He wished he could give it to her.
Iris pulled away to stare at him. “Then why are ye not giving me release?”
“I’m trying tae be less like a brute,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers. “Ye deserve better, Iris.”
She blew out a breath before pressing her body to his, to where he could feel every soft curve of her body.
“I dinnae wish tae have anyone else, James. If this is the last time we see each other…”
Her voice cracked, and James swore.
“It will not be. It cannae be.”
Could he really go back to the life he had before Iris fell into his?
How could he ever forget about her in the months ahead?
“It has tae be,” Iris said after a moment. “We are enemies, James. No one is going tae let us be taegether. They will always keep us apart.”
James lifted his head. “Then run away with me.”
14
Iris couldn’t believe what she was hearing come out of James’s mouth. Run away with him? Leave her family and her clan behind?
Could she really do something like that?
“We can leave taenight,” he was saying, his voice growing anxious. “And go north. We can start a life taegether, Iris, one that is outside of this war between our families.” He grabbed her upper arms, his chest brushing against her exposed breasts. “Dinnae ye want tae be with me?”
Iris opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t form on her tongue. What James was saying sounded lovely, but did she really want that sort of life? Iris had worked so hard to become one of her father’s warriors, to be respected by her clansmen and her father.
To give that all up now felt as if she would be walking away from everything she cared about.
But to tell James that she couldn’t run off with him would also mean it would be the last time she would see him. How many times had her father warned her about growingattachments? It was one of the many reasons his bairns were illegitimate.
Her heart twisted in her chest, and instead of answering him, Iris pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss. Her hands were under his tunic next, and James groaned against her mouth, his hands on her breasts, kneading them until she was moaning as well. For the longest time she thought they were only to nurse her future bairns, but now, the sensation of him touching her there was nearly overwhelming.
This was what the warriors jested about around the campfire at night.
This was what the servants in the keep giggled about whenever one of her father’s warriors walked past. These feelings were far more than she could have ever dreamed about.
There had to be more.
“Off,” she rasped, tugging up his tunic. “Take it off.”
James’s hands dropped from her chest so that he could pull the tunic over his head, throwing it on the grass next to them. Her eyes roved over his strong form, and she did a sharp intake of breath, her hands shaking as she reached out and touched him. James’s eyes closed as he groaned.
“Touch me like that, lass, and I will touch ye next.”
“I’m hoping ye will,” she said boldly as her fingers scraped over his flat stomach.
When she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his chest, right above his heart, James muttered a curse, his hand flying up to stop hers from wandering further.
“Lass!” he panted. “I—ye are driving me crazy.”
He brought her hand up to his mouth, and her heart turned over in her chest as he kissed the pads of her fingers.
“Do ye wish for me tae touch ye, Iris?”
