“I was making up things to divert me from how much I wanted to be back in my wife’s bed,” he said, grinning.
“Then come to it,” she said softly.
“What of the evening meal?” he asked her, looking to the servants, who were now setting the high board and dragging the trestles for the men from the side alcove, where they were kept after meals.
“It will be served whether we are at the high board or nae,” Annabella said, smiling. “But if ye would prefer to wait until after ye hae supped, my lord, I shall abide by yer decision.” She curtsied and, turning about, left the hall. Once inside her bedchamber Annabella undid the fastenings holding her bodice to her skirt. The skirt dropped away to the floor. Undoing her petticoats, she stepped from the pile of material, kicking her shoes off as she did. Unable to reach the laces of her bodice, she waited for him. He would, Annabella knew, enjoy doing it. She undid her long dark hair and began to brush it free of tangles, restraining her laughter when he burst through the door of her bedchamber. “Undo my bodice for me,” she greeted him before turning her back to him.
He acquiesced, unlacing the bodice, pulling it off of her, tossing it aside. Fascinated, she watched his hands coming about her to undo the ribbons holding her chemise closed. It fell away from her. He pushed the delicate garment from her shoulders, his hands slipping beneath her beautiful breasts. He groaned low in her ear as he felt the weight of them settle in his palms. His fingers tightened about the firm flesh, rubbing the nipples with the rough balls of his thumbs.
Pressing her against the bed, the earl knelt so he might undo her garters. Slowly he rolled the gossamer stockings down her shapely legs, his expert tongue following his fingers down the warm, soft flesh of her thighs as he divested each leg of its silken covering. As he drew each stocking from her feet he kissed each one, nibbling at her toes, which caused her to giggle.
Every inch of her seemed to be throbbing. With a great effort she stood up so she might undress him; he had entered her bedchamber in only his breeks and a shirt. She undid the ties of the shirt, pushing it off his shoulders. Then Annabella pressed her own naked breasts against the smooth, warm flesh of his chest, rubbing her nipples against him quite wickedly.
“Woman,” he growled low in his throat. “Do ye mean to try my patience?”
“Aye,” she whispered in his ear before she licked it. Her hands moved to unfasten his breeks. He wore no drawers beneath, and as they fell away she reached about him to cup his firm buttocks in her hands, squeezing them lightly. “Have ye truly missed me, my lord? If ye would hae me believe it, ye must show me how much.” She took a hand and stroked the length of his manhood, reaching beneath it to cup him.
The earl groaned as fiery pleasure engulfed him. A brief year ago she had been a shy but curious virgin. He had taken that curiosity and taught her to satisfy him, to satisfy them both. She had proven to be an incredible pupil.Jesu!He groaned again as she fell to her knees to take him into her mouth. She had learned her lessons well, he considered as a bolt of wicked sensation shot through him. His long fingers tangled themselves in her thick hair, kneading her scalp as she brought his cock to raging life with her mouth, her tongue, and the skillful fingers that teased his balls. He closed his eyes briefly, savoring her delicious attentions.
In the early months of their marriage he had actually come to like her for the qualities that had nothing to do with her gorgeous, tempting body. He saw kindness, thoughtfulness, and intelligence. It was her clever mind that he found truly pleased him, and her instant loyalty to Duin. Then, when they had finally joined their bodies, he had been astounded by the perfection of her body. It had aroused in him a passion such as he had never known. Some might have thought it lust, and perhaps in the beginning it had been. But not now. He was in love with his wife, and could not imagine his life without her. To his relief she had responded in kind to his passion. “Enough, sweetheart,” he begged her.
Annabella arose gracefully, slipping her arms about his neck, her lithe body pressing against him. “Dinna play the lover, my lord. I need ye inside of me. Deep inside! Afterward we will sport ourselves with kisses and caresses, but now I very much need to be fucked, Angus, my lord and husband.”
He pressed her back against the edge of the bed, pushing her down, drawing her legs up and over his shoulders. “I am happy to oblige ye, madam,” he said thickly, guiding his engorged cock into her with an audible sigh of pleasure.
Wet and hot, her sheath enclosed him eagerly, squeezing the long, thick peg that plunged itself into her right to the very hilt.
“Is that what ye desire, madam?” he demanded of her. He stood very still now.
“Aye!”Holy Mother!His cock throbbed with life as he stood over her. Her eyes were shut to better experience the sensations, and she repeated, “Oh, aye, Angus! But ’twill be even more perfect, my darling, if ye will . . . Ahhh! Oh! Aye! Just like that! Dinna stop! Dinna ye dare stop!” Her hands fisted themselves into the coverlet beneath.
At first he moved with slow and majestic strokes, pushing as deep as he could, slowly withdrawing almost all the way until he could see his tormenting was beginning to drive her wild with passion. After a time he increased his tempo, his cock flashing furiously back and forth with great rapidity. Her pleasurable moans of delight increased his own desire. He felt invincible. As if he could go on like this forever and ever.
They were both panting as each stroke of his cock brought them closer and closer to pure perfection. Annabella burned and froze with her need for him. She tightened herself about him again, wresting a cry of delight from him. Knowing that he wanted her, needed her, every bit as much as she did him excited Annabella. The rapture began to build, swiftly rising up to overwhelm her. She opened her mouth to scream her satisfaction as she was rocked by spasm after spasm after spasm.
Angus roared in reply as his love juices burst forth in a torrent of excess. For a few moments he remained buried within her, unable to withdraw, for she was so delicious. Finally he withdrew his temporarily appeased manhood from her momentarily gratified body. “Are ye content for the moment, ye lustful vixen?” he asked, smiling down at her.
“Aye, for the moment,” she teased back. Then she said, “Do ye think we’ve made another bairn, Angus?”
“There is time for us,” he answered.
“Nay, I have nae done my duty by ye or by Duin until I have given ye an heir. I wonder if the child I lost was a lad or a lass,” Annabella said. “I have often wondered.”
“Get under the coverlet,” he said, and he joined her. “Dinna think of it, sweetheart. God will provide us with an heir when the time is right.” His arms went about her, and he stroked her head comfortingly.
Ohh, she loved him! She had never thought it of herself that she could fall in love with a man who didn’t admit to loving her. But why on earth was she complaining? Annabella considered, as she drifted into sleep. Angus Ferguson was a good husband.
He kept no mistress and treated her with kindness and respect. But she loved him. She wanted him to love her. Could he love at all? Could he love her? Ever?
It was October when word finally reached Duin that the queen had been delivered on the nineteenth of June of a fair son who was to be called James, and would be the sixth of his name. But the queen remained estranged from her son’s father. Though he had been cleared of any culpability in the murder of David Riccio, Mary had come to despise the degenerate drunk Henry, Lord Darnley, had become.
“Poor lady,” Annabella said.
“She wed him willingly,” Agnes replied.
“What a hard-hearted little minx ye are,” Matthew Ferguson remarked.
“Well, she did,” Agnes retorted. “No one wanted her to wed him, but she insisted. Now she has discovered the truth of what he is, which her advisers saw beforehand. Didn’t Lord Bothwell say it the last time he visited?”
