“Aye.” He hurried to comply, then faced her, opened his mouth to speak, and promptly forgot what he was about to say.
She tipped her head forward as if ready to hang on his every word. “Ye were about to say?”
“I dinna ken.” He gently caught hold of her arms and pulled her across him. “I am glad ye changed yer mind,” he rasped as he slid both hands into her hair and pulled her down for a kiss.
Without breaking the smoldering connection, she resettled her position, placing a knee on either side of him. She barely pulled back, interrupting the kiss. “I have been so lonely for so verra long,” she whispered, her lips brushing across his. “It has worn me weary.”
“Seek yer ease with me, m’lady. Let loneliness trouble ye no more.” It alarmed him to realize more than simple lust pounded through him. But it didn’t alarm him enough to make him stop.
He slid his hands up under her shift and smiled to himself. Just as he had thought. A pair of dimples waited to be kissed at the small of her back. His breath caught in his throat as she arched upright, slipped off her night rail, and tossed it to the floor. Her body glowed a tawny gold in the candlelight.
He ran both hands up her taut stomach, then cupped the pert mounds of her breasts. His mouth watered for the taste of her dusky nipples. “Perfection itself.”
She responded by leaning into his touch and grazing a trail of nibbling kisses up his throat. “I am not a patient woman,” she murmured after a nip of his earlobe. She sat up and smiled down at him. “At least not the first time, anyway. It has been too verra long since…” Her words trailed off, and she licked his neck. With a breathiness that threatened to undo him, she continued, “I will try to be more patient the next round, aye?”
“I await yer commands, m’lady. Tell me what ye wish.”
“Oblivion.” She slid down on him, mounting him with such calculating slowness that the excruciating pleasure almost killed him. And then she rode. Hard. Her intensity and speed increased with every thrust of her hips until his world exploded.
Oblivion, indeed.
Chapter Nine
What the devilwas I thinking?With the liberating effects of the whisky worn off and her dangerous yearnings sated, Mila’s missing-in-action common sense came flooding back with a vengeance. It brought with it a heady dose of regret and an extra-large helping ofoh shite.
She eased up and peered over at Teague. He lay with his face turned away, but his left arm remained curled around her. That masterful right hand of his rested on his taut stomach. Her gaze slid lower. Even at rest,thatpart of him was still impressive, too. A renewed surge of wanting cascaded through her.
“Stop it!” she hissed under her breath, then froze, fearing she had awakened him. He didn’t stir. Thankfully, the man slept like the dead. She released the breath she held and eased up to a sitting position. Luckily, she had only dozed long enough to sober up and come to her senses. Time for as much damage control as she could muster.
She checked the window. Still night, but not much longer. The sky already shimmered with a lighter hue. She slid off the bed, tiptoed around it, and scooped up her shift from the floor. After another glance at the steady rise and fall of his chest, she skittered out through the connecting door back to her bedchamber.
She yanked on her shift, then patted the wall in search of the hook holding the key. Without the aid of a candle, she fumbled it off to the floor. It hit with an extraordinarily loud metallic ping. She froze and waited to see if either Teague or, even worse, Robbie heard it. Silence reigned through all the rooms, granting her the right to continue on.
She dropped to all fours and patted around until she found the key. Once the door was locked, she made her way to the cushioned bench in front of the window and collapsed. With her forehead resting in the crook of her arm, she continued her inner damning. How could she have been so stupid? So weak? So bloody irresponsible? Never had she behaved like this before. Jumping into bed with a man she hardly knew?
“I am such a fool,” she whispered.
A disturbing aroma broke through her self-condemnation. She lifted her head and sniffed herself. Heaven help her, she smelled like Teague. Not only that, she reeked of their lovemaking. She hurried to the pitcher on the low cabinet across the room, sloshed some water into the bowl, and scrubbed. But no amount of washing would cleanse her irritation with herself. She scooped another handful of the soft, rose-scented soap and scrubbed some more. “After all my self-righteous lectures to Robbie about safe sex…”
That thought made her go still and mentally count the days into her current cycle.
“Lovely. Now I have yet another thing to worry about.” She washed harder. “Ye are such a damned fool, Mila Loraine!”
“Mi?” A light tapping on the door followed Robbie’s soft call. “Are ye up yet?”
She dropped the cloth into the bowl, took a running leap, and dove into the bed. While thrashing her way under the covers, she did her best to assume a sleepy tone. “I am awake. Come in, if ye like.”
The door slowly swung open. Robbie lifted a nearly spent candle, sweeping it back and forth like a modern-day flashlight. “I thought I heard ye talking when I walked past yer door.”
“Why were ye walking past my door?” She clutched the covers higher to hide the water she had splashed all over her shift. He had refused to talk with her last night after charging into his bedroom. Said all he wanted was privacy and time to think. “Are ye all right, my handsome brat?”
“I am fine.” He set the candle on the bedside table and perched on the side of the bed. “I drank all my water, so I got more from the parlor.”
If he drank that much water, he probably needed to pee. She couldn’t remember if she had told him about chamber pots. “Is there a chamber pot in yer room? A container to pee in?”
He eyed her as if he thought her addled, then dipped a nod. “Aye. There’s this weird cabinet that opens into a chair with a hole in the seat. The chamber pot’s under it. Grissa showed me.” His expression settled into a troubled scowl, and he stared down at his hands. “I think I am going to have to stop wearing my trainers.”
“Did someone ask where ye got the shoes?”
