It made sense. “Our men would do anything to save one of our women. Brave any peril. You have no idea how precious you are to us.”
She looked down, her damp hair falling forward to hide her face. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she looked up, curiosity in her green eyes. “Back in the clearing, when you spoke to Mistress Drexel and John… Did you use persuasion?”
I nodded. “Just a small push to help them forget what they’d seen. But they’re unlikely to speak of it. Mistress Drexel got well-acquainted with that stake. I don’t think she’ll risk telling anyone she saw a dragon.”
“My dad can do that,” Portia said quietly. “When he wants to be forgotten, he can erase himself from people’s memories.” She looked down again. “I’ve never managed it. I can’t make healing tears, either.”
“Many of our gifts come with age.” I touched her cheek. “Give yourself time.”
“Time,” she repeated with a bitter laugh. “Another thing I can’t control.”
She took my spectacles from me, then paused, her gaze lingering on my damaged eye. Her expression softened. “You said our men would brave any peril to save our women. You were brave, too.” She slid my spectacles into place with gentle fingers.“That witch almost killed you, but you never stopped searching for a cure.”
The last of the daylight had faded while she bathed. We stood in a purple dusk, the quiet awareness that had stretched between us returning.
“I stopped,” I told her, tucking a lock of damp hair behind one delicate ear. “I found what I was really looking for.”
Her lips parted.
I kissed her.
Desire was a brushfire in my veins. Her mouth was soft and warm, her taste like rain and sugar. And I needed more.
I slid my mouth to her ear. “I want you.”
“We shouldn’t,” she whispered, but she curled her hands into my jacket, clinging to me. “Your head?—”
“Doesn’t hurt anymore,” I said, realizing it was true. The agony was gone, and only desire remained. “Maybe you’remyelixir, lass.”
She pulled back and stared at me, wonder in her eyes.
I kissed her again, slower this time, sucking at her hot little tongue. She moaned softly, and I slid a hand around her hip and gripped her arse through her chemise. When she fed me another sweet moan, I pulled her more tightly against me, letting her feel my erection.
Her answering gasp stoked the flames under my skin.
“You feel what you do to me?” I rasped.
She nodded, her nipples prodding the wet chemise.
“You want to know something?”
Another nod.
I let my mouth hover above hers. “I love lacing you up. It’s like a present in reverse, Princess.” I nipped her bottom lip. “Every time I do it, I look forward to unwrapping you again.”
Her breath hitched.
Thunder cracked overhead. The clouds opened, and fat drops plopped on the ground. Within seconds, rain fell in a sheet.
I gathered Portia’s clothes and scooped her into my arms. She yelped, then laughed, clinging to my neck.
“I can walk!”
“Not as fast as I can run.” Calling my dragon, I put on a burst of speed. Portia squeaked and buried her face in my neck as trees and rocks whipped past. Her breath fanned my throat, warming my skin despite the cold rain soaking through my jacket.
When I ducked inside the cave, Tavish crouched beside the fire turning a spit laden with three plump rabbits. Grease dripped and sizzled in the flames.
He looked up, and a slow, knowing smile gleamed in his blue eyes at the sight of a wet, half-naked Portia in my arms.
