Niall hesitated, his hand on the doorknob. He should go without turning back. He didn’t need to hear any excuse she was about to give. He started to open the door.
“Wait!” Annie called again. “Where are ye going?”
Niall took a deep breath, closed the door, and turned around. “I am going to get another room for tonight and leave ye in peace.”
“Ye…ye doona have to do that.”
“I think it would be best.”
“But…” Annie inched toward the edge of the bed. “We have stayed in the same room before.”
Did she not have any idea of how she affected him? Perhaps not, since he seemed to be the only one harboring fantasies. “I was wounded and feverish the last time, hardly able to…” Niall stopped abruptly. There was no need to finish the sentence.
“To what?”
Niall sighed. Apparently he was going to have to finish the sentence after all, although he didn’t know how Annie could be so daft. “To do what a man wants to do when he finds himself in bed with a beautiful woman. Do I need to be more clear?”
Pink suffused her face as Annie shook her head. “Nae.”
“Then ye ken why I must leave.” He managed a brittle smile. “I would nae be able to keep from touching ye.”
“I…would nae mind if ye touched me,” Annie whispered.
Niall stared at her, sure he had misunderstood the barely audible words. “What did ye say?”
“I said…” Annie cleared her throat. “I said I…would nae mind if ye touched me.”
“What?” The word came out before he could stop it. The woman was going to drive him completely barmy, if he wasn’t already there.
Annie cleared her throat again. “I said—”
“Ikenwhat ye said, lass. I want to kenwhy.” Niall clenched his jaw when she said nothing. “I must warn ye that men do nae like women who tease them with games.”
Annie seemed startled. “I am nae playing a game.”
“’Tis what it looks like from where I stand.”
“I did nae…mean to tease ye, Niall. Never that.”
Damn it, he believed her. She looked too miserable to be playing at anything. “Then why are ye blowing both hot and cold?” A thought came to him. “Are ye afraid I will nae respect ye if I take your maidenhood?”
Annie started to cry.
Hell!He’d never seen Annie cry, not even when she was attacked by unruly mobs. Niall dropped his boots and went to sit on the edge of the bed, tentatively holding out his arms. She started to move toward him and then stopped. He dropped his arms. “What is it, lass? What is wrong?”
“I…” She wiped at her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. “I…want ye to respect me.”
He felt more confused than ever. It wasn’t like he just planned to tup her and then ride away in the morning. She had a perfectly decent marriage proposal, one that she’d see as advantageous once she realized how pleasurable a coupling could be. “’Tis a natural thing for a man and woman to be together. Ye will see. Why would I nae respect ye?”
Tears pooled in her eyes again, but she defiantly brushed them away. Niall watched as a range of emotions spread across her face, as though she was doing some inner battle with herself. Then finally she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.
“I am nae a virgin.”
Niall stared at her, speechless. Of all the things he’d half-expected her to say, this was not one of them.
“There. Now ye ken.”
Niall found his voice. “But how—”
