With a dubious look, Alex pursed his lips. “If ye wish, I can fetch ye a script from the chemist and bring ye some fine soup from the pub. That combined with a good night’s rest will do ye a world of good.”
Emma shook her head. “No. No…that won’t be necessary. I’m really not hungry. I think I’ll just go to bed.”
Torin grinned as Emma continued rubbing the spot on her neck his lips had just brushed. Good. He loved the way her skin pinked when she became flustered with emotions. Such a fine woman, this unyielding Emma. If only she had existed back in his time.
An impossible to ignore stirring filled his soul as he watched her fumble with her coat. A firm knowing registered in his mind. Emma would never be unfaithful to the one she loved. Not her. A woman who had dedicated herself first to caring for her sister and then sickly children. A woman who had not given a second thought to forsaking her own needs.
Alex frowned. A frustrated scowl knotted his brow as he turned back to the door. “Very well then. If by morning ye still feel unwell, perhaps ye best spend the day at home. Dinna feel like ye must force yourself to show up at the clinic if ye havena improved.”
With a trembling smile, Emma bobbed her head. “Don’t worry. If I’m not any better in the morning, I’ll just stay in bed.” She drummed her fingers along the top of the chair as she glanced about the room.
“Aye. Well then.” Alex fixed her with one last bewildered look, then gave a curt nod as he stepped out onto the stoop. “See that ye do and if ye have need of anything, ye know where to find me.”
“She’ll not be needin’ a thing from you.” Torin shoved the door shut with a bang and stepped out of the in-between.
With a squeak, Emma fell back against the chair with a hand clasped to her throat. “How in the hell did you do that?”
“Ye just slide through the doorway between the dimensions and step into the space within.”
Her face flamed as her green eyes narrowed into irritated slits. “Do not ever do that to me again. He probably thinks I’m some kind of nut job now because of the way I acted.”
“All that man thinks is that he wants ye for his own. Ye need to stay away from him, Emma.” Torin settled his feet wider apart as he tightened his fists to his sides. She needed to calm down and see reason. Did she not realize he’d just saved her from a love-starved man?
“You are an idiot.”
Her stinging words stoked the frustration already knotting in his gut. “I know what I know.” Torin ground his teeth, clenching his jaw until it ached.
“You don’t know squat.” Emma snorted. “That man, Alex, only wants us to get along, so the atmosphere at the clinic won’t be so intense. He can’t stand my company any more than I can stand his. He’s doing all this for the sake of the children.”
“Ye truly believe that?” Torin stared at her, trying to ignore how inviting she looked when righteous indignation colored her skin. How could the woman be so damn blind? He didn’t evenhave to use his mystical senses to pick up on Alex Mackenzie’s obvious interest in the fuming woman standing before him. Could she be that oblivious to her effect on men? To the temptation she presented as soon as she walked into a room? “Ye are a beauty, woman, and when your scent fills the room, it teases a man until his body aches with the pain of needing to take ye.”
Emma went still, and she ran the tip of her tongue in a nervous swipe across her lips. “You’re wrong. You have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just plain old Emma. Ms. Dependable squared.”
With a frustrated growl, Torin pulled her into his arms and clenched her tight against the hardened length of his body. “Does itfeellike I am wrong, Emma? Listen to me with what your body feels instead of with what your mind tells ye.”
She gasped. Instinctively, she melted into his demanding embrace until his heart hammered against her breasts. Torin didn’t feel wrong. He felt very—ready, willing, tempting and all those other adjectives setting her body on fire.
A wondrous heat weakened her knees as she molded into the delicious hardness trapped beneath his kilt. She smoothed her fingers down the raised outline of the ebony tattoos circling across his bulging biceps. She had never been with a man like Torin. Her breath caught as she met his gaze and found excruciating need reflected in his face. Could she do this? Should she?
Torin dipped his head and settled her inner debate with a kiss. He pulled her tighter against his lean hardness and opened her mouth with his. His lips, his hands, that inquisitive tongue all demanded entry—demanded complete submission. Emma’s mind whirled as her body erupted with an age-old need. Yes, she could do this.
He loosened the embrace long enough to slip his hand between their bodies and trail his fingers up the front of her shirt. He groaned as he mouthed kisses along her jaw and cupped her aching breast in the calloused palm of his hand. The coarseness of his skin teased against her sensitive nipple, hardening it to a yearning nub.
“I have wanted ye since ye first stepped from the beast.”
His hoarse whisper triggered a series of uncontrollable shivers as molten heat flooded to her nether regions. He wanted her. That thought alone excited her almost more than his touch.
“I’ve wanted you too,” she admitted in a breathless whisper. There. She had said it aloud.That meant this really must be happening.
Torin swept her up into his arms, never interrupting the series of fiery kisses his eager mouth layered along her neck. He carried her to the waist-high kitchen counter and gently lowered her across it. Imprisoning her with a smoldering gaze, he ripped away her blouse and tossed the shredded remains aside. He gave an irritated huff as his attention settled on her bra. His brows knotted with an impatient scowl.
Emma caught hold of his hands. “Wait! Don’t rip it.”
“Then ye’d best get that bit of lace out of my way, woman.”
She undid the front clasp, slid the bra from around her body and flung it away.
With a possessive growl, he cupped her breasts between his hands, sucking in a deep satisfied breath as he circled her nipples with his thumbs. Pressing her aching breasts together, he lowered his head and suckled them both at the same time.
