To Duncan’s disappointment, Eliza said appreciatively, “Mmm, I would never have guessed that ingredients like those could taste so good.”
Next, Eliza tried the fish. The pink colour was caused by smoking, which added an exotic, salty and aromatic taste to the tender, flaky flesh.
“Ohhh…” she breathed. “This is—I have no words to describe it. It is heavenly!”
“It’s salmon,” he told her. “Smoked over a wood fire.”
She dived into the food again and finished every morsel, sighing appreciatively with every mouthful. Meanwhile, Duncan had dished up some of the assortment for himself, and poured another glass of wine for both of them.
Eliza held her glass up in a toast. “To questions answered,” she said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Did you think I had forgotten, my Laird? The food is excellent, but not so good as to make me lose my memory.”
Duncan sighed, smiled and took a sip of his wine. “Ask away, please,” he invited.
Eliza paused for a moment, drawing out the suspense and milking the moment for all it was worth. Eventually, she asked, “Why did you choose me?”
Duncan’s eyes widened with shock; it was the last thing he had expected to be asked. He stood up after a moment, then began to circle the table in slow laps before he stopped behind Eliza. She did not move, even though he stood behind her for a full three minutes. Duncan laughed inwardly. This was exactly what he had expected. He bent down to whisper in her ear.
Eliza had been aware of Duncan’s presence behind her because of the heat of his body and its masculine scent, which was making her tingle with need.
Now she could feel his hot breath on her cheek and her ear as he said, “Because I like watching you obey, and I love making you beg.” His voice was soft, vibrant, and so, so deep, and Eliza heard a smile in it as he spoke.
He walked around to his seat and sat down, and after giving Eliza one more sly glance, he began to tuck into his food again, leaving her speechless.
Speechlessness was something that rarely happened to Eliza, and it was a measure of her shock. She was beginning to see a side to Duncan Sinclair she had not expected.
The rest of the meal was spent in stilted, awkward conversation punctuated by long silences, and Eliza was infinitely glad when she finished the last sip of wine and announced that she was ready to retire for the night.
6
Duncan escorted her to her room and stood with her while she opened the door. Eliza ducked her head and said, “Goodnight, and thank you for a lovely dinner.”
Duncan smiled at her and kissed her hand. “Sleep well, Eliza,” he said warmly. “And thank you for being so brave.”
He gave her a stiff bow and watched Eliza enter her room then, with a great sigh of relief, he strode down the corridor to his own chamber.
It had been an exhausting, traumatic day and all he wanted was to sink into oblivion, but he knew that thoughts of Eliza would keep him awake, since she did things to him that no other woman had done before.
Granted, he was not a virgin—he had lain with many a willing maid in his time and enjoyed the experiences immensely—he was a red-blooded male, after all, with the same sexual appetites as any other. However, there was something different about Eliza, something that set her apart from any other woman he had ever met.
She was fearsomely intelligent, for a start, and that was a quality he had never really sought for or appreciated in a woman before. She could hold her own in an argument or discussion,and in the very short time he had known her, he realised that she was extremely well-read. She could quote from ancient Roman and Greek philosophers, Shakespeare and biblical texts as well as many others. Moreover, she had a wicked sense of humour that lifted his spirits and dispelled his anxiety for a while, since he could not be laughing and worrying at the same time.
Duncan fell into bed fully clothed and closed his eyes determinedly. He would love to have his arms wrapped around Eliza as he had the night before, but this time she had a choice of where to sleep, whereas the night before she had not. He was certain that she would have fought him, pushed him out of bed and screamed to the high heavens. He smiled at the thought of it.
“Eliza,” he murmured, seeing her face in front of him and smiling as he closed his eyes.
Eliza tried to empty her mind of all thought when she went into her bedroom. Somewhere in her small valise there was a nightgown, but she was too exhausted to sort through it and put it on, so she stripped off her dress and tumbled into bed in her chemise. No doubt her maid would come in the morning and be shocked at her laziness and impropriety, but it had been a very long time since Eliza had cared about anyone’s opinions.
She had thought that she would fall asleep straight away, but Duncan’s face and his deep, thrilling voice kept intruding into her thoughts. What fascinated and attracted her most, however, were his eyes, which were a striking shade of amber that almost looked like gold in some lights.
She had never seen anything like them before, and they made her wish she was an artist so that she could capture them in paint or pastel crayons. New bright colours of those mediumshad just been invented, and Eliza would love to have painted the vivid rust-red colours of Duncan’s hair.
Dream on, Eliza,she thought.You might be able to sound clever, but you can barely draw a stroke!
Eliza thought about the night before when she had shared her bed with Duncan. How she wished he were with her now to wrap his arms around her and make her feel safe. No matter how much she tried not to think of it, the sound of the arrow whistling past her ear would not leave her alone.
It had been a very near miss, and Eliza was still trembling at the thought of it. She should have been unable to sleep, but sheer exhaustion forced her to, even though she was plagued by vague but unpleasant dreams all night.
When she woke the next morning, Eliza felt surprisingly refreshed. A maid had come to open her curtains and there was a hot cup of tea beside her bed, which she drank with relish, since she was absolutely parched. She flipped back the blankets and was about to rise from bed when there was a soft knock on the door.
