Chapter 15
KAITLYN
MASTER MAGNUS AND MADAME CAMPBELL RETIRE TO THEIR CHAMBER
Magnus asked, “How many times hae we strode through this gallery, yer hand on my arm?”
“So many times, I remember the first though, especially, it was so grand it was daunting.”
“And now?”
“Still grand, but now it’s comfortable. Because it’s where you grew up, I love this place now, too.”
We went through the large doors and out to the corridor that led to the staircase to our chamber’s floor.
We walked up the stairs, my hand dragging along the rough stone wall, the worn place, where fingers had touched and smoothed the stone through the years. The treads were worn in the middle from centuries of all the castle inhabitants climbing and descending.
We didn’t carry a candle to the room, there were lanterns lit along the way.
I said, “I suppose it’s early to be going to bed...”
“Aye,” he said quietly, “I fell out of the mood.”
“Sorry about that.” I kissed his shoulder.
“Tis alright, I had an idea of how this dinner would go, and twas nae… I dinna expect Lizbeth tae be so upset.”
“I’ve never seen her like this.”
“Aye, I haena either.”
We came to our door and entered.
The outer room had a small fire going. I looked over at the little beds for our bairns.
“Drat, now I miss the kids, we were so busy before we left… I wonder if I said goodbye well enough? You think?” I frowned.
“We could go back, we dropped off the suitcases, we found them all in no mood to party, maybe we just go home.”
He sighed, looking down at the hearth. “Nae, I hae a plan, mo reul-iuil, in the darkness I realize tis not a good plan, but tis a plan all the same.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Ye need tae hae yer rainboots for the morrow I hear.”
“This sounds so fun.”
In all these years this chamber had been his own, no one had ever taken it over. Lady Mairead had arranged it somehow, through threat or plea.
My maid arrived to help me undress, because my clothes were heavy and complicated.
Magnus waited in the outer room with his coat off, his shirt untucked, his breeches so freaking hot.
I could see him with his back to me in the outer room, the firelight flickering on his face as his broad shoulders stretched his shirt.
The breeches were just, yum on his glutes.
I flushed and looked away. I did very much like when his knees showed under a kilt, but the full leg shown off in breeches was my next favorite.
The changed ranking of which was hotter, depended on the night.
Tonight was this.
The way the breeches buttoned under his knee, the high boots accentuating his calves, the arse… oh the arse.
I was down to my chemise and the maid left and Magnus came over carrying a whisky glass.
I said, “I was admiring your breeches, Master Magnus, and now look, I’m in a chemise. There is nothing hot about this, am I right? Just a giant sack.”
“Aye, twould be far better if ye were nude.” He pushed the shoulders down and the whole thing dropped to the rug, leaving me standing in just a small pair of panties.
“Better?”
“Aye.” He raised his glass. “Tell me if ye’re cold, but I could use the view.”
He loosened his collar.
I said, “What should I do, clearly you look hungry, but you don’t want me to get in bed?”
He looked at me in the dim candlelight. “Nae, but ye could go tae the hearth, tis my turn tae watch ye.”
I grinned. “Okay, cool. I am not going to argue with my husband wanting to see the mother of his many bairns naked, this seems like a win for me, but please don’t compare me to the woman you married a thousand years ago.”
“I winna,” He finished his whisky in a gulp and poured another. “I can keep more than one image of ye in m’mind.”
I chuckled. “Good,” I walked to the hearth and knelt and used the iron poker to push the log into the flame.
He sank onto the settee and was watching, intently.
I stood. “Did I look pretty and did I do that right?”
He chuckled and took another sip. “Ye look verra bonny and ye dinna do it right, now the flame is too high, we are goin’ tae be hot.”
“You are in a mood.”
I walked toward him.
“Aye, Madame Campbell, I am in a mood. I need ye tae sit down here and give me a kiss and help it turn.”
I kneeled onto the settee and straddled his lap, and settled down really slowly. “You like it, Master Magnus?”
“Aye.” His eyes darkened, fixed on my mouth.
I put an elbow on each of his shoulders and reached around his head to loosen the black ribbon from his hair. Then I combed my fingers through the strands, brushing his hair back and letting the longer curls fall loose.
He moaned.
“Feel good?”
He nodded, then looked directly into my eyes, wanting me, hard.
I tilted my head back, offering my throat and he leaned forward to kiss the side of my neck, the heat of his breath tickling my skin.
His palm slid up my thigh, rough calluses grazing my skin.
He watched my face closely as I pulled the front of his linen shirt open.
Firelight caught the planes of his chest. I kissed his neck, and drew my tongue along the edge of his collarbone, and then took in the scars I knew by heart.
My fingers trailed along his shoulders, feeling the high ridges there.
I felt the steady thud of his heart accelerate under my touch.
Magnus gripped my hip, pulling me closer. The wool of his breeches rasped against my bare thighs. I rocked forward and he groaned low in his throat, the sound vibrated through me. Everything vibrated through me, electric.
Our mouths met — slow at first, then deeper, our tongues sliding together as I slowly pressed my hips against him.
He grasped my hip and pushed and pulled me against him. We built a sexy rhythm, but it was heat building, he was still wearing those breeches that I now thought I might hate.
I muttered, my breath against his ear — off.
He chuckled, teasingly, and broke the kiss to trail his mouth along my jaw, down my neck, a gentle bite at the hollow where neck meets shoulder, rocking me all the time. I gasped. More and then off, out of my mind.
While he kissed and suckled down my chest to my breasts, I struggled with the buttons at the front of his breeches. I finally got them loose and yanked them apart, my movements desperate, I want you.
Ye want me, Madame Campbell?
Aye, Master Magnus, yes. With his grasping fingers, warming me and directing me, I sank down on him inch by inch.
My forehead pressed to his — shared breaths, whispered moans, the quiet creak of the settee as we rode, excitement building.
Warmth filled me, sweat bloomed on his upper lip, salty under my tongue.
My arms wrapped around the back of his head.
His mouth settled on my shoulder. A hand grasping my ass, pulling me close and pushing me away. Ohgodohgodohgod oh god….
My climax was huge. Probably indiscreetly loud.
His groan was quieter, but caught in his chest and then released…
It was lovely and so so scorching hot.
I held his head tight against my chest, while I calmed my breaths and basked in the afterglow.
He chuckled. And licked my skin close to his mouth. “Ye are salty with sweat, mo reul-iuil.”
“That was so hot.”
“Aye, and the fire is ragin’. I am thankful I hae some liquid here.” He raised his right hand and took a sip of whisky.
I laughed. “You didn’t even put down your glass!”
“Madame Campbell was too randy, I dinna hae enough time afore she ravished me.”
I lay against his chest, laughing. Then took a sip of whisky from his glass.
“I’m impressed you didn’t spill it.”
He smiled in the firelight, “Twas easy, I dinna hae tae move, just hold m’glass. This ought tae be how every night goes, I take all yer clothes off and make ye build a fire, tis good foreplay for ye, I think.”
“Very funny, I was just really really into—”
“My breeches, aye, I ken yer heart, Madame Campbell, when I put them on I guessed this is how twould go.”
“Part of it is that it’s been a minute since we did this somewhere other than our bed. That was nice.”
“Aye.” He put the glass down on the table and put both arms around me, pulling me against his chest. I tucked my head under his chin; his fingers tracing lazy circles on my bare back while the fire popped softly, the blaze finally dying down.
The wind sighed against the windowpanes. Neither of us spoke for a long time — finally he said, long after I thought it might be time to go to sleep. “I will go tae guard duty on the walls in a moment.”
I turned my head to look up at his face. “No sleep?”
“My mind is troubled by the evening’s conversation, and I winna hae many more nights on the walls. I ought tae do it tae clear my mind and heart.”