How foolish he had been to think that they would not end up like this. From the start, it was inevitable. From that first mindless kiss he gave her on the beach in front of her father and all her clansman. From the night he had her against the wall at Duart Castle, and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Once they met, they were bound to end up lying in each other’s arms like this.
“I didn’t know,” she said against his chest, and he felt the wetness of her tears on his skin. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
Alex hadn’t known, either. In all his experience, he had never felt a need that strong. Never been so completely lost to passion. Glynis MacNeil had caught him completely by surprise.
CHAPTER 15
When Glynis awoke, the sun was shining in a hazy glow through the weave of the blanket that somehow still hung over them. Had last night truly happened? It must have, for Glynis’s imagination was not as good as that. She understood now why women were willing to take Alex Ban MacDonald into their beds for as long as he was willing to stay.
She risked turning to look at him. Ach, Alex was handsome enough to make the fairies jealous. She let her gaze travel over every perfect, manly feature—the straight nose, high cheekbones, and strong jaw stubbled with golden whiskers. Even in his sleep, his mouth was curved up at the corners, as if he had a wicked secret to tell ye that would make ye laugh.
Her cheeks grew hot as she recalled all the places his mouth had touched her. Three times he had reached for her in the night and made her feel things she’d never felt before.
She had wanted to know passion with a man. Too late, she realized that she might be better off not knowing the pleasures that were possible between a man and a woman. It would certainly be easier to live without them if she were still ignorant. She recalled the bliss she had felt in his arms and sighed.
Nay, she could not regret the night.
* * *
“Tell me about your marriage,” Alex asked.
Glynis turned in his arms, all warm and sleepy-eyed. “Why do ye want to know?”
He shrugged. “I’m curious, that’s all.”
Her eyes, as always, seemed to see right into his lying heart. In truth, he had wanted to ask her about her marriage to Magnus all along. He felt the unfamiliar tug of jealousy over this man who had touched her in all the places he had.
“The two of ye have such animosity toward each other that I figure ye must have cared deeply once.” Alex had learned from his parents how love could turn to hate.
“Hmmph.” She crossed her arms and stared up at the blanket strung above them. “Magnus Clanranald doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”
She hadn’t said that she had not cared for Clanranald.
“Magnus doesn’t like to lose his possessions,” she said. “He thought I was one of them.”
“Why did ye leave him?” Alex asked.
“The marriage took place at my family’s castle on Barra, so I didn’t know what was waiting for me at his home.” Glynis was quiet for a long moment before she spoke again. “His mistress was there to greet him, along with a couple of other verra friendly lasses. Magnus made no effort to hide them—and saw no reason he should. He even let his mistress take my place at the table.”
Ach, it sounded too much like his father. But Alex’s mother fought back just as hard in the bitter war between them.
“Magnus is the worst of chieftains,” she said, her voice hard now. “While my father sometimes makes errors in judgment, he always
Alex suspected that the true reason she left Magnus was that she didn’t respect him.
“I tried to protect his own clansmen from him, but I couldn’t.” Glynis brushed a tear away with an impatient hand. “I saw him murder one in a fit of temper and another because the man objected to Magnus’s interest in his daughter.”
Alex cupped her cheek with his hand. “Magnus’s temper seemed fixed on you when we saw him at Duart Castle. Did he ever harm ye?”
“No. He knew that if he did, my father would come with his war galleys full of men,” she said. “Magnus didn’t want the trouble—but that was before I stabbed him and left.”
For all Alex’s sins, at least he’d brought Glynis far enough away to be safe from her former husband.
* * *
“Enough of this serious talk.” A slow smile spread over Alex’s face as he leaned over her, and his green eyes danced. “If ye have the strength to make love again before breakfast, I do.”
Letting Alex touch her all over in the dark of night was one thing, but it was broad daylight now.
“Ach, I’m sorry, lass,” he said, frowning. “Did I make ye too sore?”
She was sore, but not
“We could try other things,” he said, giving her a look so full of sin that it made her pulse flutter.
“I’m all right,” she said, her voice coming out high.
“Then what do ye say, Glynis? In for a penny, in for a pound?” Her breath hitched as he stroked the inside of her thigh. “When ye confess to the priest, the penance is likely to be the same, whether we do it two times or twenty.”
