I took him into my mouth, tasting him with my tongue.
“Christ.”He sighed, his head falling back. His body became very still. It was fascinating to me that this big, lethal soldier could be tamed this way. I wanted to use that power, to feed it and explore where it might lead me, and us.
I kissed him and licked him playfully, taking him farther into my mouth. He was too big to take fully, so I used my fingers to stroke the base of his shaft as I continued to suck him more deeply and tease him with my tongue. His breathing was rough and staggered as he again pulled against his ties. He lifted his head in one last attempt as my fingers explored further. “Stella.You’re too—ah, God.All right.I’ll give you what you want, I will. Come to me. Release me.”
I paused, not sure if I should trust him. But then, that’s what this—all this, the wait and the desirenotto wait—was about. Trust.
I eased him from my mouth, but I continued to hold him, to slide my fingers, to squeeze gently and to wander the beguiling textures of him. “Promise,” I commanded him.
“What?”
“Promise me you’ll not change your mind.”
“Aye, aye,” he said quickly, sensing his impending escape. “I promise.”
I raised the hem of my gown and crawled up his body, straddling his hips, very aware that his huge, rigid manhood was resting insistently against the bare skin of mythigh. My gown fell to cover us, and the secrecy somehow heightened the thrill of sensation. I looked into his eyes, wriggling slightly, using my body to caress him.
“Holy mother of God, lass,” he said, chuckling in an aggrieved moan. “My revenge will be sweet. You will be begging for mercy. Nowuntie me.I’ll go easy on you if you release me immediately.”
My squirming motion caused the head of his shaft to slide between my thighs, where I was slippery with warmth. He swore again, more loudly. He seemed already on the verge of his release, or of some internal shift or collapse; he was struggling against it, holding back, gritting his teeth with it.
I paused in my movement, searching his eyes. “No more holding out on me. I want you. No more waiting. I didn’t ask for you to wait a month. I’m readynow. Thisis the vow I want you to honor.Thisis the one I will trust. That you’ll take me fully, right now.” I was almost moved to tears from the flood of my emotion. The residual terror of Aleck’s threat. The relief that I was with Kade here and now. The monumental, welcome shift that was about to take place.
“All right,” he said, reading the weight of my emotion even if he couldn’t know the reasons for it. “If that’s what you truly want, then that’s what you’ll get, lass. I don’t have it in me to deny you any longer.”
I reached under my gown to hold him with my hand, touching the tip of him to glide wetly against me, pressing him gently so his shaft prodded at my snug entrance. There was a taut, stretching burn as I increased thepressure. I had lost my mind, it seemed, with abandon, with the necessity of securing my bond to him. I could take him like this, bound and protesting. Or I could trust him to take me willingly, as I wanted him to. I wanted his arms around me as he took me, finally, as his wife, wholly and completely.
I leaned to kiss his mouth softly, letting my tongue glide across his lips, licking lightly into his mouth. My movement caused his hot, rigid manhood to slide a fraction deeper within the tight constriction of my body. I waited for his protests, but none came. Instead, he rasped, “Christ Almighty.I promise you anything, everything. I’ll not last this way. Let me pleasure you. In every way I know how. Let me take control. Just this once, for your first time.”
I thought about this. He sounded sincere, although I doubted this would be theonlynight he would demand full control; that detail, however, bothered me not at all. He could have his control if I could get whatIwanted. “As long as you give me your word,” I said. “No more waiting.”
“Aye,I swear it.”
I was satisfied by this. He’d told me often enough that the Mackenzies’ word was their law. I crawled farther up his body, reaching for the bindings, hesitating. In this position, my breasts were just above his mouth. Not long ago, I would have been far too shy to do such a thing, but now I had a quest. I had to use every weapon in my own arsenal to achieve it. And his eyes were feral, inviting me. I offered a full breast to him, which heaccepted hungrily, drawing my nipple into the plush heat, teasing the sensitive bud with his tongue and the soft abrasion of his teeth. Straddling him, with his mouth drawing mad pleasure from my fevered flesh, I began to lose myself. My body seemed to be melting from the inside out.
So it took me a brief moment to realize that our peace had been shattered.
A loud crash drew my attention to the now-open door. In my haste, I had forgotten to lock it. And there stood not only Aleck, fully awake, but also six other men in full war regalia with swords raised, and many more lined up with them, led by—
Campbell.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“WELL,WELL,” CAMPBELLsaid, lowering his sword, a smirk of amused triumph rippling across his expression. He was a staunch-looking man with long black hair and a black beard, appearing every bit as dangerous as his reputation suggested. He wore almost as much weaponry as my husband usually armed himself with—weapons that were, at present, well out of reach. “Isn’t this well timed?”
In a desperate attempt, I reached for the ties at Kade’s wrist before I even made a move to cover myself. But Aleck was there, his arms wrapping themselves around my waist, pulling me away with a strength I could not begin to defy. As my hands were dragged from my husband’s body, I was able to pull the wool of his kilt lower over him, covering him. And I fumbled with my own garment, pulling it over my exposed breasts as I was carried some distance from my husband and placed on my feet. Aleck’s hold on me did not ease.
“Take me,” Kade said, his voice eerily calm. “Leave my wife. This has nothing to do with her.”
“In fact,” said Aleck, clear glee in his tone. His eyes were bloodshot, perhaps from the effects of the drug he’d been given by the healer. A drug that was regrettablyweaker than I had been told. “This haseverythingto do with her. Isn’t that right, Stella? Shall I check you for blood? Because it doesn’t appear you were able to fully succeed in your quest. It appears, aye, that we arrived just in time.”
Kade’s expression did not change. His face was a mask of composure, but his eyes were blazing with hatred, with rage and realization. And with regret.
“I’m going to kill you anyway, soldier,” Kade said evenly, his eyes locked on Aleck. “How painful your death is will depend on your willingness to take your hands off my wife this instant. And refrain from ever touching her again.”
Campbell laughed loudly. “These Mackenzies never fail to amaze. You’re as defenseless as you could possibly be, soldier. Yet you insist on tossing out threats that will only succeed in making your predicament all the worse.”
Aleck seemed to barely register Campbell’s remark. He replied to my husband’s words with the confidence of a man whose opponent was at a distinct and pleasing disadvantage. “On the contrary, Mackenzie, this lass no longer belongs to you. Your marriage is a sham. Unsealed and invalid. If I hadn’t just witnessed what appeared to be your willingness, I might have suspected that you found the lass displeasing, which is beyond my powers of comprehension. I intend to wed her myself. And to give her what she is clearly crying out for. You might as well witness at least part of the proceedings.Since you don’t appear to have much of a choice.” To his soldiers, he commanded, “Bring in Laird Morrison.”
