He rubbed the small of her back as he lingered inside her, admiring the sight of her on her hands and knees. She began to shift, but a low sound from his throat stilled her, and she resumed her stance, back arched, head down. Only after a long moment did he withdraw his cock and back away. Even then, she lay still as he’d arranged her. He studied her pliant form thoughtfully, running his hand up her thigh to her bottom.
“How white and unmarked you are,
Cait
.”
She made a faint sound into the bedcovers. He caressed the other shapely globe.
“There is still the matter of your punishment to see to.”
She sighed softly. “I know.”
He leaned close to her, breathing in the scent of her hair as he whispered in her ear. “You remember, of course, it is not to hurt you. It is not only done to cause pain. Not like him...”
“Yes, I know. I know you do it to help me be good.”
“And because I love you.”
“And because you love me. And care about me, and want me to be safe.”
“Good girl,” Duncan said. “You haven’t forgotten.”
No, she had never forgotten, although he had. Everyone had forgotten what love was all about.
Everyone but
Cait
.
“Such a good girl.”
He lifted her hands from the bed to place them firmly on the headboard. “Such commendable obedience is rewarded. If you keep your hands there and remain perfectly still for the first ten strokes, you may take the second ten over my lap.”
“Yes, sir,” answered
Cait
in a most submissive tone.
With a smile he lifted his leather belt from the floor and doubled it over. He didn’t make her wait. And yes, he was perhaps a bit soft on her, but it had been a while since she’d taken any punishment, and she was several months pregnant besides. Still, he managed to give them just enough
sting
. She fought against the urge to fidget and dodge the blows, her fists going white-knuckled where they wrapped over the edge of the bed. She grew more and more tense, determined to please him. At ten, she sighed in relief.
Duncan laid the belt down, schooling his face to seriousness, playing his role. He would remain the firm disciplinarian until the punishment was over, although he was as pleased as she was at the prospect of continued punishment over his lap. He loved to see her struggling to take blows in position, or tied up, but he loved more to feel her squirm and tense across his thighs.
He sat on the bed and pulled her unresisting form across his lap. If she noticed he was obscenely hard again, she was far too well trained to let it show.
He marveled at how different she felt already as he held her, that extra softness she carried. He cradled her, holding her secure with one arm across her back. He spanked her, being careful to concentrate the force on the roundest part of her bottom. He felt the delicious conflict of wanting to enjoy every minute of spanking her, and at the same time wanting to rush through in order to impale her on his cock when it was done.
In the end he did both. He didn’t dawdle, but neither did he rush. He gave her ten good, stinging spanks. Her tiny moans and wriggles drove him on.
He thought wryly to himself at the end as he pulled her up and lowered her onto his
cock, that
these punishments did much more than keep her safe. They did more than keep her
obedient,
show that he loved her...
For both of them, they did much, much more than that.
Chapter Seventeen
Duncan was at the practice field when he saw
Edana
ride into the courtyard. Even from his vantage point on the far rise, there was no mistaking it was her. The upright stance, the aura of power—even alone in the wild forests of Scotland, she was absolutely safe.
But not his wife.
His wife was not safe. Her time was almost upon her, and
Edana
showing up only magnified that fact.
Cait
seemed healthy and spirited enough for someone in her condition. But Lenore too had been healthy and spirited up until the last hours before she died.
He took his time making his way over to her, feeling each step bringing him closer to the end of this ordeal, his wife’s pregnancy and the inevitable birth.
“Don’t you look surly this morning,”
Edana
murmured. “Not happy to see your dear mother-in-law?”
“Of course I am happy to see you.”
“Only fretting about the reason I’m here.”
“All husbands fret.”
“Not all,” said the priestess. “But the best ones do. Come,” she said, holding out her hand to him. “Show me to my daughter. Let me see how well she is.”
As they walked down the corridor to
Cait’s
room,
Edana
questioned him about her recent habits and activity. “Has she been eating well? Resting? Getting fresh air?”
“Too much fresh air.
She’s been gardening, walking about town, climbing blasted trees. I finally ordered her to her room a couple days ago, to preserve my own sanity.”
“It’s better that she’s active. It’s afterward that she must be made to rest. You have a nursery prepared, and nursemaids?”
“Yes, although I doubt Henna will allow anyone else to lay hands on the babe.
Even me.”
Edana
laughed. “You will have your chance to hold your child, I promise you. It is best if fathers stay involved.”
“Like
Cait’s
father?”
Edana’s
smile faded. “That situation was not average. You should not pass judgment on situations you know nothing about.”
“I judge no one,” Duncan sighed. “I just want this over with. And I want Caitlyn to survive.”
“I promise you, Duncan, I do too. And I tell you again, she will give birth with ease. I am more worried about you making a nuisance of yourself and scaring your poor wife out of her wits with your dire fears.”
They stopped outside
Cait’s
door.
Edana
looked at him sternly.
“You will wipe that frown off your face and smile at her and act as if you are at ease.”
“I will not. You may visit her alone. Henna is within. I will leave these matters to the ladies, and return to the fields where I am more useful.”
Duncan stalked away. He knew he’d been rude, but he wouldn’t stay and smile and pretend total confidence when he was miserable with dread. He would smile when it was over, if things turned out all right.
And if they didn’t...well.
He was not even able to think about that.
* * * * *
Edana
smiled to herself as she knocked on the door. What a singular man, this Devil of Inverness. What a sentimental mess. There was only one man in a hundred who could put aside his own ego and selfishness to love a woman as he ought, and of those, fair few who loved and protected their wives perhaps even more than they should.
Lucky daughter of hers.
She pushed open the door to find
Cait
smiling at her from the bed, surprised and pleased.
“Dearest Caitlyn,”
Edana
greeted her warmly. “It is almost
time
, is it not?”
Cait’s
eyes shone with excitement. “Is it? I’ll have the baby soon?”
“Yes, you will. Does Henna not tell you as much?” She nodded to the old woman in the corner, her own face alight with excitement.
“Oh, I tell the lass every day her time is near and she must keep to bed, but she won’t,” said Henna with a blustery sigh.
Edana
sat at her bedside. “Let me look at this grandchild of mine waiting to be born.”
She drew back the covers and laid her hands on
Cait’s
swollen belly, pressing here and there carefully. “Head down I see. That’s the best way. Does the baby feel low in your belly? Lower these last few days?”
“It feels low all the time,” said
Cait
. “And today, the baby presses on my back so that it aches.”
Edana
smiled in approval. “It does come shortly then.
Within days.
Perhaps tomorrow.
Perhaps even tonight.”
“Tonight?”
Cait
echoed.
“So soon?”
“It comes when it comes. Do you want a boy or a girl?”
Edana
said lightly to distract her.
“I want a little
girl,
although I think Duncan wants a boy.”
I think Duncan will take anything so long as you withstand the birth
, thought
Edana
to herself. “Well, if you wish to get out of bed into the fresh air, the best thing to do now is walk.”
“Walk?”
“Yes, dearest, and I’ll happily walk with you. Henna, help me pull her up.”
* * * * *
Cait
felt that she was waddling more than walking, but she tried to keep up with
Edana
as they toured Gordon’s garden plots.
Cait
showed her the various plants and flowers she enjoyed tending, but she felt silly because she was sure
Edana
knew more of gardening than she could ever dream. Still, her mother listened and nodded in approval, taking time to congratulate Gordon on his crops. She pointed out helpful plants and flowers for use in healing and other household tasks.
“How do you know so much?” asked
Cait
.
“Years of training and study.” She looked down at her daughter. “You might have studied the
priestessly
arts too, but you were a terribly sensitive child. I felt it was not the life for you. You were so shy, so retiring. I knew early on that you did not have the guile or hardness of conscience to be high priestess after me. Do you regret it? Would you have liked to study?”
“I don’t know.”
Cait
shrugged. “I like being Duncan’s wife.”
“And you’ll be a mother soon as well. You are fortunate, much more fortunate than most women. Your husband loves you very much.”
“Don’t all husbands love their wives?”
Edana
laughed. “Oh, you are an innocent indeed. I should say not. Some husbands at least care for their wives. Some do not even do as much as that.
No, my
Cait
.
You are one of the few to know love with the one you’re wed to.”
“Did my father love you?”
Edana
blinked, but quickly composed herself.
“Well, you know, we were never wed, your father and I.”
“But did he love you? Did he care about you?”
“We...I... We were like strangers on the night you...that we...the night you were conceived. But we understood one another at once.”