Years ago, she had been taught that men cared very little for how women felt during the act and that it was too easy to fallpregnant, so it was better to avoid it altogether. The men who had courted her had tried all the usual tricks to get into her drawers, but she had been terrified of being abandoned with a child that she had to take care of on her own.
“If they daenae want to marry ye, lassie,” her mother used to tell her, “then they daenae deserve to lie with ye.”
Beatrice didn’t doubt that wisdom, though she had heard stories that intrigued her about how it felt when a man took a woman in his arms, how bodies could be intertwined and move in beautiful unison.
I can find out when it’s time,she had thought when she heard the gossips in town describe the size of appendages that dangled between men’s legs.When it’s right for me, I’m sure I’ll discover it all then.
She hadn’t even seen many men naked, aside from a few she had caught jumping into the loch near Whitmore Manor without a stitch of clothing on, and she would never have let a man see her that way either. Men, she had been told, were beasts who could not control themselves. Even the mere sight of bare flesh would turn them into carnivores.
But she remembered hearing stories of these men as brutes and animals, and being horrified at the thought of it excited her. She never dared admit this out loud to anyone, but she had often allowed herself the fantasy of a man tearing her clothes off her body and watching her with lust. Giving in to it all soundedfun; being willingly wanton and giving herself to another was a thought she held secretly in her mind.
If someone had asked her after her first meeting with Leo whether or not she thought he would be as skillful a lover as he was, she would have laughed. The man had seemed like such a brute. She could never have imagined how well he worked his fingers between her legs, how well he flicked his tongue against her most sensitive parts.
She took in the sight of him now, sprawled out and marvelously spent, his cock hanging limply against his thigh and his muscular chest heaving with each breath.
He looks beautiful like that.
She wanted more than anything to touch the tips of her fingers to his chest and trace runes in his sweat.
Nae beautiful the way people say it to us lasses, but beautiful like a statue. Like the rollin' hills and the colors of the sunrise.
She wanted to surrender to him again. She wanted to submit to his strength and his power and let his hands turn her body into a bundle of thrumming nerves.
There was suddenly a whole new world to explore, a whole new kind of sensation and pleasure she didn’t know existed. It was unfair that she had lived as long as she had and had not known how the cleft between her legs could lead to so much pleasure.
Well, I ken it now.
She burrowed closer against him, listening to his gentle snores.
And I can do this now whenever I want.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Leo wasn’t sure what time of day it was when he woke in his chambers, Beatrice's warm and naked body curled next to him.
Her eyes were closed. She looked so serene that he did everything in his power not to disturb her as he climbed out of bed.
Ye did what nay person in this entire castle thought could be done again, lass. Ye made a married man of Leo MacSween.
He found a cloak to throw over his nakedness, his entire body too sensitive and prickly for anything more. Clothes at the moment would choke him. Besides, he didn’t want to be away from Beatrice for a second longer than he had to be.
He could still smell her on his hands, could still taste her on his tongue. He couldn’t get the image of her bending to his will out of his mind, begging him to keep going. She hadn’t wanted himto stop. She hadn’t wanted him to tease her and make her wait the way he had.
Aye, but she loved it, didnae she? She wanted it all at once like a hedonist, and she loved me forcing her to slow down.
Walking naked through the corridors of his castle, his cloak covering just enough to be decent and not frighten away any of the maids he was hoping not to encounter, he felt a surge of power stronger than he had ever felt on the battlefield.
Beatrice was not a conquest in the way most men thought of women, but their coming together was different, and her willingness to surrender her body reminded him of the man he used to be.
I’ve grown so cold these past few years.It’s been so long since I found joy in anything.
He rounded a darkened corner without looking up… and crashed directly into someone, their slight frame stumbling backward and landing on the floor.
“Och, will ye watch where ye’re goin'?” he snapped, masking his embarrassment at the fact that he had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t seen whomever he had crashed into.
A playful snort followed by a laugh softened his mood. Tyler was sprawled out on the floor, shaking his head at Leo’s reaction.
“Forgive me, me Laird,” he said. “But I would have thought ye’d be a bit happier, having just come out of yer chambers.”
