Page 71 of Bound to a Warrior
“Good Lord, what a fool I’ve been,” Mara said admonishing herself. “You two must be starving.”
“That we are,” Duncan confirmed.
“I’ll see that a feast is brought to you,” Mara said placing her healing basket on the floor near the bed.
“Along with plenty of wine and mead,” Duncan said.
“And afterward we’ll get you to Harry so he can set to work on freeing you of your chains,” his mother said and with a wide grin left the room.
Mercy wished she could have found a reasonable excuse as to why the chain need not be removed tonight, but there truly wasn’t one. She wasn’t in grievous pain and having slept in Duncan’s arms for the better part of their journey, she was no longer exhausted. And certainly after feasting she would have more strength.
So tonight she and Duncan would be free of each other.
“If you’re not feeling up to this—”
Mercy shook her head, finally accepting the inevitable. “No, you’ve been shackled to me long enough.”
Duncan rested his brow against hers. “It’s no chore being shackled to you.”
“We shared a grand adventure, didn’t we?”
“I’ve known no grander,” he said and drew back with a smile. “And you haven’t forgotten what you owe me, have you?”
Mercy laughed for they had done so much more than kiss. “I’ve already kissed you.”
“But the promise was that when we were free of the chain you would kiss me.”
“I cannot break a promise,” Mercy said. “Once the chain is off, I will kiss you.”
“Then I look forward to the kiss.”
She did too, though she knew that once she kissed him she would not want to stop kissing him and then surely she would want to make love and not want to stop making love with him.
Truth was that she didn’t want any of this to end with Duncan. She wanted a life with him. A long, happy life, but that wasn’t possible. Particularly now that her father was after her and that he no longer wanted her dead, but brought back alive to him.
He was up to something and for some reason she couldn’t help but think that it might have something to do with Duncan. That meant the longer she lingered here with Duncan, the more danger he and his family were in.
She would need to leave, but how was she going to do that?
How was she going to walk away from the man she had come to love?
Chapter 22
Duncan sat on the bed beside Mercy taking her in his arms. He was relieved they had finally made it home and though he certainly wouldn’t mind spending one more night fettered to her, he knew it was time for the chain to come off.
There was work to be done, work that she couldn’t be part of. Not that he planned on letting her slip away. Not now, not when he had just found her, just realized how much he loved her. And that was what he wanted her to learn and see for herself…just how much he loved her and always would.
“Ready for the chain to come off?” he asked.
“As strange as it was at first being shackled to you, now it will seem even stranger not to be,” she said.
“It didn’t take long for us to grow accustomed to it,” he reminded.
“No, it certainly didn’t,” she admitted with a grin. “That was because you were so chivalrous.”
He leaned down and stole a quick kiss. “It wasn’t easy. There were times…” He stared at her a moment. “That I so badly wanted to do this.”
He kissed her strong and hard, as he had wanted to since arriving at the keep. He wanted to remind her how he felt about her, how he forever ached for her, how he simply couldn’t resist kissing her, not now, not ever.
