“Leave it,” he said. “It’s better wild.”
Better for what? She didn’t have time to ask as he pulled out a penknife and flicked the fleshy side of his hand. Bright blood welled up and he smeared it into the bedsheet. He looked at her in apology with a shrug.
“It’s custom,” he said.
She knew it.
Then he stripped out of his shirt and boots, doing everything he could to appear as if he had just roused from bed and pulled on his breeches. But before he went to the door, he paused to look back at her.
“Do you feel up to a show?” he whispered.
Her eyes widened.
“Just noise, my dear. Just some very fun noise.”
He kissed her then, drawing her close as he plundered her mouth. Then he pulled back. “Do you know the sounds of lovemaking?”
She nodded. She had heard it many nights of her childhood. Her uncle liked it when everyone in the castle knew he had a woman in his bed. But she didn’t know if she could do it herself.
“Can you moan? Loudly?”
He caressed her breast and her whole body shivered. She had no idea how she could still be so sensitive after their walk back, but every part of her seemed to rise at his touch. Her chin lifted, her legs tightened, and even her breath pulled in and up in a quick inhale.
But she didn’t moan. Not even when he released a loud moan of his own. He waited until there was a pause in the song and that made sure he was heard. As was her giggle. She hadn’t meant to make such noise, but he was so funny as he pulled fists to his belly like a man before lifting a great weight. He looked like he was about to toss a caper in a Highland game. Instead, he was creating a show for his men.
There was a great roar of approval outside her door, and she felt her face heat a fiery red, but he just wiggled his eyebrows at her. Then he went to the bed and grabbed the wood at the base of the bed.
“Cry out?” he whispered to her.
“What?”
Then he slammed the bed against the wall, making a loud thump.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, but probably not loud enough.
He grinned at her. Then he banged the bed again. She understood this time, and her exclamation was loud enough to gain a roar of approval from the hallway.
He winked, then he growled loudly as he slammed the bed again. But it wasn’t loud enough. She knew that from her uncle’s copulations, so she joined him at the base of the bed. Fortunately, she knew just what to say, assuming her blushes didn’t rob her of breath.
“Oh my…my lord!” she cried as she helped him push the bed again.
“Har, har, har!” he returned with a ridiculous expression, and she burst out laughing.
His eyes widened and he shook his head. “This isn’t supposed to be funny,” he whispered.
Oh, right. But she was laughing, and he was making her do it as he began to slam the bed faster, his grunts becoming louder and louder as he worked.
Truthfully, it was exciting as she saw his muscles bunch with the work. He was an attractive man, and she had no trouble building her own gasps with the movements.
“Oh! Oh!” she cried.
The tempo was really fast now. Too fast for her to keep up, but he was banging the bedframe with such power that she was sure the entire inn would lose sleep over it. And then, with a sudden roar, he left off the bed and leaped straight at her.
She cried out in surprise as he tumbled them both onto the bed. He rolled them as they flew such that she landed on top of him. And then she burst out into a laughter that she tried to muffle against his chest. He held her close, his own humor shaking them. And outside, there was an enormous roar of approval.
He looked at her then, his eyes alight with merriment and whispered into her ear. “Well done.”
She shook her head. “That was all your doing. I merely—”
