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He stilled.
“Swords will not serve here, Tadhg,” she said softly, and put her hands on his face. Her fingertips we
re cool against his hot neck. “We must do what we are best at. It is our only hope. Now kiss me as you did the first time we met.”
Cursing softly, his hand dropped from the hilt of his sword and swung to cup the small of her back. He hauled her up against the length of him. “You are mad,” he growled in a low voice.
“Pull up my gown,” she whispered in reply.
He pressed his groin to hers and yanked her skirts up the side of her thigh, then bent his head to deliver a hard, demanding kiss. Her arms clasped around his shoulders and she pressed her body to his, bending her head back to receive the bruising kiss. His hand traveled up her skirts, his mouth hot on hers.
He dragged his mouth away, brutalized her neck as he went down it with hot, open-mouthed kisses. “You should run,” he whispered.
“You should stop talking,” she whispered back. “You must be as convincing as you were the last time. You would not whisper sweet endearments to a whore. Be rough with me.”
With an angry, guttural growl, he cupped her hips in his hands and pushed her back to the wall, hard. The breath burst from her in a little gasp, then she lifted her knee, let him clamp it to his hip.
Her breath was coming hot against his as their mouths crossed each other’s in hot, vicious kisses. Tadhg slitted his eyes open and saw her face, flushed, her mouth being ravaged by his, then he turned her slightly, away from the wall, and arched her spine, which allowed him to look down the alleyway while he still kissed her.
One of Sherwood’s soldiers stood there, grinning in at them. Tadhg’s blood ran hot and cold as fury and fear flooded him.
He turned them away and pushed his booted foot between Maggie’s, shoving her leg to the side. She made a sound of desire.
The soldier smacked the chest of his companion, who’d appeared beside him, and they stood there, grinning.
Christ on the cross, was he going to have to take her, to save her?
The second soldier punched the first in the arm and said something, then turned and walked away. Reluctantly, the first followed and the alley opening was clear again, broken only by an occasional shopper hurrying past.
He unbent Maggie, straightened her spine. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright in the shadows between the close-set buildings.
“Well.” Her exclamation was more a gasp than anything. “I think that went well, don’t you?” She sounded exultant.
Tadhg was almost apoplectic. “You could have got hurt,” he responded hoarsely, gripping her face.
“Oui.” Noses almost touching, she smiled at him. “But we did not.”
Her point did not convince. Peril and mortal danger were the ever-present cliff edge in Tadhg’s life. They barely impressed themselves anymore. But Maggie in danger? Christ’s mercy, his heart was hammering so hard he felt the blood pound through his veins on each beat. Strangely breathless, he cupped her face.
Excitement had heightened the tips of her words, fore and aft, so they were like little ships, bobbing on sharp waves. Her eyes were bright from excitement. She was enthused, filled with vigor and elation, so much so she practically emitted light.
But then, she did not understand how dark Tadhg’s task truly was, how dark the forces that pursued him. She did not know the evil deeds men like Sherwood wished to enact with the dagger of King Richard, nor the black saga of the dagger itself.
None of it was worthy of a minstrel’s lay, for none of it held romance, although it surrounded the king who was the epitome of all the romantic chansons ever written.
The tale was dark. Dark and fell. The whole world was dark. All was dark.
All but Maggie.
He forced his hands away from her face, but only to take her hand in his. He felt as if he could not let go. But he would have to, very soon.
“Writs or no, we won’t be making it onto a boat today,” he said gently. “Not with Sherwood here.”
She nodded in understanding. “What then? Hide?”
He shook his head. In a town this small, they’d only be found. “We go to the last place they’d think to look.”
Her brows pulled in confusion.
