Page 99 of Forbidden

If I take Amber’s maidenhead, I will marry her.

With or without your memory?

Aye.

I will hold you to your vow.

With fingers that trembled, Duncan pulled Amber’s clothing into place so that she was fully covered.

She watched with troubled eyes, not understanding. His touch told her that he was angry and sad and disgusted all at once, but touch alone couldn’t tell her why.

“Duncan,” Amber whispered. “What is wrong?”

He looked at her with eyes that were more dark than light, more shadowed than she had ever seen them. His mouth was twisted with the same dark emotion.

“You were untouched,” Duncan said harshly, “and I rutted on you like an animal. God’s teeth, I should be whipped!”

“Nay! You didn’t force me.”

“I didn’t pleasure you, either.”

“What do you mean?”

Amber’s look of confusion did nothing to restore Duncan’s self-respect.

“The pleasure you knew in Ghost Glen,” he said, “you knew none of it today.”

“I knewyourpleasure most keenly today. Is that wrong?”

Duncan made a growling sound of disgust and turned away, unable to bear the sight of himself reflected in her anxious golden eyes any longer.

“Dark warrior?” Amber whispered.

The raggedness of her voice haunted Duncan. The merest touch of her fingers on his wrist chained his great strength.

“Tell me what I’ve done wrong,” she said.

“You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Then why do you turn away from me?”

“It is myself I turn away from,” Duncan said savagely, “but wherever I turn, I find I am already there. Leave me be.”

When Amber lifted her hand, Duncan surged to his feet. He arranged his clothing with a few curt motions and stood with his fists clenched at his sides.

“Can you sit a horse?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“Of course.”

“Are you certain?”

“Duncan,” Amber said in exasperation, “I rode here with you, remember?”

“And then I tore at you until you bled. I ask you again: can you ride?”

“And I say again: aye!”

“Good. We must go quickly to the keep.”