She hesitated.
‘Ailsa, the room is cold, the floor damp, hard, uncomfortable. There is no bed here for us. If we aren’t to leave, this is what we’ll have to do. All I can offer is my body to protect you from the ground, and the torch overhead which is giving off heat.’
‘You want me to sit, to straddle you?’
His eyes grew heavy lidded. ‘Your tongue. Your words, they’ll undo me, but, yes, straddle me.’
‘How are we to be together? You’re fully clothed.’
‘I’ll release when I can. I need a few moments.’
She didn’t want a few moments.
‘I am...’ he swallowed ‘...feral with need. I’ll be no more than that rutting beast if I let myself out of my braies now. You’re not quite ready, not yet, not how you need to be for this first time. I should be gentle. Maybe if I didn’t want you so much, I could hold you up against the wall to take you. Maybe I could protect you from this damn ground, but I fear my legs would give.’
‘Your legs are like tree trunks, Rory.’
‘They are as weak as a foals—’ another curve to his lips ‘—but there are other parts of me that are far too strong.’
Avoiding the parchment, she came to him on shaky legs. One foot on each side of his thighs, she pulled her chemise up and sat down. His need just there where she could touch him. So she did, watching his reaction, feeling hers in response.
‘Can I touch you?’ she asked.
‘I think you already are.’ It was all here, them, together, right here. She undid his belt and he whipped it away. Free, she ran her hands under his tunic to feel the corded muscles in his stomach, the strong curves of his chest. She leaned up to gain access to his shoulders, revelling in her breasts brushing against his skin. Further up until the tunic wouldn’t give any more.
‘The wall’s rough,’ he said.
She released her arms from their trap and gripped his thighs that flexed, so she rubbed harder. ‘I want to see.’
He trailed his fingers along her thighs. Up and down again, then he went to his waist and undid his breeches and braies.
She stared. ‘How can you...fit?’
‘I thought you’d seen the male form before.’
‘Never like this.’
He smiled. ‘I suppose not. We’ll fit. Like this, I won’t be able to move as much. It’ll be you who brings us there.’
She wanted it. Taking him in hand, she raised her legs. He cursed, his hands on her hips stopping her.
Frustrated with need, she growled, ‘I’m ready.’
‘What is done, cannot be undone,’ he said.
Fascinated, she didn’t take her eyes off him, of his response to the brush of her fingers, releasing a droplet that she eagerly spread. ‘We’re married,’ she said.
‘Look at me.’
She did. His breath was deep, his dark eyes filled with warmth, heat and something more than desire. He wanted her.
‘Why are you stopping me?’
‘This doesn’t have to be here, now. We can wait.’
‘No.’ Her limbs trembled, her body shook. She could see what his stopping cost him as well. But more than that, she wanted him. ‘I don’t want to wait. I want this. I want...you.’
He shuddered beneath her. ‘Then take me.’
