Page 38 of Duncan

“Oh, yeah, that’s the other thing I need to tell you.” Julianne glanced at him. “I don’t want to, Your Kingship, but I kind of have to.”

The view of the bay went dim as the woman continued to speak, but her words became little more than a soft murmur as the waves rushed in and washed over his feet. When she stopped speaking he looked into her eyes, which had darkened, and saw something much, much older looking out at him.

Merrick suddenly remembered how Julianne had done this to him once before, which he had instantly forgotten after the fact. Whatever gripped his throat at this moment had it in such a tight hold he wondered if words would ever again come from his lips. His emotions plummeted into an abyss of despair, but then something enveloped him in light, and lifted him out again.

Finally he had enough breath to ask, “What do you wish from me this time?”

“As I told you before, my boy, time is of no consequence.” Her hand gave his cheek a gentle pat. “Only promise me when the time for the battle arrives, you will flee this place at once.”

DUNCAN WALKED Nicole back toward his bed, easing her down on the ticking before he stretched her arms over her head. The way she looked up at him, her pretty eyes filled with desire and trust, nearly made him change his mind. Yet if he allowed her to do as she wished, the laird and his wife would again convince her to attempt to separate and heal a hybrid—and that he knew would prove the death of her.

If she died here, so far from her home and family, he would never be able to scrub that blood from his hands.

“I didn’t know you were into bondage, Healer,” Nicole said as she watched him remove the length of linen from his pocket and place it on the pillow beside her head. “Shouldn’t we wait until we know each other a little better? Given my lack of experience, you probably wouldn’t enjoy this as much as you think. Are there rocks under your pillow?”

“No’ rocks.” He looked down at her as he reached for the manacles he’d gotten from the armory and concealed under the pillow before bringing her here. “Dinnae fear. I but need keep you in my bed for now.”

Nicole went still when she saw the heavy chained cuffs, but her expression remained composed as she watched him place them around her wrists. “Exactly how long is ‘for now’?”

“Until I may persuade the laird and his lady cease their madness.” Once he had secured her hands he shifted back and did the same with her ankles. That left using the wide, thick length of linen he’d brought to gag her so she wouldn’t call out for aid. “’Tis for your own good, lass. ’Tis some wounds no mortal may survive. Forgive me.”

“I absolutely will not forgive you, Duncan MacMar,” she said pleasantly, as if they had been discussing what they wished for the evening meal. “Nor will you be able to hide me in here forever. I’ll scream for help.”

“’Tis unlikely anyone shall hear you through these thick walls.” He showed her the linen he intended to use as a gag. “Only I may assure none shall.”

Nicole eyed the cloth, and still showed no fear at all. “Several guards saw me with you. Valerie and Connal will want to talk to me about the hybrid I separated. A search is inevitable. When I’m found, I will tell everyone what you did. You do have dungeons here, I assume. How would you like to run your infirmary out of them?”

That she believed his brothers would cast him into the depths for protecting a lady made his mouth hitch.

“No one shall lock me away.” He stood and looked down at her, resisting the regret that already twisted his heart. What was done was done, and she would be safe for now. “The laird and his lady shallnae search for you when I assure them I sent you with one of the vassals to visit the MacKay farm.” He extended the linen full length before he bent over her.

“Don’t, please.” Her eyes grew shadowed. “I’m helpless like this. If anyone comes in they can do whatever they want to me, and I won’t be able to call for help.”

Was she attempting to seduce him with that twisted suggestion? Surely not.

“No one in the stronghold shall harm you.” He drew the coverlet up over her shivering body, glanced at the gag, and then finally set it aside. Instead of silencing her he’d send away the nearest guards. “Rest, and I shall return in a few hours with some food and drink.”

He bent down to tuck the linens around her, and her soft lips touched the corner of his mouth. When he thoughtlessly turned his head, she bit his bottom lip. Instead of increasing the pressure to harm him, or releasing him at once, she simply held it fast, as if she were trying to decide whether or not to bite through his flesh. Neither of them moved, their eyes staring into each other’s, so close their lashes would tangle if they blinked.

Dinnae touch me, demon’s slave.

He had been hated; the plowman’s wife had loathed him. Angalan, the herbalist in the village, utterly despised him. Like her ancestress she believed him inhuman, the servant of something evil. Was that what Nicole now believed? Had his effort to protect her only turned her against him, that she would make as if to tear his very lip from his face?

Angrier with himself than her, he pressed his mouth over hers, and together they turned her bite into a deep kiss.

Yes, give me your lips, your yearning, your passion.

Duncan had taken lovers in the past—he was a man, not a eunuch—and yet none of the pretty lasses that had before shared his bed had brought him as much pleasure as poured through him now. Nicole’s mouth fused with his in a blissful sharing of damp heat, and her sweetness came into his head like a honeyed mist. A moment later he straddled her, lowering his body onto the softness of hers, aware of how delicate she had been made, but also certain she could take him. Was she not arching up under him, eager for the touch of his hands, his mouth? He would give her what she wanted, what she so badly needed–

“Stop.”

That word she whispered against his lips, but surely he’d misheard her. Hadn’t she kissed him back, and rolled her hips against his, urging him on? Duncan raised his head to see tears and fear in her eyes now, and it nearly gutted him. Chains and manacles and the threat of a gag had not terrified her; his kiss did. Slowly he pushed himself off her and the bed, and turned his back on her until he was convinced he wouldn’t rip away the coverlet and take her despite her objections.

How could he have allowed himself to even think such a thing?

“Don’t you ever do that again,” she said, her voice strained and unsteady.

“Why no’?” He turned around and saw the torchlight gleaming on her wet cheeks. “I want you. You desire me as much. Dinnae deceive yourself, my lady. The ring brought us together on the sands of Caladh. We’re meant for each other.”