“Let me be yer lady’s maid,” Odhrán jested, needing no second bidding. He was in a state of blissful excitement, his erection pressing urgently against the front of his trews as if it would burst free at any moment. The way Maddison was looking at him with such frank desire, her lips swollen with his kisses, hair tumbling wildly over her shoulders, was fueling his lust. His eagerness to get her naked had him eagerly undoing the fastenings of her dress, humming a happy little tune as he did so.

“Ye sound like a man who’s enjoyin’ his work,” she said teasingly, smiling at him over her shoulder.

“Och, I am, I surely am,” he said, immersing himself in the erotic experience of peeling her gown away so that it slipped down from her shoulders, revealing the soft white expanse of skin hidden there. “Yer skin is so lovely, Maddison, so white and pure,” he marveled, breathing deeply to control his ardor, his fingertips gently brushing her back and neck with wonder.

His excitement increased when he felt her shiver against him in obvious arousal, and he hardened further to feel how her whole body seemed to thrill at his slightest touch. Her floral scent filled his nostrils, adding another dizzyingly sensual element to the experience for him. With a sharp breath, he pushed her hair aside and pressed his mouth to the soft nape of her neck, sucking and nuzzling her warm skin, his teeth grazing her in soft, playful bites.

“D’ye ken, ye’re the only man who has ever seen me like this?” she whispered, moaning as he trailed tiny kisses across her skin, to his intense gratification.

“Good. That’s as it should be,” he breathed in her ear, wanting to make his mark on her. “This is mine, all mine.” Closing his eyes in bliss, he reached around and cupped her naked breasts, squeezing and rolling them luxuriously in his palms. They fitted there perfectly, and he savored the wonderful feeling as his fingers toyed with her hardened peaks, sending fresh shivers of anticipation running through his body. He thrilled to feel her trembling as she lay back against his chest, gasping under his teasing caresses. He struggled to keep the demands of his body in control as his senses reeled, almost overwhelmed by both her beauty and her state of wanton abandon. The throbbing between his legs was growing more insistent.

I need tae get her out of her clothes! I have tae have all of her…

“Och, Odhrán, ye make me feel so good,” she breathed raggedly, covering his hands with her own, encouraging him to continue fondling breasts and ravish her neck.

“Mmm, I could eat ye all up,” Odhrán murmured, nuzzling her neck hungrily as if preparing to carry out his threat.

“Och, I wish ye would, Odhrán,” she sighed, making him smile and double his caresses. With a low grunt of satisfaction, he lifted Maddison up slightly. Her gown fell loosely about her shapely hips, revealing the exquisite architecture of her waist. The sinuous curves stirred something primal deep in his belly. It was almost painful to have to contain himself, but he wanted to savor every part of her, and every second of their intimacy.

“Ye’re so delicious, Maddy, so beautiful. I cannae believe ye’re mine,” he whispered, taking deep, ragged breaths to contain his lust.

“Please, dinnae stop,” she begged him, “I cannae get enough of what ye dae tae me.”

“I’m never gonnae stop, unless ye make me,” he murmured, unlacing her stays with lascivious determination. When he had loosened them enough, she willingly lifted her arms so he could pull them over her head before untying her petticoat strings. Odhran watched with greedy eyes while she wriggled out of the them and turned to face him. Entirely naked now, her teasing smile and smoky gray eyes filled with lust, she reached for him.

“Stay, let me look at ye, I want tae feast me eyes on ye,” he murmured, his erection huge and butting against her as he gently held her back by her arms. She obeyed, eyes molten, her tongue wetting her lips in expectation, while Odhrán allowed his eyes to rove freely over the pale, perfect symmetry that lay before him.

Transfixed, with both hands, he traced the globes of her breasts and the graceful indent of her waist, then the twin curve of her hips, letting out a low whistle, dazzled afresh by her beauty. The fight to control himself ramped up a notch, and an involuntary groan burst from his lips, dazed as he was by his passion for her.

“I still think I must be dreamin’, Maddy. I’ve had so many dreams about ye like this, it hardly seems real. Ye’re far more beautiful than I could ever have dreamed.” He buried his face in her breasts with a groan, his hands blindly roving over the beguiling curves of body in rapturous delight. He allowed the fingertips of one hand to slide over the firm roundness of her behind, then between her thighs, hungry to part her intricate folds and stroke her there for her pleasure.

“Odhrán!” she cried out, writhing helplessly under his touch.

“Och, ye’re burnin’,” he whispered in her ear, delving into the slick warmth of her swollen sex, his passion flaring. How he did not simply leap on her and ravish her then and there he hardly knew. But seeing her like this, begging for his touch, her usual neat composure shattered… to know he was responsible for reducing her to this state… it was as if, against all the odds, Maddison was made for him and he for her.

“I want ye so much,” she moaned, opening her legs further when his questing fingertips found her rosebud, teasing it, rubbing it with his thumb. Reveling in her ecstatic response but intent on taking her higher still, he parted her moist folds and stroked her entrance. “Och, ye’re so ready fer me, so wet,” he groaned, still more inflamed by the fact she wanted him so badly.

“Ah, Odhrán, touch me there, ah yes! More, please,” she panted, driving him almost over the edge of his control as she shifted slightly and straddled his lap, opening herself wider still.

“D’ye want me now?” he asked, making her gasp as his fingers penetrated her soaking entrance, one at first, sliding in easily, sending a jolt through her body and making her gasp aloud. When he added two more and began slowly, rhythmically, moving them in and out while strumming her bud with his thumb, the series of small, mewling cries that fell from her lips and the shuddering of her body made him frantic to plunge inside her and satisfy his lust. But he held back, determined to put her pleasure before his.

“I want ye so bad, I cannae wait much longer,” she panted, moving her body to match the rhythm of his fingers, thrilling Odhrán as she wrapped her hands in his hair and covered his face and mouth and chest with passionate kisses, bites, and caresses. Loving every moment, he continued to toy with her, watching her flushed face in delighted fascination.

“D’ye remember, Odhrán, ye asked me if I ever thought of ye this way after I was set free from here and went back tae me family?” she suddenly asked him, her breathing shallow and uneven as she rode his hand.

“Aye, I remember. And ye got angry with me and told me that this would never happen again,” he murmured, nuzzling her breasts, his fingers probing her more deeply.

“Ah, ah! That was because I did nae wantae admit that I did think of ye. I did nae want tae admit it, even tae mesel’,” she panted as he sucked and nuzzled at her hardened peaks. “But I did think of ye. Often. Every day. Every night. I tried nae tae, but I couldnae help it. I’d come tae care fer ye. And when I found out who ye were, and that ye’d lied tae me, I was so hurt I wanted tae die.” She bucked against his probing more frantically. “This is the first time I have ever spoken this truth, even to mesel’.”

Awash with furious passion, with one arm, Odhrán crushed her to him, ravaging her mouth, adding another finger and plunging deeper inside her.

“I’m so in love with ye, Maddison, it hurts,” he growled. “Thank ye fer tellin’ me the truth. Ye dinnae ken how happy it makes me tae hear ye say that.” His fingers hit a spot that made her moan loudly, and her whole body shivered against his. The quivering of her soft flesh was so exciting to him, it made it even more difficult not to simply dive into her. His erection was rock hard and throbbing, craving the deliciously snug harbor of her sex. With an extreme effort of will, he continued to hold himself back.

“It means everythin’ tae me tae ken ye were thinkin’ about me, even if it was bad things. I ken I deserved it,” he confessed hoarsely, kissing her back hungrily,

“But ye didnae deserve it,” she whispered into his mouth, clinging to him as she rose and fell against his hand. “I was wrong. I didnae ken who ye really were. I thought ye were like yer faither, though I kent ye couldnae be, because of all ye did fer me, tae keep me alive.” She clutched him to her, and Odhrán sensed her muscles tightening around his fingers, knowing the waves of ecstasy must be starting to overwhelm her. Eager to bring her to her peak, he rammed his fingers into her faster and faster, pinning her in place with his other hand on her waist, watching excitedly as she writhed and moaned against him, clearly approaching her climax.

“Ye even killed yer faither fer me,” she gasped out, holding him tightly as her body stiffened and she let out a series of loud cried as she bucked against him in the intensity of her pleasure. Odhrán’s heart swelled once more with pride to be the man who could make her lose control this way by delivering such blissful release. Now, he could seek his own.

“I’d kill that bastard a thousand times over fer ye, Maddy,” he whispered fiercely in her ear, holding her close as she recovered from her ecstasy, his ardor almost at boiling point. “And any other bastard that tries tae take ye from me.”

“Nae one is ever gonnae take me from ye, Odhrán,” she panted, reaching for the fastenings of his trews and almost tearing them aside with a greedy enthusiasm that made the fire within him burn higher still. She flung them open, allowing his manhood bursting forth from its nest of hair, tall and proud.

“Ooh, it that all fer me?” she asked coquettishly, taking his shaft in her hands and bending to run her tongue up and down its length.

“For ye and ye alone, me lady,” Odhrán said, groaning, his lust finally overwhelming him. He grabbed her around the waist, pulled her forward, and slowly impaled her on his length. She gave a satisfying gasp as he speared her, filling her to the hilt. To be inside her, held tightly by her hot, slick walls felt… exquisite. Lost in the sensation, for some time, he did not move, only stared into Maddison’s eyes as they kissed leisurely.

“I have tae tell ye the truth about somethin’ too,” he told her, lifting her by the hips and then thrusting deeply into her again with a satisfied grunt.

“Ach! Odhrán!” she cried out, sinking down on him with a moan, nipping his lip with her teeth. “I never kent it could feel this way.”

“Me neither,” he admitted, brushing the sweat-soaked hair from her flushed face and marveling again at her incredible beauty. It was the truth. He had had his fair share of sexual dalliances in the past, and at the time, he had thought himself well enough satisfied. Romantic love had been something he had dismissed out of hand, hardly believing it existed. Love for or with a woman had been something that simply did not feature in his thoughts. Until Maddison.

Maddison had changed everything, turned his life upside down. She had always been special. From the first, as his father’s prisoner, she had elicited feelings he could hardly credit owning. The love he had discovered within him had been a secret torment, eating away at him, even after their marriage. He had resigned himself to never winning her affection, let alone her love.

But now, the woman he adored, who had sworn to hate him, was unashamedly offering him her body, begging for him to do all the things to her he had been secretly dreaming of for so long. Inexperienced as she was, she was taking him to heights of physical passion that shook the foundations of his world. The feeling of being home at last, of being right where he belonged, was as dizzying as it was fulfilling. He wanted it to last forever.

Their intimacy encouraged him to unburden his heart to her. “Maddy, I want tae tell ye somethin’.”

“Tell me,” she said softly, moving slowly upon him, her inner muscles gripping him tantalizingly.

With a groan, willfully delaying his gratification, he said, “Well, after me faither died, I found a letter, from me faither tae Rollo. I saw it first.” He buried his face in Maddison’s breasts as he pulled out of her, then thrust into her heat again, burying himself deeply inside her, so that she fell against him and moaned against his lips.

“Me faither was obsessed with destroyin’ yer clan. He was betrothed tae yer maither once, but she fell in love with yer faither and ran away with him. Me faither never forgave her. In the letter, he said he wanted Rollo tae carry on his work of destruction after his death. I could nae stand the thought of ye being in danger, nor yer family. The only way tae protect ye was tae have ye close.”

“And the only way ye could have me close was tae marry me,” she murmured, looking in his eyes as again, she rose up and then back down upon his shaft. She was moving faster now, her velvety interior yielding to him yet at the same time holding him tightly, sending waves of bliss rushing through him with every motion.

“Right,” he muttered, unable to resist the urge to quicken his thrusts to match hers, while savoring the way her breasts were bouncing against his face. “And I kent ye’d never agree tae wed me. So, I went tae see the King.”

They were both panting hard now and hanging on to each other as if for dear life, kissing, sucking, biting any naked flesh they could find as they labored together in search of blissful release. Odhrán relished the thought that just as she was bringing him to the peak of ecstasy, he was doing the same to her. That sent him over the edge, and he gave in to his primal need for her.

“Och, God, Odhrán, Odhrán!” she cried out frantically as he groaned and stiffened inside her, his senses overwhelmed. They came together in a great, shuddering rush, clinging to each other.

“Maddy, me Maddy!” Odhrán could not help crying out in his frenzy, his hands tangling in her glorious hair as she fell against him, spent.

They lay together, covered in sweat, regaining their breath. To Odhrán, the room seemed to spin around them, and the air shimmered and danced. His body was completely sated. With Maddison, he had gained the pinnacle of physical satisfaction which he knew nothing could ever equal. He realized that he finally understood what it meant to make love to someone with your heart, your body, and your soul.

God, please, let me have this one thing. Let her nae be taken from me.

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