"Aye, the scar kept me from marrying Adaira," he acknowledged. "I agree with ye there."
"I am not talking about that part now," she said solemnly. "Do you realize, had your attacker been standing even an inch or two nearer, you would not have survived the blow? Or, he could have been using a mace rather than a sword, or something else, which surely would have killed you. The very fact that you are alive is another instance of luck being on your side."
"I suppose it is," he acknowledged.
"And what is it but luck that you were blessed with such good looks that the injury barely detracts from them? Or that God graced you with an intelligence, kindness and chivalry I ken I am lucky to have encountered. Nay, husband, you are not unlucky. Or if you are, then your misfortune has been my good fortune, for had you not been injured and had your betrothed not refused to marry you, then I would not now get to marry you myself. And I know how lucky I am to be able to call you husband."
Seeing the doubt on his face, and determined to rid him of it, she said, "You are a good man, Aulay Buchanan. And that alone makes me lucky, but . . ." Closing her eyes, Jetta bit her lip briefly. She did not want him to have any doubt that she was marrying him for him, and not because she thought him a safe haven. But the only way she could think to do that was to admit . . . Straightening her shoulders, she opened her eyes and admitted what she thought he needed to hear. "I am very looking forward to the marriage bed, husband. In fact, I am sore disappointed the priest is not here and we are not already married, for your kisses fire my blood, and your touch makes me tremble and shiver with pleasure, and I should like nothing more than for you to take me in your arms and--"
Her words died as Aulay suddenly lunged up from the floor and covered her lips with his.
Chapter 14
Jetta opened to Aulay at once when his mouth covered hers. She then gasped and clutched at his shoulders as he scooped her up and settled on the bed with her in his lap. Twisting her upper body toward him, Jetta kissed him back, meeting his thrusting tongue, and dueling with it as it invaded.
At first, all he did was kiss her. Long, deep, demanding kisses that had her moaning, and clutching at him as he clasped her face in his hands and tilted her head in the direction he wanted. Jetta went without protest, tilting one way and then the other as he kissed her thoroughly, and then one hand dropped along her throat to slide over her chest to one breast, where it stopped to squeeze and cup her, squeeze and cup in a slow, steady rhythm to match his kiss. She hardly noticed when his second hand slid away from her face, or that he was working on the fastenings of her gown, until part of it suddenly fell away. It now only covered one breast, held there by the hand squeezing her eager flesh. His other hand found the now naked breast and began to knead that one too. Jetta groaned as the rough skin of his palm and fingers added to her excitement and she arched into both hands, her kiss becoming a bit frantic. Aulay immediately removed his first hand long enough for the cloth to drop away and when he then continued to caress that breast too with his rough, bare hand she muttered a plea into his mouth that even she didn't understand.
In the next moment, she was crying out in protest when he broke their kiss, but then he leaned her back against his arm to allow his mouth to trail its way down her neck. By the time his mouth reached and replaced his hand at her breast, she was twisting her head and moaning in one long sound of need as he took as much of her breast into his mouth as he could fit and then drew his mouth away until only the nipple remained.
"Oh, husband," she groaned, clasping his head and shifting in his lap as need coalesced in her lower stomach and seemed to slide down between her legs.
"Aye, love," he growled against her skin and then eased her onto the bed and settled half on top, and half beside her. Shifting his attention to the other breast now, she felt his leg slide between hers and nudge against her core. Jetta instinctively closed her legs around his knee, riding it as he eased it back and forth against her.
Releasing her nipple a moment later, he growled, "I'm no' going to bed ye, lass."
Jetta blinked her eyes open and peered at him blankly, unable to speak or react. Her body was humming to the tune he was playing, and she was having trouble concentrating on anything.
Seeming to realize that, Aulay smiled crookedly and then said, "God, ye're beautiful like this."
Jetta glanced down the length of her body. The top of her gown was now tangled around her waist, the skirt pushed up almost as high and, as she watched, his hand released her breast and drifted idly down to slip between her legs as his knee shifted aside.
His first touch had her bucking beneath him and crying out. But he quickly covered her mouth with his to silence her as his fingers began to dance across her eager flesh, circling and nudging the center of her excitement there. Just when she thought she could not bear it a moment longer, Jetta felt something push into her. Since he was dressed and only his knee and hand were anywhere near the area, she thought it must be a finger, and then didn't care as it began to slide in and out while his thumb continued to caress the nub of her excitement.
"Oh, husband, please," Jetta gasped, breaking their kiss, and then frowned as she realized what she said. "I mean, Aulay."
"Call me husband. I will be soon enough and I like it," he murmured, nuzzling her breast. "It fires me blood."
"Aye, I'll call you husband then," she gasped as his tongue rasped across her nipple.
Aulay groaned as if the words truly did fire his blood and then claimed one nipple again with his mouth as his hand began to move faster between her legs, his finger plunging deeper.
"Oh, husband," Jetta cried, instinctively raising the knee not covered by his legs and pushing herself up into the caress.
"Oh please, husband, oh please, husband, oh please," Jetta breathed the litany, hardly aware she was doing it as she struggled toward what he was offering, and then a knock sounded at the door and they both froze. Jetta had to bite her lip to hold back her moan of protest when Aulay let her nipple slip from his mouth and lifted his head to glance toward the door. Surely whoever it was would have assumed them already asleep and left if he did not say anything, she thought as he called, "What?"
"Father Archibald just returned," Alick called out cheerfully through the door. "Dougall's gone down to the church to tell him ye want to marry first thing in the morn."
Aulay turned sharply to Jetta, took in her wide eyes, her erect nipples and his hand buried between her legs and growled, "Tonight."
"What?" Alick and Jetta both said with surprise.
"We marry tonight," he answered, withdrawing his hand from between her legs and pulling her from the bed as he got up.
"Did ye say ye want to marry Jetta tonight?" Alick asked, as if unsure he was hearing correctly.
"Aye," Aulay growled, beginning to tug Jetta's gown back into place. "Go tell him so he can ready himself. And tell Saidh to get everyone down to the church. Everyone. The people o' Buchanan will want to witness their laird claiming his bride. And tell Conran to see that lots o' ale, cider and uisge beatha are brought out. They'll want to celebrate after."
Alick grunted something that might have been an acknowledgment and then they heard his footsteps moving away.
"Are you sure you wish to marry tonight?" Jetta asked, her body humming with need. All she wanted was for him to strip her gown off and finish what he'd started. The wedding could wait, she thought, and said, "We could always marry on the morrow. 'Twould give us more time to prepare and 'tis late now."
Finished putting her gown back in order, Aulay clasped her face between his hands and kissed her, a deep, hungry kiss full of need and passion. Moaning, Jetta melted into him at once, and went willingly when he backed her up. She was hoping he was urging her toward the bed, and he did, but not as she expected. He backed her up until the bedpost pressed into her spine, and then reached down behind her leg and lifted it up to pull around his hip, leaving her balanced on one leg as he ground himself intimately against
her.
Breaking their kiss then, he pressed into her again and asked, "Can ye feel that I want ye?"
"Aye, husband," Jetta gasped, pressing back against the hardness rubbing against her.
"I want ye so bad it aches," he admitted, grinding against her again. "I want nothing more than to strip ye naked, toss ye on the bed and thrust into ye so hard and so deep ye scream yer pleasure fer all to hear."
"Oh aye, husband," Jetta almost sobbed, tightening her leg around him.
"But I want all who hear to ken yer me wife when I draw that scream from ye, love," he added, easing away from her a bit.
"Oh," Jetta breathed as disappointment crashed down on her at the realization that he didn't plan to pleasure her now.
Cupping her face, he said gently, "I'll no' take ye ere we're wed when the priest is here to do it." Kissing her gently on the nose, he smiled crookedly and assured her, "'Twill no' take long."
"Nay," she agreed weakly.
Smile turning wicked then, he slid his hand under her skirt and along the inside of her raised leg until his fingers brushed against her slick skin and he added, "And I'll enjoy kenning ye're still wet fer me when the priest asks do ye take me to be yer husband."
"Husband!" she groaned in what was supposed to be a shocked voice, but sounded more like a plea as he fondled her.
He ran his finger around the tight bud of her excitement and then plunged it into her and pressed firmly as he growled by her ear, "I promise, minutes after the priest finishes marrying us, I'll have yer skirt up and be thrusting into ye with the real thing. And I'll no' stop until ye're satisfied."
"Oh God," Jetta groaned when he eased his finger back out and let her leg drop. When he then caught her hand to lead her to the door, she followed docilely, but her mind was now spinning a bit. She was sorry at the interruption. She'd been so very close to finding the release he'd given her on the table at the lodge and could have wept at the interruption. On the other hand, she knew the wedding would only delay that release. She was going to be married and properly bedded tonight. Jetta had no doubt about that. And she had no doubt her husband would see to it she found her release once they were back here. The problem was, he would follow it up with the carrot and the bread loaf, and she wasn't at all sure she would like that.
Although, Jetta encouraged herself, he had pushed his finger inside of her and that had not hurt. Mayhap his carrot wouldn't either.
That was wishful thinking and she knew it. Jetta might be missing many of her memories, but there were certain things she wasn't and one of those was the church's claims that the joining was painful and meant to be a punishment for Eve's sins. At least that's what their priest had claimed.
Jetta recognized that she'd regained another memory, but didn't really care. It was one she could have done without. Besides, she was quite sure she'd heard that the joining was painful elsewhere too. At least the first time. She remembered those teachings as clearly as she recalled how to walk, talk and play chess, so suspected she was in for a night of sweet pleasure, followed by agony. It left her a little less than eager as Aulay escorted her out of the bedchamber.
"Alick says ye want to marry tonight."
Jetta glanced ahead at that announcement and spotted Saidh leading Edith, Murine and Jo toward them in the hall outside the bedchamber.
"Aye," Aulay said at once.
Saidh nodded. "Then we have to prepare Jetta."
Aulay scowled at the claim. "She does no' need preparing. She is fine."
"She is far from fine," Murine countered with dismay.
"Aye," Edith agreed. "Her caul is missing, her hair a mess and her dress wrinkled. She can no' be married and presented to the people o' Buchanan as their new lady like that."
When Aulay frowned and hesitated, Jo said soothingly, "With four of us working on her, we can have her ready in a matter of minutes. And you could do with a change of plaid as well, m'laird. You are a bit wrinkled too."
"And ye've wine or something on yer sleeve," Saidh added. "Jo's right. Ye should change."
Aulay glanced down at his sleeve, cursed, and then nodded and said with resignation, "Fine. I'll need to fetch a fresh plaid from me room first though."
"Ye can change in there," Murine said at once. "We can use the room Dougall and I are in. The dresses are in chests in the hall anyway, so we need no' go in the master bedchamber at all."
Nodding again, he paused long enough to squeeze Jetta's hand and offer her a smile before turning to head back the way they'd come.
"I think she should wear the pale green dress," Murine announced the minute the door closed behind Aulay.
"I think ye're right," Edith announced, moving away toward one of the half-dozen chests in the hall. The one she stopped by and opened was on the opposite side of the door to the master bedroom.
Jetta glanced from Edith to Murine and said, "But it is still in the chest. It will be wrinkled."
"Nay, it will no'," Murine said with a grin. "I took it out the minute the men brought up the chests. I suspected something like this would happen."
"Well, that explains why it's no' here," Edith said dryly and then frowned at the contents of the chest she'd just opened.
"What is it?" Saidh asked, moving toward Edith to peer down into the chest herself.
"The gowns are all crushed," Edith pointed out as Jetta, Murine and Jo joined them. "It looks like something heavy was lying on them."
"Aye," Saidh murmured and bent to pick up something poking out from under some of the material. Straightening, she held up a finely crafted knife with an ebony handle that had ornate carvings on it. "Something heavy like the person who dropped this, mayhap?"
"Hmm," Jo said, eyes narrowing. "Aye, mayhap even a certain archer who likes to push ladies down stairs?"
"'Tis a ballock dagger," Jetta said softly, staring at the two oval swellings on the guard and noting the figures carved into them. "I think I've seen that knife before."
"Can ye remember where?" Saidh asked, but when Jetta began to concentrate on trying to remember, she concealed the blade up her sleeve and squawked, "Nay, do no' try. 'Tis yer wedding night. The last thing ye need is a headache."
"But--" Jetta began in protest.
"Nay, Saidh is right," Jo interrupted, grasping Jetta's shoulders and turning her toward the room where Dougall and Murine were staying. "Tomorrow is soon enough to try to remember. For now, we need to--What the devil are you doing, Saidh?"
Jetta turned with a start at that comment to see that Jo was gaping at the other woman, who had stepped into the chest and was now dropping to crouch inside it.
"Seeing how big 'tis," Saidh said dryly and then crouched down and made herself as small as she could inside. Her voice was slightly muffled when she asked, "Is there a lot o' room left over? Could a man fit?"
"Aye," Edith said solemnly. "'Tis a big chest. There is at least a foot o' space above ye, no' counting the lid."
"And several inches in front, behind and on either side o' ye too," Murine added with a nod. "Even a man as big as one o' our husbands would fit."
"That's what I thought," Saidh said with satisfaction, straightening again. Stepping out, she muttered, "I suspected the men were wrong about the attacker using the passages. Only family members ken about them."
"'Tis hard to believe they did not check the chests though," Jo said with a frown.
"They probably did," Saidh said with a shrug, and then pointed out, "The dagger was under one o' the dresses. No doubt the attacker pulled out one o' the gowns, climbed in and pulled the gown o'er himself. Then when the men opened it--"
"They saw only gowns," Murine finished with a nod.
"They would no' ha'e thought to drag the gowns out to be sure that was all that was in the chests. They knew we'd packed them full."
"Aye," Edith muttered and then asked grimly, "But where are all the gowns from that chest?"
"Well, the pale green one is in me room," Murine pointed out. "And Jetta is wearin
g the dark green--" Pausing abruptly, she grimaced and said, "I am sorry. Would ye prefer Sorcha or Jetta?"
"In truth, I am more used to Jetta too now and prefer it."
"Good, then there will be less confusion when ye're visiting and our Sorcha is there," Saidh said with a smile.
"True," Jetta agreed with a grin.
They all smiled and then Edith cleared her throat and said, "Back to the dresses. I ken Jetta is wearing one, and the pale green one is in yer room, Murine, but that still leaves a number o' dresses missing from this chest."
"Aye," Jo agreed. "And when we sorted the gowns at the lodge, we put all the ones we thought looked best with Jetta's coloring in it."
"There are only two left in here now," Saidh said as she lifted out the top dress.
"The attacker must have planned ahead and removed most o' the dresses to prepare it as a quick hiding spot," Edith said thoughtfully.
"Aye, but where would he put the dresses when he removed them?" Jo asked with irritation.
They were all silent for a minute, and then Saidh dropped the gown she'd been holding and slammed the chest lid closed. "They must be here somewhere. He could hardly cart half a dozen dresses out o' the keep without someone noticing. We'll take a look around fer them tomorrow. Tonight we ha'e other things to tend."
"Aye," Jo agreed, turning to smile at Jetta.
"But what about the chest?" Edith asked as they ushered Jetta toward Murine's room. "Should we no' tell the men about it?"
"We can tell the men about it after the ceremony," Saidh decided. "But no' Aulay. He does no' need to worry about such and the like until tomorrow. We do no' want to ruin Jetta's big night."
"Aye." Murine nudged Jetta with an elbow and gave her a teasing grin. "Tonight he should only be concerned with pleasure."
"Ooooooh ayyyyye," Edith crooned on a laugh.
"Stop," Jetta said, half laughing at their teasing, but wholly blushing, and more than a little nervous about the night ahead.
Apparently noting her worry, Jo smiled sympathetically, and put a soothing arm around her. "'Twill be fine. It may hurt a little at first, but Aulay seems a kind man, and he definitely has tender feelings for you. He will be gentle with you."