Chapter 10

Tad couldn’t stop himself.

She kissed me first.

It was like hell unleashed inside of him. The beast that purred in his chest and that had wanted to breathe fire every time he saw her with Callum was now free to do as it wanted.

The kiss was as passionate as he could possibly make it. He explored every part of her with that kiss, his tongue tangling with her own as he felt her hands bury themselves in his shirt. His hips moved against hers, showing her what more they could be doing.

Having Cat pressed between him and this wall wasn’t helping matters. He was already thinking of dragging that skirt up, watching her face as he entered her, hearing her moan, hissing his name in her ear.

Nae Callum’s name, but me name.

“Dinnae stop,” she begged between her kisses.

That beast inside of him came out more.

He snaked that hand around her waist and dragged her away from the wall, closer and closer to the bed at the far end of the room. Her hands were the first to make a move. She was dragging on his shirt, pulling it up over his head. He broke from the kiss just long enough to help her, then reached for his trews himself, eager to be rid of them, to feel her touch. As he kicked them down, off his feet, he saw her eyes widen.

Those perfect blue eyes glistened as she stared at him in shock.

She would soon find out that a large lover could be a good thing, but not today. For today, he had every intention of showing her only pleasure.

“Dress off,” he said huskily, reaching for her again. She smiled, the most delicious and teasing smile he had ever seen.

She turned her back to him, allowing him to reach for the laces. He damn near tore them off her, then took hold of the gown and flung that over her head. When she was left only in her chemise and corset, he was driven mad by his desire.

He moved her forward to the bed, until she fell upon it on her hands and knees. He gripped her waist, moving up behind her and just rocking his hips into her. The gasp that fell from her was everything he had wanted to hear for so long.

“God, Cat,” he murmured, dragging up the skirt, trying his best to get to her bare skin as fast as possible. “Ye dinnae ken how I have thought of this. How it has driven me mad. How I have nae slept for needing ye.”

“Tad…” her voice was breathy as her hands balled themselves in his bedsheets.

A perfect sight.

He tucked the skirt of her chemise around her corseted waist then ran his hands over her bare rear. She trembled beneath his touch, her back arching in a way that made him want to bury his length inside of her.

Nae yet. Nae today.

With his knee, he pushed her legs apart a little, so she had a wider stance on the bed, then he bent down.

“Me name only, Cat. Ye want tae make a sound, that’s what ye say.”

A pleasant mewling escaped her lips. It made him rock hard.

He teased her first, his fingers running up the centers of her thighs, coming close to her heated core, but not quite touching her. She grew impatient, as only Cat could, her back repeatedly arching and then falling concave again. He bent down, kissing her across her rear and the part of her lower back he could reach.

“Tad!”

“Beg me,” he said playfully against her skin.

“Ye ken I would beg ye fer nothing.” Her fiery words were his undoing. Only his Cat would argue with him even now, and oh God, he loved it.

“Maybe someday ye’ll see there’s some fun in begging,” he whispered, kissing her skin with open mouthed nips as his fingers slid home.

“Oh!” Her sudden sound of pleasure made him think he could release there and then in his trews. It was a shock. He raised himself higher, keeping one hand on her lower back so he could rock her gently onto his fingers as he began to move. She was so wet for him, so ready, her head writhing back and forth with pleasure that he had never known anything like that feeling.

All the women he’d ever had couldn’t match the sight of Catreena so completely unbidden at his touch.

He pushed her further, daring to reach deeper with his fingers and rock her that bit harder and faster on his hand. Her moans grew faster and just that touch louder. He bent over her, kissing up to her shoulder.

“Me name, Cat,” he whispered against her skin.

“Tad!” she cried gaspingly.

He needed to see her now. He had to see her face.

He released her center, then took hold of her hip and with one smooth motion he flipped her onto her back on the bed. Her pinkened cheeks and bright blue eyes were looking up at him. He would have loved to have stripped her down to nothing, to see that blush across her whole skin, but he feared they’d be discovered at any moment. Maybe one of the guards would hear her moan. He wanted to give her as much pleasure as he could before that happened.

“Dinnae take yer eyes off me,” he ordered her.

“Ye like telling me what tae dae,” she said with that same defiance he had always known in her.

“In this room, ye might like me being in charge.” He bent down, tucking her knee over his shoulder. He loved the sight of her widened eyes, clearly not ready for what he was about to do.

He had already seen she was not a fan of gentle. She had much preferred it when he moved faster with his fingers, so he claimed her with his tongue with fierceness. Her sudden mewling gasps made his gut tight, his length hard, itching to be released. He worked her with his tongue in a way he knew she would love, sometimes devoting his whole attention to that most sensitive part of her just outside of her, other times, he slid his tongue inside of her, mirroring what his fingers had been doing seconds ago.

She moved so much that one of his hands had to grab hold of her hip and keep her down on the bed, so he had full control of her. He couldn’t believe she was letting him do this, that Catreena of all people wanted him to do this, had secretly wanted him to dominate her and give her pleasure in this way.

Then it started to happen. Her moans began to change, her body writhed on the bed, and he could feel her tightening.

“Tad,” she whispered. “I… Tad…” She didn’t know what it was, he could tell that instantly.

Thank God I am the only man tae ever have touched her like this. Fer I would go mad with jealousy.

He slid his tongue up to that sensitive part of her then reached up with his fingers, burying them inside of her again. The dual sensation of pleasure must have been her undoing. Her legs raised as high as she could get them around his head as her body was suddenly wracked with that climaxing pleasure.

“Tad!” It was the breathiest and most exciting way she had ever said his name. He didn’t stop pleasuring her, not once, but rode out her waves of pleasure, enjoying the way she trembled around his fingers. He still moved his hand against her in the aftershocks, when she was panting on his bed, no longer writhing, but just staring at him.

He raised himself up to his knees, the better to see his Catreena.

“Tad,” she whispered.

He smiled at her. He had not the words to describe it, so he scrambled up her body and laid his chest over hers, finding her lips with his own. It was the softest of kisses, one he did not usually give after being with a woman.

“Tad,” she whispered between their kisses. “What… daes this mean?” she managed to ask him.

He raised himself up on his elbows, staring at her.

How to put it intae words?

“Tad, are ye in there?” a sudden voice bellowed from the corridor. Footsteps were running as both of their heads snapped toward the closed door.

“Bran,” they said in unison.

“Oh me God!” Cat hissed in a wail. “He cannae see!”

“I ken that!” Tad snapped back. He leapt off her, looking everywhere for his trews and snapping them up off the ground.

“Tad! Ye’re needed!” Bran called again, his thundering footsteps getting closer and closer.

Bran will murder me fer this.

Tad looked around to see Catreena was off the bed. She had her gown in her hands but didn’t possibly have time to pull it back on. Without thinking of what he was doing, Tad marched toward her.

“What are ye doing – oh!” Her whispered hiss was broken off as he bent down and caught her around the knees. He managed to fling Catreena over his shoulder, feeling her hands burying themselves in his shirt. “Well, this is dignified,” she muttered against his back.

“This way.” He hastened toward the door to his garderobe and flung it open, then deposited Catreena in the room. She wobbled on her feet. “Still tingly?” he asked, finding he couldn’t resist asking her.

“Nay wonder ye’re so arrogant about yer skills in bed,” she said with mock anger.

He winked at her, for it was all he had time to do. He could hear Bran taking hold of the door handle.

He shut the door fast, hiding from Catreena, then turned back to face the room.

“Tad?” Bran marched in.

With his hard length unmistakably straining against his trews, Tad darted to stand behind the copper bath, just high enough to mask him.

“What is it?” Tad asked, doing his best to keep his voice as level as possible, with no sign of the panting breaths that had just been caused by what he and Catreena had shared.

As he looked at Bran, the guilt swayed. He had vowed never to touch Catreena in his life, for the sake of his friendship with him and his brothers.

I’ve just jeopardized everything I hold dear. They’ll kill me fer this.

“Tad, it’s the village,” Bran turned straight toward him, fortunately not noticing the crumpled bed across the room. “There’s a fire.”

Something snapped inside of Tad. Suddenly, he was laird again.

“How big?” Tad asked.

“Huge,” Bran said with a shaky sigh. “The scouts fear it’s the doing of Cillian’s soldiers. Quick, we have tae get there.”

“I’m coming now,” Tad promised, reaching for his shirt. As Bran shot out of the door, Tad pulled the shirt over his head. It took a second or two for the garderobe door to creak open and Catreena poked her head out.

“I’m coming too.”

“Like hell ye are,” Tad muttered darkly as he pulled on his boots. “I’m nae seeing ye injured in a fire, Cat.”

“I ken how tae heal. Yer people need that, Tad.” She stopped in front of him, and he halted. His eyes fixed on her face.

Though her hair was mussed and her cheeks were pink from what they had shared, there was now a pristine look of determination on her face. What he felt for her already grew impossibly greater. It was the most perfect look.

“I’m coming,” she said again.

“I ken I cannae stop ye.” He stood up then moved toward her, kissing her swiftly. “Just dinnae get hurt, all right?” She nodded, though Tad feared it was something out of both of their control.