Duncan made a low sound deep in his throat, and the hungry way he looked at her made her nipples stand up and tighten. Anticipation and trepidation filled her in equal measure as she waited for him. Except for the rise and fall of his chest, he remained frozen above her.
“I want to feel ye on top of me,” she said.
“That would be a verra poor plan,” he said in a strained voice.
“Why?”
“Because I said we would take this bit by bit, and I’m a man who keeps his word.”
Was he?Duncan had not promised that he would marry her, but he had said he would love her forever, which to her mind amounted to the same thing.
Those hurts drifted from her mind as Duncan lowered his head to her breast.
“Aye,” she said on a breath as he circled and flicked his tongue over her nipple. Finally, he sucked the tip of her breast into his mouth. Pleasure sang through her as her body awakened under his ministrations. Soon she was moaning and arching and gripping his hair in her hands.
His hand slid up her thigh, and she gasped when his fingers found her center. Tension built inside her as his fingers circled round and round endlessly. He sucked harder on her breast, and she felt on the brink of release. She remembered what it was like and wanted it. Wanted itright now.
And yet, flashes of times with Sean made her feel embarrassed and awkward over her body’s reaction, even while she was so frustrated that she wanted to scream and kick her legs.
Duncan rose up on his hands and knees and blew on her damp skin, bringing all her attention to the sensation. Then he lay beside her and began whispering things in her ear—soothing words at first and then ones that aroused her.
I love the feel of your skin, your hair. Ye are so beautiful, m’ eudail.My treasure.It feels so good to touch ye.
While he spoke to her fears and desires, he traced his fingers over her face and throat and then over her breasts, making her ache for him.
“I want to hear ye find your release,” he said. “Ye know it makes me mad for ye.”
He kissed her hair and the side of her face as he began moving his hand between her legs again. After all this time, Duncan knew exactly how to touch her.
“Trust me.” His breathing was ragged in her ear as the tension built and built until she thought she would break in two.
“Oh! Oh!”
Duncan held her tight as her body convulsed in waves of pleasure.At last.She felt like weeping with the joy of it. At the same time, her barriers were shaken, leaving her heart far too vulnerable to him.
Duncan pulled her hard against his chest and kissed her with a fierce passion that left no doubt that giving her pleasure had excited him. If he wanted to make love to her fully now, Moira would not be able to say no. But she was afraid to be that close to him, to be joined as one. She wanted to be like a man and give in to lust without losing herself.
When Duncan pulled away and took several slow, deep breaths, Moira was both relieved and disappointed. Then he tucked her head beneath his chin and ran his fingers through her hair.
As she lay enfolded in his arms, the question pounded in her head like an echo of his heartbeat against her ear until she had to ask it, though she knew it was a mistake.
“Why did ye leave me?”
His chest rose and fell on a deep breath. She lay very still while Duncan kept her waiting for an answer he should have had ready.
“Your father found out about us,” he said in a flat voice. “He ordered me to go with the others to France. He gave me no choice.”
That was not what her father told her, and her father had never lied to her.Never. She knew she should not have asked.
Against her will, the things her father said about Duncan on her wedding day went through her head over and over.He didn’t deserve ye. That Duncan is bad seed. Blood will out.Had even her father betrayed her trust? It was one more bitter disappointment, but she finally accepted that it was possible her father had lied to her.
Yet it changed nothing if Duncan had been commanded to leave. This was the man who managed to sneak into an unfamiliar castle, pull her dead husband’s body off her, and carry her away with a hundred warriors chasing them. If Duncan had wanted to, he could have found a way to come back for her or get word to her to meet him. Instead, he had sailed off and not returned.
“I missed ye every day,” Duncan said in a soft voice.
He sounded so sincere. Perhaps he had missed her—or at least missed bedding her—but that had not brought him back any sooner. Nor could it undo one day of her or her son’s suffering.
Moira was grateful to Duncan for the healing pleasure she found in his arms, and she would let herself enjoy it. But she would never give him the power to hurt her again.
