Page 28 of At the Highlander's Mercy
How had her body changed since he’d touched her? How would it feel to move between her legs and fill the place that would make her his completely? They’d both had other lovers since last they met and now the act of joining would hold no fear and only pleasure for them. To see how the promise of passion in her had matured was something he’d thought about since their parting. Especially when the memories of their time together and how she had responded to his touch and his mouth haunted him in the nights alone.
Lilidh would be magnificent in the throes of pleasure. She shifted once more now, her hips lifting and lowering, and he almost begged her then. Just as his hand reached out to touch her face, she turned towards him and opened her eyes.
Glazed over with desire and pleasure, she searched his face as though she did not know him. Then, her gaze cleared and he could tell the moment when the circumstances and his identity returned to her. She moved away from him so quickly, he could not reach for her in time.
Her body slid over the side of his bed and hit the floor with a thud. The groan told him she’d landed on her injured leg. He moved across the bed and got out quickly, trying to help her to her feet, but she resisted, pulling back and tugging free of him from her place on the floor. Finally, he released her hand, knowingshe must be embarrassed now that she understood he’d witnessed her dream.
Witnessed it? Hell, his body wanted to be part of whatever dream she was having. His arousal could not be mistaken if she’d seen it. Her wide eyes and opened mouth as she climbed to her feet said she had.
‘Here, now,’ he said, leaning over to help her stand. ‘Did you hurt yourself?’ Once she stood, he moved away, seeking the jug of ale on the table. They could both use something to drink, so he filled two cups and held one out to her. She shook her head, pulled a blanket free from the bed and sat in the chair near the now-cold hearth.
‘I will be fine,’ she said, her voice quivering as though she was ready to cry. Oh, God, no tears, please!
Had she grieved for her husband? Did these dreams remind her of happier times in their marriage? They could not have been wed more than two or three months if Iain passed about a month ago. How much could she have loved him by then?
Rob remembered the day he received word of her betrothal to Iain MacGregor. He got drunk, very drunk, and came up with plans for how to stop the marriage. And they were good plans, too. Luckily, he sobered up the next day and knew it meant that he and Lilidh would never be together.
Well, he needed this ale now and he finished the full cup before stopping or facing her. When he turned back, she sat staring sightlessly into the empty hearth.
Deciding to give her the time she needed to deal with the memories that assaulted her now, Rob wentback to bed. Minutes turned into hours and still she sat in the chair not speaking, not seeing, not sleeping either. When, about three hours later, her head began to nod and then dropped, he climbed from the bed and carried her to it.
His mind wandered the rest of the night as she slept quietly now in his bed. The advice she’d given him about what to do next swirled around in his thoughts with memories of her crying out in satisfaction the last time they were together. The way that she had begged him for more when he’d stopped touching her.
The way she had begged for more.
His body reacted before he realised that she was not remembering Iain in her dreams—she was remembering him.
He would find her another place to sleep in the morning.
Chapter Twelve
Lilidh woke with a start and discovered herself in Rob’s bed again. Looking around the chamber, she found him gone, along with the documents and the large trunk that held more of them. She fell back on the pillow and tried not to think of how she’d humiliated herself last night.
The blood of a harlot must run in her veins from some long-ago, long-forgotten ancestor. At least that would explain the shameful display that had happened to her in Rob’s bed, with him listening and watching. His nearness, her injuries and isolation and whatever else excuse she could draw on would be her defence. But it was her heart that was the real reason for her lapse in behaviour and her loss of control.
She had been so caught up in the memories that she never realised he was watching or that she’d said something aloud until she opened her eyes and saw him staring at her. Even now her cheeks burned as she remembered the look in his eyes at that moment.
It was the same one that she had seen there all thoseyears ago when he had introduced her to the intensity that could be between them.
The night before he renounced her before her family because of the imperfection of her maimed leg. The night when she had thought her dreams of marrying the man she loved would come true. The night before she lost her innocence when she wanted to lose her virtue.
Well, this self-pity and embarrassment would get her nowhere this morn, so she pushed the covers back and dressed. She expected Beathas and Siusan would be arriving shortly. So, when the door opened, she turned from straightening the bed to greet one or the other.
Rob stood in the sin-revealing light of day and watched as she smoothed the bedcovers in place.
Words fled as she tried to think of what to say to him this morn, when the memories of their passion and his betrayal and her body’s scandalous reactions were all very fresh in her mind. So she waited for him to speak instead.
‘We are moving to another chamber,’ he said, as he walked to one of his trunks and opened it. Searching inside for something and not finding it, he moved to the next one and repeated his actions. ‘The last chamber on the left,’ he said, now searching through several leather sacks.
He stared in her direction and when she nodded her understanding of his directions, he continued. ‘You cannot walk in the corridor any longer. Many from the outlying villages are moving into the keep for protection and the elders will be using these rooms.’
‘You have heard back from my father, then?’ she finally asked.
‘The messenger said he received my demands and is sending his reply,’ Rob said.
A shiver made her body tremble. They both knew what that meant—and it wasn’t that gold was on the way. Lilidh knew that gave them at least week, but not much more than that.
‘What should I do?’ she asked, waving her hand towards the trunks and furnishings in his chamber.
