Page 42 of Highland Ruse

Suddenly Kaid shoved away from her.

She immediately felt his absence. The air was too cool without his heat, her mouth too lonely without the play of his lips, her soul too empty without the strength of his body.

He stood an arm’s length away. “I can’t.”

She nodded in a vigorous, overly understanding gesture.

“I can’t,” he repeated.

But he did not leave.

A baser part of her demanded she beg for him to continue, to ignore the feud, the impending marriage, all of it.

“We should go back.” Her voice was as pathetically weak as her reply.

He motioned for her to lead the way. She stepped past him and tried not to meet his gaze lest she give in to the pull, which knew exactly what it was she truly wanted.

His hand settled on her lower back for a brief, fluttering moment before it fell away.

When they emerged from the trees, the camp lay as they had left it—the coach idle and empty, the horses tethered near the loch, the fire with its waning flames.

So much had transpired between her and Kaid, and still so much more had the possibility of happening. Facing something so familiar, so mundane, left her mind spinning.

She did not want normal when she’d sampled such passion. She wanted Kaid.

Leasa was immediately at her side, cupping Delilah’s elbow. “Are you all right?”

Delilah nodded. For what else could she do?

There was no more talk—not of what Kaid had confessed, nor any questions about what had happened in the forest. Exhaustion weighed on everyone, and within minutes, the camp had settled in for the night.

Delilah spent it all in a fit of sleepless tossing and turning on the thin cushioned seat, back in the blasted coach.

Kaid refused to hear her requests to sleep outside beneath the stars.

Where he was.

He’d insisted the women sleep once more in the relative safety of the coach. And so she lay in the squeeze of the dark box and waited for the cries of his nightmares to sound.

But they did not come.

Though she’d been eager for an excuse to be near him once more, her heart was lighter with knowing he’d been liberated from his hurt. At least for this one night.

And shouldn’t one of them be without torment?

For she was not.

Memories of the feel of his body, his mouth, his tongue—mercy, his teeth, on her. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered his touch, and her heart would catch fire.

A sick realization crashed through her midway through her sleepless night and made the crawl of time even more unbearable.

Despite all the passion, all the earnest desire, it was not her Kaid wanted—it was Elizabeth.

Chapter Eleven

Kaid wanted Elizabeth with more longing than he’d ever possessed.

The desire ate at him and left him circling the same thoughts over and over. Did he want her solely for herself, for her beauty and the kindness that shone through her initial haughty display—or did he simply want his enemy’s betrothed?