Page 101 of Highland Ruse

Her steps down the hall were not as quick as they might have been only minutes before.

Kaid was not the king, she reminded herself. There was more between them, and their affair had been different.

And yet that place in her which had been once shattered, the one crisscrossed with thick and ropey scars, flinched at the idea of loving him.

She opened the door to his chamber and he stood there before her. Hungry desperation lit his expressive blue eyes. Firelight gleamed off his naked torso, teasing the pulsing arousal back to life.

And as she ran to him, her poor heart squeezed against the impossible truth.

Even if he would someday hurt her, she could not help loving him.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

It was too good to be true.

The floral perfume pulled at Kaid, but he couldn’t tell if it came from a dream or reality. If it was a dream, he didn’t want to wake.

He pulled in a deep breath of Delilah and reveled in the scent of her.

Delilah.

A low groan slipped from his throat and was answered with a feminine sigh.

The warmth of a body wriggled against him. “I see you’re awake.” Delilah’s voice was low and throaty from sleep.

He opened his eyes and found her staring at him, her hair pouring over the pillow like a fountain of sunlit honey. “I have something worth waking up to,” he said.

Her lazy smile made his heart stir. “Are you glad to be home?” she asked.

“Aye.” He pulled her closer to him. “And I’m glad to have ye home with me.”

She arched her curvy body against him. Her skin was hot silk beneath his palms, and his cock went thick with desire. He kissed the smoothness of her naked shoulder before slowly easing his mouth to her nipple.

One day he would sketch her in his bed like this, beautiful and flushed with sweet longing. If he could ever stop himself from loving her long enough to pull out his book and charcoal.

A knock came at the door.

Delilah tensed slightly beneath him, but he spread both hands across her narrow waist to still her before letting his tongue deliver a slow and careful swipe over her breast. Someone was at his door, but he had no intention of—

The knock came again. Harder this time.

Kaid eased away from Delilah and ground his teeth in irritation.

“If you’d like my continued help…” Sylvi’s voice came from the other side of the door. “It would be in your best interest to assist us in calming down your newest guest.”

She was sly, that one.

She knew Delilah was with him, she had to—and yet she did not state as much. Sylvi also did not mention Torra by name.

If nothing else, the hard-faced lass knew discretion.

Kaid bowed his head over Delilah and pressed a kiss to her stomach. “Aye,” he said in a voice loud enough to pierce the wooden door. “I’ll be along shortly.”

The sound of her heavy boots thumped away from the door. Kaid gave a regretful sigh before he and Delilah rose from the bed to quickly wash and dress.

It was not easy to avoid the servants as they made their way to Torra’s chamber, but they were able to keep Delilah’s presence a secret.

His people could know of his arrival and Sylvi’s since she’d been invited to meet his people as an old friend of Kaid’s. But Delilah and Torra must remain a secret, as well as Percy, who insisted on staying hidden.