"Nay," Greer growled. "What would make me feel better would be if ye'd sit still and let me think."
"What are ye thinking about?" she asked curiously.
"Fish," he said succinctly.
Saidh raised her eyebrows. "Why?"
"Because I detest fish."
"Really?" Saidh smiled. "So do I. Lady MacDonnell does too."
Greer merely cursed under his breath.
Saidh fell silent for another minute, but then cleared her throat and asked, "Why are ye thinking o' fish?"
"Saidh!" he snapped, then sighed and began to rub his temples and explained more gently, "Sweetling, I was counting on yer braies being on so that I could pleasure ye without taking yer innocence. But yer no' wearing yer braies, and I am struggling to keep from taking me pleasure, yer innocence be damned, so I am trying to control me passion by thinking o' dead smelly fish because they are the least passionate thing I can think o' and the one thing most likely to help me control meself."
"Oh," Saidh said quietly, but then asked, "Would it be so terrible if ye took yer pleasure? Ye've given me pleasure twice now and while I think ye enjoyed yerself the first time, I'm no' sure ye did in the stables. Surely ye deserve pleasure too."
"Dear God, ye swear like a warrior, fight like one too, but ha'e no survival instinct to speak o', lass," Greer said with despair, then caught her at the waist and lifted her off his lap and into the air even as he stood up. When Saidh's gown promptly slid over her hips and fell to pool on the floorboards beneath her, Greer looked as if he might weep. He also froze again and simply held her there in the air before him as his eyes roved hungrily over her bare body.
"Greer?" Saidh said softly.
He tore his gaze from his inspection of her body and raised his gaze to her face. "Aye?"
" 'Tis in me nature," she said solemnly and when he stared blankly, explained, "That is what the scorpion said to the dying frog, 'Tis in me nature." She smiled crookedly. "I win."
Greer released a breathless laugh and shook his head. "Nay, lass. I'm pretty sure I win."
"Nay. That is the end o' the story. I win," she insisted as he carried her across the room.
"It may be the end o' me aunt's story, but 'tis just the beginning o' ours," he assured her as he set her to sit on the end of the bed.
"But--"
"How long is the journey to Buchanan from here?" Greer interrupted, straightening.
Saidh frowned. "I do no' ken. Half a day, mayhap less."
Nodding, Greer turned and headed for the door, ordering, "Do no' move. I'll return directly."
Saidh stared after him with bewilderment as he slid from the room, then shook her head and dropped back on the bed with a little sigh. The man had obviously lost his mind. That was the only explanation that made sense to her. First he was touching and caressing her, then he was upset she wasn't wearing braies, then he started spouting things that made absolutely no sense and marched out ordering her not to move.
What the hell did he mean that she hadn't won? She'd finished the tale before he'd made her scream in pleasure. In fact, she was beginning to think he would never cause that now. And what was that nonsense about their story just beginning? What story was that?
More irksome to her, though, was his claim that she had no survival instinct to speak of. Saidh knew he meant because she'd as good as offered herself to him, but he was wrong. She was not an idiot. She knew ladies were supposed to save themselves for their husbands and that by giving herself to him she would be making herself unmarriageable. But it seemed to her that she wasn't likely to marry anyway. Her betrothed had died, and no laird was likely to want a woman as rough as her to wife. She'd spent too many years with her brothers, learned too many curse words and how to fight. She wore those precious braies under her skirts, rode astride like a man, and could fight like one too. She'd been given a taste of freedom growing up with her brothers as playmates, and doubted she could give up that freedom just to be some man's chattel.
So why not find her pleasure with Greer while she was young enough to enjoy it? Her brothers wouldn't think less of her for it, she was sure, and before she'd left for Sinclair for Joan's birthing, Aulay had told her that she would always have a home with him at Buchanan.
Sighing, she turned her head to peer at the door, wondering where the devil Greer had got to . . . and what he'd gone for in the first place? Perhaps he was fetching them food, she thought hopefully when her stomach made a deep growling sound. She'd been too busy fretting over Fenella to eat at sup and was now hungry. She was also a tad chilly, she noted, and sat up to glance toward the fire. A frown claimed her lips when she saw that the fire was half the size it had been when they'd entered her room earlier. It needed feeding too.
Slipping off the bed, she tugged the linen off to wrap around herself and walked to the fire to feed it some logs. She was kneeling on the fur in front of the fireplace, just using the iron to push the logs about and urge the fire to a happier glow when her door opened. Saidh glanced around to see Greer closing the door. He didn't have food, she noted unhappily.
Spying her by the fire and noting her expression, he asked, "What's the matter?" as he crossed the room toward her.
"I was hoping ye'd gone to fetch food," she admitted, setting the iron back as she straightened.
"I will later," he assured her coming to a halt. Smiling faintly, he reached up to remove the pin that held his plaid in place. "Ye look lovely even wrapped in a sheet."
"Do I?" Saidh asked vaguely, her attention caught by what he was doing as he set the pin on the table by the chairs and then gave his plaid a tug that sent it rushing toward the floor. Saidh stared wide-eyed at his now revealed calves and knees below the hem of his shirt, which ended at his thighs, and breathed, "Oh my, yer lovely too."
Greer chuckled at her words and then lifted his shirt, to tug it off over his head and Saidh simply stared at the appendage between his legs. It wasn't nearly as majestic as it had felt the few times it had pressed against her. It had felt as large and uncomfortable as a log when she'd been sitting on it earlier, but now it was kind of just hanging there all wrinkly and-- Saidh's thoughts stopped abruptly as it began to grow, stretching and lifting toward her like a flower seeking the sun. Curious, she reached out without thinking to touch it, but Greer caught her hand before she could make contact.
Glancing up, she saw that he was staring at her with a sort of bemusement.
"Ye ha'e no a bone o' shyness in ye, do ye, Saidh?" he asked huskily.
" 'Tis hard to be shy with seven brothers barging into yer room at all hours," she said wryly. She tilted her head. "I suppose a proper lady would be shy?"
"Aye," Greer agreed. Reaching out he tugged her sheet loose and sent it tumbling to the floor on top of his plaid as he added, "But I like ye this way."
"Oh," Saidh sighed as he drew her into his arms. Her breasts touched his chest first, his coarse hairs there tickling them briefly before his warm skin pressed against them. Saidh slid her arms around his neck and raised her head expecting a kiss, and he gave her what she wanted and more. His mouth slanted over hers, his tongue thrusting as he slid his hands down her back, cupped her behind and scooped her up against him until he could kiss her without bending his head.
Greer kissed her again and again, moving his head first one way and then the other until she moaned and wrapped her legs around his waist. He broke the kiss then and lifted her higher to claim one nipple and Saidh's eyes fluttered open with surprise, and then widened as she saw that the room was moving around them. It took her a moment to understand that it wasn't the room moving. He was carrying her to the bed again, she realized and then he knelt to set her on the end of the bed without having to disengage her legs.
Saidh did that for him, allowing them to drop away on either side of him as he ducked his head to lave her breasts. Saidh moaned with pleasure and dug her hands into his hair, urging him on. She then groaned with disappointment when he stopped that, only to gasp in
surprise when he began to trail kisses down her belly. The muscles of her stomach jumped excitedly and Saidh began to tug at his hair, unsure what he was doing and even less sure she liked it. But Greer caught her wrists and urged her to lie back on the bed, continuing to hold them to keep her from interfering as his mouth moved along one hip.
The man was strong, she thought vaguely as she struggled in vain to free her hands. And then suddenly he released her. Before she could reach for him though, his head dipped between her legs and Saidh froze in shock as his tongue rasped across that most sensitive skin.
"Greer?" she gasped uncertainly, grabbing at the sheet under her.
He didn't respond, at least not verbally, and Saidh bit her lip and struggled not to scream out with shocked pleasure as he urged her legs further apart and suckled at the nub at her core as if it were a nipple. Something pressed into her then, spreading and filling her before withdrawing to thrust back in again as he continued to lick and suckle her and Saidh groaned and gasped and panted by turn.
She wanted to move her hips, to thrust into his caresses, to fight toward the release she knew waited just out of sight, but he had her pinned and helpless to do anything except wait for him to give her that release. And then it rocked over her, like a storm rushing down from the hills and Saidh opened her mouth to scream. Before she could, his free hand was covering her mouth and muffling the sound.
Reminded that they weren't out in a clearing where no one would hear her, Saidh bit off the sound and closed her eyes as she sank into a boneless puddle on the bed. Her body was quivering, her heart still racing, her breath coming in heaving gasps, but her mind was floating in some far off land where pleasure reigned.
Saidh was vaguely aware of Greer moving, and a slight breeze replacing the heat of a moment ago between her legs and then something nudged at her opening before thrusting into her. This time it was something much larger than the finger she thought he must have been using earlier, something that sent pain screaming through her body, tearing away the gossamer wings of the pleasure she'd been enjoying. Saidh instinctively sat up with a roar and struck out defensively before he caught her hands to prevent further blows and she opened her eyes.
She stared at him, her chest heaving, her body aching where before it had known only pleasure, and Greer pulled her head against his chest and rubbed her back. "I'm sorry, sweetling. I thought it best to get it done in one push than to draw out the pain."
"What did ye stab me with?" she asked with confusion, not sure what had happened.
"Just me," he said solemnly and then eased his chest back a bit so that she could look down and see that they were joined, his body disappearing into hers.
"Oh," she said weakly. "I could ha'e sworn ye'd run me through with a sword."
Greer frowned. "I ha'e never taken a woman's innocence before. I had no' realized 'twould be that painful. Mayhap we should jest--"
"Nay," Saidh gasped, wrapping her legs around his hips to keep him in place when he started to withdraw, merely adding to her pain. "Just . . ." She closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. "Just stay put fer a minute."
"Saidh?"
She glanced sharply around at that call from what sounded like Lady MacDonnell out in the hall. The door rattled, but fortunately didn't open. Greer had dropped the bar, she saw. His forethought was impressive.
"Saidh, dear? Are ye all right?"
She squeezed her eyes briefly closed.
"Ye'd best answer or she'll ha'e the whole castle up here," Greer whispered by her ear.
Saidh nodded and forced her eyes open and called out, "Aye."
"Are ye sure? I thought I heard ye scream, lass. Should I--"
"I'm fine," Saidh said, forcing more conviction into her voice. "Truly, m'lady. I am sorry I disturbed ye. 'Twas jest . . . a nightmare," she finished wearily and leaned her forehead against Greer thinking that her words were not far from the truth. What had started out as a pleasant dream had certainly turned into a nightmare when Greer had thrust into her. Dear God, she'd heard that the first time could be painful, but this was--
"Would ye like to talk?" Lady MacDonnell asked now. "Mayhap 'twould help if ye told me about yer nightmare."
"Nay," Saidh said at once, turning to peer at the door with horror, almost afraid it would open any moment despite the bar across it.
Something brushed across one nipple and Saidh glanced down with surprise to see Greer's hand retreating. She followed it to his mouth where he licked the pad of his thumb, and then he lowered it again to brush it across the tip of the same nipple again. The warm wet, was quickly followed by cool as he brushed his thumb lazily back and forth, making the nub harden and rise and the aureole around it darken as it shrank and wrinkled, tightening in response.
Saidh swallowed as she watched, and then gasped as he did the same to the other breast, wetting his thumb and rubbing it lazily over her eager flesh. This time when she raised her face to peer at him, Greer lowered his head to kiss her, his tongue whipping out to continue to stir back to life the desire she'd thought had been killed by the joining.
"Would ye like a warm drink, mayhap? I could ha'e one o' the servants bring ye some mulled cider or spiced rum. Mayhap that would help."
"Nay," Saidh groaned when Greer broke their kiss.
"Did ye say nay or aye, dear? 'Tis hard to hear ye through the door."
Saidh gave her head a shake, trying to concentrate, and then sighed and called, "I'm so sorry I disturbed ye m'lady, and I appreciate yer kindness, but nay, I would jest rather get back to sleep."
"All right then, dear," Lady MacDonnell said and Saidh glanced sharply down again as Greer gave up on her breasts and reached between them to begin to caress the nub just above where they were joined.
Saidh bit back a gasp and clutched at his arms as he teased her passion quickly back to full life.
"But if ye change yer mind and need anything, I'm just up the hall, dear. And don't ye worry about waking me," Lady MacDonnell said through the door. "Ye just come see me if ye like. All right?"
"Oh, aye," Saidh gasped, raising her legs to wrap them around Greer's hips and dig her heels into his butt to give her leverage as she began to rock into his caresses.
"Very well then, good sleep, Saidh, dear. I'll see ye in the morn."
"Aye," Saidh almost cried the word as Greer eased himself out of her and then slid back in. There was surprisingly little pain this time, and much more pleasure as he continued to caress her and Saidh began to clench around his body, legs, arms and entire body tightening in an effort to keep him where it wanted him.
When Greer pressed her face to his chest, she turned her mouth to his skin, knowing he was offering her a way to stifle the sounds building up in her throat. Little whimpering gasps issued from her throat and were muffled by his skin as he continue to increase the pressure mounting in her, and then he suddenly withdrew his caressing hand, to clasp her hips and pull her hard into his last thrust. But Saidh was already tipping over the edge of the cliff into her own release, and she cried out against his chest even as he released a guttural sound that she suspected was a roar, murdered in its infancy.
Chapter 8
S aidh rolled onto her back and stretched lazily, but stopped the moment her body protested in several places. One of those places was not one where she generally experienced discomfort and it made her eyes shoot open as memory rushed through her of the night and what she'd done.
What they'd done, she corrected herself, and turned her head on the pillow to seek out Greer, only to find the space empty beside her.
Sitting up abruptly, Saidh glanced around the room, but every bit of evidence that the man had ever been there was now gone. His clothes no longer lay on the fur by the fireplace. Neither did the linen they'd left there last night. It was back on the bed, and covering her, she realized. But he'd also removed any evidence of the food and drink he'd gone down to fetch from the kitchens after their first time together. They'd eaten the food on the fu
r in front of the fireplace, or at least they'd started to, but had got somewhat sidetracked and had ended up with him tossing up her skirts on the fur . . . well, if she'd been wearing a skirt he'd have tossed it up, but she hadn't.
After that, they'd returned to the bed and Saidh had cuddled up against him and drifted off to sleep, only to wake some time later to his caressing her into a fever and then thrusting into her again.
Saidh dropped back on the bed with a little satisfied sigh. While the first time had been terrible--at least the breaching had--it had much improved after that. She'd still felt a twinge of pain a time or two as they'd mated, but Greer had driven her to such heights of passion before getting to that point that it had been easily ignored.
Just the memory of the things he'd done to her made a tingle burst to life at the apex of her thighs and Saidh closed her eyes on the bed coverings overhead, allowing herself to drown in the memories. After a moment, she slipped her fingers under the sheet and furs to touch herself tentatively, curious to know what he experienced when he did it.
It was actually the first time she'd ever touched herself there and Saidh was quite surprised at how soft and slippery she was. It didn't feel the same when she touched herself, though. She missed Greer's presence, the feel of his warm body against her, the intoxicating scent of him, the taste of him as he covered her mouth with his own.
Suddenly wondering where he was and what he was doing, Saidh withdrew her hand, and pushed the linens and furs aside to leap out of bed. She rushed to her trunk then, the only one she'd brought, and began to pull out and examine the few gowns she'd brought away with her from Sinclair, trying to decide what to wear. For the first time in her life what she wore mattered to her. She wanted to look pretty for Greer. Of course, that being the case, it would be a time when she'd left most of her gowns elsewhere.
She was muttering to herself with exasperation as she discarded gown after gown when a knock sounded at the door. Stilling, she glanced toward it with surprise, and then--thinking it might be Greer--she straightened and rushed to it, a smile breaking on her face. Fortunately, she retained enough good sense not to open the door wide, but to crack it open and peer around it, keeping her nudity hidden behind the wooden panel.