“Ye think ye can just dictate how ye want it to go? Yer faither has already written to me, demanding proof of consummation. What am I to send him? Yer pristine white sheets?”
She blinked at him, overwhelmed by his words. “Just tell him a lie.”
“Ye daenae ken anything about it.” He shook his head in mock sadness.
She huffed, sensing that he was making fun of her. “I do know this, you and I are not in any way?—”
Just then, thunder clapped overhead, and rain began to fall.
Kayden smirked at her. “Seems ye have displeased God,” he said sardonically.
She made to march past him, pushing him out of the way as the rain soaked her in seconds. As her sleeve brushed against his, he reached out and grabbed her arm. She turned slowly to look up into his face.
“Unhand me,” she said, her voice trembling as much as her limbs were.
He smiled. “Nay, I daenae think I will.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why not? You have not wanted to be in my presence for the past two days. What has changed?”
His smile widened. “Nae a thing. I was simply giving ye time to realize that ye are mine.”
Her eyebrows flew up. “I amnot,” she protested.
“I think ye are, and I think ye want me to kiss ye again, lass.”
The air left her lungs, and she tried to take a deep breath to tell him just what he could do with his kisses.
“You…” was as far as she got before he lowered his head and crushed his mouth to hers, stealing her breath.
Kayden gave in to the urge with ill grace.
He fully intended to let her walk away from him, or at least that’s what he had thought. He could not explain why his hand shot out and grabbed her. He could not explain why he wasdevouringher lips with angry need.
He pulled her closer so her body was flush against his, and she moaned into his mouth. “Kayden…”
His body had surely been taken over by a demon. How else could he explain this gnawing need topossessher?
“Need ye,” he whispered into her mouth, his brain afire.
He had barely managed to stay away from Lilliana in the last two days. When he had heard she was abed, it had taken every ounce of his self-control to keep from barging into her chambers to see if she was alright.
He had sent inquiries through Moira, even as his confusion over her had grown. She was unlike any other woman he’d met, and he could not explain the pull he felt towards her.
“Need you too,” she murmured.
All he knew was that he felt compelled to touch her. His lips tore from hers, trailing along her jaw and down her neck while she panted and whimpered with need. He enjoyed the sounds he was coaxing from her. The clear proof that all her protestations were nothing but lies.
He could not deny his own hunger, his own need. Her skin was soft and pliant beneath his lips, and he was tempted to sink his teeth into her flesh and take a piece for himself. He just needed to feel her bare skin under his hands. If he could just?—
He stumbled back in horror at the thought. Well, not necessarily the thought, but the thought that he had while they were standing in plain sight in the garden. They stared at each other, their breath coming hard and fast as the rain soaked them.
“I…” His throat closed up.
He took another step back as her hand rose to brush against her swollen lips. Her eyes stayed on him, and he felt ensnared by them. It was an effort to tear his gaze away from her.
13
“Why is everything so blurry?” Lilliana turned her head, blinking repeatedly. “Betsy?”
