Nod.
He asks me a few more questions, obvious things, as if we’re warming up, and I’m just getting used to nodding yes when he throws me a zinger.
“Do you know anything to do with my immediate family involving the Welsh?”
I bite my lip, and he holds my gaze, his hands tightening ever so slightly on my lower back. I can almost see him tipping me over his lap or tying me up and punishing me, or worse, calling his brothers while they all take turns.
He tugs me closer to him. My pulse races.
“You smell good,” I whisper.
A corner of his lips quirks up.
“I didn’t ask you that,” he whispers back.
“I know, but they say it’s helpful to compliment people who threaten you. Supposedly makes them less likely to hurt you.”
“That so?”
“Oh, aye.”
A beat passes before he speaks again. “My sisters are your mates. Do you know anything that could endanger either one of them?”
I swallow hard.
I nod.
His brows draw together, and all humor leaves his face.
“Does it involve the Welsh?”
I hate myself for this, I hate myself for all of this.
I swallow and nod, and he curses under his breath.
“Does she have contact with any of the Welsh Clan?”
She’s been in touch with him for the past year, and though she hasn’t shared all the details of the contact, I know she’s come to have feelings for him. I know that he texts her, and once she even feigned a trip with mates and somehow managed to evade her bodyguards long enough to meet up with him.
She says he doesn’t know who she is.
Tate’s hands tighten on my waist.
“Fran.” The sound of his low voice saying my name sends shivers racing down my spine.
“Yes?”
“Answer the question. Does she have contact with the Welsh Clan?”
I don’t answer him at first.
There’s no going back from this. Not now, not ever. Islan will never forgive me.
He yanks me closer to him, my legs wrapped around his back while he holds me, and I swear when he talks, the timbre of his voice licks at my throbbing, aching need.
“Nod yes or no, Fran, or I’ll bend you over my knee and punish you until you do.”
He’ll bloody do it, and why does that make another thrum of need pulse in my belly?
