“There’s only one lass I wish to dance with,” Duncan said, his eyes warm on hers. “’Tis Moira and none other.”
He said it as if he meant more by it than dancing. Duncan kept saying things like that to her, suggesting he had not put her out of his heart—as if he were not the one who left.
“Hurry up lass,” Uilleam said. “We’re ready to play.”
Moira gave Duncan her hand and let him pull her to her feet. A couple of the men moved the table against the wall, and the small cottage filled with a burst of music.
The joy in life that she used to feel every day spread through her as she and Duncan skipped and hopped, arm in arm, in a tight circle in the tiny room. Duncan made a travesty of the footwork, but his body moved with a natural grace to the rhythm of the music. When he twirled her in his arms, Moira let her head fall back, laughing.
The door opened and closed as people from the neighboring cottages squeezed in to hear the music and watch the dancing. Those who weren’t playing clapped. Moira and Duncan danced until she was sweaty and breathless. Duncan was not even breathing hard.
“Please,” she gasped, “I can’t anymore.”
Duncan found an empty space on one of the benches and pulled her onto his lap.
“I can sit on my own,” she said.
“There aren’t enough seats,” he said, still smiling. She couldn’t resist him when he was lighthearted like this; it was so unexpected.
Caitlin came around with cups of whiskey.
“Cha deoch-slàint, i gun a tràghadh!” It’s no health if the glass is not emptied!
Moira tossed it back. The third time the whiskey was passed, Moira shook her head. Her head was spinning pleasantly.
“Ach, I’m so hot!” She fanned herself with her hand.
“Let’s take a stroll outside to cool off,” Duncan said.
Before she could answer, he was walking her out the door. When he paused to lift their cloaks from the pegs, Moira thought she caught Uilleam giving Duncan a wink.
The cool night air felt good on her hot cheeks. For once, it wasn’t drizzling or blowing.
“Ah, that was lovely,” she said. Except for Ragnall not being here, everything was perfect tonight.
Moira felt a bit unsteady on her feet and was grateful when Duncan put his arm around her. Being with him was so easy. She did not have to watch what she said or even speak at all. Though she knew she had felt exactly this way before he left her, she pushed that worry aside for now. Tonight she felt happy, and she was just going to let herself enjoy it.
“That was a short walk,” she teased him when he took her straight to their cottage at the end of the row.
Anticipation ran through her as she watched Duncan light a candle, poke at the burning embers in the hearth, and put fresh peat on the fire. The light from the flames glinted in his hair. He moved with the ease and sureness of a man whose body was honed and trained as a weapon to do whatever he asked of it.
Once he had the fire going, Duncan came to where she stood and put his hands against the wall on either side of her head. She found it hard to breathe as he gazed into her eyes for a long moment.
“There are a few things we haven’t tried yet,” he said and trailed his finger along her jaw. “Things ye used to be quite fond of…”
Instead of kissing her right away, he let the tension grow between them until she wanted his kiss so much that she grabbed hold of his tunic and pulled him to her.
For such a hard-muscled, uncompromising man, his lips were soft. She leaned into him with a sigh. His arms came around her, not constraining her, but enveloping her in a delicious warmth.
* * *
Duncan held Moira as she slept and wondered if this would be his last time.
He had little more to offer her now than he had when he was nineteen. Though he held a position of respect as captain of her brother’s guard, respect was not enough to hold a woman like Moira. She was meant to grace a high table, wear the finest silks, and have servants to wait upon her. She carried the blood of the Lord of Isles and the ancient kings before them, while he was the unclaimed son of a MacLeod rapist.
Still, he whispered, “Please God, don’t take her from me. Not again.”
Chapter 20
