Chapter 28

She brushed her skirts down and wiped her hand at a thick droplet of his cum hanging from the corner of her mouth. He picked up his kilt and gently wiped at her face and hair, trying to wipe the remains of his release off her.

"I canna be walking around the Keep with bits of your spend in my face and hair. Make sure you get it all."

"Understood." He continued to dab at the little streams of his seed streaking her face and auburn curls.

"That should do it," he said, fastening the kilt back around his waist. "Your hair's still in some disarray, and I would not spend a lot of times wandering the halls, but you should be able to make it back to your room without anyone the wiser."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Lady Cameron. Twas most considerate of you to take care of me." He left, glancing about the kitchen quickly and closing the pantry door behind him.

She primped at her hair a little, patting it and smoothing it down. It was probably hopeless without a mirror. Worse yet, she could still feel sticky spots where Thorburn had not wiped her hair thoroughly. Thankfully, it was late and there were unlikely to be too many people wandering the halls of the Keep at this hour. She opened the pantry door, quickly checked the kitchen as Thorburn did before her and hurried to her room.

When she got there, she found Stuart had laid a fire against the nights chill and had a tub of warm water waiting with more water heating by the fire. Dressed only in his kilt, he took her hand, led her to the tub and slowly undressed her. Kissing her passionately, he picked her up and slowly lowered her into the water. Taking up a sponge, he wet her face, neck, shoulders, and then her breasts. He soaped his hands on some luxurious French milled soap smelling of lavender and tenderly washed all of the parts he'd just moistened. He then had her stand and soaped her stomach, waist, legs, and finally her sex and ass, paying particular attention to them. Ailene felt herself start to liquefy again, but he stopped after washing her thoroughly and had her sit again in the tub. He took a pail of heated water from the hearth and warned her to close her eyes, then poured some of it over her head, wetting her hair and washing the soap from her upper body.

He soaped up his hands once again and washed her hair, massaging her scalp as he did so. She felt her eyes close and her body sink lower in the water, a sense of deep relaxation filling her. When he was finished, he warned her again, then poured the remainder of the pail over her head, rinsing the soap out of her hair. When it was empty, he grabbed the other pail and warmed the water the water in the tub, filling it close to the top before replacing the rest on the hearth to stay warm. Taking a stool, he sat beside her and leaning down, put his arms around her, one hand closed upon a breast, but merely holding her close.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise, my husband?" Ailene asked dreamily.

"As you recall, it was a short night, and a long day, starting with my insatiable need of ye, continuing with 2 long cart rides and I know Thorburn gave you no rest. It seemed like this might be a good way to end the day."

"Aye, it was exactly what I needed," she agreed. "Thorburn left me a little messy. And this is so relaxing."

"I noticed. About the mess I mean. Was it pleasurable?"

Ailene was silent for a time. Stuart didn't press her for an answer.

After a minute or two, she finally said, "Aye, it was."

"That's good."

She lapsed into silence once more and Stuart was content to let it be, just holding her close.

After several more minutes of silence, she said, "I still don't understand."

"Understand what, my love?"

"How you can kiss me with another man's cum on my breath and treat me with such kindness and consideration? How do you do it? I don't understand."

Stuart kissed her again, all lips and tongue, leaving no doubt in her mind that he still loved and cherished her.

After he stopped, he said, "I would be a real poor sort of man to push ye into doing this for me, and then holding it against you. Is that not true?"

"Aye," she admitted.

"Well I don't see myself as a poor sort of man."

"No, Stuart, you're a wonderful sort of man. I love you so much."

"And I love you. I can't imagine not loving you," he said.

"But doesn't it bother you? That's what I don't understand. I would be mad with jealousy if you were with another woman."

"If I'm honest with myself and you," he admitted, "the first time in the strapping room was rough. I felt great pangs of jealousy. Twas all I could do not to shove them off you. But when I saw the pleasure you got, how enraptured you were, how strongly you spent, that helped."

"That would make it worse for me," Ailene said. "To know that you were receiving pleasure from it. Like if another woman gave you too much pleasure, you would not want me anymore, because you would love them more."

"I suppose that I'm able to separate love and pleasure. I love you. I want to please you. Because I love you, I want to see you receive gratification, no matter the source. I want to protect you from all pain, have you receive only pleasure. It's my duty to be the best husband I can be so that just you receiving enjoyment is not enough to take your love away; it's all part of what I give you. Because I allow you to receive pleasure from another source; maybe you see me as the source of all your gratification. Seeing you receive pleasure from them made it more tolerable for me. I looked upon myself as the source of that ecstasy, not them. It was a gift from me to you. That it was also a gift to them was all the better."

"And since?" Ailene asked.

"And since. Mmmm," thoughtfully, "Every time I'm not with you and they are, there's a wee twinge, aye. I wish it was really me giving you the love, for then I'd be taking the love for myself as well. That's why I'm not really interested in the details. I only wish to know that you received something from it, as I think of that pleasure as something I've gifted you with. That's one of the reasons for the rules. They must treat you as I would. I never want to think of them harming or disrespecting you in any way. That's a rejection of the loving gift I've given them and a negation of the gift I'm giving you."

"You're a strange man, Stuart Cameron, but I thank you for your gifts, and I shall try never to make you regret your gifts to me and them."

"That's all I ask, my lovely Ailene."

He had her stand once more, pouring the rest of the warm water over her to rinse all the detritus of the day from her, then patting her dry. He carried her to the bed and laid her down, spooning around her.

As she lay there with his arms around her, secure in his love, she pondered his reasoning and the attitude and love behind it. In a way, she could follow the logic of his arguments. There was a perverse logic to them; she had to grant that. It was the emotions that she got hung up on. She would pull the hair out of any woman who tried to fuck her husband.

Lying there, thinking of her pleasure, she determined to give him some now. She turned and buried down into the covers, finding his limp cock and taking it into her mouth. She tongued and sucked on it, feeling it swell in her mouth and hearing the moans of satisfaction of her beloved husband. His hands grabbed her head and he began thrusting his stiffening staff into her hot moist mouth, her tongue swirling under the head of his glans on each in and out stroke.

"To what do I owe this enjoyment?" he moaned, going deeper with every plunge of his prick.

She said nothing, just sucking harder, taking him deeper, opening her throat for his pleasure until his cock fully disappeared and his balls were brushing against her lips. She grabbed his sack and fondled the bundles inside, encouraging him to drive harder into her mouth. She could almost feel the cum churning in his balls, preparing itself for it's short journey. She felt his breathing stop, his cock twitch then stiffen, and awaited his release; his prick pulsing in her hands as his cream shot upward through his shaft and splashed in the back of her throat in a torrential stream, rapid fire pulses of his essence, almost more than she could swallow. After she felt his spasms slow, his thrusting stop, she gratefully cleaned all signs of his release from his shrinking cock. He gave one final gasp, sucking in a mouthful of air, then pulled her up and smothered her lips with kisses.

At least if he were going to kiss her with someones cum on her breath, it should be his own.

Isobel slept late the following morning. Nightmares were what woke her; vivid dreams of her husband beating her. Her surroundings confused her at first, then remembered that her husband had lost her in a card game and she was at Cameron Keep. Despite the reassurances of the Cameron's the previous evening, she was still uncertain of her status. She'd never been lost or won in a card game before and wondered what the winner would expect of her. She'd been used to pay her husband's debts before, but never on a permanent basis.

Finding some of the clothes that Muiríol had set aside for her, she got dressed. She did not remember her way to the kitchen; the previous night being somewhat of a blur, and had to ask one of the maids scurrying around for directions. The maid stopped what she was doing and led her to the kitchen, where the cook gave her some bread, meat and cheese. Upon asking where she could find the others, the cook directed her to the courtyard, where Isobel could hear a lot of noise and clamor.

Taking her food with her, Isobel went out to the courtyard and saw many people engaged in fighting. At first she thought it might be some sort of battle, but quickly realized that only a few people were fighting at any one time, the rest leaning on their swords, or squatting, watching the few who were. When those few fighting were done, another group would take their place and the previous group would take their place to the side. All of it done under the watchful eye of Laird Cameron and another fellow she remembered from the trip from Dervaig yesterday. She had only been introduced to the family and not any of the men-at-arms who she traveled with. She supposed that she should find Lady Cameron and begin to find out what her expectations of Isobel's duties would be around the Keep.