Knight Defender (Knight Chronicles) (16 page)

• • •

Time and place faded to nothing. Only Raeb’s arms existed, only his touch, his kiss. Then his clothes, like hers, were gone. Skin slid against skin, and need moved with need. Warmth flooded her belly at his caress. Heat ached through her nipples. She rubbed her breasts against him, seeking to increase that delicious fire. She wanted, needed, more and slipped her palms along his hips aiming for what she desired most.

Raeb groaned, and his arms fell away.

She stilled. Raising her head, she looked into his face. Suffering was writ clear in his clenched jaw and dazed eyes. “Are you all right?”

“Aye. I am in pain with longing for you. Your very touch is agony so sweet, I cannot bear to be without it.”

She grinned. “Really? I did not expect such flattery when I first made love.”

“’Tis no flattery,
a chiallaich
. At this moment, you are my greatest desire.” He settled onto the makeshift bed and pulled her down beside him.

His words reminded her that the moment would end, must end, just as her time at Dungarob would cease. All the more reason to wring every drop of pleasure from the here and now. Rising on one elbow, she pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “Then let us end this agony we share and find bliss together.”

He settled her palm over his erection, showing her how he wished her to stroke him. “Aye, touch me. Let me touch you.”

He trailed his fingertips over her breast, caught the nipple between thumb and forefinger, easing the bud toward his lowering mouth to lick, and blow and suckle it.

“Ah, yes, please.” Her womb contracted. Her hand clutched around his penis, causing it to buck and jerk. His hips thrust against her grip. His lips tugged on her nipple. She loved what he was doing to her, what she was doing to him, the heated, heady mix of surrender and power. But it was not enough.

“I—I need … ” So much, she could not begin to say. Restrained by indecision, her hands paused above his body.

“Jessamyn, please, touch me.”

“Where, how?”

“Everywhere, anywhere. With your hands, your mouth, your sweet body, anything you wish, just touch me, I beg of you. I shall surely die if you do not.”

She smiled. “Now that is the most foolish thing I have ever heard. You are far too strong to die from lack of my touch.”

He smiled back at her. “Nae, even now my brow burns, and my heart races fit to burst from my chest.”

“Surely not.”

“Touch me. Discover the truth for yourself.”

She placed a hand on his forehead. He felt hot to her touch but not feverish. She stroked her hand down his cheek to his throat, letting her fingers rest there. The blood beat fast beneath her fingertips. His skin was moist, another sign of possible malaise, but the scent of him made her mouth water. Everything about him made her hunger.

She gave in to an odd urge and feathered rapid licks from his pulse to his earlobe, as she might savor a rare treat.

“Mmmm,” she murmured low. “Who knew such delight could be found on a man’s skin?”

Raeb’s chuckle rumbled soft against her belly. “’Tis no the only taste we’ll savor.” His fingers grazed the side of her breast.

She gasped, as those same fingers found her nipple again and tugged lightly. An answering tug twinged between her legs where she knew no fingers teased because his other hand busily stroked her bottom.

She squirmed, trying to ease the growing ache in her lower belly and felt the steely ridge of his flesh against her softness.

“What think you, Jessamyn?” he whispered against her lips. “Is that not also delicious?”

She frowned into his passion-dark eyes. “’Tis a strangely painful delight.”

“Aye, that it is, my lady. And ’twill be a most toothsome exercise to ease that pain. But first let me make it worse.” He matched his lips to hers then teased her with feather-light licks of his tongue, until her mouth tingled and burned with wanting to be closer.

She opened her mouth but got no chance to plead with him for more. His tongue darted within and quenched one need while it stoked the aching fire in her belly and between her thighs.

He lifted his head.

She heard a dazed moan come from her own mouth.

A satisfied smile bloomed on his face. He traced her lips with a fingertip. “Is that better?”

“No.” She took in a huge breath. “’Tis much worse, for now I ache and burn all over.”

“Really? Tell me where.” His grin broadened, and he arched a brow. He rolled over, bringing her swiftly beneath him, and framed her face with his hands.

“Please,
a chiallaich
, let me show you how much better it can be.” He cupped one hand over her breast and squeezed.

The twinge between her thighs tightened. Her hips lifted, and she pressed herself against his maleness.

“Ah that feels so good, Jessamyn. I can scarce stand this petting much longer.”

She whimpered with a need she could not understand. Her legs moved restlessly. “Raeb, please hurry, I don’t know how much more I can stand either.”

“Soon, darling, soon.”

Cool air prickled her burning flesh then his mouth covered her breast and sucked. Heat sizzled through her body, met the throbbing fire where she rubbed against him, and exploded.

She was lost, spinning in some vast expanse of pleasure. She cried out in surprised wonder and clung to the man who’d sent her into an ecstasy that stole her breath.

“Ah, Jessamyn, you are beautiful. Your passion is a glory to behold. You humble me with such a gift.”

She floated back on the strength of those whispered words. His voice urged and stroked, like the hands that earlier removed her clothing and made her moan when they brushed over her too sensitive breasts.

His palms teased across her hips. He rubbed circles there then danced his fingers lower to her pale curls. Her eyelids fluttered up, and she focused on Raeb kneeling between her legs.

“That’s right, look at me. I want to see you, to know that you see me.”

Velvety hardness probed at the apex of her thighs, and she could feel the ache start to flame and build again in her belly.

She watched him study her. Followed his glance with her own across the flush that stained her chest, over the hardened nipples, past the dampened fluff to where his hand stroked her flesh into delicious excitement.

He shifted his hips forward. Pressure built within her at the small movement. She gasped and arched her body. His hand left off its stroking. She whimpered at the loss while he pressed her back to the furs. “Not yet,” he crooned. His hands grasped her hips, making small adjustments in their position. With every move, the ache knotted tighter. She thrashed her head, frustrated by his iron control.

“Raise your hands and grasp them above your head, Jessamyn. Dinna let go.”

The blood pounding in her ears made his voice sound far off, but the swelling pressure inside her told her how close he truly was.

“Jessamyn.” His voice held a note of warning. “If you dinna do as I say, I canna go further.”

“But, I want ... I want ... ” She knew not what she wanted. “You must!” she insisted.

“Then place your hands as I bade you.”

She growled her impatience and lifted her arms.

No sooner had her fingers found purchase with each other than the pressure lessened. She felt his body leaving hers and knew that was the very thing she didn’t want. “Nooo.” Her protest changed to a cry as she felt his thrust. The swift return of pressure within and the small twist of pain were gone. In their place, built a need so intense she clutched him with every muscle and fiber of her being. She knew in the moment that loving him would break her heart. Sighing into ecstasy, she vowed not to let that happen.

• • •

Raeb panted, trying to restrain himself. Lust urged him to move within her, to rut and satisfy his body’s hunger for climax. But more than that he wanted to savor the most intense pleasure he had ever felt. This woman, so unlike any other woman, was a true pearl beyond price. He would not treat her cheaply with hurried fucking like a whore. He found himself wanting to find pleasure with her, not take it from her. He looked into her eyes and saw tears pooled on her lashes.

With one hand he stole the salty dew and lifted it to his lips. “Jessamyn, sweet, you are suffering.”

“No,” she gritted through her teeth and tossed her head.

“Of course you are, and I am a fool.” He blundered on, searching for words to ease a hurt he knew could only be soothed by time. He lowered his lips to hers. “’Trust me, please. ’Twill be better soon.”

“Yes, it will be better if you will please start to move again. I cannot bear this waiting.”

He smiled. “As you wish.” He began a slow withdrawal and felt her inner muscles ripple over him. “Ah, so sweet.” Then he thrust inward again. Her body clenched around him; her answering moan vibrated through him. Setting an easy rhythm, he watched passionate wonder grow on her face.

“I want to touch you.”

“Not yet.”

“Please,” she pleaded. “I need to feel you.”

“Feel this.” He twisted his pelvis as he thrust, first one way, then another.

Her hips jerked from his grasp and followed his lead.

 The slick grip of her body on his penis tightened, and he lost what little control remained. He plunged deeper and deeper still. She arched against him, once, twice, and a third, long heave that drove him over the edge. His seed burst forth in long, throbbing streams. His mind tumbled free. Only her cries, sounding faintly through the pulse that pounded in his ears, and the heavy gasps of her chest against his told him that she shared his delirious ecstasy.

Raeb rolled to the side and pulled Jessamyn to him, settling her head on his shoulder.

She looked up into his eyes and smiled, then reached out with her tongue and licked a small patch of his sweat-dampened skin. “Mmmm. Will you teach me how to make you feel like this?”

“Like what, my lady?” He knew exactly how she felt but wanted desperately to hear her say it.

“All liquid and relaxed. As if all the bones in my body melted into a heated pool of pleasure and I drowned there, happy in the dying.”

His smile broadened. “Aye, Jessamyn, I will teach you many ways to pleasure us both.”

“When?”

“After we have rested a while.”

“Will it take long, this teaching?”

“Aye, I hope so.”

“Good.” She snuggled against him and was soon asleep. He drifted into sleep himself, thinking that life might be very good indeed with a woman like Jessamyn. What a shame she was English.

The sun was still well above the horizon when Raeb woke her and said they must leave. But dusk had fallen when they reached the Dungarob stables. She dismounted then removed Persia’s saddle before leading the mare to a spacious stall. Raeb joined her.

“We must talk.”

She raised a brow as she began to brush Persia. “Very well.”

“I’ve taken your virtue. We must wed within the week.”

She suppressed a frown. Arguing would gain her nothing, and since she intended to leave with the ship now in the harbor, agreeing would gain her much.

“I see little difference whether we wed today or at midsummer, but if it will please you, by all means arrange it with the priest.”

“My sisters will want to prepare a large feast and invite every neighbor and stranger they can find.”

She smiled. “I would want the same if one of my brothers were marrying.”

“Then while we will have a large feast in a week, I will ask the cook to prepare a special meal for Clan MacKai tonight. I wish to announce our decision and celebrate it now.”

She nodded and reached for a currycomb.

He kissed her cheek and took the brush from her hand. “Allow me to tend your mare.”

“I rarely let anyone but myself care for Persia.”

His eyes caressed her.

She flushed.

“Allow me to do this for you. You are sore, and a bath will ease your aches.”

She rolled her shoulders against the weariness there. “’Tis true, but I am like to fall asleep and drown if I bathe now.”

“I’ll send my sisters to you.” He grinned. “None could sleep with all their chatter.”

“And here I thought you were being kind. Instead you punish me with a flock of chirping birds.”

He shook his head then bussed her lips. “Go now, or I may take you here in the hay.”

“Hmm,” she mused. “A flock of sisters or lovemaking in the hay. There is no choice. Which stall would you like to use?”

She fluttered her lashes at him.

Though he smiled, his tone was stern. “You will have to wait for our wedding before you get more of that, wench. Now go.”

“Very well.” She sighed as much with guilt as disappointment. She had no intention of going through with the wedding; other promises prevented it. Nonetheless, she conjured a flirtatious smile. “But I only go because I know you’ll suffer as much as I.”

As she left, she purposely twitched her hips, showing him exactly what he’d be missing. Mayhap she should consider changing her goals. She loved Raeb’s sisters and his clan. Dungarob was not as pleasing on the eye as Blancmer, but it had deep valleys and good grazing. She would enjoy helping Raeb rebuild his stables and the MacKai reputation as horse breeders. Her heart raced. Was she truly thinking of abandoning her long-held dreams? After her bath and the sisters left, she warned Margery that there might be a change in their plans. The maid had warned her to decide soon. The ship was to sail on the morning tide, and if Jessamyn changed her mind, the arrangements with the ship’s captain must be canceled. Jessamyn promised a decision by the time supper ended.

• • •

Descending to supper that night, Jessamyn heard low voices ahead on the first landing. The voices grew louder as she approached.

“The MacKai horses have been left at Strathnaver as you instructed until the Dungarob stables are restored enough to house the steeds properly.” That voice belonged to Dougal. The captain of the MacKai guard must have returned.

She paused, uncertain whether to interrupt the men or return to her room.

“I’ve delivered all the messages you sent to those who will help discourage Longshanks from using Dungarob as a base for conquering Scotland.” Dougal continued, “I even encountered Rhuad MacFearann on my travels. He said to tell you that MacTavish accepts your offer and will arrive two weeks before midsummer for his bride. MacFearann also confirmed that throughout the Highlands warriors are arming and training in preparation to take Edward I’s ships and his men. I was welcomed home with rumors that you’ve warmed toward Lady Jessamyn. Have you changed your mind about sending her back? Do you now plan wed the lady?”