In Bed with her Highland Foe – Extended Epilogue
“Please, join me in welcoming the new Laird of the McDowells, and his Lady, Michael and Kyven Gregor,” Brayden’s voice echoed across the chamber of the great hall as they stepped inside.
Kyven’s face hurt from smiling so much as she looked around the room. There was not a pair of hands that wasn’t thundering applause, nor a face not cheering. She saw many of the people she loved in a quick glance.
Helen was by Aaden’s side, as she so often was, by the dance floor. Elliot was sat on a table close by with Fiadh, his wife. In her arms was a small bairn, one so beautiful, a perfect mixture of her parents, that Kyven ached when she looked at the child.
At the back of the room were Brayden and Tynan, come to celebrate the wedding and take their places at the top table, places of honor, as the newly allied clan. Tynan was in his cups already, drinking and reaching out for a dance with the nearest lass, as Brayden finished the toast and sat down, such a satisfied smile on his face that Kyven couldn’t help warming to him even more.
At last, Kyven turned to face the man gripping her hand.
Michael was dressed in both sets of clan colors. The strips of plaid over his shoulders should have clashed horribly, but instead, they looked wonderful, a shining symbol of the union of the clans coming together. He smiled, the sharp features of his angular face softening as he turned to look at her and raised her hand to his lips. He looked ready to whisper something, but the pipers were beginning their loud music once again, a tune they had been playing ever since the ceremony had finished but a half an hour ago. Dancers swarmed the center of the floor, leaving their feast behind, eager to celebrate. The cacophonous din grew so loud that Kyven laughed.
Michael pressed his lips to the back of her hand, an intimate moment in the mad and wild room.
“What dae ye think, eh?” he whispered in her ear, trying to be heard above the raucous noise. “Is it the wedding ye pictured?”
“Nay,” she answered hurriedly. He looked concerned, but only for a second, as she was still smiling back at him. “It is more than I could have ever imagined.”
He drew her toward the dance floor, such purpose in his steps that she hastened to follow him. They lost themselves in the crowds with the other dancers, occasionally switching partners, so sometimes she ended up dancing with Aaden, other times Elliot, and at one point, Tynan, though Michael rather hastily grabbed her back at this point.
“Ye are more worried about him than ye are Aaden,” she laughed pointedly as he turned her under his arm.
“I ken Tynan,” Michael said with a deep laugh. “I think between him and Aaden, every lass here is in trouble.”
“Nay chance.” She giggled and fell against him. “In case it passed ye by, love, I just declared tae love ye tae me dying day in a church.” She stood on her toes and kissed him. “It’s a vow I intend tae keep.”
The smile that appeared on his face was unlike any other she had ever seen in his features. It made her wonder why they had wasted so much time in that library closeted away together, enjoying one another’s company, yet choosing not to tell each other how they felt.
When they were too tired to dance anymore, they retreated to the top table where Brayden sat talking politics with some of the councilors. He and Theo seemed to be getting along very well, though Brayden turned their way as they approached to talk to them.
“Well, well, congratulations, baby brother.” He stood and clapped Michael on the back.
Kyven laughed, thinking how strange it was to call Michael a ‘baby brother’ when he was so tall and broad.
“I couldnae be happier fer ye.” Brayden held tightly onto his shoulder. “But promise me one thing now. Nay more hiding from us, aye? Nay matter what yer worries, we face it as a family. All of us.” He looked pointedly at Kyven too and offered his hand. She gladly gave it to him as he kissed the back, not with intensity, as his brother did, but with reverence and respect.
“I promise,” Michael said with feeling. “Ye ken why I hid though.”
“Aye, I do.” Brayden sighed heavily as he reached for his goblet. “It pains me tae say it, but I fear in yer shoes I would have done exactly the same thing. Now, something else I must say…” He glanced around his shoulders, making sure they weren’t being overheard. “I imagine the last thing ye two want tae do is spend the whole night here. I’ll run interference with the others, if ye like.”
“How is it ye read minds?” Michael grunted, shaking his head.
Kyven laughed as Brayden simply smiled.
“Ye forget, I am yer brother. Now go, quickly, before Tynan and Aaden can drag ye both back to the dancefloor.”
Kyven parted her lips to thank Brayden, but before she could, Michael had tugged on her hand. They jumped down off the back of the platform where the top table had been raised, and he hurried her toward the door, heading out into the hall. She laughed loudly as they toppled together against a nearby wall, unable to hold in her happiness as Michael kissed her neck.
“Should we nae stay a little longer?” she asked breathlessly. “They have all come tae celebrate with us.”
“Aye, they have, but it’s time we had a celebration of our own.” He pulled her again through the corridor.
“I cannae keep up with ye. Yer legs are too long!”
“We can solve that issue.” He turned to face her, pulling her to stand, then promptly thew her over his shoulder.
“Michael!”
Yet he didn’t put her down. She could feel him chuckling warmly as he carried her all the way up the stairs.
They didn’t go to her chamber but made their way through candlelit hallways to his new chamber instead. Far away from the barracks, it adjoined her own chamber through a secret door. He opened the door and strode inside fast, reaching straight for the bed, where he promptly threw her down on the mattress. She was still laughing, pushing herself up into a seated position, when he returned to the door and locked it tight.
The fire was roaring in the hearth. The plush new bedding, decorated with wolfskin furs, glistened in the light, and across the mantelpiece were white winter flowers, beautiful in their iciness and the way they contrasted the warmth of the fire.
“Ye’ve been planning this,” she observed, nodding at the hearth.
“Oh, I have.” He leaned on the door, turning to face her with a mischievous smile.
There was a nearby meow, and something jumped up onto the bed.
“Lottie,” Kyven said with a smile as she turned to greet the cat. The kitten had grown a little bigger in the last two months, and around her throat was a trail of flowers. She greeted Kyven by nuzzling her with her head, then purred contentedly. “She is beautiful. I cannae believe ye got her just tae try and get me attention.”
“Well, it worked. Damn Aaden. He kens what he is doing with women, I’ll give him that.” Michael walked back across the room and suddenly swept the cat up in his arms. He stroked Lottie affectionately, then placed her down on the floor again. “Sorry, Lottie, but ye willnae be needed fer our next celebration.”
As if she had understood him, she meowed and darted to a small wooden flap which had been inserted in his door, zooming out quickly.
The moment she was gone, Michael’s lips were upon Kyven. She reached up toward him, pulling the plaid off his shoulders as quickly as she could, trying to get access to him.
The last couple of months in the castle, they’d had to be good, only sneaking away together from the prying eyes for the occasional moment. Now, married, they could spend all the time together in a chamber they wanted, without questions from anyone.
“Stand,” he urged. She did as she was instructed.
“Ye ordering me around now?” she asked playfully.
“Well, as the new laird, this is the only place I will order ye around.” There was mischief in his tone as he winked at her. “As beautiful as ye are in that green gown, take it off.”
Slowly, she untied the laces and slipped it from her shoulders. The whole time he watched her, that gaze hungry.
“Next, the chemise, but… leave the stockings on.”
She raised her eyebrows but didn’t question him. She let the chemise drop down and stepped out of her court shoes, leaving the stockings on.
“Come,” he urged with a crook of his finger.
She crawled back onto the bed, thinking that he was wearing far too many clothes. She straddled him on the bed, pulling at his shirt in order to get to him.
“Say it,” he urged in her ear as he kissed down her neck.
“I’m yers,” she whispered, knowing by now exactly what he liked to hear. It was a thrill to her, to know that this was what he loved. “I am yer wife now, Michael.”
He growled under his breath, in the most animalistic and seductive way. She practically moaned aloud, pleasure in her gut coiling at the sound alone.
She was flicked onto her back fast, falling onto the cushions of the bed. He knelt before her, taking off the last of the shirt then reaching for his trews. It was a sort of pleasant torture to watch him. At one point, she tried to reach up, to explore him, but he playfully took her wrists and held them above her head, pinning them to the pillow. She whined in pleasure, her body writhing. It caught his attention, and he looked down her body, gazing at her breasts and hips.
When he had nothing on, he released her wrists and placed his hands on her thighs, parting them and lifting them high. Her body was wet and ready for him, her hands shaking. She didn’t need any preamble tonight. All she wanted was to feel all of him.
He slid into her fast, without hesitation. To feel his full penetration made her back arch off the bed. She gasped, gazing up into his blue eyes as he moved slowly at first. Once more, she tried to wrap her hands up around him, but he took her hands and held them either side of her down to the pillows. He had full control, and she loved it, yet even as he controlled her, his fingers entwined with her own. There was care at all times. She reached up to him, showing what she wanted, arching her back, and he gave it to her, bending down and kissing her.
As he did so, he increased the pace of their movements. It was consuming, so fast, the pleasure reaching every part of her, that she couldn’t stop the tingling sensation that spread through her body. She felt at once that her end was near, and even though she told herself she did not want this night to be over yet, her body had other ideas.
She tightened around him, and her cries of pleasure were muffled against her lips. He moved fast still, even harder, riding out her pleasure and shifting his hands so they were flat to the pillow. He had complete dominance now, leaving her a writhing mess on the bed beneath him.
She was still coming down from her high when she noticed the sounds he made changed.
“Kyven. Ah…” He groaned and grunted aloud, the sound even more animalistic than before. He reached up, gripping the bedhead with one hand as his other hand reached for her thigh and held her leg wider. He seemed to be reaching a different part of her, new scales of intimacy, when he suddenly moaned her name loudly. “Kyven.” He bucked repeatedly into her, and she felt a warmth spreading through her connection.
She realized at once what had happened, such a smile spreading across her face as he came down from his own high, catching his weight on his elbows on either side of her.
“Michael, ye…” She was breathless, struggling to say what she felt.
“I couldnae pull out –”
“I didnae want ye tae pull out,” she said. They both smiled at the sensation. She raised her hands up around him, embracing him tight. “Just think, there may be a baby Michael running around this castle in a year’s time.”
As he kissed her again, Kyven sank into his arms, having no wish to rejoin the celebrations downstairs. She was in the best place she could possibly imagine being, with a future ahead of her that once, she had only dreamed about.
Lottie meowed at the door and they both broke off from their kiss, laughing together.
The End.
If you haven’t already, please leave your review on Amazon
This was an incredible book I loved how you put Micheal and Kyven together with Aswan and Helen helping things along.
Thank you for your support my dear Gari! I am so glad you liked the story of Michael and Kyven!
Perfect ending (or new beginning 😉) to a wonderful story! Another winner, Shona!
Thank you my dear, you are so kind! haha you know me, there is always a new story coming!
OMG! Once agai. Shona you are amazing! Just the right amount of everything!!!
Hahaha your comment made my day! Thank you my dear Diana!
One of my most favourite stories, loved the characters in the book
Thank you so much Beris! This is one of my favorite books too!
Love this story,this series!! I hope there is more stories to come in this series.
Thank you my dear Judy, glad you loved it! I can’t give away any spoilers yet, but there will be more books of the series for sure!
Love this ebook but paperback and hardcover books were costly and to me I wanted them for free or cheapest 😞
Thank you so much for the feedback, my dear! I’m thrilled you loved the book! ❤️
The last bit was yummy!
Thank you, my dear Martha! 😉 I’m so glad you enjoyed it—saving the best for last! 📚✨