Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Ailsa lifted her head sleepily from the pillow, casting her gaze around the room. The sun was high enough in the sky now that she would have expected Tavish to be down in the courtyard, training with his men.
Instead, he was hunched over the small table next to the window, entirely focused on something she couldn’t see.
She straightened up slightly, a small smile curling up her lips as the nightdress slipped from her shoulder. The two of them had spent the night together, but there was something even more intimate about seeing him here in the morning.
He must have known that she needed his company now more than ever, the assurance that there was nowhere he would rather have been than at her side.
From where she sat, she could make out what he was so consumed with; it looked as though he was arranging a simple breakfast on a tray for her; a few pieces of apple, some bread, some oatcakes and cheese, along with a large mug of steaming peppermint tea.
She bit her lip. Well, after everything that they had gotten up to last night, she supposed she would likely need to restore her energy…
He seemed to sense her watching him and glanced back to catch her in the act. She rested her chin against her bare shoulder, flashing him a playful smile.
“Is that for me?”
“Aye, of course.”
“Ye didnae need to go to so much effort.”
“To feed my wife?” he replied, cocking an eyebrow. “Dinnae make me second-guess myself, Ailsa. Eat.”
He lifted the tray from the table and carried it over to her, laying it on the bed before her and planting himself at the other side.
She cast her gaze over the food before her; it might have been simple at a glance, but to her, it was worthy of any royal feast. She reached out to grab a slice of apple, popping it into her mouth, the tart sweetness spreading over her tongue.
“Thank ye,” she told him softly.
She was still getting used to this side of him, the side of him that treated her as an actual wife.
He reached for a piece of bread, tearing it off and taking a bite, and for a moment, the two of them sat there on the bed in companionable silence as they began to take their food.
“Won’t the men be expecting ye in the courtyard?” she asked carefully.
She didn’t want to make it seem like she would rather have been rid of him, but the last thing she needed was for people to think that she was going out of her way to distract him from his duties.
He shook his head.
“Ewan is capable of managing them for today,” he replied. “Unless ye’d rather take breakfast alone.”
“That’s not what I said, Tavish,” she pointed out gently.
He flicked his gaze to meet hers once more, and this time, a small smile warmed his face.
“Good. Because there’s far too much here for ye to manage all on yer own.”
“Oh, I wouldnae be so sure about that,” she joked. “I’ve quite an appetite, especially after…”
She raised her eyebrows playfully, harking back to what they had shared when they had come back to this room the night before.
He chuckled, but she could still see something weighing on him, whether or not he was ready to admit it.
As they ate, she observed him, studying him with great interest. Sometimes, it was hard for her to make sense of the fact that a man like him could be her husband.
In some ways, she felt as though she didn’t deserve him, especially not after the way Riona had tried to stake her claim on him the way she had.
But, as he lifted his gaze to meet hers, he eyed her with some confusion.
“What is it?”
“Ye could have told me about it, ye know.”
His face hardly moved, not certain what to make of her words.
“Told ye about what?”
“About how you felt,” she replied, trying her best to find the proper words to explain so that it would not scare him off entirely. “About hiding yersel’ from me. Worrying that I wouldnae be able to handle the worst of ye…”
He glanced away from her.
“I’m still no’ sure ye should have to.”
She reached out to take his hand, squeezing it tight, a silent promise that she had no intention of going anywhere.
“Listen to me,” she told him firmly. “I’m yer wife. And I want… I want every part of ye. I did not agree to this marriage because I wanted things to be easy, and neither did ye, am I right?”
He smirked slightly.
“Aye, I suppose ye could say that.”
“So let me in,” she implored him. “Let me help ye. Let me be there for ye. Dinnae let it all weigh on ye alone.”
His jaw tightened, a flash of something in his eyes that made her heart hurt.
“If I fall, Ailsa,” he muttered, lowering his gaze to the covers.
“They fall.” He gestured beyond the window.
Though he did not specify exactly what it was he was referring to, he didn’t need to.
She could tell. His people, his estate, his Keep…
they were all relying on him to stay standing, to stay solid.
But that didn’t mean he had to do it alone.
She reached across the covers, gripping his hand tightly.
“Then let me help ye stand, Tavish. Please.”
He gazed at her for a moment, not saying a word. And then, at last, he lifted her hand to his lips and planted a kiss against it.
“Ye already do.”
She smiled, a flutter of hope in her chest. She knew it would not be easy to get him to accept her support, but if she kept showing him that she was willing to offer it, he would have to eventually, wouldn’t he?
“Let me come to the village with ye,” she suggested. “The one that was attacked. I can help, I can offer the women some comfort.”
He smiled widely, something in him lighting up at the sound of such an offer.
She was glad to see his reaction, so sweet and so hopeful.
She would have done anything he asked her to in that moment, truly.
He could have called on her to rebuild the whole place with her bare hands, and she’d not have had it in her to say no…
But, before he could give her an answer, he reached across the bed and pulled her into a sudden, passionate kiss, the kind that told her just where his mind had gone.
He swept what remained of their breakfast to the floor as she put aside the tray, trying to make sure she didn’t spill anything.
She hardly had time to consider it before he pounced on her and pushed her into the bed.
She laughed as he buried his face into her neck, his hands plucking the thin fabric of her nightdress away from her body like he had been waiting to do just that all morning.
She turned her face to look him in the eye, catching sight of the darkness that flashed in there, the thrilling promise of everything that he intended to do with her.
But, before she could comment on it, he kissed her again, his tongue lancing past her lips as he tore the fabric away from her skin.
He pulled the covers away, tossing them aside and leaving her whole body exposed to the cool air around them. She gasped as his hand slipped between her thighs, parting her legs with ease and reaching for her sex.
It felt like every inch of her body was held to the flame when he touched her, each inch of her written with a mad, helpless passion that seemed able to burn her alive.
She moaned, and he pressed a kiss to the spot just below her ear, clearly enjoying her reaction.
“Aye, that’s it, lass,” he murmured to her. “Let me hear ye. Let the whole Keep hear ye…”
He slipped his fingers inside of her, drawing a gasp from between her lips as he coaxed pleasure from her most intimate spot. One knee was pressed into her thigh, keeping it pinned there so he could have all the access he needed.
All she could do was clutch on to him for dear life, nails digging into his shoulders as his eyes seared through her. How could this man, who had been so sweetly delivering her breakfast just a while ago, be such a beast in other regards?
He coaxed his fingers upward, finding some spot within her that made her head spin.
She whimpered, her grip even tighter now, balling his shirt in her hand with her desperation to undress him entirely.
He grinned, biting down softly on her bottom lip and tugging on it lightly, clearly enjoying the response he earned from her with every caress.
Once he was sure he had taken her to the point of no return, to the point where she’d have done anything to feel him inside of her, he stilled his fingers, pressing his firmness into her hip.
“Tell me what ye want, lass,” he rasped into her ear, and she squirmed below him, her voice caught in her throat as she tried to come out with an answer.
“Ye ken well what I want.”
“Aye,” he agreed, dipping low to make sure she could hear every word. “But I like to hear ye say it.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, mustering every bit of strength she had in herself to get the words out.
“I want… I want ye to take me, Tavish,” she murmured to him, her lids fluttering as she said the words out loud.
She was still getting used to being so bold in her talk, but when it came to him, she knew he wouldn’t have settled for another less.
He grinned, tossing aside his shirt as he moved between her thighs. Catching her hips, he brought them flush with his so that they were pressed together; she could feel him against her, so close to filling her but still holding back, as if he was waiting for her to ask for it again.
But then, mercifully, he gave her what it was she needed so badly. Bucking his hips forward, in one motion, he entered her to the hilt, filling her in a single moment and drawing a cry from between her lips that must have been audible all the way through the Keep.
In that moment, though, she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Perhaps some part of her wanted people to hear them, to know that he wanted her and her alone…
He held her hips up, her shoulders still resting back on the bed, so he could drink in every moment of her expression as he moved inside of her.
His body rocked against hers in slow, deep motions, like a stone dropped into the still of a pond, sending ripples coursing out across every inch of her body.
Her breath was coming faster now, the mixture of his gaze and the physical sensations already boiling within her to the point of no return.
He moved into her in deep, harsh thrusts, the kind that spoke to the depth of his passion for her, to the fact that he couldn’t even come close to containing it.
She reached for him, locking her hands with his.
“I’m not going anywhere. Whatever it is that lies between us, whatever doubts ye might still be clinging to, I will do everything I can to knock them loose for good,” she promised him silently between rasped breaths.
She didn’t have much in the way of a range of movement at the angle he had her pinned to, but she used whatever she could to move back into him, coaxing him deeper, deeper, deeper, until it felt like the two of them might never be parted.
She felt him finish first, the warmth of him inside of her, the parade of curses that spilled from his lips as though nothing godly could have made him feel as good as she did.
And it was that sight, his eyes burning dark, that pushed her to her own release, whatever control she had left finally giving in and giving up as she cried out once more.
She might not have had the nerve to curse like he did, but he could tell that the passion was just as certain from her end as it had been from his.
He kept their hips drawn together as the convulsions of pleasure moved through her body, her lips parted as she panted for him, that expression on his face so addictive she wished she could capture it forever.
And, as he slowly withdrew from her, he leaned down to plant a kiss on her lips, brushing them against her softly.
“There’s my girl,” he murmured as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.
And just like that, breakfast was entirely forgotten, leaving nothing but the warmth of his presence here wrapped around her and the promise that, whatever came next, she would be there for him in any way she was able.