Highlander of My Heart, page 18
Don’t think about that. Don’t think about that,” she chastised herself silently.
It amazed her that she had found making love to be so wonderfully satisfying that she hoped to enjoy it often. She had worried that it was something she might not like and it would become more a duty, a chore as some women claimed, that she would have to endure.
That she had to endure the lack of it was surprising and frustrating, and if she didn’t get her mind off it soon she’d beg her husband to quench her need.
She jumped when he stood next to her, though not close enough for them to touch, a good thing at the moment, and hurried to think of something to say that would drive this unquenched need in her away.
“We have talked little about the incident at the abbey,” she said, the memories of how close she had come to dying, taming her passion. “It seems odd that there was an attempt on your life and not long after an attempt on mine. Could the two be somehow connected?”
Ruddock did his best to rub himself dry in front of the flames, running his hands up and down his arms. He was glad his wife’s inquiry put at least somewhat of a damper on his passion that had been rising steadily since he entered the cottage. Three days without making love to his wife was taking a toll on him. He had gone without coupling much longer than that, but with his wife, it was different. It was a different kind of need, a different satisfaction he got from joining with her. Maybe it was that she loved him that made all the difference. He didn’t know. He only knew that when he slipped inside her, he felt like he was home and he was loved, and it was a glorious and addictive feeling.
“I suppose it’s possible,” he said, his hand running across his midriff in circles to dry it. “As soon as we get home, I’m going to send a missive to one of the barbarian tribes. I know the leader well from trading with him. He might have heard something, since word travels fast among the tribes.”
Sorrell tried to ignore the way his hand glided in circles over his middle, the dampness lapping at his hand as if begging him not to stop, to keep caressing his flesh. And damn if she didn’t turn damp when his hand dipped lower as if it would slip beneath his plaid. She tamped down the urge to reach out, push his hand away, and—she squeezed her eyes shut—a mistake. All she could see was herself licking every inch of his middle while her hand slipped beneath his plaid.
She forced herself to gather her thoughts and voiced one, that had been brewing in her head for a while, aloud. “Since there had been no attempts made on my life before I became your wife, I assume this attempt has something to do with me being your wife.”
“An obvious observation,” he said, turning to her, his hand moving to his chest to continue drying himself, though he would have preferred her hands drying him.
“I love solving puzzles and this definitely is a puzzle, husband,” she said, forcing a gleeful smile while fighting the urge to replace his hands with her lips.
“One you will pay caution to,” he ordered, running his hand roughly across his chest and nipples to hurry and rid himself of the last of the dampness, though mostly to rid himself of the images of his wife’s hands doing it for him.
“Oh for goodness sake stop that!” she snapped at him while slapping at his hands. “You’re driving me mad.”
His grin was more seductive than joyful that his wife thought the same as him. “And myself as well, since I can’t stop thinking of planting myself inside you.”
Sorrell backed away from him. “There is little privacy here with your warriors right outside the door that sits barely closed since it is so badly battered. And the hole in the roof allows for sound to escape.”
“The rain pounds down loud enough for no one to hear what goes on inside here. Besides, you need to learn to contain your moans and shouts when needed or there will be times we will suffer for it.”
One step had him in front of her and he slipped her cloak off and draped it over the leg of the broken upended table. He took her hand, kissed the back of it and keeping it firm in his, as if he feared her pulling away, walked her to the corner of the cottage where shadows dwelled.
She almost hesitated, but as if expecting her reluctance, he tugged her hand hard enough for her to fall against him and the shadows swallowed them both.
Ruddock’s hand slipped from hers to cup the back of her neck firmly, holding her head still as his lips came down on hers.
As soon as his lips touched hers, she was lost and she feared as soon as he entered her that her moans would outrival the thunder.
She didn’t want to stop. God, how she didn’t want to stop him. His kiss was magic, sending the most delightfully sensuous ripple through her. And when that ripple culminated between her legs, she knew she was in trouble. She had to stop him before it was too late.
She took a chance, raising her hands to press at his chest, hesitating a minute, since she feared when her hand touched his flesh and felt his thick, hard muscles, she’d want to do nothing more than caress him, and she wouldn’t stop at his chest. She rushed to give him a push, letting him know to stop, yet wishing otherwise.
Ruddock was not going to be denied and he wasn’t about to let his wife deny herself either. He took her face in both his hands and whispered, “Trust me, wife.”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond, at least not verbally. Her body told him with the way she relaxed against him and he kissed her again, his arm circling her waist.
He sunk slowly to the floor and moved his lips off hers briefly to whisper, “Straddle me.” And he helped her, his hand going to her backside and giving her a slight boost as he returned to continue kissing her.
Her legs clutched his waist, exactly where he wanted them when his backside finally touched the floor. His hands worked their way beneath her garments, moving them out of the way, and she helped by raising herself up some and not surprisingly moving his plaid aside, not once interrupting their kiss.
He didn’t slip into her right away. He let his manhood linger between her legs, shifting his body beneath hers so that she could feel him hard and hungry for her.
She moved her mouth off his, more to take a needed breath than anything, and resting her brow to his murmured, “You tease me.”
“No, I enjoy the feel of you and the anticipation of what’s to come,” he whispered with a smile that promised.
“I can’t wait. I can’t seem to ever wait when I feel you hard against me.” She braced her hands on the wall behind him and rubbed against his manhood and sighed, feeling how it had swelled.
“Shhhh,” he warned softly, her sigh loud enough for the wind that swooped down from the hole in the roof to pick up and carry off. He reached up to cup her face in his hands and kiss her again.
She moaned in his mouth and lifted off him enough for his manhood to spring up.
“Slip him inside you,” he whispered and returned to kissing her, eager to capture her every moan.
Sorrell reached one hand down, keeping the other braced against the wall, and took hold of his manhood. It was thick and hard and pulsed in her hand as if it had a life of its own and she stroked her hand along it, eager to feel more.
Ruddock tore his mouth off hers and brought his lips close to her ear to whisper, “I will come if you continue to do that and it won’t be inside you.”
“Another time,” she whispered.
Ruddock kissed along her cheek as he drew his head back. “You can count on it, wife.”
She positioned his manhood between her legs and after shifting her hips twice, she began to sink slowly down on him. She quickly returned her hand to the wall and dropped her head down, her eyes drifting closed, as she took her time sliding down on him, relishing the glorious feel as she welcomed him inside her.
Ruddock hurried to grab her cheeks and bring her face toward him to catch her lips just in time to capture the moan he had heard building inside her.
Sorrell didn’t think making love could get any better than it had, but she was wrong. She wanted to toss her head back and moan to the heavens with pleasure. She went to pull her head out of her husband’s grip, but he wouldn’t let her go.
She glared at him not with anger but with need.
Ruddock rested his thumb on her lips, holding it firm. “Remember we’re not alone,” he warned with a soft whisper.
Her eyes went wide, having forgotten their surroundings, so lost was she in passion.
She nodded and when he removed his thumb off her lips, she locked them tight.
Ruddock smiled. He’d need to kiss her again soon. For now, he slipped his hands beneath her garment, grabbed her backside, squeezed her firm flesh, and helped her to ride him.
Sorrell fought with all her might to keep her lips sealed tight, but it was next to impossible with how her passion was building stronger and stronger inside her, swirling around, consuming her, approaching that moment when she’d scream her husband’s name over and over as her climax devoured her.
Ruddock kept his eyes on his wife, watching her beautiful face as it twisted and winced in pure pleasure as she rode him hard and fast. He feared he’d burst before she did and that he wouldn’t have. She was near, he could feel.
He moved his hands from her backside to her waist, sat up straighter, his back off the wall and whispered, “Grip my shoulders.”
She did as he said and he took command of her movements, lifting and dropping her on him, driving his manhood deep and fast and exploding her in a climax that shattered her clear down to her soul.
Ruddock saw her eyes go wide and her mouth drop open and he captured her scream with his mouth, as he spilled his seed into her.
Sorrell shuddered again and again after her body slumped down on her husband. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart pound rapidly. It matched her own pounding heart. She didn’t want to move. She wasn’t ready for him to slip out of her yet, to separate from him. She liked laying there against him and connected intimately.
She smiled and looked up at him when he ran his hand down her cheek. “You earned my never-ending trust with that one.” She felt his chuckle deep in his chest, and her smile spread.
“I’m glad it pleased you.”
“Pleased?” She chuckled this time. “You went far beyond pleasing me, husband.”
He ran his hand slowly down her cheek again. She was so soft, her cheeks warm and flushed from their lovemaking, and her smile generous. “And you give me more pleasure than I ever thought possible.”
“Me and only me,” she ordered, poking him in the chest with her finger. “Lay with another woman and I will—”
“Bite my cock off.” His chest rumbled with another chuckle.
She laid her hands against his naked chest to push herself up and her brow scrunched. “You gave me a thought. Is it permissible for me to taste your manhood?”
Ruddock couldn’t answer her fast enough. “Aye. Definitely, aye, and definitely permissible and most welcomed.”
“I’ll have to try it sometime.”
He loved her bluntness. “Anytime you want.”
She didn’t protest when he lifted her off him, since he tucked her in his lap and eased back to rest against the wall.
“The rain has slowed or has stopped,” she said, not hearing it.
“That is good. I am eager to get home and settle us in our bedchamber.”
Curious about her new home, she asked, “Is it large?”
“It is a good size.”
“Tell me of your home,” she said, settling comfortably in his lap to talk.
“It has been two years since I’ve been home so I don’t know how much has changed. You should wait and judge for yourself.”
“Lord Ruddock, the rain has stopped. We should be on our way,” Erland called out from outside the door.
“Aye, have the men ready,” Ruddock said with a loud command.
It wasn’t until Sorrell was settled on his horse once again that she thought about what he had said.
It has been two years since I’ve been home.
Where had he been and what had he done the two years he had been away from home? And what had happened that had earned him the shackle on his wrist?
Chapter 20
Sorrell was filled with excitement and anticipation. Up ahead was Ruddock’s home and now her new home. She couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of it. A heaviness caught at her heart, wishing her sisters were here to share this with her.
The muscle in her husband’s arms suddenly tensed around her and his body grew even tauter against her. She glanced up at him. The bold blue color of his eyes was more intense than she had ever seen it. She couldn’t imagine what he must be thinking, arriving home to his father who was dying. A father who not long ago wanted him dead.
“Whatever awaits you, we face together,” she said, giving his arm a squeeze.
Ruddock looked down at his wife tucked against him. “You have no idea how much that means to me, wife.”
She kept her hand on his arm as they continued toward the keep, letting him know she was there for him.
As soon as they rounded a bend in the road, his home came into view. Sorrell found herself staring in awe, shocked by the size of it all. The keep looked as tall and wide as a mountain. It rose up past the towering, gray stone wall that went on endless, surrounding a sizeable portion of the area. A single dirt path led to the entrance. A distance away to the left side of the wall ran a forest, thick with growth and beyond that a mountain stood majestically. To the right, far to the back of the stone wall there looked to be a waterway of sorts.
“That’s the water mill you’re seeing,” Ruddock explained. “It’s fed from the harbor water beyond the back of the castle.
“A harbor?” Sorrell asked, trying to comprehend the breadth and width of his home.
“Aye, it makes trade easier, something my father planned on when he had the castle built.”
“It is quite large,” she said, trying to take all of it in.
“Those two towers, looking as if they reach to the sky, to either side of the gatehouse are defense towers. The wooden hourds surrounding the tops allow the warriors to drop munitions on the attacking enemy.
“Has the castle been attacked?” she asked.
“Twice, though well before I was born.”
They entered through the gatehouse, single file, passing under the timber-framed portcullis overhead. Once that heavy gate was lowered there would be no way out and that disturbed Sorrell. She didn’t want to feel a prisoner in her new home.
Her eyes couldn’t take in enough as Ruddock directed the horse to take the road to the left. Cottages, nicely kept, sat to either side, until the road widened and they came upon a busy market area. They skirted it, going to the right, and continued to meander toward the keep. The village was massive and Sorrell didn’t know how she would ever find her way around.
One thing she noticed that disturbed her was the way the villagers stared at her husband, some crossing themselves, others turning away as if they dared not lay eyes on him, while others glared with their mouths open in shock. Not one offered him a smile or greeting. And his glance never fell on one of them, keeping his eyes on the keep in the distance.
Servants waited at the bottom and top of the keep steps to assist them. They bowed their heads respectfully when Ruddock dismounted.
“You’ll stay close by my side,” he whispered up to her as his hands settled on her narrow waist and lifted her with ease off his horse to settle her on the ground beside him.
She nodded and coiled her arm around his, and he smiled.
The women servants didn’t look at Ruddock, theirs eyes were on Sorrell, and she couldn’t believe the shock she saw in them. Did they think her not right for him?
They entered a small area, servants standing in front of benches to either side of a closed door. They took their cloaks and one servant opened the door and stepped aside. Not one of them smiled or offered a welcome home.
His father had done a good job of poisoning them against his own son, and Sorrell intended to change that.
They stepped into the Great Hall, and Sorrell stared in awe. It was massive. Wooden beams crisscrossed overhead, various colorful banners hanging down from them. Numerous trestle tables sat in perfect lines along either side of the room, windows filled one wall, and a huge fireplace occupied the other. A defined path ran between the tables to the dais where a long table was draped in a green and white cloth. Beautiful tapestries hung from the wall behind it and in a chair, fit for a king, sat a man.
Sorrell hugged her husband’s arm, letting him know once again that he was not alone. She was there with him.
Erland hurried around them and to the dais to stand behind Lord Northwick, making it clear who he served.
He was loyal to the old lord and Sorrell would remember that. She wondered why the man wasn’t in bed if he was dying. As they got closer, she saw that he looked as if he should be.
Lord Finn Northwick was big like Ruddock, though half the weight. His face was gaunt and his long white hair scraggly and looked in need of washing. His bold blue eyes were where you could see the strength left in the man and his eyes also revealed the part of him his son had inherited.
“You bring a whore into my house?” his father said, his fist pounding the table.
Sorrell felt her husband’s hand tighten in a fist at his side, and she hurried to step forward and let loose her tongue. “I am no whore. I am his wife, and you will keep a civil tongue in front of me.”
God, but he loved his wife, Ruddock thought.
“How dare you speak to me so—”
She didn’t let him finish. “I defend my name to any who dares to besmirch it.”
Ruddock stepped next to his wife, his hand still clenched in a fist and spoke like a man who would be obeyed or else. “You’ll not speak to my wife that way.”
His father glared at him and looked about to rise, his hands braced on the table and his body lifting slightly, but he quickly settled in his seat.
