CHAPTER EIGHT
Chapter Eight
Fia was nervous and happier than she could ever remember being. Kieron loved her and she loved him. The man made her body hum in a way she’d never experienced before just by saying her name, or looking at her, but now…this…now she was on fire and the only thing she knew was that Kieron fanned the flames higher and hotter with every touch of his lips, every caress of his hands.
“We should stop,” he said, raining kisses down her neck and back up to that sensitive spot behind her ear that she had not known was there.
“Aye.” She leaned her head to the side. “Aye,” she said again on a sigh of pure pleasure. Neither of them ceased their explorations of each other.
Fia slid her hands up his arms, as he cupped her breasts in his hands, running his thumbs over the peaked nipples. She pressed into his hands, wondering what it would feel like to have his skin against hers. Kieron growled and Fia could not help but laugh, delighted that she inspired such a fierce response in her Highlander.
“You laugh at me, my lady?” He threaded his fingers into her hair and kissed her before she could answer. Heat gathered within her, low and needy, with every stroke of his tongue against hers.
“Aye, I laugh at you,” she whispered against his lips as she unfastened the pin at his shoulder, then pulled his belt free. His plaid fell to the floor and his desire for her was hidden only by his tunic.
Shyness and curiosity warred within her. She wanted to see all of him, wanted to run her hands over his skin, wanted him to touch her in the same way, but before she could act on her desires he was loosening her gown and slipping it down her arms, to puddle at her feet, leaving her clad only in her kirtle. He lifted her into his arms again, and in three long strides laid her on the bed in the corner of the single room.
The mattress dipped as he stretched out beside her, rolling her toward him so they faced each other. He ran a hand down her side, over her hip, and back up, skimming over her breast with the lightest of touches. Shyly she reached out and mirrored his caress, sliding her hand down his side, but she did not trail her way back up as he had. She hesitated for a moment, then slid her hand between their bodies. He closed his eyes and a low throaty groan escaped him as she ran her hand over him. The heat and hardness of his desire stole her breath and pushed everything out of her mind except Kieron. Her Kieron. Instinct took over as she hooked her leg over his hip and pressed herself to him.
He slid his hand up her thigh, under her kirtle and cupped her bottom, pulling her harder against him, moving against her slowly, seducing her senses and her body until she was a haze of need, a maelstrom of desire. She pulled at his tunic, needing to touch him, needing his skin against hers as she’d never needed anything before. Quickly, he pulled the tunic over his head, then sat her up to divest her of her kirtle. They sat there, breathing hard, just looking at each other.
“You are so lovely, my Fia,” he whispered as he reached out to run the backs of his fingers over her breast and down her belly, stopping just as he reached the apex of her thighs.
“And you are the brawest man I have ever seen,” she said, mesmerized by his touch.
He pressed her back and settled himself between her thighs, kissing her and moving against her until she thought she might die from wanting him.
“Kieron, please,” she whispered. She knew what must happen next, though only from the gossip of other lasses newly bedded, but she had not understood the desire that fueled such couplings. The need to join with him, the desire to share this ultimate intimacy with the man she loved with all her heart, had her writhing beneath him. “Please, love.”
Kieron stilled and looked her in the eyes, his own filled with more tenderness than she ever thought possible, and as he kept her gaze locked with his, he slowly filled her, pausing as they both felt the tug of resistance. “’Twill hurt, love, but only for a moment.”
She nodded and he retreated, then surged into her. She gasped, but more from the incredible feeling of being one with him than from the swift flash of pain.
He stilled. “Are you all right?” His tone was worried but she could only smile up at him and hook her leg over his hip again as she tried to get even closer.
“That is not all there is to this, is it?” She smiled at him and let her instincts guide her movements.
He groaned, and kissed her, then began to move with her, into her, over and over, driving her up into heights she had never known, spinning, flying, until they both cried out their joy.
Annis watched as Kieron pulled Fia from the hall and as soon as she could, she slipped away from the gathering. Imagine, a ceilidh to celebrate Fia healing the chief. She’d probably done nothing more than let the man heal on his own, but as usual, Fia was deemed remarkable though Annis could never understand why.
Annis stood in the shadow at the top of the outer stair, letting her eyes adjust to the night, but she could not see Fia or Kieron anywhere. She started down the stair, fuming that she had been shut away in that tiny dank cottage while the scrawny, fey Fia was deemed remarkable. It was bad enough that Fia always got whatever she wanted, with the entire MacLachlan clan doting over her every whim just because she was orphaned, as if that were something unusual. But now she’d managed the same feat with the MacAlisters, so much so that Kieron could look at no one but Fia, and men and women alike smiled fondly at her while scowling at Annis.
And why did they scowl? She had not harmed the chief. She had only failed to mention that the willow was destroyed and Fia treated her as if she had committed some terrible crime. Just once, she would like to see Fia brought low, she would like Fia to learn what it was like to have everyone look at her like she was nothing special, just another lass amongst many.
A familiar voice drifted to her from somewhere past the last of the torches. A door opened, and closed again. Annis’s blood sped as she moved from shadow to shadow, sure now, at last, she would discover Fia in a less than perfect light.
At long last she would have something to hold over Fia, something that would take the light from her eyes and the smile from her lips should Elena and Symon learn of it. Something that would make Fia do whatever Annis wanted for a long time to come.
Fia lay with her head on Kieron’s chest, running her fingers lightly over his skin, remembering what they had done, what they had shared, until need began to build in her again. This was exactly where she wanted to be, in Kieron’s arms. Never had she felt so happy, so loved, so sure of what she wanted her future to hold.
But she could not turn her back on her family. She owed them everything, and until Kieron had walked into the bailey at Kilmartin Castle she had never imagined that her place with them might not be enough.
Guilt clawed into her heart. She loved her life at Kilmartin Castle. She had a family she loved, and who loved her. She had a calling with her herb lore, and had learned so much by working with Elena as her helper. She was comfortable there, but now she could see that she was lonely there, as well. Her heart had been lonely for the one person she was meant to share her life with only she hadn’t known it.
She knew it now.
Just the thought of returning to her life at Kilmartin hollowed out her heart.
She would give anything to stay here with Kieron, to wed with him, to make a family with him. She knew she would be welcome here, not only because Kieron loved her, but because she could take her place as their healer, too.
But it was impossible, as impossible for him to come with her as for her to stay here.
Nay, this was the time they had and maybe, when Mairi was fully trained and Elena was safely done having bairns, maybe then, if Kieron had not married already, maybe then, they could be together.
“Did you hear something?” Kieron asked, his voice rumbling in his chest against her ear.
“Nay,” she said, but she could not be certain she would have noticed anything while she was spiraling down into loneliness and misery.
“’Twas probably just a dog snuffling around outside for something to eat,” he said, pulling her more tightly to him. “We should return to the ceilidh before anyone comes in search of us.”
Fia sighed and let herself enjoy the slow beat of his heart against her cheek for a few more minutes.
When she knew she could not put off returning to the hallhouse any longer she slipped out of his warm embrace and shivered in the chill air of the dark cottage. “’Tis time the chief returned to his chamber. I’ll not have him making himself ill again when I must return to Kilmartin.” Her kirtle lay in a heap next to the bed. She grabbed it and slid it over her head. “I cannot delay going back.” She tried to keep her voice light, but she was certain he could hear the strain in it. “Elena’s time grows near and she’ll need me.” Fia barely contained a sob as she searched for her gown, finding it near the door.
Kieron had his tunic on now but grabbed her before she could tie the laces on her gown. “Let me,” he said, taking the ribbons from her hands and tying them carefully, if a little lopsidedly. When he finished, he pulled her back into his arms and laid his cheek against the crown of her head making her feel tiny and protected in the arms of her warrior, her friend, her love.
“I do not ken how, but we will find a way to be together, love,” Kieron said. “I cannot bear the thought of being parted from you again.”
“But you are needed here and I am needed there,” she said, blinking rapidly. She refused to cry over something that could not be changed.
“Aye, ’tis true, but there must be a way.” He ran the backs of his fingers over her cheek, then kissed her sweetly. “I love you, Fia, and I will find a way for us to be together.”
Fia pressed a kiss into his palm. “I love you, too,” she said but dared not hold onto hope that he would be successful.