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While Egan was certain she had never kissed another man, he was astonished by how quickly she had learned to caress his lips and tongue with her own. Her taste was intoxicating, and her soft sighs so seductive that he fell back on the bed with her still clasped in his arms. Then, without loosening his adoring embrace, he rolled over and propped himself on his elbows to capture her beneath him.
Oriana gazed up at him, her expression filled with wonder. A yearning for more of him ached within her, but she was puzzled by how quickly he had become so dear. Despite their constant discord, had her initial appreciation of his wickedly endearing smile simply deepened into sincere affection? Or was love merely a possibility she had welcomed when she had followed him into the fortress?
Giving up the effort to trace the origin of desire when no other option now remained open, she licked her lips to invite another kiss. “I was raised to live in the Otherworld,” she confessed shyly. “But now, I cannot even imagine a life without you.”
Recalling how swiftly she had bolted from his embrace in the past, Egan was sorely tempted to peel off her sweetly scented garments and take her as his wife before she had time to regret her choice; but she deserved far more in the way of tender consideration. It was that certainty alone that enabled him to exercise restraint.
“I want to make love to you until you can’t tell night from day,” he confided, “but the dangers of abandoning ourselves in each other are too great. We must wait until after I’ve won the last challenge.”
Oriana traced the firm outline of his jaw with her fingertips. “You’re very strong. Is making love so very strenuous?”
“The way I want to make love with you, it most certainly is.” He nuzzled her throat to muffle the laughter he could not contain.
Amused rather than insulted, Oriana snuggled against him. She could feel the whole hard length of him pressed against her thigh, and knew while he might not be willing, he was most definitely able. She slipped her hand down between them to stroke him gently.
“Oriana,” Egan scolded, more shocked than angered by the boldness of her touch. He quickly captured her hands and held them pinned above her head in a firm grasp. Her long sleeves lay bunched
against her arms, and holding her with one hand, he leaned down to lick the smooth, pale skin of her inner elbow.
“You’ve turned into a demanding vixen, and while I welcome the change, for the time being, you mustn’t tease me.”
Oriana rolled her hips to caress him with her whole body. “I’m not teasing.”
Egan shifted his weight in an unsuccessful attempt to subdue her amorous antics, but she had him throbbing with desire. “You’ve no idea what you’re doing to me,” he moaned.
“I want only to love you,” she insisted in an inviting whisper, “not exhaust you and endanger your life.”
That she would ever wish, or need, to seduce him had seemed an impossibility, but Oriana parted her lips and hungrily welcomed so many deep kisses she swiftly lost count. Egan kept a tight hold on her wrists, but she thought he was weakening until he paused to allow them both a chance to breathe.
Already lost in her, Egan shook his head to clear it. He stubbornly refused to admit defeat. Instead, he released her and hurriedly got to his feet. “If I don’t live through the challenges with you in my bed, the fault will be entirely yours. But I won today and provided a fine boar for tonight’s feast.”
His passionate kisses had left her slightly dazed, and unable to sit up, she stretched languidly and propped her head on her elbow. “When did you find the time to hunt?”
Her windblown hair tumbling over her shoulders and her kiss-swollen lips were almost more than Egan could bear to admire from afar. Turning away, he removed his cloak and folded it atop one of the large wooden chests lining the walls.
“Kieran wished to fight with spears, but I’ve been in real battle and would have beaten him so easily that I convinced him to hunt boar instead. I made the first kill, so I won the day.”
“Egan, look at me,” Oriana ordered with the snap of her old fire.
Recognizing that imperious tone all too well, Egan turned on his heel, but cautiously kept his distance. “Aye, my lady?”
“On the morrow, do you choose the trial?”
It was still too difficult to gaze her way and think, so he began to pace. “In the time I spent searching the fortress for you this afternoon, I decided to continue the effort to best him, as I did today, in ways that do not require us to turn weapons against each other. Mount Royal is a difficult climb, so I may issue that challenge.”
Greatly intrigued, Oriana felt sufficiently restored to sit up and kneel upon the bed with her hands resting lightly on her knees. “Can you climb it?”
“I have, and once while quite drunk.” He chuckled at the memory, but not at how foolish the adventure had been. “I’ll be sober tomorrow.” He paused so she would fully appreciate his words. “And let’s hope you’ll not leave me completely exhausted either.”
Oriana watched his smile glide into a sly smirk and hoped he meant what she thought he did. “You’ll not insist upon waiting until the end of the challenge? You want to make love to me tonight?”
Egan rested his hands on his hips. “I long to make love to you this very instant, but then neither of us would care to attend tonight’s feast, and I absolutely refuse to provide Kieran with another opportunity to plot against me.”
His intimidating size and strength merely tantalized her now, but her shoulders slumped at the thought of another meal with a lively horde of his relatives. “You are right, of course, but why must I go? I thought only men were invited to feasts.”
“On a ceremonial occasion that’s true, but this is merely a meal with a great many guests, and I want you there with me.” Egan’s expression was as deeply determined as his words. “You must understand that your company, whenever I desire it, is a crucial part of our bargain.”
What Oriana understood was that she had offered the bargain without any conditions, but obviously he had at least this one. Knowing him, she expected he would make up whatever stipulation chanced to please him. She let her tangled curls fall over her eyes to hide her dismay but could not stifle an anxious sigh.
