"I want to know how to pleasure you," she said. Then she climbed from their bed, and padded across the bedchamber to where a silver ewer had been set next to a small pile of soft cloths. Bringing them back to the bedside she set them down, and first washed herself, then bathed his manhood carefully. "Mama calls these love cloths. She says it is advisable to bathe after each encounter with passion because then we are ready for more."
He had never heard of such a thing, but it seemed quite sensible to him, and he certainly had no objection to the procedure. "I like it," he said. "Will you always care for me so tenderly, Fortune?" He reached up, and fondled her breast, rubbing the nipple with the pad of his thumb.
"Aye," she said, carefully putting the basin and cloths aside, then climbing back into their bed atop him. His two hands began to caress her two small round breasts. Fortune clasped him between her two milky thighs as she would her gelding. "I can ride you, sir, even as I do Thunder. Will you prove as lusty a mount?" she teased him, almost purring as he squeezed her breasts. She arched away from him, and his hands glided down her torso, sliding around beneath her bottom to fondle it suggestively. "Ohh!" she squealed, and wiggled herself against his outspread palms.
He chuckled, and looked up at her, his eyes twinkling. "So, you're not afraid of my lust, my beautiful wife." His strong fingers kneaded her flesh. He could feel his love lance hardening with each of her very provocative movements. She had wondered if they could make love again tonight. He now wondered if he could stop. He had never known such desire for a woman as he had for Fortune. Usually his lust was easily satisfied with one good tumble, but not with his young bride.
She could feel the throbbing of him, and raising herself above his manhood she slowly lowered herself onto it, a gusty sigh escaping her as she couched his lance entirely. He groaned, and pulling her forward so he might kiss her again began to move rhythmically within her. Their lips tasted each other. Their hearts beat frantically. "Oh, God!" Fortune cried desperately as he drove once again with unrelenting insistence until the stars were exploding within her head, behind her eyes, and in her very heart.
"Fortune, my love!" he cried out as his desire peaked once more, his arms tightening about her as she yielded herself to him again.
And afterwards as they lay together, fingers entwined, he insisted that she sleep for a time. "You are so fierce a lover, my darling," he told her, "but you must rest, and so must I."
"Yes, sir, my lord husband," Fortune replied sweetly, sated, and replete with her contentment. "But can we please do it again when we awake? Kieran? Why are you laughing? Have I said something amusing?"
He somehow managed to restrain his mirth. "Are all the women in your family this passionate, Fortune?"
"Isn't passion with your husband a good thing?" Her look was honestly questioning.
"You will never hear me complain, my love," he told her, "but this thought suddenly comes to mind. I don't have to worry about my little brother killing me when he learns I have married you, Fortune. You will probably kill me with your wickedly delicious lustful nature before much longer. Willy doesn't know what a narrow escape he had." And he laughed again.
"Villain!" she scolded him. "And you have yet to answer my question. Can we make love again after we have rested?"
"Aye," he said, and then, "I wonder if I shall live to see the morning, you delightful wanton."
Fortune leaned over him, and ran her tongue along his lips before kissing him quickly. "Now that you have shown me the delights of passion, my love, I intend keeping you alive," she told him.
"Keeping you content will be a lifetime occupation," he replied, pulling her against him so that she could hear the steady beat of his heart.
"You will have to work very hard," she told him.
"Oh, madame, I will," he responded. "You may be certain that I will."
Chapter 11
“What do you mean Kieran has married Fortune Lindley?" Jane Devers stared at her husband uncomprehendingly.
"They were wed yesterday by the Reverend Steen at Maguire's Ford's church," her husband replied. "I was there, and witnessed the ceremony."
"You allowed this thing?" She could feel her anger beginning to rise. "You let that Celtic bastard of yours marry the greatest heiress in all of Fermanagh? How could you?" Her fair skin was mottled with her ire, and she was practically gasping.
"How could I prevent it?" he asked her quietly. "The duke of Glenkirk and his wife were content with the match. And do not ever again refer to my eldest son as a bastard, Jane." His look was hard.
"What else is he?" she shrieked. "Your Catholic marriage was illegal. That is the king's law! Your children by that creature you called a first wife were not legitimate, and yet I looked the other way, raising them as if they were my own. When you recognized William as your legitimate heir, I thought we were of one mind, Shane."
" 'Twas you, my dear, who said unless Kieran became a Protestant I must disinherit him if Mallow Court was to be protected, and remain in the Devers family," he replied. "Are you now telling me that if Kieran had complied, and became a Protestant, you would have claimed he was illegitimate because my first marriage to Mary Maguire was celebrated in the Catholic Church?"
"Yes!" she told him bluntly. "Yes, I would have! We did not marry for love, Shane. You married me for my inheritance, and I married you for Mallow Court. Did you really think I should let Kieran have it after my William was born? And if I had not borne you a son, but only a daughter, I should have wanted it for Bessie. Mallow Court does not belong to you, Shane. My father bought it with his gold, and I sealed the bargain when I let you grunt and sweat over my body in order to give you a daughter and a son. In the eyes of the law they are your only legitimate heirs! Do not ever forget it!"
"I am not such a fool that I believe ours a love match, Jane," he said, "but I did think we had an affection for one another after two children, and all these many years. I am saddened to learn I was wrong."
"You Irish are such romantics," she sneered. "Marriage, like anything else, is a practical business, Shane. Now, let us discuss this disaster that has come upon us. Kieran cannot be allowed to have Erne Rock, and Maguire's Ford. It would give the local Catholics who persist in remaining here too great an advantage."
"Kieran and Fortune will not be remaining in Ulster, Jane. They are not to have Maguire's Ford. You have already been told that. The estate is to be divided between the duke's two youngest sons, Adam and Duncan Leslie, who are already in residence at the castle. The duke, his wife, Fortune, and Kieran will be leaving next spring after the duchess has had her child, and it is safe for them to travel."
"That is what they tell you," Jane Devers said venomously. "I am not so great a fool that I do not realize what Kieran has done. He quite deliberately set out to entice the Lindley wench so that William could not have her. William suspected it all along. Why else would Kieran have married that girl but for her vast estate? What else could she possibly have to recommend her? Kieran is an Irishman and to him land is important. He planned to gain a larger and richer holding than his younger brother. That is why he was so willing to give up Mallow Court. Ahh, you Irish are a wickedly devious lot, but Kieran will not succeed, I promise you, Shane! The law will not allow a treasonous Catholic to have such a prize."