He was about to close the book when Cat tugged on his arm.
‘Page six, I pray you,’ she said on a sigh. She did not lean away this time after making her request and he could feel the weight of her breasts against his arm and her thigh against his. So could the randy lad.
‘A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me. He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.’
‘Oh, my.’ Her voice was breathless and her own breasts strained against her gown. She leaned over to look at the images on this page and she gasped.
No flowers. No vines. No plants, except for the small pouch of leaves resting between the breasts of the same voluptuous woman from page eight, now naked and lying with a naked man.
‘Page eight,’ she said, her hand on his thigh now, urging him on. Aidan turned to it, not daring to glance at the illustrations first.
‘Awake, O north wind; and come thou south. Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.’
Catriona was panting now, pressing against him and stroking his thigh. Did she even realise she did these things? Or was the spell of the words and images so strong that her body reacted without thought? His gaze took in her open mouth and her breasts against his arm, threatening to spill out of her gown, and he dared a look at the images that she saw there.
The naked woman reclined on a bench while wisps of wind blew above her. Her legs lay spread open and her lover... He closed the book, nearly catching her nose as she leaned in to look more closely at the forbidden images there.
‘What kind of book is this, Aidan?’ she asked.
‘A forbidden one,’ he said, his own body ready to experience the delights described within it. ‘One meant to entice and arouse.’
‘Are you enticed, Aidan?’
He swallowed and swallowed against the desire pouring through him. He would have thought her innocent and unaware had her hand not slipped at just that moment and touched the very proof of how aroused he was. ‘Aye, Catriona, I am that.’
Pleased by her growing boldness, he slid his hand up under her gown and shift and sought proof of her body’s reaction. The folds of flesh between her legs were moist and she arched against his hand, pushing his fingers in deeper.
‘As am I.’ She sighed.
Boldness to meet hers, he pushed the book aside and lifted her on to the table. It took no time at all to throw her skirts out of his way, loosen his trews and fill her. She grabbed on to his arms, her head tossing side to side as her flesh tightened around him, urging him on to the oblivion of release. Faster than he could have imagined, his erection tightened within her, pouring his seed deep in her womb. Her own release, coming in waves of spasms he felt surrounding his flesh, milked him dry.
Their breathing echoed through the chamber and it took some minutes for them to gather their wits. How did she drive him so mindless with desire? ’Twas not as though he was some untried youth, never having tupped a woman before. He was practised and experienced, yet he acted in an artless, hungry manner whenever he could have her. He could blame it on the long interval between taking a woman to bed, but he’d had longer. He could blame it on the length of time it had taken to have her, but he’d pursued other women for longer.
So, it came back to her. Catriona MacKenzie caused this reaction, this constant need for her, this growing desire to be with her, to be in her.
He stepped back and tied his laces and then held out his hand to her.
‘You must object, Cat, and not let me treat you so,’ he warned. ‘If you do not require better behaviour from me, you are likely to find yourself—’
‘Tupped on a table?’ she asked. Pushing her skirts down and sliding from the table, she looked back at it. ‘’Twas more pleasant than I expected it would be.’
‘Catriona!’ he pleaded. ‘You must set bounds, for I have none when it comes to seeking pleasure with you.’ ’Struth, he would have her in any manner at any time and in any place, if it were up to him.
‘Are there bad places to...tup?’ she asked, gathering her tangled hair and shaking it loose over her shoulders. Those breasts pressing against her gown... All this talk of tupping right after they’d tupped was not good. It would lead to more. Still, she had asked.
‘I have not found any yet, though I do seek comfortable places. A bed is my favourite place.’
‘Let me wrap the book so you can take it back,’ she said, reaching for the cloth and the book.
‘Ah, but there are so many numbers you have not learned yet. Let us keep it for a while longer.’
The flash in her eyes told him she wanted to find out what other pleasures were suggested in the ornate book. For now, he needed no other inspiration but her. Aidan brought her closer, wrapped the length of her hair around his fist and drew her mouth to his, tasting the sweetness he knew he would find.
* * *
The night passed quickly and he left her sleeping the next morning with a whispered word and soft kiss on the mouth that showed she’d been well loved during that night. And over the next days and nights, Aidan showed her that there was nothing and nowhere forbidden between two lovers who sought pleasure together.
Though she balked at displays of affections when others could see them, she never refused him anything when in private. His favourite had been finding her on her knees in the garden, digging out weeds. He’d crept up from behind her, wrapped his arms around her to hold her up and taken her that way—fast, deep thrusts with her not moving except to push back against him until they finished. Then, he discovered that cleaning off the mud had brought as much pleasure as getting dirty had been.
