Page 66 of Return to Wildsyde

Luella closed her mouth with a snap and shook her head, though she didn’t think she could be blamed for doing so. He was a wonder to her eyes as she took in a landscape every bit as rugged and harsh as the one she had fallen in love with outside the castle walls. The arms that had lifted her with such ease were heavy with muscle, his shoulders and chest broad and tapering down to narrow hips.

“Stop staring at my knees,” he said, laughter behind the words as she had clearly not been looking at them this time.

She laughed, blushing and shaking her head. “How beautiful you are,” she said reverently.

“Ach, ’tis love speaking,” he said, chuckling with amusement. “But I am nae going to complain if it pleases ye to look upon me.”

He climbed into the bed, causing the mattress to dip, and Luella rolled towards him. Lyall caught her against him, and she sighed at the first touch of his skin, so hot against hers. He stroked her hair, holding her close to him, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“Mo chridhe, I thought this had been stolen from me, this happiness. The first day of my life joined with the woman of my choosing, the woman I will always love above all others. Fate has been kinder to me that I have any right to deserve, but I shall take it, and I intend to wring every ounce of joy from it too. Starting now,” he added, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

“Oh?” Luella asked nervously as he grinned at her and kissed her hard, easing her on to her back and down on the bed.

“Aye,” he murmured, kissing his way down her neck and trailing his tongue over her breasts as his warm hands caressed and kneaded.

Luella sighed, closing her eyes, content to let him do as he pleased, for it pleased her too, knowing that he wished to make her happy. She trusted him, as she had trusted no one in her life before. He would not let her down. Lyall was a man to be depended upon for the rest of her days, and the knowledge chased away any hint of nerves or doubt that she might have felt, leaving only pleasure.

Her mind clouded as his hands and mouth made their way down her body, no part of her missed, every inch blessed by a kiss or a reverent touch. His rough hands were exquisitely tender, making her shiver as they explored, just as his murmured endearments made her heart soar. He seemed intent on mapping every tiny detail, touching his tongue to every freckle and leaving no part of her unkissed. Daring to look up, Luella watched, rather dazed, as he finally settled between her legs and pushed her thighs wide, trailing more kisses along the tender skin and nuzzling at the soft nest of curls. She sucked in a breath, letting her head fall back to the pillow, but the first sweep of his tongue still shocked her, though she had known what was coming. His mouth was hot, his tongue slick against her intimate flesh, and the delicious shock of it stole what remained of her wits. Before she could gather her thoughts, his tongue swept over her again, leaving her gasping and arching off the bed, forcing him to grasp her hips and hold her still. She heard his soft chuckle before he settled to his work and the next moments disappeared in a cloud of sensation as she floated in some warm, pleasure filled void where the rest of the world could not touch her. In no hurry, Lyall pleasured her with intense concentration, his mouth the source of a slow siege upon her sanity, dismantling her inhibitions and any suggestion of maidenly modesty, not that she’d laid claim to much of that anyway. His fingers moved, sliding inside her with gentle caresses and adding to the sensual assault until she was wild with the tension that built inside her, filling her until she could contain it no longer.

“Lyall,” she said, the breathless sound of his name holding a hint of protest, but he kept his touch just elusive enough to keep her from the goal she sought. Though she moved restlessly, trying to convey her frustration, to seek more from the touch that slid away just when she needed it, he only teased her more. “Lyall!” she exclaimed, believing she would lose her mind now if he did not…

The firm touch of his mouth was exactly what she needed, and she held her breath as the rush of sensation gathered and then broke over her. Luella cried out, clutching at the bedclothes, her body feeling as though it were more under her husband’s control than her own as he guided her on, easing her through the waves of pleasure until she lay spent and breathless in a wanton sprawl across the bed.

Lyall moved over her, and she could tell he was smiling even as he pressed kisses to her belly, the shape of his mouth curving upwards as he made his way up the bed.

He gazed down at her, his tawny eyes dark with desire and his expression one of smug, male satisfaction.

“I don’t know why you’re looking so self-satisfied… I’m terribly sleepy now,” she said, feigning a yawn and stretching luxuriously. “I think I might just have a little nap.”

She turned on her side and closed her eyes, and then squealed with laughter as he tickled her.

“Ye are heartless, wife, and after I treated ye so splendidly.”

Luella snorted and reached for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his head down for a kiss. “Oh, as if I would do such a thing, and it was splendid, Lyall. You are splendid. Thank you.” She kissed his nose, and then his chin, and then each cheek.

“Hmph,” he said, though there was laughter in his eyes. “I see I shall have to take matters into my own hands again and take what’s mine. Aye?”

He settled between her legs and Luella gasped at the intimate contact as his arousal pressed against her sex, her body reacting at once to the touch against her sensitive flesh.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Take what is yours. Yours always, Lyall.”

Her body welcomed him inside with no resistance, giving easily to the new sensations as though she had only been waiting for this moment. He moved carefully, treating her with the utmost care as she sighed and clung to him. Lyall made an indistinct sound of pleasure that made her heart skip, and she understood in that moment how giving her pleasure had pleased him too. Luella gasped as he moved faster, thrusting deep inside her, so that little eddies of joy glittered through her blood, reawakening the sensations that had overwhelmed her so splendidly and promising more.

Luella closed her eyes and revelled in it, in the feel of powerful muscle shifting beneath his skin, in his broad shoulders and the heat of his body pressed so intimately to hers. She knew she was blessed then, that she had been given a gift greater than she’d ever expected to receive. For a moment she felt a shaft of pity for her cousin, for the life she’d scorned and never even tried to win for herself and thank the Lord for that. For Luella would never take this, take him, for granted. With a soft moan of desire, she felt the shimmering edge of her peak rushing towards her once more and clung tighter to him. Time ceased to exist, nothing mattering except this moment, in her husband’s arms, and in his heart.

Lyall’s body moved harder and faster, his breathing increasingly erratic until he cried out, burying his face in her hair. His powerful frame jerked, and she held on as he spilled inside her. The sight of him given over to pleasure, his body helpless to do anything but give itself to her in this moment, was the only thing she needed to send her spiralling away into the velvet dark as they held each other close.

They lay quietly for a long time afterwards, holding each other in a tangle of limbs and sheets, content simply to exist in this moment. Luella sighed, exquisitely happy, and then looked up as a rumble of laughter shook Lyall’s chest.

“What?” she asked curiously.

He shook his head, and she let it go, snuggling back against him.

It came again a moment later, this time his chest shaking silently. Luella sat up and stared at him.

“What’s funny?” she asked again.

Lyall shook his head, his lips pressed together, but laughter glittering in his eyes.