Chapter 21 #5
“Oh. Well in that case, I’ll tell Mrs. Ferguson you’ll see to fixing her roof right away.” He made to stand up and leave, but hesitated just a moment: he knew his friend all too well.
Ceann pushed his hands through his hair, groaned, and then said quietly, “I took her.”
Ethan sat back down, raising an eyebrow. “Ella?”
“Aye. She was a maid. I ruined her.”
“She was willing?” Ethan asked hesitantly.
“Aye! Of course she was willing, what kind of man do you think I am? But I was still wrong to take her, when I have no intention of keeping her. Damn it, I don’t even know who her kin are. I could have just started a bloody war, for all I know.”
“I don’t think it will come to war.” Ethan struggled to keep his lips from turning up in a smile. “I don’t see the problem, Ceann. The lass was willing, and there won’t be any uh… consequences to come later, aye?”
Ceann turned his gaze to the window. “No, no consequences.” There would be no bairn… there would never be a bairn.
“Then I wouldn’t worry so. Why don’t you just enjoy yourself for once? After all, the harm is already done, as you say.” Ethan stood and gave him a fatherly pat on the shoulder before he went to the door, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll go see to Mrs. Ferguson’s roof, then. I can see you’re busy.”
***
Ceann practiced in the yard, his sword clashing against his opponent’s, his muscles straining hard as he worked, a glistening sheen of sweat covering his skin.
With a roar he swung a wide arc and knocked Gregors’s blade to the side, while at the same time sweeping his legs from under him and knocking him flat on his back.
Ceann stood over him, the tip of his sword pressed to the other man’s chest. “Yield, man.”
Gregor grinned up at him. “Yield? I let you win!”
“I don’t think so, else you let me win every time.”
Just then he caught a movement from the corner of his eye and looked up.
Ella walked across the yard with Fiona, the two of them happily prattling away about something.
She looked up and met his gaze, and smiled.
He pressed his lips together in a grim line and watched her as she turned back to her friend.
Remembering himself, he lifted his sword and let Gregor up, declaring the sparring over for the day.
Before Gregor could say a word about his strange behavior, he had gathered his things and was headed back toward the keep.
In that brief moment, when Ella had smiled at him, he almost felt again that he was in a different time and place.
And he knew in that instant what it would be like to have a true home, with a wife that loved him.
Could Ella ever grow to love him? He was almost afraid to even let himself think about the possibility…
and she had mentioned adopting children.
He knew childless couples took in bairns all the time.
Hell, with all the fighting, there were always orphans in need of a home.
Could he raise an heir to Tulloch after all?
Would Ella truly not care if the child were not her own by blood?
All of these questions filled his mind, and he struggled to hold back the spark of hope that was growing there.
Then he thought about Ethan’s words. Maybe he was worrying too much.
Maybe for once he should just enjoy what was before him. God knew Ethan did.
He cornered Ella in the hall, where she was arranging flowers on the head table.
Flowers. There hadn’t been flowers in the keep since before his mother died.
His heart squeezed. He had forgotten how far such a small, womanly gesture could go in making a cold stone keep feel like a home.
“I thought to go out for a ride, to exercise Fallon. You can come along if you want.”
She pretended to consider his offer, secretly thrilled that finally he had sought her out on his own, knowing how difficult it probably was for him to do so.
“Well, I did say I’d help Mairi with the linens this morning, but I suppose that could wait till later.
I don’t think she’d mind.” She smiled at him.
“And you know how much I love to ride… alright, I’ll go. ”
She grabbed him by the hand before he could change his mind, and ran for the stable, pulling him after her.
She looked back with a grin, and he couldn’t help but smile.
Soon they were on horseback, and she was racing ahead of him as she had before, making him chase after her.
She sped across the moor and into the grassy hills beyond.
Of course the mare she rode could not outrun Fallon, and as she glanced back, she saw that he was quickly gaining ground.
She bent low in the saddle and urged the horse on, but only moments later heard the thundering of hooves just behind her.
A hand came up to grab the reins of her mare, pulling her to a slow stop.
She looked over at Ceann, and saw the thrill of the chase reflected in his eyes.
Giving him a coy smile, she slid off the other side of the mare and ran, knowing he would follow, and knowing he would catch her.
He did. Laughing, he grabbed her from behind and spun her around. Her eyes flew open wide at the sound. Laughter, honey-rich and deep, a sound she had never heard before. She had done it! Given him a gift. He was laughing.
“Don’t ever run from me lass, I won’t ever let you get away.
” The two of them tumbled to the ground, with Ceann landing sprawled on top of her, and her chest heaving under him from her running, and then from the look in his eyes; dark and wild with desire.
He looked at her for only an instant before his mouth was on hers, claiming his prize.
She smiled against his lips before his tongue thrust hungrily into her mouth.
Her arms came up around him, pulling him closer.
She broke away from his kiss and put her lips to the side of his neck, flicking her tongue there.
He moaned with pleasure, and suddenly she wanted to see what it was like to have him completely at her mercy.
Could she make him completely wild with desire?
When he reached for her skirts she grabbed his hand.
“No!”
He stilled, looking like a child who had just been told he couldn’t have a sweet.
“No?”
She pushed against him, and still surprised by her denial, he sat back. She lunged at him then, knocking him over and landing on top. “Not yet.”
His eyes widened and she laughed. “I promise I won’t hurt you.
” Straddling his hips, she leaned forward and kissed him, hard and deep.
His hands rose up to touch her, but she slapped them away.
“No.” She kissed and nibbled his neck while her hands unlaced his shirt, smoothing her hands over the rock-hard flesh of his chest. She circled her thumbs lightly over his nipples and he hissed in a breath, but now he understood her game, and held himself still for her.
Returning to kiss his mouth, her hand slipped to the belt that held his plaid in place.
Already his breath was coming hard and his eyes were heavy-lidded, but Ella was thoroughly enjoying herself.
She was far from done with him. Earlier that day she had had a very enlightening conversation with Elizabeth…
He couldn’t move. If she wanted him at her mercy, she had that and more.
Pleasure flowed through his body, drugging him.
His heart was going to pound right out of his chest. She gently suckled his nipple, driving him crazy with need until he tried to rear up and take control, but she bit him on the shoulder and pushed him back down.
He groaned. “Your fun is going to kill me”, he bit out.
He had never had a woman try to take control of his body before, and it was sweet torture; sweeter than he could have ever imagined.
But she was kissing him again, and he lost all conscious thought.
She shimmied her hips down his body, and kissed a path towards his naval, running her hands up to the top of his thighs, making tiny circles there with her thumbs.
Then back up again, then down and a little closer, but not quite close enough.
God, he wanted her to touch him there. Needed her to touch him there.
When she bent down and softly kissed the head of his cock, he almost leapt right out of his skin.
He groaned, and a fine sweat broke out on his forehead.
She slowly ran her tongue up and down the length of him, and he hissed in a breath, going completely still.
He was unable to believe what she was doing to him, and unable to believe how good it felt.
Oh Holy God! When he felt her mouth close around him, he almost came right then.
He bucked beneath her, and suddenly the urge to spill his seed deep inside of her became too great to bear.
With a fierce growl, he flipped her onto her back and drove into her in one swift motion, roaring in satisfaction at the incredible feel of her body.
He knew in that moment that he could make love to this woman every hour of every day for the rest of his life and still it would never be enough.
When her hips rose to meet him and she dug her fingernails into his back and cried out, he forgot his fear.
He forgot everything. He pulled her closer, closer, burying himself deeper with every thrust, until finally his release left him weak and shuddering in her arms.