Chapter 21
Three months later.
Things had finally settled at MacKinnon Keep.
The king had exiled Bryce and his men to a remote isle in the Outer Hebrides.
The past few months had been busy with Boyd dealing with clan and royal matters, while Bella enjoyed her role as wife and mistress of the Keep.
But every few weeks they would steal away to their cottage by the loch and spend time isolated from their duties and just focus on each other.
Today was one of those days.
They were both naked except for their matching pendants.
Boyd was seated on a large armchair in the bothy with Bella straddling him and riding his hardened length with abandon.
She was holding onto his shoulders, raising her hips repeatedly, impaling herself repeatedly on his rigid shaft.
Boyd was in awe of his wife's stamina, and he was defenseless against her onslaught.
Their faces were close together as they stared at one another. His hands grasped her rounded globes to help control her movements as he helped lift her up and down, thrusting halfway to meet her each time, his large hands and fingers digging into her flesh as he threatened to spill too soon.
Bella's breasts bounced before him, and he leaned forward several times to clasp a hardened peak into his mouth and suckle for dear life. He would always feel her grasp him and tighten even more around his length and that had them both groaning and panting with abandon.
Boyd loved this. All of it. Their coupling was passionate and loud, and he reveled in how much his wife had come out of her shell and resembled the Bella of old who was vibrant and alive and not afraid to live life to the fullest.
"Harder, husband, I need ye!" Bella shouted.
And Boyd quickened the pace and took her roughly.
"Aye!" she screamed. "Keep doing that."
"Wife, hurry up because I cannot hold on much longer!" he growled.
"Dinnae boss me about, husband!" she snapped in return and increased her pace, whilst simultaneously kissing his lips and panting against his mouth.
"Someone needs to boss ye around ye infuriating wench!" he replied, slapping her bottom hard.
"I'll let go when ye do and not a moment before!" she griped.
Boyd was done with this. In a swift move he stood up whilst they were both connected even as she gasped and held on for dear life, then he twisted about and laid her roughly on the bed as he followed her down. Now he was hovering over her and in complete control.
"Ye had yer chance, now 'tis my turn!"
"Boyd! Ye dinnae play fair—" her sentence was interrupted when she moaned her pleasure as Boyd clasped her wrists above her head then his hips began thrusting with power. He slammed into her again, pounding deep.
Bella screamed and hung on for dear life.
She felt his mouth suckling her nipples and one calloused thumb grazed her pearl with forceful pressure as Boyd took over.
Eventually Bella's entire body stiffened, and she came shouting his name to the rafters and not caring that the entire forest and loch could hear her.
Boyd watched his wife climax, and it was too much.
He could not hold his release any longer.
He thrust twice more, totally bottomed out inside her as he felt her channel grip him tighter.
He stiffened then roared his release as his body shuddered with each explosive burst of his seed as he came harder than he ever had before.
For several moments they moved as one, Bella milking him of every drop, as he spent inside her, thrusting in and out until there was nothing left but unadulterated satisfaction and devotion.
They gazed at one another in the aftermath, catching their breath, their matching pendants clinking against their skin, and then Boyd caught that look he would never get tired of seeing.
Bella smiling at him with pure love, an expression he reflected right back at her.
Boyd withdrew from her, collapsed and pulled her to his side as they caught their breath. Then followed the quiet gentle kisses and overwhelming intimacy they always shared after a passionate tryst. Soon Boyd left the bed to retrieve a washcloth so he could clean them both.
Later as they dozed in the aftermath of their coupling, they felt content knowing they had each other now and nothing and no one could come between them.
"I wish we could remain like this, just the two of us in this cottage away from the Keep and everyone else for all eternity."
"I hope ye dinnae mean that," Bella said.
"Why not?"
"Well, because it may not be possible to be just us anymore."
Boyd went alert with worry. "What do ye mean? I fixed up this cottage so we could always have somewhere to escape just you and me."
"Aye, and I love ye for it. But I mean, very soon it will not be just the two of us, Boyd."
He looked confused. "I dinnae understand?"
Bella clasped his hand and placed it across her lower belly. Then she said, "By next spring, if all goes well, we'll have our wee one joining us."
Boyd immediately stilled and his face lit with confusion, fear, love, concern and then pure, pure joy. "Are ye? Are ye carrying our babe?"
"Aye."
He shouted with joy and shifted down and kissed her belly. "Sweet, sweet mercy. Our bairn is in there?"
"Aye."
Then Bella noted the tears forming in his eyes as he choked up. "Bella... my bonnie, sweet Bella." He hauled her into his arms as she also burst into tears of joy and buried her face into his neck.
They kissed as his hand gently caressed her belly. Then he stopped and the look of horror stole over his features. "Did I hurt ye or the babe? Just now? I was too rough! Damn it, wife, why did ye not tell me earlier."
Before he could jump out of bed and pace in a panic, Bella clasped his hand and said, "All is well, husband. I visited the healer to confirm and trust me, we are well."
He seemed relieved then he whooped in the air again and held her tight. "I suppose, we can let he or she into our little world. I'll make a cradle we can place in the corner away from the draft and then it can just be the three of us escaping together."
Bella smiled then and loved him even more. "That would be a fine plan."
"But Bella, now that ye carry our bairn, I must insist ye take at least four guardsmen with ye if ye go to the village without me. Better yet, I'll escort ye as well."
"Boyd, no, I dinnae want to—"
He cut her off with a kiss and said, "Please just indulge me on this. Let me think I have control for a little longer."
Bella burst out laughing then and conceded with a sigh. "All right, but dinnae expect me to give in so easily."
He grinned and replied, "Never."
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