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“He will come back for me.”

Aidan’s hands slid from her face to her shoulders. “Aye, he will.”

“You will have made a new enemy.”

His hands dropped down to her waist. “Perhaps.”

“For certain. You put your clan at risk.”

He pulled her toward him, then lifted her chin so he was looking into her eyes.

“Marry me, Clarissa.”

Aidan would not be dissuaded. He was going to kiss her, and Clarissa desperately wanted him to. She’d thought about the feel of his lips on hers nearly every moment he was away. She wanted that, and more.

But he would have her answer first.

Nothing would give her greater pleasure than to say yes. To become the wife of this hardened warrior whose touch was so gentle that it made her forget every one of her troubles when she was in his arms.

“I . . . I cannot.”

Chapter 20

“Why?”

He pulled back just slightly but didn’t let go. Aidan would never let her go again.

This time, he understood exactly what held her back.

“I’ve put your clan in too much danger already.”

Aidan searched her eyes. He believed she meant it, but there was more to her hesitation. His Clarissa didn’t truly believe she deserved happiness. The insidious words of her father and her former husband had lingered with her.

“Do you love me?”

“Aidan, I never intended—”

“Do you love me?”

He had laid himself as bare as a warrior venturing onto the battlefield without armor. But knowing the answer made it easier to ask the question.

At least, he thought he knew it. But as the silence stretched—

“Aye, I love you, Aidan,” she said in a burst of words. “How could any woman not? But—”

He kissed her, not wasting another moment. As rain pounded the earth around them, water splashing in puddles around the walls of the old fort, he kissed her, roughly enough to make her forget any additional protests.

At least, that was his aim.

Though he ached to be inside her, to claim Clarissa as his for eternity, he would not do so. Not yet. But he was determined to make her scream his name loudly enough to wake the dead Roman soldiers who’d once graced these walls.

Luckily, the riding gown was not so tightly laced that it kept him from moving his lips to her neck, and lower. Though he could reach only the very tops of her full breasts, it was just enough to distract her from the touch he knew was foreign to her.

But it would not be for long.

In fact, she would become quite accustomed to his fingers, which had already lifted the layers of both gowns, ignoring their weight on his wrists. Navigating the shift as well, he found his target, or close to it.

He squeezed the soft skin of her inner thigh and smiled at her gasp. Continuing to twirl his tongue with hers, wishing he could wrap his lips around her nipple but not willing to stop, he dipped his hand closer to her core. Pushing aside the last remaining barrier, Aidan cupped her fully as he stood, wanting to see her expression.