by Madison Faye
We’re laughing and breathless, and we keep getting waylaid to stop and kiss each other against the stone walls of the halls before we stumble for again for her quarters. And we’re so wrapped up in each other, that neither of us notice Lachlan McDougall until we almost go crashing into him.
Catriona gasps, jumping out of my arms, her face red as she swallows.
“Father!” She beams at him. “The wedding was so lovely—”
“We need to speak.”
Instantly, I know something’s wrong. There’s an edge of steel in Lord McDougall’s voice—an edge not unlike the edge of the sword he’s holding, unsheathed, in his hand.
“Dad?”
“You should go, Catriona,” he growls, his eyes wild and fierce and locked on me.
But Cat just frowns, shaking her head as she slips her arm through mine.
“What’s going on?”
Lachlan’s eyes harden, his jaw clenched as he glares at me furiously.
“So be it,” he growls. “You need to hear this too.” His eyes harden, the muscles of his neck tightening as his lips pull back in a snarl as he advances on me.
“Lord McDougall—”
“She’s just told me,” he hisses icily. “My wife has just told me.”
Seven hells.
Because instantly, I know what this is. I snarl myself, fury rolling through me as my muscles tighten.
“Lord McDougall, it is not as you’ve been told.”
He snarls at me. “So, you don’t deny it, do you?” He brings his sword up, and Cat gasps.
“Dad! He didn’t—”
“This man tried to force himself on your stepmother, Catriona!” he barks. “Both the other night at Aerie Doon and tonight, on your very wedding night!”
He moves towards me, his eyes hard.
“Take your sword out, Lord Bruce,” he hisses. “I won’t strike an unarmed man; however vile he is.”
I shake my head, gently pushing Cat away from me. My arms spread wide. My eyes locked on him.
“I won’t fight you, Lord McDougall.”
He laughs coldly. “Then make no mistake, I will do what I must, armed or not.”
“Lord McDougall,” I hiss, moving towards him.
“Dad, you know who’s lying here!”
A shadow flicks across Lachlan’s face, but he shakes it off, hardening his gaze on me.
“Sir, your daughter is right, and I know you know she is. And I know you know what sort of man I am, or you’d never have granted me Cat’s hand in marriage.”
Lachlan growls, his hands tightening on the handle of his sword.
“As a fellow soldier, sir,” I growl. “You know I have honor. And you know I’d never besmirch that.”
“Dad!” Cat urges, moving to his side, her hands going to his. “Dad, listen to him! Please!”
Her father’s eyes harden again, but slowly, I can see the doubt crossing his face. I can see the flicker in his eyes as he ponders it. And slowly, his arms start to lower with Cat’s help.
“I would never do that with any woman,” Callum growls. “Certainly not your wife, my lord.”
Lachlan’s sword drops entirely. He pauses, a low growl in his throat before he suddenly snatches the sword up and violently sheathes it. I can see Cat let out a breath of air, her shoulders slumping as she hugs her father.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
He hugs her back before he mutters, whirling and shoving his fingers through his hair. We all stay there in the empty hallway, Cat and I silent as Lachlan paces, hissing under his breath. But suddenly, he comes to a stop, turning to level his gaze at me.
“Lord Bruce,” he growls. He takes a deep breath and moves towards me. Cat’s breath catches, but as soon as he’s close enough, her father extends a hand to me.
“It appears I’ve let my emotions cloud my judgment. And for that, I apologize.”
“There is no apology needed, my lord,” I say firmly, shaking his hand.
“No, there is. I questioned your honor and shamed my daughter at the same time. All because of…” he growls, his eyes hardening as he mutters a curse under his breath.
“Dad,” Cat says quietly, putting a hand on his arm.
He sighs, smiling wryly as he turns and puts an arm around his daughter.
“No, it’s okay, Cat, this has been…” he trails off, shaking his head.
“This has been a long time coming, between Darcy and I.”
He turns to me, clapping me on the shoulder.
“I do apologize, Lord Bruce. You have my utmost respect, though it appears I’ve forgotten it and myself for a moment. After all, if you didn’t have it, as you said, I’d never have allowed you my daughter.”
Catriona smiles, hugging her father before moving to me and slipping her hand into mine. Lord McDougall grins at us widely.
“I’m so proud of you, Cat.”
She smiles, her brow raising questioningly.
“For?”
He grins. “For softening, perhaps.”
She giggles. “Or I just needed someone to get through my own stubbornness.”
Lord McDougall chuckles, turning to give me a sidelong grin. “Her words, eh?”
I laugh as Catriona huffs sarcastically, elbowing me playfully
“And Lord Bruce,” Lachlan turns to me. “It is my pleasure to call you son.”
“The honor is mine, sir,” I say with a grin, shaking his hand once more.
“Now,” he growls, that shadow crossing his face again. “I would suggest you take your new bride somewhere…” he frowns. “Quieter. I need to go speak to my wife, and I can promise you, this castle is about to become less than a pleasant place to be.”
He turns to his daughter, holding his arms out and hugging her when she goes to him. He turns, passing her back to me and clapping a strong hand on my shoulder.
“Take care of her.”
“Always,” I say fiercely. He grins, nodding before she sweeps past us, a fury surrounding him.
“Come,” I say softly, tugging Cat into my arms.
“Where should we go?”
I grin. “I might know a place.”
Chapter 13
Callum
My steed has barely come to a stop before I’m leaping from its back, reaching up to pull a giggling Cat down into my arms. She’s still wrapped in her wedding gown, and gods is she beautiful. Moonlight glows from the dress and her skin, and as I pull her into my arms, I kiss her fiercely.
Aerie Doon looms above us, and she gasps as I stride boldly for the door, still kissing her. This place and my own castle are equally distant from the McDougall castle, but here just seemed perfect. Back to the beginning, as they say. That and here, it’s just the two of us alone.
I take the stairs three at a time, growling into her lips the whole way up until we tumble into the big room at the top. I kick the door shut behind us, even if I’m quite sure we won’t be disturbed. But closing us away in here just seems right, shutting out the rest of the world.
Part of me wants to throw her on the bed, tear her damn clothes off, and take her fast and hard. But I won’t. Maybe for our second time—and there will many times this night. But for now, I’m going to unwrap her like the gift she is. I move to the bed, setting her down gently on her knees. I cup her jaw, kissing her slowly as my hands skim over her body. She moans as I tease over her breasts, slipping my hands up to the straps of her dress. And slowly, I start to peel them down.
Cat kisses me deeper and with more hunger as I start to slowly slip her dress down over her skin. I peel it down over the gorgeous, creamy slopes of her breasts, and when her pink, hard little nipples slip into view, I groan. My cock thickens hard as stone beneath my kilt, and as I push the dress down to her waist, my hands skim back over her bare skin.
“Lay back, love,” I purr, pushing her back across the big bed. I peel my tunic and kilt away, standing naked before her, my cock pulsing above her with need for her. I watch as my bride
slips her dress down, lifting her hips and shimmying to get it over the curve of her hips and her ass before she kicks it down her legs and away.
And then, she’s bare for me.
I growl, and I’m about to stalk over her, when she sits up, stopping me.
“My turn first,” she whispers heatedly, her voice thick with lust. She curls her legs under her, sitting up on her knees as she moves towards me. I groan when her fingers slide down my stomach, tracing the muscles of my abs before they curl around my thick shaft. She strokes, moaning softly, her eyes locked onto my throbbing cock. She looks up at me, this wicked look in her eyes before she drops her gaze back to my length and licks her lip.
She leans in, and when her wet, pouty lips slip over my swollen crown, I hiss in pleasure. My muscles clench as the heaven of her mouth sinks down over my cock. She moans so sweetly, the vibrations teasing through my shaft as she begins to suck on it wetly. I groan, my hands dropping to her long honey-blonde hair and tangling in it. She whimpers, taking more of me into her mouth, and when one of her hands slips lower to cup my heavy balls, swollen with lust for her, I growl in pleasure.
But as heavenly as her sweet little mouth is, I’m hungry for a taste of my own. I groan, my eyes locked on my little minx of a wife as she slips her mouth down the side of me, her pink tongue darting out to lick and tease my cock as she strokes me and toys with my balls. I can feel myself getting harder, the pleasure overwhelming me as she slips back to my crown, sucking just the tip inside and swirling her tongue around it. I grunt, muscles tensing before finally, with a gasp, I manage to pull her away.
“Gods, Cat,” I groan, pulling her up and kissing her fiercely. She moans, her hand still on my cock, stroking me.
“You didn’t let me finish,” she purrs into my mouth teasingly,
“Tonight, little love,” I growl. “Tonight, I want every drop of my seed deep in your womb.” I lean down over her, pushing her back onto the bed.
“I want you bred with my heir, little love,” I groan. Cat whimpers, pulling me into a fierce kiss as her long legs wrap around my waist. But I slip lower, and she whines in frustration before she feels my hands push her legs wide apart as my breath teases over her cunt.
“Callum…”
She cries out when my tongue drags across her pussy, parting her lips and delving deep into her opening. I taste her hungrily and ferociously, teasing her with my tongue before I drag it higher to her clit. I swirl it around her little nub, making her squeal in pleasure as her hips buck against me. I keep going, my fingers stroking her thighs as my tongue works her clit faster and faster, until she’s thrashing on the bed and screaming my name.
When she comes, I groan, my cock pulsing between my thighs as her sweetness floods my tongue. I eagerly lap her up, growling into her and demanding every single drop of her honey as she trembles in her aftershocks. And it’s then that I move up, spread her legs around my muscled hips, and ease my thick crown against her swollen pink lips.
Cat pulls me down, eagerly kissing her own taste from my lips as our tongues duel.
“Take me,” she whispers, her hips rolling just enough to let her cunt slip up and down my head.
“I already have, love,” I groan, kissing her back. “Just as you’ve already taken me.”
I push, and as my crown parts her folds and eases against her entrance, she tenses for a moment. My cock pulses at the feel of her tightness kissing the tip, my precum dripping liberally over her, coating her little cunt in my arousal. I grunt, stroking the head up and down her lips, making a damn mess of her as she whimpers back, rolling her hips against me.
“Eager little girl,” I growl.
“Then maybe you should stop teasing me,” she moans. “And let me feel all of you as deep as you can go.”
Our eyes lock, my cock poised at her entrance.
“Fuck me,” she purrs, goading me. “Fuck me, my husband.”
The rest of my restraint shatters, and without another thought, I’m pushing in. Cat cries out, her legs tightening around me and her arms wrapping tight around my neck as I sink my cock into her slick, tight little cunt. I groan in pleasure at the heat of her—the velvety heaven of her pussy pulling me deeper. Cat writhes in pleasure, kissing me hungrily and pulling me in more and more with her legs around my waist. And I’m happy to oblige.
I go slow, but I don’t stop, giving her inch after thick inch—stretching and filling her tight little cunt with my cock until her moans of pleasure are all I know. I drive in, pushing all of me into her until I can feel my balls against her ass. The gasp catches on her lips as she feels me filling her to the brim, her nails raking down my skin as she kisses me deeply.
“I’m all yours,” she whispers, peppering my lips with kisses.
“As I am yours,” I grunt.
I pull back, making her whimper for more until just my head is inside her. But then I drive right back in, bringing a cry to her lips as I bury my cock in her cunt. I ease back again, rolling my hips before sliding right back, and as I feel the flood of her slickness over me, I crush my lips to hers.
And then, we start to move.
Her legs tighten around me, urging me on along with her words as she tells me “deeper” and “harder.” I grin through the pleasure, muscles aching as I thrust into her exactly how she wants. This is her “willfulness” coming out—that independent fire that drew me to her in the first place. It’s that “headstrongness” that sent the others running and drew me to her like a moth to flame.
And I’m ready to give her every single thing she wants, exactly how she wants it.
I sink into her again and again, nailing her to the damn bed as her screams of pleasure full the room. I growl, hissing as I move faster, rutting into her with reckless abandon as our bodies crash together. I can feel her tightening on me and feel more of her sweet honey dripping down my balls, and I grunt as I start to fuck her harder, and faster, until suddenly, I can feel her coming for me.
Cat screams in pleasure, clawing at me as her whole body arches from the bed. And I just keep thrusting into her, fucking her right through her climax before suddenly, I roll us.
Cat gasps as she finds herself perched on top of me, her legs spread around me with my cock still buried in her little cunt. My hands grip her ass tight, and as she leans down to kiss me hungrily, I start to thrust.
Hard.
She squeals, writhing on top of me and bucking her hips in time to mine. My thickness plunges up. In and out of her, my hands tight on her ass and my mouth claiming hers. Her hand slides into my hair, holding me tight as she rolls her hips right back against me, until the both of us are charging along at a breakneck pace towards a cliff neither of us wants to escape.
Her body rocks against mine as I bounce her up and down my big cock, filling her again and again and again as her moans drip from her lips right into my ears, spurring me on. I’m lost in her, the rest of the world melting away until it’s just her cries of pleasure, her body writhing against mine, and her pussy sliding up and down my cock.
My hands dig into her, her cunt tightens on my swollen cock, and I know we’re both going to crash over that edge together.
“Come for me, little love,” I growl deeply into her ear. “Come for me now and forever.”
She grinds down on me, and when her whole body tightens and the cry tumbles from her lips, I thrust deep into her heavenly cunt and let go along with her. It’s fire and white light, and when she screams her release, her little cunt milking the cum from my balls, I give her everything I have. Muscles clench, and I roar as I plunge my cock deep into her as my balls throb. Hot ropes of my cum splash into her, pumping against her womb as we both cry out in pleasure.
Thrust after thrust, spurt after spurt, we both just keep grinding together until my cum and hers begins to leak from where we join. I kiss her fiercely as I roll her onto her back, covering her with my body and swallowing her moans, the both of us spent, at least for the time being.
�
�And to think,” I purr into her ear. “You once ran from me.”
She giggles, wrapping her arms and legs around me and papering my face with kisses.
“I could still run, you know.”
“Oh, is that so?” I raise a brow in amusement as she beams at me.
“Uh-huh,” she nods, biting her lip as she leans close, letting her mouth brush my ear.
“But only if you promise to chase me.”
“Always,” I growl, just before my lips crush to hers, and the rest of the world fades away again.
Epilogue
Catriona
Nine. Before I met the one, there were nine. Nine times, I met some lord or another, and nine times, they went running. Nine times, I sent them packing, or scared them off, or managed to insult them in some way by not being some obedient little pet of a bride.
But then came the tenth, and I knew it was all worth the wait. Because the tenth was a man who didn’t run from my impulsiveness, or my inability to not speak my mind. My “strong-minded disobedience.” He didn’t run from all of it, he chased it. And as it turns out, all I needed was a man strong enough to give me that lip right back—one who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and let me speak mine.
…I’d say one who could “tame” me, but then, I don’t know how much taming Callum has done with me. Well, unless you count our bedroom activities. Because in there, he has total control over me and God do I love it.
After that first night as husband and wife in Aerie Doon, we made our way back home—his home. Well, our home, I suppose. We’d barely walked through the front gates when word came of the fallout of Darcy trying to meddle in things. See, she’d spent years trying to manipulate my father, or trying to goad him into doing things for her, even if they went against his better judgment. Lies, deceit, threats—it’d been going on for almost as long as they’d been married, but that night of my wedding, she overstepped in a big, big way. And it was the straw that broke my father’s back.
Darcy was banished from the castle that very night. And the next day, my father set about dissolving their marriage entirely. Apparently—and again, it’s not like I ever needed to know this, but apparently, they’d never consummated the marriage. Which meant making it null and void was a simple task for my father’s clerics.