Love Letters from Largs: Brodie and Celestina (Highlander Clan Grant Series Book 3) (9 page)

“I have ne’er seen a father treat a daughter so. I do no’ understand him. I am sorry
for your loss of your mother, Celestina.”

“I would
much prefer to talk about your family. How many brothers and sisters do you have? And what about your parents?”

He hadn’t thought about it, but she would be gaining a large family.
“My parents died almost five years ago and Alex became laird since he is the eldest.” He reached over and poured a goblet of wine for them to share. He held it to her lips so she could sip the sweet concoction Alex had found for them. “Och, you will love my family. Alex’s wife is Maddie and they have three bairns, twin lads and a lassie. Robbie is the middle brother, but he is no’ yet married, and I have two sisters, Brenna and Jennie.”

“I will have two sisters? How exciting. I have always wished for a sister. Tell me more about them.” She sipped on the wine as she listened, an expression of excitement lighting up her features.

“Brenna is two years older than me and she is married to Quade Ramsay with one bairn, a lass. She is a healer and is training my wee sister, Jennie, who is ten and two.”

As he talked, he noticed her eyes
were misting. “Celestina? Is everything all right?”

She nodded, “Aye, how I wish this could all be real today and I could meet your sisters. Brodie, you have brought me
into a world I know nothing about. I do not know how to be a sister. Actually, I do not know how to be a wife, either. I have been so sheltered, I will feel lost at your home. I don’t know if I will fit in with your family. What will I do? I don’t know how to cook or weave. Will you help me? I am afraid of what they will think of me.”

“Lass, my family will love you as I do. You have a beautiful heart and that is what counts. Maddie and Brenna will love you. Do no’ fash yourself over this.”
He cupped her cheeks and brushed her tears away with his thumbs. She gazed at him in wonder, and he kissed her soft lips. “You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen, Celestina.” He kissed her again and teased the crease of her lips with his tongue until she opened for him. As he deepened the kiss, he expected her to be shy and reserved, but she wasn’t. Her tongue touched his with one hesitant stroke, but the one act told him so much about his new wife. She would be passionate; he was sure of it. And she was his.

Her breasts
pressed against him as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer. He probably should have slowed down, but he couldn’t—for now, they only had this night together. He stroked and suckled her tongue, angling his mouth over hers, and every bit of it was incredible. Her lips, so receptive, so responsive, made him want her even more. He was rock hard under his plaid, probably scaring the lass.

He could tell this whole world of touching and exploring
another was new to her. Well, they could explore together. The husky sounds in the back of her throat told him he would enjoy every moment plundering her sweetness.

He pulled back
with a hitch in his breathing and kissed her nose. Losing control now was not an option. He needed to control his urges and make this wonderful for her. “Lass, do you understand what happens between a husband and a wife?”

She blushed but nodded. “Aye, Inga told me what her mother
had explained to her.”

He sighed. “I do no’ want to belabor this, but a
re you sure this is what you want? There could be trouble with Ivarsson on the morrow.” He held her hands in his, caressing the insides of her wrists.

“Aye, please, Brodie. I do no’ want to give
him my maidenhead. You, you are my husband.” She thought for a moment before bringing her gaze back to his. “It is all I have to give, and I choose you.”

He nodded and
lifted her off his lap. “Come, let us move over here.” He pulled the sheets back on the bed and helped her remove her boots and breeks. He didn’t want to take everything off so quick as to frighten her, but the breeks had to go.

She
laughed as she pulled them off. He unhooked the broach on her plaid and on his own at the same instant, so that they fell to the floor together. Then she helped him remove his leine and he stood in front of her without a stitch of clothing. Untying the ribbons of her shift, he dropped that to the floor, too, but not before capturing her lips in a devouring kiss meant to make her forget she was as naked as he was. As his tongue teased hers, she responded with a soft sigh in the back of her throat, and he lifted her and carried her to the bed. Twining her arms around his neck, she gazed into his eyes, a sense of wonder there he hadn’t expected.

“Brodie, I had no idea it would feel so nice to have your skin
pressed to mine.”

He
trailed a path with his tongue up her neck, “I swear you have the softest skin ever.” He took her lips in his again and ravaged her mouth, angling his head so he could taste her even more. Her hands found the hair on his neck, and then she ran her fingers down his arms, grasping his muscles, following a path all down his sides and to his hips, setting a fire in him that wouldn’t stop.

Her back arched and she
brought herself closer to him, pressing her hips against his rod, causing his blood to boil and making him feel as if he would lose all control. She was perfect, absolutely perfect, and he wanted her more than he had ever wanted a lass. He wanted to bury himself inside her, feel her body stroke his rod until he had no more to give.

When she ended the kiss, he was afraid he had frightened her with his passion.

Instead, he saw his feelings mirrored back at him in her eyes, along with a touch of awe. “You are all right, lass? You know this will hurt for a bit the first time?”

“Aye, I am sure it must.” She glanced down at his hardness. “You will never fit me, Brodie.”

He chuckled, “Aye, we will fit perfectly. Trust me.”

***

Celestina didn’t understand all the sensations running through her body, but she didn’t care. She just wanted her husband to continue. He stared at her body and she almost died of embarrassment, afraid he would find fault with her somewhere. She had always been called ugly, so her instant reaction to his perusal was to cover herself with her hands as best she could.

“Please,
leannan,
never cover yourself. You are too beautiful.” Brodie leaned down and kissed a path from her neck down to her breast. She clutched his hair when he kissed each nipple, then laved until it was wet and erect. He suckled her nipple and she jumped, shocked at both what he was doing and how wonderful it felt. She pulled his head closer and he chuckled.

“You like, my sweet? Let me do the same to the other.”

He suckled her other breast until she cried out. Her nails clutched his arms and dug in the more he suckled. She didn’t understand what was happening to her, but it felt more wonderful than anything she had ever experienced. She closed her eyes as he ran his tongue down her belly.

Then he kissed her
there,
and she jumped. “Brodie, what are you doing? This must be wrong.”

“Hush, love, there is naught wrong between a husband and wife as long as both agree. Trust me and enjoy.”

She closed her eyes, her entire body flushed, and gripped her fingers through his hair as if she was afraid to let go. His tongue touched her nub and she bucked against him. He licked and tugged, caressing her tiny pearl until she squirmed with pleasure. Gasping at her own boldness, she opened her legs wide to him, allowing him better access to her core. What he did to her was sheer delight, sheer bliss, and she wanted more. She could hear her own panting as heat pooled deep in her belly, a feverish feeling that pushed her over the edge into a whorl of ecstasy. He plunged his tongue inside her and she screamed his name as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her.

When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see hi
m gazing at her with a smile on his face, leaning on his elbows as he kissed her nose and each cheek. “Did you like it?”

She licked her lips to moisten her dry mouth. “Brodie, I had no idea.
But you?”

“Do no’ worry about me.” He grasped her hand and guided it down to his hardness. “See what you
do to me? How much I want you? We have only just begun,
leannan
.”

Her fingers clasped him
, feeling the desire pulsating inside him. She jerked her hand back. “Am I hurting you?”

“Nay, lass, but I love it when you touch me there.” He trembled when she
held him in her hand again, caressing him first softly, then moving her fingers in such a way that threatened to unman him.

Kissing her again,
he skimmed his hand down across her breast, fondling each nipple until she squealed before wandering down her hip. He brought his hand down to her delicate folds and sampled her slick juices, teasing her entrance with his finger, and that same feeling returned—the wanting, the urgency came back as he stroked her to a frenzied pitch once again.

He settled himself between her legs and teased her
passage with his staff, rocking in and out just a bit, enough to torture her juncture until she begged for more.

“Brodie, I need you. Please. Do not make me wait.”

He kissed her lips and gazed into her eyes. “Trust me? This will hurt at first, but it will get better.”

She nodded and he grabbed her hips and thrust inside her,
forcing himself through her maidenhead. She jerked at the fleeting pain, then stilled. She could sense that he waited for her, and that fact swelled inside her, filling her with happiness. He was the most considerate person she had ever met.

He kissed her forehead. “Are you all right, lass?”

She could see how he strained to control himself, how he held himself up on his elbows so as not to hurt her. Finally, the pain dissipated and the need for him returned. She moved on him to gauge how it would feel and then couldn’t stop herself.

“Lass, I can no’ stop, I want you too much.” He grasped her
hips and plunged inside her again and again.

E
ach time he entered her, the flame inside her increased. Brodie’s body inside her was indescribably delicious, insanely powerful and she never wanted him to stop. She grabbed his bum as her climax crested again. Just as she surrendered to the heady pleasure engorging her body, she heard her husband roar her name, wildly lunging in a rhythm that left them both spent and panting as they clung to each other.

As they held each other until their breathing returned to normal,
Celestina couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than basking in the love they had just shared as one.

Brodie rolled onto his back and tucked her
head into the crook of his arm. A few moments later, rolling onto her belly, she placed her hand on his chest and rested her chin on it, the position allowing her to gaze unfettered into his brown eyes.

“May I dream for a moment?”

He ran his hand down the silky strands of her hair. “Of course.”

“
Let’s pretend this war is over. Where will we be?”

“I hope you will be willing to travel to the Highlands and live with my clan.”

“Tell me about the Highlands. I have never traveled anywhere, ‘tis true.”

“Och, lass, you will love the Highlands. ‘Tis the most beautiful land of all. Hills and valleys, lochs of fresh spring water, cliffs and heather. I love the Highlands.
‘Twould break my heart if I ever had to leave them for good. When we were young, we used to play a game in the meadows with our horses.”

“What kind of game?”

“Alex and I would play it with Brenna and Jennie. Robbie never wanted to take part. We would pretend the lasses were being chased and we were the knights who had to save them.”

She giggled
. “What did you do?”

Brenna and Jennie used to run in the fields and we would follow on our horses and lift them onto our laps while the horses were still moving.”

“And you never hurt them?”

“Och, now that you mention it, I think we did almost break Brenna’s arm once. That’s how we learned that the best way to do it was for the lass to lift her hands up over her head.
That way they could grab us, too. We had so much fun riding our horses in the fields. Aye, there’s so much beauty in the Highlands.” His thumb caressed her cheek. “You will love it, I promise.”

“You are so fortunate to have such a large family to love.”

He nodded. “Aye, I did no’ used to think so, but now I do. We have some great memories.” He brushed a lock of hair back from her face. “What was your favorite thing to do when you were young?”

“Oh, to read.
My mother taught me to read, another thing my father disliked. But Father Padraig convinced him it was proper for nobility. He also brought me many things to read. Otherwise, I would have gone mad.”

After a few moments of silence, he said, “I promise to get you away from
Ivarsson, hopefully within a sennight. It may no’ be as soon as you like, but I promise we will live together as man and wife. We belong together, Celestina. I could no’ walk away from you. Somehow, we will find a way. Do you believe me, lass?”