Highland Grace (32 page)

“Even if it were, how do I know that Bao has
not the same weakness? Just look at the way he gulled me into
mating with him! His abstinence didn’t even last a full sennight!
What will he do when the babe is born and I am unable to couple
with him for two moons?”

“Ah! Now it is clear to me. This groundless
fear is the cause of your continued stubborn refusal to reconcile
with Bao,” Maryn said, with a nod of her head. “Well, let me assure
you...there are other means of pleasuring your husband.”

Jesslyn warred with herself over whether to
tell Maryn the truth. “That is not possible,” she finally said. “I
can tell you naught more on the matter, so please do not press me
to confide it.”

Maryn’s eyes narrowed on her a split moment
before she gave a nod. “All right,” she said. “But think on this
awhile: Bao abstained for quite some time after you wed and his eye
did not stray once from you. You are his prize, the one he craves.
And, tho’ he did use some trickery to gain his ends, ‘twas with you
that he mated, not any other. And he hasn’t had another since you
and he first made love.”

“How know you this?” Jesslyn asked.

“He said as much to me two nights ago when he
asked my advice on what he might do to win your trust.” Maryn
strolled toward her stool and sat back down. “Oh, there was one
occasion in Perth, that evidently ended quite embarrassingly for
him, in which he couldn’t, shall we say, hoist his manly sword? But
after that, there was no one.”

“Why did he not tell me of this himself?”

“Mayhap, because he didn’t think you would
believe him? You have, after all, accused him of lying at every
turn,” Maryn replied. “In any case, his telling me was an accident,
I believe. At first, he only said how absurd your fears were,
considering the fact that he’d been with no one but you since last
summer. I prodded, and he rather unwillingly gave me the full of
it.” Maryn sat forward, resting her elbows on her knees and loosely
twining her fingers together. “I only break that confidence, for
confidence it was, because I think that by telling you, ‘twill
finally give you the assurance you need to trust in Bao’s love, in
his allegiance to you.”

Stunned, Jesslyn plopped down onto her stool
with her hands clasped in her lap.

“He loves you, Jesslyn,” Maryn stated again.
“And what is more, he is devoted to you. All it will take for you
to have your heart’s desire is to let go of all these groundless
worries and run into your husband’s waiting arms.”

Jesslyn rose to her feet, saying “I’ve an
errand I just remembered. I shall see you at the noontime meal.”
And with that, she rushed from the room.

Maryn followed her a few steps behind.
“I
hope he is sufficiently thawed first!”
she called down the
stairwell to Jesslyn’s fleeing backside.

Jesslyn cringed. Why had she told her of
that? She should have known Maryn, with her wicked sense of humor,
would not be able to restrain herself from teasing her about it.
The sound of womanly laughter echoed in the stairwell. Jesslyn’s
shoulders scrunched. Aye, Maryn was certainly enjoying that bit of
humiliating information. And then, before she realized, she was
laughing as well. Suddenly, she felt cheerful, as light as air. She
recalled Bao’s reaction when she’d asked him the question and
laughed even harder. The lecher had been hiding his own
amusement!

* * *

Jesslyn found Bao overseeing the work on the
new tower. “Will you walk with me to your bedchamber? I’ve left
something there for you that I wish to give you.”

The spark of hope in his eyes as he nodded
and motioned to one of the men to take over made her smile.

“So, now that you know I never broke my vows
to you, will you consider staying with me?” he asked as they walked
toward the keep.

“Aye.”

* * *

Bao’s heart raced and his palms sweated as he
shut the door behind him and leaned against it, watching her. What
should he say to her? His mind was a blank.

“I made you some berry tarts,” Jesslyn said
into the silence, lifting the basket slightly that resided on the
tabletop near the hearth in indication of what it held.

Bao cleared his throat and crossed his arms
over his chest. “My thanks,” he finally said. He knew better than
to press her to stay. He must tread very carefully with her, let it
be her decision to be with him—if, as he hoped, ‘twas what this
errand was truly about.

She shocked the hell out of him when she
lifted her hands to the tie of her chemise and loosened it, then
pulled it open and ran her fingers over the rise of her breasts.
“‘Tis a bit warm in here, is it not?” she asked in a sultry voice.
Untying the strings that held her gown together on the side, she
loosened it as well.

Bao swallowed a couple of times.

She smiled. “Is it not?” she repeated when he
didn’t reply, skimming the gown and chemise off her shoulders a
bit, just enough to bare another few inches of her bosom.

Bao blinked and cleared his throat. “Aye, it
is.” He would not walk one step toward her, he swore silently, else
he might ruin his chances with her for evermore. He would not use
his sexual prowess on her again unless she begged him to do so.

She took a step toward him, not covering
herself when her bodice gaped open even further, allowing him a
clear view of her excited nipples. Her eyes traveled from his face,
down his torso, and halted briefly on the area where his tunic
tented over his arousal, before she lifted her gaze once more to
his own. “Bao,” she said throatily, “I believe part of you”—she
tipped her head toward the evidence of his desire and openly gazed
at it, making him grow even more turgid—“is suffering a chill and
needs a bit of thawing.” She looked into his eyes once more. “I’d
be pleased to hold it inside of me again to warm it—for as long as
it takes,” she offered suggestively.

His mind and sight were so fixed on the
wanton display before him, that it took a moment for her words to
register. When they did, his heart lifted and he grinned. She had
turned his own method of trickery back on him. In two strides, he
was before her. Without breaking eye contact, he lifted her in his
arms and strode toward the bed. “You look a bit piqued, you should
take a nap.”

She brought her hand up to his face and
stroked her thumb over his lips before leaning up and giving them a
gentle kiss. It thrilled him beyond reason when she melted into
him. It had been so long since he’d been allowed to hold her, kiss
her. Without prompting, she opened her mouth to receive his tongue
and gave him hers in return.

After a time, Bao lifted his head and gazed
into her bemused eyes, out of breath, but eager to follow this
through to its most pleasurable conclusion. “I want to touch you,
taste you, all over, if you’ll allow it.”

Her smile was warm and her eyes held longing
when she shook her head. “I shall touch
you
instead.”

Her words hit like rapid, hard blows to the
abdomen, forcing all the air from Bao’s lungs, for he knew what she
meant to do. It felt as if they had collapsed, so tight was his
chest now. But, he knew also that he must attempt this thing in
order for their union to fare well. With effort, he took a deep
breath. Nodding slowly, he said, “I do not know for how long I
shall be able to bear being touched there. Even by you.”

“All right.” Her eyes met his and did not
waver. “Take off your clothes,” she commanded softly.

Bao settled her back on her feet and took his
time disrobing, not only for the added reprieve he received in
doing so, but also in an attempt to heighten the sense of
anticipation in himself.

When he finally dropped the last garment to
the floor and stood bared to her gaze, she tipped her head in the
direction of the hearth and said, “Sit in that chair over
there.”

Bao did as she wanted, but his heart raced
and his muscles tensed. He placed his sweaty palms on the arms of
the chair and grasped the edge in his hands. He’d never before felt
this odd combination of trepidation and desire. Even the first time
he’d bedded a woman he’d been filled with lust, not fear.

Bao watched as she took two of the large
pillows from the bed and walked over to stand in front of him.
“Lean back and open your legs wide so I can kneel between
them.”

“Is that wise? The babe…”

“I can manage it, I assure you.”

He nodded. Tho’ his hands clenched and
unclenched the wood, he did her bidding and she placed the pillows
on the floor and went down on her knees, resting her hands on the
taut muscles of his thighs. She gazed up at him as she ran her hand
over them. “I like the feel of the course black hair on your limbs.
It tickles my palms and fingers.”

His lungs wouldn’t cooperate and he was
getting lightheaded. He held tighter still to the ends of the wood
armrests and his knuckles turned white. A crush of panic gripped
him and he squeezed his eyes shut. His heart pounded in his ears
and he swallowed hard.

Her sensual touch halted mid-thigh. “Whatever
you’re thinking of, stop,” she commanded softly. “Open your eyes
and look at me. Think only of me and what I’m doing. Naught else.
At least for as long as you can do so.”

Forcing himself to do as she instructed, Bao
slowly lifted his lids and watched her.

“I see I must start in a different place.”
She took her hands from his thighs and placed them on her breasts,
lifting them and caressing them the way he craved to do. His
breath, what there was of it, caught in his throat and his rapid
heartbeat tripped in his chest with both lust and shock.

“I was asked to do this once before, by
Graeme, but I was much too shy to try it then. However, if this
will help you to concentrate only on me, only on what is taking
place between us in this chamber, then I am more than willing to
overcome my own abashedness to gain that end.”

Gripping the arm of the chair even tighter,
his mind spun. “My thanks.”

She twirled the rigid nipples between the
thumb and forefinger of each hand and gave him a sultry smile when
his arousal twitched against his stomach in reaction.

“Let me touch you, love. You’re driving me
mad,” he ground out.

She shook her head. “Nay, not yet. But if you
could, where would you touch me next?”

Bao’s lungs worked just fine now, his breath
coming faster and harsher. “I’d touch the heat of you, stretch you
open with my fingers and take the honeydew it offered, up to its
hidden pearl.”

She nodded and placed one of the pillows
behind her, then gingerly laid back. Lifting her legs over his
knees, she did exactly as he’d described.

Bao moaned. The sight of her long, feminine
fingers manipulating her lovely sex brought him dangerously close
to climax. He craved to touch her, taste her. Now his hands grasped
the armrests only as a means of keeping them from their purpose. He
found her childing body intensely erotic; she was his very own
golden fertility goddess. Whatever panic he had been feeling in the
moments prior was gone in the wake of his overriding passion for
her. “God, you’re so lovely down there. Make yourself come,” he
begged. “I want to see you fly apart.”

He could tell she was fighting her
embarrassment, but she did as he asked. In no time, her eyelids
drifted shut and the rosy hue of her cheeks and chest turned
carmine and damp. A long, low moan escaped her lips.

Bao’s breathing turned harsher still. She was
close, he could tell by the gathering of her muscles, the trembling
of her thighs. “Slide your finger into your sheath, feel how it
quivers.”

He could almost feel those inner muscles
around his own digit as she did his bidding. In the next instant,
her head flew back and she cried out, “Ahhh! Ahhh!” Her body
remained taut, suspended in its pleasure for a moment and then she
settled back on the cushions, her breath coming hard and fast. Her
eyes opened and they stared hazily up at him a long moment.

“God, you are so beautiful,” he said,
stunned. She’d managed, with her openly erotic display, to send his
panic flying. Now, all he wanted was her, in whatever manner she
would allow.

Slowly rising back up onto her knees, she
stroked his inner thighs once more. “I want you,” she said
throatily, easing her hands ever upward toward his aching cock.

“I want you, too,” he said hotly, keeping his
eyes, his thoughts only on her.

She managed to shock him again when she said,
“I want to suck you, curl my tongue around this glorious manhood of
yours.” Then she coiled her fingers around him and stroked up,
teasing the head before stroking back down. She did the same
several more times and a drop of seed emerged.

He groaned, his abdomen tightening and
trembling in pleasure. “All right. You may try putting your mouth
on me,” he said gruffly.

She rose up, balancing on his thighs and
opened her lips, taking him between them and licking off the cum at
the same time.

Intense pleasure rushed through Bao’s veins.
His eyes shut of their own volition and instantly a memory of Giric
taking him this way, his grinning eyes as he molested his
much-younger quarry, flashed through Bao’s mind. “Stop!” Bao
yelled, thrusting her from him.

She sat back with a stunned look on her
face.

Bao leaned forward and covered his eyes with
the base of his palms, forcing the foul images of his youth from
his mind. “I’m sorry. I suppose ‘tis just too soon for that.”
Lifting his gaze to her face, he said, “Forgive me?”

“Aye,” she replied. “Make love to me, Bao.
Now.”

Bao rose from the chair and lifted his wife
in his arms. He reached the bed in four strides and lay her down on
her side. He settled behind her and lifted her leg over his arm. “I
need to be inside of you now. All right?”