Relax

A sh was out of breath by the time he kicked open the guest room door and carried Makenna over the threshold. Intoxicated by his bride's giggling, he'd succumbed to the laughter bubbling inside him. He'd never been happier.

"Too much whisky," she teased as he set her on her feet.

"Minx," he replied, holding her lush body against him. "You know very well I barely touched a drop. Too much laughing."

Her smile fled. "Are ye truly happy, Ash?"

"I truly am," he replied honestly. "I feel we're on the cusp of a brand new life."

"My life is just beginning," she agreed, smiling again. "I was simply walking around and breathing before you came along."

"And I was wasting my life on wine and women," he replied, instantly regretting the words. What fool speaks of other women on his wedding night? "I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

Avoiding his gaze, she fiddled with his cravat. "I ken ye've bedded others, Ash. Ye can mayhap teach me how to please ye like they did."

He shook his head. "Simply holding you like this pleases me. Never think you have to be like them. They meant nothing to me. You mean everything."

She looked into his eyes. "Do ye think this cravin' for each other will pass?"

Ash looked to the ceiling and filled his lungs. "How can I explain? I suppose craving is a good word. I do crave you. However, it's more than that. It's as if there is some invisible force binding us together, a bond that can never be broken."

"I tried to ignore it when we first met," she confessed. "But I felt it then."

"Despite my lording it over you."

"Aye," she chuckled.

They stared into each other's eyes for long moments before he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue. When she granted him entry, her throaty growl sent his cock into full salute.

Ash had barely imbibed much of his whisky, but Makenna tasted a faint hint of Uachdaran as she suckled his tongue. She and her parents kept a small herd of goats that provided them with milk and cheese, so she knew enough about animal husbandry to recognize the significance of the hard male flesh pressed against her mons. As he deepened the kiss, his skin heated, his embrace tightened. This beautiful man wanted her as much as she wanted him.

An ache of wanting blossomed deep inside her when he brushed his thumb across a tingling nipple. Her most intimate female place pulsed with a desire to be possessed. The longing to be loved and desired wasn't new. Every lass dreamed of finding the perfect man, but now the feelings were real, immediate, urgent.

Without warning, he stooped to lift the arisaid over her head and off her body. Feeling suddenly vulnerable in her nudity, she crossed her arms, but he pried them apart and studied her. The admiration burning in his blue eyes turned vulnerability into pride. Pride turned to yearning when he bent his head, licked a needy nipple and suckled.

Apparently sensing her trembling knees were about to buckle, he lifted her and carried her to the bed. She looked up at him and realized he was still fully dressed. That didn't seem right. She wanted to see him naked. "Take off your clothes," she whispered, dismayed when he swore.

"Bollocks," Ash exclaimed, immediately sorry he'd alarmed Makenna. "Sorry. Didn't mean to swear. It's just that…er…well…I'm used to having a valet…I…"

Certain his new bride would now think him a pathetic, useless individual who couldn't even remove his own clothes, his fears flew away when she rose from the bed and said, "Let me help."

"It's just this formal stuff that's hard to…"

She touched a finger to his lips. "I understand. Let me be your valet."

His erection bucked. A female valet. Now, there was a novel idea.

She squinted at his cravat then, tongue between her teeth, concentrated on untying the knot. The urge to suck that perfect little tongue was nigh on overwhelming. He'd rip the clothes from his body if it meant hastening the moment he could be naked atop her. "This is the last time I wear a cravat," he said.

"Patience," she replied.

"How can I be patient when I long to make love to you?"

"Alleluia," he exclaimed, shrugging off his coat when the neckcloth was gone.

She ran a finger along his braces as if it were the first time she'd seen such a thing. "They keep my trousers from falling down," he quipped, amused by the glint in her eyes when she realized the connection. The braces were quickly dangling at his sides and she turned her attention to the fastenings of his trousers. In an effort to prove he wasn't completely helpless, he took over the task while she embarked on the buttons of his shirt.

She had him undressed much more efficiently than any valet. "Tada!" he announced, spreading his arms wide as he stood naked before her.

But she didn't smile. Once again, he'd behaved inappropriately and forgotten he was dealing with an innocent virgin. Mouth agape and looking very nervous, she was staring at his swollen cock. He was smugly proud of the generous male genitalia with which he'd been gifted, but it was no wonder she was alarmed. "Don't worry, darling girl. I will make you ready to receive me."

As Ash pushed her gently to lie back on the bed, Makenna didn't understand what he was talking about. How could she ever be ready to receive the thick length of his maleness? Such a weapon could tear her apart. Whispers overheard at the village well suddenly made sense. Sexual relations were painful. A woman simply had to endure.

Wanton thoughts fled as gooseflesh marched over her naked skin.

"You're cold," he said, taking hold of a corner of the counterpane. "Let's get under the covers."

Bed linens likely wouldn't make the deed any less painful but she was glad to wriggle between the sheets, welcoming the warmth of his body when he got into bed and took her into his arms.

They cuddled for long minutes. She inhaled the clean smell of his skin, felt the tickle of the hairs on his legs, listened to his breathing. His heat relaxed her. The shivering stopped. The wanton feelings returned.

"That's better," he whispered, nibbling her earlobe.

"Aye," she breathed.

Ash had never cared if a woman was ready to be impaled by his admittedly large cock. Nor had he ever asked if his partners enjoyed the sex. It was imperative his first bedding of Makenna be something she would remember all her life as euphoric, magnificent. He had no idea if women he had bedded thought he was a good lover or not. He wanted Makenna to believe he was the world's greatest lover, then she need never look elsewhere for love and affection.

Feeling her relax in his arms, he cursed his insecurity. His wife wasn't a flighty woman who'd betray her husband. He could be a good lover. He simply needed to be patient and coax her slowly to what he suspected would be her first sexual release. Unfortunately, patience wasn't his strong point. The prospect of hearing her scream excited him. This lovemaking would be unlike anything he'd ever indulged in before. He was more concerned for her enjoyment than his own.

Heart and loins ready to burst, he loosened his manic grip on her body, ducked his head beneath the sheets and proceeded to suckle one nipple while gently squeezing the other.

At first, she tensed but then quickly relaxed again. The harder he suckled and squeezed, the louder she moaned. Soon, she was writhing, whispering his name, lifting her hips.

The aroma of female arousal convinced him she was probably already wet enough for him to thrust home. "Patience," he told himself.

There was one way to test his theory. Never before had he thirsted to taste a woman's juices. Praying what he was about to do didn't send him over the edge, he threw back the covers, knelt between her legs, lifted her hips and licked the pink folds. The moans grew louder. She didn't tense or withdraw. Elated that she already trusted him, he suckled the diamond of her desire, moved to tears when she screamed her release. "This will hurt the first time," he whispered as he positioned himself at her entry and plunged. She was tight, but tight was good—better than good. That was his last coherent thought before rapture took hold and Makenna's pulsating sheath squeezed the life out of him.

Makenna twirled her fingers through the sheen of sweat on Ash's back. He lay atop her, obviously spent, but she didn't mind his weight. Still trying to make sense of what had happened now that the rainbow of colors had dissolved, she decided the first thing she would do was laugh in the faces of the crones at the village well. They evidently hadn't been fortunate enough to marry the world's most patient lover. If there'd been pain in the joining, she hadn't been aware of it, too caught up in the euphoric sensations wrought by Ash's clever mouth.

She'd been nervous about his size, but feeling his thick length inside her and his seed bathing her womb—she couldn't conjure the right words to describe it. "Perfect," she whispered, disappointed when his male member slid from her body and curled up at her entry.

"Perfect doesn't do you justice," he rasped, his breath tickling her neck.