Gifted

Attention

Alina urged Magnus to moderate his more proprietary and aggressive impulses around their invited guests. She warned him that the lairds get drunk and raucous over the holidays, especially during the feast of fools. He countered that reasoning with the inebriated is futile and often the only way to keep them in line was to apply brute force. She had to admit that he may have been right.

On Christmas Eve, once he picked himself off the ground, the Campbell laughed through an apology for making libidinous comments about Alina's apparent newfound charms. The Boyd laird was even more forward, until Magnus forcibly corrected him. It must have been a quirk of the male psyche but the men seemed to be more at ease with each other after a bit of violence had established a pecking order. They came back from their hunting parties like they were old friends.

Alina soaked in her new copper tub while the revelry continued downstairs in the great hall. The celebrations for the new year would continue until morning. She was disconcerted by the attention she'd been getting since she'd become a married woman. Men never looked at her twice before.

Even though she had successfully put on weight in the past few weeks, she didn't think her appearance had changed all that dramatically from last year. Perhaps, she thought, men were like lemmings. They didn't think for themselves about who they found attractive. Once Magnus decided she was desirable, they all decided the same.

It might have been better if he didn't feed her in such an evocative manner in front of everyone. Goose was hardly alluring foodstuff but the way he pressed the morsel of flesh into her mouth at the Christmas dinner table had Jamie choking on his wine.

"And I thought we were bad," he whispered loudly to Mairi.

Magnus entered the room and the gray in his eyes darkened at the fire-lit sight of her. He turned at the sound of a soft knock behind him. It was a maid with a pail of hot water. He took the pail and sent her away. Then he wordlessly added fresh heat to her bath.

She asked, "How did ye know?"

He shrugged, "Ye always stay in there until it gets lukewarm."

"Join me," she invited.

His smile warmed her even more. He undressed then climbed into the tub facing her and she offered to attend to him. She started at his feet with a sponge then slowly sidled toward him, eventually positioning her legs loosely on either side of him as she used a pitcher to rinse his hair. She reveled in the solid strength of his body. He leaned his head back, leaving her to her ministrations. He groaned when she moved a washcloth down his midsection to between his legs. She was very thorough. When she was satisfied with her work, she straddled him and slowly impaled herself on his turgid length.

"Christ, Alina," he gritted as he gripped her waist and pressed her down harder onto him. "What ye do tae me."

He buried his face in her neck, held her still and tight even after she wanted to start grinding against him.

"I want this forever," he said into her neck. Then he lifted intense eyes to her. "Let's stay like this forever, elskling."

She nodded desperately, cradling his head between both hands then kissing him deeply. Together they started to move their hips in tandem with their mouths. His hands roamed her slick body, kneading and squeezing at all her soft places.

He started moving faster, pumping her up and down to meet his pistoning hips. She broke away from his mouth gasping and scrabbled for something to hold on to in the tumult. Water churned and sloshed over the lip of the tub. Her fingers clawed at the tub's edge as she cried out his name in ecstasy. He rode out her climax then stood and climbed from the bath with them still joined and dripping wet.