“Ailis,” he whispered as he moved her one very small step back from him. “Ye should go.” Every fiber of his body and soul and heart waited on her next words.
“Do ye want me to leave, Iain?”
“Nay, Ailis. I want ye to stay. But I think mayhap the best thing for ye would be to leave me now.”
He could hear his breathing, shallow and quick. He listened to hers match his in the few seconds that seemed an eternity of waiting. Iain closed his eyes behind the damned mask and steeled himself for the inevitable disappointment that must come from such a lady.
“I want to stay, Iain. For this night. To discover what truly lies between us.”
His eyes opened to witness a smile that must have been like the one that Eve gave Adam to tempt him to sin. And, damn his soul and his desire for her, he would fall into that temptation. Iain spent only one moment finding and dropping the bar to secure the door before he turned back to her.
“Get on the bed,” he said in a voice thick with desire and need. His hands itched now as they had as they’d healed but, this time, it was for her. “And take off yer gown.”
