“You never smile.”
Scooping her up and ensuring he remained buried in her delectable heat, he moved them to his favorite chair in front of the hearth and settled into it with her perfectly astraddle him. He slid his hands along her hips, up her waist, and cupped her perfect breasts. “I never had a reason to smile before. Ye gave me one when we joined our souls.”
“I rather like this chair.” She adjusted her seating and teased him with a wiggle that hurried him even faster to battle ready hardness.
Leaning forward to kiss her nipples, he slipped his hand downward and stroked the nubbin of her sex with his thumb while arching to encourage her to grind her hips. “There is much furniture in this keep that we must christen.”
“What about the servants?” she asked with a groan as she moved with more urgency and leaned into his massaging thumb.
“I shall send them away afore I lift yer skirts and bend ye over the bannister.”
She rocked faster. “Sounds delightful. What about the bathtub? We’ll need to christen that as well.”
He sucked each of her nipples with a deep, slow pull, then teased a trail around them with the tip of his tongue. “Most definitely. And the head table in the main hall.”
“The head table in the main hall?”
Her breathlessness fueled his plans for her even more. “Aye, I intend to spread ye out before me and feast on ye till yer cries of delight echo off the rafters.”
She rode faster, panting and bucking. “Won’t everyone know what we’re doing?”
“Everyone will be delighted that their chieftain is pleasuring his lovely wife as much as she pleasures him.”
“Pleasuring him,” she repeated with a long, low groan, then wet her lips. “Would it please you if I knelt between your knees and tasted you while you sat on your throne? Or do you have a throne?”
“For that, I shall get one.”
“Indeed.” She caught hold of the back of the chair and ground into him harder, pounding and squeezing with relentless fury, driving him onward to oblivion with her hot wetness. “Oh my,” she gasped. “Now!” Her groaning shriek filled the room.
“Aye—now!” He roared and lifted while holding her hips, steadying her and keeping her astraddle as he emptied into her.
She tensed and arched, going still as a breathtaking sculpture while fully giving herself to her shuddering bliss. Then she went limp and melted over him, nuzzling his throat while draped atop his chest. She lay there, barely shifting as her breathing returned to normal. “I never knew it could be like this.”
“Neither did I, my own.” He ran his hands up and down her back, then comfortably tucked his fingers around the fine round cheeks of her arse. Floating along the haze of spent pleasure, it occurred to him he had never known such contentment existed. “I love ye, my own. Ye ken that, aye? Ye ken this is nay just lust?”
She tucked her face more comfortably under his chin while idly tickling her fingernails through his beard. “What exactly is the meaning of ken?”
“To know. Understand.”
“Then yes to both your questions.” She shifted with a deep sigh that worried him.
“Emily?”
“What?”
“What is it? Tell me yer troubles.”
“I wish you could meet my parents,” she said so softly that he almost missed it. “They would love you almost as much as I do. So would my brothers.”
He tightened his arms around her. “We will find a way for ye to see them again. I promise.”
She lifted up with another heavy sigh and looked down at him with a sad smile. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I fear that whatever has happened to Seven Cairns is way above our heads and out of our control. You heard your mother.”
He trailed his fingers along the line of her jaw and slid them back into her hair. “Will ye be able to be happy here, my love? Will ye be able to embrace a new life with me?”
“I will,” she said softly. “But it will take me time. I am going to need even more patience than you’ve already given me.”
“I will give ye whatever ye need.”
