The weather was appropriately dismal as we made our way to the graveyard, tucked behind the Presbyterian church. Thick gray clouds covered the sky while a chill wind cut through my jacket, making me pull my arms tighter around myself. I had to remind myself not to crush the flowers too tightly to me, I didn't want to damage them. Will held a couple more bouquets, and he led us through the gates and into the graveyard proper. It was an old yard, some of the stones were so damaged that it was almost impossible to read what was written on them. Will stopped at a section, looking down. "Here we are, all of us Murdochs that have passed on. Well, since we moved here."
"Ah." I glanced around, taking it all in. The stones were newer, at least some of them were, and they appeared to be well taken care of.
Will stooped down, brushing the leaves off of the oldest one. "Hello, little Mary. I'm sorry I haven't been by lately." He was actually smiling as he spoke, tucking one bundle of flowers close to the stone. I tried not to tear up as I read it, Mary McMaster Murdoch, Beloved Daughter Called Home, 1865-1869. Only four, Jeanie had buried her first child when she was only four. Will brushed his fingers over the stone. "Keep an eye out for us, will you?"
He moved to the other graves, his brother John, dead this past seven years. Then it was his uncles, William and John, and he spoke quietly to all of them. I shifted on my feet, rather uncomfortable. It wasn't that I didn't want to be here, but that it felt odd to me to come and visit the dead. I hadn't gone to Father's grave since the funeral, and we rarely visited Grandmother and Grandfather. I watched Will, brushing the stones clean and placing flowers for each of them. "Is this where you want to be? You know, at the end?"
He settled back onto his heels, crouched beside his uncle's grave. "Christ Ana, I don't know." He rubbed a hand across his face. "Murdoch men never seem to get a choice it seems. Half the men in my family aren't here, there's just stones. They're out in the sea." He chuckled, bitterly. "Hell, Uncle John here always told us that one of us had to take a job that kept us on land. Couldn't have us all lost at sea."
"Well, that's been done." I tried to lighten the mood a bit. "Sam seems to be doing that."
"Aye, he is." Will sighed. "Even Ada isn't here, she's back with her own family."
I knelt beside him, wrapping my hand around his arm. "If you could pick though, where?"
He furrowed his brow, thinking for a long moment as he looked around, then slipped his hand around mine. "By you, wherever that is."
"And I'll be by you." I leaned over, kissing his cheek. A gust blew through, knocking me onto my rear and I tugged Will down with me. He was laughing a bit as he tumbled into me, and I twisted my arms around him. I couldn't stand seeing him morose like this, and I knew something that would perk him up. It always did. "Now, let's get back to the inn. It looks like it will storm, and I know how much you love a stormy night."
He stood, helping me to my feet. "Did you pack something?"
"Perhaps, but I'll need your help to get to it." I grinned at him, and he wove his fingers through mine. "Unless you want me to send Reggie for it?" He simply shook his head, and we retraced our steps through the town. By the time we had reached the pub a slight drizzle had begun, and we ducked inside to get away from it. I gave Will's hand a squeeze, "Should we get something to eat?" I couldn't help but grin a little, "After all, you'll need to keep your strength up."
"Hmmm," He gave my waist a squeeze. "It would be nice to not have to leave the room again today." He mused, and moved over to discuss the matter with the publican. I inched my way over to the fireplace, already blazing merrily, and extended my hands over it. My fingers had just begun to thaw when Will came back with a hamper, packed with plenty of food and a few bottles of beer. I shoved my barely warm hands tight under my arms as we stepped back into what had become a downpour, racing back to the Burnside.
"Ma'am, Mr. Murdoch." Louise said, starting up from her sewing as our soaked selves made their way in. "Let me get your room warm, or would you prefer a hot bath?"
She had half started for the stairs when Will called out. "It's alright Louise, we'll get everything settled in there. If you could just bring up something for Ana, what was it again?"
"The hatbox," I smiled at him, "The one I had packed the gifts in. I just want that brought up, that's all."
"And my valise, just leave them on the bed." Will watched as she moved to the room where our luggage had been stored, then turned to me. "Would you like to dry off first?"
"Why don't you?" I reached over, taking the hamper. "And maybe run some hot water and give yourself a scrub, you look awfully pale." He gave me a small smile and started for the bathroom, and I took the bags from Louise when she came back out. "Thank you, Louise."
"Let me at least have Reggie light a fire." She pursed her lips, and it short order Reggie was upstairs, stacking kindling and logs. By the time Will had come back, his color much better, the fire had caught and was warming the room quite ably. His clothes were still rather wet though, and Louise stepped out to allow him to change.
Darting my hand into the hatbox, I quickly wadded up what I was after and excused myself to go freshen up. Barricading myself in the common bathroom, I quickly stripped off my clothes and rubbed myself down with one of the towels. It certainly did feel nice to dry myself off, and rub a hot washcloth over my skin. It was hard to believe it was summer right now, it felt more like autumn with the wind whistling around the inn and the rain tapping against the glass. Which meant that when I pulled the thin silk of the navy blue nightgown over my head, I was almost shivering, especially when I picked up my wet clothes.
Then, I was confronted by something that I had not thought out, how to get across the inn and back to our room, while wearing what was a fairly scandalous piece of lingerie, and that was putting it mildly. Holding my wet clothes away from myself, I peeked out the door. Louise was back in the lobby, sewing and chatting with Reggie. In my bare feet, I softly stepped out and did my best to tiptoe back across the landing. It was sheer bad luck that the door to our room chose the moment I opened it to squeak, but I darted inside quickly, hopefully before the two of them saw me. And then paused, my clothes falling from my hands.
Will, close by the fire and with his back to me, was trying to peel his soaked shirt from his frame. "Ana, care to help me with this?"
"Um," I mumbled, seeing the splay of muscles across his waist as his shirt lifted. "Yes, of course." I stepped around to his front, seeing the buttons that he'd struggled with, and tried to focus on them. It was dreadfully hard to though, when his hands had quickly made their way to my waist and he was breathing heavily. I felt Will's skin jump beneath my fingers as I gently pried the wet cotton from him, trailing them across his chest. He kicked it aside as it hit the floor, and his hands moved to my rear and pressed me tight to him. I buried my head in his chest, reveling in the warmth that was prevailing. "Should we eat?"
"I suppose." He murmured, although he barely let me loose. "We have all day to, ah, indulge ourselves." He gave me a squeeze at that, and captured my gasp with a kiss that had me reeling after he pulled away. Together, we settled onto the bed and unpacked what we had gotten from the pub. Slices of roast beef, a loaf of bread, butter and horseradish for the meat, all topped off with enough bottles of beer to have satisfied a man dying from lack of spirits.
"How did you talk him into all of this?" I asked, spreading butter over a piece of bread and topping it with some meat.
Will, already eating, waited until he had swallowed to speak. "He simply handed it to me, I think he remembered us from the other day."
"Well, remind me to thank him later." I took a swig of the beer, cold and slightly bitter, with bubbles that popped happily in my mouth. I couldn't help but smile at Will, his suspenders dangling from his sides as he finished off a bottle of beer, his throat jumping as he swallowed.
Will had no idea where his wife had gotten that nightgown, and frankly, he hardly cared. Not when she was sitting across from him on the bed, completely unaware of how alluring she was as she tore pieces from a slice of bread and ate them. She didn't see how the nightgown was rucked up around her legs, or how one sleeve was almost down to her elbow and her breast almost fully on display. Ana seemed content to finish her meal and drink another bottle of beer, not knowing all the things that Will was planning for her.
And oh, what things he had planned.
After this morning, having made his visit to his deceased family members, he was desperate to forget the thoughts that had circled around his mind. Would he wind up like Uncle William, a stone over an empty grave? No, he refused to do that, he would be next to Ana at the end of it. And those thoughts had dogged him on their way back to town, although now they were far from his mind, which was filled with how he would lay Ana back on the bed and make her scream his name by the end of it.
"Well, that was delicious." She said, collecting the remains of their little feast and putting it back in the hamper.
Will watched as she did so, the way the silk spread across her rear as she bent over to pick up the hamper and put it outside the room. "Yes, although what shall we do now?" As if he didn't already know what he wanted to do, how he wanted to lose himself in her.
"You know, I remember something." Ana turned, smiling and with a knowing look in her eyes. "Something you said was a wonderful thing to do when trapped inside by the rain."
He grinned, although he was glad to play along. "Hmm, I'm afraid I can't quite remember what I said."
"Let's see, you mentioned that on a dark and stormy night," She stepped forward, placing her hand on his chest and it was all Will could do to not haul her bodily to the bed. "There was nothing better than to read poetry in front of a fire."
"I can think of one thing." He muttered, inhaling her scent and feeling his heart flutter. "And we just so happen to have a bed."
"But I'd like poetry." She pretended to pout, although she gave it up quick when he grabbed her waist. "Although I think we can do both."
"I expected nothing less." He growled, lips falling to hers and pressing her back. There really was nothing like grabbing his wife for all he was worth, wanting to have her so close to him that he could breathe her in. Well, there was one thing that was better, it was the way Ana clutched to him as he tipped her back onto the bed, her hands roaming from his shoulders and to his waist, like she was utterly terrified that if she wasn't holding him he would disappear. It took everything he had to pull away from her, "I did bring a book of poetry, you know."
She had no idea how alluring she looked when she twisted in bed to watch as he moved to his valise, her legs stretching out for what seemed like miles. "Ah, who did you bring?"
Will grabbed the volume, setting it on the bed while he took a minute to place another log on the fire. "Burns, the copy your mother gave me for Christmas." He lay beside her, one hand flipping through the book while his other began to tease the nightgown down her body. "The greatest poet this land has produced."
"Well at least it's appropriate." Ana mused, wiggling in his arms to assist him in getting the nightgown around her waist. She sighed when his hand found her breast, a slight moan at the end of it. "Will you read it in Scots?"
"What other way is there?" Will rolled one of her nipples between his fingers, dipping down briefly to kiss it. At her gasp, he gave it a suck and felt it harden and pebble beneath his tongue. He could lay there and suckle at her all day, especially when her fingers began to press his head to her, her breath speeding up as she panted above him. Will lifted his head, placing a kiss to where her neck met her shoulder before turning to the book. "Oh wert thou in the cauld blast, On yonder lea, on yonder lea; My plaidie to the angry airt, I'd shelter thee, I'd shelter thee,"
"Oh God," She groaned, doing her best to curl her head around him. "I can hardly understand it, is it Scots?"
"Aye," He chuckled, shifting on her so that she could begin kissing at his neck. "Do ye need an explanation, lass?"
"I think I can follow." She brought one of her legs up, wrapping around his. "More?"
Oh, there would be far more he would so to her, especially if she kept pressing herself to him like that. "Or did Misfortune's bitter storms, Around thee blaw, around thee blaw, Thy bield should be my bosom, To share it a', to share it a'." Considering the way her bosoms were currently being kneaded by him, and the way he was slowly working the nightgown all the way off, he figured he could get away with a little more. "Or were I in the wildest waste, Sae black and bare, sae black and bare, The desert were a Paradise, If thou wert there, if thou wert there."
Ana spoiled him by sitting up briefly to get the rest of the nightgown off, sending it to the floor in a pile of navy silk and silver lace. "Will, don't stop."
"We haven't even finished one poem yet," He chuckled, covering her with his own body and beginning to rock against her. He had been growing hard since they had started, and he needed some relief. He almost jumped in shock when he felt Ana's hands on his trouser button, quickly opening it and working on getting them off. "Ana, Lord above."
"It's hardly fair," She looked at him with pure lust in her eyes as she encouraged him to let her continue. "I want to touch you too." And then his trousers were gone, and his wife had her fingers wrapped around him as she began to stroke. "Can you finish the poem?"
Will's eyes were closed for a moment as he relished in her soft hand on his fevered flesh, moaning when she let her fingers circle his tip. "I think so, let me see." He fumbled with the book, speeding through the last bit. "Or were I monarch o' the globe, Wi' thee to reign, wi' thee to reign; The brightest jewel in my crown, Wad be my queen, wad be my queen."
"And am I, your queen?" She started to speed up her stroking, and Will had to reach down and still her hand. "What?"
"Of course you are," He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Far more than my queen, you have my heart, completely." Taking her shoulders in hand, he pressed her back into the bed. "And I am going to prove it to you, right now." He kissed her, deeply, letting his tongue stroke over hers and feeling her smile into his kiss. She was panting when he began to trail kisses down her body, taking time to suckle at each of her breasts and delight in the feeling of her warm flesh underneath him. It was when he reached her thighs that she gasped, her legs quickly opening for him. He looked at her from his place between those soft thighs, seeing her eyes dark and her swollen lips open. "Such a greedy wife."
"Will," She panted, but shortly lost the ability to form words when he trailed kisses up those thigh to her core. Will had always enjoyed tasting his wife, even back when he'd been with Ada, there was something heady about pulling her tight to his mouth so that he could ravish her with his tongue. Hearing her pant his name, feeling her fingers dig into his scalp as she begged for him to continue, it was intoxicating. And he knew what pleased Ana the most, so when he began to trace over that little bud that drove her wild, he felt her legs tense around him. Her voice was weak as she called out above him, "Don't stop, please Will, don't stop."
"Of course not," He murmured against her, continuing to massage her with his tongue and sending a hand up to feel her stomach. He could feel her tense, and just when her voice caught and she was close to the edge, he drew her into his mouth and sucked on her. Will found himself hoping that the other rooms in the inn were empty, for his wife was coming with a loud cry that he would not be able to explain later.
Her taste was still on his lips when he rose above her, holding himself up. "Ana, love, you've got to be more quiet. Otherwise Reggie is going to start asking questions."
"Will," She wrapped her hands around his shoulder, her legs around his waist, and did her best to pull him into her. "I don't give a damn at this point, just take me." He chuckled, sinking into her, pausing a moment to savor the feeling of her around him, warm and tight and when he shifted in her, so slick and wet that he began to thrust out of instinct. He checked himself though, watching to see if she was in any discomfort. He had thought she might have been too sensitive after her release, although his wife began rocking her hips against him as soon as he had stopped.
"Agh, I'm not hurting you, am I?" He gasped out, resuming his movement at a slower pace.
Her eyes were squeezed shut, but she shook her head. "God no, go harder." He sped up, his hands grasping her hips to drive into her even harder. And then, then his wife did something that almost made him collapse in pleasure. Ana bent her legs up, sending her knees over his shoulders and he felt like he had never been this deep in her before. He was rough then, and he knew he shouldn't be, but God, the feeling of her around him, the sound of her breath in his ear, the way she clenched around him like she was coming all over again, he lost any restraint and fell into an almost animalistic state.
All he cared about was her, filling her with his seed and putting his mark on her. His wife, his beloved, and his to take to bed. He curled himself over her as he felt the end coming, and he knew he would finish loud, so he did the only thing he could think of, he bit his wife. Not hard, but he still latched his teeth around where her neck met her shoulder and had to muffle his groan as he finished in her. He felt her twitch around him, and he brought a hand down to rub her to her own release. It didn't take much until she was pulsing around him, her own teeth lightly grazing his shoulder. She pulled away, her voice hoarse. "Will, why did you bite me?"
It took everything he had to roll off of her, although he still pressed her to him. "I couldn't have told you to be quiet and then had everyone asking why they heard me."
She took a moment to consider that, panting. "I wouldn't have minded."
"I would have, Reggie can hardly look me in the face as it is."
"Oh, bugger Reggie." Ana laughed, curling herself against him. "And as a matter of fact, bugger Louise. I don't want you to stop doing those things to me, or letting me do them to you."
"I am sorry about the biting." Will rubbed a hand over his face. "It was the only thing I could think to do."
Ana shifted up, latching her lips around his earlobe and giving it a nibble. "I didn't mind, in fact I rather enjoyed it." Will found himself almost frozen in the bed as she kept gently biting at his ear, moving down to his neck. God, what monster had he awoken in his wife? He was going to be covered in love marks by the end of the day if she kept at this, and he wanted her to keep at it.
"Just," He panted as she started kissing and nipping at his chest. "Just make sure I can hide them."
She looked up, an impish smile on her face. "The same goes for you, husband. And you know how much I can show in one of my dresses."
"What if I want to see them?"
"Then you had better come up with something to tell my mother when she asks about them, because I can hardly do that."