Despite the curt dismissal, she didn’t budge an inch. “Why did seeing Dougal MacDonald anger you so?”
Alex stilled. Meg had a way of peeling off the layers and cutting right to the core. He schooled his features into a model of indifference. “The MacLeods and MacDonalds are enemies.”
Clearly, his explanation did not satisfy her. Not only was she direct and to the point herself, but she had an uncanny ability to appraise those around her in the same way. Never before had he met another woman who was so confident in her ability to see the truth. “Is that all?” she asked patiently.
“Isn’t that enough?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Return to the masque, Meg. But take my advice. Stay away from Dougal MacDonald. He is not the man for you.”
Damn.Alex heard sounds behind them, coming from the direction of the antechamber. If the lord chancellor and the secretary found him here, he risked someone asking questions about what he was doing lurking in a secluded corridor so close to the door of a secret meeting. Nor did he trust Meg not to blurt out the same question.
He had to stop her from talking.
A floorboard creaked behind him. They were coming this way. He had to do something. He didn’t have a choice. There was only one thing to do. What he’d ached to do since the first moment he’d seen her. He’d finish what he’d started on the balcony.
“Why—”
But her words were cut off when, without warning, he pushed her back against the wall, screening her face from the curious men intent on discovering the source of their interruption and them from hers. He didn’t want her to see who had been in the room. He knew her; she’d ask too many questions.
“What are you doing?” She tried to pull away, but he held her firmly in his grasp.
He wrapped his hand around her small waist, turning her slight body into his. His body reacted instantaneously. He nearly groaned with the erotic sensation of her hips molded snugly against the crook of his pelvis. Relief pulsed through his body. His cock rose hard against her. No doubt she could feel the proof of his desire even through her gown. Did her body dampen for him? The erotic thought only fueled his agony.
He heard her sharp intake of breath. The gaze that met his was not quite so self-assured. Alex’s lips curled into a slow, dangerous grin. Those beautiful green eyes fringed with sooty black lashes widened at the hard evidence of his arousal.
The delicate arches of her brows peaked atop a worried forehead, an expressive compliment to the small wrinkle furrowing her tiny nose. She tipped her head back to meet his stare, and her loose curls tumbled lower down her back.
“You should have just let me walk away,” he said, lowering his head.
“You’re going to kiss me again,” she blurted out.
Alex chuckled.Always so damn blunt.“Aye, but this kiss will be nothing like the first.” He tipped her chin and looked deep into her confused eyes, feeling the impossible lure of destiny. He’d been waiting too long to have her lips beneath his, to slide his tongue into the sweet recesses of her mouth, to taste her passion. And to unleash his own. His body strained to feel her pressed against him, responding to his kiss.
This time there would be no holding back.
The dark, sensual promise of his words coiled inside her.Dear God, he was going to kiss her.And this time it would not be so gentle. Her body felt taut with anticipation, and her heart fluttered wildly in its small cage.Anticipation,she acknowledged. But this wasn’t what she’d wanted when she’d come after him…was it?
Meg had seen his expression in the hall and simply reacted. Her only thought had been to find him and discover what had caused him pain. Tonight, she’d caught a glimpse of the dark turmoil simmering beneath the surface. She’d seen him angry before, yes, but nothing like the raw emotion she’d witnessed when he’d looked at Dougal MacDonald. But for a moment, before the cold, murderous rage set in, there had been a bleakness in his gaze of such immeasurable pain, it had cut her to the quick. It was as if he’d bared a tiny window of his soul.
He always appeared so remote and untouchable. A fierce, indestructible warrior in complete control of everything around him. But seeing Dougal had caused a crack, even if only a temporary one, in that wall of reserve. Alex wasn’t detached at all, she realized. He felt things very strongly, more than she ever would have guessed.
So she’d gone after him. But she’d sought only to comfort him, not end up in his arms. No matter how much her body claimed otherwise.
He’d been furious that she’d followed him. For a moment, she’d had the fleeting feeling that she was disturbing him. But his anger had quickly dissolved into an emotion far more terrifying. Passion.
He pulled her tight against him, enveloping her with the force of his overwhelming masculinity. Masculinity that no longer felt like a threat. All she could think of was heat and strength. Sheshouldfeel vulnerable, pinned between the cold stone wall at her back and the hot muscular wall of his chest. But instead she felt a rush of excitement, a sensual thrill of pure feminine pleasure. Alex MacLeod was built to dominate. But he wasn’t overpowering her. As much as she’d like to claim otherwise, Meg was not helpless to resist. She could resist, she just didn’t want to.
God help her, she could feel every inch of his long, hard body pressed against her. She shuddered, suddenly aware of one very long, hard part in particular, intimately wedged against her stomach. The overwhelming evidence of his arousal sent a rush of heat pooling in her breasts and stomach and between her legs. She felt his passion as her own.
Half-hidden in the shadows, the lean, handsome lines of his face were fixed in a taut mask of desire. His ice blue eyes bored into her, almost as if he were silently challenging her. He’d laid down the gauntlet, forced her to acknowledge the strength of his desire and dared her to accept. He nudged his hips against her just a little closer, so there could be no mistaking his intent. Meg’s breath caught high in her throat. The slight friction had set off a thousand tiny bursts of awareness. Her body tingled where they joined, as if awakening from a deep slumber. It felt like nothing she’d ever felt before. It left her…wanting.
What was he doing to her? He hadn’t even kissed her, and she had never been more intimately aware of the wicked cravings of her body.
After what seemed like an eternity, though it had been only seconds, he cupped her chin in his fingers and lifted her mouth to his. He brushed his lips against hers, just as he had on the balcony. And just as before, Meg’s heart stopped, feeling the sharp yearning for something more. He seemed to be waging an internal battle, looking deep into her eyes for the answer.
Apparently he found it, because he kissed her again, this time harder. His lips covered hers with a raw, possessive hunger that took her breath away. No longer reverent and gentle, his mouth was warm and demanding, moving over hers with a skill that demanded her response. His lips were achingly soft, the masculine taste of him divine. Of wine and spice and dark desires.
