Medieval Ever After

by Kathryn Le Veque

  She lifted her head off the bed to see what he was doing. He was frozen above her, gazing at her exposed chest.

  “I have dreamed of this moment,” he said lowly, his eyes devouring her.

  “You have? Why?”

  He glanced up at her with one dark eyebrow cocked. “Because you are beautiful. And because we are making love.”

  She frowned in confusion. “What do my breasts have to do with it?”

  “Do you know what making love entails, lass?”

  She felt her cheeks heat, but she wouldn’t cower like a silly girl. She knew the basics, at least.

  “I know that it involves you putting your…” She swallowed. Perhaps she was just a silly girl after all.

  “Cock.”

  Her pulse hitched with a combination of embarrassment and anticipation at his voice.

  “It involves you putting your…cock…inside me.”

  His eyes seared her for a moment. “Aye, it does. But it involves a lot more than that. It involves pleasure—for both of us. Tell me, Rona, does this give you pleasure?”

  He lowered his dark head toward one of her breasts and flicked his tongue across her nipple.

  A bolt of lightning could not have scorched her deeper or hotter. She jerked and arched at the sensation, her head falling back on the bed.

  “How about this?” He took her nipple into his mouth and laved it slowly, teasing and caressing with his velvety tongue.

  She moaned in response. If she had thought her body was enflamed before, now she was engulfed in a raging fire.

  “What about this?” he said against her breast. One of his hands slipped under the hem of her chemise and moved slowly up her inner thigh. His fingers inched toward the crux of her legs torturously. When he reached the juncture of her legs, he slid one finger down the seam of her sex.

  She gasped, and her legs opened a bit more for him. She suddenly realized that she was damp there, though she didn’t know why.

  She didn’t have time to think about it, though, for his mouth closed on her other breast as he parted the folds of her sex with his fingers. He brushed against a spot above her opening, and she bucked and moaned with abandon as pleasure consumed her.

  The sensations kept piling on top of one another, crashing into her relentlessly as she struggled for breath, struggled just to feel it all. His fingers moved faster between her legs, and his mouth teased first one breast and then the other. Time fell away, and all that existed was pure sensation.

  She felt like she was wheeling higher and higher, climbing toward the sun, reaching for its warmth and light. Then suddenly she was soaring through the radiant heavens. She cried out as pleasure broke over her and she was suffused with it.

  As she drifted back to earth, her eyes fluttered open and she was met with Daniel’s hungry, penetrating stare.

  “Open for me,” he commanded raggedly. Languidly, she opened her legs wider, and he pushed her chemise up so that it pooled around her waist on the bed.

  Never taking his eyes from her, he fumbled with his belt. Once it was unfastened, his kilt slid from his hips, and he tossed the material aside. She raised her head slightly, and the sight before her cut through her dreamy pleasure.

  Daniel was illuminated from behind by the now-low fire in the chamber’s brazier. The hard lines of his torso continued down the rest of his body. But her eyes focused on one particularly rigid part of him. His manhood—his cock, as he had called it—stood out from the dark patch of hair between his legs. It was hard and long and very large.

  She swallowed. She only knew one thing about lovemaking, and she didn’t think it would work with his size.

  Before she could voice her concerns, he was positioning himself between her spread legs.

  Seeming to read her mind, he lowered his body over hers but paused. “It will only hurt the first time,” he breathed.

  She swallowed again and nodded silently. She was no coward, and she wanted this.

  He guided the head of his swollen cock to her entrance and then slowly pressed inside an inch. She tensed at the new sensation, but it wasn’t entirely painful—just different. His fingers rose to one of her breasts, and the heat she experienced before began to burn once more. She relaxed a little, but then he pressed forward farther.

  Now there was a pinch of pain, a tightness that was growing uncomfortable. She tried to shift a little to alleviate it, which drew a pained groan from Daniel. She darted a glance at his face, which was next to hers, and she realized that his jaw was clenched and sweat beaded on his brow. He looked like he was fighting for control—and losing.

  She tried to shift again, and it was the last straw. With something between a groan and a curse, Daniel plunged all the way inside her.

  She cried out as she was torn in two, the pain searing through her. He covered her cry with a kiss, and then he slowly began rocking their hips together. The rocking motion sent more tendrils of pain through her, but her body began adjusting to the new fullness. She kissed him back even as a few tears slipped down the sides of her face.

  Just as the pain ebbed to a manageable level, he withdrew slightly, and she suddenly felt empty where she had never before felt full. But quickly he slid back inside her, and the fullness returned, this time with less pain.

  He began to build a slow rhythm with his thrusts, all the while letting his fingers tease and caress her breasts. Somewhere along the way, the pain shifted to pleasure, and she found herself climbing toward the heavens once again.

  He quickened his rhythm, sending her careening into release. A mere heartbeat after she reached the pinnacle, he groaned, and she felt him tense under her fingertips. Then he collapsed on top of her, even more spent than she was.

  Several moments passed where the only thing they could do was try to catch their breath. But eventually, he rolled onto his back next to her.

  “I see what you mean now about lovemaking involving pleasure,” she said breathily, casting him a sideways glance.

  To her surprise, he chuckled. His normally serious face transformed in the firelight, and he looked much less fearsome.

  “Aye, when it’s done right.”

  That sparked her curiosity. “Are there other ways of doing it?”

  He turned fully toward her and pinned her with a heated look.

  “Aye, there are. We’ll have to do some exploring later. But you need your rest. You might be a bit sore.” He sobered suddenly. “I’m…I’m sorry I doubted you, Rona. I’m sorry I questioned your honor.”

  His apology, awkward and halting as it was, struck her like an arrow in the heart. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  But then she blushed and averted her eyes. “But you had reason to doubt me. I gave you reason.”

  He frowned and opened his mouth, and Rona was sure that he would ask her again about what she was keeping from him. But then he stopped himself and sighed. Finally, he spoke.

  “I suppose that’s the rub when it comes to trust,” he said quietly.

  She lay silently next to him, contemplating his words. She wanted him to trust her, but she didn’t want to risk telling him her secret. He wanted her to tell him the truth, but he couldn’t force it out of her.

  Even these troubled thoughts couldn’t keep sleep at bay for long, though. She drifted into oblivion as Daniel pulled her into his arms.

  HIGHLANDER’S RECKONING

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Rona woke just before dawn. She was disoriented at first, but then slowly the memories of her fight with Daniel, their lovemaking, and a night of sleep in his embrace filtered back to her. Despite her fatigue, she had slept fitfully, chewing on her thoughts like a bitter cud all night.

  She had to tell him the truth. Mairi was right—if she could share a bed with him, then she’d better be able to share more than that. If their marriage was ever going to be a happy one, she had to take a leap of faith.

  But the secret she kept wasn’t just hers. It was also Ian and Mairi’s—and they woul
d pay the higher cost. She had to speak with them before she told Daniel about their falcons.

  Even in just the two weeks she’d known him, she sensed intuitively that he was fair and just. But he also placed a high value on respect and loyalty. Would he see their practice of falconry as a dangerous act of rebellion against their King? Would he see her as disloyal or even traitorous?

  The risk was great, but she couldn’t continue lying and hiding things from him. She just hoped that Mairi and Ian would give her their blessing to reveal their secret to Daniel.

  She disentangled herself from Daniel and rose from the bed slowly. As she gathered her discarded clothes, she cast a glance at his sleeping form. She sent up a prayer that he would understand, then silently slipped out of his chamber.

  Daniel remained motionless as Rona moved quietly around the chamber. He counted to ten after she closed the door behind her and then sat up.

  Could the lass be shy even after the incredible night they had shared? Perhaps she just wanted to go to her chamber to freshen up. He tossed the coverlet back and decided to do the same.

  He found his discarded kilt and belt and slowly went about the task of repleating and buckling the plaid. He let his mind roam over the events of last night. Christ, he’d never had such a powerful connection with a lass before. Her body, her little noises of pleasure, her responsiveness to his touch—she drove him half-mad with desire.

  To watch her come under his touch had almost been his undoing. But then when he had entered her and she’d been so tight and wet—he still couldn’t believe he’d held on long enough to bring her to another pleasurable release again before he’d come undone.

  She’d been a virgin, as she’d professed. But then what secret was she still guarding? He longed to know, but more than that, he wanted her to tell him herself. She was right: he couldn’t force it out of her. He’d just have to trust her.

  He donned his linen shirt and quickly tucked it into his belted kilt. Then he went to the window, where dawn was just breaking in a blue-gray sky. Mornings always invigorated him. A fresh day lay before him, filled with possibilities. And he and Rona were finally making progress in their relationship. As much as he hadn’t wanted to be married initially, now that he was, he wanted to make the best of it. Based on last night, the two of them would have plenty of heat between the sheets. Now they just had to learn to trust each other.

  Just as he was turning away from the window, a flicker of movement caught his eye in the courtyard below. A solitary hooded figure was moving through the yard, but instead of going toward the main gate, where the portcullis stood lowered, the figure strode toward the postern gate.

  A flutter of wind ruffled the figure’s cloak, and the hood fell back slightly. A few wavy red locks appeared before the figure could pull the hood back down.

  Rona!

  She was sneaking out of the castle yet again. His bed was still warm, and yet she was slinking away.

  But not to be with a lover, he reminded himself. She had told the truth about being a virgin. And yet, it stung to see her sneaking away after their lovemaking. Here he was telling himself that he wanted to trust her, to make something good come of this arranged marriage, when she was carrying on with her deception.

  Had he been so blinded by lust that he didn’t notice her manipulating him?

  Nay, he thought, quickly running over the events in his mind. Unless she was the most skilled deceptress he’d ever encountered, she had been just as taken by desire as he’d been.

  A darker, more disturbing thought came to him. He’d been sent to Loch Doon by the Bruce because there were rumors that her father’s allegiance was questionable. Though Daniel was almost certain that Gilbert Kennedy’s failings ran more toward ineptness rather than skullduggery, could he say the same about Kennedy’s daughter?

  Rona had always defended her father’s allegiance to Daniel, insisting that he’d made the best out of an impossible situation, and that he was still loyal to Scotland and the Bruce. But if the rumors were to be believed, and someone within Loch Doon was allied with the English, could it be Rona?

  Even though his body rejected such a thought, he had to admit that there could be truth to it. If the man in the woods wasn’t her lover, could it be an English connection?

  Part of their argument from the night before suddenly came back to him. He’d asked her why she couldn’t tell him where she was always sneaking off to.

  Because you were sent here by the King, she’d said cryptically.

  What does the Bruce have to do with it? he’d asked.

  He spun from the window, ready to charge after her, but his eyes fell on the tousled bed they had just shared. The weak morning light from the window illuminated the chamber enough to make the red stain on the linen sheets clearly visible.

  They were married. And she’d given him her virginity.

  Let me show you that you can trust me, she’d said. And she had shown him.

  Daniel’s stomach twisted. If he chased after her now and she was innocent in every way, he would destroy the delicate thread of trust that now linked them. But if he didn’t get to the bottom of whatever secret she was keeping from him, her actions could threaten the entire cause for Scottish freedom.

  More was at stake than just his marriage. He was charged by the King of Scotland to protect this castle and further the cause for independence. He strapped his great sword to his hip, then spun a cloak around his shoulders and slipped from the chamber.

  He had to go after her.

  HIGHLANDER’S RECKONING

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Despite the quiet, gentle morning that filtered through the trees of the Galloway forest, Rona couldn’t shake a feeling of unease. She’d used the postern gate this morning rather than the main gate since the portcullis had still been lowered. But she hadn’t had any problem chartering a boat to the village from a fisherman headed there. And the village had been filled with its normal morning bustle.

  Yet even now she couldn’t resist the urge to look over her shoulder. Of course, there was nothing there but dark green pine trees, scattered leafless branches, and low shrubs.

  Perhaps it was the knowledge that Daniel had sent someone to follow her yesterday. If she wasn’t more careful, she wouldn’t even get an opportunity to tell Daniel her secret—someone would see her, and then her life as she knew it would be over.

  She quickened her pace when Ian and Mairi’s cottage came into view in the distance. A cheery curl of smoke twined from the chimney, which soothed her nerves somewhat. She would explain everything to them—how she thought she could trust Daniel, how she longed to share their secret with him, and how she wanted their blessing to do so. And if she could get Mairi alone, she would confide in her about what had transpired last night.

  When she reached the cottage, she gave a light rap on the door. Mairi’s cheerful voice beckoned her in.

  The cottage was warm and snug as usual. Mairi was moving about the small kitchen on the back wall while Ian laced up his boots on a stool nearby.

  “We weren’t expecting you today, dear!” Mairi said over her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you…”

  “Nay, dear, not at all! I’d just assumed from our talk yesterday that you might not be coming around as much.”

  Though the cottage normally set Rona at ease, she began pacing inside the door. “I probably shouldn’t be here, but I want to ask you both something, and it’s important.”

  Both Ian and Mairi paused and looked at her.

  “I was just on my way to the village,” Ian said. “These rabbit pelts will fetch a nice price this time of year.” He held up a string of rabbit furs. “Is this one of those talks that is best kept for the ears of womenfolk?”

  Despite her unease, Rona smiled at Ian’s discomfort. “Nay, Ian, it’s not one of those talks. But it does have to do with Daniel.”

  Mairi approached and took Rona’s hands in hers.

  “Sit, dear, and
say what’s on your mind.”

  She guided Rona to one of the cottage’s two wooden chairs, and then sat across from her. Ian remained on his stool, though he pulled it closer to Mairi.

  “I’ve been a fool to think that I could keep my activities from my husband,” Rona began. “I suppose a part of me had hoped that life could go on as it always had, with me coming here whenever I pleased to see you two and Bhreaca.”

  Mairi nodded in understanding, so she went on.

  “But I see now that things have to change. I can’t keep so much from Daniel and…and still have the kind of marriage I want. The kind you two have.”

  A smile spread across Ian’s face. “Are you sure this isn’t womenfolk talk?” he teased. Mairi swatted him, but her eyes glowed happily as she shifted them back to Rona.

  “I want to tell him,” Rona said simply, sobering.

  Mairi and Ian exchanged another look, and something passed between them that Rona didn’t understand. Then they both turned back to her, and Mairi opened her mouth to speak.

  Suddenly, the cottage door exploded inward, slamming against the wall with a deafening bang. Mairi’s unspoken words turned into a shriek of terror.

  Rona jumped from her chair and whipped her head around to the door, but before she could see what was happening, Ian shoved her behind him next to Mairi.

  “What goes on here?” barked a voice from the door.

  Rona craned to see around Ian’s tall frame, which stood as a protective wall between Mairi and her and the intruder at the door.

  But then she caught a glimpse of the invader, and her heart froze in her chest. He took up nearly the entire doorframe with his tall, broad frame. One hand gripped the enormous sword on his hip threateningly, and his fierce face was set in stone.

  “Daniel?” she breathed. “What the hell are you doing here?”