The most important thing he’d discovered about her was something she’d revealed during their last few encounters. Lara used her anger as a shield when her fears were touched. When something or someone threatened to expose that timidity that she kept under tight control, she struck out like an angry bee—stinging the one who came too close. He’d learned that after feeling the stab himself.
“Come now, Lara. If you have questions, simply ask them of me and do not try to bait me to strike out at you in words or with my hands.”
He watched as she cleared her throat and thought on his words. Good, she was thinking before striking out again. He could teach her to trust him—it would just take time.
“What will you do with me now that I am not breeding?”
A momentary pang of regret filled him at this news. Ah, so that was what required her to visit her chambers before coming here, and what caused her maid to blush. “Your courses are…”
“Aye.” She glanced away and would not meet his gaze.
“Things will not always be as they are now, Lara. This place will not be your prison for much longer.”
“What do you mean? Will you put me aside, then? Or will your king intercede to end this marriage?”
“We face many uncertainties in these next months and years. The king has not yet announced his decision for the final disposition of MacDougall lands. I think it best to wait for his word in this.”
He knew so much more, but could not share it with her or anyone yet. Within a week, all would be made clear and everyone would know that their marriage was not some temporary arrangement to be cast aside when the king moved on from here in pursuit of his kingdom.
She stood and walked to the hearth, leaning over it silently for a short time. Then, she looked at him. “I am certain I know what your king wants in this, but tell me of Sebastien of Cleish and what he wants?”
He needed no time to think on his words. “First, I am a faithful vassal of my king, and second, a man who sometimes wants too much too quickly. But ’tis the Bruce’s wishes that will decide the matter.”
Her eyes were haunted now, with some intangible emotion that he could not name. “You know your place. What is to become of me now that you and your king are here?”
“Mayhap if we begin by asking who is the Maid of Lorne and what does she desire?” He asked the question to her now and waited to hear the description she would choose—it would say much about her.
“I am a woman with no father and no family and no home to call her own. I am a woman who gave herself to her enemy. I am the Maid of Lorne no more.” Her voice shook in its desolation.
He stood and walked up behind her. Reaching out, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and drew her back against him. She stilled in his embrace, but did not pull away. Sebastien whispered in her ear.
“Do not despair, Lara. Many others have been in similar circumstances and survived, even made good lives of bad beginnings. The Bruce is a fair man and I trust his judgment in this matter.”
She did not move or acknowledge his words at all, so he released her and stepped back. “I must go on a mission for the king soon and will leave Hugh in charge of Dunstaffnage. No harm will come to you while he is in command here.”
The emptiness in her gaze unsettled him, and he acknowledged that he would rather face her anger or her confusion or any other emotion she could feel rather than this melancholy. How could he draw forth her anger?
“You asked what I want, Lara. What does Sebastien of Cleish want? I want you, Lara. I want to hold you and feel your body as it heats to my touch. I want you to open to me and I want to fill you with myself.”
She met his eyes and hers widened as she recognized the pure lust and wanting he was feeling at that moment. He took a step closer and she took one back. Finally, he reached across the gap between them, pulled her into his arms and kissed her the way he’d wanted to all night. Indeed, the way he’d wanted to since the night they were wed.
He slid his hands to each side of her head and held her still as his mouth claimed hers. He took advantage of her surprise to taste her deeply, to touch his tongue to hers and to press his mouth to hers, over and over again. He stared into her eyes until she closed them. Sebastien felt her hands come up onto his wrists as though she would stop him, but she did not.
And she did not pull away from him or his kisses.
Soon they were both out of breath from the intensity of his plundering. He leaned away and slid his hands down her neck and over her shoulders. He grazed her breasts with the backs of his fingers as they moved down to grasp hers. The shudder that moved through her stirred him even more.
“We do not have to be enemies, Lara. We can be husband and wife, man and woman.”
As though opening the shutters in a dark room, his words pierced through the seduction he wove around her, and brought her to herself. Not even a day had passed since her cousin had accused her of whoring with the enemy, and she stood her ready to give herself over to his passions.
“If you die in the service of your king, I will be wife to the enemy no more,” she said, wiping her hand over her mouth to remove any taste of him. “As you said, things will not always be as they are now, but I will always be a MacDougall, while you remain a nameless bastard serving an upstart who thinks he should be king.”
Lara threw out the insult and waited for his reaction, dreading it and yet praying for it at the same time. She had listened to the gossip of the servants since their capture. She had discovered this weakness even as he probed for hers. Now, when she felt unable to resist him and his appeal, she had ruthlessly used it to force some room between them.
And it worked.
As she watched, his face transformed into the warrior she’d faced from the battlements that first day. His green eyes grew cold and distant, and she could see him wrapping his control around himself even as she pushed her righteous anger forward as her shield.
