“Are ye well, mo ghaol?”
“I think so. I had nay idea ye would be so big or so hard. I feel like ye are splitting me in two, but I crave more. Does that make any sense?”
“Aye. I didna imagine ye would be so vera tight that it’s taking all I have nae to spill right now, but I want to feel ye milk me.”
Magnus tentatively rocked his hips forward, and when Deirdre did not object, he pulled back before pressing in again. Her moan was one of pure femininity. Magnus thought he would spill right then and there. He forced himself to slow down, but as he took a deep breath, her apple scent flooded his nostrils and drove him to the brink. He caught himself thrusting far harder and faster than he intended. He slowed, but Deirdre’s fingernails biting into his forearms had him looking down at her.
“Dinna ye dare stop now. Dinna slow either. Dear God above, Magnus, I couldnae imagine how good this would feel. I dinna ever want to stop. More. Please, more.”
Magnus was happy to oblige. Ever mindful of his size compared to hers, he supported his weight on his forearms and knees as he sunk into her over and over. Her nails scored his back as she first wrapped her legs around his waist and then over his legs as she sought to find a position that allowed her to leverage her hips to meet each of his thrusts with ones of her own. She craved the friction on her pleasure button and found it as he ground himself into her.
“Aye. That’s what I need. Magnus. Oh God. Oh!”
The sound of her voice and her warm breath against his ear was driving him to finish, but he refused to surrender until she was there with him.
“Come apart for me, Deir. I want to feel ye surrender as I find ma own release.”
“So close. I’m so close. I can feel it,” she panted.
Three more thrusts and Deirdre felt herself fly over the top as the strongest waves of pleasure wound their way around her and pulled her under. She felt as though she might drown from the intensity of her release.
“Magnus!” She screamed as she crested.
Magnus thrust once more and quickly pulled from her, roaring her name as his seed spilled across her belly.
“Deirdre!”
She pulled him down so most of his weight rested on top of her. She knew he still held much of it to protect her, but she needed the skin to skin contact for the full length of their bodies.
“I love ye, Deir.”
“I love ye.”
They held each other until Magnus could no longer support his shaking arms and worried that he would crush his tiny bride. He rolled them so she lay across his chest. He pulled the edge of the blanket over them and tucked her head into the crook of his neck. They lay there as their breathing quieted, and their hearts slowed. They ran their hands over one another in gentle caresses, enjoying the closeness they now shared. After simply basking in the afterglow, Deirdre could not help but wonder about how things finished.
“Magnus, why didna ye spill yer seed inside me? Dinna ye want to have children with me? Do ye want them at all?”
Magnus looked down at her as he swept back strands of hair still plastered to her forehead. He kissed her forehead and then rubbed his nose against hers.
“Of course, I want to have bairns with ye. I want a family we make together, but I wasna sure if ye were ready yet. I didna want to force ye into something ye didna want. I hadnae asked ye.” Magnus shrugged his shoulders slightly.
“Ye’re giving me a choice?”
“Absolutely. Ye’re ma wife now. We are partners in everything including our family. If ye dinna want to have bairns yet or if ye want a score, ye have as much say as I do. More so, truth be told, since ye’re the one who must bear them. I willna ever force maself on ye, and I willna ever force ye to bear a child if ye arenae willing.”
Deirdre took all that Magnus said. It never dawned on her that she might have a say in whether or not she produced heirs for her husband. She never gave much thought on whether there was a means to control how many children she had.
“Ye’re willing to wait?”
“Until ye are ready.”
“And ye dinna want to have a bairn now?”
“I want a bairn whenever the Lord blesses us with one, but if it isnae what ye want now, then we will be careful to keep it from happening.”
“I do want to have a family and soon, Magnus, but I think we need to tell our families before risking a pregnancy.”
Magnus took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. He knew she was right, and he had prepared what he would say to her father long before he and his clan arrived for the games. He just was not sure how Laird Fraser would receive what he had to say. He regretted now not telling his father what he intended.
“Are ye regretting this?”
Magnus jerked his head down to see the look of concern etched on Deirdre’s face.
“Dinna ever ask that again, Deir. I will never regret marrying ye. Nae now, nae when I’m a hundred. I married ye because there isnae aught I want more. I just am nae looking forward to telling yer father or mine. I wish we could skip past that and just return to Dunbeath to start our life together.”
Deirdre nodded her head.
“Ma father willna be vera pleased, but there is naught he can do now. The deed is most certainly done.”
Magnus’s forefinger eased her chin up, and they came together in a tender kiss that rapidly fanned into a full blaze of passion. Magnus lifted Deirdre to straddle him and let her guide his iron shaft into her. He had no idea how he could be so aroused again after feeling like she had already extracted the last drop from him.
Years of self-denial. That is why I am so eager to go again. That and years of craving her. It never felt as good as this. What was I thinking all those years ago that tupping wenches was the perfect outlet? Making love to ma wife far exceeds tossing some barmaid’s skirts or chasing a milkmaid. I havenae missed aught on that account, but sweet merciful Mary, I have been missing the greatest physical pleasure I have ever felt. Deirdre is so tight. Her flesh is so warm as I slide into her. I could spend every moment of the rest of ma life buried to the hilt in her and still crave more.
He guided her hips as she tried rocking and rising on his cock. She found that she most enjoyed the rise and fall as her body swallowed his cock over an over. She lay her hands over his chest to support her weight as he helped her lift her hips with each of his thrusts. She realized that she was pushing rather hard against him, so she moved her hands to rest beside his ears. This lowered her breasts to his mouth. He latched onto one nipple as he took the other into his hand. He alternated laving her nipples with kisses and nips and kneading the flesh of the other breast. He went back and forth between the two until her sounds of pleasure had his ballocks tightening, and he felt the telltale tingle at the base of his spine. He sucked hard on the nipple in his mouth as both hands gripped her hips to increase the speed of her gyrations, and he thrust harder into her until he felt her inner muscle clench his sword. He barely pulled from her sheath in time. He watched as the jet of milky seed shot from him, covering her breasts and his own chest. Deirdre stared down at him in awe before using the blanket to wipe them both clean. She scooted down his body but froze when she saw her virgin blood on his shaft. She looked up at Magnus but ducked her head in embarrassment.
“Deir, look at me, eun beag. Dinna be embarrassed aboot aught when it comes to our bodies. We shall share a bed now every night. We shall come to ken each other’s bodies as well as we ken our own. There is naught for ye to ever hide. This is just a sign we are one now. Ye were a maid before tonight, and now ye are ma wife. It is proof of our commitment. It marks me as yers.”
“Isnae it the other way around? That I am yers?”
“Mayhap, but I rather like it ma way.” He winked at her, and he watched her relax. They wiped each other clean and settled back into their shared embrace.
As the night moved along, they lay snuggled together and talked about the future they planned. They spent several hours imagining what the
future held, and the sky was just starting to lighten to the dark shade of blue that comes a few hours before dawn when they fell asleep entwined with one another.
The early rays of dawn were drifting into the cave when Magnus stirred. He woke to an empty spot next to him. He blinked his eyes open and saw Deirdre bending over the fire, stoking it back to life. The view of her bare backside pointing towards him had his already hard cock aching. He came to his feet and wrapped his arms around her waist. She squealed as he pulled her flush against him.
“Do ye feel what the sight of ye does? Do ye feel how much ma body craves yers?”
She spun in his arms, pressing her breasts against his chest and then skimming them along his hot skin. The heat that he seemed to perpetually give off mesmerized her. Magnus grasped her below her bottom and lifted her to his waist. She wrapped her legs around him and sank onto him. She gave a throaty moan as he filled her. The sounds from her spurred Magnus to walk to the cave wall. He pressed her back against the wall and slowly moved in and out of her.
“Magnus, I dinna want it slow. More.”
“I want to, but ye must be tender this morning. I dinna want to hurt ye.”
She grasped his ear and tugged.
“I will hurt ye if ye dither aboot. More, Magnus.” She added on a whisper, “Please.”
His control slipped, and he thrust harder as her pleas rattled around in his ears. Her moans only spurred him on more. She whispered words of encouragement, and he gave into their shared desire. She clung to him as tightly as she could, and while she could not move much on her own, she took every pounding surge of his shaft and squeezed her inner muscles around him. The harder he entered her the more she craved the mixture of pleasure and pain.
The blend of sensations was becoming too much, and she felt as though she could not catch her breath when her entire body seemed to spasm. Her nails bit into his back, and she would later discover that she broke the skin in more than one place, but it pushed him over the top too. He thrust as hard as he could twice more, and the scream of her climax echoed in his ears when he pulled out and yelled out his own release.
Magnus swung around and braced his back against the wall as he gasped. His legs shook as his kneecaps quivered. No longer able to stand, he slid down the wall until he sat on the dirt floor. Deirdre’s limp body hung over his, and for a moment he was truly frightened that something was wrong because she felt so listless.
“Deir,” he whispered.
She lifted her head when she heard the panic in his voice. She looked into his concerned eyes, and while exhausted, her smile reminded him of the cat that got into the cream. She looked thoroughly ravished, and now assured she was well, his pride swelled to know he put that look on her face and he exhausted her with their lovemaking.
They sat together until they both felt chilled. Finally, Magnus pulled himself out of his post-climax stupor and roused Deirdre, who must have drifted off. They looked at one another and came together in another fierce kiss. They would have started another round of lovemaking, but the shout of first her name and then his had them scrambling to put their clothes on. Magnus kicked dirt over the fire as Deirdre grabbed their blanket and rolled it up before tucking it into her arisaid. She did her best to run her fingers through her hair, but when Magnus shook his head, she knew it was a lost cause. If nothing else gave them away, it would be her riot of curls she knew must look like she had been dragged through a hedge backward.
~~~
Deirdre settled back into her chair after returning “The Letters of Abelard and Heloise” and pulling out a well-worn edition of Tristan and Isolde. The tale of the ill-fated lovers seemed appropriate.
“There ye are,” came Mary Kerr’s nasal voice.
Deirdre’s head whipped around as she watched a group of ladies-in-waiting enter. She stifled a groan as she saw that among them were some of the most vicious gossips. The only young woman among them that Deirdre liked was Ceit Comyn, but she was quiet and not one to stand out among the pack of she-wolves.
“Yes, here I am.” Deirdre simply looked as the women approached. She had never cared for Mary Kerr and the young woman’s incessant complaints about Magnus’s family had grated on Deirdre’s nerves, but her recent vitriol of rumors about Deirdre’s past with Magnus made her very wary. She refused to offer the courtesy of standing.
This slight did not go unnoticed, and Mary’s eyes narrowed to little more than slits.
“Sitting here alone? Where is your betrothed? Has he, or should I say they, gone off and left you here by your lonesome?”
“Mary, you are tiresome. We all know the men have gone out to the hunt. We also know I am not betrothed to Lord Archibald yet, and you seem well-informed of my past.”
“The queen’s English again, I hear. Are you foreswearing your heathen lover to return to the world of civilized company? Are you sure that Lord Archibald will still have you?” There was a look of speculation and almost jealousy that flashed through Mary’s eyes when she spoke of Archibald. It made Deirdre wonder if Mary was interested in Hay for herself.
If she wants him, she is welcome to him. They can drive each other barmy. One bampot for another. She is a right bitch, and since he’s such a bastard, they suit each other well. If only I could convince Archibald that he would be better off with her than me. Christ on the cross, if Magnus’s family hadnae killed her father, then she might have a dowry to woo Archibald away. I wonder if that’s why she’s so cold to everyone. She kens she hasnae aught to offer and rather than anyone discover she hasnae a dowry, she pushes everyone away. Bluidy hell! I bet that is exactly it. It isnae grief but resentment that drives her retaliation against the Sinclairs. She is bitter that they stole her chance to marry well. Nay dowry means nay wealthy husband. Nay mon would take her otherwise!
This newfound knowledge settled over Deirdre and made her better prepared for the inevitable onslaught she knew was coming. Mary did not disappoint.
Mary looked over her shoulder at the women who followed in her wake, women who learned that it was easier to allow her to be their self-appointed leader than to be on the receiving end of her vicious tongue.
“Did you know, ladies, that Lady Deirdre has known the Sinclair barbarian for years now. Since she was three and ten I believe. She spent quite a great deal of unsupervised time with him. I have heard tell that they used to disappear together for hours on end only to reappear looking disheveled.”
Mary looked back at Deirdre and sneered before looking back at her disciples.
“Tale be told, she claimed herself wed through some ancient barbaric custom that excuses unchaste behavior. Her parents brought her here to atone for her wicked ways and to cleanse her of the filth she rolled around in.”
Deirdre knew the wise course of action was to bite her tongue, but she knew her reputation was destroyed. There would be no salvaging it, and at this point, she had no desire to. Her future with Magnus was far more important to her than what anyone at court, even the queen, thought of her.
“You apparently know very little about the mechanics.”
“I beg your pardon. What mechanics would I need to know?”
“Your ignorance simply confirms how little interest men have paid you. I could not roll around in him. But he certainly rolled around in me.”
Deirdre sauntered past them on her way to the door. She caught Ceit Comyn’s eye, and the girl smiled briefly at her before giving a slight nod of acknowledgment. Deirdre had almost made it to the door before she heard a voice she recognized from the passageway outside her chamber the night that Magnus first found her.
“The Sinclair men, all of them from what I have seen, are quite well endowed. I find it hard to believe such a braw and lusty mon as Magnus would have found much pleasure in such a spindle shanks as ye.”
Deirdre turned back towards the women, but her grin was the last thing that anyone expected. She slowly walked back to Sorcha and stood before her. She looked her over while seeming to look do
wn at her.
“There isnae a single Sinclair ye ever saw bare, and they banished ye to court with Lady Beatris after ye couldnae get past Laird Mackay throwing ye over for Magnus’s sister. Ye werenae enough for Laird Mackay but seeing as Lady Mairghread is expecting her second bairn, I would say Laird Mackay has been enjoying her quite a lot.”
Deirdre grinned as the other women gasped at both the return of her burr and her raunchy comments. As she pushed down on the door handle, she threw back over her shoulder, “and I saw ye in the passageway with Magnus. He jumped from ye like a scalded cat. Ye would think ye had the pox the way he pushed ye away.”
Chapter Twelve
After her encounter with the other ladies-in-waiting, Deirdre found herself wandering and in need of a new place for solitude. It was not until she sat in a pew that she realized she made her way to the chapel. She looked around at the stained-glass windows, focusing on the Archangel Michael slaying the dragon. She stared as the light refracted through the lead paint and dust motes danced through the air. She tilted her head to the side as she looked at the holy image of a dark-haired man with a broadsword.
That is Magnus, but just which dragon is he slaying? Ma father? Archibald? The memories of our time apart? Will the dragon blow fire and take Magnus from me again? Does Magnus have the strength to defend himself, us, from such a powerful foe? I dinna doubt that he does, but at what cost? What will the king say if Magnus triumphs? What will Magnus’s father say if he returns with a wife when he was sent to court as his representative? Why arenae there any clear answers to these questions?
Blessed Mary ask the Holy Father to forgive me ma sins and bless me with His grace. I havenae honored ma parents, and I dinna ken if I can. I ken that is a sin, but what of the sins they have committed? I dinna think I can bring maself to pray for their souls? Does that make me an even greater sinner? I dinna feel remorse because I choose Magnus over all else. I love him more than aught or anyone, Lord. I admit that ma love for him may well rival if nae surpass ma love for Ye and Yer blessed Son and Holy Spirit. If I must choose, it will always be Magnus. I willna be coerced into letting him go again.
His Highland Pledge (The Clan Sinclair Book 4) Page 16