A Beautiful Lie (The Camaraes) (32 page)

A breathless shake of Muira
’
s head was Lachlan
’
s rather satisfactory answer.  He dipped a hand between her legs, stroking her there, his grin widening when he felt how slick she was beneath the water.

“
Maybe I
’
d want to kiss you?
”
he murmured, pressing his lips against her neck. 
“
Only maybe I
’
d want to dip my head under the water and kiss you here?
”
he drawled, slipping a finger into her sheath.

“
Lachlan!
”
  Muira gasped, her eyes widened in disbelief and her body arched into his hand, sloshing water out over the edges of the tub.

“
Mmm, I think you
’
d like that,
”
he chuckled. 
“
I know I would.  I wonder how you taste,
”
he murmured thickly, lapping his tongue heavily over her throat, eking what sounded like a purr to trickle from Muira
’
s lips. 
“
Maybe I
’
d ask you do the same for me?
”
he panted.

“
Oh God,
”
she whimpered, flushed with heat.

“
Would you do that for me, Muira?
”
Lachlan rasped, beginning to wonder if he would be able to stop.  He swirled his tongue into her ear again. 
“
Would you take me in your mouth?
”

“
Yes!
”
she cried desperately. 
“
Yes!  Just-
”

Lachlan kissed her, hard, on the lips, thrusting his tongue between her teeth, worshipping the sweet hollow of her mouth until she was breathless. 
“
Later,
”
he promised wickedly, withdrawing his hands and causing Muria to scream.

“
Lachlan!
”
she shrieked. 
“
Don
’
t-
”

“
We don
’
t have time,
”
he whispered, drawing back from the tub.  As if on cue there came a light knock on the door. 
“
I send for one of the castle maids to come and help you with-
”
he paused and cocked an eyebrow,
“
-whatever it is that ladies with maids need help with.
”

“
Send her away?
”
Muira pleaded desperately, twisting so that she could try and grasp hold of her husband. 
“
Lachlan, I need-
”
she gasped, but he pressed a finger against her red lips to silence her.

“
Patience,
”
he whispered thickly. 
“
Anticipation is a pleasure all of its own,
”
he murmured, dropping a kiss against the tip of her nose and then getting to his feet.  Meanwhile, Muira gave another tortured whimper.

“
You
’
re going to pay for this Lachlan MacRae!
”
she moaned. 

He certainly hoped so
, he though, as he padded across the room, towel still wrapped around his waist, and opened up the door.  Lachlan smiled affably at the jolly little brunette standing in the hall.

“
Liane, come in, Robert told you what I needed?
”

“
Aye, well he did, sir, but I can
’
t say I quite understood him.
”

Lachlan wondered if everyone was going to display such an incredible mental block when it came to accepting that he was married.  He sighed. 
“
My wife requires a lady
’
s maid,
”
he said simply. 
“
You helped Lady Anne
’
s maid when she stayed at the castle last, didn
’
t you?
”

“
Your
wife
, sir?
”
Liane
’
s brown eyes nearly popped out of her head. 

She strained to see around her master, looking into the room for the mysterious lady.  Lachlan wasn
’
t sure why, but he was glad that there was a screen placed between the bath and the door, saving Muira from being gawped at like a carnival attractions.

“
Didn
’
t you?
”
Lachlan growled more harshly.  Liane blinked up at him in question. 
“
Help Lady Anne
’
s maid?
”
he repeated.

“
Oh, aye sir, that I did,
”
she said, bobbing apologetically.

“
Then you should be a great help to Mistress Muira,
”
he waved her passed him, into the room, and then proceeded to lead her around to his wife- who, Lachlan was pleased to see, still looked decided flushed and restless.

“
Muira,
”
he drawled,
“
this is Liane, she will be only too pleased to help you with anything you might need,
”
he paused, and shot her a roughish smile. 
“
Almost everything,
”
he amended, watching her blush deepen, and then with a nod of his head, Lachlan went to finish dressing himself.

He had chosen Liane for Muira
’
s maid with good reason.  The girl was perhaps a couple of years younger than his wife (too young for Lachlan ever to have trifled with) of a sunny, hardworking disposition that made her almost instantly likable to everyone she met. 

Liane was not the sharpest tack in the box.  She had innocence about her that made her unfailingly trusting and excessively eager to please.  She didn
’
t have a malicious bone in her young body, and Lachlan though it might do Muria some good to be waited on by a girl would couldn
’
t help but adore her.  He listened to the pair of them chatting away happily and considered it a job well done.

Lachlan was dressed in a matter of minutes, using the adjoining room, which was linked to his bedchamber, to get ready in.  This room was about half the size of the first, and housed a small collection of books on military tactics and a large, sturdy wood desk that had once belonged to Lachlan
’
s late grandfather. 

Lachlan pottered around in the study, as he called it- for want of a better title, for as long as he thought was necessary to enable a lady to dress to meet the Laird.  Having three sisters, and more female conquests than he would admit to, to his wife at any rate, he thought himself a fair judge of approximating the time that it would take Muria to get ready. 

He found that he had woefully underestimated.

Muria was dressed when he returned to the bedroom, but she was nowhere near ready.  Liane was only just beginning to brush out the long, luxuriant curls of his wife
’
s hair.  Lachlan wondered if this was part of his punishment.  His body was already suffering its own pangs of longing after he had cut their earlier session short.

“
How long is this going to take?
”
he grumbled, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“
As long as it needs to take,
”
Muira said sweetly.

Which actually turned out to mean nearly an hour, but once Lachlan had gotten over his initial irritation at being made to wait, he found himself watching the whole business with barely concealable interest.  Liane had tried to shoo him away, muttering something in her funny little way about it being unseemly for a husband to watch his wife in such a manner, but Lachlan refused to budge. 

It was the oddest sort of torture, seeing Muira preened and polished and made up until she could have passed for a member of the Royal court.  She was so exquisitely beautiful.  He thought perhaps he had started to take it for granted, and then he considered that he
’
d never seen her quite like this, not even o their wedding day.  She looked positively radiant.

“
Well,
”
she said, as she turned to face him, dusting an imaginary speck of dust off her exquisite gown. 
“
How do I look?
”

Did she have to ask?
  Lachlan wondered breathlessly,
surely she knew that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on?

“
Like a princess,
”
he breathed, a little embarrassed to hear the catch in his voice, but the smile that broke across Muira
’
s face warmed his heart.  She had forgiven him for his teasing, for the time being at least. 
“
Come,
”
he offered her his arm, which she immediately accepted,
“
I have a whole castle of people to show you off to,
”
he whispered, a deep surge of possessive pride gripping him suddenly.