Chapter 14
Daniel furrowed his brow in panic as he looked inside yet another one of the rooms in the castle.
He’d come from his trip after a day and a half to find that Melissa was nowhere to be seen.
The conversations he’d had with the merchants had all but confirmed his suspicions that something was amiss, but he couldn’t deal with that right now, not while Melissa was missing.
He picked up the pace and trotted into the library in hopes that she was there reading a book. “Where is she?” He rushed toward Ewan, who had been standing by the desk with a letter in his hands.
“Who, Me Laird?” Ewan quickly thrust the letter into his belt and held up his hands as Daniel advanced on him.
“Me wife,” Daniel growled, already angry at what he had learned on his trip. He had to summon every ounce of his self-control to keep himself from knocking the man from his boots. The time would come when he would deal with Ewan, but that time wasn’t now.
“I’m afraid I dinnae ken, Me Laird.” Ewan’s face turned white as Daniel gripped his shirt in his fists, pulling his face closer to his own.
“Dammit, man, I tasked ye with protecting me wife an’ home while I was gone. Is there naething I can trust ye with?”
“Me Laird, I…” Ewan trailed off as panic set in. His eyes grew wider with fear as his palms began to sweat while he attempted to pull Daniel’s hands off him.
“Daniel?”
Relief flooded Daniel’s body as Melissa’s voice called to him from the doorway.
Letting go of the Ewan’s shirt, Daniel stepped away from him and dismissed him with a nod of his head. “I’ll be wanting to see ye soon,” he grumbled under his breath. “Dinnae leave the castle grounds.”
Ewan took his chance to flee and quickly left the room, nodding a greeting to Melissa as he passed.
“What are you making such a fuss for?” she asked as she came into the room and removed her traveling gloves, glancing over her shoulder at the retreating figure of Ewan McCollin.
“Where have ye been?” Daniel snapped as he realized that she had been out. His own words of doing as they pleased came back to haunt him as he glimpsed her cloak.
“I don’t understand why you are so angry.” She frowned at him. “As far as I understand, you’ve only just gotten back yourself.”
He felt an inexplicable wave of anger rippling through his body as she shut the door behind her and walked over to the table in a casual manner, as if he hadn’t just been going crazy looking for her. Thoughts of other men filled his mind, and his temper burst.
“I said, where were ye?” he asked in a dangerous tone as he advanced on her, making her back up against the table.
“What does it matter?” she retorted without any fear in her eyes. “You didn’t tell me where you were going, and besides, wasn’t it you that said I can do as I please?”
“Ye are me wife.” He reached out and gripped the back of her neck, tangling his fingers in her soft curls.
“I need to ken where yer at all times, or else I’ll get sick with worry,” he said without thinking.
He hadn’t meant to be honest with her about the panic that had set in when he’d thought she was gone.
Her eyes suddenly filled with questions as she held his gaze, her face softening slightly as her breathing deepened. “Why would you worry about me?”
Hesitating for a second, he brought his lips down on hers and kissed her with all the pent-up emotions and longing he had felt on his trip. His tongue parted her lips in urgency as he sought the depths of her warm mouth, making her respond with equal amounts of fervor.
Melissa brought her hands up to his face and drew him in as she deepened the kiss and moaned into his mouth, sending a shiver of pleasure down his spine, making him spiral out of control.
Daniel drew back slightly as he looked into her eyes, seeing the passion that he felt burning within his soul.
“I cannae tell ye why I would worry,” he whispered.
“But I can show ye.” He placed his hands on her hips and lifted her onto the table with ease, scooting her back slightly until her shapely legs were dangling in the air.
Dipping his head, he kissed a path down her neck and across the tops of her breasts, which spilled over the dress, stopping only to nibble on her delicate skin.
He inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of lavender.
He paused to look at her face before making his move and continuing with the part that he was eager to do.
He could see that she was uncertain of what he was doing but knew from her kiss that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Sliding his hands up her dress, he felt her shapely legs, allowing his palms to glide over the smoothness of her skin while his eyes never left hers for a second.
The way she bit her lower lip drove him wild, urging him on.
His fingers halted for a second as they grazed her inner thighs, making their way over to her undergarments and pushing them aside.
Melissa let out a small gasp as he slipped a finger through her slit, searching for her bud of pleasure.
“If ye liked that, lass,” he growled while pushing her dress up her legs and planting a kiss on her inner thigh. “Ye will like this a whole lot more.”
Her eyes gleamed with excitement and uncertainty as he dipped his head back and began nibbling the soft flesh of her thighs, eliciting an even louder moan from her lips. Taking his cue from the sounds she was making; he placed a kiss between her legs.
“Oh, Daniel,” she gasped in a husky voice.
“Mmh,” was all he said in response before licking the areas he knew would bring her the most pleasure.
He felt a wave of pleasure as her body moved back on the desk, letting him know that she’d placed her hands behind her back, bracing herself for more.
His mind filled with images of her delicate neck being exposed as he imagined the way she would tilt her head back and allow her beautiful long hair to fall free and the way her breasts would be pushed into the air.
He doubled his efforts when her moans grew louder and turned into whimpers of ecstasy.
Her body began to tremble beneath his hands as he squeezed her thighs even tighter in an attempt to keep her still.
There was no way he was about to let her go when he was having the time of his life, not until she erupted the way he hoped she would.
He became drunk with power at the sounds he was eliciting from her.
A grin of pleasure spread across his face when he felt her hand gripping the back of his head, guiding him deeper into her core as his tongue continued the onslaught.
“Daniel…” he heard her whimpering above him as he drew her most sensitive part into his mouth and sucked. “Daniel!” she cried out in a loud voice as he slowed his pace before picking it up once again, flicking his tongue back and forth in an unpracticed rhythm.
A sudden tremor rippled through her body, letting him know that she reached her peak. He loved the way she trembled and shook with each and every wave of pleasure.
He continued to press gentle kisses against her flesh and lick her folds until he was sure that every last bit of pleasure had been extracted from her core.
“Did ye enjoy that, lass?” he asked as he came up and looked down at her.
Melissa lay back on the desk with her hair fanned out behind her head, her chest heaving as she struggled to regain control of her breathing.
Fully satisfied with the pleasure he had given to her; he fixed her skirts before trailing kisses up her abdomen and over her dress until he reached her breasts. He cupped both mounds and gave them a firm squeeze, making her moan as her body trembled once more.
Lifting her hands, she placed them on her forehead and wiped away the beads of sweat that had gathered there.
Smiling to himself, Daniel gently reached out and gripped her wrists, pulling her up until she was once again facing him, with her legs on either side of his hips.
“I ken ye were never married ‘afore,” he whispered against her knuckles before pressing a kiss to her fingers.
“But was that the first time ye have ever finished?” he asked.
He knew that women sometimes knew what It meant to finish, even if they hadn’t been married before, but it brought him pleasure to think that he’d been the first to ever make her feel that way.
“I don’t know what that means,” she whispered back with her eyes almost shut as if she were in a trance, her naturally long lashes touching the top of her cheeks.
“It’s what happens when ye’ve had so much pleasure that yer body shakes an’ waves of ecstasy ripple through ye,” he explained as he pressed more kisses to her hand, using one of his hands to caress the small of her back and draw her closer to his chest.
Her eyes fluttered shut as she nodded her head. “Then yes, that has never happened to me before now,” she replied. “This was the first time that I’ve ever experienced that.”
“Good,” he said with relief and placed his forehead against hers.
“There’s a dinner party tonight with a few esteemed guests.
I need ye to go an’ wash up ‘afore coming downstairs,” he instructed her in a husky voice before helping her off the desk and making sure that she was steady on her feet.
It seemed to him as if she were still trying to recover from her orgasm.
Leaning into him slightly, she took a minute to breathe in his scent before taking her hands away from his and opening her eyes. “I’ll go and have a bath. Do I need to put on a nice dress?” she asked in a daze. “I can put on my nicest one.”
“Aye, that would be nice,” he said, placing a finger under her chin and tilting her face toward his. “I’ll see ye for dinner.”
Melissa glanced at his lips before drawing away and walking toward the door. Suddenly, she stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. “I’ll see you at dinner,” she said in a husky voice, then left.