He stopped and untwined my arm as he stepped back and held me at arm’s length.
“Whatever made ye think I doona care for ye, lass? I’ve spent every moment of the past four weeks trying to convince ye that I do.”
“’Tis only that we get on so well together. Ye’ve been so kind to me.”
His brows creased together forming a deep line in his forehead.
“Are ye under the impression that if a man wishes to kiss ye he will be unkind to ye?”
I thought of Seumas’ persistence and then of the anger that had inspired Jerry’s kiss. Until his departure, I never would’ve considered Jerry to be unkind. Now, I couldn’t think of him any other way.
“No, I dinna mean…” I faltered, not knowing what to say. “I thought ye wanted me only as yer friend. I thought perhaps ’tis what Alasdair instructed.”
He looked even more baffled the more I spoke.
“Lass, Alasdair has instructed nothing. ’Twould do him little good if he tried to do so. I’ve treated ye as a friend because I feel ye are one, but that does not mean that I doona also wish to make ye my lover and my wife. ’Tis my own fault if I’ve allowed ye to believe differently. Allow me to rectify that now.”
Henry’s mouth was on mine in an instant, pulling me close as his mouth explored mine with a passion that caused me to moan involuntarily. There was nothing familiar in Henry’s kiss, nothing that spoke to the friendship between us. As his hands roamed down my front, I realized for the first time what it meant to feel desire so strongly you would sacrifice just about anything to have it satisfied.
Henry kissed me until I could no longer hold myself up without the support of his hand at my back. As his free hand palmed my breast and my chest filled with heat, I knew I would never be able to think of him as my friend again.
Perhaps I’d been wrong before. Perhaps this was what love really was. Perhaps at the end of the next two weeks, I would be able to look at the passing date and simply say, Jerry who?
Chapter 21
Jerry
* * *
Even if I rode back from the Allen territory without stopping, I would never make it back to Conall Castle in a fortnight. The date loomed in my mind with a sense of dread comparable only to that I might have if it were the date of my own death. For in a way, if I returned to find Morna married to another, most especially to the utter fool Seumas McCabe, it would be.
I considered turning back at least a dozen times in the first days after leaving Conall territory. The stupidity of my words and the unnecessary harshness of them haunted me every night and day. What sort of madness had driven me to them? Desperation? Fear? A longing for her so deep I couldn’t bear it?
Whatever the reason, I knew I couldn’t turn back to apologize for them. For it wasn’t only my own destiny that lay in the druid’s hands, it was Morna’s ability to unlock the power within her, as well. If I could find him and convince him to help her, everything would be worth it.
All of it had been for nothing.
The man I sought was not there, and no one within the territory had any inkling of when he might return. I couldn’t wait. If I couldn’t bring the druid back to her, I would at least return myself.
I swore to myself as I embarked on the long journey back that if Morna was unmarried when I arrived, I would never let her go again.
* * *
Morna
* * *
“So…how do ye feel? Different—now that ye’re married?”
Only Mary could thaw my father’s icy heart enough to convince him to allow her and Kip so many days away after their wedding. Alasdair arranged a lovely cabin for them a day’s ride from the castle. So she and Kip had escaped to enjoy only each other for a full seven days after their wedding.
Upon her return to the castle, I awaited her in the kitchen. I’d missed her dreadfully.
“Oh, Morna.” Mary patted the top of my head as if I were a child, smiling guiltily as she did so. “While ye will surely feel verra different after yer wedding night, I have never pretended to be the well-behaved lass ye are. I feel quite the same, only more sated and rested than I’ve been in years. ’Tis Kip who is a different man now. Poor lad was as innocent as a wee lamb.”
Eyes wide with shock, I laughed and pulled out the stool next to me so she could sit.
“No? Do ye really mean it? Kip was a…a…he...” I was the innocent little lamb. I had so much more difficulty discussing such matters than Mary did.
