“I intend that you be content long before the morrow,” he replied, bringing her hand to his lips to kiss it. Then he nibbled lightly upon her knuckles for a brief moment.
She was silent, for if the truth be known, she was not certain what to say to him.
“What, madam, I have finally stilled that sharp tongue of yours? How is this possible?” Kier inquired of her.
“There is something different between us suddenly,” Cicely said candidly. “Do you not feel it, my lord?”
He did feel it, but he wasn’t certain whether he should admit to it until he knew exactly what it was. Now he was silent.
She saw the play of emotions across his face, for Cicely had turned her head to look at him. He was uncertain what to do or say, and it surprised her. Then she remembered that Jo had said men needed more assurance than women did when it came to matters of the heart.The words came out before she could think further. “Perhaps now that you are clean, my lord, I am coming to like you better,” she told him.
“Are you?” he answered her, looking wary.
“Aye!” Cicely told him. “I do believe that I like you,husband.”
She liked him!But wait. Why this sudden change of heart? What mischief was the woman up to? From the moment that they had been matched they had disliked each other intensely. When they came together in conjugal union it was rough and wild. Nay, it was he who had been cruel, not Cicely. Still, he was suspicious. “What has caused this change of heart, madam?” he demanded of her in a hard voice. Then he pulled her into his arms so he might look down into her face when she spoke to see if she lied.
Cicely almost quailed at his tone, but instead she decided she would face him with the truth. Truth was a powerful weapon. Looking up into his handsome face, she said, “I believe that you like me despite what you have said in the past. And I told you I didn’t like you only because you spoke the words to me first. They were hurtful, Kier. I had to wonder if your anger was only because you couldn’t have Glengorm without me. So when you expressed your dislike of me I responded in kind.”
He nodded. “But you like me now,” he said.
“I never disliked you, my lord. First I came to love Glengorm. And I loved Ian in my own way. And then he was gone, but Johanna was born to bind me even closer to Glengorm. I was frightened that I would have to hold these lands for my daughter. I am not, for all my fine upbringing, a weakling, but I never expected to find myself in a border house alone with my child. Frang will tell you that I asked him to teach me the art of defending this house, and he did.
“But then Sir William sent you to me as soon as he learned of Ian’s death. I cannot tell you the relief I felt when you took charge. I should have done whatever I had to do to keep Glengorm and its folk safe, but I was glad for your coming. And when I went into labor withJohanna, you were there in Ian’s place helping me. You were kind, and I thought then that perhaps you were not so terrible. But why did you tell me you did not like me, Kier? What had I done that made you say those words? Though I do not believe for a moment that you ever meant them, even as I did not mean them.”
She had indeed surprised him. Finally he said, “I have not had good fortune where women are concerned.”
“There are no tales about you, as there were about ‘the wenching Douglas,’ ” Cicely said thoughtfully. “And you are past thirty, but have had no wife. And certainly not because you are unable to please a woman.”
“I loved a lass once, but her father would not have me because of the situation of my birth,” Kier admitted to Cicely. “Love weakens a man. I would not have believed it until it happened to me. I vowed never to be weakened by a woman again, madam.”
Cicely reached up and caressed his jaw. “You don’t have to love me, Kier,” she told him. “But could you at least admit to liking me?”
God’s balls!There she lay, naked in his lap, her soft hand upon his face, speaking sweetly to him. Not love her? Of course he loved her, even if he could admit it only to himself. If she knew how he felt now she would have power over him, and no woman would ever have that power again. “I don’t dislike you, lass,” he told her.
“That will do for now,” Cicely replied with a small smile.
“Madam, I will never love you!” he exclaimed suddenly, sensing he was losing the argument between them over this.
“I am content that you can like me,” Cicely said. “Our children should come not just from our lustful pleasures, but from our mutual affections.” He said he would never love her, and suddenly Cicely knew that she wanted him to love her, for she was falling in love with him. But he would not know. He could not know! It would only give him an advantage over her. Cicely wanted to cry, but she didn’t. Her gaze never wavered.
She was confusing him. Those beautiful blue-green eyes lookedup at him. They were incredible eyes, and he felt briefly weakened by them. “Enough, madam,” he said, and he pulled her up so he might kiss her. Their lips met, and Cicely sighed. For some reason that soft little sound made him feel as if he were in complete control of their destiny. Her mouth was sweet beneath his, and he devoured her with his lips.
If he truly liked her, Cicely thought muzzily, the love would come eventually. She wrapped her arms about Kier and kissed him back kiss for kiss until her lips were swollen and burning. When his hand moved to cup her breast she arched into him as his thumb stroked and encircled her nipple. Then her hands began a daring exploration of his body as he explored hers.
Her fingers lightly caressed his shoulders, feeling the hard muscles beneath the skin. She reached up to catch his head between her two hands, tangling her fingers into his thick raven black hair. Cicely shifted her body so that it pressed against the length of his, and he groaned. Breast to chest. Belly to belly. She felt the thick ridge of his manhood against her thigh. The hard flesh against her soft flesh was warm, and she could have sworn it throbbed.
Kier moved her beneath him, and his dark head bent to her breasts. He kissed them and suckled hungrily upon each breast, his lips, his teeth, his tongue causing tremors to overtake her. The dark head followed a path of worship down her torso, kissing, licking. He positioned himself between her thighs, and then to her surprise he pulled her up so that her legs rested on his shoulders, her ankles fastening themselves about his neck. Burying his face in her mons, he kissed her there.
Then, using his thumbs, he opened her to his vision, staring at the moist pink flesh already pearling with its cream, the tiny jewel in its center luring him forward. His tongue began to stroke the nubbin of sensitive flesh, flicking lightly over it, slowly, slowly, then faster and faster until Cicely was writhing beneath his mouth.
“Kier! Kier!” she cried his name, then shuddered as she experienceda strong burst of tingling delight that exploded like a shower of heat over her.
He groaned again, his tongue licking and licking and licking her juices until she begged for mercy. He raised his head and asked her in a rough voice, “What do you want, madam? Tell me what you want, and you shall have it!” His manhood was hard with his need for her, but he wanted, he needed to hear her ask, because if she asked then she was not just coupling with him out of a sense of duty. He wanted more than duty.
“I want you inside of me, my lord,” she cried out to him. “I need you inside of me!” Her legs fell away from him as she spread herself wide. “Take me now!Please!”
“You like me,” he said softly, taunting her as his fingers stroked the wet flesh.
