Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“ T hat was a good show, ye two,” Knox said laughingly. He had his arm around Magnus’s shoulder. Magnus was not looking at all serious now. He grinned at Liam as he and Knox turned away. “We’re goin’ in now. I think ’tis about tae pour down,” Knox added, glancing up at the sky.

Liam looked up too, noticing for the first time the dark rain cloud hovering above the castle. He felt a rain drop suddenly splash onto his face, then another, and another. The next moment, the heavens opened.

With a collective groan of dismay, everybody headed quickly back inside. Ivy laughed as she ran alongside him back into the keep, holding her shield above her head to shelter her from the downpour. “Ye should hold it,” she told him, offering it to him. “We can both stay dry then.”

“All right, thanks,” he replied, taking it from her and holding it higher, sheltering the two of them until they got inside the keep doors and into the vestibule.

“Ach, I’m soaked tae the bone,” she complained, looking down at her drenched clothing.

“Aye, me too, and that bloody rain was freezin’ and all,” Liam agreed with a shiver.

“Come on, we’d better change intae dry things before we catch a chill,” she suggested.

“Aye, let’s dae that.” They ran up the stairs together, along the hallway, and into her chamber.

“At least is warm in here, so we should dry off quite quickly,” she said, unbuckling the sword belt and laying it aside before sitting down to pull off her soaking boots and stockings. She upended the boots, and water ran out onto the rug. In bare feet, she got up and padded over to the hearth. She set the things out to dry by the fender.

While she was doing that, Liam went through to his chamber via the connecting door. It stood open between them. Ivy walked about, starting to peel off her wet clothes. She was cold and could not wait to get into something warm and dry. She was down to her shift when she happened to pass by the open doorway. Movement caught her eye, and she looked inside.

Liam was standing there, pulling his shirt off over his head. He used it to rub his dripping hair before throwing it down on the floor. In the warm glow of the firelight, droplets of water were glistening like diamonds on the broad muscular expanse of his chest. Enraptured by the sight, Ivy drew in a sharp breath, unable to tear her eyes away. Liam glanced up and noticed her looking. Their eyes locked. Then he grinned at her mischievously and said in a teasing voice, “See anythin’ ye like?”

Ivy snapped out of her trance. “Nay. I was just thinkin’ that ye need tae work on those muscles if ye want tae keep up with me.”

He laughed and carried on undoing his trews, turning his back on her. She fetched a clean cloth and began trying to soak up some of the water in her hair. In the downpour it had turned to dripping rat tails.

“Ach, me hair’s so wet and knotted up, I can hardly get me comb through it,” she complained, wincing as she accidently pulled painfully at her scalp.

Liam came striding through the door and took the comb off her. “Give that here and let me have a go,” he said and began gently working the comb through the tangled lengths.

Ivy did not protest but stood quietly as he worked, closing her eyes and quivering at the slight touches on her bare skin as Liam separated out the strands and combed them carefully all the way through, bit by bit. She could feel the heat of his body so close to hers. She tried hard not to betray how she was melting, pretending it was perfectly normal for two unwed people to be standing in a state of extreme undress like this.

She could hear Liam’s soft breathing, and now and then she felt his warm breath tickling her neck and shoulders. Goosebumps rose on her skin, for the tension between them was almost unbearable, and it was growing more powerful with every passing moment.

As though he too was conscious of it and wanted to break the spell, Liam asked, “Are ye gonnae tell me who that man was ye were talkin’ tae last night, Ivy?” Ivy’s heart dropped. She hesitated, wondering if she should tell him or not.

“Ivy?” he repeated, combing out another strand and laying it on her shoulder. The night before, when he had asked her the same question, she had been so angry with him, she had made up her mind to keep it from him. But now, here, in her trance-like state, her resolve crumbled. She could not lie to him.

“I dinnae ken who he is,” she began. “He first spoke tae me when we were goin’ about the villages that had been raided. In the last village, he called me over tae an alleyway.”

“I didnae see anyone,” Liam said.

“Ye scared him off. And I think ye scared him off last night as well.”

“What does he speak tae ye about?”

She told him.

“Ivy, this could be a trap, tae get ye alone at this place in the woods. It could be dangerous,” he exclaimed, taking her by the shoulders and turning her around to face him. He seemed to be genuinely worried.

“It could be, aye, but what if it is nae? What if he really daes have the information he says he daes about me parents’ murders. I want tae ken about it,” she insisted.

His expression softened as he gazed down into her eyes. “I understand, but there must be another way. Please, promise me ye’ll nae go.”

“But why nae, Liam?” she asked, frowning. “’Tis very confusin’. Last night, ye made it perfectly clear what ye feel about me, so why are ye sayin’ ye care about me now?”

He reached over and gently stroked her cheek. “That’s the trouble, Ivy. I dae care about ye. That’s what scares me so much.” They stood close, looking at each other, the tension crackling in the air between them.

Ivy was not sure afterwards exactly how things happened next because it all went so fast. But before she knew it, their lips collided, and their arms went around each other in a passionate embrace. The force of his kiss swept her away, her whole body alight now as she recognized the same passion in him.

She did not hesitate at all, allowing her tongue to tangle in a frantic, sensual dance of exploration with his. She gasped as he caught her lower lip between his teeth, gently teasing it before plundering her mouth once more, his arms tightening about her body, making it sing with excitement.

It felt right when, using his shoulders as support, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, glorying in the extraordinary sensation of having her naked sex pressed against his skin.

Liam laughed, the deep sound reverberating against her chest. It filled her with delight. “Och, Ivy, dinnae hold back now, eh?” he whispered just as his mouth closed on hers. She kissed him back with all the pent-up longing inside her, reveling in his touch as his hand traced her hips and behind, cupping it in his palms and squeezing it appreciatively.

Caught up in a daze of desire such as she had never experienced, Ivy entwined her arms around his neck and peppered him with passionate kisses on his lips, cheeks, neck, eyes, everywhere she could. “I cannae seem tae help mesel’, Liam,” she confessed breathlessly. “I’ve never felt this way before, but ye dae somethin’ tae me, and I ken I want ye more than anythin’.”

“I’ve wanted ye fer so long, but I dared nae give intae it, with things as they are,” he assured her, his voice hoarse and throaty.

“I dinnae care about that or anythin’ else, I only care about us, here, now. Can we nae just be together this once and forget all the rest?” she asked.

“Aye, we can,” he growled low in her ear, turning her sex molten. He carried her to the bed and laid her down, his kisses and caresses never faltering. Ivy gasped in passionate delight, arching her back as his mouth left her lips and began moving lower, trailing small, hot kisses down her throat, and lower still, down the exposed skin of her neck and throat.

With her breast already standing to attention, she raised her arms and wriggled out of her shift. “Aye, that can come off,” Liam growled, tearing it from her arms and flinging it heedlessly aside. He suddenly paused his kissing as her breasts tumbled free, and her naked body was revealed to him in its entirety.

The wolfish hunger in his eyes as they raked over every inch of her only fanned the fire burning inside Ivy. “Och, by the Wee Man, ye’re beautiful!” he murmured, making her gasp as he leaned over her and encompassed her breasts with his palms. The pleasure was so intense, she feared she might swoon. Nothing could have prepared her for the way he was making her feel.

“Liam,” she gasped, letting out small moans of helpless abandon as he rolled her soft globes in his warm, rough palms, squeezing the flesh and pinching her already excited nipples until she could hardly bear the exquisite sensations consuming her body.

A moist heat was gathering between her legs, and her sex was pulsing with a desperate need she instinctively knew only Liam could satisfy. His mouth and hands roved hungrily over every bit of her exposed flesh, kissing, nuzzling, sucking, and biting, teasing her in ways she had never dreamed of but now never wanted to end.

His hot mouth greedily devoured her while sending shivers of pleasure traveling the length of her body.

Ivy entwined her fingers in Liam’s long dark locks which fell softly on her skin, their light, tickling touch as sensuous and inflammatory as his questing hands and mouth and tongue. “When ye touch me, it feels so good!” she breathed, writhing helplessly beneath him.

Then, she felt his hand sliding downwards, leaving a fiery trail in its wake. When his fingertips brushed the soft, curling nest between her thighs, Ivy was seized by an urgent craving to open herself up completely to him, to have him know her most secret places, where none had been before him.

“Och, Liam,” she heard herself moaning as though from afar, opening her legs to him.

He lifted her up by her hips and placed her legs on his shoulders before feasting on her burning hot flesh. Utterly given over to his caresses, Ivy lay back, mewling in ecstasy as she felt his fingers parting her hidden folds and finding her already slick entrance. She stifled a scream when his thumb teased her sensitive bud in slow circles, feeling a rush of hot moisture from inside her.

“So wet fer me, Ivy,” he murmured, teasing her entrance with his finger. She cried out and stiffened for a moment when it stretched her open and slid inside her, delving into her up to the knuckle. The sensation of it moving inside her was so new and delicious, she soon found herself pushing against him for more. He seemed to sense her need and another finger entered her, then a third, stretching her sex wide open and filling her up, delving deeply inside her in a slow, intoxicating rhythm.

I cannae help mesel’, I want him never tae stop!

Liam’s smoldering eyes watched her intently as he played with her body, as if needing to see her every response. Then, to her amazement, his head descended between her thighs. She squealed as his hot, questing mouth plundered her sex, his lips closing around her little rosebud, his teeth nipping gently at it, his tongue flickering like lightening in and out of her alongside his fingers until she wanted to scream.

She moaned and thrashed as the exquisite torment went on, her fingers reflexively gripping his hair, until hot and powerful waves of intoxicating pleasure began rising up from her now molten center and swept over her body. Transfixed by the onslaught of pleasure he was showing her, she opened her legs wider and rubbed herself urgently against his hand.

“Och, Liam, please, dinnae stop,” she cried out softly, gripping his hair, matching every thrust of his fingers with her hips as he took her slowly, expertly, toward a peak of pleasure she could never have imagined existed.

“Ach, Liam, Liam!” she screamed his name as the intensity overwhelmed her, and the waves crashed down over her in a sudden, blissful, shuddering rush.

Liam lay down next to her on the bed and held her close, scattering small kisses over her face and neck. She curled into him, feeling strangely contented.

“I’ve never felt anythin’ like that before, Liam. I never kent I could, that it was possible. It was wonderful, incredible.”

“Mmm, it was, because ye’re delicious, Ivy,” he told her, his voice low in her ear.

“But… what about ye?” She struggled to find the right words. “I mean, we did nae go the whole way, did we? I’m still a maid.”

“Aye, bonny lass, and ’tis best that ye stay that way fer the moment. There’s

nae rush, and dinnae fash yersel’ about me. I’m doin’ just fine.” He took her chin gently in his hand and kissed her on the mouth tenderly.

It was when she was kissing him back that Ivy realized she was in love with him, madly, passionately, crazily in love with him. And she knew in her bones that she would never be truly happy unless she could be by his side for the rest of her life.