'You've the skill for it,' he'd said, hedging, saddened. He'd known there weren't many more for a young lass to go out and fight for—no matter how badly sheneeded that fight….
'That's why you don't want to be married?' she asked. 'Your job would prevent it.'
'Jane, why is it that I'm always the one being interrogated?'
'At least tell me where we're going.'
'If I'd told you this morning, would you have told Bidworth?'
'No,' she said quickly, then admitted, 'Well, I might have. But Freddie wouldn't have told a soul.'
'Then no, I will no' tell you.' When she opened her mouth to argue, he made his voice like steel. 'No more questions.'
She sighed, glancing around the room, visibly restless. She didn't seem to notice when her wrap slid from her smooth, pale shoulder, while every muscle in his body tensed. The thin nightdress beneath clung to her breast, and he found he couldn't drag his riveted gaze from it. The material was so stark against her fair skin, and he imagined brushing the silk down her shoulders, letting it whisper over her nipples and slide down her lithe body. He exhaled a breath and hoped it sounded exasperated instead of enthralled. 'Put your wrap back on.'
She glanced down with a frown, then studied his reaction. 'I need to leave it off. Because it's warm in here, and I can'task you to crack a window.'
'Put it back on.'
She quirked an eyebrow. 'You stared at my breasts so much in the coach today, you should appreciate when more of them is displayed.'
'I admit I take pleasure in looking at you.' He wouldn't even bother trying to deny that. Even now, her small nipples jutted hard against the fabric, and he imagined taking one between his lips, feeling it swell and throb as he sucked it. He glanced away and said quietly, 'You're a beautiful woman.'
When he turned back, he thought she had blushed at his comment.
'But seeing you like this makes me desire to do more, a desire you doona share and one we canna indulge.'
She tilted her head, seeming to weigh his words very carefully, then said, 'What if I told you I did share that desire?'
'I'd answer that you're a merciless flirt, and then I'd remark on how easily you have forgotten Bidworth.'In the space of an afternoon. Inconstant woman.
Her eyes narrowed at his words, but she didn't offer an answer.
Not even ashow of loyalty. And to think Hugh had worried that he might have to see her pine for the man.
Hugh wouldn't want a woman like Jane, even if he could have her.
Didn't matter. He was only here to protect her, and her games would get in the way. In a deadly calm tone, he said, 'I've given you warning. You know what will happen.'
She made no move to cover herself. This was just another battle of wills with her. Yet another.
But he wasn't the same compromising lad he'd been. Couldn't be, even if he wanted to be. The things he'd seen had changed him. The things he'd done had tainted him.
He'd killed with his bare hands.
He shot to his feet and crossed to her, tossing her onto the table. He'd only planned to stand before her and yank her wrap up, yet he found himself grabbing her slender arms, pinning them to her sides. He could still back away; why was he drawing closer?
No good can come of this.Because he was a hardened killer, obsessed for the last decade with an inconstant woman. One who loved to provoke him. A woman he could not touch, specifically because he'd married her.No good…
She seemed to wait breathlessly to discover what he would do. Hugh had no idea either. When he eased his hips between her thighs, she began trembling. He was learning that her skin was sensitive, her entire body so damned responsive.Taking her would be like handling a firebrand.
What if he sought to make love to her, and shelet him? He swallowed hard, his breaths coming fast from the mere thought.
To finally possess her.
With a defeated groan, he leaned forward to briefly catch her sensitive earlobe between his lips, flicking it with his tongue. She hissed in a breath and shivered. With one hand flat on the small of her back, he tugged at her hair with the other, making her arch till she rested back with her elbows on the table.
Dazed with intent, he leaned down to press his mouth to her silk-covered nipple.
Chapter Eighteen
As Hugh moved his lips down her breast, he rasped harsh words in Gaelic against her skin, seeming lost, as if he was so absorbed in what he did that he truly had no comprehension of it.
She threaded her fingers through his hair, cradling him to her as she sighed with pleasure.
Thiswas what she was missing with Freddie. And, no, she couldnot live without it.
It wasn't only that he'd made her desire him; she sensed heneeded her, or needed something from her. She was desperate to give him whatever that was.
Thoughts of the future and memories of the past all dimmed before the hunger she'd seen in his eyes.
Still gently tugging her hair to make her arch, he nuzzled her hard nipple, rasping against it, 'Damn it, you're supposed tae tell me tae stop.' After a hesitation, he closed his mouth over the aching peak, then began languidly circling his tongue around it.
'Oh, my God,' she whispered in wonder.
He glanced up, eyes dark, measuring her responses, studying her. 'You like that?' At her helpless cry, he moved to her other breast. 'You think that I'll react the same way to your teasing as I did years ago.' He repeated the same tender exploration, saying against her breast, 'You're going to push until I finally break.'
'B-but in the past—'
'In the past, I was young and honorable. Now I'm old enough to know what I need and dishonorable enough'—he softly tugged on her nipple with his teeth, making her gasp and arch harder into his mouth—'to take it.'
'Hugh,' she murmured, 'Hugh, please.'
'Do you want me to take it, lass? Push me more, and you'll soon feel me sinking into your soft body.' He pulled back, met her eyes. Whatever he saw there made him recoil from her. Stabbing his fingers through his hair, he opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, he bit out, 'Stay here. Lock the door behind me and doona leave this room.'
'Why?' she whispered.
'I never thought you would be like this,' he grated. 'No' with me.' Then he stalked out and slammed the door behind him.
She wasn't supposed to be likewhat with him?How was she wrong?
He remained outside, leaning against the door. He would have to wait there before going downstairs—she'd seen his thick erection bulging against his trousers and knew he'd have to get his body under control. Hers was just as ungovernable.
As Jane sat panting on the edge of the dinner table, a fork parallel to her thigh and a glass of wine perilously close to the hand she'd thrown back to support her, she realized something dire. The kiss in the carriage hadn't been an anomaly.
She and Hugh were going to be like this every time they were together.
She'd known Hugh would be a skilled lover—he was accomplished at everything he did, and whenever he'd assisted her from a carriage or into her saddle, he'd handled her as if she were made of glass. But she'd never imagined that the towering Highlander would be so…erotic.
He'd made herburn for him, made her wet and aching between her thighs. Again.
His kisses were slow and devilish, his lips firm and carnal. Could he guess that his threat to, oh, dear
