Page 49

Chapter

S he should have more.

Stepping through the door of her bedchamber, it was Kieran’s first thought. Though the room was unmistakably Maisie, it was not much bigger than his own room.

He’d intended to talk.

To ask Maisie what she’d been thinking since last eve.

To tell her about Niall.

To simply be in her presence for a bit longer.

And yet, when she closed the door behind him, he did not want to talk at all. Kieran said he’d not touch her unless she willed it, so he kept his word.

Except . . .

“One quick kiss,” he said, moving toward her, his intentions clear.

He could reach out and touch her, but didn’t. Kieran waited, never wanting anything more than to kiss this woman. Her brief, barely perceptible nod was all he needed. When he pulled her toward him, Maisie fairly crashed into his chest. His head descended, his lips capturing hers.

Maisie opened for him, knowing now the dance their tongues engaged in. Her head tilted, her moans making him grow hard. But that was not to be. This was a simple kiss. And yet. It felt anything but simple.

In fact, it felt intense. Complicated.

His arms wrapped around her as Maisie’s did the same.

Kieran had meant this to be a quick kiss but was loathe to break apart.

He wanted more, and by Maisie’s movements, it seemed she did too.

When her hands moved to his chest, her fingers splayed as if attempting to feel him beneath the material of his plaid and shirt, he did break the kiss.

The look she gave him . . . he must have misinterpreted it.

“Maisie?”

“I want to know you, Kieran.”

His response was swift and certain. “Nay. We cannae. You said you do not wish to care for me . . .”

And I wish the same. How could I ever take a wife when I don’t know who I am? What I have to offer?

“Can we not place feelings aside for this one night? I’ve had a taste of the pleasure that being with a man could bring, one I’d not known was possible. And now I wish to know more even if there is pain in this act itself. Show me, Kieran.”

He could not.

But wished to very, very much.

“There would not be pain between us Maisie. Even still . . . ”

“Let me please you too.”

Her words were too much for him to bear. The thought of making love to her. Being inside her.

“You said there are ways, to prevent. . .” She looked down.

“There are. I would not spill my seed in you,” he said bluntly, wanting her to ken. “But Maisie. Are you certain?”

She did not hesitate. “I am.”

He reached for her once again. This time, their kiss was not one of desperation.

It was a slow precursor. While his lips moved over hers, so did his hands.

With each touch of his tongue, he untied, tugged, and eventually undid the laces that kept Maisie’s gown in place.

She aided by shrugging out of the sleeves, the two of them not once breaking their kiss.

And so it went with their boots. His plaid.

Maisie’s shift. In the most sensual of ways their kiss was broken only temporarily as one by one their pieces of clothing fell aside.

With a fire roaring, two candles and a lantern offering plenty of light to see her, Kieran guided Maisie to the bed, stopping only briefly to grab the cloth by Maisie’s washbowl and place it on the bed.

“You are glorious,” he said, unsure where to lay his eyes first. The swell of her breasts?

The curve of her hips? That place that he’d touched and would do so again?

Aye. There. As she lay against the pillows, it was there Kieran began as he lay beside her.

“Open your legs for me,” he whispered into her ear, her hair tickling his face.

She did.

He slipped first one, then two fingers inside, kissing her neck and making his way to Maisie’s delectable mouth. She was so wet, Kieran had to resist making love to her immediately. He didn’t want this to go too quickly. In many ways, she was still a virgin even if her maidenhead had been broken.

“Mmm,” she moaned against his lips.

Kieran pulled back, using his fingers to ensure she was more than ready for him.

“You like that, sweet Maisie?”

“I do,” she murmured.

He’d never wanted to please a woman more. She deserved it. She deserved so much. More than he could give her. But at least he could give her this.

Pulling his hand from her, Kieran moved atop her, willing himself to go slowly. He cursed her already dead husband for the look of fear that flitted across her face.

“I will go slowly. Gently,” he said. Then, with a smile, “Unless you will it otherwise.”

She blinked. “Which I willnae.”

Aye, Maisie. You will.

Guiding himself into her, Kieran nearly spilled his seed. She was so damn tight. And beautiful. He might not be the first to be with such a woman, but he would be the first to have her find pleasure in lovemaking.

To that end, when he was fully buried in her, Kieran did not move. Instead, he allowed her to feel the fullness and become accustomed to it.

Even if the stillness nearly killed him.

She held on to his arms, Maisie’s fingers a caress as sweet as the woman herself. When she, ever so slightly, pulled him into her, Kieran began to move. Slowly. Withdrawing and pumping back into her.

“My God, you have magnificent breasts.”

“You have magnificent . . . everything,” she said.

Kieran chuckled, something he didn’t typically do during lovemaking. Enjoying their banter, enjoying being joined with her, he kept it going.

“Why, thank you, my lady. Shall I show you precisely how magnificent I can be?”

Accustomed to him now, looking completely relaxed, Maisie smiled. “If it pleases you.”

“Oh, it pleases me very much.”

Propping himself with one arm, Kieran reached between them. Slowly rubbing circles with his thumb as he entered her more deeply, he watched the expression on her face. A moment ago, she’d been smiling. Almost laughing. Now Maisie’s lids hooded and her mouth opened. The sound she made?

Nearly his undoing.

He did not relent, alternately making love to her ever so slowly, continuing to use his hand to bring Maisie to climax, and now faster. Kieran was determined for her to find pleasure in an act she surely had not before.

Nay, not just pleasure. He wanted Maisie never to forget this moment.

“Do you like that, sweet Maisie?” he asked, his voice low. His words, like another caress. “Me inside you?”

“Kieran.” Her fingers attempted to grip his shoulders. “Look at you,” she said, more to herself than him.

She was close.

“I want you to let it all go for me. Can you do that?”

“Kieran,” she said again, her hips arching up toward him in perfect rhythm. He was buried full hilt now.

“Let. It. Go.” This time he demanded, and she did exactly that.

Pressing up into him, she squeezed her eyes shut and made the most seductive of sounds.

Removing his hand from between them, he braced himself and, after one final thrust, wanting nothing more than to remain buried inside her, spilling his seed . . . he pulled out.

And came instead into the cloth he’d placed beside them.

By the time Kieran recovered, Maisie had turned to him.

Head on the pillow, the curve of her hips too enticing not to touch, he jumped from the bed, disposed of the cloth, and lay back next to her.

Wordlessly his hand splayed on her waist and then moved downward.

It stilled on her hip, Kieran content to leave it there as he looked into Maisie’s eyes.

“You do not cover yourself,” he said.

“Nor do you. Why are you surprised that I do not?”

“Never mind that. I am glad that you do not. You have a beautiful body, Maisie.” As they spoke, his fingers caressed her soft skin.

“I have the body I was born with. No more, no less.”

“A body that sang for me this eve.”

“A song I’d gladly sing again.” She smiled. “I was no virgin before this night, but had never truly made love before.”

As he suspected. “Tonight,” he insisted, “was as it should be.”

Kieran moved closer to her so that he could feel the heat of her body. Neither of them moved to get underneath the coverlet, and he realized it was a unique situation, to lie with a woman this way.

He quite enjoyed it.

“I’ve not met a woman like you before.”

Maisie’s hand rose toward his head. Smoothing back a lock of his hair, she traced her finger along his jaw.

“Nor I, you.”

“I came to speak with you about last eve, and yet, we’ve not done so.

You did not wish to do so today on the ride back.

” It was not a question, nor did Maisie respond.

She sighed instead, dropping her hand on the bed between them.

Somewhat reluctantly, Kieran removed his hand from her hip and laid it atop her own.

Neither of them spoke for some time.

“I like looking at you,” she said finally.

“Not as much as I do you, lass. But you are cold,” he said, having seen her shiver.

“Will you warm me?”

He’d love nothing more. “Come here,” Kieran said, tugging the coverlet down and pulling her toward him. “I will gladly do so before I leave. We should talk, however. ‘Tis why I came.”

“To talk,” she said, her naked body now pressed to his side.

“Aye,” he responded, ignoring the teasing tone of her voice. “To talk.”

“Mmmm,” Maisie murmured, not seeming inclined to do so. But then again, neither was he. In fact, it was a discussion he dreaded, knowing his mind. And hers. Especially after what had transpired between them.

I’ve not met a woman like you before.

It was true. Neither had he ever wanted so much to please a woman as he had Maisie. Likely because of her past experience with her husband, no more than that.

He wanted to see her face and so leaned back just slightly. Sleeping. Maisie’s eyes were closed, her breathing steady. And she was sleeping, in his arms. He’d intended to speak with her and leave, but no part of him wished to do that.

And so he pulled her tighter against him and closed his eyes instead.