“Stay by ma side today, mo ghaol. Nae only because of what happened last night, but because I want yer company. And I admit I could use yer moral support when I meet with the council again. I must address the actual state of the clan’s finances.”
“Do ye think having me present at two meetings in a row will anger some? They humored us—me—last night. But that doesnae mean they dinna share Faolán’s sentiments. They just didna have a death wish and kept quiet.”
“I dinna ken, but I’m certain they realized ye are the voice of reason. Ye may have an iron will, but ye kept me from murdering Faolán,” Hardi said.
“It’s nae murder when it’s justice. Ye were within yer rights,” Blair reassured.
“And ye’re trying to make me feel better.” Hardi ran his fingers through Blair’s brunette locks. “I swear by St. Columba’s bones, if he’d upset ye—if I saw even a moment where ye wavered—I would have broken his neck.”
“I wanted to skewer him, right then and there. I believe I could have hefted a sword and targe after all. I was ready to beat the hilt against ma shield before running him through. I wasna exaggerated when I said I wouldnae forgive him for slighting ye,” Blair frowned.
Hardi grinned. “I will accept protection from ma wee warrior lass.”
“Ye still havenae told me what ye call a female bull.”
Hardi chuckled, then tried to compose himself. “Mo chridhe, I havenae told ye because it’s just a cow. I didna think ye’d appreciate being called that.”
Blair grinned as she playfully pushed his shoulder. “Well then, what do ye call a gelded bull?”
“A steer.”
“Then consider me like that,” Blair laughed. “I’m a raging steer ready to impale anyone who threatens ye.”
Hardi took Blair’s hand and wrapped it around his lengthening cock. “This bull has something he’d impale ye with.”
“Then I suppose I should moo-ve over,” Blair jested as her hand stroked Hardi.
“Blair, I swear when this business is all over, we will lock ourselves away in this chamber for a sennight, and I will make love to ye every way we can think of,” Hardi pledged as his fingers thrust into her.
“I shall hold ye to that.”
Hardi’s broad palm covered her breast as he massaged the mound. Blair didn’t bother stifling her moan as Hardi flicked his tongue over her nipple before catching it between his teeth. Hardi had discovered tormenting Blair’s nipples with licks, pinches, and bites drove her to the edge of release. He pressed her onto her back as he ministered to both sides. He marveled at how Blair’s breasts were the right size to fit within his mouth. Her soft hips and belly never failed to arouse him, but her small, pert breasts made him want to devour her.
“Blair, what do ye want this morn?” Hardi whispered. “Tell me what ye want.”
“Tell me what ma options are,” Blair moaned.
“I make slow love to ye, I fuck ye, I suck yer pearl until ye climax, I stroke ye with ma fingers. I can take ye from on top, I can plow ma cock into ye from behind, ye can ride me. Tell me which of those ye want.”
“Ye forgot some,” Blair gasped as Hardi pinched her nipple to the point of pain. She pushed at his shoulders, and he rolled onto his back. “I can lick ye, I can suck ye, I can stroke ye. I can do all of those.” Blair slid down the bed, cupping his bollocks in her hand. She rolled his sack as her tongue laved from stem to stern. She swirled her tongue around his tip, swiping it over the slit on the head of his cock. She teased him, taking an inch then pulling back. Taking another inch, then pulling back. Hardi’s abdomen rippled, and Blair ran her fingernails over them, making his hips thrust. She drew the full length of his rod into her mouth, sucking hard.
Hardi was certain he would spill the moment the head of his cock swept the back of Blair’s throat. He scooped her hair back and watched her head bob as she worked his rod. She looked up at him, and he saw the carnal need in her eyes that led him every time to be rougher than he intended.
“Ye can fuck me in a minute, husband. I amnae done enjoying this yet.” Blair pressed her breasts together as she caught Hardi’s length between them, her tongue flicking his tip every time it appeared as she stroked him. He grasped her nipples and twisted. He pulled just enough to bring her body toward him. She eagerly climbed over him to straddle his hips. She grasped his cock, preparing to slide onto it when Hardi rolled them over, pinning her front to the bed. His hand slid between her legs until he found her sheath. Dew coated the tops of her thighs.
“I am going to fuck ye, wife. And ye ken why? Ye make me hard as a poleaxe, and yer cunny is dripping for me.” Hardi guided his cock to her entrance, then thrust into her. His weight kept her from moving much, but she lifted her hips to meet each surge. “Fuck, Blair, I’m too close already.”
“So am I.” A pillow muffled Blair’s voice, but Hardi understood. He nipped at her ear as he continued to piston his hips into her. Blair’s heaving breaths transformed into one long moan as she shattered. Hardi grasped her hands and drew them behind her back as he kneeled between her thighs. The force of his body pushed Blair’s smaller one toward the head of the bed, his fingers biting in her bottom. He ground his cock into her as he flew over the precipice into pure pleasure.
They collapsed onto the bed beside one another, and Blair struggled to speak. “A sennight isnae long enough. I want ye to promise me a moon.”
“Ye will never walk again if I promise ye a moon of that,” Hardi chortled.
“Then ye can stick yer cock in me and carry me around like ivy climbing up a pole,” Blair suggested.
“Blair, tell me true. Did I corrupt ye, or did ye always have this naughty side to ye?” Hardi wondered.
Blair rolled to face him, and he caught sight of her bright red cheeks. It wasn’t exertion that made them flushed. They were red from embarrassment, as though he’d caught her doing something wrong.
“I told ye how I happened on that couple in the passageway, and I watched. And ye ken Maude told me quite a lot. What ye dinna ken is that a few months before ye left Dunrobin, I went to the loch looking for ye. It was when the puppies were born. It was dusk, and I wanted ye to come to the stables to see them before the evening meal. I found ye standing in the loch, the water just up to yer thighs.”
“Ye watched me pleasure maself?” Hardi was incredulous. Then he narrowed his eyes. “Just that one time?”
Blair shook her head, her cheeks radiating heat. “I couldnae tell what ye were doing at first. I was aboot to call out for ye, but ye groaned. I thought something was wrong, so I ran toward the loch. Ye must have heard me because ye turned toward the sound, but ye didna see me. But I saw ye. All of ye. I saw ye with yer hand around yer cock, stroking it. I saw ye spill yer seed.”
“And that wasna the only time?” Hardi choked. He wasn’t sure if it embarrassed him or thoroughly aroused him. As his cock twitched back to life, he decided he was both.
“I tried nae to think of it, but I stumbled upon ye a second time a few days later. I wanted to bathe in the loch because it had been so warm. It was nearly dusk that day, too. Ye entered the water just as I approached. I watched everything, all of it. After that, I noticed ye often slipped down to the loch before dusk. I followed ye many times. I was fascinated, a moth to a flame.”
“What did ye think aboot when ye watched me?” Hardi’s voice was a ragged whisper.
“I wondered what ye thought aboot, who ye thought aboot to make ye need to stroke yerself. I wondered what it would be like to touch ye, to do it for ye.” Blair’s eyes darted away. But she refused to be ashamed in front of Hardi. They were married, after all. It seemed like proof they were meant for one another. Her gazed locked with his.
“And how did that make ye feel? Did it make ye wet, Blair?” Hardi slipped two fingers into Blair as he used his thumbnail to flick her pearl. “Did it give ye the empty ache ye swear ye get now when ye want me?”
“Aye,” Blair whispered. Her eyes drifted clos
ed as her core tried to trap his fingers within. “I wanted ye to be thinking aboot me.”
“I was,” Hardi confessed. Blair’s eyes snapped open. “It was like I turned around one day, and ma friend who climbed trees with me suddenly had breasts. Ma eyes seemed to always find ye when ye bent over, either seeing the tops of yer breasts or noticing how yer skirts draped over yer backside. Ye made me hard all the time, Blair. If I could have, I would have gone to the loch three or four time a day to ease ma cockstands. I dinna ken what I would have done if we were Lowlanders. Ma plaid and sporran hid how badly I wanted ye.”
“Did ye ever want to kiss me?” Blair shifted closer.
“All the time. And before ye ask me why I never did, I didna want yer da to castrate me. Blair, ye were the first woman I ever wanted, and ye’re the last woman I will ever want.” Hardi pulled Blair’s leg over his hip as he slid into her. His tongue flicked across her lips, and she opened without hesitation. They rocked together slowly. As so often happened, they coupled passionately and frantically just to follow soon after with slowness and tenderness. “Blair, if ye’d been older, I would have begged yer father to let me marry ye. But ye were too young, and I was supposed to still see ye as ma little sister. But I wanted ye. It all came rushing back when I saw ye at court.”
“It was the same for me. Any time I wondered what it would be like with a mon, doing aught with a mon, it was ye I saw. When the other ladies used to chatter aboot their secret assignations or I overhead the married women talking, I would imagine it was us doing the things I heard.”
With the number of men Blair had met at court, the number Hardi was certain attempted to draw her attention, it amazed him that he’d remained on her mind. He’d assumed she’d forgotten any attraction she’d once felt for him.
“Is there aught ye imagined that we havenae done?” Hardi wondered.
“Nae exactly. But I would like it vera much if one day we could make love in the loch at Dunrobin,” Blair admitted.
“I would like that, too.”
Their kisses silenced them, but Hardi recalled that the first time he was with a woman was in the village at Dunrobin. He’d gone with Lachlan, Michael, and Dougal. Michael already knew he wanted to be a priest, so he stood watch for them. Hardi found a brunette wench and made her face away from him, so she didn’t distract him from imagining she was Blair. Over the coming years, he imagined he was bedding Blair on more than one occasion, and he knew that was why he favored women with dark hair.
As though reading his mind, Blair continued speaking as they lay together once more spent. “I pictured ye when I heard those things. Did ye ever think of me after ye left Dunrobin?” She wasn’t brave enough to ask if he thought of her while he coupled with other women. She didn’t want the rejection.
“Yes. For the first few years after I left Dunrobin, I imagined any woman I bedded was ye. After I saw ye at the Highland Gatherings, I—” Hardie feared he would say too much, but he knew she didn’t hold his liaisons with other women against him. “I would find a dark-haired lass and make her face away from me, so I could imagine it was ye.”
“Hardi? Do ye think it upsets me to ken ye’ve been with other women?”
“Nay. I ken ye understand that neither of us imagined we’d be together. But I dinna like thinking aboot the women before ye. It feels wrong, and I dinna see any point to it.”
“I appreciate that. But—” Blair blew out a quick breath through her nose. “it’s gratifying to ken ye wanted me so much that it was me ye imagined ye were with.”
Forty-One
Blair stood near where Hardi sat in their solar. She’d browsed the shelves and discovered that someone in Hardi’s family saved a set of primary Latin books. Blair had pulled those from the shelves and set them aside. She moved along the collections and noticed books of poetry and tales of chivalric love, much like Tristan and Isolde. She found several books in Greek and thought of her cousin Magnus’s wife, Deirdre, who had been a scholar from a young age, translating passages and entire books from various languages. Blair picked two books in Latin that told the stories of the Romans invasion of Britannia. She thought Hardi might enjoy the battle scenes more than he would the riddles and Bible verses they’d worked on at Stirling. She found Clan Cameron history books written in Scots, so she added those to her pile.
“We shall be auld and gray by the time I read through these,” Hardi jested as he rose from his chair. He came to stand behind her, his chest pressing against her back as he wrapped his arms around Blair.
“Speak for yerself. I’m never going gray. I dinna plan to look auld,” Blair teased. She turned her head to look back at Hardi and winked. “And I ken what we can do to stay fit and young.”
Hardi was about to whisper his own suggestions, but a rap on the door, then the sound of it being opened, made them step apart. Hardi grumbled, “Knocking isnae the same as being bade to enter. Wait next time.”
“Aye, Laird,” Paul grinned. Paul’s questioning Blair the evening before hadn’t endeared him to Hardi. When Paul attempted to resume his interview when they broke their fast, Hardi offered Blair a tour instead. They hurried to finish their porridge and grabbed heels of bread to take with them. The tour led them back to their solar, knowing the council would arrive soon. Hardi helped Blair move the stack of books out of the way of the men taking seats around the table. Paul was the first to realize Blair didn’t intend to leave. “Will ye be using those books to sit on, or mayhap stand on, so ye dinna have to look up to us?”
Blair gritted her teeth before forcing a smile. “The only mon I’ve looked up to is ma da.”
The grin slid from Paul’s face as he took his seat. “I’m certain Mordag has a method of dusting the higher shelves without standing on any of those books. Besides, that’s a servant’s job.”
“Paul, I dinna ken what ye think books are for, but ye seem to think I need them to grow a few inches. I’ve never stood on a book, and I amnae planning to do so.” Blair cast him a puzzled look.
“I’d like to begin, so there’s time for us to go to the lists this morn,” Hardi spoke. Blair took her seat beside him, and the couple noticed many frowning faces.
“We kenned ye wanted Lady Cameron to meet us last eve, and it was useful having her here to deal with Faolán and Drostan. But she doesnae need to be here for every meeting. Surely, she has other duties to attend,” Malcolm stated.
“Lady Cameron kens exactly what duties she has. She kens Mordag has been an excellent housekeeper all these years, but Lady Cameron is now chatelaine. As such, she’s reviewed the keep’s ledgers and has several items she cares to discuss.” Hardi turned to Blair, who lifted the ledgers off the desk and carried them to the table. She took the seat at the head of the table left empty for Hardi.
“Ye canna be serious, Laird.” Malcolm scowled.
“Why wouldnae I be? The clan’s lady maintains the ledgers for the keep’s accounts. She’s corrected many errors and updated most of the records, but I canna explain the discrepancies. She expects ye to do so for us.”
“That isnae a matter for the clan council. She should take that up with Mordag,” Malcolm argued.
“It’s a matter for the clan council when ye have recklessly spent the clan’s money and dinna have enough to ensure the clan survives the winter,” Blair spoke up. “It’s a matter for the clan council when nay one kept an inventory of what’s being traded and what’s being kept. And it’s a matter for the bluidy council because Faolán and Drostan stole from the clan and nae a damn one of ye paid enough attention to catch them or cared enough to do aught aboot it. So, gentlemen, ye will suffer ma presence until I have sufficient information to ensure this clan neither goes bankrupt nor starves.” Blair felt her temper spike after listening to the men speak as though she wasn’t present. It frustrated her even more that they mocked her and assumed she had nothing to contribute. She realized her family was unusual for the role women played in clan business, but that didn’t mean the Cam
eron men shouldn’t treat her with a modicum of respect.
Blair opened the first ledger and rambled off several items and amounts, turning the book to show the men as her fingers ran down the tallies. “I have written these in a manner that doesnae require Mordag or yer cook, Dolina, to read. They need only remember what the first letter of cow, sheep, grain, and whisky look like. It’s the same for other household items. If they canna remember the shapes, they can remember which column is which from practice. They are to mark one tally for each item in its column whenever they take inventory. They are to strike through a tick mark whenever we use an item.”
Blair held up the book near her shoulder and looked at it before looking back at the men. She pointed to the first column. “Do ye see these tick marks? They are for all the sacks of grain Laird Cameron reported ye had before Faolán and Drostan left for Stirling. Do ye see how most are crossed out? Aye? The ones that arenae crossed off are what I expect to find in the storerooms. If this is accurate, I hope nay one has an enormous appetite in this clan because it’ll be a lean winter with little bread. Do ye see this column? This is the column for the number of sheep ye have. Laird Hardwin counted yer flocks before I arrived. Thanks to Faolán’s muck up, ye have less than ye started with. Ye butchered several without thought to what we would need for the winter. I hope I find several hung to dry age, but from what Laird Cameron tells me, I shouldnae hold ma breath.”
Blair left the book open as she laid it on the table, then pushed it toward the men. She flipped open another ledger and turned pages until she found the one she needed. She held this book up just as she had the first. She pointed to the top of the page, then moved her finger to each item she pointed out. “Each column is for the distinct coins. Doyts or pennies, shillings, merks, pounds. The recording is like the household account. Each time we count the coins, we place a tick mark in the column for the specific coin. When we take money out, we should cross off the equivalent number of marks. This way, we can glance at the ledger and ken what should be available.”
A Saint at the Highland Court: The Highland Ladies Book Six Page 26
