Chapter 16 #2
He looked quite fearsome for a moment, then he reached over to take her spoon from her hand, and scooped some of the pudding up to offer it to her. Claire looked at it hesitantly, then took it in her mouth. Its taste was earthy, but pleasant, and she smiled.
“I like it,” she said, nodding with appreciation. She finished everything that was on her plate and sat back, full and sated.
Iain poured them a glass of wine, then they sat in silence for a while before he put his hand over hers and looked at her, a slight frown on his face.
“Claire, do you like it here?” he asked, watching her face intently.
Claire was startled by the question, and for a few seconds she could think of nothing to say. At last, she answered, “I am very grateful to you, Iain.” She looked down at their hands, avoiding his eyes.
“Lass, that is not what I asked,” he said.
“I have not had a chance to really see the whole place,” Claire answered evasively. “I am always so busy.”
There was another silence before Iain spoke again. “When you buy your freedom back, where will you go?”
He watched Claire as she struggled for an answer to his question.
“I suppose I will go back to see my sister, Amanda,” she replied at last.
Then Iain said the last thing Claire had ever imagined that he would.
“What if I asked you to stay?” he asked, his voice gentle. “Would you stay here for me, Claire?”
Claire was startled, and her eyes widened with surprise. “I-I would think about it,” she replied at last.
Iain took her hands and lifted them to his lips. “You are such a beautiful woman,” he whispered, then, to her amazement, Iain drew her from her chair and onto his lap. “But you are too far away.”
“You are the most handsome man I have ever seen,” Claire replied, smiling. “But then I have very little experience with men.”
Iain laughed. “And you are also the funniest,” he added. “Claire…” Iain looked into her pale brown eyes for a moment longer, then he kissed her, more softly and tenderly than he had ever done before.
As he drew away, he said huskily, “I cannot resist you. I have never desired any woman the way I desire you. I hope I never do because you are my everything.”
He looked deep into her eyes for a few seconds, then he kissed her again. Claire felt herself melting into him; she could not have moved away even if she had wanted to, which she very definitely did not.
“I want all of you,” he said as he drew back. “I hope I will be your first lover, and if I am, I will be the most fortunate man on earth. Ever since I first saw you, I have longed for you.”
Claire smiled, and reached up to rub the palm of her hand over his cheek, loving the rasp of his bristles on her skin. “As I have longed for you,” she murmured. “And you are my first, Iain.”
And, hopefully, my last, she thought.
Iain said nothing more, but swept her into his arms, then kissed her tenderly again before carrying her over to his bed.
He undressed her slowly, undoing the buttons on the back of her dress and kissing his way slowly down her neck as he did so. “You smell divine,” he whispered. “I have always loved your scent.”
Claire could say nothing. She was lost in the sensation of Iain’s lips and tongue as they travelled down her back, licking, tickling, teasing.
She heard a frustrated grunt when he came to the barrier of her chemise, then he pulled her dress over her shoulders and let it drop to the floor before turning her to face him.
He cupped her breasts in his hands, squeezing them gently before untying the lace that held up her chemise, then slid it over her shoulders. He quickly disposed of her stockings and drawers so that her whole body was exposed to him.
“Oh, god,” he breathed. “Claire, I never thought any woman could be so lovely.”
He looked his fill of her, the creamy globes of her breasts tipped with rose pink nipples that were now peaked and hard with desire. Her slender waist flared into curved, womanly hips and long, shapely legs. Every inch of her was perfect.
“Thank you,” Claire murmured. Her instinctive response had been to cover herself up, never having had a man see her almost totally naked before, but she knew Iain would step forward to stop her. “Now you, my Laird.”
She stepped forward to begin undressing him, but Iain was too quick for her.
He stripped his clothes off as if they were on fire, tossing them all over the room.
At last, he stood in front of her in all his masculine glory, and Claire gasped.
He was beyond handsome. He was like a marble sculpture made of flesh.
His shoulders were wide, his chest broad and flat, his arms so muscular that it looked as though he might be able to lift trees! If she had not known better, she could suppose that they were two different kinds of creature altogether.
Claire’s gaze travelled down to his legs, to his powerful thighs and calves, and then to that part of him that marked him as a man, which was erect, pointing at her, almost threatening.
She had felt him before with her hands and her lips, but not seen him properly, and now, to her inexperienced eyes, he looked enormous.
Surely, she would not be able to accommodate that?
Her fear must have shown on her face because Iain lifted her and laid her down tenderly on the bed, saying, “We will fit together, Claire, don’t worry.
Men and women were meant for each other, and we two are no different.
If you wish to change your mind, then say so now because the sight of you is driving me mad. ”
Claire said nothing, but held out her arms to receive him, and Iain sighed with relief as he joined her on the bed and moved into her embrace. He kissed her again with extreme tenderness.
“I have wanted this since the first moment I saw you, Claire. You make me feel things I know I will never feel again. You are all I want.”
Claire smiled and stroked his hair, inhaling the scent of him, the manly musk that was all his own. She could have picked him out of a hundred men just by his aroma, and by the feel of him, by the play of his muscles under her fingers, the softness of his lips on hers.
“I have wanted you too, Iain, but this is new for me,” she whispered, then rubbed her palm over his chest. “No more waiting, please.”
Iain smiled, then lowered his mouth to her nipple and began to suckle, teasing the other with his thumb and forefinger.
Claire moaned and raised her hips to his, feeling the long ridge of his manhood between them.
She reached down to touch it and heard him moaning as her thumb touched the sensitive spot at the tip.
“If you keep doing that, I will not last long enough to satisfy you,” Iain said hoarsely, then went back to apply himself to her breasts.
This must be what heaven is like, he thought.
He planted tender feathery little kisses from her breasts to her stomach and paused to swirl his tongue around the little pit of her navel, causing Claire to giggle and squeal.
Then, as he had done before, Iain parted her thighs and swept his tongue through her womanly folds, while Claire plunged her hands into his thick hair, desperate for something to hang onto.
Iain teased the little bud at her core with his teeth and tongue before pushing his fingers gently inside her again. He watched her face, loving the ecstatic expression her pleasure mounted.
Claire felt herself once more being transported to the same magical place where she had, for a few brief seconds, been able to touch heaven, and now she was almost there again, and suddenly, she was there no more. She whimpered in disappointment as Iain raised his head and smiled at her wickedly.
“I am not done with you yet, Claire,” he said softly. He licked his lips, tasting her sweet juices on them, then bent down to kiss her lips again. “Not by a long way.”
He began to worship her breasts again, and Claire wondered if this was not some delightful dream; surely nothing on earth could feel as wonderful as this? Her nipples were tingling and little shafts of pleasure were shooting straight to her core. It was almost unbearable.
As Iain lifted his head to kiss her again, Claire reached down between them and took his shaft in her hand. Iain gave a little cry of surprise, but Claire grinned at him wickedly.
“I want some fun too, Iain.”
Then she took him in her mouth and began to suck him, at the same time pumping him with her hand until he was crying out and begging for mercy.
“You are driving me mad, woman!” he groaned, but Claire did not stop.
She continued her ministrations, swirling her tongue around him and gently scraping him with her teeth until Iain pulled out of her, gasping for breath.
It had been one of the most agonisingly sweet experiences of his life, but he knew that in a few more seconds he would not have been able to satisfy Claire in the way she expected.
Claire arched her hips up to him and begged, “Now, Iain, please!”
Suddenly, at the last moment, he was uncertain, unwilling to hurt her. “Are you sure this is what you want, Claire? I will stop if you want me to.”
“This is what I want, Iain,” she replied. “More than anything.”
He kissed her one more time before Claire’s life changed forever.
She felt the tip of his shaft at her entrance, then he pushed slowly inside her, a fraction of an inch at a time.
She tensed as a twinge of pain assailed her, but it was gone in an instant, and then, when he was fully sheathed inside her, she felt a sensation of satisfying fullness.
Iain thrust slowly at first, then faster and harder as Claire cried out his name and raised her hips in time with him so that they were moving in a rhythm as old as time itself.
Then gradually it began, the feeling that she was climbing towards something mysterious and beautiful.
It was becoming stronger and stronger, yet seemed elusive, as if it was out of her reach, then suddenly she reached the peak and cried out, “Iain!” as a wave of something she could only describe as ecstasy swept over her.
She had felt it before when Iain had used his hands, and had not imagined anything could feel more intensely beautiful, but this–this was glorious.
She clung to him desperately as her body writhed out of her control, shuddering in the storm of rapture sweeping over her, but gradually she returned to earth to find Iain smiling at her tenderly.
He kissed her softly. “How do you feel, Claire?” he asked. “I know that it often hurts the first time.”
“I am fine, Iain. No pain.” She smiled, shaking her head in wonder. “I-I never knew it would be like that. So wonderful. I thank you, Iain.” In truth, she felt a little sore, but she had no intention of spoiling this magical moment.
Iain drew her into his arms and pulled the blankets over them both. “No, Claire,” he said softly. “Thank you.” He gave a long sigh. “I wish we could stay here forever because I never want to let you go.”
“I wish that too,” Claire breathed. “With all my heart.”
Claire felt a wave of sheer happiness wash over her as she nestled into his warm body, feeling that she was at home, sheltered, as if he was a haven, and she had been lost at sea.
“Good.” He kissed her forehead. “Because I have never felt this way with anyone else, Claire. I doubt I ever will. Let me hold you for as long as I can.”
He had said he never wanted to let her go.
Oh, god, let it be true, she thought.