Her hair fell in a dark curtain when she shook her head. “Relieved.”
That was something at least. That she didn’t wish me dead at present. “Afraid I’d leave you to locate the Gancanagh on your—”
She launched forward, wrapping her arms around my neck.
There wasn’t time to check for my ring before her lips claimed mine. I drank her in, wishing there could be some way to bottle her up. To carry her with me forevermore.
She tasted of life and youth and something else. Something I’d tasted long ago. Something I’d forgotten.
Freedom.
Trembling hands began to undress me, from my worn overcoat to my loose cravat.
“You don’t want this.” I spoke the words even as my cursed hands tore at her dress. She’d regret it the moment it was over. This wasn’t real for her. An escape from the darkness lurking outside this room. Darkness lurking inside me.
“Yes, I do.”
With my curse, I couldn’t have turned her down even if I wanted to. But I didn’t. I wanted this more than I’d ever wanted anything. More than I wanted that ring.
“Turn around.” She whirled, and I caught the satin laces holding her in, letting them slip through my fingers.
“Magic would be quicker,” she breathed.
If this was the only time I had with her, I was going to make it last. “I’m giving you time to change your mind.”
“I’m not changing my mind.” Sincerity shined in the gray depths of her eyes when she twisted to face me. “I want you.”
Women always wanted me.
“Wanting me and being with me are two very different things.” Her neck tasted like heaven. I’d live there if I could. Against her neck, breathing her in.
She dragged at my shirt. I sent it away.
I set my magic free, stealing inhibitions, heightening senses, drawing sighs and murmurs from lips I never wanted to stop kissing. Bed. I wanted her on the bed. Beneath me. Crying for me. The moment her spine met the mattress, her gloriously pale thighs fell open, calling me home.
I managed a semblance of control, building and rocking, her hips grinding against mine with sweet abandon.
Her eyes squeezed closed, chest heaving.
“Keelynn?”
Her lips lifted.
“Look at me.”See me.
Glittering gray eyes fluttered open, hazy and unfocused.
“Are you sure?”Are you sure about me?
“Yes.”
I refused to let this curse taint the memory of how it felt to sheath myself in her tight, wet heat. Right. Perfect. Everything I’d been searching for and never thought I’d find. This woman, nails raking down my shoulders, hips rising, drawing me deeper. Losing myself felt like being found.
Her eyes closed again. Was she somewhere else? With someone else? Her husband? The man she loved?
My hand slipped between our connected bodies, finding the spot I knew would drive her mad. Her back arched straight off the feckin’ bed. Nails imbedded in my back. Hips meeting mine with reckless desperation. I began to lose myself, my body fighting to keep pace, when I noticed a change in the rise and fall of her chest. Holding her breath. She was holding her breath. Body clenching, legs trembling.
“Yes.Yes. . .Tadhg.”