Likely, he would owe her a sea of apologies as time progressed.
“Isolde, I . . .” He expelled a long breath and then forced the words out. “I apologize for my behavior this morning.”
She tilted her head. “Your behavior?”
“Yes. I should not have . . .”—another deep breath—“. . . kissed your neck without your permission. I can offer no excuses other than my determination to be more respectful—”
“I took no offense at the gesture.”
“Pardon?”
“Your kiss.”
“But . . . ye were holding yourself so still, as though you did not—”
“Aye, I was holding still! It was so lovely, waking in your arms. And I was terrified if I moved, ye would pull away. And that is precisely what happened.”
“Isolde—” His voice cracked and his jaw moved helplessly, her confession robbing him of words.
“Ye need to speak with me, Tristan. Not make assumptions and rush off. Ye might have whispered, ‘Isolde, may I—’”
“But I did not ask, and I would never . . .”
“Hush. Enough.” She lifted his injured hand. “I shall merely take a kiss for a kiss. And then we will be even.”
And with that declaration, she pressed her soft lips to his palm, to the wound there.
A shuddering breath left him at the unexpected touch.
“Isolde,” he repeated her name, this time on a rasping whisper. “May I . . .”
He couldn’t finish the sentence.
Her gaze met his. Surely reading the longing—the ferocious yearning that whisked words from his lungs.
“Oh, Tristan,” she breathed. “When ye look at me like that . . .”
“Like what?”
“Like ye are drowning in those waves again. Like ye will expire if ye do not touch me . . . if ye do not kiss me.”
The direct statement drew a short laugh from him.
“Yes.” He blinked. “Yes.”
“Then, let us do something about it.”
Shaking her head, she dropped his palm, reached her hands around his neck, and threaded her fingers into his hair.
With a slight tug, she pulled his lips down to hers.
The sudden press of her mouth, the feel of her body rising to meet his chest, the onslaught of sensation—electricity and heat andhallelujahatlast!
It was simply . . .
Tristan gasped at the shock.
She startled and pulled back, but only retreated an inch before his hands circled her waist and held her fast.
