She supposed this was the urgent, twisting birth of true desire.
And the wonder of it ripped through her, wild, insistent, and glorious.
“You are a fine dragon slayer,” she said, parting her thighs without encouragement – a silent plea for him to keep touching her. “These are beasts I want you to battle.”
“I will do that, and more,” he told her, the magic of his touch making her feel almost ale-taken.
She touched his face, traced a finger along his jaw. “You have already done much for me.”
“Lady, I would give my life for you.”
“My champion,” she said softly.
Then, almost not recognizing herself, she parted her thighs a bit more - seeking, welcoming his bliss-spending caress. “You ignite fires I didn’t know existed,” she breathed, her voice now thick with passion, her eyes a deeper shade of blue.
She looked at him, her lids now half-lowered, and heavy with arousal. “I have never known such abandon.Thisdragon you have already slain, my lord,” she said, arching her hips into his touch. “I wish to continue exploring these pleasures for so long as you remain with us.”
Her last few words dashed icy water all over him. Somewhere deep in his soul, shards of shock and dread splintered away from the tight, spinning joy he’d taken in touching her so lovingly.
He started to object, to warn he would leave soon, and her with him, but she’d begun gliding her hands over his chest, and before he could protest, she slid them lower, brushing against the one place he couldn’t easily control.
He did sit up, his blood roaring. Then he circled her wrist and lifted her hand from his abdomen. A signal not to let her fingers wander in that direction again.
Not this moment.
Such intimacy would come later – when he was certain she’d welcome all of him, including his soul and heart.
“Caterine…” He looked at her, unsmiling now. “Do you truly think I will leave without you? My lady, you are my wife. And I am not a stripling whose attentions – and passion – can be trifled with, cast aside on the morrow. I am your husband – the man who loves you, and it is too late…”
Trailing off, he stared at her hand, the bareness of one particular finger shattering the last of his hopes, his belief, that she’d come to care for him.
He seized her hand, staring at her empty ring finger, cold bands of doubt sliding round his heart, and throwing open its gates so his demons could march right back in.
Did you truly think she wanted you for than a moment’s ease, you blighted beast?they taunted.
’Tis your skill in pleasuring she desires, not your fool heart…or your ring!they shouted with glee, laughing even harder as their jeering deflated the remnants of his ardor.
Closing his ears to them, Marmaduke tugged the bedcovers more securely over the evidence of his dismay. Then he schooled his features into his best mask of indifference, and met her gaze full on.
“I knew the ring would not fit,” he said, his voice rougher, more agitated than he would have wished.
Secretly hoping the heirloom’s large size was indeed the reason she’d removed it.
“I’ve brought you a fine gold chain so you can wear the ring around your neck until we return to Balkenzie,” he rushed on, not giving her a chance to deny his explanation.
Silently praying she wouldn’t.
“Once we are home, I will have the ring altered for you. I meant to give you the chain after the second wedding feast, but I shall fetch it now.”
“Nae.” She grabbed his wrist when he made to stand, the regret on her face, unsettling him as little else could.
“I do not want a gold chain,” she said, and his heart almost stopped. “I removed the ring because I do not wish to wear it.” Her honesty dropped a heavier weight on his crushed spirits with each word she spoke.
“I honor you greatly,” she said, her straightforwardness prancing hot foot all over his soul. “But my own honor will not allow me to wear your ring. Not on my finger, not on a chain around my neck.”
Marmaduke swallowed past his dignity. “And why not?” he managed in a voice scarce his own. He had to know.
“Because I care too much about you to do so,” she replied, a whole troupe of demons leering at him over her shoulder.
