“Aye,” he agreed. “But that body pleases me as no other ever has. And you cannot deny that what you felt in my arms you have never felt with another. Now go to sleep, my honey love. When my strength has been restored with a bit of rest I will want to taste your sweet charms again. This night is not yet ended.” And, reaching out, he drew the coverlet up over them.
Adair bit her lip. She would not weep. She would not!
Chapter 11
When Adair awoke after the long night she was lying on her belly, and the laird’s arm was over her. Slowly she turned over. There was the faintest light showing through a narrow crack in the shutters. She had to get up and go to the kitchens. Elsbeth would already be preparing the morning meal. Gingerly Adair attempted to escape the arm confining her, but it suddenly tightened.
“Where are you going?” he growled at her.
“It is almost dawn,” Adair told him. “I have to get to the kitchens, my lord.”
“Not yet,” he said. “I want more!” And he was atop her.
“Is your lust not yet quenched?” Adair demanded to know. “Three times we coupled in the night. I hardly had a moment’s rest satisfying your needs. I must get to the kitchens. Do you imagine Elsbeth can do what she does all alone?”Dear heaven!She could feel his manroot already hard with his cravings.
“Elsbeth has the others. I have you,” he said, his knee pushing her thighs apart. “I would rather have you for my breakfast than a trencher of porridge, my honey love.”
“I must go,” Adair insisted. “I have my duties to perform.”
“Your first duty is to me, and you are very ready, I can see,” he murmured in her tangled hair, the tip of his manhood pushing into her. “You are hot and wet, and you want me every bit as much as I want you, even though you will deny it.” He slipped deep into her.
“Don’t you, my honey love?”
“No!” she said stubbornly. How could he know? How could he be so infuriatingly knowing? She could feel him throbbing within her. “No!”
“Aye, you little liar,” he half laughed as he slowly withdrew, and heard her little whimper of protest. “Say you want me, Adair!”
“No!” she insisted. But she did want him. She wanted him deep within her, making her explode with those wonderful sensations he had made her feel thrice last night. “Let me go, you great Scots ape!” Her balled fists beat a tattoo on his chest.
“Enough, woman!” he roared at her. And then he began to move on her, his manroot pushing deep, withdrawing slowly over and over and over until the woman beneath him was sobbing with the pleasure that they were both experiencing.
She was being a little fool, Adair thought. He wanted her. She wanted him. Why was she acting like a silly girl? The fiery intensity was beginning to blaze within her. “Yes, damn you, I want you!” she cried, and then she soared as her crisis overtook her.
Her surrender forced him sooner than he would have wanted. He felt himself being drained by her hungry maw. No woman had ever weakened him like this. He groaned and, barely satisfied, rolled off of her. He could hardly keep his eyes open, and fell back asleep before he knew what was happening to him.
When he began to snore lightly Adair crawled from the tumbled bed. The extra bucket of water, cold now, was still on the ledge by the hearth. She picked the little washrag up and cleansed herself of his juices. She took up her chemise from the chair by the fire. It was drynow, and warm. She donned it, and then pulled her green gown over it. Her footwear was in her bed space.
Adding two small logs to the fire so it would not go out, Adair slipped quietly from the chamber and down the stairs.
Grizel was already in the hall, adding fuel to the hearth and lighting the candles. She nodded as Adair hurried past. In the kitchens Jack was bringing in the wood for the day. Elsbeth already had her kettle of porridge cooking, and Flora was eating her breakfast at the table. Adair went into the little alcove where her bed space was located, and found her shoes. Putting them on, she ran her fingers through her hair until all the tangles were out, and then rebraided the heavy mass into a single thick plait.
“Come and eat,” Elsbeth called to her as Adair reentered the kitchen. She plunked a small bread trencher full of cooked oats before the young woman. “I can see he’s as vigorous a man as he would appear to be.” Then she chuckled.
Adair glared at Elsbeth, but said nothing. She reached for the pitcher of cream, and splashed some onto the hot porridge. Then she began to eat. She was just beginning to realize that she felt sore all over. She had been well used by the laird, and if she were honest with herself she had to admit that after her initial shy-ness she had enjoyed his lusty attentions very much.
But it puzzled her that the bed sport with her dead husband had never been as satisfying. Adair sighed. If she were honest with herself she had to admit her relations with her husband had been downright dull. She had been fond of Andrew. She had even convinced herself that she loved him. He was fair to look upon, kind, and thoughtful of her. But never in all the time they had been married had he once roused her senses to the fever pitch that Conal Bruce did last night. Not once.
Not twice. But four times! She had not realized that a man could perform so lustily and so often in so short aperiod of time. She put her spoon in her mouth and was surprised to find it devoid of oats. She had already scraped the trencher clean.
Seeing her bemusement Elsbeth slapped a thick slice of warm bread dripping with butter and honey before Adair. “You look fair worn,” Elsbeth remarked.
“I did not get a great deal of rest,” Adair admitted wryly as she ate the bread. But then suddenly she jumped up. “Oh, lord! The laird has no clothes to wear!”
“Sit down,” Elsbeth said. “Flora has taken him up his garments. You had best get to work making him some shirts. He has but two. ’Twould be a good task to start today. Grizel and Flora can serve the hall this morning.”
When the laird came down from his chamber Adair was nowhere in sight. The two other serving women were busily bringing the meal to the high board, where his two brothers were already seated. Conal Bruce joined them.
“Now where are those flowers hiding?” DuncanArmstrong asked, sniffing loudly.
