The Scottish Lord’s Secret Bride (11 page)

‘Oh I think it will.’ He let go of her and turned her around so her back rested on his chest. In the large mirror on the wall next to the hearth they were both reflected in the glass. Light and dark shadows moved as the fire flared and the logs caught. Her skin gleamed and his shirt shone bright.

Fraser’s hand slid over her back and up again and then the laces that criss-crossed her spine loosened and the sleeves of her gown slid down her arms. Morven wriggled to release her arms.

‘No, don’t do that.’ He rubbed his hands over her bare shoulders and drifted one long finger down to stroke the swell of her breast. ‘Wait and watch.’

She waited. And watched their images as he edged the neckline of her gown downwards to bare her breasts to their gaze.

‘Perfection.’ He began to stroke and knead each rounded pale globe until her nipples stood out in pleasurable pain.

Morven gasped. ‘I want…’

‘Oh so do I,’ he purred the words in a deep growly and downright seductive voice. ‘So do I. Even so, wait and watch. Slowly, love. Unfurl for me.’

She was more likely to explode if he didn’t do more. ‘I’ve done that,’ she panted and grit her teeth as Fraser laughed softly. ‘I’m wide open and waiting. If I unfurl any more I’ll unravel.’

‘No, you will be perfection, believe me. And you will be even more wide open and receptive. Later. For now though.’ One hand stayed on her breast and the other inched her skirts upwards.

With her arms still pinioned to her sides she couldn’t help. It was impossible to move except her feet from side to side. All she
could
do was watch as first one ankle, then the other and then her knees were revealed.

Her skin was on fire and she thought a cool breeze would help to douse some of the heat. Instead it inflamed her more.

Fraser blew in her ear and nibbled the lobe. ‘Watch, love. Watch yourself splinter and break.’

Even before she realised what he had done, he’d used both hands to secure her skirts round her waist. Then one palm cupped one breast and the other hand stroked her quim. Every muscle in her body tightened. He dipped one finger inside her wet channel and she mewled as sensations shot through her. His chuckle was deep, dark and dangerous.

‘Oh I think we can do better than that, don’t you?’ Fraser purred. ‘Do not move.’

She didn’t have time to wonder why. As fast as his hands left her body, he moved around her, twisted the armchair so its back faced the fire and propelled her to lean against it.

‘What a beautiful sight, love.’ Fraser stood to one side of her so she could see in the mirror what he admired so much. Her, with mouth slightly parted—in awe perhaps—rosy cheeks and breasts, her arms pinioned by the bodice of her gown and her skirts tucked around her waist. Her dark muff shone with arousal, and goosebumps dotted her sweat-sheened skin.

‘Perfection, love. Except maybe you need to be aware of more.’

‘If I experience any more I might expire,’ she said softly. God she was so on edge one touch could topple her into the sensual abyss that awaited.

Fraser chuckled. ‘Oh I don’t think so.’ He knelt at her feet and winked. ‘You might scream but luckily we’re too far away from any other rooms to bring people rushing.’ He bent his head and took her nub in his mouth.

Morven arched into him and bit back a scream as he suckled.

Fraser lifted his head a scant inch from her mound. His breath tickled her sensitive skin as he spoke. ‘Scream, love, show me you want this and more.’ His tongue flicked over the entrance to her channel and then dipped inside a little to gather up the juices there.

She writhed and his hands clutched her hips to hold her where he wanted her.

Then the assault on her senses increased threefold as his tongue laved, his teeth grazed and his lips sucked and caressed her. Her mound, her channel, her thighs and her clitoris all received equal attention. Fraser used his thumbs to press and stroke her skin as he increased her arousal. She began to sag as pulses throbbed and nerves jumped.

‘More, love, let it go and show me.’ He held her in place as she began to shudder and then he bit down on her nether lips and she exploded into tiny bits. Stars danced in front of her eyes, bells rang in her ears and she screamed as her climax overwhelmed her. Somewhere she thought she heard Fraser’s voice telling her how proud he was, how amazing she looked and to let herself be cosseted.

She might have answered him, but in truth Morven had no idea. She floated.

****

Fraser deposited his precious bundle on the bed, pulled her dress off and left her in her chemise and tenderly pulled the blankets over her. Morven muttered something and patted the bed. She didn’t open her eyes as she frowned.

‘Dreams,’ she muttered. ‘Always dreams.’

Leith 1810

“My love I dream of you, ache to feel you next to me once more. Will you come to me? Forgive me for watching you drive away?”

Did that mean she’d hoped it had been real, and wondered where he was? Fraser sat on the edge of the bed and bent his head to her ear. ‘Do you want me there with you, Morven? To hold you and caress you and keep you safe?’

‘Well of course I do…’ she grumbled. ‘Why would you think otherwise? But dreams don’t talk like that, they go and…’ Her eyelids fluttered open and she gasped. ‘Fraser?’

Her blush covered all of her that he could see. Which, as he’d tried to remove himself from temptation, wasn’t much.

‘Did we? Did you? Oh my, oh goodness oh…’ She dived under the bedclothes.

‘Amazing,’ he said firmly, and kissed the only bit of her he could see. The top of her head. ‘It has been my most ardent desire to hold you and see you splinter once more. It was…’ He stopped abruptly. Dare he open up and be frank?

I have nothing to lose.

‘It was?’ she asked as she lowered the covers a few inches.

Fraser took a deep breath. ‘Something I remembered and thought about whilst I was away. Something I used to help me gain my release during the long lonely nights. And something I hoped and prayed I would be privileged to see and hear again one day.’

Morven sat up and the sheets fell away exposing her rosy chest. Her nipples, Fraser noted, were still hard and proud.

‘Honestly?’

‘Oh, yes,’ he confirmed. ‘More times than I cared to admit. Oh I was no monk; sometimes the need for warm flesh had to be met. But more often than not I have pleasured myself with you as my guide.’

‘Ah then.’ Morven knelt up beside him and pulled at his shirt. ‘Perhaps we better see if your imagination lived up to reality.’ She moved the hem of his shirt up and over his shoulders and dropped the garment onto the floor.

‘So let me see. Is this as good?’ She bent her lips to his nipples and sucked each in turn before she grazed them with her teeth and pulled the areolae into her mouth.

‘Argh, love.’ His senses swam. God he would come there and then if he wasn’t careful. ‘Love, I’m on a knife edge here,’ he warned her. ‘I could spill now.’

Morven punched him lightly on the shoulder and rolled her eyes and let go of him with a gentle plop. ‘No you couldn’t—not yet. You have the strongest control I know. There’s so much more surely?’

‘Are you certain you want to do this?’ He had to ask. ‘It’s not pity or…’

Morven narrowed her eyes and glared. ‘Or nothing. If naught else you should remember I do not do pity. I want you. You, my laird, and only you. It’s been as long for me as it had for you.’ She bit her lips and shrugged. ‘Longer because I have only had my hand and no warm body.’ She blushed. ‘And, er, my darning mushroom.’

He’d have to ask her about that, later but not now. ‘Then,’ Fraser said fervently, ‘let me get my pantaloons off and we can show each other what we have been missing.’

Morven reached for his waistband. ‘Let me do it for you?’

Fraser put his hands over hers and moved them to her sides. ‘Not if you want me to come inside you.’ He paused. ‘Not literally, I will spill on a towel.’

She rolled her eyes again and fell back onto the mattress. ‘Then get the bloody towel and enjoy me for as long as you can. She shut her eyes for a second, and when she opened them they were dark as night and her expression was serious. ‘I’m empty without you, Fraser.’ Morven whispered the words. ‘I have spent almost eight years wondering what was wrong with me, with my life. Only one thing was wrong.’ She paused and smiled at him through the tears that slid down her face. ‘Happy tears,’ she said when he brushed one away with his thumb. ‘Very happy tears. So what was missing? Why did my life appear arid? Why did no one interest me? Because the one person I needed wasn’t there. You were missing. Make love with me, please.’

He needed no more bidding.

****

Contented and snuggled in Fraser’s arms, Morven promised herself she would enjoy her position and rest just for a moment. Until her brain was back into full working order. It might take a while. They had, she thought smugly, fallen on each other like ravenous beasts: rolling, snarling and neither one giving any quarter. She had been as bold and as forward as Fraser and he’d let her. Encouraged her even.

It had been a fierce coupling, and she had loved every second. As he shook and shuddered it had taken all of her resolve to let him withdraw and spill on the towel and not hold him tight inside her. Then her own climax had sent her into oblivion for several seconds, and her mind had taken its time to recover. Now she remembered with a jolt she still hadn’t told Fraser about her eavesdropping.

‘Fraser?’ Beside her Fraser stretched, spooned in behind her and kissed the nape of her neck.

‘Two minutes and we will talk,’ he said in a slurred voice as the clock chimed two. ‘I just need to hold you for a while to enable me to savour what we did and become coherent once more.’

Morven could understand that. ‘Sounds perfect.’ She closed her eyes and let his warmth surround her. When she opened them again it was to hear the clock strike four.

Four?
Morven squinted at the grey light, which seeped around the edge of the shutters—they hadn’t bothered to close the curtains. She poked Fraser in the ribs.

He grunted. ‘Wass…’ One eye was opened. ‘Morven. Thank goodness it wasn’t a dream.’

‘Yes well it might become a nightmare if you don’t wake up,’ she replied in a breathless voice. Was that his staff tickling her rear? ‘It’s past four in the morning. What time do the servants stir?’

Fraser rolled over onto his back and pulled her with him to lie prone on his body. There was no two ways about it; it had been his cock touching her back because now it stroked her front.

‘Not until five. We have plenty of time for this.’ He rolled them over again so that he was above her, bent his head and kissed his way down her throat, as he used his hands to find her channel. ‘Ah.’ He burrowed one then two fingers deep inside her. ‘Oh yes.’ He purred the words. ‘Oh, love, so wet, so very ready for me.’

Morven couldn’t deny that. All protestation left her mind as he nudged her legs apart and she welcomed him inside her. He didn’t have to ask her to entwine said legs around his neck, she did it automatically as her hands found his nipples and caressed them.

Fraser groaned and increased his steady thrusts. ‘I was going to be slow,’ he said breathlessly. ‘Wring every last emotion out of you, but hell, love, I can’t hold back.’

‘Good.’ Morven clenched her muscles around his staff, released and clenched hard again.

He shuddered, renewed his pace and shouted. Morven shook, as he pinched her nub and with a scream to match his, she once more fell into the void of sated completion. Her heartbeat thundered unevenly in her ears and her skin stung as if hundreds of bees had kissed it. Fraser slumped onto her and panted, his breath warm on her cheek as one hand rhythmically stroked her hair.

The clock sounded five.

Five?
‘Oh grief, get up,’ Morven said as she pushed frantically at the prone figure on top of her who grunted. ‘Fraser, for the love of all you hold dear, move. It’s all very well us enjoying ourselves, but our mamas would have a fit… Hold on.’ She remembered what she had overheard. ‘Or would they? We need to talk. Wake up.’

‘Oh, all right,’ he grumbled and slid to one side of her and stretched out face down next to her on the sheet. ‘But I was comfortable.’ He raised one arm and dropped it over her waist.

Morven groaned. His touch was much too arousing, and aroused was the last thing she needed to be at that moment. ‘Good, so was I. But the clock has just struck five. Servants, parents, scandal,’ she hissed. ‘And I have things to tell you. Things that could be important.’

Outside someone clattered along the corridor and they both froze.

Fraser rolled over and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. ‘Later,’ he said reluctantly. ‘We will escape later and go somewhere we can talk in private. Just follow my lead.’ He dressed rapidly and as his skin disappeared Morven had more than one pang of regret. She could only pray that wasn’t the last time she saw him naked.

‘When have I ever not done as you directed?’ Morven found her night-rail and slipped it over her head. ‘Now go or we will be in the mire.’

He grinned, took up his shoes, and walked over to the secret door, unlocked it and swung it open. ‘Breakfast at ten. Don’t be late.’

He disappeared through the aperture and closed it behind him. He didn’t, Morven noted, lock it. She sat on the edge of the bed, put her hand to her breast and sought comfort with her fingers.

Comfort was not there. Her chain and its precious contents had gone.

****

Fraser whistled as he stripped, washed and began to dress in clothes suited to a day out on the estate. He hadn’t the foggiest idea how he could get Morven alone for the second day running but hopefully an opportunity would present itself. A cryptic message from Brogan saying good luck and wish it for me as well, did nothing to help his chary mood. Meanwhile he had his pig man to talk to, and his gamekeeper wanted his opinion about where to site the traps for the wild cats that occasionally attacked the pheasant poults. If only they would stick to rabbits, he’d be a happy man. As it was, his gamekeeper thought he was crazy when he decided on setting the cats free on his other estate, a hundred or so miles to the north.