Hamish slammed the tip of his knife into the tabletop, leaving it there to vibrate. The unexpected sound snagged the other Sutherlands’ attention, but they turned away when they caught sight of their laird staring at Kieran. Kieran opened his mouth to defend his feelings for Maude, but a page interrupted them when he arrived with a missive for Kieran. He looked at the seal and realized he had the perfect excuse to leave the meal early.
“This is from Matheson. I would read it and respond before his messenger leaves. It’ll be aboot Madeline’s betrothal. We should pray he’s accepted. Please excuse me.”
Kieran wound his way through the tables before leaving the Great Hall. More than one woman flashed him a welcoming smile, but they didn’t register with him. He was determined to visit Maude before the night grew too late. If she was already asleep, he would leave her in peace. He tucked the unopened missive into a pocket on the inside of the doublet he wore to the evening meal when at court. As he approached the ladies’ chambers, he caught sight of a maid leaving Maude’s chamber. He hoped it meant she was still awake. When he reached her door, he knocked once but feared lingering in the passageway. He pushed the door open, stepped inside, and froze. Maude stood in the tub with water streaming down her trim torso and toned legs. Her hair was parted and covered her nipples like Lady Godiva, but he could see them poking through. Kieran gulped before he realized he shouldn’t be looking. He spun on his heel and stared at the door as his cock throbbed painfully. He needed to adjust it, but he didn’t want to draw attention to the bulge that continued to thicken.
Maude assumed her maid returned for something when she heard the door open after a brief knock. She was unprepared for Kieran to pass through the doorway, nor was she prepared for the look of astonishment, then hunger, that flashed across his face before he regained his senses and turned away.
“Forgive me, Maude. I had nae idea ye were bathing. I wouldnae bother ye if I had.” Kieran’s refined speech slipped as he stumbled over his words. “I’ll leave.”
“No. I mean I’m covered now.” She’d grabbed a towel and rubbed quickly to get most of the water off. She’d slipped into her robe and ensured it covered her.
Kieran swallowed and closed his eyes. When he turned, there would be no way she wouldn’t spot his arousal. He believed he’d been hard when they kissed in the stables, but that was nothing compared to the discomfort he was in now. His breeks had never been so tight. He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eye when he faced her again. He looked to the window instead. So even though he had her in his peripheral vision as she approached, he was unprepared for her to run her hands over his chest. He clamped his hands around her wrists to keep them from exploring. He didn’t trust his self-restraint or what remained of it. He shook his head with his eyes closed once more, but when she tried to pull away, he shook it again and pressed her hands against his scorching chest. He radiated heat even through the doublet, and Maude’s hands grew warm.
“If you touch me any more than this, I’ll lose control. I should step away, but I can’t.”
“Should I?”
“Nay,” Kieran croaked. “Just give me a moment to compose myself. You gave me a shock.”
“I gave you a shock? You’re not the one caught in the buff.”
Kieran’s groan sounded painful. “Don’t remind me, buttercup. I already can’t get the image from my mind.”
Maude snatched her hands away and pulled the material tighter across her chest and held it in a fist. Kieran recognized she did it in defense and hopes to feel more covered, but all she succeeded in doing was form a second skin over her breasts that were still wet in places, making the material thinner.
“If I’m that unappealing, you can go.” Maude snarled.
Kieran’s eyes jumped from the breasts his mouth watered for to her eyes.
“Unappealing?”
“Aye. If the sight of me troubles you so much.” Maude turned away, leaving a view of her lush backside for Kieran to feast upon.
“You assume I mean that in a bad way? Like you’ve scarred me?” Kieran was upon her in three strides. He spun her around and lifted her off her feet. He wrapped her legs around his waist and backed her against one of the bedposts. This time his growl was feral as his mouth attacked hers. He gave her no mercy as his tongue plunged into her mouth. There was no finesse to this kiss, just consuming need. He held her so his sword pressed against her bare sheath. Her robe came apart around her legs when he lifted her. Now he pressed his hips into her mons and held her, trapped against the wooden post. “If you were my wife, I’d be inside you spilling my seed already. If you were my wife, I’d make you scream my name as you came apart with me buried to the hilt. What I glimpsed has me harder than I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve never wanted to couple with a woman as much as I want you right now. It’s only the memory that you’re a virgin and not yet my wife that keeps me from surging into your cunny. I fear I would be rough with you, anyway. I wouldn’t be able to hold back once I started.”
Kieran’s lips sought the corner of her jaw. He’d kissed her there the first time on the terrace because her lemon verbena scent was too inviting in that very spot. Now he enjoyed kissing her there because it seemed even more intimate than her mouth. It was a spot few would consider, and it was all his. His mouth trailed along her jaw, and down her neck until he reached her collarbone. He flicked his tongue into the hollow before laving her. He pulled her robe wider open, allowing his mouth to continue its path. He smattered kisses over the supple flesh of her breast before his hand slid beneath the fabric and cupped her breast.
“I wish to take your breast in my mouth and suckle. But I assure you, you willna doubt I’m all mon and nae a babe.” He pulled on her nipple until it pebbled as it had when she stood in the tub. He pinched, and when Maude moaned, her eyes squeezed shut, he bared the object of his attention. Her breast was full and perky, making it easy to reach despite being a tall man. He circled his tongue over the raised flesh as Maude’s moans transformed into needy mewls. Unwilling to make either of them wait, he took as much of her breast into his mouth as he could, his teeth grazing her until he reached her nipple as he drew back before once more consuming most of it. He shifted her in his arms so he could press his thigh between her legs as he had in the stables. As she settled into a rocking motion, he grasped her wrist and guided it toward his cock. Maude’s sudden intake of breath coupled with the sensation of her hand tightening and loosening its grip on his cock had him throwing back his head with his Adam’s apple bobbing with each groan.
Maude watched in awe as Kieran explored her breast, and then as he trembled in her hand. She couldn’t see his face, but his reaction as his fingers bit into her backside encouraged her to thrust harder against this thigh. The same tightening in her sheath and then her core that she had before she climaxed in the stables began to grip her.
“Keir, it’s happening again. Like before,” she whispered. Kieran looked down at her, and it was her turn for her eyes to shut.
“Look at me, Maude. Let me see you when you shatter because of me. Watch me as I come apart in your hand. I’m going to spill my seed.” Kieran covered the hand that held his rod and pressed her to squeeze him before his hips jerked forward. The sudden pressure against her pearl brought on the spasms.
As their climaxes receded, their mouths found one another. The kiss was tender and languid as Maude ran her fingers through his hair and adjusted herself to rest higher upon his waist. He kissed her neck, but rather than inflame her, they made her feel cherished. He returned to his favorite spot over and over as his hand cradled her nape.
“You devastate any restraint I try to have around you. I’m like a child who can’t withstand the temptation of sweets. I want you and will risk being caught for the delight having you brings me.” Kieran sat on the foot of the bed as he ran a soothing his hand over her back. She rested her head on his shoulder, occasionally pressing a kiss to his neck. He reveled in the peaceful aftermath
of their frenzied lovemaking. He realized that even though he didn’t penetrate her, it still struck him as making love. Or at least he assumed that was what making love felt like. He’d never experienced anything like that in the past. He’d been eager and randy enough times, but he’d never been so consumed with the need to show a woman the depth of his feelings. He’d considered the notion of fate to be ridiculous until he met Maude.
“Kieran?”
“Aye, leannan.” Sweetheart.
“What just happened? I mean, I know what happened. It’s the same as in the stables. But why was it so intense?”
Kieran chided himself for his disregard for her inexperience. While the emotions were new to him, the motions were not. He understood physical want, but this had been a consuming need. If he wasn’t sure how to process all that transpired, he realized Maude would be adrift. He opened his mouth to speak, but Maude’s next question had him swallowing his tongue.
“Is it that way with Lady Bevan? With your others?”
Kieran gripped Maude’s shoulders and pushed her away. She was embarrassed to be so naïve and curious. He tilted her chin up as his jaw set.
“Look at me, Maude.” They were the same words as before, but his tone was harder. “Let me be abundantly clear aboot this, so I leave no doubt in your mind. Ever.” His eyes bore into hers as he waited for her to turn her full attention to him. “What just happened is unlike aught in my past. No, it wasn’t like that with Lady Bevan or any other woman from my past. And my past is exactly where it shall stay. I admit I have lusted after other women and enjoyed coupling. I’d say I’m a skilled lover, but those skills now belong to you and you alone. When I glimpsed you naked, my cock swelled faster than I ever thought it could. It strained against my breeks much harder than it ever has when aroused by any other woman. If you hadn’t touched me when you did, I’m certain I would’ve taken your maidenhead. I wanted to be inside you, thrusting, more than with anyone else. Your touch was enough to tame me. But it wasn’t just a physical need for you. I wanted to pour every last drop of my feelings into you, to share how much I care aboot you, to bring you the pleasure you bring me. To answer your first question, at least from how I see it, it was so intense because fate is pushing me down the path to falling in love with you.”
“It was that different for you? As in better?” Maude’s tone showed she was unconvinced. Tears pricked behind his lids and made his eyes sting for the first time since his father passed away when he was only seven-and-ten. He’d locked himself in his chamber the day it happened and the day of the funeral. He’d sobbed until he had no more tears to produce. It was much the same now. He swallowed several times before he trusted his voice enough to speak.
“I would give aught to go back in time and keep you from suffering those taunts and cruelty. I’d throttle my sister if I could for her part in your insecurity. Maude, you are a desirable woman with your clothes on, but what I saw tonight is a secret I would kill to keep. I will kill to keep. You have breasts men dream aboot. Your stomach is flat, and your waist narrow and trim. I’d felt as much when I lifted you on and off your horse and when I’ve held you against me. But the way it connects your breasts to your hips, the contrast is—is—I don’t know how to describe it, but talking aboot it is making me hard again. I might say something practical and unsentimental aboot your hips, that they’re broad enough to keep me from worrying when you bear our children. But what I’m picturing, in truth, is having your arse in my hands again. The lushness makes my palms tingle. I want to bend you over that chair and take your from behind, so not only can I watch my cock enter you, I can hold your arse while doing it.” To reinforce his words, his hands squeezed her bottom as he drew her higher on his lap. His arousal once more brushed against her mons. “I saw your thighs and wanted them wrapped around me. I want to settle between them this very moment and have them cradle me as I drive into you over and over. I can’t imagine a single mon who would choose another woman over you if they based their choice on a woman’s body alone. Do my words shock you? Are you shocked at how much I want you?”
Maude nodded. They were the antithesis of everything she’d convinced herself of for so many years. She’d wanted to hide in her clothing, using them as a shield because she considered herself so dowdy and heavy compared to the other women her age. While Kieran’s words brought her immeasurable relief, they didn’t allay all of her doubts. As if he read her mind, Kieran ran his forefinger over her eyebrows, then down her nose. He swept the pad of his thumb over her cheeks before brushing it over her lips.
“You now fear I may lust for your body, but you still believe you’re not pretty. Am I right?” Maude’s noticeable swallow was his answer. “I’m seeing you as I’m sure no mon ever has. Your hair is unbound, as it should be for a maiden, and I saw it rest against your breasts. Wearing it up doesn’t diminish your attractiveness, but having it down softens your face. I’m drawn to your eyes; their color fascinates me. They’re amber, yet they blend into cinnamon with a walnut band at the outer ring. They still remind me of whisky.” He grinned, relieved when she joined him. “The small gap between your teeth and the ever so slight crookedness are endearing. Some women are so beautiful they seem untouchable. Others are so beautiful that a mon seeks her as a conquest, as a chance to prove to himself that he possesses the ability to catch the woman’s attention. Your beauty comes from your guilelessness, your unassuming manner. You not knowing how attractive you are only adds to the effect. I wish it didn’t matter what anyone else thought, or at least anyone but me, but I know it does. You are judged for your beauty every day here. I can’t imagine how it would feel for my looks to be all that people judge me upon.”
“That would be easy for you. You’re very handsome.”
“There are plenty of good-looking men who are horrible people. I’d rather people judge me–I’d rather you judge me–by how I lead my people and how I can defend them with my sword and my mind.”
“Your ability to defend them with your sword has led to a devastatingly attractive body,” Maude pointed out.
Kieran shrugged. “Is that your opinion?”
“Aye and every other woman who’s ever seen you.”
“I don’t care what those women think. I only care aboot what you think. Buttercup, I would whisk you away from here and return you to the Highlands where you belong. You need to be somewhere where you can be yourself, where you can let your guard down. And maybe even your hair.” Kieran grinned again.
“It’s too thick and suffocating in the Great Hall. It’s not so bad at home, but here, I wish I could chop it all off.” Maude ran her fingers through her drying hair, but Kieran caught her wrist.
“Never,” he growled. “I’d be happy if I was the last mon to ever see you with your hair down.”
“It would ease my headaches. While my hair makes me too hot, the weight makes my head ache and having it pulled so tight constantly tugs. I must reconsider wearing it down.”
“Fine,” Kieran grumbled. “Then I shall stick one of those hideous kertches on your head once we’re wed. You could keep your hair down but covered. It would be my privilege to see you with your hair unbound.”
Maude guessed Kieran was only half kidding. She suspected he would do such a thing.
“Only if you didn’t wear your breacan feile again. I don’t like other women seeing your knees. It gives them ideas.”
Kieran’s laugh was deep and vibrated against her when he pulled her close.
“For you, I would do aught.” Kieran grew serious when he shifted again, and the missive pressed against him within the inside pocket. “Matheson’s response came this eve, but I haven’t opened it yet.”
Kieran withdrew it and ran his finger under the wax seal. He unfolded the parchment and scanned its contents before going back and studying it, a smile spreading across his chiseled face. He saw Maude shifting behind the vellum, trying to glimpse his reaction.
“Here. Read it. He’d like her there within
a fortnight.”
“That soon?”
“Aye. It’s all there. See?
“I do. She’ll be livid. She won’t want to leave court.”
“She’s known all along that part of being sent to court was to find a husband. That the mon wasn’t found here doesn’t change her being of a marriageable age. For all her faults, she’s loyal to the last breath when it comes to our clan. I didn’t agree to the marriage or alliance just because it would be expeditious. Their proximity to Skye will strengthen the MacLeods of both Lewis and Harris, the Harris in particular since they’re surrounded by MacDonalds. Madeline loves Lewis, but she fell in love with Skye when we visited as children. I’ve granted her dower lands there. While the Mathesons won’t own that land, they may use it if they wish, or they may simply be a reminder to the MacDonalds that we don’t stand alone. We may be far larger than the Mathesons, but an alliance in that region will strengthen us.”
“When will you tell her?”
“In the morning. It’s too late now.”
“Speaking of which. I’m surprised Arabella hasn’t caught us yet. You must go before she returns. She wouldn’t say aught, but if she’s retiring for the night, then so will the other ladies. We can’t risk your discovery here.”
“I know, leannan. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“If we find we suit in more than the bedchamber, then you shall have me in yours arms whenever you wish once we’re married.”
“Whenever I wish? That will be every night. Lass, there will be no separate laird’s and lady’s chambers. There will only be our chamber.”
A Wallflower at the Highland Court: A Slow Burn Highlander Romance Page 9