“I know. You alone are why I couldn’t.”
“Kieran, I can’t continue on as I have. I’m too tired to continue pretending that their words and actions don’t hurt me. I’m too worn to the bone to keep working harder than most just to please people who may never like me. I’m done guarding everything I say and do in case I give offense. And I’m bluidy well tired of being hungry all the time. I’ve felt ill for ages, and I’m certain it’s because I’m too scared to eat too much in front of people.”
“Maude, your lack of appetite has worried me, but I was nervous aboot mentioning it. I didn’t want to upset you further by bringing attention to it, but I’m glad to hear you’ll eat more. You’ve scared me more than once, looking like you might collapse.”
“I’m aware. I’ve given myself a good scare more than once. I’m hungry so often that I’m nauseous much of the day now.”
“Between working too long and eating too little, I feared you’d succumb to the ague just as so many others did. Promise me, buttercup, that you will take better care of yourself. Agatha will send a tray up any time you’d like if you’re still not comfortable eating in front of others.”
“So the women can gossip aboot how three meals aren’t enough for me and that I need extra sent to me so I can eat in hiding? I think not.”
“Fine, but will you continue to accept the food Agatha saves for you?”
“You found out aboot that?” Maude gasped.
“I’ve seen her a few times, but she’s confessed to it. She worries aboot you and needles me to take better care of you every day.” Kieran stood and stepped beside Maude. He pulled the pins from her hair, letting them drop by his feet until her hair unraveled and he could massage her scalp and neck. Maude purred with contentment as the tension fell away. When she untucked her legs and leaned against him, Kieran eased her into his arms before carrying her to their bed where he set her down and undressed her. When they were both bare, he pulled down the covers and slid into bed beside her. His palm cupped her scalp as she pressed their bodies together. “I’m going to show you how devoted I am to you, wife. I love you to distraction, and while I can’t control what others think of you, I’ll leave you without a doubt that I adore you and am hopelessly devoted to you.”
Maude sat up, serious, as she looked at Kieran. “There were times when I first arrived that I worried you might tire of me, that you would find it easier to leave me alone than live with the snide comments, but you’ve proven time and again how you feel. You don’t have to keep proving it. I didn’t believe Adeline’s comments aboot Maggie. I know you love me. I know your honor would never allow you to stray. And I know you haven’t had the time to sneak away. If you’re not in the lists, then you’re with me. How could you be with anyone else?”
“You may know that, but it doesn’t mean I’ll ever stop showing you.”
When Maude purred and grasped his rod, Kieran growled as he lowered to them to the bed. He pulled her leg over his hip and slipped into her before groaning and rolling them, so Maude’s back pressed against the bed. He nipped at her ear before suckling her neck and shoulder. Maude clutched the sheets as he kneeled between her legs. He lifted her hips, his fingers biting into the skin hard enough to guarantee he would leave bruises. He surged into her over and over, rocking and circling his hips as the sounds of their bodies and their moans filled the chamber. When he arrived in their chamber, he’d intended to be gentle with her all night, but her need spurred him on. He’d be tender the next time, and every other time that night. Right now he would show her that no matter what anyone said, he desired her beyond reason.
“More,” Maude panted.
“Might hurt,” Kieran grunted.
“More,” Maude demanded as she reached up to graze her teeth along his neck. Kieran leaned over her on his forearms. She raised her arms over her head to entwine her fingers with his. She met him thrust for thrust as she ground her mound against him. Their mouths found one another as their need coalesced into an inferno of desire as they both raced toward their climax. Maude ripped her mouth away.
“Kier!” She screamed. “Yes!”
“Fuck,” Kieran gritted out before bellowing, “Maude!”
Maude was certain she could feel the jets of his seed, and he continued to rock against her as she shattered once more. She held Kieran as their chests heaved, and she couldn’t imagine leaving the man she loved. While the physical pleasure he brought her was immeasurable, it was the moments after, the tenderness they shared, that made her realize he was as devoted to her as she was to him. She didn’t believe he could fake the way his eyes lingered on hers, the soft kisses he pressed to her temples, his murmurs of love. She felt wholly accepted by Kieran, and she understood that even if she were to return to Sutherland, she would never find another person who made her feel complete.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Maude snuggled under the covers as Kieran slumbered pressed against her back. She was warm and secure as she floated into the land of the living, but all too suddenly the memory of the night before came flooding back. She felt anger and sadness warring within as she looked at the broken figurine she’d left on the window embrasure. She gritted her teeth as she felt her entire demeanor shift. It hardened into determination and a disinterest in kowtowing any longer to the MacLeod women. The men could think what they wanted, since the only male opinion that mattered to her was Kieran’s. She feared her plan would lead to an argument, but she didn’t care. She would run the keep as she saw fit, with no further delay. There were still several challenges to her authority, and the first would begin in the kitchen with Fiona.
Maude slipped from the bed but didn’t step away before a brawny arm pulled her back against a muscular chest.
“You weren’t planning to run away, were you, buttercup?” Kieran’s groggy, deep voice rumbled through her back and shot tingles into her core.
“I have a few tasks I would like to complete before the women fill the kitchens.”
“Oh?”
“Kieran, I’ll forewarn you that I’ll make several people angry today, but I don’t care in the slightest. You can expect to hear complaints aboot me, but if this is truly my home and I’m truly the lady of the keep, there are several more things that need changing. The most pressing is Fiona’s cooking. It’s atrocious. I don’t understand how she’s lasted so long, but everyone deserves food with more flavor and variety. If I eat one more turnip, I will turn into one. There is meat that will soon putrefy if we don’t cook it this sennight, but despite my suggestions, she refuses to heed me. It’s as though she intends to defy me.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. She’s set in her ways. My mother hates spending time in the kitchens, so she allows Fiona to do as she pleases, which has caused several furors with Agatha. If you can improve the fare that comes from the kitchens, I’ll sing your praises from the rooftops.”
“I also intend to remove the beeswax candles from your mother’s and sister’s chambers and save them for Beltane. It approaches in a few weeks, and we don’t have enough of the finer candles. I also want the entire Great Hall floor swept and scrubbed before the women lay fresh rushes. Had the floor been tidy, no one would have been able to hide my figurine, nor would anyone have missed it and stepped on it. Agatha is a fine housekeeper, but the maids can be as defiant to her as they are to me. I suspect that’s also your mother’s doing. I get the sense she and Agatha don’t rub along well.”
“You’re right aboot that. Agatha has been the housekeeper since my father was a bairn. She raised him and me, so neither of us was ever willing to entertain replacing her, but my mother hasn’t made Agatha’s life easy ever since Agatha made the mistake of thinking my mother would run the keep as you do. Agatha welcomed Mother as a young bride and deferred to her in the beginning, but Mother turned her nose up at the work. My grandmother raised Mother to be a competent chatelaine, but my mother refused the responsibility. She’s naught like my grandmother was, but my sisters follow in her footsteps.”
“I’ll be unpopular with your men, too, because I’m going to insist the women scour the kitchen fireplaces as well. That’s half the problem with the food. But if the women dawdle or give me any argy-bargy, it’ll be a cold supper for everyone.”
“I’ll give my men notice, and I’ll suggest the married ones check with their wives during the nooning to ensure the women’s cooperation, or it’ll be their fault their husbands get bread and cheese.”
