She opened her eyes again, shuddering as he kept pressing her closer and closer to fulfilment.Her gaze was filled with tenderness as he made love to her.
And then she pushed against him, rolling him to his back.She gave herself over, riding him and increasing the pace.He sat up, and the motion brought them even closer, her body moving atop his.She was squeezing him inside, and he couldn’t stop himself from seizing her waist and quickening the penetrations until he was lost in her again.
‘I love you,’ she cried out.
The words washed over him, filling him with both joy and fear.He couldn’t stop himself from claiming her body in the same way he wanted her heart.
He couldn’t answer her, for words weren’t enough.He knew he was a bastard for sharing this night with her, especially when she would likely marry someone else.
But those words completely broke him apart.With a few more strokes, she finished him off, and he didn’t have time to pull out before he erupted inside her body, shuddering as the fast release barreled through him.Too fast, he realized.And as he rolled over, still inside her, he used his thumb to continue stroking her, feeling the way she arched to meet him, until a few moments later, she gave a cry and shuddered at her own completion.
There could be a child, he realized.
For so long, he’d avoided the risk.He’d not wanted to sire a bastard.And yet, she’d said she loved him.
If she did grow round from his baby, Mairead would never treat a child in the way he’d been treated.He could easily imagine her cradling an infant, kissing their child with love.
It shook him to the core.
But she was crying now, and he gathered her in his arms.‘What is it,a mhurnín?Did I hurt you?’
‘No.But I knew I shouldn’t have done this,’ she wept.‘I don’t want to let you go.Not anymore.’
Balor wiped at her tears and cradled her against his chest.He caressed her back, down her spine, soothing her without words until she calmed.
She stared at him with raw emotion.‘I’m so afraid of what will happen next.’
She was right.If her father learned that he’d taken her, Balor wouldn’t face imprisonment—he’d be killed for daring to touch the king’s daughter.But he didn’t want those thoughts to torment her during their last moments together.Instead, he kissed the top of her head and held her in his embrace.
‘Am I wrong to love you?’she whispered.
‘Aye,’ he answered.‘I was never the man you deserved.But for this night, at least, you’re mine.’He continued touching her, moving his hands down to her bottom, cupping her even while he was still buried inside her body.
‘You are the man I want.’She clung to him, pressing another kiss to his chest.‘I promise you that.’
He held her, breathing in the scent of her hair.The jealousy returned, despite his attempts to hold it back.He wanted to believe her, but the same suspicions kept rising.
‘I’m not the only man you ever loved, am I?’
Her posture grew motionless.‘What do you mean?’
He stroked her spine and dared to ask, ‘Who was he?The first man you loved.’
She pulled back to look at him, and the stricken expression on her face confirmed his fears.‘Why are you asking me this?’
Because he couldn’t stop the dark jealousy gathering inside.He withdrew from her body and sat beside her.
‘There was no blood or pain,’ he said quietly.‘You were hoping I wouldn’t notice, weren’t you?’Balor locked his gaze with her, wondering if she would give him the truth.
Mairead reached for herléineand pulled it over her head, keeping her knees up.For a long moment, her face turned crimson before she turned away from him.The silence was enough to rekindle his jealousy.He’d wanted to be wrong.
But then she answered, ‘H-his name was Diarmud.’Her emotions rose higher the moment she spoke the name.
He struggled to keep his voice even.‘Did your father know him?’
Her face paled, and she closed her eyes, releasing a shaky breath.‘He was one of my father’s soldiers,’ she answered at last.‘I had planned to marry him in secret.’
The heartbreak in her voice made him aware that she’d saidwas, notis.
