she pushed up onto her elbows, “What is it?” She looked toward her parted thighs. “I don’t understand, Douglass. Is something amiss? I see a bit of blood, but nothing I feel should cause you such alarm. Was I not supposed to bleed?”
I just kept staring at her, unable to ease the tension in my expression.
“Aye, ye were supposed to bleed, Jinny. Because ye were a virgin, and I just took something so precious ye offered me in a way that was no’ gentle, as I should have been.” I crawled over her and kissed her lips. “Tell me ye forgive me, my love.”
“Douglass. Forgive you for what? I don’t understand. You asked my permission, and I
gave it. You did nothing wrong.”
“I did no’ treat ye as the virgin ye are … were.” I grimaced. “Ye trusted me, and I repaid ye with … with pain.”
I could no’ bring myself to say the full truth, that I had repaid her trust with distrust. I hadn’t trusted her honesty, and because of it, done something I could never take back, and I’d taken something from her I could never give back.
“I thought I was supposed to feel pain.”
“Aye, but no’ like that. I should have been gentle yer first time.”
“Wasn’t it your first time, too?”
“It was, Jinny. But it does no’ hurt a man like it does a woman. Do ye forgive me?”
Her expression softened. “I might be persuaded.”
Seeing she would no’ hold my brutality against me, I couldn’t help but smile. “Is that so? And how might I persuade ye?”
“Kiss me again. I want to feel your lips on mine.”
She touched my cheek when seeing the tender expression her request put on my face—I wanted to kiss away the pain I’d caused her—but she was confused when I crawled backward and kissed the lips between her thighs. When she felt my tongue she shot upright and tried to scoot away, pressing her legs together. “Douglass! I’m bleeding! Stop!”
God help me, she tasted damn good. The elation brought on by that taste burned deep. I grabbed her thighs and dragged her forward, hunger overtaking me. I felt my eyes turn stormy as they always did when I fed—I lifted them to meet her gaze, and knew she saw the wanting in them. I breathed against her flesh, craving her so badly I thought I would die if I didnae get to taste her again.
“Jinny Rose,” I growled. “Ye ken I’m no’ like yer kind. The blood is fresh, from the tear, no’ yer cycle. I love the way it tastes, mixed with yer sweet, sweet juice.”
She bit her lip, her eyes moving over my face. I didnae know how long she was silent, as if warring against herself, I only knew it seemed an eternity and that my hunger would no’ be sated if she refused me.
“Do you swear you want this, Douglass? You’re not just saying it because you feel bad for hurting me?”
“Look in my eyes, lassie—do I look like I’m just saying it? There’s never been anything I wanted to taste again so badly. I swear. Can I have what I want?”
She chewed her lip as another brutal moment passed, but gave a nod. That instant, I spread her thighs and dipped my dark head, opening my mouth wide and dragging my flat tongue along the full length of her vale. I groaned against her flesh; the vibration brought her hips off the blanket and I welcomed the position. My tongue scooped deep, wallowing in my uncivilized way as I smelled, and tasted, and sucked gluttonously. She gave in to her own abandon and was pulled into the flames already burning me alive.
I could no’ pull my eyes from hers as I took my fill. The wantonness I saw there, as she was held spellbound by the sight of my bloodied face eating greedily from her, turned me hard as stone. She accepted all of me, and at that moment I no longer wanted to hide from her. I didnae care that she was again seeing the wild one that had exacted that fierce punishment on her attacker. I could see in her eyes that she finally accepted her love for me regardless of what I was—that I was no’ at that moment the subdued man that had been courting her, but was a male ech-ooshkya.
She loved every part of me and I knew it.
With that realization, I didnae care about Jinny’s past anymore, or who had been the one to teach her. If she could love me, one who was believed by her kind to be a monster, I could return that love, and I would. I already did.
Knowing the cruel thing I’d done to her—taking her virginity in such a way—I’d no’ be seeking my release inside her until she agreed to marry me. She deserved that. But that did no’ change the fact that she had me so hard I needed seeing to.
At that moment, she thrust her hands in my hair and clutched at my scalp, holding me tight and rocking against my buried face as I feasted on the flood coming forth. With that and the sound of the wee cry on her lips, I could no’ take any more. I tugged up my kilt and grabbed myself, pumping fast, my seed shooting onto the ground before the last tremor left Jinny’s body.
With my face still planted between her thighs, and my gaze still fused to hers, she released me. I wanted to kiss her, but knew she would no’ want that—a washing was needed. I wiped my face on my kilt and pulled her skirts down in a most respectful way.
Chapter fourteen
Douglass McGrail
“Jinny?” I said looking at the lass I loved, so beautiful in her heather-colored dress with her hair hanging down her back.
“Yes?” She turned from the water to look at me, as I was squatted down and folding what remained of our dinner into its linen cloth. I tucked it back into the basket.
“Would ye like to go swimming?”
“It’s October. Won’t the water be too cold?”
“No’ in here. It stays warm year ’round. And besides, I plan to keep yer body temperature up.”
Her gaze penetrated mine, adding fuel to the flame already growing again from my wanting of her—I knew she was contemplating me making love to her in the water.
She smiled. “Well, in that case, I would love to go swimming.”
I rose, and walked to where she stood by the water’s edge. I bent my head low and my lips touched hers with a smile, but I turned her away from me and began releasing the buttons down the back of her gown. I removed every piece of her clothing without letting her face me.
With a step back, I removed my own clothes, admiring the round of her arse as I did so. Tossing my kilt and belt away, I, too, was stripped bare. Hovering near enough that she could feel my heat, I didnae touch her with anything but my nose. It followed the curve of her neck and shoulder as I inhaled.
“I love the way ye smell, Jinny.” I placed my lips against her ear, and whispered, “I love ye—Jinny Rose.” She drew a sharp breath and turned to face me. Her eyes met mine.
I said, “Aye, ye heard right. I love ye, and if there’s a chance that ye think ye could be happy loving me, too, then marry me.”
Her lips fell open. “Marry you?”
“Aye.”
She looked past me, her gaze roaming aimlessly. She said nothing for a long moment, only turned then and looked out at the water.
“Jinny?”
“But, I don’t understand,” she said. “You told me your father would be furious to find out that you have even socialized with humans, and now you want to marry one? I’ve in no way allowed myself to consider marriage to you, Douglass.”
I felt my chest tighten around my heart. “So, is that yer answer then?”
“No! God no!”
A frown drew my face. “No, ye will no’ marry me? Or no, ’tis no’ yer answer?”
“Yes, that.”
I scratched my head. “Yes, ‘’tis no’ your answer? Or yes, ye will no’ marry me?”
She laughed then. “Yes, I will marry you. My answer is yes, Douglass, I absolutely will! The reason I’ve not allowed myself to consider marriage to you is because I believed it impossible.”
Now I thought my heart would suffocate from the love and happiness filling it, and I thrust my arms around my Jinny Rose, lifting her off the ground and against me.
“Good grief, lass, ye had me scared there for a minute.”
Still laughing, she said, “But what about your father?”
“I told him this morning, and though he was at first no’ keen on the idea, when I told him what ye mean to me, he changed his mind.”
Her smile faded. “And what do I mean to you?”
“Everything, Jinny. Ye mean a life of love and fullness, and ye mean babies.” I grinned.
Her eyes opened wide. “Will I be able to carry your babies?”
“I don’t see why no’. Even a full-blood ech-ooshkya is born weighing no more than twelve pounds. I believe humans can carry a babe of that size. Our wee ones should no’ be so big, as they will be h
alf human, but they will be ours, and I will love them with my whole heart.”
I kissed her, and while my lips were pressed to hers I slipped a ring over her finger. It was a simple ring. I’d made it myself with heavy silver wire and a perfect pearl with a tinge of a peach hue that I’d searched the deep for. She broke our kiss and backed away to see it.
“Oh, Douglass. It’s so lovely. And it fits perfe—” her word cut off when her eyes returned to mine—the wrath that filled my face silenced her.
“Is this the mark that bastard left on ye that day?” I ran my fingers gently over the teeth-shaped scar on her shoulder.”
She chewed her lip and didnae answer.
“Ye’ll never be hurt like that again, Jinny. Ye’re mine now, and ye never have to fear that bastard or any man.” I bent and touched my lips to the mark.
She ran her fingers through my hair at my neck and hugged me, but drew a deep breath, backing away, and cupped my face in her hands.
“I don’t want to think about that horrid incident, or any horrid thing. I want to think about you, and the fact that I’m going to be your wife and give you babies. I want to think of how much I love this beautiful ring you made just for me. And,”—she lifted on her toes and pulled my head low so she could whisper in my ear—“I want to think about how much I love you, Douglass.”
My heart swelled to hear her say she loved me. And she’d told me the same way I’d told her. I smiled, and folded her fingers into mine, kissing them.
“Do ye think yer uncle will approve?”
“I don’t know. But he seems to like you.”
“Aye, but what if he says no when I ask for ye?”
“Are you asking if I would obey his wishes?”
I nodded. “I suppose I am.”
She kissed the back of my hand, as it still held hers to my chest. “I have no intention of allowing anyone or anything to stop me from becoming your wife and giving you those babies, Douglass McGrail.”
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