Unspoken (3 page)

Chapter Six

Evelyn couldn’t decide where to rest her jumpy
gaze.  So, she examined the room she’d prepared earlier that afternoon.  It
wasn’t one of the biggest accommodations the inn boasted, but agreeable
nonetheless.  A basin with a pitcher of fresh water perched on a stand next to
the window, and an oil lamp glowed golden atop a rough hewn chest next to the sturdy
bed. 

The clean rushes on the floor rustled beneath her
footsteps as she set the basket down against an unoccupied space of the wall
and turned uncertainly to look at Roderick.

He cast a curious glance towards the stairs and
she worried that his exemplary hearing would hone in on the MacKay’s intent
toward her.  If she caused an altercation, she’d be dismissed.  The streets of
Scotland were full of men like the MacKays.

“Ah, I’m Evelyn.”

He cocked his head toward the door as he studied
her, narrowing his eyes in displeasure at something he heard in the hall.

“Evelyn Woodhouse of Kent.”  A note of desperation
crept into her voice and she took a step toward him.  She didn’t want any more
trouble with the Mackays, nor the malevolent presence lurking in the forest
outside.  She just wanted him to shut them away from all that.  At least for
the night.  “And you are Master Roderick MacLauchlan.”

 He turned to study her.  After a tense moment, he
cast a hard glare down the hallway, but stepped all the way into the room and
latched the door.

    Relief caused her to smile.

   “Um, we haven’t been properly introduced and I
figured that you should at least know my name if...”  She gestured towards the
bed, abruptly feeling bashful.

Wrapping her arms about her waist within her itchy
cloak, she chewed on the inside of her cheek wondering what a worldly,
experienced woman would do next when locked in a bedchamber with such a man. 

How did one go about seducing a Berserker?

Roderick held his large hand out to her, gesturing
for her to hand him her cloak.

He was being a gentleman.  Well, good.

After hanging it on a wall hook, he turned back to
regard her, a sensual tilt to half of his sinful mouth.  Bending forward in a
fluid motion, he lifted his leg to unfasten his boot.

Oh! 
He was undressing.  Whirling to face
the bed did little to slow her racing heartbeat, but Evelyn couldn’t bring
herself to watch. 

Of course he is getting undressed, you twit,
she
berated herself.  With trembling fingers, she grappled with the ties of her
bonnet while she stared at the clean green coverlet in front of her.

There would be no marriage bed for her, no tender
husband to give her babes.  She remained a spinster at twenty and two, with no
prospects, no money, no dowry, no past, and no family.  But tonight the Berserker
would keep her safe from the MacKays and the unknown evil lurking in the
woods.  It would only cost her virginity.  Perhaps, in some small way, she
would be an adequate companion to the warrior on his last night alive—

No, she couldn’t think of that now
. 
Squeezing
her eyes shut against a pang of deep regret, she somehow managed to finally
pull the bonnet off the tightly braided knot of hair at the nape of her neck
and drape it across the bed frame.  She reached behind her to start on the
laces of her kirtle,
her usually nimble fingers
picked and yanked with no success.  

Large, strong hands surrounded hers and she jumped
at the contact.  Roderick kept her hands captive as he pulled her back against
his chest and wrapped her arms around her own waist, covering them with his. 
His warmth soothed the tremors coursing through her. 

For a moment, she stood encased in a coffer of
muscle and flesh.  The foreign intimacy of the embrace was startling as much as
comforting.  She detected a trace of dominance in the gesture along with gentle
restraint.  The contradiction comforted her somehow.   Allowing herself to sag
against him, her eyes fluttered closed, her head pillowed between the deep
groove of his pectorals.

This was how it felt to be held.  To be
protected. 

It felt
marvelous
.

Unbidden tears sprang to her eyes, and she quickly
blinked them away.

She stood passively as he took his time undressing
her, not letting their skin come into contact as he slid her kirtle off first,
then her under shift.  

The kiss of the chilly evening air on her skin
caused gooseflesh to blossom everywhere, and her nipples to constrict into
aching beads.   

Her chest heaved with wild breath.  She’d never
bared herself to a lover.  Were her hips too wide?  Her arms too plump?  Her
breasts too heavy? 

Surprised to hear his breathing quicken along with
hers, she waited with vibrating anticipation to see what Roderick would do
next.  She couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d dragged her to the rushes
and taken her like a stallion. 

He started at the very end of her braid and
methodically unbound the silken locks, running his fingers though it until
thick golden waves fanned about her shoulders and tickled the small of her
back.  It seemed like he might be torturing himself, and her in the process, by
denying the contact of their exposed skin.

Aware of a dull, moist ache between her legs,
Evelyn fought the persistent need to squirm.  She leaned back a little,
searching again for the comforting warmth of his hard chest.  Instead, she
encountered blunt, hot velvet as it stabbed the cleft of her back and angled
upwards. 

Oh dear lord.
 

Delicious curiosity snaked though her.  That warm steely
hardness pulsed against her lower back.  It flexed against her, tangling with
the feathery ends of her hair. 

She squeezed her eyes shut.  What was she doing?

Hot breath stirred against her ear as he closed
his large hands around both of her shoulders.  Calloused fingers abraded her
skin lightly.  Sensation reverberated through her bones as he caressed the thin
sensitive skin of her clavicles and angled south to follow the line of her
figure.  Both hands spanned her ribcage before moving back up to run a
fingertip along the sensitive undersides of her full breasts.   A deep rumble,
almost a purr, vibrated against her, the sound unlike anything she’d ever heard
before.

Absorbed and over-stimulated, Evelyn let out the
breath she’d been holding in one great
whoosh
, on which a tiny groan
escaped without permission. 

She felt his smile as he pressed his mouth to her
temple.

Finally cupping the mounds in both of his warm
hands, he lifted them gently, testing their weight in his palms.  Massaging the
pliable skin in tandem, his lips found her sensitive ear lobe, her jaw, and
then her neck.  He burrowed there, moistening it with his tongue.  When he
nipped her lightly with his teeth, a flare of crippling desire and surprise
caused her knees to buckle and give.

Collapsing against him with a gasp, she trembled
with the force of sensation coursing through her. 

Roderick took in a slow breath and exhaled for an
eternity before gently setting her away from him.

Evelyn was unable to name the emotions surging
through her.  Awe, incredulity, power, emptiness, need, and uncertainty
clamored for attention inside her desire muddled brain.

Unable to stand it any longer, she spun to face
him. 

Roderick stared at her with such intensity, such
naked desire.  He seemed larger now that she could plainly see the dramatic
taper into lean hips, the ropes of his stomach muscles spilled all the way down
to…

 
Oh my.
She felt her throat work over an
audible swallow. 

Even that wasn’t dwarfed by the size of his corded
thighs.  Could it possibly fit?

Judging from the fierce look on his savagely
handsome face, he intended to try.   Roderick bent toward her, a dark intent in
his gaze.

Chapter
Seven

The bed caught her when Evelyn’s knees refused to
hold any longer. 

Eyes glowing and jaw clenched, Roderick seemed to
be waging an intense battle with his lungs.  Dragging his gaze from her, he
reached for her bootlaces.

Funny, she’d forgotten she still wore them.  Considering
how much they’d pained her over the course of the long night, it spoke to his
powers of seduction.

He tugged one boot off, then the other, dropping
them haphazardly onto the floor with a
thunk
.  Rough hands slid up
either side of her coarse woolen stockings until they reached the twine corded
tightly around her upper knee.  Immense relief washed over her when he released
the knots and the sensation turned to bliss when he tucked tender fingers
inside and stripped them slowly off.  His mouth returned to kiss each irritated
indentation left by a long day of wearing them.  She’d given just about
anything to afford a proper ribbon to hold them in place. 

His unexpected tenderness touched her as a direct
dichotomy of his brutal visage and reputation.  She’d half expected him to toss
her skirt over her head and have a quick go at her.  He couldn’t know how much
his gentle seduction pleased her.  She reached a tentative hand and captured a
damp ebony lock as it trailed across the flesh of her thigh. 

 Silk. 

He tracked her movement, hunger sharpening the
harsh lines of his face.  Joining her on the bed, his muscles bunched and
rolled as he crawled up her legs bringing their faces flush.

Would he kiss her?

Evelyn warmed with anticipation and moistened her
lips, drawing his notice.  Instead of accepting her unspoken invitation, he
brought a hand to the curve of her neck and plunged it into her hair until he lightly
supported the back of her head.  Easing himself farther forward, he pressed her
down until she stared up at him, prone and completely covered by his sleek
body.

Such a large hand tenderly cradling her head
seemed a contradiction the possessive heat threatening to singe her from his
regard.

Air hissed between his clenched teeth as her
fingertips explored his ribs.  She could feel the flex of his cock against her
thigh.  Emboldened, she drew her fingers up, discovering the hardness of his
smooth chest and then his shoulders and arms.  Beneath her questing hands,
every taut muscle jumped and flexed. 

His eyes demanded that she continue.    

Tracing a more direct path, she traveled down his
chest, past trembling stomach muscles, to the narrow curve of his hipbones.  She
hesitated, blushing to her hairline.

“Is this all right?” she whispered, feeling the
warmth of her own breath with his face so close to hers. 

Of course, Roderick didn’t answer her, but he
parted his lips and hot, rapid bursts of air hit her skin in wordless demand. 
To punctuate, he arched his back slightly giving her hands more room to
explore.

She didn’t expect the pure heat of his throbbing
sex when she delicately wrapped it in her fingers.  The outer skin was a silk
glove around pure molten steel.  She gently tested its mobility, squeezing as
she slid one way and then the other.   

His hand fisted, pulling lightly on her hair as he
ground his jaws together.  Again his hips surged, pushing his need farther into
her hand as a harsh gasp tore from him.

A heady sensation washed over her as she realized
that for all this dominant man’s dangerous command,
she
wielded the
power.  Desire spiked as a world of possibility unfurled before her.  What else
could she do to his body that would render him defenseless?

Catching her lower lip in her teeth, she explored
the rimmed tip of his cock with her fingers.  Finding a curious bead of
moisture, she spread it around what skin it would cover.

His low growl warned her milliseconds before she
found both of her wrists bound by an iron grip above her head.  If his muscles
corded any tighter, they would surely rip through his straining skin.

Would he kiss her now?  She tilted her head to run
her burning lips against his neck.  His pulse jumped beneath her mouth, its
rhythm strong and hard.  She rubbed shy, lingering kisses across his jaw line. 
The stubble of his shadow beard abraded her sensitive skin. 

He drew back, shaking his head.  A flicker of
something like regret passed through his eyes before he blinked it away.  He
took a breath, allowing his free hand to roam the curve of her waist.  His mouth
lowered to pay her attention, but the moist exploration began at the hollow of
her neck.

Distracted, she twisted beneath him, a slave to
the fingers warming her skin, and then to his hot mouth branding it.  When he
reached her breast he lingered there, taking her nipple into his mouth, causing
her back to arch off the bed in helpless accord.

A strangled cry burst from her as his teeth
lightly grazed the untried bud, causing the pressure in her abdomen and core to
become a wild, unmanageable thing.  

As if heeding her undeclared need, his hand
languidly trailed the curve of her waist and the flare of her hip until it
brushed against the downy nest between her legs.

“Oh!”  She gasped, seized by sudden uncertainty.  

What if she were too innocent to understand what
he required of her?  Would he be revolted by the abundant slick moisture he would
find when he touched her?  She knew nothing about pleasing a man, and he
couldn’t verbally command her.  What if he found her inadequate in some way?  Did
he expect her to do anything other than lie beneath him?  Such insecurities
threatened to choke her for a moment, and she found herself wishing he would
press his mouth to hers.  She felt the wordless comfort of a kiss would allay
her fears.

Instead, a single fingertip traced the seam of her
nether lips, and all coherent thought fled.

Her hips surged toward him of their own volition. 

Triumph shone on his face as he raised a knee and
worked it in between hers, gently forcing her legs to part.  Running the same
finger along the identical path, his low growl washed over her again as he
encountered the pool of wetness.  Her fears swiftly dissipated as his eyes
rolled shut in apparent delight, and he drew his fingers one by one through the
silky dampness.

Evelyn’s cheeks warmed in a furious blush.  Still
trapped by the strong hand capturing her wrists above her head, she lay
helpless to do anything but let out a thin, shocked cry as his slick fingers
brushed against the engorged flesh at the apex of her core.  Foreign pleasure
snaked through her like the lightning from a violent sea storm, and she bucked
against the unfamiliar sensation. 

A slow, sensual smile spreading across his
chiseled face, Roderick traced soft, glossy circles around her clitoris
stopping to dip his fingers and retrieve more of her nectar, which sprung from
a never-ending well.  His other hand released her and traced its way through
her hair to her neck and shoulders, caressing down to cup and knead her
breasts. 

Once released, Evelyn wound her arms around his
brawny neck and tried to draw his mouth to hers.  She needed to be doing
something other than lying in a puddle of mystified pleasure.

His eyes locked on her lips.  A prolonged blink
and the most insignificant pause of his fingers caused her concern before he
ducked his head and dragged his warm lips against the sensitive skin of her
neck.

Feeling oddly denied, Evelyn only had a moment to
wonder before his hot tongue stroked the beaded tip of her nipple, and his
fingers began a wondrous plucking rhythm against her tender flesh.

Her blood ebbed and flowed with the expert movements
of his fingers as they harmonized with the strokes and swirls of his sinful
tongue.  Elusive building tension caused her limbs to writhe helplessly as it
rapidly converged into her core before exploding outwards using her body’s
intrinsic currents to course pleasure from the epicenter of his ministrations
to the outermost recesses of her fingers and toes. 

Crying out in astonishment, Evelyn was helpless to
do anything but allow the spasms to break over her like the roll of the tides.  Wave
after wave of sensation carried her deeper and deeper into the fathomless
emerald sea that stormed in Roderick’s expressive eyes. 

When the pleasure became too much to bear, and his
strokes burned the previously untouched nerves,  Evelyn whimpered and trembled,
arching her hips away from the incessant pressure of his fingers. 

Roderick seemed to understand instantly and his
warm, magical hand left her.

Within the space of a few stolen moments, her
tedious, dismal existence had been utterly altered.  Enthralled, scandalized,
and thoroughly pleasured, Evelyn watched as Roderick palmed himself with slick
fingers and spread what little moisture he could on his thick shaft.  His skin stretched
tighter over high cheekbones, and his breath came in short rasps, heaving from
his lungs as if he were carrying a heavy load. 

Evelyn instinctively knew what he wanted, what he
needed from her.  Feeling shy, she widened her knees, spreading herself before
him, offering her body for the taking. 

The heat in his eyes threatened to consume her as
he positioned the hot blunt head of his manhood at her aperture, moistening the
tip as he settled his bulk atop her, creating a silken curtain with his dark
hair.   Their chests heaved together as they each silently struggled for breath.

As his hips nudged forward, he breached the
opening of her body.  At the first searing hint of pain, her muscles seized and
bore down, clamping shut against his entry.

Evelyn winced and caught her lip between her teeth
as she watched a fine sheen of sweat break out on his brow.  Roderick trembled with
visible effort now, yet he stroked her hair and whispered a tender ‘
shhhh’
between
his teeth in an obvious attempt to relax her enough to grant him entry.

Oh God, what if he were too big to fit? 

At a loss for what to do, she remained locked with
him in a sexual battle for a few tense moments, him gaining a few inches before
her offended muscles tensed against him.

Pulling back, worried questions wrinkled his brow,
Roderick started to push up away from her.

“
Wait,”
she pleaded softly, grasping him in
an attempt to stop his retreat, “I know I can do this.”  Her voice trembled.  
Shame heated her face. “Would you…kiss me?”

From the hard, stunned look he gave her, she was
certain of his denial and her heart seized.  Cupping his clenched, unyielding
jaw in her hand, Evelyn brushed a thumb across his full lips testing their
texture and tracing their flawless contours.  She whispered again, “Please?”

He blinked at her.  That rough, foreign rumble
emanated from his chest again as he seemed to seriously deliberate the appeal. 

Was it such an arduous request?  How she wished he
could express his thoughts to her.

He held his tremendous weight on one arm, lifting
a hand to cover hers on his cheek.  Turning his head, he pressed his lips to
her palm before closing his eyes and nodding, as if to himself.   

 Resolute surrender flashed across his features a
moment before he descended to claim her mouth.  The contact exalted her soul
and seared her lips.  The damp heat created by his kiss spread through her,
warming her rigid muscles, slowly soothing her until they unraveled beneath him,
becoming pliant and replete. 

Massaging her lips with his, Roderick groaned with
pleasure and ran his tongue along the seam much in the same way he’d run his
finger along her womanhood earlier.  She opened to grant him entrance. 

He took her then.  With a powerful surge of his
hips, he buried himself to the hilt, entering her with his tongue
simultaneously.

Tears pricked her eyes, and for a moment, Evelyn
felt as though his manhood would rip her asunder.  There had been a tearing sensation,
and she wondered if he’d damaged her. 

But his mouth still pressed against hers, his wet
tongue exploring the recesses of her lips, laving, stroking, cajoling and
singularly focused upon her ravishment.  Deep, moaning pleasure rumbled from
the back of his throat, and vibrated pleasantly against her lips.  Lost in the
consuming passion of their kiss, Evelyn relaxed and allowed her body to accept
his.  Muscles yielded instead of fighting against his intrusion.  They fit
against his velvet length like a glove, pulling him deeper.  

Then he moved.  And the world ceased to exist.

Exquisite pleasure pierced through the dull
discomfort that persisted as he slid out slowly, and impaled her again.  Gone
was her tender seducer, replaced by a primal beast rhythmically torturing her
with his slow, methodical strokes. 

He didn’t stop kissing her, devouring her
relentlessly as he introduced her to the carnal nature of a man.  He kissed as
though he was a man dying of thirst introduced to a mountain spring.

An urgent pressure, familiar now, unfurled in her core
where he currently resided, making demands of its own.  Shifting slightly to
alleviate it, she found, only made it worse.  

Or stronger. 

Tendrils of thrilling heat reached into her womb,
stabbing her with each deep thrust, begging her to meet them with thrusts of
her own.  It was nothing at all to raise her hips to meet his sex with hers,
drawing him so deep, their hips met. 

Gasping out a harsh breath, Roderick seized her
hips and pinned them to the bed, violently shaking his head as he reared back
and accelerated his rhythm. 

Entranced, Evelyn’s conscious separated from her
body as she marveled at the savage beauty of what she was experiencing.  Her
eyes hungrily devoured him, following the path from his passion-glazed irises
to glistening, freshly kissed lips.  His muscles strained and bunched with the
controlled frenzy of his movements within her, the ropes of his abdomen corded
with each gratifying thrust creating slick and delicious friction were their
bodies joined.