“I’ve ached for you to be inside me ever since you settled me on your lap. Kieran, I need you. The wood won’t cool the way my body yearns for you.”
Kieran seized her mouth in a brutal kiss that signaled the onslaught of their passion. He plunged into her over and over as she nipped at his lips and clenched her fingers around his backside. He grasped her hip in one hand and raised her arms above her head with the other. Her moans encouraged him to continue when he would have slowed.
“I don’t know why I feel like this, Kieran. It wasn’t that long ago that I had no idea being with a mon would make me so needy and so brazen, but I can’t hold back.”
“You don’t have to, mo ghaol. I want you, need you, just as much. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you. And you have no idea how hearing your desire makes me feel. I hope that it never goes away.”
“You don’t think me loose or unladylike for this?” Maude panted as Kieran continued to surge into her.
“God, no. I’m lucky to have a wife who enjoys me and perhaps wants me as much as I want her.” They kissed again before Kieran leaned back to surge into her over and over. His hand kneaded her breast, and Maude covered it, guiding him to a firmer hold.
“I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but ever since our first kiss, my body seems different.” Maude murmured.
“I’m different, too. I’ve never felt like this before. I still marvel at how it never used to be like this.” Kieran realized what he said after the words left his mouth. He expected Maude to push him away after mentioning his past while he was hilt-deep within her. But she released a purely feminine growl before pulling him down for another kiss. Maude took control of the kiss, and Kieran’s body raced to the precipice, but he refused to tumble over the edge into ecstasy without her. “Buttercup, I’m too close. I need to slow down.”
“I don’t want this to be slow, Kier. Hard,” Maude struggled to say each word as Kieran thrust into her, and her thoughts faded. Before he was able to stop himself, his release consumed him. He slammed into Maude over and over until she bit into his shoulder to keep from screaming her own climax. He marveled at how her inner muscles spasmed around him, clinging to him, while her hips still rocked. Despite knowing his body was spent, he continued to thrust. Maude’s head thrashed from side to side as her body held her captive. Kieran pulled the sleeve of her kirtle down far enough to free her breast and began suckling her hard. The sounds of Maude’s moans were a symphony to him as he suckled, alternating breasts.
“Turtledove, don’t stop. So close again.”
Kieran had no intention of quitting before he watched Maude come apart in his arms again. He shifted and circled his hips, making Maude bite down on his shoulder, his leine doing little to protect him. Her entire body went rigid before going lax. They lay together on the desk, panting. Maude mindlessly stroked his hair and back as he smattered kisses over her cheek, jaw, and neck. They lay there together until their breathing returned to normal, and Kieran withdrew. Maude’s whimper of disappointment matched his own feelings. Their lovemaking abated the heat and need that sparked between them, and they floated back to reality. A sound outside the door drew Kieran’s attention. He crossed the room but checked that Maude had covered herself before flinging the door open. Adeline and Abigail stood on the other side, unprepared for Kieran to catch them, so they failed to whisper.
“She sounds like a two-bit whore,” Adeline sneered. “He does better between Maggie’s thighs than the sausages hiding beneath her skirts.”
“Mother!” Kieran roared. He prayed that, while his mother hadn’t whispered, her low voice wouldn’t carry to Maude, but Maude’s sharp intake of breath echoed across the room. He looked back at his wife and saw the color leach from her face. “You go too far. I haven’t touched Maggie or any other woman since before I met Maude. How dare you insinuate, nay state, otherwise? When will you accept that I love my wife?”
“Never. You’re infatuated with the chit because she lets you rut on her like a bitch in heat.”
“Leave!” Kieran’s hand gripped the door while the other fisted to keep from throttling his mother. Abigail looked among the three faces with a mean-spirited smile that reveled in Maude’s humiliation.
“Mother wouldn’t have a point if the entire keep didn’t have to listen to you two morning, noon, and night. At least with Maggie, you’re discreet and don’t do it where everyone can listen.”
“Stop speaking as though there is aught still between me and Maggie. There isn’t and never will be.”
“If you say so, son. Eventually, you’ll get your broodmare with child, and then what will you do with that insatiable appetite? You’ll get your heir and your spare off her and then come to your senses. At least Maggie has the good graces not to beam and glow after a good tupping.”
“It’s against my better judgment that I’ve allowed you and Abigail to remain despite your abominable behavior toward Maude. I never knew you had such a crass tongue. You disgrace yourself and your position as a lady speaking in such a manner. Retire to your chamber and do not let me see your face until morn.”
“You’re sending me to my chamber like some errant wean? I think not. I’m still your mother.”
“And I’m your laird. I warned you that you’d join Madeline at the priory if you tested me. I’ll begin the arrangements in the morning.”
“You wouldn’t dare. The clan will despise her even more if you send me away. Do you think they’ll accept you choosing a woman better suited to a tavern wench over both your sisterandyour mother? They’ll lose all respect for you. They might even chase her away from Stornoway.” Something malicious twinkled in Adeline’s eyes that made Kieran pause. He feared she might harm Maude if he reacted out of anger.
“Retire to your chamber as I said. I will consider what I’ll do with the both of you after I consult my wife.”
Kieran didn’t wait for a response before swinging the door closed. He was at Maude’s side in a handful of paces. She stood shaken and pale, tremors vibrating against him as he held her. She sobbed as she had the night he met her, and just as he had been then, he was at a loss for what to say, so he cooed nonsensical words as he offered his presence as a balm to her injured spirit. She clung to him as she cried into his chest and remained inconsolable until there were no more tears left to stream from her eyes. She wiped them away but failed to wipe away the pounding headache.
“I think I shall lie down until the evening meal,” she rasped.
“I’ll join you,” Kieran offered, but Maude shook her head. She’d never declined his comfort until that day, and he worried about the vacant look in her eyes.
“I need a little while by myself,” she murmured as she pulled away. Kieran walked to the door with her, but she shook her head once more.
“At least let me see you to our chamber and tuck you in,” he reasoned.
“No. I’d like to be alone now.” Maude didn’t look at him before opening the door and slipping into the passageway. Kieran stood watching her walk away and had a paralyzing fear that she might walk away for good one of these days.
Chapter Twenty-Five
