Andrew had never seen anything as wondrous as watching his little Cat lose herself to the pleasure of her release.
Her body quivered and shook.
Her face was flushed.
Eyes fever bright.
Her breathing ragged.
Her breasts were swollen and the nipples plump and sensitive from where he had pulled on them.
Her channel walls contracted over and over again about his thrusting fingers as the release of her juices gushed hot and viscous between them and down her thighs.
Andrew continued to thrust his fingers inside her, to pull on her nipples, until he was sure he had extracted and given Cat every bit of pleasure from her climax.
By the time he swung her up into his arms and walked around to the side of the bed, her limbs were limp and unmoving. She could only stare up at him with unblinking and unfocused eyes after he had placed her on top of the bed.
Andrew eyed her curiously as he gently unfastened and removed her robe, straightened her night rail so it once again covered the swell of her breasts.
He could not, however, bring himself to pull up the bedcovers and walk away from her quite yet. “You seem somewhat…surprised, by your own release.”
Was it possible…? Could Cat’s dazed expression really be due to her never having known that physical pleasure until now, despite being a widow?
She chewed on her bottom lip for several seconds before confirming his suspicion. “I have never felt that degree of ecstasy before tonight.”
Andrew appreciated how much that husky admission must have cost her, when she had obviously loved her husband dearly.
But her confession confirmed something else Andrew had suspected might be the case when Cat spoke of Ewan: the two of them had been too much best friends to ever attain the heights of passion and pleasure together as lovers.
There was nothing wrong with that. Many couples found happiness together with far less than friendship. Andrew felt sure that if Ewan had lived, the wondrous creature that was Cat, loyal and true, would never have looked at Andrew twice. Well…she probably would have looked at him, but it would have been with that continued disdain with which she had first greeted him.
Andrew could not bring himself to wish Ewan Munro any ill will but a part of him was certainly grateful the other man was no longer here to keep his passionate Cat from him.
Andrew now moved to stand at the foot of the bed, the intoxicating scent of Cat’s release far too tempting for him to be able to bring himself to leave her just yet.
Instead, he knelt on the bed, holding Cat’s surprised gaze as he slowly lowered his body so that he now lay between her parted thighs.
“Andrew…?” She voiced her uncertainty.
“Do you trust me, little Cat?”
She drew in a ragged breath before nodding. “I believe I do.”
“Good.” Andrew kissed the inside of one thigh and then the other before he was lured higher by her enticing scent. One lick of that delicious nectar and Andrew knew he was addicted.
He licked and swallowed again and again, causing Cat to groan and writhe as his hands on her hips held her firmly in place. He only released that hold to move one of his hands beneath her night rail to squeeze and tug on her nipple at the same time as his tongue circled and then lashed against her swollen clit. Seconds later, she was thrown into another paroxysm of pleasure.
When Andrew finally moved to stand at the side of the bed, it was to find Cat looking even more dazed, pupils enlarged, and her cheeks feverish. She made no effort to hide any of that vulnerability from him. “Thank you, little Cat,” he murmured as he bent to place a gentle kiss on the smoothness of her brow.
She blinked. “Are you leaving?”
“I am,” he confirmed gently.
Her gaze moved down to where his sizeable cock visibly pressed, thick and long, against the front of his pantaloons. “But you havena—ye didna—” The heat deepened in her cheeks; her Scottish accent once again more noticeable.
Andrew made no move to hide his arousal as he smoothed back the hair from her temples. “If I stay here and you make love to me, I am duty-bound to administer that second promised spanking before we do anything else.”
She squirmed a little as if she was only now remembering the discomfort from that first spanking. “I’d rather ye did not.”
He chuckled. “As for the other, I am a very patient man. Tonight, I have staked my claim—”
“Staked your claim?” She roused enough to sound indignant. “You make me sound like a piece of land or a far-off gold mine!”
“You are far lovelier and of more value than either one of them.” He stared deeply into her eyes. “What is a wait of one more day when I have already waited ten years?” he added self-derisively.
She licked the dryness of her lips. “One more day?”
Andrew nodded, fingers of one hand lingering to caress her temple. “It is to be hoped Munro will not be staying here tomorrow night.” His jaw tightened at the thought of the other man now somewhere in the house. He would not put it past Munro to have been listening at Cat’s bedchamber door this whole time.
Her eyes glittered with the lingering anger she felt toward the other man. “He will never stay here again nor think he has the right to do so.”
Andrew’s tension eased. “Then tomorrow night, with your permission, and once all the revelers have left after honoring their new laird, I will share this bed with you.”
“After you have administered that second promised spanking?”
It was impossible for Andrew to discern from the flush in Cat’s cheeks and the brightness of her eyes whether it was something she looked forward to or dreaded. But her responses to her spanking tonight would seem to indicate the former.
“Yes, after that,” he confirmed softly. “The day following that one,” he continued before Cat could comment further, “if you are agreeable, you and Malcolm shall accompany me to Inverness.” Now that he had found her, even the thought of being parted from Cat for a day and overnight was unacceptable to him.
She smiled warmly. “Malcolm will enjoy that.”
“And you?” Andrew eyed her quizzically. “Will you like it too? If I might also arrange for all of us to stay overnight at an inn with adjoining rooms, rather than you and Malcolm staying at your uncle’s home while I go to an inn?”
Would Cat enjoy staying in Inverness with Andrew at an inn, if they could persuade her aunt and uncle not to be offended because they were not staying with them?
She would not have thought so earlier today, having believed Andrew to be both cold and unyielding. But Andrew’s unselfish giving of pleasure to her tonight had drastically changed Cat’s perception of him.
Andrew was not cold or unyielding. He simply guarded his emotions so as to appear that way.
Here, in the privacy of her bedchamber, he had not hesitated to reveal the deep sensuality of his nature. Of his being a man who was unafraid to voice his desire to first spank her and then pleasure her with his hands and tongue.
Desires Cat had been surprised to discover she shared. The need to have Andrew first spank her and then arouse her to such a height of pleasure, he had given her the first sexual climaxes of her life.
A spanking and a sexual ecstasy which Cat knew she wanted to feel again.
As she wanted to touch and kiss the hard length of Andrew’s cock and give him that same pleasure.
She reached up to run her fingers lightly down the rigid contours of his cock pressing against the front of his pantaloons. “Yes, I will like that too,” she confirmed softly.
Andrew gave a choked groan of pleasure before lifting her caressing hand so that he could kiss each of her fingertips in turn. “Thank you for your honesty.”
She smiled. “Far better to be so than I should ‘waste precious time indulging in ridiculous flirtation that would ultimately arrive at the same conclusion.’” She teased him with his own words from earlier today.
Earlier today…
Was it really only hours since the two of them had first met? Since she had viewed this man’s arrival with such suspicion?
It now felt to Cat as if she had always known Andrew. His honor. His valor. His truth. His deep sensuality.
But she only knew any of those things because Andrew had allowed her to do so. If he hadn’t wished Cat to see this sensual and more vulnerable side of him, then she had no doubt he would still be as much the cold and enigmatic stranger he had been when he first arrived.
His expression turned rueful. “I cannot believe I spoke to you with such pomposity earlier.”
Cat’s smile widened before she looked down to where his eyeglass had fallen out of his pocket, held there still by the ribbon it was attached to. “Do you really have need of this?” She held up the eyeglass, which appeared to be clear glass. “Or do you wield it as another barrier to place between yourself and others?”
Andrew looked at her with appreciation. “You are very astute.”
She placed the eyeglass in his palm. “I hope you have now realized that you will have no further need of this when the two of us are alone together.”
He continued to gaze at her admiringly. “I have no doubt if I should forget, you will remind me of that being the case.”
Her smile widened. “I see you have noticed I am not someone who chooses to hide behind a façade of politeness for the sake of it.”
Andrew chuckled. “And I thank God for it, because neither am I.” They continued to smile at each other for several long seconds before Andrew spoke again. “I will see you at breakfast in the morning.”
“I trust you are looking forward to your parridge,” she taunted.
“I am sure I shall manage,” he drawled. “Unless that remark was made with the intention of goading me into bringing forward your second spanking?”
Her expression turned to one of alarm. “I believe I shall need at least twenty-four hours to recover from this one.”
He gazed at her warmly. “I shall look forward to it.”
Cat waited until Andrew had left her bedchamber and closed the door behind him before softly murmuring, “As will I.”
She would not have thought from their first meeting that just hours later, she would be warm and satiated from Andrew’s lovemaking.
Or that she would very much want to feel that way again soon.