The Draig's Wife

by Lisa Dawn Wadler

  His brilliant emerald eyes roamed her face, and his lazy grin became a more serious expression. “I had hoped to wake with a wife who would be pleased to see me. Nay one who frowns.” His lips quirked back to a partial smile. “Tell me what bothers you.”

  She could feel her eyebrows furl at the question. Her lack of experience with men clearly didn’t help with finding a way to ask where she stood with him in the morning. Given that she would never be able to hide her questions, she stated, “I wasn’t quite sure what I was waking up to.”

  Declan chuckled and settled against her with his arms propped on either side of her head and his hardness resting on her stomach. “Clearly you wake to a husband who is quite pleased to begin the day with you.”

  Emma frowned even as her thighs adjusted to his hips and the feel of his body against hers. Her lungs filled with air and pressed against the chest that covered her. “That’s not what I meant.” Still, she couldn’t find the right words to express her concerns. The fact that my body is delighted to wake up with him is not helping.

  Declan nodded as if coming to terms with a thought. Then he leaned down and placed a simple and gentle kiss to her lips. “Do you doubt me? I had thought I made quite clear how much I want you to be my wife. The same is true this morn. I am quite pleased to wake with you in case you had nay noticed.” To prove his point, he lightly rubbed his erection against her stomach.

  Emma laughed despite her uncertainty. “Well, at least I know part of you meant it.”

  Instead of answering her, Declan littered her jaw with feather soft kisses that trailed down to her neck. “Aye, part of me is quite eager to show you how pleased it is. However, the rest of me wants you to recall how much all of me desires you. You are so much more than flesh in my bed. You are my wife.” He placed a kiss to the pulse on her neck that had her stretching into him. “I would wake beside you every morn for all of our days. Tell me you will wake with me each day.”

  Lips and kisses flitted down her neck, and Emma remembered Declan asking her to fall asleep beside him each night moments before sleep had claimed her. She wanted to believe him, to know that he meant it, but their marriage was far from a traditional boy-meets-girl scenario. “Given that I said I would fall asleep here, it kind of follows that I would wake up here.”

  “Aye, wife. I would have you with me throughout each and every night and tucked against me each morn.” His whisper tickled her collarbone, and she could feel her body accepting what her mind couldn’t.

  “Since we’re married, you are basically stuck with me.” Her attempt to tease and avoid had Declan immediately perched above her and staring down at her.

  His eyes searched hers, and to her surprise, she saw vulnerability rather than the sexual desire she had expected. “I have never woken with a wife and find it to be something I enjoy greatly.” He paused and looked away from her eyes to the top of her presumed bedhead. “Do you have regrets?”

  Once he had teased her with erasing regrets of a drunken night being disturbed. Her heart ached for the simple fact he wouldn’t look at her while he asked. If her features always bore her thoughts, she realized he would see her regret, provided she had any, before she said a single word.

  While many uncertainties faced her with the rushed marriage, nothing in her mind screamed of not wanting to be with him, but only of her insecurities. But in the daylight, she questioned her decision if only because going through a wedding seemed vastly different than being married. Acting on impulse, her hands rose to capture the jaw shaded with morning stubble that left a dark shadow on his handsome face. The gaze of the man found hers, and whatever concerns she had, he had them to. “No.”

  The raw truth stunned her even as his smile lit his features. The man he claimed to be had won her heart completely just hours before. If anything bothered her, it was the notion that she loved a man who might not love her back.

  Declan kissed her lips with a delicate touch, and her hands slipped to his shoulders. “One might think you would be more pleased with me.”

  “This is new.” Emma made an excuse while her hands savored the sensation of roaming his shoulders.

  “Aye, we are new. ‘Tis a fine start in my thoughts. I have the wife I wanted, and if she would only smile for me, the day would begin with joy.” His whispered request tickled her lips and had her tongue darting out to wet them.

  Emma sighed and knew that she would never be able to resist the side of him that spoke softly and expressed a hint of what she craved to hear. Her lips gave him the smile he asked for, and his answered her.

  “Oh, wife. I would wake beside you each day and hope to see you pleased with being bound to me. For I am the most fortunate of men.” His morning husky voice slid over her and let her mind believe it was everything she wanted to hear.

  Settling back into the pillow, Emma felt his body press a bit more of its weight onto her. She had the man and loved the night they had shared. But Declan would never be that singular. “Is the laird pleased?”

  Declan chuckled and pressed another kiss to her lips before giving her a quick wink. “Aye. The laird kens you to be without equal. Your beauty stirs his blood, your bravery rivals his warriors’, and you love his daughter as your own. He kens how blessed his life has become. He never thought his life would have such meaning. That he holds his title and lands is merely a wee part of his pleasure. He has you, and that gives him all he could ever want.”

  Emma gasped at the voice that let the laird slip out, even as she delighted in every syllable spoken. “I thought the laird didn’t come in here?”

  “He is never far away,” Declan whispered against her mouth and then kissed another path across her jaw and down her neck. “But let us nay speak of him or he may recall duties to be done when the man would rather enjoy his morn with his new wife.”

  I do enjoy the man. Emma practically purred when his mouth teased the skin between her breasts. Her chest arched into his mouth while her hands roamed the tight muscles of his back. Concerns over whether or not marrying Declan had been a good idea faded as her blood heated with the delicious memories of what he had done throughout the long night.

  His talented mouth teased and tormented her flesh, and Emma wondered how any part of her could possibly be so sensitive. When his lips tightened on her puckered nipples, a soft cry left her mouth, and her hands dug into his hair. Declan’s groan vibrated on her skin. Okay, waking up with Declan is beyond wonderful.

  A calloused hand gripped her hips, and his mouth left her skin as his body poised directly over her. His eyes burned down upon her. “Tell me you will have all of me, the laird and the man.”

  Emma tensed at the request. The previous night she had made him promise the laird would never touch her again. Instead, she had spent a long night with the man who touched her heart, who loved her body, and who promised to be hers. Admitting she wanted the laird wasn’t easy. But I know there is only one Declan regardless of his claims.

  “I want all of you.” She questioned if he understood her aloof way of asking for the love she wanted returned, too cowardly to ask and too afraid at the potential for disappointment.

  His eyes softened, and his lips lowered to hers. “Do you, wife? Do you want all I am? All I have to offer you? I would give all to you, I swear it.”

  “All of you,” she whispered, praying they weren’t simply having some form of sexual banter. “I want all of you.” To feebly make her point, one hand slid to his chest and covered the heart she could feel pounding.

  A shudder coursed over his body, and his eyes closed for several seconds, though Emma kept her palm on the beating and counted each one. His eyes opened, and she was sure she saw more than lust, more than she dreamed of seeing.

  “You have all of me already, wife. I am yours.”

  While not what she wanted to hear, it was a start. She deba
ted opening her mouth to spit out heartfelt declarations but decided against it. She knew he wouldn’t believe her, that he wasn’t ready, and maybe neither was she. Certainty filled that what they shared could grow, and that would have to be enough.

  Emma felt his body ready to punctuate his statement and the tip of Declan’s manhood about to join them once again. The smile she wanted to offer became her mouth parting and gasping as his length filled her in one thrust. The words were out before she could stop them. “Oh, shit.”

  Declan froze above her. “I hurt you.” It hadn’t been a question.

  Emma sucked in a breath as her body protested his being inside of her. “I think I may be sore.” She felt her cheeks heat at the admission. But the pleasure she remembered from the night before seemed nowhere to be found.

  Where she expected a laugh, Declan surprised her with a soft kiss. “Forgive me. I never thought . . . I should have asked . . .” Regret laced his voice, and she hated the sound.

  When his body attempted to leave hers, Emma wrapped her legs around his behind, the hard flesh secure against her calves. “Don’t stop.” After his admission of wanting her and of needing her to want all of him, she didn’t want the moment to end, despite the ache.

  “I would never hurt you.” His eyes shone down with dismay at causing her pain.

  “I think I can handle you,” she teased, and his eyes narrowed. She knew the look—it was the laird’s judgmental stare. “I don’t want this to end, Laird.” She meant more than the sex. They had shared and hinted at emotional ties and bonds.

  That finally brought a smile to his lips. “Then the laird will love his wife with the tenderness she deserves.” His body stayed still until her hips lifted in clear invitation as the ache transformed to a want.

  “I want all of you. Don’t hide behind him.” Her breathy whisper brought a groan from Declan.

  “Slow then,” he whispered and barely rocked against her.

  Her mouth again opened but sighed in pleasure. His body soothing rather than rough had her hips asking for more.

  Declan kissed her lips as his hand gripped her thigh. “Unwrap your sweet thighs.” She did as told only to roll with him landing on his back and her on top.

  Her back arched with remembrance of being in the same position before. But then it had been dark, and her modesty hadn’t cared about her body on display while she rode him to his encouragement and their mutual delight. She doubted her core would currently tolerate that type of adventure.

  Draped over his chest, her hand cupped his face while his hands moved her hips in a slow and gentle rhythm that quickly made what remained of discomfort fade to sheer delight. His eyes stayed locked on hers as her throat let out sounds of feminine want and pleasure.

  “Every morn I will love you.” Declan crooned to her, his voice a husky whisper. “I would wake with your passion. Will you have me?”

  “Yes,” she answered, unable to deny him anything at the moment as tingles spread throughout her body.

  His hands gripped her hips tighter but kept the steady pace. Emma’s eyes fluttered shut as heat spread throughout her center and her breath began to come in panted gasps.

  Declan’s hands shifted to her lower back, and he abruptly sat up, wrapping her legs around his back. “I need to see you.”

  From atop his thighs, her head had to look down at him. She quickly decided she adored her perch as her hips rocked and his lifted to fill her only to recede a bit to begin again. Heat rapidly became sparks, and her head fell back with her hair dancing down her back. I’ve died and gone to heaven.

  Shortly before dawn, she would have sworn she’d tasted enough passion to understand the need that everyone hinted at, why sex seemed to be so important. With his body once again taking her to heights never imagined, she knew how wrong she had been. His body did unbelievable things to hers, and she feared it was only the beginning. That her heart had fallen for him only added to the fire and made her want him even more than she had believed possible.

  She felt his lips against her jaw, his muscled chest press to her breasts and the friction caused from their joining. An arm held her back, and she was trapped and drowning in Declan. He became her only focal point, all that mattered.

  A hand gripped her head and wrapped in her hair, pulling her back to him. His panting voice whispered into her ear much as it had during the long night they shared. “Aye. Let go for me. Give me all of you.”

  Declan’s hips twisted, and Emma cried out as her body shook with the force of her all-consuming pleasure, his name a harsh plea whispered against the side of his head.

  In seconds, she heard her name shouted by Declan. His body tensed and then yielded against hers. His breath fluttered against her neck while he pulsed inside of her, and her arms wrapped around his neck.

  “Did I hurt you?” He panted into her ear.

  Emma squirmed slightly and knew she would never be able to convincingly lie. “A bit. But I think it was worth it.”

  A kiss pressed against her neck before laughter tickled her delicate skin, sending shivers down her back. “I should have taken more care with you.” He paused, and she felt his lips grin on her neck. “I will take you down to the baths. A soak in warm water will aid you.”

  A bath sounded fantastic, and she had no wish to sit in the hall with her rat’s nest of hair and hear the comments and whispers that would likely accompany that. Her gaze drifted to the window and the bright sunlight of what had to be midmorning. “Okay.”

  Declan rolled them back to the bed, and even his gentle departure had her wincing. “You should have told me.”

  Emma laughed despite the mild ache. “I didn’t know until I knew. It wasn’t like you gave me a warning.”

  Still wrapped around him, Declan kissed her mouth, and she sighed at the heavenly touch. “I lost all reason when you agreed to all of me, sweet wife.”

  Somewhere in that she heard his satisfaction at her accepting both sides of him, and she had no idea how to respond to her agreement. She had married the laird and then spent the night with the man. Her brow furrowed at the thought. “You thinking of yourself as two people still confuses me.”

  Declan chuckled against her lips and pulled away from her. “You will need to get used to both of us.”

  Emma shook her head as he climbed out of what had become their bed. Her eyes followed his sculpted bare back as it opened the chest at the foot of his bed. Declan pulled a luxurious-looking gray robe over his body, and she sighed at the loss of the sight of him. It’s amazing how quickly I’ve grown comfortable with a naked Declan.

  He walked around the bed and picked up her discarded robe from the floor. Holding out the battered material, he said, “Cover yourself before I forget you need care rather than more of me.”

  Wishing she was able to move with more grace, she pushed her body off the rumpled bedding and then blushed furiously as his gaze swept over her before her arms slid into the soft fabric. From behind her, he tied the robe closed and brushed a kiss to her temple. “Come and let me bathe you.”

  Emma stiffened at the implication. “I can handle it.”

  Declan chuckled and turned her to face him. “I have long wondered if my tub will hold two. Let us find out together.”

  Emma felt her eyes widen at the notion of sharing a tub with him, and once again, he laughed at her with his hands cupping her cheeks. “Aye, Wife. We will soak and enjoy the last quiet moments of our morn.”

  The thought that their private bubble would end had her frown in his hands. “What happens later?” She hadn’t thought past the night and then had become lost in his touch after waking, along with every enticing whisper.

  “We will take our midday meal with the clan.” His brilliant green eyes searched hers. “Are you upset?”

  Her sigh answered fir
st. “I like the quiet time with you. I know that the rest of the day will likely be spent with the laird. I’m still getting used to the idea that I married him.”

  In a flash, the hard stare of the laird held hers. “The laird wants the clan to see his joy with his wife. But the man will take her to bathe, will wash her with tender care, and will seek to love her once more before duty calls.”

  “I thought we were just going to take a bath,” Emma teased, not quite certain how a simple bath became something erotic. But then the idea of a bath with Declan had her blushing from mild embarrassment mixed with a resurgence of desire.

  Declan released her face and laced his finger with hers and tugged her to the door. “The man is feeling quite creative this morn. Once you are recovered from our long night, he will seek to find new ways to please his wife.”

  Emma shook her head at the way Declan spoke. “Can I have the man back, please?”

  Soft eyes turned to her as he slid open the bolt. “I am always here for you. Come with me.”

  Her lips softened into a smile at the version of Declan she had come to adore far too easily.

  Chapter 16

  “Wife, you look so fine I have nay wish to leave our chamber.” He admired her form in the silk gown he had presented to her after the bath.

  “I feel a bit silly so dressed up for the midday meal.” Emma glanced down at her matching silk shoes sticking out from the hem. “Isn’t this something more for evening?” The gown was formal in her opinion with a train that fell behind her. She had never worn anything so stunning.

  “You are dressed to greet the clan as the laird’s wife for the first time. All will see you are given my best as it should be,” his tone serious for the first time since they had shared the heated water.

  Emma shook her head. “Fine, Laird, if you insist.”