Never Love a Highlander (McCabe Trilogy #3)(48)

She sucked in her breath. The man was beautiful. Never had she seen his equal. She fingered a puckered scar across his right shoulder and slid her hand lower to a much older, nearly flat scar on his left flank. She frowned as she studied it. ’Twas a knife wound.

“Someone stabbed you from behind,” she mused as she knelt to give it a closer look.

He stiffened, his muscles coiling and going rigid. His profile was set in stone as he stared into the fire.

“Aye.”

She waited but he offered nothing more.

“Who did this?”

“No one of import.”

She leaned forward and kissed the scar. He reacted in surprise, turning, his arm raised so he didn’t elbow her in the head. Then he lowered his hand to her hair and stroked his fingers through the strands.

He ran his fingers over her jaw and then cupped her chin, tilting it so that she looked up at him. A teasing glint twinkled in his green eyes.

“I barely recognize the woman before me. She’s acting almost like a wife. What has happened to my fierce warrior? I came in to a fine table. The lady of the keep directed the welcoming of my kin and she played hostess to my brother’s wife. And if that wasn’t enough, she awaited me in my chamber to attend me with a gentle hand and a soft mouth?”

She scowled up at him. “ ’Tis true what they say of men.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Aye. They never know when to keep their mouths shut.”

He chuckled and rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip and then lowered his mouth to hers until they touched in a most gentle fashion.

“I was proud of you this day, Rionna. You speak of having none of the social graces of a lady and yet you performed as a laird’s wife would be expected.”

“I would not shame you in front of your kin,” she whispered.

He kissed her again and then drew away to pull at his boots. When he was done, he sat there, laces undone at his waist, shirtless, his flesh gleaming in the firelight. He was a feast for her eyes and she was determined that on this night she’d have him.

Her gaze skittered downward to the bulge at the apex of his thighs. With only a little encouragement, he would be free of his trews.

“I’ve been thinking.”

Caelen regarded her lazily, the spark of amusement back in his gaze. “ ’Tis a universal truth that when a lass says she’s been thinking, a man ought to be wary.”

She moved between his legs and ran her hand up his thigh to cup him intimately. “I was thinking that since I did harm to a portion of your anatomy you favored that I could make it up to you. But if you’re wary.…”

He caught his breath. “Nay. Not wary. Not wary at all.” Then he reached down to cup her chin again, his thumb brushing over the spot where her bruising was fading. “Are you sure ’tis something you wish to do, lass?”

Her heart clenched at the concern in his voice. He’d treated her with the utmost care since her attack. He’d only touched her to offer comfort or to ensure himself that she was all right. It was almost as if he’d worried that he would frighten her or remind her in some way of the men who had hurt her.

“ ’Tis my wish that you allow me to have my way this night.”

“Your way? ’Tis the truth I’ll grant such a wish every night if you desire it.”

She reached inside his clothing and caressed the long, rigid length of him. His breath hissed out in the silence. He gripped her shoulders with both hands and then abruptly stood. In a moment’s time he’d torn the offending material from his body and tossed it across the room.

Her gaze slid up his body, illuminated by flame, so exquisitely rendered. The body of a warrior, not a lad. Heavily muscled. Scarred. Rough.

At his groin, his manhood extended from the dark whorl of hair, thick and heavy.

“ ’Tis a sight destined to seduce a man,” Caelen rasped as he stared down at her kneeling at his feet.

She smiled. “You like a woman at your feet?”

“I’m not a stupid man. Admitting such would be akin to cutting off my cods.”

She shifted and rose up, her hands skimming along the outsides of his thighs. “But you like it.”

He groaned when she cupped his sac and massaged the weight in her hand.

“Aye, I like it. I like it very much. ’Tis no sweeter sight than you between my legs on your knees ready to pleasure me.”

Tentatively she circled his length with her other hand and lightly caressed. ’Twas the truth that she’d begun this seduction, but she had no idea how to go through with it. Keeley hadn’t been overly detailed with the how. Just what to do in the beginning.

Caelen was a man who valued control. He liked the sight of her on her knees enough. ’Twas clear he liked a submissive wife. ’Twas entirely possible that the best seduction she could give him would be to allow him to conduct it. And then she wouldn’t have to admit just how ignorant she was of such matters.

“Instruct me, husband,” she said in a husky, sweet voice she hoped was pleasing. “Show me what you like for your lass to do.”

The flicker in his eyes should have alarmed her. ’Twas a fierce, animalistic light that sent a shiver down her spine. His fingers tangled in her hair and he pulled back just enough that her head tilted back and her neck arched forward as she stared up at him.