She looked at the willow trees and then at his footprints in the sand. “I meant I stopped asking men for what they refuse to give.”
The knot behind his ribs tightened. It felt like anger, like a wound that had been festering for too long.
“Some men learn,” he said evenly.
“Some men do,” she agreed. “I hope one day ye meet one.”
The blow landed clean, and he took it with a slow nod. “Fair enough.”
The water cooled around his knees as the light dimmed. The wind lifted the fine hairs on her shins, and the sight sent a shiver up his back. A small flock of birds arrowed across the lake and vanished into the trees.
Neil wanted to wade to shore and sit beside her. He wanted to say the right words. He wanted to earn the hour he had demanded. And yet he stood where he was, watching as she folded her hands neatly in her lap and lifted her chin in a bid to show strength.
“I should have asked ye anything else,” he murmured with a sigh.
He looked down at his palm and saw the water slide off it as if it had never been there.
Kristen sat taller and brushed sand from her palms, as he swam deeper again.
“Neil.” Her voice was tight, controlled. “I am changing me rule.”
He raised a dark eyebrow.
“Ye will still stay in me room at night, for appearances’ sake. The clan must believe we’re sharing a bed.”
His face did not give anything away.
“But ye are never to touch me,” she continued. “Or kiss me. Ever again.”
He went still.
“And ye must manage the spells ye get during storms. I willnae have ye terrifying the bairns.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. Still, she kept her head up. She would not show an ounce of vulnerability.
For a breath, she looked at him and wished she had not. Water hid him from the waist down, yet it clung to the shape of him.The planes of his chest, the scars across his ribs, the ridges of his abdomen as he shifted.
Her gaze dropped, betraying her, then darted away. Her breath stuttered.
Neil moved. He waded out of the lake, slow as if every step were a choice. Water slid off him in rivulets. It traced muscle. It found old scars and made them stark.
He stopped in front of her, and the scent of clean water and skin mingled with the heat of his presence.
“What did ye say?” he asked.
She forced her chin higher. “Ye heard me. I cannae let a man who doesnae want me?—”
“Is that what ye think, wife?” he interrupted, his voice low and dangerous. “That I daenae want ye?”
His bold gaze dropped to her mouth. Tension crackled between them, quick and sharp.
She held her ground. “Want isnae the same as care,” she said. “Ye have made that very clear.”
“Care doesnae keep blades from doors,” he argued.
“Neither does kissing a woman ye mean to leave cold,” she shot back.
His jaw tightened, and a muscle jumped in her throat. The air thinned. Her name hovered on the tip of his tongue. She couldfeelit.
