He started laughing, hugging her tightly and kissing her on the top of the head. “Good,” he said, releasing her. “Now that we have established our mutual like, I feel as if we at least have an understanding between us.”
He started to pull the breeches on and she pointed to her name in the waistband. “We do,” she said. “You are my property and do not forget it.”
He paused, looking at her with a twinkle in his eye. “I would never forget such a thing, madam,” he said. “I am very proud to belong to you.”
A smile crept over her lips. “And I, you.”
The twinkle turned to something else, something smoldering. The breeches suddenly hit the ground and Gar was on Mattie again, his mouth fusing to hers as his arms went around her. She responded to him, readily, something that was becoming natural to her. She’d quickly learned to love their physical relationship, the exploration, the satisfaction of it, and she was never reluctant when he wanted to bed her.
In fact, just the opposite.
Since Gar was already nude, he pulled off her sleeping shift, leaving her naked body exposed to his hungry eyes. She had a delicious figure, soft and round in the right places, and already he was suckling her breasts and fondling her buttocks, pulling her up against him. She had such soft skin and he lapped it up, hungry for her. Nothing on earth fueled him like she did.
He’d learned that the first time he ever touched her.
There was much kissing and fondling going on, the touching of nude bodies. Mattie had only just become comfortable touching his body, though she was still somewhat timid. When she put her hands on his erect manhood, he whispered encouragement to her. She caressed him gently, stroking his length and feeling him shudder in delight. Unable to wait any longer, Gar went to lay her on the bed, but Winchester wassleeping right in the middle of it. Rather than move the dog, he simply turned her around, braced her arms against the bedpost, and lifted her buttocks up against his pelvis. His male organ, hard and demanding, thrust into her from behind.
Since Gar was so much taller than Mattie, he had to bend his knees significantly in order to thrust into her, but that quickly became an untenable position, so he gripped her pelvis and lifted her off the ground. It was nothing for his considerable strength. Mattie gripped the bedpost, bracing her feet against him as he drove into her soft and yielding body. He had a firm grip on her hips, holding her against him as he moved, but his gaze was on her slender back and supple buttocks. The way her waist narrowed and then flared out at her hips was a glorious sight.
It was driving him mad with desire.
At some point, he released her hips so she could stand on her own and he bent over, wrapping a big arm around her torso and holding her against him as his free hand roamed her breasts, delighting in the silken texture. He was thrusting so hard that Mattie ended up bracing her arms against the mattress, which bent her nearly in half, her buttocks almost facing the ceiling. It was a much better position for Gar and he moved his fingers to the curls between her legs, stroking her, listening to her gasp with pleasure. He felt her release begin and he answered in kind, spilling his seed deep into her womb.
Still embedded in her, he held her close, kissing her back, stroking her breasts gently, absorbing everything about the woman that he was so obsessed with. Every movement, every breath, every sigh was ingrained in his brain. As he stood there and held her, his body still joined to hers, his mouth was against her shoulder.
“I think I love you,” he whispered against her flesh.
Eyes closed, trying to catch her breath, Mattie smiled at his confession. “I think I love you too,” she whispered, reaching between her legs to touch him as he was still joined to her. “Most assuredly, I think I do.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
No one hadbothered him, no one had moved him.
Gordie was in the same place he had been since first being dragged into the great hall of Gleann na Fola. He’d been feigning unconsciousness since last night and other than check his breathing from time to time, he’d been largely left alone by the women who were tending the wounded. An older woman with a Scottish accent had tried to rouse him to take some nourishment once, but he hadn’t stirred, so she left him alone.
And that was what he wanted.
He could hear what was going on around him, however. He could hear when wounded men were moved away or when they were able to get up on their own. He wasn’t sure how many were left, but he was one of them, and toward the evening meal, two soldiers carried him out of the hall and into a chamber that was quite warm. The hearth was blazing as they deposited the rest of the wounded from the hall into the smaller chamber so that they wouldn’t be disturbed and so the surgeon could tend them more easily.
When he was certain there was no one left in the chamber except for the wounded, he dared to open an eye to see where hewas. It was a tiny chamber, in fact, and he lifted his head to see that there were four other men in the room with him. Out of all of those wounded from the battle, only five were left, including him. The fire was burning brightly, staving off the ice radiating from the old stone walls, but Gordie was more concerned about where, exactly, he was and how he could escape the keep and get to the postern gate. This chamber had no windows, so he couldn’t see what time it was by the setting of the sun, but he knew they had been moved out of the hall because the evening meal was approaching.
That meant it was nearing sunset.
He had to get out of that chamber.
Gordie lowered his head, lying back down and wondering what he should do next. He was afraid that if the surgeon or one of the women returned and found a wounded man missing, they might go looking for him. If they found him before he was able to open the postern gate, then all of the work to get him to this point would be for naught. However, given the fact that he knew he had to act quickly, he simply couldn’t wait around any longer.
His clan was waiting for him.
Sitting up again, Gordie looked around the chamber to see if there would be any witnesses to his leaving. The four men seemed to be sleeping, or at least their eyes were closed, and given that these were the most severely injured in the battle at the gatehouse, they weren’t in any condition to do anything other than rest. Gordie climbed to his feet, silently, making his way to the chamber door and peering outside to see if there was anyone around.
There wasn’t.
Quietly, he made his way out of the chamber, realizing that he was on the lower level of the keep. The entry was directly to his left and although he thought he heard a servant moving around off to his right, he didn’t see anyone. He did, however,hear voices on the level above because the big staircase leading up to the hall was directly in front of him. He could make it to the keep entry undetected if he went at this very moment, so he did. For an old man, he moved swiftly. Yanking open the entry door, he bolted out into the dusk.
Now, he knew where he was. There were men around, but no one close by, at least no one who might stop him. He was still dressed as an English soldier and that was his saving grace. Trying not to appear suspicious, or if he were running, he made his way around the east side of the keep, spying the kitchen yard directly ahead.
Unfortunately, there were people here.
