“Aye, for doing so would be the same as bringing harm down upon our own heads. The Mathesons are our blood kin.”
“Colin MacKenzie should never have withheld the truth about your true mother and her people from you for so long. In doing so, he took away your right to learn all you needed to know about your fae heritage.” She cupped his cheeks, stroked her fingers back and forth over his stubbly jaw. “I’m so sorry you’ve never had us to stand by your side. We Mathesons do when it comes to each other.”
“I have you now, and I wish to claim you as my wife.”
“You wish to wed?” Surprise and pure happiness rolled through her.
“Aye, and right this very moment.” He gripped the hem of his tunic, lifted it over his head and tossed it behind him where it landed with a soft swish on the corner chair.
“Wait. Right now?”
“There is no other way I’ll join with you otherwise.” He pushed the covers back and she gasped at the sight of his cock rising high and firm from a thatch of black curls at his groin. “Look at me.” He caught her face in his hands and steered her gaze back to his. Such a hungry need swirled within his stunning blue eyes. “I wish to accept the bond, to take you as mine, Ella, for us to be man and wife, from this moment forth.”
“Aye, please, I want that too.” Elbows underneath her, she eased up a touch and gasped as his shaft thickened and lengthened further. It jabbed right into her belly, the head glistening with his essence. “You are the only man I’ll ever wish for, ever desire, ever long for. Our clans might no’ be at peace, but you and I shall always be so.”
“We’ll need to speak handfast vows since there isnae a clergyman about.” He gripped the hem of her shift, tore a thin strip of white cotton from it then clasped her right hand with his right and wrapped the thin strip around both their wrists. “Will you bind yourself to me as my wife for the next year and a day?”
“For the rest of my life if you’ll allow it.”
“I want to ravish you senseless.” He brushed his lips across hers. “I, Duncan Angus MacKenzie, of Ardan House, pledge my troth to Ella, of the House of Clan Matheson. With this handfast, I take her as my wife for the next year and a day.” He hauled her shift over her head, the fabric bunched around their joined hands. Her breasts spilled forth and he lowered his head, licked across one beaded nipple. “Speak your vow now, Ella, afore I lose all control.”
With his hot tongue lapping her breast, she murmured, “I, Ella, of the House of Clan Matheson, pledge my troth to Duncan Angus MacKenzie. With this handfast, I take him as my husband for the next year and a day.” She unraveled the binding, freed their hands and pushed her shift aside. “You are my stubborn one, and I shall never forsake you.”
“’Tis time to seal our vows.” Gaze smoldering, he captured her mouth in a scorching kiss, his muscled body a fierce heat she wanted to embrace in every way. “My wife,” he murmured as he slid down her body to the end of the bed.
“Duncan, where are you going?”
“I’m allowing my instincts to take over, as I quite often do, and right now they’re demanding this of me.” He widened her legs and stroked along her inner thighs, his fingers moving all the way to the crease of her groin. Nuzzling her mound, he breathed deep, spread her legs even wider and revealed all of her to his ravenous gaze. With a low rumble, he trailed one finger along her slit. “I want my cock inside you, right here. Compel me, Ella. Make me wait.”
“Oh, please, aye.” The heat of his breath washing over her made her burn for a full joining.
“I said to compel me to wait, no’ to entice me.”
“Wait, of course. You must wait.” She speared her fingers through his hair and held onto him.
“I’ve heard my men speak of the pleasure they sometimes take in tasting a lass below, and of having her suck his cock.” Blue eyes twinkling, he blew warm air across her lower folds. “Do you wish for me to bring you such pleasure, to taste you right here?”
“You speak so wickedly.” She slid her legs along his shoulders, her heartbeat a pounding mess.
“I’ll take that as an aye.” He grinned and separated her folds. “You’re so sweetly pink and all mine.” Hands curled around her hips, he lowered his head and swept his tongue across her flesh then delved deeper and licked until a fire blazed in her core and sizzled along her senses. Heat radiated out from where he touched her, made her crazed for so much more.
“Do that again,” she whispered, her voice so ragged. Hips lifting, she panted, struggling for breath as a kaleidoscope of emotions surged through her. “I never thought I could be so wanton and make that kind of demand.”