"Fenella..."he rasped.
Una's eyes flew open.
She went cold.
Fenella.He thought she was Fenella.She had let him think it, had worn the name like borrowed clothing for her own safety, and somehow in the warmth of his arms and the heat of his passion she had forgotten that entirely.
Una pushed him back.Both hands flat on his chest.
He went, startled and off-balance, and she scrambled upright and hauled her shift back over her shoulders.
He was up immediately, concern crossing his face."Did I hurt ye?"
"No," she said.Her voice was steady.She was glad of that.
"Then what is it?What's the matter, Fenella?"
The name landed like a stone.
She looked away from him sharply, fixing her gaze on the pale slit of light at the edge of the shutter.Her heart was hammering.Her skin was flushed.Cormac was watching her with genuine concern.He did not know her real name.He did not know a single true thing about her, and she had just let him suckle her breast and do more, all the while he thought she was someone else.
"I'm fine," she replied."I just need a moment."
She moved to rise.She did not get far.
A firm arm hooked around her waist and Una found herself lifted and settled onto Cormac's lap, his arms encircling her before she could object.
"Let me go," she said.
"Not yet," he said quietly."Not until I ken ye are all right."
"I told ye I am."
"No, ye told me what ye wanted me to hear.I owe ye an apology before either of us goes anywhere."
She stilled.
"I took liberties I had no right to," he said, his chin resting lightly at her temple."Ye are in my care, and I took advantage of ye.I did not give ye the time to consider whether ye wanted this.For that I am truly sorry."
Una looked at the fire.
"I need to ken ye are well," he said."Truly well."
The inn was quiet around them.The sky outside the shutter had lightened another degree, the deep blue-grey paling toward something softer, the first suggestion of dawn at the edges.
"Ye did not harm me.There is no need to be sorry," she said at last.
"Well, I am regardless."
His thumb moved across the back of her hand, slow and absent, back and forth.
"I will not press ye," he said."Whatever ye wish to say or not say.But I want ye to ken that ye are safe with me.That has not changed."
She let out a slow breath.Some of the stiffness left her shoulders.
His fingers laced through hers, gentle, easy.
"I just dinnae think we should do anything we can't undo," she said.
