Her look of confusion would have been amusing if he weren’t already feeling his temper rising. This woman had brought him to the peaks of pleasure and irritation in the matter of a couple hours. She’d a greater effect on him than anyone he’d ever met.
“Caragh, I don’t make a practice of planting my seed in any woman’s womb. I have been very careful until this moment. I seem to have no sense where you’re concerned, otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought you aboard once I realized you were a woman. But if a babe results from this lapse in judgment, I won’t turn my back on either of you. The babe will be as much my child as yours.”
Caragh pushed at his chest and tried to scramble away from him for the first time all night. She lashed out and kicked as she truly fought to break loose. She took Rowan by surprise, but he quickly pinned her arms above her head in one hand as the other grasped one of her legs. It didn’t stop her from writhing beneath him. He felt himself harden inside her just as he’d been about to slip free. She felt it too, because her movement changed from one of fury to one of arousal.
Rowan groaned as his hips rocked forward. Caragh no longer fought him but hooked her ankles around his waist. She didn’t try to break loose of his grasp. Instead, it had been that move that changed her mood. “Is this how you like it, mo Caragh? Do you like being my captive?” His breath floated across her ear and made her shiver.
“Yes,” she begrudgingly admitted. “God help me, but when you make me feel like this, I don’t want to be anywhere but beneath you. Or perhaps on top.”
Rowan sucked in a breath, surprised by her for the umpteenth time that night. Her wish was his command. He scooped her up and brought them to his bed. He held her as though he feared dropping her, even though they both knew he wouldn’t. He climbed onto the bed then lowered them before rolling over, so she lay straddled across his hips. Caragh sat up as she adjusted to the new sensations of how deeply he penetrated her. She rocked her hips, and a long moan escaped her as his cock felt as though it could reach her heart. She braced her hands on his chest as she tested different movements and rhythms until she found one that spurred them both into a frenzy.
Rowan couldn’t tear his eyes from her. Plenty of women had ridden him, but he’d never given up control and let a woman set the pace. Now he watched as Caragh discovered the pleasures of the flesh, and he would do nothing to impede her exploration. It was the most magnificent sight he’d ever beheld her breasts swinging as her hips rolled back and forth. He cupped the backside he’d felt through the woolen leggings. It was as lush as he suspected, and he dug his fingers into the soft flesh. He knew the pain must be biting, but the tighter his grip, the wilder Caragh grew. She flourished under the tenuous balance between pain and pleasure. No other woman he’d ever known could compare to Caragh, and Rowan suspected in that moment that he’d met his match and his mate.
Caragh ran her hands over the peaks and valleys of his abdomen, fascinated as the ridges moved and flexed at her touch and the rocking of his hips. His thrusts pressed deeper and harder with each surge. He was so deep within her core that the pleasure was tinged with pain, and the more his fingers gripped her bottom, the more desire crashed over her. She felt restless as the rising tension she now recognized surged then retreated just beyond her reach. Frustration was on the brink of taking over from her arousal. She shifted and tried to find a position that would bring on the climax her body demanded.
“Not enough,” she whimpered quietly.
“What do you want, mo Caragh? What can I do?”
She shook her head as she swallowed a sob.
“I don’t know. I like how it feels within me, but I-- I don’t know. I-- I miss feeling your body over me. I want--” She stammered to convey thoughts she couldn’t fully form.
Rowan knew she was confused and didn’t know how to express these newly discovered needs. He suspected that she didn’t shy away from his dominance; instead, she sounded as though she craved it. He sat up and lifted her from him as she clawed to hold on to him.
“Shh, mo leannan. I will make it better. I promise.” He kissed her, and she calmed. He climbed off the bed and pulled her to the edge. “Roll over and come onto your hands and knees.”
She obeyed immediately and looked back over her shoulder.
Rowan stroked himself as Caragh positioned herself. She intuitively understood to spread her knees wide and thrust her hips back to meet his cock as he surged into her. He draped his body over hers and laced his fingers through hers. They swayed together as they panted in unison. Caragh felt as though she was floating above them and watching a scene between two strangers, even though her body recognized the age-old physical demands that grew between a man and woman.
“Is this what you need?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “But don’t hold back. Rowan, you won’t hurt me. More.”
Her words set off a maelstrom, and Rowan felt himself lose control. He grew rougher than he did except with the most seasoned of whores. He pounded his hips into hers as he slid one arm around her belly and the other swept up her hair.
“Like this,” he hissed into her ear.
“Mmhmm,” she could only moan her response.
“I’m being rough with you, Caragh. This is your first time. I don’t want to hurt you, but you unleash something in me.”
“Second time, so I’m fine,” she panted.
Her quip earned her a slap across her backside.
“Yes,” she screamed.
Rowan nearly stopped when he realized that she didn’t toe the line between pain and pleasure but found pleasure in the pain. Her reaction was genuine, unlike the women he had to pay to respond like this. He reared back and brought his hand down on the other cheek. Caragh dropped onto her elbows, and her head rested on the bed, but the shift in position raised her backside to Rowan. There wasn’t a bit of her he couldn’t see, and he became heady with the need to show her pleasure in yet another way. He pulled free of her and dropped to his knees. His tongue struck out and flicked her nub before sinking into her. He rasped his teeth against her source of pleasure, which he knew was already sensitive from their first round of coupling. He sucked it into his mouth and drew hard on it before drawing his teeth against it again. Caragh screamed as she surrendered to the overwhelming blend of emotions and sensations. Rowan rose to his feet and stroked himself twice more before spilling across her lower back and the divide between her cheeks.
A mantle of possessiveness cloaked him as he looked at the woman on his bed. He’d never been possessive of any woman, and there were few things since he left home that inspired such an emotion. As he watched his seed slide along her satiny skin, he wanted to beat his chest and yell “mine.” He drew his finger through the viscous liquid until it was coated. He slid it from her lower back until it came to her puckered rosebud. When she didn’t clench–rather, she remained relaxed–he circled his finger around her sacred entry. He watched her, waiting for her to reject the intimacy, but instead she looked back at him. He saw curiosity and trust, and while the former eased his mind, the latter made his heart pinch. It also terrified him. He was unaccustomed to women trusting him so easily and openly. The women he usually associated with weren’t the trusting type. Caragh was proving to be just as lusty and adventurous as many of the whores he knew. But he suspected the lustiness was a newly discovered emotion since she was twenty and came to him a virgin. Once again, his possessiveness roared alive. He wanted her to reserve her curiosity and desire for him alone. He tapped his finger against the tight sphincter while he watched her face. She nodded, and he pressed against it until the tip of his finger gained entry. He heard her inhale, and her muscles finally clenched. He was ready to retreat when she shifted to watch him more closely.
“This is how you usually couple, isn’t it?”
“How would you know about that?”
“We already established that I frequent a tavern. You said you have no children, and you don’t appear to be pock-ridden, so this must be
how you enjoy yourself. You certainly haven’t said you’re celibate.”
Rowan laughed and shook his head.
“I have not been that, I admit it.”
“Very well.”
“Very well?” Rowan couldn’t fathom what that meant.
“If that’s what you like, I’ve enjoyed myself, now it’s your turn.”
Rowan nearly swallowed his tongue. He shifted to stand next to her and eased her into kneeling, so they could look at one another without her having to twist around.
“Do you think I haven’t enjoyed myself so far?”
“You weren’t exactly thrilled the first time. If you had just done what you usually do, you wouldn’t have anything to regret.”
Rowan’s eyebrows shot to his hairline.
“You think I would initiate you into the world of pleasures of the skin by taking you in the arse? What kind of man do you think I am?”
“A pirate who plunders. I do believe we’ve had this part of the conversation before.”
“Caragh, I may not have exercised the best judgement by finishing inside you, but I’m not utterly insensitive or uncaring about your well-being. Breaking your maidenhead caused you enough pain. I’m certain you’ll be sore in the morning, if not from the bruises you already sport, then from how rough I was this last time. I think we’ve both had enough for one night.”
Caragh swung her legs around so she could sit then inch off the bed.
“Do you now? Is this one of those times where you’re protecting me, and I’m supposed to just trust your judgement? I doubt you give this much consideration to your whores.”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, it is. And you’re no whore.”
“I just chose to act like one. This is one of those times I choose to object. I don’t need you deciding what my body can or cannot handle. I can appreciate your concern, but my body is still my own to do with as I choose.”
“And you choose to be inducted to every sinful manner of carnal pleasure in one night.”
“I didn’t say that. I said that it’s my body, and I decide what to do with it.”
Caragh needed space from him, but the cabin wasn’t large enough when he seemed to take up so much of it. She moved to the porthole and once again looked out into the dark abyss. She sensed him behind her, even though he hadn’t made a sound as he crossed the room.
“I am controlling. I know that. It’s how I’ve survived and even prospered, but you don’t like me taking away your choices. I suppose I’ve done enough of that, considering where we stand having this conversation.”
Caragh didn’t look at him but nodded once. Rowan tested the waters and cupped her shoulders with his hands. Rather than pull away, she sank back into the protective cocoon his broad shoulders created around her narrower frame. If anyone ever asked her how she could throw away all her modesty and every lesson in gentility that her mother had painstakingly taught her, all in the space of one night, she wouldn’t have had a reasonable explanation except her intuition screamed she was right.
“I just wanted to return the favor. You gave me pleasure unlike anything I ever imagined possible. I couldn’t have conceived it would be like it was. I wanted to do something for you since you’ve done so much for me tonight.” Caragh’s hushed words filled the silent cabin. She shifted as she felt his semi-erect cock press between the globes of her backside. She knew it was the result of their differences in height, but she didn’t regret it.
“Mo leannan, you don’t owe me anything. You’ve given me far more than you realize. It was more than just your maidenhead. To say I enjoyed this evening seems far too mild a statement.”
“But you like it the other way,” Caragh insisted.
Rowan smiled behind her when she couldn’t bring herself to openly say exactly what she was so eager to do.
“Caragh, it’s enjoyable for a man. It’s different, and it brings me to a climax, but I have done it that way out of necessity, not desire.”
Caragh spun around, and Rowan was taken aback by the thundercloud that appeared across her face.
“So that’s it. This was to be just one night. You got what you wanted it. And now what? You hand me over to your crew? You wash your hands of me.”
“What?” Rowan couldn’t keep up with the sharp turns her mind took. “Caragh, where did you come up with that notion? I never said anything of the sort.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Well, someone needs to, because I haven’t a clue what you’re getting at.”
Caragh looked at him as though he was a simpleton, and Rowan felt his pride being pricked.
“You regret spilling in me. We both know that. That’s why you pulled out this last time, but that can’t be nearly as satisfying. The logical solution, if you plan to bed me again, is for you to use the same method you usually do. If you’re not willing to do that, then it must be because you don’t intend to couple with me again. It seems rather simple logic. I don’t know why you can’t keep up.” Caragh snapped the last part of her tirade.
Rowan stood to his full height even though he knew it did nothing to intimidate her.
“You’re entering dangerous water. If you don’t want another spanking, this one not for either of our fulfillment, you had best change your tone.”
“Bah,” she waved her hand as she tried to step around him.
He was on her in an instant. He pulled her along until he returned to the chair he’d sat in earlier that night. He drew her across his lap.
“You have a waspish tongue, and I can think of far more enjoyable uses for it than listening to your illogical vitriol. I warned you about disobedience. I should have warned you about disrespect, too.” His hand crashed down across her backside, and this time she cried out. He knew everything between her navel and knees had to be sore. “I never said I would or wouldn’t bed you again. If after what we shared tonight, you think I would just walk away, then it meant very little to you. I have no intention of letting you go anywhere but back to our bed.”
He rained down a spanking that alternated sides and position as he let the use of the word “our” for a second time settle over him. Caragh didn’t fight him, but she kept trying to reach back to cover herself.
“Move your hands aside, Caragh, before you hurt yourself.”
“You’re the one hurting me.”
“It may sting, but I’m not hurting you. You deserve this and more for your words, your tone, and what you insinuated. You insulted both of us, and I won’t tolerate that.”
Caragh kicked her legs as a series of particularly harsh blows caught the underside of her bottom.
“How can you be angry at me when I was trying to give back to you what you gave me? How was I not supposed to think you don’t want me when you rejected my offer? What am I supposed to do if I can’t please you? I’m here at your largesse. When you tire of me, what then? You cast me adrift? Set me ashore in some strange place? Or pass me along?”
Rowan stopped short at both the logic of her concerns as well as the real distress in her voice. He rubbed the burn from her skin as he took in the pinkened flesh. He appreciated the sight and was satisfied she understood his expectations about how to speak to him, but he could also appreciate her fear. More had transpired in a single night than Rowan could remember since the night he fled his clan. He helped Caragh to her feet and then scooped her into his lap. He stroked her hair as she relented and broke into heaving sobs. He cooed and held her until the sobs lessened to periodic hiccups and sniffles.
“I’m sorry, Rowan.”
Rowan wasn’t sure he wanted the apology he’d planned to demand. There was as much defeat mixed into her tone as there was remorse. He didn’t want to extinguish the flame that drew him like a moth.
“It’s been a long night, mo leannan. Too much has happened, and neither of us is speaking clearly. Before either of us says or does something we can’t take back, let us get some sleep.”
Weariness made Rowan feel
much older than his twenty-five years. He carried Caragh back to the bed and pulled down the covers before gently laying her down. He climbed in beside her and pulled the blanket over them. He could feel the tension pouring off her, and he was sure she was confused. He could only imagine what her vivid mind was conjuring in that moment. He slid his arm beneath her shoulders and rolled her toward him. He drew her arm over his belly as the hand beneath her slid down to stroke the heated skin of her backside.
They lay in silence for a long time, both aware the other wasn’t yet asleep. Rowan stroked her hair, and she snuggled closer and sighed. Rowan marveled at the pint-sized package of contradictions that shared his bed. He wasn’t a devout man, so he wasn’t sure if God had granted him a gift by bringing Caragh into his life like a Highland blizzard, or if it was the Devil taunting him for growing soft after a lifetime of misdeeds that had made them bosom buddies. Soft lips pressed a kiss against his chest before he felt her finally relax into a deep sleep. He continued to stare at the ceiling as he tried to unravel everything that transpired that night.
He’d successfully raided the hamlet he’d been told about. He had nearly a hold full of treasure now. He’d captured what he thought was a lad only to discover that not only was the person not a lad, she wasn’t even a lass. She was a woman with ripe curves and spirit to match. He’d watched her change from a hissing and spitting cornered animal to a natural seductress. He’d surrendered as much as she had when they came together. The woman, the unexpected gem he discovered, unleashed emotions he thought he no longer possessed. Then when he did discover he had the capacity to care, rather than reject it, he seemed to open his heart to it. She provoked him in ways no one else ever had, and it hadn’t yet been a full night. He was sure he lived a lifetime in the hours since he met Caragh, yet his need to care for her and protect her pulsed through his every vein and artery. She’d created anger in him unlike anyone else, but he suspected that their unfamiliarity with how to communicate was the culprit rather than either of their intentions.
The Blond Devil of the Sea: The Highland Ladies Book Three Page 4