“Claray?”
“Aye.” Offering an apologetic smile, she hurried after him, thinking she would see her little friends settled quickly, and then go back to help unpack. She hoped there was parchment, a pen and ink somewhere in the treasures sent to her. Aunt Annabel had sent to MacKay for that so that they could make lists of what needed doing, but she didn’t want to use it all up on her. She did want to write her father a letter of thanks though, for sending everything. It would all go a long way toward making life easier for them, and she wanted him to know how much she appreciated it.
Chapter 20
“His ears are healing nicely,” Conall commented, peering over her shoulder at the fox as Claray smeared salve on the healing wounds.
She murmured in agreement, and then added distractedly, “He should be fine in another couple days. A week from now ye’ll no’ ken he’d ever been injured.”
“Except fer the missing ears,” Conall pointed out with amusement.
“Aye, except fer that,” she admitted on a soft laugh, and then asked, “Can ye fetch me some linen to rewrap his ears, please, husband?”
Conall shifted away toward the bag of her medicinals. She’d found them stored in among the cages, and had been grateful for her father’s forethought. He’d probably realized she’d want to settle the animals first and wouldn’t want to search the other five wagons for her bag.
Hearing Conall curse, she glanced around to see that he’d managed to make his way through their guards to get to the bag of medicinals sitting on a shelf by the door, but now he was struggling to make his way back. The seven men had helped them cart the animals in, and then had squeezed inside the smaller stables with them as she guessed they were supposed to do, but there really wasn’t room for her, Conall, the animals and all of them. She wasn’t at all surprised when her husband lost his patience, and snapped, “Out. All o’ ye. There’s no’ enough room in here to move with ye all inside. Out.”
The men exchanged glances and shifted, but no one was leaving, and Roderick pointed out, “We’re supposed to be guarding ye.”
“Well, then, guard the door. We’re safe enough in here with just the two o’ us,” he insisted. When no one moved, he added quietly, “I’d like a word with me wife. We’ve no’ been alone fer a week.”
Claray saw sympathy cross Roderick’s face, and then he nodded. “We’ll guard the door.”
When Gilly and Machar hesitated, exchanging glances, Conall growled, “Ye’ll be right outside the door. I think we’re safe enough in here with the bunny, calf and goat.”
The two men exchanged another glance and then shrugged and nodded to their younger compatriots to lead the way out.
Conall waited by the door until the last man had left, and then closed the door behind them before making his way to Claray to hand her the linen.
“Thank ye,” she said, taking it and starting to wrap the cloth around the fox’s head. “It was getting hard to breathe in here it was so crowded.”
“Aye,” Conall muttered, watching her tie off the linen and bend down to set the little fox in his pen. Claray straightened then to watch the fox crawl into the corner of the pen and begin to dig at the straw there. He’d already eaten. Claray had fed all the animals as she’d let them out of their cages. Only then had she checked the fox’s ears. She smiled faintly as she realized he was trying to dig a den in the straw, and thought instinct was an amazing thing. He’d been too young when she’d found him to have learned this from his mother.
Conall’s hands settled on her shoulders, drawing her back against his chest, and Claray settled there with a small sigh, then said, “Thank ye, fer building the stables for them. I’ll worry about them less kenning they’re tucked up safe in here.”
“Me pleasure,” he murmured, nuzzling through her hair to press a kiss to the side of her neck.
“Mmm,” Claray murmured, and tilted her head to the side to better expose her neck as the brief caress sent tingles of awareness through her body.
“God’s teeth, ye smell good, lass,” Conall growled, his hands rubbing up and down her arms as he kissed her neck again and then nibbled at the tender flesh.
Claray opened her mouth to thank him for the compliment, but then gasped as his hands suddenly left her arms to slide around in front and cup her breasts.
“Ye feel good too,” he muttered, kneading the suddenly tender flesh and biting her neck lightly, then sucking on the spot briefly before growling, “Give me yer lips, lass.”
Claray turned her head back and up, opening to him when he claimed her mouth. His tongue thrust in at once, even as he pushed his hips forward, grinding himself against her bottom through their clothes so that she could feel that he was hard for her. Groaning, she reached back to grasp his hips in response, and kissed him eagerly back. Then gasped and groaned again when one of his hands dropped from her breast to slide between her legs and began to caress her through her skirt even as he pressed her bottom more firmly against his erection.
Breaking their kiss, Claray twisted her head against his shoulder and gasped, “Husband!”
“Aye,” he growled, pressing the cloth between the lips of her nether region and caressing her more directly. “I need ye too. I’ve been goin’ mad bein’ so close to ye each night and no’ bein’ able to touch ye. It’s been so long.”
“Aye,” she moaned, shifting her hips into his touch.
“Too long,” he added, and then warned, “I fear this is going to be fast and dirty, wife.”
“Aye,” Claray repeated, unsure what he meant, but not really caring as long as he kept touching her, and then he kissed her quickly, stopped caressing her and began to tug her skirts up. She groaned at the loss of his caresses, and then gasped in surprise when he suddenly bent her over the waist-high fence of the pen. In the next moment, he startled a surprised cry out of her when he urged her legs further apart and pushed into her.
Conall paused then, his breathing ragged, and Claray swallowed and closed her eyes as he filled her. Then he bent down until his front brushed her back, and clamped his teeth gently onto her shoulder as he began to caress her again.
Claray moaned and grasped the top of the pen as he began to withdraw and then thrust back into her as he touched her. Her body immediately began to struggle, trying to move forward into his caressing fingers and back into his thrusts at the same time. But it couldn’t do both, and she ended up doing neither and just bracing herself, taking what he was offering and riding the passion as it got tighter and hotter.
Afraid she would cry out or scream as she had the last time he’d given her pleasure, Claray covered her mouth with one hand to muffle her grunts and moans, and then bit on the side of her hand as her release struck her. She felt her body spasm and tighten around him, milking him, and knew a moment later that he’d found his pleasure too when Conall’s teeth bit down harder on her shoulder. Not so hard it was painful, but she definitely felt it as a muffled half groan, half growl came from him.
Panting softly, Claray closed her eyes to enjoy the pleasure rolling through her, and then gasped when he suddenly straightened, pulling her with him. In the next moment, he’d slid from her and turned her to face him, his mouth coming down hard on hers.