“Aye, Kitty, we can. I would discover if ye even like the feel of ma mouth on ye.”
“Ye really think I might nae?” Catherine giggled then nearly shrieked when Rab wrapped his hands around her hips and lifted her over his head. She held her skirts out of the way, stunned as Rab pressed her down, so the juncture of her thighs met his lips. The first swipe of his tongue made her lightheaded. With each pass of his tongue and each draw of his lips around her nub, she felt as though she floated above herself. She swayed as he rocked her hips once again. Pleasure tightened her core, and she ground her mons against Rab’s face, unaware of what she was doing, entirely entranced by the sensations his mouth elicited. As her release erupted deep within her core and spread through her limbs, her legs quivered while bearing her weight. She sagged forward once more, breathless as her hands supported her. Rab shifted her to sprawl across him, but he groaned as she pressed his throbbing cock between them. Catherine glanced up at him. “Now can I? Though I’m nae quite sure how, even though I understand what.”
“As long as ye dinna bite me, I dinna think aught ye do will feel bad.”
“I willna bite,” Catherine teased as she snapped her teeth together. She eased herself backward, but Rab lifted her and twisted her to face his toes. She peered over her shoulder.
“I’m showing ye how we can both enjoy this in more than one way.” Rab winked, squeezed her bottom, and offered her a lascivious smile that made her mouth water. But his smile faded as he added, “But if ye dinna like it, dinna do it. I never want ye to feel like ye must do aught ye dinna want or like.”
“Let me try it before either of us decides whether I like it or nae.” Catherine stared at Rab’s length for a moment. The few times she’d touched Edgar had been brief and without looking. The man had never lasted as long as Rab did, so that alone surprised—and pleased—Catherine. Rab’s cock didn’t intimidate Catherine, but it gave her pause as she considered what she was about to attempt. Rab didn’t move, waiting patiently, though his rod pulsed and jumped when Catherine’s breath wafted over it.
She considered what Rab had already done that she enjoyed, recalling the feel of his tongue pressing against her entrance as he laved her seam. She lowered her head, drawing her tongue from stem to stern. Rab’s fingers bit into her hips as he tugged her back toward him. With the next pass of her tongue, she swirled it around his tip only to be met with Rab’s tongue pressing between her netherlips. They moved in alternating sweeps of their tongue until Catherine grew brave enough to ease her mouth down his length. Rab groaned softly as he fought the urge to thrust. He reminded himself that Catherine wasn’t an experienced woman like those in his past. He focused on lavishing his attention on her core to keep from growing too eager too fast.
As Catherine grew more confident, she increased the pressure with each glide of her mouth. Rab matched the intensity as he ran his teeth over the sensitive bundle of nerves before sucking. Excitement coursed through Catherine, making her move faster as the desire to give and receive pleasure filled every sense. With the first salty taste of Rab’s seed, Catherine pressed her hips back to accept more of Rab’s questing tongue as she continued to grip his length with her lips. Their releases swept them away in a current that drew them out to sea and left them clinging to one another.
Practically tumbling from straddling Rab, Catherine felt ungainly as she maneuvered herself to snuggle into the crook of Rab’s arm. They remained silent as their chests heaved, and they rested with their eyes closed. Eventually, Rab rolled onto his side, and they shared a tender kiss.
“I love ye,” they said in unison.
“Tell me how it went?” Catherine asked.
“None of it was quite as I expected. The traveling was easy, but I couldnae have imagined how visiting Katherine would go.” Rab felt Catherine tense, so his hand stroked her hip. “Wheest,mo piseag. I doubt ye will like much of this, but ken that I believe it shall work out. When I got to her croft, I discovered she’s with child.”
“What?” Catherine lurched upright. Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Ye’re going to marry her, arenae ye? We just…”
“Nay. The bairn isnae mine, Kitty.” Rab watched as Catherine tried to make sense of what he told her. The tears made her eyes glassy, but she eventually nodded, yet she didn’t recline against him again. “She planned to pass the bairn off as mine, and while I told her I still wouldnae marry her, it did make me wonder if marrying ye makes me selfish and a poor father. I left without a clear decision, but I only made it halfway back to the men when I realized that I couldnae be the father. She said she was four moons along. I was out patrolling then hunting for nearly two moons straight. I burst back into her croft to find her coupling with Douglan.”
“Douglan?” Catherine sat with her mouth hanging open as she tried to keep up with Rab’s story. “Is the bairn his? He betrayed ye like that?”
“It certainly feels like a betrayal when I talk aboot it, but the rest of the time, I’m rather grateful. I’m still angry that they both intended to dupe me into claiming his bairn, but kenning Katherine’s carrying his child means I dinna have to give a second thought to marrying her. It also means that I’ve made a clean break from her.”
“But it also means she was with both of ye.” Catherine couldn’t hide her disgust. “They played ye for a fool.”
“In a way. I ken I should view it as Douglan cuckholding me, and I didna ask how it started. But they intended for Katherine to break it off with me, then they could make it seems as though their relationship started after she ended mine. But they learned she was with child. They feared humiliating me if people kenned it was Douglan’s bairn, nae mine.”
“That’s a load of tripe.” Catherine glared at Rab because she couldn’t direct her anger at Katherine and Douglan. “What if ye had felt guilted into marrying her? That meant claiming Douglan’s illegitimate child as yer own, possibly yer heir. This wasna aboot saving yer face so much as protecting their arses. Ye’d be halfway to the altar with her if ye hadnae turned back and caught them.”
“True. But I did. I choose to be relieved and grateful that there isnae one more thing in the way of us being together. I dinna need to waste ma time or ma feelings on them when ye’re the only person in all this who means the world to me. They’ll marry for love, and so will we.”
“I’m nae so quick to forgive and forget, but I’ll accept that ye are.” Catherine’s mouth turned down, but she nodded. “Ye make it sound as though we can go through with the marriage. Did ye find somewhere to post the banns?”
“Dunblane Monastery. Do ye remember Michael Sutherland, Lachlan’s cousin?” Catherine nodded to answer Rab’s question. “He’s now a priest at Dunblane. It didna take much for him to deduce I still want to marry ye and why I went to Dunblane. It seems everyone kens we still wish to marry.” His mouth turned down, his eyebrows rose, and he gave his head a few quick shakes in disbelief and capitulation. “It’s hardly a secret among any Highlanders. He agreed to post the banns for us if we both attend the services. It’s a stretch to call a church in the burgh of Stirling yer home parish, and even further to call it mine, but he’ll do it if we attend and make it look as though it is now our church.”
“But it’s a monastery.”
“True, but from what I can tell, villagers worship there on Sundays and holy days.”
“All Hallows Eve, All Souls, and All Saints are in a few days.”
“He’ll post the banns during each Mass. By the end, we can marry.”
“What if someone objects to them being read so close together or that they arenae posted at Edinample and Inveruglas?”
Rab hesitated but wouldn’t keep the alternative from Catherine when it was something they might have to consider. “We can get a marriage license.”
“What’s that?” Catherine’s brow furrowed.
“Michael explained that to avoid marriages by consent or in secret, the church can grant a couple permission to wed without posting the banns.”
