“Oh? Ye have been so verra honest and forthcoming then, have you? I cannae recall you speaking verra freely.”
“Weel, mayhaps not. Oh, fair enough then,” she said when he lifted his head to give her a stern look. “Wehave been a fine pair of fools. ’Tisnae easy to speak so of what is in my heart.”
“Nay,” he agreed heartily, “’tisnae.”
She started to laugh. “Listen to us. We commiserate with each other o’er how difficult it all is and yet say nothing. We but talk all around it.”
Hacon grinned and laughed again, turning onto his back and gently tugging her into his arms. “We each ken what we ache to be told, yet still havenae said it.”
“I told you.”
“Nay, ye said aye after I asked you.”
“’Tis much the same. So, ’tis your turn now.”
There was a look in Hacon’s eyes that told her he was playing a game with her. Settling herself more comfortably on top of him, she felt the quick response of his body and inwardly smiled. That suggested how he wished the game to be played. Kissing his chin, she peered at him from beneath her lowered lashes.
“And I say ’tis your turn. I may have only said aye, but ye havenae even said that yet.” As she spoke she brushed soft, teasing kisses over his face. “So, ye have to say it this time. Three little words. It cannae be so verra difficult.”
Murmuring his pleasure as she nibbled at his mouth, he said in an increasingly husky voice, “Ah, weel, I dinnae think I can say it . . . weel, just like that. I need some inspiration.” He tried to take her tongue into his mouth, but she neatly eluded him.
“I see how it is. Ye tricked me into saying it, so now I must persuadeyouto say it.”
“I didnae trick you. I but asked you a simple question.Andye didnae say it—not yet.”
“Near enough. Nearer than you.Andye did trick me. Now, my great blond conqueror, I mean topersuadeyou until ye fair deafen me with the words.”
“Have ye just thrown down a gauntlet, m’lady of Dubheilrig?”
“Aye, I believe I have, m’lord.”
“Weel, I pick it up and readily accept this challenge. Persuade on.”
Hacon knew he would lose the challenge within moments after she began to work her sweet magic on him, and he did not mind at all. He burrowed his fingers into her thick hair as she slowly covered his chest with soft, nibbling kisses and the warm strokes of her tongue. She moved her hands over his body in a way that robbed him of breath. He gave a groan of tense frustration when she dotted his thighs with kisses, drawing near but never reaching the place where he ached to feel her mouth. When she finally answered his silent pleas, eloquently voiced by his shifting body, he fought valiantly to maintain some control.
Finally, needing to feel her warmth surround him, he pulled her up his body. Sitting on top of him, she neatly eluded his attempt to make them one. He stared at her and suddenly recalled the game he had started.
“Unfair,” he said, his voice thick.
“I ken it.” She was a little surprised she had held on to her wits long enough to remember what she had intended to do when she begun. “Weel? Are ye persuaded yet?” She began to slowly ease their bodies together.
“Aye.” He grasped her slim hips and pushed her down, driving himself home. “I love you. God help me, how I love you.”
Bending forward, she placed her mouth against his and, in a voice that was soft and unsteady, said, “God best help me as weel, for I love you too.” She kissed him then, their tongues mimicking the rhythm of their bodies as they sought and found the nectar their hunger demanded.
Jennet lazily moved her hand over Hacon’s taut stomach. They had slept, eaten, and made love again. Even after Elizabeth briefly stopped by to bring Ninian, his demands to be fed had not interrupted them, for they had doted on him as Jennet nursed him. Once their son was back in his cradle, sleeping blissfully, she and Hacon had made love yet again. She decided this one day and night made up for all that had gone before, soothed all the hurts, doubts, and fears she had suffered.
“Hacon, when did ye ken that ye loved me?”
“’Tis hard to say, lass. I believe it was there long before I had the wit to see it.”
“Did ye ken it when ye wed me?”
“Aye.”
“Then why did ye ne’er say it, even on our wedding night?”
“Ye were waiting for me to speak even then?”
