“Believe me, it was no hardship. Although I wasn’t sure you would want to thank me.”
She lowered her gaze. It was all too clear what he was thinking. The same thing she was: their naked bodies pressed intimately together.
“I don’t remember what happened,” she lied. “But I’m not so prudish that I would rather die than preserve my modesty.”
For a moment, his gaze heated and he looked as if he wanted to challenge her supposed lapse in memory. Her pulse raced nervously as his gaze lowered to her bodice; her nipples hardened, and she knew exactly what he was remembering. With one touch, she would fall apart. Desire simmered between them, so thick and heavy that it was impossible to ignore. He appeared to waver, but in the end, he decided not to press her.
“Why did you run, Flora? Why were you so desperate to leave—”Me,he left unsaid.
But she heard the unspoken question. “You wouldn’t let me go.”
“Icouldn’tlet you go.”
His gaze met hers, for once unshielded. The stark longing she read there set off a fierce fluttering in her chest.
“Why?” she asked, not daring to hope.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, merely stared at her, the depth of his emotion for once unveiled. “Do you need to ask? I told you I want you.”
“But not why.”
The words did not come easily. “I care for you, lass.” He put his hand on her face, cradling her cheek tenderly with his big rough hand. “You must realize that,” he said, stroking her chin with his thumb in a gentle caress.
She did. But hearing it made all the difference. She didn’t know what reason there was for the subterfuge or what had made him decide to marry her, but he did care for her. And the knowledge set off a shower of effervescent joy bursting inside her.
“I couldn’t risk losing you,” he finished.
She leaned closer to him, so that their bodies were almost touching. Inhaling the heady masculine scent of him. Drawing closer to the warmth that surrounded him like a seductive shield. “You won’t. But I could never come to you as your prisoner.”
Lachlan finally understood. She hadn’t been rejecting him, she’d been reacting against her confinement. By abducting her, he’d taken away not just her freedom, but her sense of control.
He had to set her free.
He knew he was taking a risk. He just prayed it wasn’t a catastrophic one for all involved. He put his hands on her shoulders and took a step back, needing to think straight, something he could never do when she stood so close to him. With her soft, feminine scent coiling around him. When all he could think about was pulling her into his arms and kissing her until she could no longer refuse him anything.
His hands flexed at his sides, every inch of his body taut with what he risked. With what he’d known he had to do since he realized how desperate she’d been to leave him—enough to risk drowning. He drew a deep breath and prayed he was not about to make a huge mistake. “Very well. You are free to leave.”
She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “Do you mean it?” He heard her incredulity. “I’m no longer a prisoner?”
“I will convey the instructions to my men that you are not to be prevented from leaving.”
It was his turn to be shocked when she threw herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck, her sweet, irresistible little body stretched against his. “Oh, thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me.”
He smiled ruefully. “I think I can guess.”
She tilted her head, looking at him with a question in her eyes. “Do you want me to go?”
He resisted the sudden urge to close his eyes and beg for mercy. He would never understand the mind of a lass. Hadn’t he just been telling her how much he wanted her?
His hand slid around her waist, and he held her tight against him, savoring the heady sensation of the feminine curves that had haunted him for so long. Remembering every detail of that lush naked body. The brush of her nipples. Her round bottom in his hands. He felt the sharp pull in his groin, the heaviness and throbbing tightness. “I want you to stay,” he answered. “As my guest.”
She lifted her gaze to his. He could see her hesitate. Why had he done it? It was a ridiculous suggestion to willingly stay with the man who’d abducted her. Of course she’d say no. But she surprised him.
She smiled, a shy, adorable grin that cut him to the quick. The happiness in her eyes took his breath away. “I’d like that, too.”
Relief converged with desire. He groaned, unable to resist the urge to taste her. Lowering his head, he covered her mouth with his. Drawing her hard against him in one long, languorous kiss. A kiss not to punish or possess, but to savor and honor. The scent of flowers was intoxicating. Her lips were incredibly soft and yielding, her skin like velvet under his hand as he urged her mouth open with his fingers.
His tongue slid into her mouth as the hot flow of emotion welled deep inside him, threatening to erupt. The taste, the sensation, had become achingly familiar—and essential. He kissed her more deeply, circling his tongue in the warm recesses of her mouth. Long, languid strokes that stretched from the deepest part of him. His need for her was both poignant and crushing.
