But he had.
And the miracle of his good fortune filled him with awe. Grateful, he drew a deep breath of the cold morning air, and allowed himself a slow smile.
One that glowed bright and true deep inside him and warmed him to his toes.
He loved her.
The words spoken in passion on the turnpike stair hadn’t been frivolous, born of the moment.
He’d truly given her his heart.
He, Sir Marmaduke Strongbow, Duncan MacKenzie’s champion knight, friend and mentor to many men, staunch defender of women and children, and soon-to-be lord of Balkenzie Castle, had fallen irrevocably, maddeningly, and wondrously in love in again.
And he’d done so with every fiber of his being, every face he had: the handsome one wrested from him so long ago, the scarred one blighting all his waking hours, and the as-yet-unknown one he’d wear in years to come.
Indeed, he loved Caterine, and the enormity of his discovery made him want to leap from the bed, run to the windows, and shout his jubilation clear to the distant horizon.
That she yet lay beside him, beckoning with the satiny warmth of her skin and the shining glory of her golden hair, opened up horizons of a wholly different nature.
Ones he burned to explore.
And now was as good a time as any to continue what they’d begun in the mist-swept magic of the night.
And so…
With all the skill he’d mastered, he smoothed his hand along her side in a light, barely-there caress. Her blue eyes flew wide just as he splayed his fingers over the curve of her hip.
She gasped, the sweetness of her sleepy-eyed confusion going straight to his heart. “W-what are you doing?”
“Slaying more of your dragons,” he lied.
Slaking his fiery need was closer to the truth.
“Last night, after your ancients left us, we only tossed out our first challenge to them,” he said, caressing her alluringly rounded bottom in a manner designed to put her at ease, and to enflame her blood to the same sizzling-heat as his own.
“And now?”
“Beginning this morn, we shall launch a full assault,” he promised, nuzzling his cheek against her unbound hair, pressing kisses into its glossy length. “But you must wish their demise, too, my lady.”
He grazed his lips along the smooth line of her neck. “Do you?”
“Did I not prove last night that I am ready to have certain dragons banished?” she gave back, now fully awake. “That I am freely open to our bond?
“We stood naked together,” she reminded him, angling her head to give him better access to her neck. “Unclothed and laid bare before the old gods, this wild and precious land, and our own good selves.”
“So we did.”
“And did you not begin then? Slaying dragons?” Her words came on a soft, sensual sigh. “I believe you did. Your touch pleased me well. You-”
“Pleasuring you with my fingers is not what I meant,” he said, not mentioning the fleeting touch of his tongue. “There is more to carnal loving, as I hope to convince you,” he did say. “We have many delights to share.”
The deep smoothness of his voice sank into her, flowing around and through her, seductive as his feather-light kisses to a sensitive spot just beneath her ear, tantalizing as his fingers gliding ever so wickedly over the rounds of her bottom.
“All of your dragons will be dealt with soon. That I assure you,” he vowed, nipping her ear.
“And it is the dragon that dwells here-” He slipped his hand between her thighs and, very slowly, traced the tip of one finger along the center of her heat. “-that I burn to engage this moment.”
“I will not stop you.” Caterine sighed, his intimate touch as breath-stealing in its intensity as she remembered from the night. His caress ignited a needy ache in the deepest part of her belly; a weighted tension potent enough to send waves of delicious tingles rolling all through her.
