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“This for example.” He released her hands and cupped her face. “Look into my eyes. Don’t be scared. Just tell me what you see.”
Her heart was pounding, her pulse loud in her ears. “Okay.”
With her concentration on his eyes, she found herself mesmerized. Green and amber turned to vivid red and orange, as though his irises were full of flames—a fire burning within him, his eyes a window to the furnace.
She gasped. “What? What is that?”
“I have a heat in me.”
“What do you mean?” She knew she should be freakedout, but Ivor gave her a sense of safety despite his strangeness.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they’d returned to normal. He reached for his pendant. “Do you believe in dragons?”
“I’m Welsh, so of course I do.” She laughed.
“No, I meanreallybelieve?”
She hesitated. “I like to think they’re real. Living peacefully in caves or old castles.” She smiled. “Why? Do you believe in them?”
“Yes.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “I really do. Perhaps that’s why my eyes burn so bright.” He cocked his head as if waiting for her to answer.
“Lots of people believe in dragons and their eyes don’t do that.” Reaching out, she touched his cheek and traced an arc beneath his left eye. “Is that what you did to get rid of those guys last night? Showed them your fire eyes?”
“Yes, and they were scared, but you’re not. Which just proves my point.”
“Which is?”
He curled his arm around her waist and tugged her close, pulling her small body to his big, solid one.
His embrace was like coming home, or finding something she’d been searching for. She sagged into him with her palms on his hot chest.
“My point is,” he murmured, lowering his head so his lips hovered over hers. “We are meant to be. It was planned many years before our births, Nisha.” He kissed her softly. “We’re each other’s destiny.”
“Destiny? But we’ve only just met.”
“And your point is?”
“How can we? I mean … how can you be so sure?”
“Don’t you feel it? This desperate tug to connect? This absolute sureness that we’re meant to be together? Without oneanother, we won’t be able to eat, sleep, breathe.”
Her head was spinning. She did feel that. Right now, standing in the twilight with Ivor, he’d become her world. All she wanted. It was so strange that she felt as though she knew his heart already. And it was a true, honorable heart. One that would protect her always. “Yes, I do feel that, but I don’t understand it. I don’t understand it at all.”
“Ah.” He grinned suddenly. “Understanding is overrated. Sometimes you just need to feel to believe.”
“Perhaps.”
“You look doubtful.” He frowned.
“So kiss me again and persuade me.”
“Your wish is my command, sweet maiden.” His mouth claimed hers, strong yet gentle, passionate yet controlled. She opened up and let him in, his tongue tangling with hers.
He groaned, a deep rumble of a sound. Suddenly, she understood what he meant. Standing in the ancient keep, it felt so right to be with him. Having his arms around her was so much more than physical. It was a protective, nurturing embrace, one that filled her heart and stoked a deep, visceral desire in her. She slid her hands over his wide shoulders, learning the shape of him.
“Ivor.” She gasped, pulling back. “I want … but we can’t … not here”
“We can, and I’m sure many others have,” he said gruffly. “But we won’t.”
