Not that she had any presumptions aboutthatto begin with.
“But we’ve only had those three conversations. Not exactly what I’d call wooing. Do ye agree?”
Here she could readily nod. She’d had the same clarity from the moment she woke that morn.
“And as a new wife, I assume a virgin wife, I might also presume ye have many fears and questions about what will transpire this night.”
“My mother —” her voice trailed off. He shifted his head toward her.
“Pardon?”
“My mother explained to me what transpires. And the maids gossip.” Her voice barely broke the air as she spoke.
“Mmmm,” James mumbled, his lips thinning in a suggestion of a grin.
“But being told how to ride a horse and actually riding one are two completely different things, aye?”
Tosia’s hand flew to her neck as her eyes blazed wide. “Surely ye canna compare to a horse?”
She’d seen the members of many a horse. Try as she might, Tosia couldn’t stop her eyes from flicking to the waistband of his kilt.
“Nay! No’ like that, I mean.”
Tosia straightened and had to fight against the surprising smile that tugged at her cheek. For the first time in their conversations, she had knocked away his stiff and unyielding demeanor. Maybe it was his small taunt about biting at their wedding, maybe it was that she was starting to feel a sense of ease from the man, their wedding night notwithstanding, but giving him a sense of discomfiture made him appear more human, less monster, in her eyes.
She crossed her arms over her breasts, waiting for him to continue.
“What I mean,” he put a hard, gruff emphasis on his words, “is that hearing of it is far different from completing the action. I can make that easier for ye, if I may.”
Seeing the change in James piqued her curiosity.
“In what way?” she asked.
“Weel, again, like with horses. Do ye ken how to have a new horse become familiar to ye?”
Tosia bit at her lips before answering. “I fear I’m no’ overly familiar with horses.”
James nodded, his face softening as he gazed at her. “Ye dinna just rush in, aye? A horse is skittish, and the two must become acquainted. Ye do that by first sharing your presence with the horse, moving gently around him until he is comfortable with your nearness. Only then might ye touch. The horse may no’ move, and your touches must be slow, easy, until the horse adjusts to ye. Only then might ye begin to really pat the horse, or try to ride him. It may take a while, but once that happens, the horse and rider can move as one.”
Tosia didn’t answer right away. She blinked slowly, trying to take in all he’d told her. This wasnotthe conversation she’d anticipated on her wedding night, but then, what was?
“What are ye trying to say? What’s your suggestion?”
James inhaled, inflating the breadth of his chest as his eyes glittered in the candlelight.
“Ye must get to know me, more than our brief encounters have permitted. I shall be as the horse, unmoving. Ye can study me, undress me, touch me to your liking, and I will no’ move an inch.”
Tosia cocked her head as her rosebud lips pressed together.
Was he crazy? What man could just stand there under the attentions of a woman? Not move at all? His offer seemed implausible at best.
“Not move at all?” she questioned.
“No’ until ye are ready. But.” Here his eyes narrowed slightly. “Once ye bid me move, though I will do the best I can to be gentle for ye on your wedding night, ‘twill be rather like ye’ve released the wild animal side of the beast. And ye must be prepared. Only grant me move if ye are certain ye are ready for me.”
One amber eyebrow rose on her forehead. “Ye vow no’ to move, no’ touch me, until I give ye leave?”
James took a deep breath. “Aye. This I vow.”
