“You wanted me as much as I wanted you. That, I haven’t forgotten, Irish. Yet now you make me doubt my skill as a lover. If not, permit me the chance to change your reluctance.”
She was trapped. Caught in a web with no way out. “You mock me, Scotsman.”
“I merely question what continues to elude me. But I admit, I am puzzled by your behavior.”
“How so?” She could barely force the words past the tightness in her throat.
His gaze never left her face. “You dance away,” he said softly. “You dance back. It’s almost as if I wed another woman entirely.”
Maura felt her cheeks flame. She curled her fists against his chest and pushed herself away.
But there was nowhere to go. His stance was wide, his shoulders broad. He was every inch the haughty duke. He was like a fortress of stone that could not be breached.
“Come here,” he said softly.
She shook her head.
“I’d enjoy a bit of a tussle.” There was a pause. “In bed or out,” he added silkily.
Maura knew her eyes were huge. “Alec—”
“I’m a man, not a boy, Irish. I’m acquainted with the pangs of desire. I’m well acquainted with the desire in you, Duchess. Your lips do not hide what you seek to hide. I’ve tasted the passion in you, in every kiss we’ve ever shared. In the heat of your body, the dew between your thighs, every breathless little sigh into my mouth. I cannot rob what you give freely.”
Her composure was fraying. She felt as if she were in a maze, twisting and turning, unable to find the way out.
“How long, I wonder, will you continue to deny me?”
“I—I do not deny you.”
“Oh, but you do.”
Maura stepped back. Her hand went instinctively to the pouch in her pocket. She gripped it, pulling it out, curling her fingers around it, willing it to give her strength.
“May we continue this discussion tomorrow? It has been—”
“Ah, yes, I know. A tiring day. Or perhaps the ache in your head has returned.” This time he did mock her. “Run, Irish. Run away once more. But it won’t be long before I catch you.”
Maura swallowed. But when she turned, her slipper caught in the hem of her skirt. She would have gone down if Alec hadn’t snared her elbow.
And somehow her little velvet pouch slipped from her grasp and fell to the grass.
Alec bent down and caught it in his palm. His expression changed to one of curiosity as he felt the weight within it. “Perhaps I’m the one who needs a sprinkling of your fairy dust.”
He nudged the strings apart. Maura tried to stop him but then everything inside her froze. It was as if she watched from some far distant place as Alec opened the pouch and turned it upright.
The contents spilled into his palm. Dirt and stones sifted through his fingers to the ground.
And he laughed.He laughed.
“Well, if that isn’t the damnedest bit of fairy dust I’ve ever seen.”
Chapter Sixteen
Maura made a choked sound. Stricken, her gaze lifted to his. “Damn you, Alec McBride. Damn you—” There was a tiny break in her voice. “—you bloody Scotsman!”
It was suddenly too much to bear. Only half aware of what she was doing, she picked up her skirts and ran toward the hall. She leapt over an exposed root. Behind her she heard a curse. Alec had not been so adept. A quick glance confirmed his stumble.
Inside, she bolted toward the back stairway, her feet flying ever faster.
