Page 57 of Dark Seduction

“I am Claire—Lady Claire Camden,” she amended, relaxing.

He nodded, his gaze holding hers. “My brother had a similar stone once. It was stolen. I canna help wonder if ye wear his stone.” His regard became intense.

Claire was stunned. It was impossible to look away.

“I should like to see the stone more closely,” he murmured, his stare turning to smoke, yet it remained direct, penetrating. “I ken ye dinna mind to give it over to me, Claire Camden.”

Why would she mind? she wondered. She reached for the clasp and undid it, handing the necklace over.

As he held the pendant up to the light, the fog lifted. Claire realized she had been entranced and she shook her head to clear it. She had just handed her mother’s necklace to a medieval stranger! Ironheart’s power to mesmerize was far more potent than Malcolm’s. She hadn’t been able to even think about what he had asked her to do until he turned away.

She bit her lip, shaken.

He handed it back to her, ruefully smiling, his eyes soft. “’Tis nay my brother’s, but then, ’twould be a miracle if it was.” His tone was offhand, but his gaze was searching.

Claire put the necklace back on, avoiding his eyes. “Malcolm is looking for me,” she said firmly, wanting to get away from this man. He had so much power. Didn’t the demons have this kind of power, too? She must never let her guard down again, not in this time or any time.

“I’ll take ye to him,” Ironheart said. “’Tis my pleasure.”

“IF AIDAN HAS THE PAGE from the Cladich, I be confident he will bring it here,” MacNeil said. The two men were strolling in the orchard, where no one, not even another Master, could overhear them.

“An’ I nay be confident,” Malcolm said flatly. “I go to Awe immediately.”

“Give Aidan a chance to relinquish the page,” MacNeil said softly, but it was an order and they both knew it.

“How many chances will ye give him before ye ken he be as evil an’ twisted as Moray?”

“Is that what ye really believe?”

Malcolm tensed. The truth was, he didn’t know what to believe about the Wolf of Awe. Aidan had been sworn to uphold the Code, but as often as not he ignored his orders, chasing his own ambition. While his father, Moray, had given him Castle Awe, clearly forging an alliance with his rebel son, Aidan had turned around and married a great heiress, vastly expanding his lands and his power. It was uncertain if he supported Moray or not. His wife had died a few months ago in childbirth, his son surviving. Malcolm knew Aidan would find another heiress, and soon. Aidan had also somehow convinced the king to pass on his wife’s title to him, when the title should have passed directly to his son. He was now the earl of Lismore.

What Malcolm did know was that Aidan could not be trusted.

“Aidan can bring the page to ye, under my protection, by my escort, or he can hand it over to me. One way or another, ye will have the page.” Malcolm meant it. He relished the coming confrontation.

“I see ye will harbor yer grudge. When will ye speak of what ye really wish to speak of—the beautiful woman?” MacNeil smiled with knowing amusement.

Malcolm’s blood swelled in his veins. He could not control his mind, his desire or his rising cock. In a few hours, it would be dark….

“I ken what ye wish to be asking, Malcolm,” MacNeil said with a laugh.

He faced MacNeil angrily. “Will it amuse ye when I take the woman t’ bed and at dawn she is lyin’ there dead?”

MacNeil’s smile faded. “Ye have not strayed a single time since Urquhart. Why do ye think to stray into the dark now? Ye tasted unholy pleasure once. Ye can master the urge to do so again.”

Malcolm knew he turned red. “I fear my lust is unholy,” he flashed. “Because I want her more than I have ever wanted any woman or anything. I think when I am comin’ inside her, I will want more than her body.”

“Then ye’ll have to fight temptation,” MacNeil said, his tone dry. “Will ye not?”

“Yer enjoyin’ my discomfort!”

“Aye, I am. Go fuck a chambermaid. That should help.”

“I dinna want another! An’ I ken ye have the power t’ help me, MacNeil.” He was angry and frustrated enough to throw a primitive blow at him, but he managed to restrain himself. “Mayhap ye be thinkin’ to deny me, as I have denied ye!”

MacNeil’s eyes widened with mock innocence. “Have we ever fought over a woman?”

Malcolm stared. He finally said, with warning, “I will never fight ye. But she is mine.”