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Ula stepped toward him with a slow, seductive sway. “No, I merely took advantage of an illness that arrived unbidden on its own. Aren’t you proud of me, Garrick? The wind has a piercing shriek tonight, and by dawn, Egan and his whore will surely be dead. Then Kieran will be king. He’ll follow your guidance as Cadell never did. Isn’t that what you’ve craved all along?”
Her fluttering touch was now revolting, and he grabbed her hands before she could begin to stroke his chest. Her expression had turned petulant, as though she had expected softly voiced praise rather than the horror her confession had inspired. She had never had a placid disposition, but he had not realized until that very instant that she was completely mad.
Perhaps she always had been. He had been a fool to use her supple body and overlook the fury of her endless hatreds. He was her closest adviser, and if it were ever learned that he had supplied the poison, no one would believe that he had not ordered her to kill Cadell. She had trapped him in her wretched plot and it took every bit of his considerable self-restraint not to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze until he had choked off her last breath.
It was only the fervent hope that Egan would not survive a night on Mount Royal that kept him calm enough to step away from her. “We’ll not speak of this again,” he vowed. “We must rise early, and I want you to sleep so that you’ll look your loveliest at dawn.”
He stepped around her and left before she could argue that neither of them needed to sleep alone, but he barely made it to his own chamber before he began to retch. It had begun to rain, and he took comfort in the threat to Egan’s life while he strove to salvage his own.
Chapter Twenty-three
As soon as Egan pronounced their hastily constructed shelter complete, he led Oriana inside and pulled her down upon his lap. He fed her tasty bites of cheese and bread, and encouraged her to sip ale until she grew sleepy. But she slept only fitfully and cuddled closer.
“You are the best of champions,” she insisted between muffled yawns. She savored the soothing rhythm of Egan’s heartbeat beneath her ear, but she gradually became aware of another softly insistent sound.
“Has it begun to rain?” she asked.
“Aye, the raindrops are splattering against the topmost leaves, but the thickness of the branches and my cloak should keep us dry.”
A flash of lightning scorched the sky, and a raucous clap of thunder rattled the whole tree. The wind rose in a mournful wail, but enclosed in a leafy cocoon, they remained perfectly dry.
Egan still could not shake a disquieting sense of foreboding. Whenever Oriana murmured his name in a sleepy drawl, he hugged her and encouraged her to rest peacefully, while his own anxiety grew increasingly acute.
He pressed Oriana’s head to his shoulder, and his wrist brushed against the necklace of wooden beads she had slipped beneath her gown. He was sorry he had not thought to carve one for her with the same ambitious devotion his father had shown his mother. Of course, they had had no formal courtship during which he could have showered Oriana with thoughtful gifts.
“The wind has such an evil howl,” she whispered, “but surely no one has followed us up the mountain.”
She brushed her fingertips over the stubble peppering her husband’s cheek. “I had longed to return to the forest with you. Let’s cherish the night. Make love to me.”
Egan thought surely the brutal wind had twisted her words into what he longed to hear. “I could not have understood you,” he complained softly.
Oriana slid her hand over his shoulder. His muscles were knotted with tension, and she began to knead his flesh with a smooth, circular touch. “You understood me perfectly, and somehow, I doubt that you have refused m
any women.”
Egan smothered his laughter in her tangled curls. “Nay, you’re badly mistaken, for I have very discerning tastes. I’ve not slept with every comely lass who’s sent me an inviting glance.”
“It’s much too dark for you to appreciate just how enticing my glance is.” Oriana skipped her hand down his chest, over the flatness of his belly, then between his legs to cup him gently in her palm. “You should be able to feel this though,” she insisted.
There was a sturdy branch at Egan’s back, and without a moments hesitation, he relaxed against it. He caught Oriana’s wrist and pressed her hand along the length of his hardening shaft.
“In this hasty shelter, we’ll have to take care,” he warned.
“I have always taken care with you.” She slipped her hand from beneath his to loosen his belt and free him from his woolen pants. His sex sprang warm and heavy in her hands, and he responded to an easy downward tug with a grateful moan.
Oriana slid from his lap so she could bend to swirl her tongue over the tip of his manhood. When Egan arched his back and grabbed her hair, she hesitated to give him another such intimate kiss.
He drew in a ragged breath. “You mustn’t stop.”
Pleased to affect him so strongly, Oriana tasted him again, then drew him deep into her mouth. She felt tremors of desire shoot through his belly and quiver down his thighs. His grateful response encouraged further devotion, and following his generous example, she braced herself against his knee to give still more. She traced featherlight circles with her fingertips over his sack, and wished she could see as well as feel his flesh tighten.
She could have explored his masculine strength endlessly, but he could stand only so much of her affectionate torture before he had to grab her waist and yank her across his lap. She welcomed him into her depths, but he quickly raised her up, and then eased her back down onto his shaft to create a teasing torment of his own.
Oriana laced her fingers in his hair to savor his hungry kisses. He held her tightly, but she twisted and rocked back and forth to caress his whole body with her own. Overwhelmed by desire, she rode their shared passion to another shattering surrender. The faint pounding of the rain echoed her heartbeat and gradually slowed to a blissful lullaby.
Oriana awoke when the first rosy glimmer of dawn seeped through their leafy curtains. Egan was still asleep, and she traced the gentle curve of his ear with her thumb. When he opened his eyes and smiled, she leaned close to kiss him.
“You are going to be a great king and much loved by your people,” she swore convincingly.
