Callum grunted and inched forward. She winced as her body adjusted to accommodate him.
"Lift your knees higher," he said hoarsely. "It might help."
Mhairi shifted to take him at a different angle.
"That’s better," she said as he edged deeper, then her breath escaped in a sharp huff as she felt something tear. Pain lanced through her, and she dug her fingernails into his back.
He groaned and took her in one massive thrust that pushed her deep into the mattress and shocked the breath from her body. She braced for more pain, but there was just a delicious sensation of fullness. She was no longer sure where her body ended and his started.
Callum lifted himself up on his arms and met her eyes. She read such love in his face that the tension flowed from her body and she softened under him.
"Now you're mine in every way, mo leannan."
"Aye," she said in wonder, as discomfort seeped away to be replaced by an emotional completion that left her astounded. This moment united them in a way she couldn't define, but she knew was invincible. She and Callum were joined forever, whatever happened.
When he’d first pushed inside her, her hands had formed talons in his back. Now they flattened and began to stroke him with a possessiveness she'd never felt before. Because while he might claim her as his, no less did she claim him as hers.
Strife, danger and defiance had propelled them to this sublime moment. With her husband resting hard inside her, she discovered a surpassing peace. Excitement and arousal still hovered close, but in these few radiant seconds, she recognized that her husband was the other half of her soul. This was just where she was meant to be, lying in Callum Mackinnon's arms in the big bed where God willing she'd give birth to the next laird of Achnasheen.
For time beyond measuring, they remained still. He buried his head in her shoulder. Her body gradually became accustomed to the hard, huge masculine presence inside her. The brief pain became a distant memory, and Mhairi started to pay attention to other things. The musky scent weighting the air. The smooth, hot skin beneath her hands as they played up and down that powerful back. The soft tickle of his hair against her neck.
The muscles she caressed were taut, and he breathed in great gusts. There was something shatteringly intimate about feeling every breath Callum took, as if they now shared a single life.
Mhairi shifted and made an incoherent grumble. This was marvelous, but even with him supporting himself on his elbows, he was heavy. Her protesting wriggle made her release a startled gasp. When she moved, the sensations inside her changed most delightfully, and she felt a renewed tingle of arousal.
Callum raised his head, and she met his gaze. His eyelids lowered heavy over his dark eyes, his mouth was fuller than usual, and the skin drew tight over those spectacular cheekbones.
"Are ye all right?" She brushed that fall of raven hair from his face. "You're shaking."
A smile eased his strain, and he bent to kiss her. Her whole body tautened at the touch of his lips, and he groaned as he lifted his head. "Do that again, mo chridhe."
This time she deliberately clenched around him. He closed his eyes with a luxuriant enjoyment she couldn't mistake.
"Like that?" She already knew the answer. More, moving around him like this sparked all kinds of lovely sensations inside her, too.
"Aye, just like that." He paused and subjected her to a searching inspection. "Are ye ready for more?"
"More?" she echoed on a breath.
"Aye, lassie, we've only just started."
Already she felt like she became a new person. What on earth would the world look like when he’d finished with her? "Will I like it?"
Another twitch of those lips. Another kiss. Longer, deeper this time. "I hope so. I'm sorry I hurt ye."
Mhairi experimented with a squirm and was delighted to see his eyes go glassy with pleasure. She was even more delighted when another volley of those sizzling responses rushed through her. "It wasnae too bad."
She could see he didn't believe her. "Is that so?"
"Is that why you're trembling?"
She ran her hand along one broad shoulder and down an arm bunched with muscle. She loved to touch him. It was like petting a lion. He shook his head and adjusted himself inside her, sparking another burst of fireworks.
"Och, no, lassie. I'm trembling because I want ye so much that I’m itching to ravish you, but it's your first time and I dinnae want to frighten ye."
"I'm no’ frightened," she said and realized with a surprise that it was true. "Take your pleasure, Mackinnon."
"Och, I love ye, Mhairi." He dipped his head and kissed her again. The contact began in tenderness, but soon flared into incandescent heat. She arched up for more and this time he moved, sliding back in a slow withdrawal that filled her vision with exploding stars.
"Oh!" She exhaled in amazement, then with more certainty, "Oh!" as he thrust inside her again. She braced for more pain, but her body fitted snug around him as if they were born to be together.
"Hold onto me, Mhairi," he said in a raw voice. Eager hands gripped his shoulders and she closed her eyes, yielding to the profound union.
This time when he shifted forward, she knew what to expect, but still her heart cramped with the awareness that they were one. Every muscle in her body spasmed with wicked excitement.
She gave him a wordless mutter of encouragement and tightened her knees around his narrow hips. When he entered her again, the angle was different and he set off a fresh cascade of dazzling sensation.
"Callum!" she cried out in astonished wonder.
He rose on those brawny arms and looked down into her face. "Good?"
"Grand!" She shuddered in rising response as he pulled back. "Magnificent."
His laugh still held a note of strain, and the sinews under her hands were drawn taut as bowstrings. But she couldn't mistake the satisfaction lighting his expression. "I told ye it gets better."
His movements became faster, harder. Callum seemed to penetrate right to the center of her body each time he joined with her. With every slide, that restless feeling familiar from his intimate kisses became more powerful, until she was gasping and sobbing and scraping her nails across his back. His breath sawed over the wild pounding of her blood.
"Let it happen, lassie," he whispered, as he ran his teeth down her neck. She shivered with more of that heavenly response and flew a little closer to the sun.
Then he surged up over her, going deeper than ever. With a shaking hand, he pressed hard on that miraculous place between her legs. Mhairi broke through into a new universe of brilliant, blinding sensation.
Rivers of blazing heat rushed through her, and pleasure such as she'd never known. She cried out his name as she convulsed in his arms, then she felt him go still under her hands.
His hips jerked forward, and he groaned long and rasping against her shoulder. Through her shaking, shuddering, transcendent response, she felt the hot rush of a man's seed inside her for the first time.
With a broken sigh that conveyed absolute surrender, she curled her arms around his back and her legs around his buttocks and let Callum flood her with his potent essence.
Chapter 24
Callum woke to darkness. The shutters were closed over the windows to keep out the summer night. He stretched out on his back, naked amidst rumpled sheets. Sprawled across him lay a slender, disheveled female, warm and soft, and tangled in a tumble of silky hair. He tightened his hold on his wife and smiled with boundless, if weary joy up at the canopy of the bed. The bed where not long ago he’d enjoyed the most profound experience of his life.
Mhairi gave a sleepy murmur and curled closer. When her hand slipped across his chest in a tender caress, poignant emotion had his heart performing acrobatics. He loved her so damned much. What they'd shared tonight had changed him forever.
Closing his eyes, he remembered the wild rapture of pumping his seed into her. He couldn't ask more of life than the chance to keep Bonny Mhairi at his
side until the day he died. He whispered a silent prayer that fate allowed him that privilege.
The evocative scents of crushed rose petals and sex tinged the air he sucked into his lungs. Swiving his bride had been a satisfyingly earthy experience. He'd feared he might need to coax her into accepting him as her lover, but while her shyness had been charming, she'd soon developed a gratifying enthusiasm for everything they did.
As long as he lived, he'd remember her broken cry of completion as she reached her first climax. While he couldn't wait to turn to her again, he retained enough grip on manners to give her time to recover from his attentions. He recalled her pleasure, but he also recalled how she'd stiffened when he first moved inside her.
Even then she'd been courageous. No pleas to stop, no tears. She'd offered herself up with a wholehearted generosity that had awed him. They'd both found paradise soon after. A paradise he planned to return to again and again.
Carnal images flooded his mind as he started to think of all the things he'd teach her. He cuddled his slumbering wife close and drifted off again, still with that gentle smile his face.
***
An insistent tattoo on the door was next to disturb Callum. Dull-witted with sleep, he rolled over to meet dazed blue eyes staring at him out of an unforgettable face.
"What is it?" Mhairi asked drowsily, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder.
"Devil if I ken," he grunted. He kissed her ruffled hair, then rolled out of bed, only to find himself subject to an unwavering inspection.
"Goodness me, ye really are a superb specimen," she sighed, her cheeks turning pink as her gaze roved his naked body. "I didnae take enough time to appreciate ye last night."
Her bright, interested gaze focused on the part of him that swelled with predictable anticipation. Whoever the hell it was outside had better have a bloody good reason for interrupting a man the morning after his wedding night. Unless Achnasheen was on fire, Callum had better things to do than deal with his kinsmen.
As the knocking continued, he strode across to open one set of shutters. It was still raining. Gray light flooded the room, revealed the chaos of the bedclothes and the irresistible woman propped against the pillows.
He stretched and yawned. "They'll go away."
"Callum, it might be important." Mhairi’s husky tone reminded him of the soft sounds of enjoyment she made when he was inside her.
He groaned and bent to collect his plaid from the floor, wrapping it around his waist. "It had better be."
When he was halfway decently clad, he glanced back at his bride whose hungry eyes still devoured him. A brief laugh escaped. "Ye might want to pull up the sheets, my bonny, or the rest of the castle will discover just why I'm smiling this morning."
Her blush intensified as she realized she was bare-breasted. What a sight she made with her firm, round bosom uncovered and that mane of russet hair flowing around her shoulders.
Callum didn't linger to watch her scramble to cover herself. Looking at her was fatal to his willpower. He swung toward the door and opened it to reveal Duff waiting on the landing.
"What in God's name is the matter?" he growled, running his hand through his untidy hair. "It had better be something that cannae wait."
Duff to do him justice only cast one quick glance past Callum to where Mhairi sat in bed. "Och, Mackinnon, unless it was an emergency, I’d leave ye and your lady in peace. But Brian has just ridden in from Bruard to say that the Drummond is setting out at the head of an army to lay siege to Achnasheen. And according to him, he’s no’ far ahead of them."
Hell.
The news wasn’t unexpected, but he’d hoped to have at least a few days’ reprieve. When Callum met Mhairi's eyes, that beguiling dreamy haze had vanished. She knew just what this meant.
He looked back at Duff. "Get the word out to the crofters. The ones nearest the castle will want to take shelter with us. The ones further out can probably stay where they are or hide in the hills. Tell them to bring any supplies they can carry. I dinnae imagine the Drummond will be able to maintain a long siege, but he may decide to lay waste to the glen." Since before he’d abducted Mhairi, Callum had been preparing for an armed response from the man who was now his father-in-law.
"Aye, Mackinnon."
"Set watchmen along the road to Bruard."
"I've sent them out already."
"You're a braw laddie, Duff."
"I've got the women collecting water from the burn, too."
"Good." There was a reliable well at Achnasheen, but if they needed to douse fires, extra barrels of water would come in handy.
"I've also got the laddies clearing the area in front of the drawbridge of anything that might prove useful to the Drummonds."
"Thank ye." Callum clapped Duff on the shoulder. "I'll be down the moment I can put on some clothes."
"I'll see ye then." Duff turned to leave, but Callum had one more question. "Did Brian say if the Drummond got my message about the wedding?"
Duff gave an unamused snort. "Aye, Mackinnon. The old man flung it in the fire and cursed your name."
Callum shouldn't have expected anything more, although he'd included a letter from Mhairi that he hoped might reconcile her father to the fait accompli. Now he suspected the news of the marriage had only added fuel to the Drummond’s hatred for anyone called Mackinnon.
"Thanks, Duff." He let the other man go.
Shutting the door, he turned to face his bride of one night. He prayed to heaven she wouldn’t be a widow within the week.
"He didnae care for my letter," Mhairi said sadly.
"I have my doubts he even read it. John would have gone back with a bad enough report of how you've been treated."
"John is a disappointed suitor."
"Aye," Callum said grimly.
There was another knock at the door. When he opened it, Jean stood outside with two ewers of steaming hot water. "I thought ye and your lady might like to wash before ye come downstairs."
"Thank ye." Callum stepped back. "What's the mood in the keep?"
His old nurse curtsied to Mhairi, then crossed to pour some water into a bowl and lay out towels and soaps. "Och, nobody is that afeared. Achnasheen has never fallen. The castle is well provisioned. Willie Drummond will get over his tantrum soon enough and go home, especially now the weather has broken."
"I hope so. A string of deaths isnae the best way to begin a marriage, especially as now my lady and I are married, we’re kin to all the men who fall on either side."
"Shall I stay to help my lady dress?" Jean asked.
From the bed, Mhairi spoke with an easy authority that made Callum devilish proud. No weeping or panic for his gallant bride. "Jean, I'd like a moment with Callum. And you'll have enough to do downstairs. I'll come down and help in a few minutes."
Jean curtsied. "Aye, my lady."
Once they were alone again, Callum turned to Mhairi. "I'm sorry, my love, I have to go. Duff will have everything in hand, but…"
Her lush pink lips curved in a rueful smile. "But you're the laird. I ken."
"I hoped we'd have a little more time to…" He made a gesture that encompassed his thwarted plans to devote the day to her sensual education.
Their life together had started with a night of unforgettable bliss. He'd hoped to travel further along the way of true intimacy before the outside world and its brutal demands intruded.
"We've got the rest of our lives."
He hated that concern had replaced the rosy joy glowing in her face when she woke. He never underestimated what it had cost her to abandon a lifetime's prejudice and throw her lot in with the Mackinnons. Now with the prospect of bloodshed, she must feel torn in two.
He washed quickly, shaved, and tied back his hair, all under his bride’s curious gaze. "You're making me feel self-conscious."
She laughed, although he saw it took more effort than it would have before Duff arrived with his unwelcome tidings. "I never realized the view from the tower room
was so spectacular."
He crossed the room to kiss her. She'd tugged on the nightdress again. "I'll have Jean bring up some breakfast. You've had a long night."
She kissed him back with all the desperation she’d tried to conceal from him. They were both all too conscious of the dangers gathering around them. "So have ye. I'll wash and dress and do as I said I would, help my people prepare for this trouble."
Moved, he caught her face between his hands and despite the urgency stared into her delicate features. "Do ye mean that, beloved?"
She frowned. "About helping? Of course I do."
"No, I mean about the people here being yours."
"I pledged my loyalty to ye and yours yesterday, Callum. I dinnae make promises lightly."
"I love ye, Mhairi." Deep emotion turned his voice into a subterranean rumble.
He kissed her with all the adoration in his heart. For a long time, he forgot everything but the woman in his arms. Until she wriggled free and regarded him with dazed eyes.
"Ye have to go. We'll have time later."
"Aye, I pray so."
Callum also prayed that his bride didn't hear the grim note underlying his answer. He buckled on his sword and dagger and strode out of the room.
Chapter 25
"No, absolutely not." Mhairi’s hands formed fists in her lap. "I willnae have it."
She, Callum, Duff, and Brian, the spy from the Drummond stronghold, held a council of war in the solar at the top of the north tower. It was a small jewel box of a room that usually offered a view of Skye. Today thick cloud hid the spectacular panorama.
From where Mhairi perched on the window seat, she had no attention to spare for the misty scenery. Instead she was fighting a rearguard action to save her husband’s life.
"It's the only way to avoid bloodshed," Callum said in a decisive tone that told her it would take an earthquake to change his mind. As he stood tall in the center of the room, she'd never seen him look more the Laird of Achnasheen.
Through this long, arduous day, they’d only managed to snatch a few minutes together. But she'd been constantly aware of his presence in the castle. She couldn't mistake how he bolstered his people’s spirits, and he did it all with a quiet strength she applauded. There was no panic or rush. A mere word here or there coordinated the keep’s defenses and ensured his kin were prepared for attack.
The Highlander's Defiant Captive Page 20