Chapter 27
If there were only a way she could capture how Kaden looked at her the moment she came into view. It was like his chest locked up, and his gaze softened. He looked utterly still, like they were the only people in the whole world.
If she had been nervous, those slight doubts melted away.
Emily didn’t think that she had ever seen a more beautiful man in her entire life. His kilt and tartan complemented his coloring perfectly. His long, wavy hair was tied back at the nape of his neck, and his dark eyes were warmer than she had ever seen them before.
The crowd on either side faded away as she started the walk down the aisle.
She knew that she ought to wave to her parents, to say something, anything to them.
But she could hardly see them. There was a strange giddiness in her stomach as she drew nearer to Kaden.
The giddiness then turned into warmth as she lifted her hand to take his.
The handfasting ceremony passed in a blur, and she wanted so badly to commit everything to memory. Every word and every glance, it seemed like something she was going to want to remember forever, and yet it all moved so quickly.
Before she even knew what was happening, the ceremony had concluded.
There were ribbons tied around her wrist and a crown of flowers adorning the top of her head.
Lively music played from the corner of the Great Hall, and a piper walked between the long tables and up and around the bannermen.
Conversation was a constant din in all the spaces the music didn’t fill.
It was enough going on that she could barely have time to think, let alone process the events of the day.
Married. She was a married woman.
Kaden had hardly left her side since the ceremony had started.
It was going to be too easy to get used to the feel of his hand on the small of her back, guiding her around the hall as those around them offered well-wishes and favors.
Her cheeks were aching from how much she was smiling.
Perhaps it had something to do with the amount of wine she had drunk so far.
Kaden pulled her onto the dance floor, his hand never leaving her waist as they moved into the group of dancers around them. With every passing hour, she found herself looking forward to being alone with him more and more.
Every subtle touch, every brush of her hand against his, or the way she kept finding excuses to touch him while they were talking to those around them. He was hardly speaking to her, but there was a promise in his gaze that she couldn’t ignore even if she wanted to.
“Is it everything that ye hoped it would be?” he asked her as they moved through the steps of the dance.
Well, Emily danced. Kaden mostly just walked in time with the music to keep up with her.
“That would imply that I once dreamed of getting married, me Laird,” she teased, with a wink for good measure.
“Nay, ye were too busy bird-hunting.”
“That’s correct.”
“And what are yer thoughts on marriage now?”
“Now that I’m married for only a few hours?” Emily asked, very much enjoying the way the tips of his ears flushed red with indignation.
He was so good at riling her up that it was nice to be able to return the favor every now and then.
“Aye.”
She spun into him and was spun back out again. “I suppose the night will tell.”
“Are ye reconsidering yer condition after yesterday, then?”
Emily shrugged. “Well, that really depends.”
“On what?”
Emily debated whether this was really the time or place that she wanted to have this conversation with him.
Though the very last thing she wanted was to spend her wedding night with her husband, only to wake up in a cold and empty bed.
While Maggie was good company, it wasn’t what she was looking for right now.
“Will I wake up missing ye again?”
Kaden’s eyes widened in what appeared to be genuine shock. Had he really not realized that she did not want him to go? She didn’t wish to ruin the mood by making things too serious.
“I’m only teasing ye,” she soothed, and she mostly meant it.
As the dance ended, he placed a hand on the small of her back and pulled her closer so that he could whisper in her ear, “I cannae wait for this year to be over, so I can really make ye me wife.”
Emboldened by the wine and happy atmosphere, she met his gaze squarely as he pulled back from her. “We can always do more of those… other things.”
“Is that an invitation to dine with ye again?” he asked in a purr that reverberated through her clothes to her core.
At first, she didn’t catch his meaning, but the heat in his eyes was unmistakable. Slowly, she nodded her head.
That was all he needed.
“Then I think it is high time that the two of us retire for the evening,” he declared.
She couldn’t agree more.
Kaden barely waited for the door to her bedroom to close behind them before he was on her. It was like something had been unleashed inside him.
Every time she was with him like this, it seemed like a little bit more of him was bared to her. She felt like he was letting her in, piece by piece.
For tonight, it was going to be enough.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her further into the room. She distantly heard the lock click into place. She was more glad than ever that Maggie was staying with her maid this evening. She didn’t want anything to distract her from the man she was wrapped up in.
He kissed her deeply, his tongue meeting hers in a way that claimed her. All the wine she had drunk that evening might have gone to her head, but if she hadn’t been feeling warm and floaty before, she certainly was now.
Kaden placed her carefully on the edge of her bed, but she didn’t want to let him go.
He tried to slip out of her arms, but she pushed her fingers further up into his hair to keep him close.
She wanted him to know that she wanted him to get something out of this, too.
Even if he didn’t seem displeased by what they did, she wanted to make him feel good.
“Something wrong?” he asked, his lips brushing against hers with every word.
Nerves fluttered in her stomach. She was almost too anxious to answer.
“Nay, I just wanted to…” Her mouth went dry, her eyes drifting down the line of his chest and then lower to the bulge in the front of his kilt.
Kaden’s eyebrow rose. “Aye?”
He was really going to make her say it, wasn’t he? Of course, he was. That was his thing, wasn’t it?
Cruel. That was what he was.
Her hands left his neck, traveling lower over his pecs and then further, even when he tried to pull away. When her hands reached his hips, he seemed to realize what she was trying to do. His hands stopped hers.
He bent to kiss her hands softly and shook his head. “Nay, I daenae wish for ye to—”
“I want to. I just want to show ye…” she trailed off, not sure where she wanted to go with this. “I want to… feel.”
Kaden’s grip on her hands loosened, giving her permission to do what she wanted. Even if she had no idea what she was supposed to do or what she even wanted to do.
She touched him tentatively, and the sound that he made in response gave her the courage to try more. She gripped him through the thick fabric of his kilt, and even more than before, she had no idea how they were supposed to make a child together when she could barely wrap her hand around him.
Her mouth watered in anticipation. What would he taste like?
Her free hand moved under his kilt, lifting the fabric slowly. She exposed scarred, well-muscled thighs until she could see his member. She wrapped her hand around him, finding the skin impossibly soft. Her eyes widened, and his head fell back with a groan.
“Just like that. Move yer hand slowly,” Kaden instructed, and she obeyed. “Hold me just a little bit harder.”
She complied, and when he took in a sharp breath and cursed, it made her chest swell with pride.
Her arousal flared as she heard him groan again, and when she lifted her gaze, the intense look he was giving her made her mouth dry. Would it be even better if they touched more? Could she make him feel the way he had made her feel in the past? Should she kiss him there?
She bent forward, resolved to try it, but Kaden’s fingers curled around her chin, stopping her.
“If ye do that, lass, I willnae last much longer, and I plan on doing a lot with ye before the sun rises,” he said gruffly.
He bent to kiss her again, his member slipping from her grasp as he coaxed her back on the bed.
Would it hurt to have him inside her? She wanted him so bad that she didn’t think she would care when the time came.
“I just want ye to have all the fun…”
Kaden smirked. “So, ye daenae think that what I do for ye is fun?” He dropped to one knee in front of her. His hand ran up her leg, under her skirt, to slowly pull down her stocking. “Did I tell ye how beautiful ye looked today?”
“Ye might have,” Emily answered with a grin of her own.
The room was growing warmer, her breath coming more quickly.
Did he have any idea how attractive he looked when he did that? The hunger in his eyes made her feel beautiful, far more than his words alone would have.
He pulled her legs up, and she fell back onto the bed with a giggle, which was quickly silenced as he kissed between her thighs.
It was like her mind emptied every time. She could have sworn that he feasted on her like it was the entire reason he had been placed on this earth, like he was a starving man and she was ambrosia.
She could get used to this.
She must have been lusting after him too hard throughout the evening, for her first climax crashed over her out of nowhere. He didn’t even use his fingers. She was utterly undone, and she couldn’t care less.
Her hands fisted into the bedding, her back arching as he slid two fingers inside her and curled them against the spot that made her see stars behind her eyelids. Her breath came in short gasps as she climaxed again and again.
He was truly trying to end her right here and then, wasn’t he? She couldn’t think of—well, she couldn’t think of anything other than his relentless attack on her sex.
She tried to crawl away from him, she tried to put distance between her and his tongue, but his grip on her thighs was unyielding, and he didn’t seem to be finished with her any time soon.
Not that she really minded.
“Mercy!” she gasped.
She tried to push at his head to make him stop, but he only chuckled at her efforts.
“I’m nae finished until I prove just how beautiful I’ve found me wife this evening,” he spoke into her skin, a shudder rippled through her whole body.
She tried to crawl away once more. All that earned her was being flipped onto her belly, his hands cupping her hips as he arched her indecently, one knee on the bed and the other attempting to gain better leverage.
The new angle was incredible.
It wasn’t long before she collapsed on the bed once more, utterly boneless and very, very satisfied.
“Where are ye going?” Kaden growled. “I havenae proven me appreciation yet.”
It was going to be a long night, in the best possible way.