“You are a silly fool. I’d not given it much thought until now, but seeing as you’re so harsh on yourself, I wonder if you’re so harsh on others. There’s something I haven’t told you yet, either. Perhaps when you hear it, you won’t find me so appealing.”
He looked up at her and shook his head at the ridiculousness of her suggestion. The only person he’d ever judged as harshly as himself was Eoghanan, and he would make amends for that soon. She could say nothing to make him love her less. “No, I’m afraid that ye are stuck with me affections, whether ye wish them or no. Ye are faultless in me eyes, no matter what it is that ye have to say.”
“Still, I will have it said. Then you can never use this excuse not to be with me ever again. The next time you get me all riled up like that and don’t do anything to release the pressure, I’ll give you the same treatment I gave your lousy brother. Understand?”
He laughed deeply. “Aye, I am too attached to all of me parts to allow ye to do that, lass. Get on with whatever ye must say.”
“I was married once, too.”
His eyes widened and she stared at him. He’d not considered the possibility but, now that she said it, he didn’t know why. He knew her to be younger than him but older than most of the lasses around here were when they married. Of course she would have a past from her own time. “Ach, I’m sorry, lass. How did he die?”
“He didn’t. Unfortunately, he’s alive and well, and banging some girl while living in my old house.”
Though not a word he knew, he understood what ‘banging’ meant well enough, it was what she said about him still being alive that had him nervous. “If he dinna die, does that mean that ye are still married to him?”
“No. I’ll admit that I’m no history buff, but I’m pretty certain even if it’s allowed, it’s not very common around here yet. We’re divorced, which means that we are no longer married. Thank God. I’m pretty certain he was sleeping with at least one other person the entire time we were together. Scum bag.”
The idea of someone treating her so poorly angered him. How could any man wish to be with another when he had her? “I’m verra sorry, lass. If he wasna four hundred years ahead of me, I would verra much like to harm him for the pain he caused ye. But I dinna lie to ye before. It does nothing but make me admire ye all the more. Ye have been through much, and ye have no let it harden ye as I have done.”
He inhaled as she pressed herself flat against him, and he moaned as she slipped her hand in between him, latching onto his length. “What do ye think ye are doing, lass? I told ye, I willna have ye tonight. I wish to do so when I can worship ye no blind with need.”
“You’re not as hardened as you seem to think. Well, with the exception of this part. “ She ran her hand up and down him as his entire body trembled at the sensation. “You don’t have to have me tonight, but it seems you’re forgetting what I told you. I’m not going to let you go to bed in this state. It’s not healthy.”
He loved the lass, just lying next to her made him feel as if he could be the person he’d not allowed himself to be since Osla’s passing. He wished to tell her, but as she slid herself down him and wrapped her mouth around the most intimate part of him, he found himself incapable of speech.
It was not the time anyhow. If he said the words now, while she drew such indescribable pleasure from him, the words would not seem sincere, and he wished them to mean something to her for they certainly did to him.
Tomorrow, he would have to love every bit of her tenfold to make up for the pleasure she gifted him. Closing his eyes, he lost himself as Mitsy explored him in a way no lass had ever done before.
Chapter 27
“Doona ye move, lass. Stay in bed. I shall find us something to eat.”
Still very sleepy, I tried to sit up to smile at him as he started to leave. My hair must have looked a mess for he grinned as I did. I glanced up to find my hair sticking out so wildly I could see it in my peripherals. “Yeah, I know, I’m a messy sleeper, and I look ridiculous when I wake up. Always.”
“Ye look beautiful, lass. I’ll be back.”
Once he left, I stretched myself out over the bed as I smiled at the ceiling. I’d been wrong to question the sort of man he was, and it relieved me that he chose to tell me the truth without me having to guilt it out of him.
I looked over to the window and, judging by the height of the sun, guessed it to be somewhere around midday. I expected it was highly unusual for Baodan to stay in bed so long but, after what I’d done for him, he seemed one happy camper.
He spent the rest of the night holding me, whispering in between kisses how he planned to repay my kindness. I tried to talk him into just doing it then, but he was nothing if not stubborn. If he said it wasn’t going to happen that night, it wasn’t going to happen.