A Year and a Day (8 page)

He chuckled at the reaction, but didn’t move away. His forefingers had lighted on the back of her hand, and he traced a lazy pattern over her veins as she continued to take an overlong time dabbing and wringing the cloth.

Cait didn’t know how such a tiny, insubstantial touch could do so much. At the first whisper against her skin, a furious ticking began between her legs. She squirmed uncomfortably. “All finished!” she finally announced and started to rise, but Ewan caught her. His fingers clamped tightly around her wrist, holding her down.

“You missed a spot,” he declared in a sultry drawl that went straight through her body to pool in her womb.

Cait bit her lip, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed. Her pulse was racing when she looked his way. His eyes were slightly open: dark and gleaming with an emotion she couldn’t name, but which made the throbbing between her legs more urgent than before.

She submitted, helplessly, when he dragged her hand beneath the water. Still clasping the washcloth like a shield he raked it over the outside of his thighs, across his hips, and then…

“Oh!” Cait gasped, dropping the flannel in surprise when her palm knocked against something that was both hard and silken at once.

She tried to jerk away, but once again Ewan caught her wrist. She barely breathed when he pressed the rag back into her hand and guided her back, making her feel the long, swollen length of his cock.

Cait was horrified- and fascinated. Of course, she had felt it once before-
inside her body-
but this was different. It seemed even more wanton to feel it in her hand where it had no purpose save to gratify her curiosity and Ewan’s carnal desires.

She no longer wondered what she wanted. The dark, cloudy look she’d first seen that morning had returned again to his eyes. Her skin prickled in response. It felt like a harbinger- like leaves turning over in the wind before a storm. She wondered when Ewan would break.

“Wash.” The command was entirely secondary to the feel of the word breathed against the shell of her ear. Ewan’s hot breath hinted, but did not disclose the plans that he had in store. For now he was content to curl his palm around her own and guide her hand up and down his cock.

He repeated the gesture a half-dozen times, and then released his hold. Cait continued to stroke him as she’d been show. She watched in mingled revulsion and pride as Ewan arched his neck over the edge of the tub. With every wet pass of her hand, the tendons in his muscles tensed and his breath came out in an uneven hiss. The reaction was stronger when she worked faster, softer when she was less intense. She kept watching him, varying her technique until his hips were arching up out of the basin into her hand. Water sloshed over the edges, soaking the hem of her skirt, but she didn’t stop or falter until Ewan’s hand wrapped around her wrist in an iron grip.

“STOP!” Ewan groaned, squeezing so tight that her hand went nerveless and her fingers had no choice but to slip away. He muttered a filthy word under his breath, and then laid back against the tub again, finally releasing her hand.

It felt to her side, and hung there motionless while her eyes welled up with tears. “I’m sorry!” Cait blurted, disgusted that she had once again lost control.

Ewan made an odd, choking sound. It took a moment for her to realize what it was. “Sorry, lass?” he said. Then, looking as though it took a great deal of effort, he pushed himself forward until he was kneeling on his knees inside the tub. Cait kept her eyes on his face, and so she was surprised when his fingers brushed her jaw. She flinched,  but then stilled when he captured her chin, “Nothing to be sorry for,” he assured her, and then winked, “Just doing what you were told.”

Ewan’s senses were still hazy from his near release, but they were sharp enough to
Cait
ch the shadow that fell across her face. He frowned in confusion, wondering what on
Earth
had gone wrong now! Cait was lovely. To his delight, he was learning that she promised to prove talented as a lover, but he was
damned
if he knew what was going on her head.

She’s been in love with you these fifteen years
, Ewan had spent the past half hour testing the truth of his sister’s words. All he’d gotten was more confused!

If Cait were feeling any pangs of love, he certainly couldn’t see them on her face. She didn’t look like she was feeling pangs of
anything
except possibly fear! He frowned at the discovery. “Come here,” he said, gesturing back toward the tub, pleased and amazed when she obeyed. He took his shoulders in his hands and held her still while popping a kiss on the bridge of her nose.

Cait’s expression didn’t change, but Ewan’s did. His frown deepened, frustrated by her lack of reaction. Only minutes before her hands had been raking fire across his skin. Now she seemed to have curled up inside of herself and hidden behind a wall of ice.

Contemplating his next action, Ewan dragged his fingertips across her cheek. It reminded him of a juicy peach- ripe and firm beneath his pruney fingers. He lingered there, tracing tiny circles until she finally leaned a fraction into his hand.

“There now,” he whispered, still acting as though he was soothing a skittish animal, “There’s a lass…” He dotted kisses down her nose in between the words, and then lingered over her lips for a moment, taking care to lavish them thoroughly with gentle attention before probing lightly with his tongue. As before, Cait consented- but in a frustratingly automatic gesture. Did she really not feel the electricity between them? Or was she simply refusing to react.”

“I lied,” Ewan breathed, taking a gamble. As he’d hoped, the woman’s expression finally changed. She arched a brow curiously.

“About what?” she whispered.

Ewan gave her an arrogant smirk, and tightened the pressure on her arms as he purposefully sloshed more of the water out of his tub and onto the floor where she knelt.

“About whether you’d done anything wrong,” he purred playfully. “You
have
been a wicked girl…” he let her squirm for a moment, enjoying the animation in her face as she frantically attempted to discern
what
he was going on about! “You’ve ruined your dress,” he said in a mock-chiding tone. “You’ve gone and got it wet.”

“I-! You-!” Cait sputtered indignantly, and Ewan seized on the distraction to reach for the tie of her bodice. With a single tug, he undid the bow, and then he let his finger burrow into the loosened laces to gradually work them free.

Cait’s body belied her icy expression. She was hot and alive beneath her dress when Ewan’s hands greedily plunged into
its
neckline and groped over her lovely curves.

“M-master Cameron!” Cait squeaked in a tone that made Ewan laugh.

“Master Cameron?” he echoed as he stripped the bodice completely off her shoulders and began to fuss with the fastening on her skirt, “So formal?” he bent to kiss her neck as he peeled away the second half of her gown and then found the hem of her chemise. He inched it up, gradually exposing her skin up to her thighs. It flickered golden in the firelight- not that he was paying much attention to the sight. He was far more captivated by the
feel
of her body under his hands. They squeezed and stroked over her shapely limbs before tending to the cleft between her legs. “A bit inappropriate, don’t you think?” his brogue rumbled into her ears just as he finally found her clit.

Cait’s body jerked, unable to contain
its
primal reaction to his touch. Ewan took a bit of satisfaction from that fact. Perhaps she really was simply holding back? He had a very promising plan for finding out.

Without removing his fingers, he resumed his teasing. He swirled one sword and bridle-calloused finger through her slit while he whispered into her ear, “do you know what I’m going to do to you now?”

There was another shudder. Ewan felt it course along her spine, and he noted the
Cait
ch in her breath before she whispered, “W-what we did this morning.”

His lips curled into an arrogant smile, “Aye- what we did this morning.” He leaned closer. Out of pure wickedness, he pushed a finger into her sex. “Did yo
u like what we did this morning..
.
Mistress
Cait?”

She blinked at him, surprised by the address, but unable to concentrate completely while his hands were occupied in their current activity. “I..I…of course,” she said with a quiet month. “It was…nice.”

“Nice?” Ewan said sharply, drawing his hands away as his expression darkened.

Cait’s eyes widened. “I mean…I-!”

“Nice?” he growled again. Cait would have backed away, but his strong forearms were already curled around her back. “I think that we might need to do something about that.”

“Ewan, what are you-?” she started to ask. Ewan didn’t have time to answer. In truth, he didn’t know what he would have said. His wounded ego seemed to be controlling his body without consulting the rest of his mind. In a show of decisive strength, he swept her off of her knees, pulled her to him, and then toppled them both onto the floor in front of the fire.

“Ewan!” Cait gasped, but with difficulty. She was pinned to the floor beneath her chest. A great deal of the water from the tub had spilled out when Ewan
shifted,
so that she was lying in a pool of soapy water beside the fire. The chemise that had been damp before was now soaked- but Ewan wasn’t complaining. He loved the way that the thin, wet fabric clung to her every curve. The linen was plastered to her skin, and so sheer that it was nearly transparent. He spied the raised pink nub of her nipples through the cloth and seized it with his lips and teeth.

“Only nice?” he muttered again, and then he went to work in earnest.

Ewan had been with more women than he was likely to own to if asked by anyone other than his drinking mates. While he regretted some of his youthful indiscretions, experience had given him considerable skill, and it had suddenly become imperative that Cait learn to appreciate that skill.
After all...
he thought, in token appeasement to the part of his mind still anxious about getting in too deep,
there was no reason for any of this to be unpleasant.
Cait would be more willing to come to him if it was for an experience she enjoyed- and he was damn determined that she
would
enjoy it!

“Oooooh,” Cait’s soft moan was a promising beginning, but Ewan wanted so much more. 

Ewan continued to pleasure her breasts, rasping his tongue over one pebbled nipple while he squeezed the other breast. His other hand remained between her legs, teasing the little bundle of nerves at the opening of her sex and shallowly thrusting into her core.

It wasn’t long until she was moving against his hands. He waited until she was lost in sensation before he abruptly pulled away.

The sound of protest that sprang from the back of her throat prompted a satisfied smile. “Nice?” he asked.

Cait was gasping for breath. When she finally caught it, she glared. “
Nice
!” she replied defiantly.

Ewan chuckled, “Well, let’s see what we can do about that…”

With a look of relief that she couldn’t hide, Cait’s eyes sank closed again. They popped open immediately, however, when she felt him yanking up the bottom of her dress.

”What are you-?” she yelped.

“You can’t expect me to manage more than nice while I’m working under a handicap, can you?” he responded, plucking away the fingers trying to hold her chemise on her hips. Ewan yanked it upwards, exposing the tops of her thighs and the thatch of soft brown hair between her legs.

Cait’s face was flushed crimson, but she didn’t push him away. Ewan noted this with satisfaction as he knelt between her knees. She didn’t even try to resist when he spread them far apart, but squeaked in horror when he leaned forward.

“Ewan!” she squealed, clutching at his dark hair, “What are you doing?”

“I thought we’d try something
very
nice,” he purred innocently in reply, and ignored the frantic plucking of her fingers as he bent over and planted a kiss just below her navel.