“Aye, I know, lass. Ye’ve said that three times now. Why doona ye go ahead and tell me what ye must? There is no reason for ye to be frightened. I can think of nothing that could dissuade me from my desire to make ye my bride.”
My palms were sweating, and my heart pounded painfully against my ribs.
“Doona say that until ye know what ’tis that I am.”
His brows pinched together.
“What ye are, lass? What ye are is the lass I mean to marry.”
Nodding, I searched for the words. Then I suddenly realized with such clarity that it dizzied me what my problem was. I wasn’t nervous to tell him. I didn’t want to. I didn’t feel safe.
Tears sprung up in my eyes as I looked up at him and thought of the last time I’d told someone my secret. It had been so different with Jerry. Rather than fear or apprehension, I felt desire—a desire to tell him my deepest secret with no worry that doing so would put me in danger.
I didn’t feel that way with Henry. Alasdair was right. How could I possibly marry a man I couldn’t trust with the most sacred parts of myself?
Henry noticed the moment something in my gaze shifted. Before I knew it, his hands were on me. It seemed to be his greatest talent—noticing when my mind would distance itself from him—realizing when doubt slipped into my mind. He used his lips as a distraction, and I always succumbed to it.
With his hands bracing my arms, his lips against mine, he moved me until my back touched the castle’s outer wall. His lips were rough and demanding, and I melted against him, surrendering to the thrust of his tongue and moaning as his hands roamed my body. There was more persistence in this kiss than most. As his hand slipped beneath the top of my dress, dipping to touch my breast, I gasped and squirmed beneath him.
With each encounter, our level of intimacy grew.
Groaning, he moved his mouth to my ear.
“If ye wished to kiss me, lass, ye dinna have to create a story of some false confession to do it. I’ll always touch ye if ye wish it. Ye simply could’ve entered my room when ye knocked. Ach, the things I could do to ye there.”
I allowed my eyes to flutter closed as I relaxed against the wall, exposing my neck as he licked and bit until I was moaning in delight.
The sudden sound of a horse approaching caused my eyes to fling open as all desire left me. Henry heard it, too, and pulled himself away with incredible speed. As he stepped away, I saw the unmanned horse, and my blood ran cold.
Jerry’s horse that was notorious for finding ways out of the stables to go roam on his own, slowly approached.
Without a word, I turned and ran to the stables, leaving Henry panting on top of the secret I would never share with him.
* * *
The stables lay a good distance from my spell room. By the time I burst through its doors, I was red-faced and breathless. Bending to rest my hands on my knees, I gasped for air. I expected to find Kip, but it was my brother’s voice that called to me from the opposite end.
“Morna, lass, what is the matter? Has something happened?”
Standing, I struggled to speak through gasps of air.
“Jerry’s…horse…” I took a deep breath. “Did it…did it find its way back here…on its own? Did ye send someone after it?”
I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Wouldn’t the horse have stayed with the druid’s clan?
Alasdair said nothing. He simply shook his head then bobbed it toward the space behind me.
When his hand touched my shoulder, everything grew dizzy as my mind protested against the truth. At the sound of Jerry’s voice, my eyes filled with tears.
“I brought the horse back myself. The druid wasna there, and their territory lay much further away than expected.”
Fury unlike any I’d ever experienced filled me. With my back still toward Jerry, I pointed to my brother and shooed him from the stables.
“Alasdair, I need ye to leave here and make certain no one else enters until I step outside these stables. I doona ever ask ye for anything. Allow me this time alone with him.”
If my brother had suspected what lay between me and Jerry before, my reaction now surely confirmed it, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Graciously, he understood the seriousness in my tone and backed out of the stables without another word.
The moment we were alone I spun, palm open, as I slapped Jerry hard across the face.