The passion in her voice made him stare at her in disbelief.No. She couldn’t…“You can’t mean to get involved?”
She thrust up that chin and glared at him. “I will do whatever the king needs of me, once my daughter is out of danger.”
His eyes narrowed. Obviously the crushed rose hadn’t deterred her from trying to get her daughter back. The woman was as determined as she was stubborn. God’s blood, what if she did something risky again? His pulse leapt before he brought it back down.
Not my problem, he reminded himself.
“After everything you’ve been through you still want to fight? Are you so anxious to be imprisoned again?”
She paled. “Of course not! You saw what it was like. It was horrible. The cold. The bars. The endless hours with nothing to do but try to prevent myself from going mad.” She gave him a scathing glance, obviously furious at him for dredging up the unpleasant memories. “I can barely look at a closed door without feeling a shudder of panic. You saw it for yourself earlier with the shieling.”
“How did you do it?”
Her eyes locked on his. “How did you?” she challenged softly. When he didn’t say anything, she turned away with a shrug. “I thought of my family—of my daughter. I knew I had to get through it for her.” She turned back to him, eyes flashing again. “Why are you asking me this? You know what it was like.”
“Because that’s exactly what you are facing if you continue on this quest.” She needed to know the risks. “You’ve done enough, Bella. Take your freedom and don’t look back.”
“Don’t you see, it isn’t about me. It never has been.”
He didn’t see it at all. He never would. That was part of the problem.Things bigger than yourself, she’d said once. “Was it worth it?”
She flinched as if he’d hit her. The stricken look on her face almost made him wish his question back. Her chin quivered. “It has to be.”
The desperate plea in her voice did something to him. For one moment he almost thought he could be the man to help her make sure it was.
Apparently, she was under the same foolish impression, because she would not relent. “I thought you were a man who finished the job, not left it half done.”
The words pricked. She knew him better than he wanted to admit.Not my fight…
“I’ve done what I set out to do. It’s over for me.”
But not for her. She was a fighter. She would go on fighting as long as there was a breath in her body. Even for lost causes like him.
“So none of it matters to you?” she taunted. “You don’t care about anything? Not whether Robert succeeds in freeing Scotland from England? Not whether your friends die?”
He just wanted to shut her up. He stepped closer, looming over her threateningly, fists clenched at his side. “They’re not my friends.”
“They aren’t?” she challenged. He knew what she was going to say.Don’t say it. “And what about me, Lachlan. Don’t you don’t care about—?”
He grabbed her before she could say it, backing her against a tree. He didn’t want to care about her, about any of it. But she just kept digging and digging until she drew blood.
He’d had enough. She’d pushed him too damned far.
He pressed his body into hers, crudely wedging his cock between her legs. “You want to know what I care about, Bella? This is what I care about. I want to fuck you so badly, I can’t think straight. I want to bury my tongue between your legs and lick you until you come against my face.”
She gasped.
He sneered. “So unless you’re ready to get down on your knees and wrap that incredible mouth around my cock, leave me the hell alone.”
She should have told him to go to hell. That’s what he wanted her to do. But Bella never did what she was supposed to do. Instead she smiled knowingly—as if she understood him. Which was impossible, since he didn’t even understand himself.
“Am I getting a little too close to the truth, Lachlan?” The subtle taunt infuriated him. “Be as mean and crude as you like—you won’t frighten me away.”
His eyes darkened. Maybe not. But this sure as hell would. His mouth fell on hers in a rush of savage ferocity.
He’d warned her.
Fifteen
