Chapter 45
Padraig pounded on Cairren’s chamber door so hard that the wood shook.
“Cairren, open the door.” He pounded again.
The sound echoed through the passageway, but Padraig couldn’t care less if he drew attention.
He intended to speak to his wife. He’d passed Caitlyn, who confirmed Cairren was in their chamber.
He was in the middle of his third round of knocking when the door flew open.
“Padra—” Cairren wasn’t given the opportunity to speak.
Padraig pulled her into his arms as he kicked the door shut.
His mouth slammed down onto hers. They battled for control of the kiss as it became a conflagration of pent-up need and unresolved pain.
He lifted her, and her legs came around his waist as he backed her against the door.
The kiss carried on until they were breathless, and Padraig’s stubble abraded Cairren’s lips and chin.
Padraig lowered her to the ground, and they stared at one another.
“I love you, Ren. I won’t accept an annulment.” Padraig heaved a deep breath as he tried to slow his racing heart, the accelerated pace the result of their breathless kisses and his anxiousness over their impending confrontation.
“Padraig, you have to go home, and once there you need a wife who can be at your side.”
“Or maybe you already have another husband in mind,” Padraig flung at her. “Are you planning your wedding to Alexander?”
“Alex?” Cairren asked incredulously. “First, if I wanted to marry Alex, I would have done so years ago. Second, I don’t want to marry anyone who isn’t you. And third, you’re a jealous arse to accuse me of that.”
“I am jealous. And possessive and protective. I’m not giving you up, Ren. I will give up my family, but I won’t give you up.”
“You shouldn’t have to choose.”
“Maybe, but I have. You are my wife, and I love you.”
Cairren stared into Padraig’s eyes that were such a deep brown they appeared nearly black.
She remembered once wondering if their color reflected his soul; now she knew they didn’t.
When meeting his gaze became too hard, she closed her eyes, but that only brought forth their most intimate memories. “You’ve said that twice.”
“Said what?” Padraig tried to follow her thoughts.
“You’ve said ‘I love you’ twice. I need to catch up. I love you, Padraig. It’s why I’ll let you go. I don’t want to because I love you, but I will because it’s what’s best.”
“No, it bluidy well isn’t what’s best. You believe you can decide for me. Do you want me deciding for you?” His eyes narrowed. “I think I shall. You are taking me with you to Dunure because that’s what’s best for you.”
Cairren was too overwhelmed after her conversations in the garden and Privy Council chamber.
This was more than she had the strength for.
She fell against Padraig’s chest as his arms came around her.
“This is where I want to be for the rest of our lives. I don’t mean court,” she clarified. “I mean in your arms.”
“And this is where you belong. It’s where I belong. Cairren, I don’t want to anywhere without you. Foulis is a keep. A stack of bricks I’ve lived in since I was born. Home is in your arms.”
“When did you become so sentimental?” Cairren smiled.
“Around the time I pulled my head out of the pile of shite I was rolling around in.”
“Lovely,” Cairren chuckled. She slid her hand up Padraig’s chest until she could cup his jaw. “And I love you. There’s been so much hurt between us already. I don’t want to cause more. I don’t want you to resent me.”
“There will never be aught more painful than living without you,” Padraig lifted her hand from his cheek and kissed each of her fingertips.
“Where do we go from here?”
“Our chamber.” Padraig chuckled when she playfully scowled. “Right now, you’re coming to our chamber where I intend to make love to you, wife. After that, we can decide if we’ll go to Dunure or if we’ll remain here.”
Cairren squealed as Padraig swept her into his arms and walked to the door.
She leaned sideways and pressed down on the door handle.
She squealed again when Padraig pretended to drop her, but she realized he’d done it to make her cling to him.
As he carried her through Stirling Castle to their chamber, she cared not that people watched, pointed, and whispered.
As they undressed amid kisses, she was thankful her courses had ended, and she wondered if this might be the time that they actually conceived.
Padraig carried her to the bed and eased her onto the mattress with a tenderness that made Cairren’s heart feel too large for her chest. He climbed onto the bed and straddled her legs.
As his eyes swept over Cairren’s petite frame, she marveled at how different their bodies were yet how well they fit together.
When her eyes landed on his cock, it twitched, and Padraig growled before pouncing.
Their kisses grew more urgent with each swipe of their tongues.
Padraig’s large palm covered Cairren’s breast as he kneaded the aching mound of flesh.
He shifted to bring her breast to his mouth.
He used the tip of his tongue to circle her nipple before flicking it, then drawing it into his mouth.
Before Padraig touched her on their wedding night, she’d never imagined that a man suckling her nipples could be so erotic.
Now her breasts ached for his attention.
Cairren cupped them in offering, one that Padraig gladly accepted.
She arched her back to bring them closer to Padraig’s mouth as he shifted back and forth between left and right.
His fingers left a trail of fire as they brushed along her belly until they reached her slit.
“This isn’t just coupling or me just bedding you, Ren. I want you to ken that I’ll never look at we do as just aught. Making love to you means more to me than I have words to express,” Padraig confessed.
Cairren grasped his upper arms as she smiled at the love that shone in his eyes. She let her knees fall wide, and she lifted her hips. “Then show me, mo ghaol.” My love. Padraig had never heard words that made him feel more invincible than the endearment Cairren offered in Gaelic.
"Tha gaol agam ort nas motha na tha tonnan aig a ’mhuir, mo chridhe,” Padraig whispered.
From the brilliant smile he received, he knew Cairren understood that he’d said “I love you more than the sea has waves, my heart.” But then her smile turned nervous, and his heart melted.
He guessed she was piecing together a reply.
“Agus bidh gaol agam ort nas fhaide na a ’ghrian, a’ ghealach, agus na reultan a ’deàrrsadh.
” Padraig’s heat overflowed with pride that his bonny Lowland bride made such an effort to speak his native tongue.
His heart was brimming with the depth of emotion he felt as she told him, “and I shall love you longer than the sun, the moon, and the stars shine.”
Padraig pressed his hips forward, easing his sword into Cairren’s tight sheath.
He pulled her leg over his hip as he thrust, over and over, into her.
Her mewls of need and desire encouraged him to drive into her harder with each surge until she screamed his name.
But Padraig refused to end their lovemaking.
He returned his mouth to her breast, tugging her nipple with his teeth as he ground his pelvis into hers.
He felt the spasm begin again within Cairren’s core.
She clung to him, certain she would float away on a cloud of pleasure.
It was only as she climaxed a third time that Padraig granted himself the release he had struggled to control.
He rolled them so that Cairren lay draped across his chest. Her long chestnut hair had come unbound and spread across her back and his ribs.
One of Padraig’s hands stroked the silky strands as the other cupped her bottom.
As they basked in the afterglow of their passion, the world beyond their bed had ceased to exist.