“It was a long time ago,” she whispered. “I was foolish andlonely. Niall said I was pretty and that he didn’t care about my hand. I was desperate for affection,” she said, needing to explain why she’d done what she had.
His gaze dropped to the hand that was usually covered by a glove. His thumb brushed the back of it, slowly, carefully.
“He should have done more than not care,” Mungo said hoarsely. “He should have treasured you.”
Heat prickled behind her eyes. “Niall said he would marry me, and I was foolish enough to believe him. My uncle told me if I stayed under his roof, I’d bring ruin on the house. So I left.”
“You came to London?”
She nodded. “My uncle gave me money. I know there was more, my father’s money, but he gave me enough to survive until I found employment.”
He swore softly, the sound low and vicious against her hair. “I’d like to meet your uncle.”
“You’d hit him.”
“Aye.” He didn’t even pretend otherwise. “And probably more than once. Then I’d find this Niall.”
She gave a shaky laugh that felt like it might spill over into tears. “Niall only took what I let him,” she said. “I was the one who went to the stable. I was the one who?—”
“You were a lonely girl,” Mungo cut in. “That’s no crime. Your uncle judged you where he should have protected you.”
His voice had softened on the word girl, and something inside her clenched. No one had ever talked about that day without condemning her.
She swallowed. “I don’t tell you this so you’ll pity me, Mungo. I tell you so you understand that I know what I am agreeing to.”
His fingers tightened on her waist. “Eliza, do you think that’s why I asked? Because I thought you innocent?”
“You said you didn’t want to hurt me.”
“Aye, because I am not a gentle person,” he growled. “Because when I want something, I want it with all of me. And I have wanted you for so long.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs. “You’d never hurt me.”
“You can’t know that.” His mouth twisted. “I am in Bram’s house, a man I trust and respect more than any and should know better than to lie with you here, but I can’t resist you anymore.” He searched her face. “I’ve no right to touch you. And yet tonight, watching you leap into danger, thinking I might lose you before I’d even worshipped you properly….” He broke off, shaking his head. “I thought I would go mad,” he whispered.
He looked tired… Vulnerable, she thought, and unlike the Mungo she knew so well.
“Eliza.” The way he said her name was different this time. A plea and a warning both.
She slid her hands up his chest, feeling the hard planes of muscle beneath his shirt, the rapid pounding of his heart against her palms. “I don’t want to be a girl in a stable this time,” she said quietly. “I don’t want secrecy and shame. I want to remember every moment.”
He made a sound then, low and raw, and any last restraint he’d been holding onto snapped.
One moment she was standing there, the next her back was pressed against the cool panel of her bedroom door with his body caging hers in. Mungo framed her face gently and ran his thumb over her cheekbone.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmured against her mouth. “If I go too fast, too far. Tell me, and I swear I will.”
“You won’t hurt me,” she said again, knowing her words for the truth.
His lips claimed hers, and this time there was nothing tentative about it. The kiss was deep and hungry as his handswent to her hair. The world outside the room and what they’d endured mere hours ago faded as Eliza rose to her toes to meet him.
His hands slid from her face, skimming down her neck and over her shoulders, pausing at the sleeves of her nightgown.
“Yes,” she said before he could ask.
Slowly, he began to work at the fastenings, his fingers not as steady as they usually were when handling weapons or reins. She realized, with a jolt of wonder, that he was nervous.
“You’re trembling,” she murmured.
