She closed the distance between them and laid her open palms on his chest. Her eyes were glossy, apprehensive—as if she didn’t know what sort of mood he was in—and he felt an odd, confusing lust quicken his blood. A part of himstillyearned for vengeance, but more than that, he wanted to make love to his future wife. The need was potent and fierce, laced with both anger and tenderness. It was complicated—
far too complicated to understand. He simply needed to claim her now. That wasallhe knew.
His mouth closed over hers, and he kissed her deeply, cupping her head in his hands and plunging his tongue into her mouth. She moaned with pleasure. The sound of her arousal clouded his brain. He wanted her with a rock-hard passion that stifledalllogic and seemed to make the whole world go silent.
An instant later, he was backing her up against the door, lifting her skirts,pullingdown her drawers, and hastily unfastening his breeches.
She tore his coat off his shoulders, and he wondered why she was doing this. Did she understand the frenzy inside him that needed to be satiated? Was this for his benefit, or did she truly desire him at this moment, even after seeing his dark shadow self?
He slid his hand between her legs. She was already slick.
There was no need for foreplay. He entered her smoothly, drivingallthe way in, and she clutched at his shoulders. He lifted her up off the floor. She wrapped her legs around his hips while he pounded into her, again and again, up against the door. It was both rough and intimate. Nothing existed for him outside of their coupling. He felt only the soft, damp lushness of her womanhood and the sweet, honeyed gift of her lips.
“Don’t ever leave me,” he said without thinking, but it was as if another man had spoken.
She climaxed quickly, and he came seconds later. It was over very fast. He was not proud of it, but at least they were both satisfied.
Careful y, he lowered her to the floor, but she clung to his neck for quite some time and held on to him. Again he felt ashamed, and he was not entirely sure why. It was not clear to him.
He did not move. He waited there inside her until his racing heart slowed and his breathing returned to normal; then slowly, he withdrew. He fastened his breeches and backed away. Her skirtsfelllightly to the floor.
“How can you care for me?” he asked with a frown of disbelief. “You are a gentlewoman. Why do you want to be my wife?”
“I told you before,” she replied. “I see goodness in you, and we both know there is passion between us.”
He turned and walked to the window, stared across the lake at the fields and forests in the distance. “But what if Ihadkilledyour Richard in thehalljust now? What if I had driven a knife through his heart, right in front of your eyes?
Would youstillsee goodness in me then?”
“He is notmyRichard,” she said. “And you did notkillhim.”
No, but he had come very close, and part of himstillwanted to.
Amelia crossed the room and sat on the sofa while he continued to look out at the calm lake.
“He denied everything about Muira.” Duncan focused on thestillness of the natural world outside the window, because he did not want to confront the inner whirlwind of his rage. He believed that if he gave in to it now, there would be no turning back. “Do you believe I am wrong to imprison him?”
“No,” she replied. “I believe he has acted with dishonor.
My uncle believes it, too. He has just revealed to me some of the things he learned this past week, specific details that were very disturbing to hear.” She sighed. “My uncle has spoken to many soldiers and Scots, and the King must hear their stories aswell. And besidesallthat, I saw something in Richard’s eyes today that I did not see before.”
“What was that?”
“Lies.”
He looked up at the sky and watched a blackbird soar against it. “Why did you not see it before, lass?”
“Because I was not a whole person before I met you,” she continued. “I was naïve and sheltered and inexperienced, and I was consumed by the fear of losing my father and being alone. He is gone now, but look at me. I have survived, and I have discovered that I possess a mind and a reasonably strongwillof my own. I survivedyou,didn’t I?”
He turned and faced her. “But now you’re consumed by your passions and the pleasures we share in bed. That sort of thing can blind a person, you know.”
She smiled faintly and shook her head. “I am not blind, Duncan. I see your scars very clearly. They are deep and they are numerous.”
Heswallowed over a heavyswellof despair that rose up in him without warning. He was not accustomed to feeling such things. What had this woman done to him? “I do not want to disappoint you.”
“You have not done so yet,” she said without hesitation, which unsettled him, for he was not worthy of such confidence. He did not feel it in himself. “Quite the opposite, in fact,” she added. “Especial y after what I saw today. I know it was difficult for you.”
“It was torture.”
