CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
H is mouth slanted across hers, kissing her fiercely and groaning as she responded. It was pure bliss.
If he felt this much from only a kiss, how much more would it feel to be inside her and have her writhing beneath him? Ruben’s hands explored her luscious body, coasting over her abundant breasts and curvaceous bottom concealed by her attire.
Exhilaration coursed through Paige as Ruben slid his hands under her dress and up along her outer thigh.
“Ruben—” her head snapped to the left and then the right. “—we’re out in the open. Anyone can come along and see us.”
“Me men are out in the wilderness; the other guards are mannin’ the important places around the castle.” his lips coasted over her cheek and down her neck. “Nay one will be comin’ along this way for a while.”
With anyone else, such a vulnerable position would be unthinkable. But she trusted Ruben. Now, at long last, she trusted him.
Instinctively, she arched her back and parted her thighs. He shoved a thigh between her legs to open her more and then slid his hand to touch her core.
He rubbed her, and if he had not held her fast against the wall because she went faint. His fingers began a lust-arousing exploration of her soft, wet flesh. Paige gasped, and she trembled at that diabolical caress.
The sensations were hot and overwhelming as his hand seared a path over her quivering flesh. Then he was there, right where she ached the most.
“Free me hands,” she groaned. “Please.”
When he did, she laced her arms around his shoulder, spearing the fingers of her left hand onto the back of his hair. With the other hand, she gripped his shoulders, her nails pressing deep into the muscles there as she held on for dear life.
A long finger slipped deep inside her and her soft moan turned into a sob of raw need. It never occurred to restrain her responses or pretend modesty, not with this level of pleasure surging through her veins.
His thick fingers delved into the slick folds of her and wet itself thoroughly before another joined the first. Over and over his fingers thrusted and unable to remain still, Paige rocked to meet it in an attempt to hurry penetration.
“Open for me, me sweet,” he murmured with a mellow baritone.
She held tight on him and parted her legs more. His grunt of satisfaction said that was exactly what he needed. And somehow, his fingers burrowed even deeper, for she now felt a pinch of pain mingling with the pleasure.
“Ah…that is it,” he praised. “How wet ye are getting’ for me, me sweet.”
“Ruben,” she gasped as his thumb glided over her nub of pleasure.
The friction had her arching her hips more into his caress. The quick, heated swipe across her folds ripped a wild cry from Paige as he repeated his wicked, wicked caress.
Her upper body came off the wall, only to have his hand flatten against her stomach, pressing her back as his lips landed on hers.
Her body tensed, drawn tight as the pleasure built inside her until it broke. Tremors of ecstasy coursed through her body, and she bit into her lip to stop the cries wanting to erupt from her.
She cried out and gripped his hair as everything seemed as if it was spiraling around her.
“Ye’re so beautiful and responsive,” he murmured, his dark eyes glittering with emotions she could not decipher.
“As if I can help it,” she whispered in a half groan. “Ruben, do ye ever think we’ll consummate our marriage? I have nay animosity to ye anymore. Is there somethin’ stoppin’ ye from following though? Is it… is it me?”
Ruben pulled his hands from her and gazed down at his fingers. “Was I too rough, lass?”
“Nay,” she said, frowning, “Why do ye ask that?”
His fingers were spotted with blood. “Because I think I just took yer maidenhead. I ken this should have been done in a bed the very night of our marriage but?—”
“Nay,” Paige stopped him, shaking her head vigorously. Reaching out, she grasped his arm. “Nay, ‘tis fine. Honestly, Ruben, I daenae mind. I’d prefer nay to feel any pain when we do…” her face warmed, “… couple.”
He wiped the blood on his pants and then looked at the sun dipped to the horizon, paining the sky a splash of vivid reds and oranges. “If ye were nae so tired and if the rains had nae swollen the lake so it broke its banks, I’d have taken us down to the loch for yer first swimmin’ lesson.”
She blinked. “I wasnae sure ye were going to follow through on that.”
Craning his head over his shoulder, Ruben said. “I never jest about things that can possibly save yer life. Ye will learn to swim here, lass.” His brows lowered in concern. “Are ye scared of water?”
“Nay,” she said, “I have just never considered that it was important. The only things I am scared of are caves and tight, dark places.”
“Good to ken.” Ruben said as they moved away from the little nook.
He placed the scarecrow and daggers back into the shed, locked it and then they made their way up across the back lands towards the castle.
“It’s been a while since we shared supper with yer maither and me faither,” Ruben said. “Would ye like to do so tonight?”
“I would,” she said, while slipping a worried eye to Ruben. “I want to go and see Norah as well. I feel horrible about what I did, and I need to apologize. I never wanted—I never anticipated that she would react that way and if I could go back and tell meself nae to do such a thing, I would.”
The words came out in a hurried jumble and Paige would have kept going but she had run out of breath. Ruben stopped walking and turned to her, his face now grim.
She sucked in a deep breath. “As much as a stranger I am to yer sister, I do care for her and I cannae imagine what horrors she’d been through. I never wanted to force her relive the pain she went?—”
“Lass—”
“—through, nor did I ever want her to be so?—”
“Lass—”
“—frantic that she would break down into a frenzy that could have broken her beyond all?—"
“Paige!” Ruben snapped firmly, cutting off her ramble. When she quieted, he reached out and dropped both hands on either shoulder. “I ken ye dinnae want to make her fret when ye spoke to her, and neither did ye want her to relive her pain. Ye are nae a malicious or a wicked person.”
“But—” she swallowed. “—I cannae help but feel like one.”
“There are chances ye might have broken her beyond reason, or ye might have forced her to break through the barrier she had bolted between herself and her memories.” Ruben said.
“I daenae, we daenae ken how it will end until she wakes and tells us herself,” he said. “I daenae ken about ye, but I am hopin’ for the latter. Maybe for once, she can give me the direction to get her the justice she deserves.”
Paige plucked at her bodice and winced at how wet it was. “I am goin' to need a bath.”
“Ye did well today,” Ruben told her. “Much better than I thought ye would. In the next couple of days, despite what I have to do with me men or in the village, we’re going to make time to practice. I need to be confident that ye can handle yerself if I am nae there.”
“I’d love that.”
Ruben was not one to languish in hot baths, but his sore muscle needed it that night. He’d overdone it with training that morning and his muscles needed a rest.
His head fell back in the bath, letting the steam from the hot water overwhelm him. As the water lapped around him, he contemplated the last few days.
Who had tried to abduct Paige, and even more troubling, would they try again? No word had come from the guards holding the unconscious would-be abductor and until then, he had no idea who had sent them.
The door opened and Paige entered, dressed only in her thin chemise. He assumed she had already taken her bath as her hair was damp around her shoulder.
“Do ye want me to wash yer hair?” she asked.
Ruben nodded. “Thank ye.”
She filled a jug and pulled the stool over to his side, poured water over his hair, and lathered it with a bar of handmade olive oil soap. A groan left his mouth as her fingers dug into his scalp. He had always had a weakness for having his scalp rubbed.
Sometimes it took him to sleep but this time, arousal spread through his veins like the long, slow but of a smoldering peat fir. Paige rinsed his hair but did not pull her hands from his scalp. Her fingers made small circular rotations at the back of his scalp.
“Now I ken ye are tryin’ to seduce me,” he groaned.
“That was nae me intention,” Paige said. “But I have nay regrets. Ye are always so attentive when ye pleasure me. Do ye—” she marshalled her courage. “—want me to do the same to ye?”
“Later tonight,” he said while leaning into her caress. “Get back to me hair.”
“Out of gratitude for earlier today I’ve arranged for us to have supper here, in yer chambers,” she said. “I think ye and I need to talk as well.”
He stilled. “Talk? About what?”
“About what we have nae discussed at all,” she said. “I ken we talked about me duties and yers, but we have nae stated what we want from each other.”
He shifted and from the corner of his eyes saw how her eyes widened at seeing him, fully aroused, thick and long and rising proudly. A flicker of heated amusement went through his chest but he tempered his smile.
Bracing his hands on the edge of the tub, he pushed up and stood, letting the water drip from his body. Paige pinked and averted her eyes but he saw when she took a second look. “Hand me that towel.”
She did and as he stepped out and dried off, she hurried from the bathroom and went to his room. Holding in the smirk, he wrapped the towel around his waist then headed to the room to dress. After donning a loose léine and worn breeches, he padded barefoot to the front of the room.
Paige was now wearing a thick knit wrap over her smock while she arranged their supper on their smaller table. She arranged everything from the slivers of roasted meats and vegetables to the bowls of strawberries and blackberries, and the few sweet tarts.
He paused to stroke the fire before joining her at the table as she poured out the wine. “When I went to ask the kitchens to send up this meal, I saw me maither and yer faither talkin’ in a room by themselves. I think they’ve found companionship with each other.”
Ruben bit into a berry and cocked a brow. “Ye daenae think they are?—”
“Nay,” Paige shuddered. “God nay.”
Snorting, he took a seat and finished his fruit. Reaching over, he plucked a rich, purple berry off the stem and held it to her lips, wordlessly daring her to eat it from his fingers.
Blushing at the atypical romantic gesture from him, she did as he wanted, smiling as the tart sweetness filled her mouth. Spearing a sliver of roast chicken, he asked, “What do ye mean when ye say ye want us to talk about what we want? I assume ye mean how I expect ye to be in this marriage?”
“Aye,” she nibbled on fragrant rosemary basted chicken. “Especially since we started on a bad footin’. I thought ye were the worst of the worst. But now, I realize what I believed about ye was only a mishmash of rumors and unsupported fear.
“I now ken ye are a noble warrior, willin’ to defend yer people at any cost, even if that means being…” she swallowed “…ruthless.”
Sitting back with the goblet of wine in hand, he gave her an inscrutable look. “Why thank ye for tryin’ to understand but ye’re are wrong. I choose violence because I like it.”
Paige reached for her sliver of cheese and stared at him long enough that the silence began to scrape over his skin.
Finally, she tutted. “If ye think I will believe that, ye are as na?ve as ye think I am. Ye are a warrior, that is true, but ye are also generous, with a fiercely loyal heart.”
“And how do ye figure that?” Ruben asked.
“Call it me intuitive sense,” Paige said. “The reason I asked ye to share with me what yer needs are is because I want to tell ye what I want.”
The shadows danced over his face. “What do ye want?”
“I want ye to be honest with me,” she said. “At all times. Tell me the truth of what ye think, of ye want from me and what ye feel. I ken ye feel deeply, Ruben, even if ye daenae how show it.”
Leaning forward, he braced his elbows on the table. “Ye truly think high of me.”
“I am star?—”
A brisk knock came on the door, startling them both and prodding Ruben to stand and answer it. A healer was standing on the other side of the door, her grey robes dim in the faint light.
“Me laird and lady,” she dipped her head. “I do apologize for interruptin’ ye, but Norah is awake and steady. She wants to speak to ye—” she looked to Paige “—the both of ye.”