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“Nay,” she said. “Of course I am not. You are a Duncraig. The Duncraig’s eldest son and second to your chief.”

His finger moved under her chin, lifting it. “Avelina?”

“Aye, Niall?”

“Are you prepared to become my wife? Will you marry me, lass?”

She was going to ask if she’d allow his face to be buried between her legs otherwise but thought better of it. This was the moment for brevity, not glibness.

“I am. And I will.”

Niall kissed her then, a kiss full of promise. Full of, dare she think it, hope.

And before she knew it, Avelina was being lifted into the air and carried to the bed. She was about to lose her virginity, something she had guarded carefully her entire life.

And was now giving it to her greatest enemy.

Chapter Twenty

He vowed to go slowly with her, but Niall simply could not stop touching every bit of this woman’s body. She was so perfectly formed. Her breasts, her hips. The taste of her still on his lips.

Laying her down on the bed, Niall removed his clothing piece by piece, watching as Lina pushed down the coverlet and climbed under it. She watched him in apparent fascination, Niall waiting for her reaction when he removed his plaid and, finally, the tunic under it. He would not preen like a schoolboy at her expression.

“Niall,” she exclaimed as he climbed into the bed with her.

Tearing the coverlet down, he moved between her legs once again. Kneeling, he smiled as she continued to look at him.

“That cannae possibly go inside me.”

“It can, lass, and ’twill be pleasure for us both, I can assure you.”

Still, she shook her head. And since Niall did not wish for her to worry, he distracted her by running his hands up both of her legs. Between her thighs then, he used his thumbs to massage the soft flesh there. Then, pushing her legs open, he bent between them once more.

“Niall.”

He saw her grasp the coverlet with both hands balled into fists just as he began to lick, to entice. ’Twas working wondrously well, his beautiful, former enemy so wet so quickly. Her response to him was something Niall could have predicted. Lina was as passionate in the bedchamber as she was outside it.

“Niall,” she called again.

In response, he pulled away and moved between her legs, ready to make this woman his. But he would be certain first.

“If we do this—”

“We are bound together, aye.”

Her knees bent, Lina’s braid hanging down her chest. . . she looked so damn perfect, Niall nearly came at that moment just gazing at her.

Overcome with the need to claim her, waiting in that breath as long as one did before being rushed during a battle, he finally watched as Lina smiled into the darkness, the candle and distant light of the fire the only thing illuminating her.

“I would not part from you,” she repeated the refrain from the battlements.

Neither would he wish to part from her. And so, Niall moved between her legs and positioned himself, slipping just the very tip of him inside her.

“’Twill hurt but a moment, I am told,” he said. “Though I do not make a practice of taking women’s virginity, so I cannae say for certain.”

Lina blinked, clearly worried. But she underestimated how easily he would slip inside her, courtesy of a wetness that made it difficult to go slowly. He did, however, pushing ever so gently until he was pressed against her barrier.

Leaning down atop her, careful not to crush her, Niall groaned as his chest made contact with her breasts. Inhaling the sweet scent of her, he lowered his head to her, kissing Lina thoroughly, his tongue swirling and touching hers until, without warning, he broke through.