Duncan had barely finished the order for his horse to be brought when the stablemaster was leading it to stand before them. Her husband set her down long enough to mount the beast, unsaddled as it was, then reached down to pull her up before him. As soon as he had her situated, he sent it charging out of the stables, right past his father.
"Duncan!"
Iliana caught a glimpse of her father-in-law's tight-lipped face as they flew past him; then he was out of sight beyond Duncan's shoulder. Clutching those shoulders, Iliana held on for dear life as they rode out of the bailey.
"He seemed angry at you," she murmured as the woods closed around them.
"Who? Father?"
"Aye."
"Hmm. Well, and most like he is."
Iliana frowned slightly when he did not explain, but merely asked, "Where are we going?"
"To a clearin' I ken. Yer screams'll not be heard there."
Iliana rolled her eyes with tired exasperation. "There is no need for it. I am no longer yelling."
"Nay, ye aren't are ye?" He grinned at her slightly, then kissed the tip of her nose before murmuring, "I shall have to see to that first thing."
Iliana frowned at him with confusion at that. "See to what, husband?"
"To teachin' ye to scream," was his confusing response.
Chapter Thirteen
They rode a good distance before Duncan began to slow. Despite the jarring ride and her own curiosity, Iliana had nearly dozed off when they finally broke from the trees into a clearing. It was the horse being drawn to an abrupt halt that caught her drifting attention and made her gaze sleepily around as Duncan slipped from the animal. She was yawning indelicately as she took in the beauty of the spot when she felt his hands at her waist. He plucked her from the horse, allowing her body to slide down his until their faces were on a level. Iliana immediately tried to cut off the yawn that had her mouth wide open, but was too slow. Her husband, taking advantage of this sign of exhaustion, covered her mouth with his own, his tongue sliding past her lips, and delving inside.
Weariness dropping away, Iliana quickly joined in the mating of their mouths, only to moan with disappointment when he drew his lips away.
"Da is mad at me because he kens why I brought ye here."
Iliana opened her eyes slowly at his amused words, confusion plain on her face.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"To make ye scream. With pleasure."
She blinked at that announcement, her weary mind slow to grasp his meaning until his hands rose from her waist to cup her breasts.
"I've a mind to taste me wife's passion again," he murmured, squeezing the round orbs he held before running his thumbs over the suddenly erect nipples that were pressing against the restraining material of her clothing.
Iliana stared down at the hands gently kneading her and swallowed. "Here, my lord? Out in the open?" she asked thickly.
"Here," he agreed.
"But what if someone should come along and--"
"But nothing," he murmured, pausing to kiss her again when she raised her head. Releasing her lips a moment later, he brushed his mouth along her cheek to her ear. "Nothing on God's green earth could stop me from--"
When he stiffened suddenly, Iliana went still as well, then gasped in surprise when he suddenly dropped one hand to cup her womanhood through her gown.
The ungiving hardness of thick leather and its metal lock that had met his touch repeatedly until the day before were blessedly absent and Duncan relaxed, a wry smile curving his lips as he admitted, "Well, almost nothing."
Iliana did not get a chance to comment before he had captured her lips again in a kiss that sent her head spinning. When his lips finally left hers several moments later and her head cleared slightly, she found that they were now several feet from the middle of the clearing where they had been just moments before. Much to her surprise, they were now at the edge. Duncan had moved her to lean against a tree. She could feel the rough bark pressing into her back. Oddly enough, she could also feel cool air hitting her body seemingly everywhere.
Glancing down as her husband kissed a trail down her neck toward her chest, she was shocked to see the reason she suddenly felt so cool. Her gown was torn and now gaped wide open to her belly, leaving her breasts covered only with small goose bumps. Added to that, her left leg was bare, raised, and half-hooked about his hip, held in place by one of his hands, which slid up the back of her leg toward her bottom, pushing her gown before it.
Iliana opened her mouth in shock at her own wanton display. But all that came out was a gasp of pleasure as she shuddered under the caress of Duncan's hot mouth, finding and closing over one chilled erect nipple.
Catching his head between her hands, she licked her lips and swallowed as she watched him suckle at her breast, finding the image amazingly erotic. Then she felt his free hand slide down between their bodies and she clenched her fingers in his hair, her head tipping back against the tree, a wild moan slipping from her lips as he opened the folds of her womanhood and found the bud of her pleasure.
"Husband!" she gasped with pleading as the feelings she had begun to explore the day before built within her.
Grunting, Duncan left off caressing her to grab her other leg and draw it around his hips. With her skirt now bunched up around her waist, he pressed her back into the tree and took a moment to shift his plaid out of the way. Then he was sliding into her.
Iliana shuddered and moaned as her body expanded to accommodate him, then moaned again as he drew himself out. Clasping her by the buttocks, he dropped his lips to cover hers as he continued to love her.
Iliana could feel the bark pressing into her back, could feel the soft material of his linen shirt against one naked breast and the rougher material of the tartan that sat over his shoulder against the other. But mostly she could feel him inside and around her as he drove her to the edge of insanity, then finally gave her the release that waited there.
"You were right to bring me here."
Duncan stiffened at those softly panted words by his ear. Letting her legs slip back to the ground, he lifted his head from her shoulder, where he had dropped it after finding his own fulfillment.
Seeing the soft, sated look in her eyes and face, he smiled to himself with satisfaction at the compliment he imagined she gave him, only to pause when she added, "Surely the whole castle would have heard your screams were we not so far away."
Catching the teasing light in her eyes, Duncan's face split in a grin. He had indeed screamed as he had spilled his seed inside her. He had howled like a wolf on a cold winter night. He'd probably scared away all the game for miles. "As I recall, 'twas ye who were supposed to scream," he murmured, sliding his hands up and down her arms.
"That would not be ladylike," she demurred coyly, and Duncan's grin widened further before he lifted her in his arms and moved to a less rocky patch of grass to lay her there.
"I've a mind to see me lady unladylike," he murmured, sprawling out beside her and moving his hand across the sweet flesh revealed by her gaping gown.
"You tore my gown." It was more an observation than an accusation.
"I was eager. Ye did not seem to mind at the time."
"I did not even notice at the time," Iliana admitted wryly.
His eyes filled with interest at that admission, then brightened. "So! I drove ye to distraction?"
"Aye, husband," she admitted gently, deciding he deserved to preen a bit.
"But ye didn't scream," he pointed out, his hand sliding across her belly and lower. "And ye will scream ere we leave here, sweetling. Ye'll scream with pleasure ere we leave here, and that's a solemn oath."