“We’ll take this slowly, bit by bit,” Duncan said as he ran a finger up her arm. “And we’ll stop whenever ye say.”
He leaned down and brushed his lips against the sensitive spot just below her ear, then he whispered, “Remember all the things we did that summer?”
* * *
Moira remembered. For weeks, they found ways to please each other before she finally persuaded him to take her virginity.
“It wasn’t me wanting to stop that summer,” she said, attempting a smile.
The side of Duncan’s mouth quirked up. “Now you’re hurting my manly pride.”
“I have a confession to make. I put a potion in your ale that night.” Moira had been desperate. Duncan’s sense of honor had held him back, despite all her efforts.
Instead of being angry, Duncan chuckled deep in his throat. “Ach, lass, I was done with being virtuous. Ye didn’t need a potion. I couldn’t have made it another day.”
Moira’s skin prickled when he leaned down and breathed in her ear.
“Will ye trust me?” he asked.
That was the question. After she had given him everything before, Duncan had left her. She could not—she would not—trust him with her heart and soul again.
But she believed she could trust him with her body. In bed, he had only ever given her pleasure, and she longed to feel that again. After all the suffering he had caused her, did he not owe her this? All he had ever had to give her was lust and passion, and that was all she wanted from him now.
“I’ll try,” she said.
Duncan began with the tips of her fingers. She felt his breath on each one first, then the softness of his lips brushing the top—a powerful, passionate man, touching her as lightly as butterfly wings. He was telling her that she could trust him to be gentle.
When he scraped his front teeth over the pad of her thumb, she felt it all the way to her toes.
“Is this all right?” he asked.
She nodded, and he sucked her forefinger into his mouth. His tongue ran over it, calling to her mind their tongues entwined in deep kisses. Duncan did it as if he had all the time in the world—unlike Sean, who had no patience or interest in anything but grabbing her breasts and pushing inside her.
At first, she had been foolish enough to think Sean would want to please her. When she tried to show him how, he had been insulted and extremely annoyed. He was a selfish pig, and that was the least of his faults.
“Whatever you’re thinking about, stop.” Duncan held her face, forcing her to look into his eyes. This close, she could see the warm golden flecks in them.
With his magic fingers, he began rubbing her temples, soothing the ugly memories away. He massaged her forehead and the tightness in her neck, then pressed a tender kiss to her bare shoulder.
“On your stomach,” he said. “I need to rub the salve on your back.”
He rubbed firmly, easing all the aches and pains. Gradually, Moira gave herself over to the rhythm of his hands. She felt weak, but her weakness did not make her feel endangered. Hours seemed to pass. When Duncan pushed her hair to the side and kissed her neck, she started, but then relaxed again.
“Your skin is like satin,” he said, running his fingers over her back in wide, arcing circles.
Moira felt vaguely guilty, as if she should be doing something to earn his attentions. But she felt so good, and it had been such a long time since a man had made her feel good.
Since the day Duncan left her, to be exact.
When Duncan leaned over to kiss her, his hair brushed her shoulder and sent tingles across her skin. His big hands gripped her hips as his mouth moved down her back. Old longings stirred deep inside her as his lips reached the base of her spine.
“Mmm” came out of her mouth when he wrapped his hand around her thigh and lightly bit her bottom. The deep relaxation gradually gave way to a sensual tension that started between her legs. She wanted him to touch her there like he used to. Instead, he teased her, holding her thigh in his big hand while running his lips and tongue along the back of her leg.
He sat up and soothed her once again by massaging her feet and toes. She felt as if she were floating in a pool of liquid warmth while he moved up her legs with his sure hands. He could touch her anywhere now, and she would not object. Though she suspected there was much she did not know about the man Duncan had become, she believed she still knew him here, in bed.
And the Duncan she knew would want more than her compliance. He would want a full joining, their pleasure pounding through their bodies and resonating in their hearts and souls.
Moira rolled onto her back and held her arms out to him.
