“All right,” she said between clenched teeth. “I take ye as my husband, Alexander MacDonald, and I promise to be your wife.”
“Until death,” he finished for her.
“Until death,” she said, her eyes shooting daggers at him. “Or until ye stray, as we both know ye will.”
“Don’t mistake me for Clanranald, for I will hold ye to your promise,” Alex said.
“I was no the first to break my promise with him, and I won’t be with you either,” she said. “But if ye take another woman, I’ll never share your bed again.”
“I’ll do my damnedest to make sure ye can never bring yourself to tell me nay,” he said.
She gasped when he pulled her hard against him again. As he leaned down, she made a high-pitched sound at the back of her throat, then her eyes fluttered closed, and she tilted her head back. He stopped just short of her parted lips.
“Pack up your things,” he said. “I promised ye that we would leave at once, and I am a man of my word.”
CHAPTER 32
Why was Alex so furious with her? She had agreed to the full marriage. And right now, she wanted the marriage rights quite badly.
“We could stay the night,” Alex said, his breath tickling her lips. “But only if ye are willing to release me from my promise to leave at once.”
He was supporting her back with one strong arm while he ran his other hand up her side. When he brushed the side of her breast, she bit her lip to keep from sighing aloud. How she’d missed his touch.
“If this is what ye want, ye must tell me,” he said.
Why did he insist that she say it? Because she had pricked his pride, suggesting he might force her one day if she refused. She should not have said it, for she knew he was not like that. She remembered how her first husband had pushed her back on the bed and taken her virginity with little preamble—and certainly without waiting for her permission.
But Alex demanded that she give her consent explicitly. It was hard to confess that she wanted him, for it forced her to admit that this was not purely a selfless act to protect a child. Nor was it merely a practical decision to choose a husband before her father did it for her.
“Aye, this is what I want,” she whispered. “I want you, Alex MacDonald.”
He walked her backward until the bed was against her back. She was grateful for the support because her knees grew weak as he ran kisses down her throat. When he pressed his warm lips to the hollow above her collarbone, a sigh escaped her. His breath on her skin made her breasts ache. When his hands finally covered them, she closed her eyes.
When Alex kissed her mouth again, their tongues moved in a primal rhythm that filled her with longing. She twined her arms around his neck and slid her fingers through his hair. When he pulled away, her body followed, pressing against him.
“Do we delay our departure and stay the night?” he asked in a voice rough with desire.
“Aye,” she said again. “Take me to bed.”
“The right answer, wife.”
Alex swept aside the bed curtains, sat her on the high bed, and lit the candle on the table beside it. He was often playful in bed, but there was nothing lighthearted about the way he was looking at her now.
“Your gown,” he said in a strained voice. “Take it off.”
Glynis swallowed and decided to start with her shoes. She slipped one off and then the other, letting them drop with soft thuds in the silent room. As she eased her stocking down her calf, she looked up and saw Alex’s chest rise and fall in slow, deep breaths.
He was staring at her so fiercely that her fingers shook a little as she removed her head covering and unwound her hair from the coil Bessie had pinned up only a short time ago. After unfastening the first two hooks at the back of her gown, she dropped her arms.
“I can’t do the rest myself.”
Alex’s jaw was clenched tight, but he gave her a curt nod, so she slid down from the bed. She was so tense that she felt light-headed as she took the three steps to reach him and turned around. When his fingers grazed the back of her neck, she drew in a sharp breath at the shock of his touch.
A little of her confidence returned when she realized that Alex, who was usually disconcertingly adept at removing women’s clothing, was fumbling with the hooks. Once he had them undone, he dragged the gown off her shoulders and let it fall in a pool around her feet.
His lips were gentle as he brushed soft kisses against her neck, but his hands gripped her upper arms so tightly it almost hurt. When she leaned back against him, she felt his solid heat through her thin shift. He kissed her hair and the side of her face as he eased her shift off her shoulders. She felt the cool air on her breasts for an instant before he held them in his hands.
“Ah, Glynis.” His breath was hot in her ear. “I was going to die if ye held me to my promise and made me wait.”
