Innes watched him in silence. He was lying.
“You’re going to move on, and I’m certain that happiness awaits you,” he continued. “You are beautiful, Innes. Intelligent. You are exciting and passionate.” His gaze caressed her slowly from head to toe, lingering on her face, her lips, her hair. “There is a man out there who will be lucky to have you as his wife. He’ll be worthy of your love. And your gift. He’ll be a much better man than I could ever be.” He tore his gaze away from her face and looked at the door. “Part of me wishes I could be that man. But I’m not.”
At the bottom of the stairwell, Conall pushed open the heavy door to the tunnels. The door hadn’t been latched since the first day she accepted his invitation and came to the West Tower to play chess.
He didn’t want to see anyone. He said what he had to say, and now he wanted to disappear and grieve for what he’d done, what he’d needed to do.
Leaving Innes’s room, seeing her standing there disheartened but brave, listening to his words but respecting his decision, was torture. And he was a man well versed in torture.
He’d go away. This was the answer. Bryce couldn’t hold him here. No one could. He couldn’t see her again. He couldn’t be near her and not give in to what he wanted more than anything in the world.
He passed through to the West Tower. Arriving at his chambers, Thunder greeted him.
“Duff, go down and get my horse ready.”
“Ready? For what? Where are you going?”
“Go and do as you’re told. And, by God, I’ll beat you within an inch of your life if you take the news to my brother or say a word to anyone.”
The servant scurried out the door.
Today. He’d go right away. Conall started toward the stairwell leading up to his bedchamber when Thunder rushed toward the door. He turned around and was shocked to find Innes leaning against the doorjamb, catching her breath.
“You walk quite fast,” she said, panting.
A ray of hope squeezed into his heart. She’d come after him. But why?
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“I just saw Duff on the stairs and he told me you’re leaving.” She motioned over her shoulder. “I’m glad that I took the tunnel, too. If I came through the courtyards and over the bridge, you’d have been gone by the time I got here.”
Confusion tore at him. He’d spoken his piece. Told her they could never be. He expected her to leave and hate him for his cold words.
“Why did you follow me?” he asked.
“Life is like a game of chess. To win, you have to play.”
“I am not playing.”
Her eyes flashed, challenging him. “You gave me your word of honor that you’d finish the game we started.”
“That game is over.”
“Then we’re starting a new one.” She stepped into the room and the wolf jumped on her in excitement. “Sit, Thunder. Stay.”
The wolf obeyed like a trained lapdog.
“I said I’m not playing,” Conall said as sternly as he could manage. But his heart was working independently of his brain; it pounded harder with each step she took.
“In that case . . .” She studied him from across the room and started removing her gloves ever so slowly.
“What are you doing?”
“You are going to tell me again why you withdrew your offer of marriage.”
“I just told you . . . only minutes ago.”
She dropped her gloves on a nearby chair and approached him. “This time you’ll say it holding my hand.”
“Innes,” he warned, taking a step back. His gaze traveled down the front of her dress. He didn’t remember the top handful of buttons being open when he was in her bedchamber. “I think you should leave. Now.”
“Oh, I’ll leave. And I promise never to come back . . . to you, that is. I have every intention of seeing my sister in the future.” She continued to move toward him.
Conall took another step back, wanting to laugh, but he couldn’t. She didn’t need any more encouragement.
“But before I go,” she said, “I want you to know that I believe in honesty. In truth. I’d like to know that what came out of your mouth matches what’s in your heart and your mind. I have to make certain that you believe your own words.”
“What if I don’t care for that . . . that intrusion?”
“Well, then. I’ll have to force you.”
He stared in disbelief as she charged at him. For an instant, he didn’t know if he should laugh or run. She was a little thing, practically half his size and weight, and yet she was clearly set on handling him.
And he wanted to be handled. She wanted the truth? He wanted her tackling him to the ground and pinning him down and straddling him right here.
He maneuvered around a chair, and she eyed him. The wolf tried to get in the game. This time Conall was the one who ordered him to sit.
“Give up,” she said. “I won’t hurt you.”
He laughed, backing toward the stairs. Her smile was the most precious reward.
“This has gone too far, Innes,” he said, trying to be serious. “Think of your reputation. These are my private chambers.”
“This has gone too far, Innes,” she mimicked. “Let me lecture you on what’s best for you. On whom you can love. Whom you should marry. Let me decide for you, Innes, if I’m worthy of you or not. Let me decide for you if you can handle my past.”
She backed him up the stairs.
“You’re mocking me,” he said.
She followed him up. “Only one of us is speaking the truth.”
He backed through the door at the top. “You’re wrong. I meant what I said.”
She closed the door and latched it behind her. “Then I guess it’s time to confirm or deny it, wouldn’t you say?”
He was finished. She had him. He couldn’t have held back if his life depended on it. He went to her.
The joining of their lips might have set the entire castle ablaze. Like a starved man, he kissed her, devoured her, and she was as zealous in her response.
He dug his fingers into her hair, holding her tightly as his lips tried to get the taste of her. Her hand touched his, then her arms wrapped around his neck, her body arching, pressing tighter against him, pushing him to sheer madness.
Moments later, she tore her mouth away from his and placed a hand against his lips. His heart pounded, his body throbbed with need, and he looked down into her flushed face. The intimacy of her fingers on his lips was almost more than he could stand.
“You lied,” she whispered. “You want me. You said those things to protect me.”
Her lips were full and tender, her cheeks the color of wild roses. She was by far the most beautiful woman he’d ever held in his arms.
Damn, he loved her. But this was no time for talking. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to taste every delicious bit of her skin.
She read his mind and started unfastening her dress. His lips moved from her mouth and traveled across her cheek to her ear, down her neck as quickly as she opened the dress, inch by inch. His hand traveled everywhere, roaming her back, feeling the curve of her bottom, pulling her hard against his manhood.
The bed was only a few steps behind them. He was afraid that he’d lose control once he laid her down on it.
“Take me there,” she whispered. “Make love to me.”
He’d died and gone to Heaven. He swept Innes off her feet and carried her to the bed.
“We have to go slow,” he murmured, “even if it means I lose my mind. This is your first time. We need to go gently.”
Her fingers combed caressingly through his long hair. She traced the soft ridges of his ear, the line of his bearded jaw. He laid her down and looked at her hair spread across the pillow.
“You take my breath away,” he said.
His hand smoothed the material of her dress. He pulled open the buttons slowly, moving with deliberate relish downward.
She g
asped as the front of the dress parted and his hand brushed over her breast.
She opened her arms. “Come to me.”
He pulled the shirt over his head and kicked off his boots. He unfastened his kilt and let it pool at his feet. He climbed next to her.
“You might be frightened by what you see in my head, by everything that I want to do to you. But I promise to go slowly.”
“Kiss me, Conall,” she whispered against his lips. “I’m not afraid.”
The Highlander’s blood, already roaring in his head, surged at the huskiness in her voice. Desire took on a life of its own and pushed him to the edge of his control. He rolled toward her, crushing her against him.
She arched her back as he moved from her mouth and trailed his lips downward over her chin and her throat. Her fingertips stroked his bare back.
He caressed her ivory skin, from her throat to the tops of her breasts. He could feel the warmth of her body, the firm flesh, the trembling shudders that his touch brought on. A moan of pleasure deep in her throat filled him with certainty.
He drew down the neckline of her shift until her breasts sprang free. His lips locked on the erect nipple. He heard her gasp and felt her bloom beneath him. Her hands tugged at his hair, pressing his face even tighter to her breast. Then, as he continued to suckle, moving from one nipple to the other, her knee rose instinctively and took possession of his thigh.
The rush of heat scorching through her body lit Innes’s senses with explosive energy. Her mind whirled with confusion at these newfound sensations, while her body screamed for more. She writhed as his tongue laved her breasts, and she lost the ability to breathe when his hand pulled her skirt up over her legs. She gasped with shock and pleasure as his fingers stroked the skin of her legs. When his hand found the juncture of her thighs, Innes reveled in the waves of white heat that cascaded through her and threatened to obliterate all reason.
As he lifted his head from her breasts and looked deeply into her eyes, she slid her hand downward over his buttocks and his hip. She could feel his arousal, thick and hot, pressing against her. She knew what he wanted, so she wrapped her hand around him.
Fighting for control, Conall gazed down at the beauty in his arms, knowing that he would certainly die if he did not take her now. More than anything else, he wanted to bury himself deep within her, bring her to heights of unimaginable pleasure, and pour his seed into her. His eyes took in her swollen lips, her heaving breasts, reddened in spots from his rough, bearded face.
“I was trying to protect you from my past,” he said raggedly, using his final shred of willpower. “This is your last chance, Innes. Tell me if you want to stop now, for I won’t be waiting much longer. I take you now, and you will be my wife.”
His body was rigid, every muscle tensed and hard as steel. His lips hung only a breath away from hers. But his gaze never left her, sweeping over her features, continuing its soft caress of her face.
“I’ve already made my move.” Innes lifted her mouth to his. “It’s time you made yours.”
Chapter 24
He possessed her. He enthralled her body in a timeless, frenzied world of sensation and passion. The climax exploding within her matched what she saw in his mind. The two of them joined and cried out and were caught in the stunning power of a summer storm. Somewhere in a more conscious world, Innes heard a woman’s voice—her own voice, she realized—crying out exultantly. She couldn’t breathe.
And then she was simply sailing through a crystalline sky, colors she had never before seen flashing around her as she soared.
Conall held her as she descended, kissing her softly, cradling her in his arms.
The sensations in her body receded in waves. Innes’s bones had dissolved into liquid. Her flesh tingled. The room was slow to come into focus. The sounds were a distant beat. And then they grew closer.
“That monster is howling,” said Conall.
She listened, at first not comprehending his words. There were thumping sounds against the door, followed by Thunder’s howls.
“I will let Bryce have him stuffed after all,” Conall growled into her neck, not letting her go.
The next howl was even louder and more heartrending.
“He misses his pack,” she said. “He wants you.”
“It’s you that he’s in love with.” He rolled off her reluctantly. “But the damn wolf is a Sinclair, too. All that racket is just to report to the castle what we’re doing.”
She pulled the blankets over her face. It was midday, and she had chased Conall Sinclair into his bedchambers and forced him to make love to her.
He pulled the blankets down, and she looked at his magnificent body standing naked beside the bed.
And she wasn’t a bit sorry.
Thunder howled again.
“Please let him in,” she said.
“I will, but first . . .” He turned her slightly and began peeling what remained of her clothes from her body.
“What are you doing?” She laughed.
“I want you here in my bed as the Lord made you. We’re only getting started.”
Her clothes dropped onto the floor. She tried to hide her body, but he pulled the blanket off again, letting his gaze lovingly caress her face, her breasts, her belly, her thighs.
Her desire and excitement started building again.
“Don’t move,” he said.
She stared at his magnificent back and buttocks and legs as he walked toward the door.
Innes could hardly believe what she’d done. Ailein was right in encouraging her, in convincing her, to stay and fight for the man she loved. Her heart soared to think they had a chance. That she wasn’t cursed for life because of her gift.
Innes knew he was still concerned. She needed to train herself to be aware of it. Her fingers were the conduits of power. She had to hold back from touching him—unless both of them were prepared. Innes needed to make sure he knew that she was mindful of it. He needed to trust her in managing her gift.
Conall opened the door, and Innes quickly pulled the blankets over her, for Thunder paid no attention to his master and leaped onto the bed looking for her.
She laughed as the wolf growled and dug at the bedclothes, trying to get to her.
“I told you,” said Conall. “You’re the one this beast loves.”
Conall crawled in with her just as the wolf found Innes’s face and the tongue-lashing began.
“Fine. Fine. I love you, too.” She petted the giant animal.
“Get off the bed, Thunder,” Conall ordered.
The wolf moved to the other side of Innes and pressed himself against the covers, taking refuge at her side.
She couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling up in her. The two of them hemmed her in. “I now have my own pack.”
“When we’re outside, when you need protection, we’ll be there.” Conall’s arm wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her against him as he shoved the wolf off the bed. “But listen to me, Thunder. She is my human.”
The wolf tried to jump up once more, but decided his master wasn’t having it. Growling, he moved to his straw bed and settled down, watching them.
“In spite of his size, he acts like a pup,” said Innes. “Do you have any idea how old he is?”
“About six months.”
“So he is a pup. Where did you find him?”
He propped himself on an elbow, his leg draped across hers. He looked from Innes to the wolf.
“I found him when Bryce and I were riding back from England,” he said. “Here I was—broken, miserable, not understanding why I was still alive. I saw no purpose left in my life, and then I find this one—the last of his litter—by a stream in a glen we were passing.”
The wolf’s eyes never wavered from them, as if he understood every word.
“Hunters had killed his mother and the other pups,” said Conall. “I don’t know how he survived.”
She smiled up at him. “And you brought him home
.”
“And I brought him home, aye.”
Innes rolled toward him and tucked her hands under the pillow. “Will you tell me about the battle?”
He looked into her eyes, worry darkening his brow.
“You started telling me that day at the loch,” she said softly. “If I know what happened, if I understand the source of your pain, I’ll be better prepared. And I’m not speaking of the physical pain of losing your hand. The first time I touched you, I felt something much more powerful. A feeling so deep that tore at my heart.”
He caressed her face, coiling her hair around his finger.
“Please, Conall. I know that being with me, marrying me, is forcing you to bare your soul,” she told him. “But I don’t want to be stealing bits and pieces of your past. I want you to tell me what I should know.”
“I’ve not spoken about how that battle and the loss affected me. Not once since I’ve been back.”
Innes brushed her lips against his. She wouldn’t force him to speak, but at the same time it broke her heart to know there were demons that haunted his memories.
“I know a little about Solway Moss,” she offered.
“Of course. Your clan lost good men. But what do you know?”
“I know we always dredge up a good reason to fight the English—land, alliances, succession, and now religion. I know King James snubbed Henry and refused to meet with him at York, and that resulted in English troops raiding the Borders. But I also know that Henry Tudor will conquer and rule all of Scotland, if he gets the chance. We fought the battle at Solway Moss to try to stop him.”
He caressed her face. “You amaze me.”
“Tell me your involvement in it,” she pleaded. “And here are my hands. Tucked away. You will not harm me by thinking of it, speaking of it. Instead, you’ll help us both.”
He looked into her eyes for a moment more and then rolled on his back, staring at the ceiling. “It was November, two years ago. Initially, we were to be an army of twenty thousand. The Sinclairs have a long history of fighting for the crown. We’ve always stood by the king, and been favored for our loyalty. Not long before we set out, King James chose me to command three thousand fighters.”
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