Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Darro opened his eyes to see Esme sprawled all over him, her thick, silky hair forming a beard around his jaw, and her hands tucked under his arms. She clutched him as if she was yet in the throes of her pleasure.
He held her by her pert wee arse, and when he shifted he realized he’d fallen asleep with his cock inside her tight, wet quim.
Never had he done such a thing with a female, but she was unlike any woman he’d ever loved.
Thinking of all that they had done together in just a few hours made his shaft thicken.
He sensed a new surge of wetness enveloping him in response, making his baws draw up tight.
She’s perfect for me in every way, even while she sleeps.
Now he understood why Tasgall had chosen to marry Ava when any female in the stronghold would have happily offered to share his bed.
Indeed, for a time he had been with Inga, Grace’s grandmother, who had adored the laird.
Yet not until the law woman had come into the spell trap had the laird opened his heart.
He had never seen his eldest brother happier in all the years since becoming trapped here.
“If you think you’re going to fill me up with all that lovely cream again,” Esme murmured against his chest without moving or opening her eyes, “I will let you, Chief. In fact, you have my permission to do anything to my body that you want. Just let me kiss you first.”
He started to lift her so he could offer his mouth to her, but she shook her head and pushed her heavy mane out of her face. “Do you change your mind, my lady?”
“No. I just never said I wanted to kiss you on the lips.” She gently disengaged their bodies, and then began kissing her way down his chest toward his slick, eager cock.
She had already threatened to do this for him.
Imagining her pretty mouth and clever tongue caressing him nearly made Darro spill, but seeing her nest herself between his legs made him smile.
Nothing frightened his lass; even as she touched the heavy club of his cock she treated the brute like a toy.
Her earthiness as a lover matched his own nature, so seamlessly that he now knew there could never be another woman for him.
From this night on he would be spending every free moment he could in her bed.
Aye, and he’d find a way to thank Torra for making this night possible.
The moment she kissed the head of his cock a bead of his semen appeared, which she licked away as if it were sweet cream.
That made him want to come all over her, so he could see the ribbons of his pleasure like pale lace on her golden skin.
He’d taken her so many times he could already smell himself on her everywhere.
That made him imagine kissing her quim until she gushed all over him.
Gods but I shall never leave this bed.
He caught his breath as she took his head into her mouth and sucked it lightly. “Shall I move into your chamber, or do you wish share mine once I return to the garrison hall?”
“Tell me first who has the better bed, mi corazon,” she murmured as she released him and tilted her head to use her tongue on his shaft.
“I do.” They had surely tested the bed he’d brought from his chamber, but it had remained solid and unmoving.
Because of his size he had built it himself a century past of thick, golden oak, which proved sturdy enough to endure everything he did when pleasuring a woman.
Esme, however, might prove his match. “Once I may return to my bed chamber, I’ll need escort you there each night.
If I do such, then everyone shall ken you’re my lady. ”
“When, not if.” She made a low humming sound as she nuzzled the curly hair of his sex. “Are you not wanting that, mi corazon? Because I’m happy to bully you into it again.”
“I’ve never revealed my lovers in the past,” he admitted. “Each time, ’tis out of respect for the lady who chose me. I would do the same for you, if you wish.”
“I don’t want to be your secret, Darro.” She rubbed him from root to tip with her hand, smiling a little.
“I want to be yours. I want all the other women here to know you’re mine, too.
Since shouting it from the rooftop here would only embarrass you, you need to parade me in front of everyone.
Maybe with a sign around my neck that says ‘Darro McKeran’s lover.
’” Her gaze shifted to his mouth. “Or you could kiss me at breakfast, if you want the maids to tell everyone.”
Something slowly unknotted in his chest. “Aye. ’Twill be as we both wish.”
Esme watched him as she lowered her lips over his cock, taking nearly all of his length into her mouth and then holding and sucking it with slow, gentle tugs.
Seeing her hair fall in the way, Darro gathered it up and held it in one hand while he guided her rhythm with his other.
Sweat sprang out on his skin as he endured the delicious sensations, wishing he could do the same for her and vowing that he would when she finished him.
It wouldn’t take long, either. No lover from his past had ever used her mouth to take him so completely, and the sight of Esme doing so made bliss stream through him, irresistible and unstoppable.
When she tucked her hands under him and boldly squeezed his arse, that proved his undoing.
His hips jerked as he spilled over and again, and through slitted eyes he watched her drink him like some delicious spirit.
Slowly she let him slide from her swollen lips, now pearled with a trace of his seed, and then covered his cock with her hands and rested her chin on them to look at him.
Darro had never been loved like this by any woman before Esme, and it humbled him. Now I’m hers. Ever and always. Even when she leaves me.
“You want to know how I learned to do that, don’t you?” she asked, her lips curving. “It was because of you.”
He wondered if he’d heard her right. “You must dream well, then, lass.”
“I dreamed of you plenty. It’s why I’ve always liked big men. They reminded me of the painting I saw as a little girl,” she said. “It was a painting of you.”
Darro pulled her up and tucked her against his side. “How could there be a painting of me in your world?”
“I don’t know, mi corazon.” She cuddled closer, and rested her cheek against his shoulder. “It was hidden in a storage room. My grandmother found it first when she worked as a cleaner at your castle in our world, and she showed it to me. I don’t think anyone else knew about it.”
As she told him about the painting hidden in the storage room Darro grew uneasy.
He had never bid or permitted anyone to paint his likeness anywhere; his mother’s tribe believed doing such things could be dangerous.
The fact that Esme had seen it as a wee lass meant it had existed on the other side of the spell trap for some time.
“It’s a bad thing, isn’t it?” she asked softly.
“I dinnae ken.” He sat up and pulled on his trews. “You recall where you saw the likeness? Can you show me the place?”
Once they dressed Esme went to the door with him.
“If it’s still jammed–” She fell silent as he twisted the jammed latch off with one hand and pulled the panel open. “You’ll break it off, okay.”
Darro stopped and stared across the rooftop toward the front of the castle. “’Tis no watchers on either wall.”
“I saw them when we came up here.” She glanced around and noted the watch towers had also been abandoned. “Could it be another attack?”
He shook his head. “The watchers would have sounded the horn.” Taking hold of her hand, he drew his sword and scanned the shadows slowly before he said, “Stay close to me, lass.”
Night had fallen again by the time Una went to deliver the last of the soiled linen to the laundry.
The swifter racing of time made her afraid, so she tried not to think about it, but no one could escape seeing the sky change from dark to light and back again during what should have been a full day.
It made her remember that their prison had been created by magic, which might do anything to them, the stronghold, and this small world.
Una didn’t want to die, and thanks to the immortality bestowed on her here, had grown used to not dwelling on that, either. Yet if the magic of the spell trap turned on them, could anyone survive? How would the end come for her?
Badly, she thought before she forced away the dark thoughts.
Located outside the back of the stronghold, the laundry’s open pit fires warmed huge cauldrons of water for washing soiled linens and garments for the clan and their vassals, a task that took long hours each day.
Even now two of the maids who worked there were filling the big kettles with water for the morning’s wash.
The strong scent of lye soap that hung in the air made Una sneeze a few times, catching the attention of the laundress.
“So they brought you back from the stables, eh?” the older woman said as she took the baskets from her.
She nodded. “Aye, the ladies gave me leave to aid Elspeth with the chamber work. I’ll no’ cause any more trouble, Mistress.”
“I didnae expect you should,” the laundress said. “Your place, ’tisnae out there with those rough lads.”
She could only ever remember being rude to the older woman, so her kind remark made her heart sink. “You neednae pity me. ’Twas what I deserved.”
“I remember when you came to us back in the highlands,” the laundress said.
“Your sire, he abandoned you after your mam passed from pox. The headman spoke of sending you to a dairy farm in the midlands that took in orphans, but the laird wouldnae permit such. He claimed your sire might return someday, but I reckon ’twas to protect you from the midlanders.
Some were said to be worse than slavers. ”
Una had never told anyone about why she’d come to serve the clan, but the laundress had come from her village. “I was too young to ken what a kindness he did for me.”