kept us in Edinburgh.”
Her lips parted and her gaze fell to his mouth. Fallon knew she wanted to kiss him, and God help him, he nearly gave in. But he wanted Larena to hunger for him with the same intensity that scalded him.
He didn’t know what had happened, but she had distanced herself from him. Was it the ring and the Scroll within? Did she fear what he would do with that knowledge?
Anger replaced the desire heating his body. She had trusted him enough to let him bring her here, but he wasn’t worthy of more than that?
Obviously, he was going to have to prove otherwise.
Fallon stepped back and dropped his hands. “Enjoy the evening,” he said and walked away. It was the hardest thing he had ever done, but if he was going to claim Larena as his own, she had to accept the passion between them.
And he was going to see that she did. Even if it killed him.
Chapter Twenty
Larena’s legs crumpled as she watched Fallon walk away from her. She slid down the wall and rested her cheek against the stones to help cool her heated skin, skin that craved his hands, his lips.
Fallon brought out her passion so easily. Just a few words and the delicious timbre of his voice, and she ached to feel him. Her sex throbbed for the release she knew only Fallon could give her, but it was more than the physical pleasure he brought her. Being near him did something to her. She felt more like the woman she always thought she would be.
She had wanted to tell Fallon that he hadn’t been wrong, she had felt what was between them. How could she not?
Her body trembled with the need to have him against her, on top of her … inside her. She might have thought she could detach herself from him, but her body wouldn’t let her.
And her heart … her heart she would desperately try to keep safe, though she feared she might very well lose it to the laird of the MacLeods.
Larena rose on unsteady legs, the heat from her blood making her long to find Fallon. Instead, she took a deep, steadying breath and tried to slow her racing heart. The breeze stirred over her skin, reminding her of the warmth of Fallon’s breath. Just thinking about it sent chills of anticipation down her back.
Denying the need for him seemed ludicrous. They had found a passion together that she had only ever dreamed of. Why not take what happiness she could find in his arms? Especially since she didn’t know what the coming days would bring now that Deirdre knew of her existence and Fallon said an attack would come.
Larena spun around and hurried to her chamber. She had asked Cara to give her another one since she couldn’t stay in Fallon’s. Now she wished she hadn’t.
Once inside her chamber, she stripped out of the borrowed gown and reached for the bowl of water.
Fallon shouldn’t have been shocked to learn Larena had requested another chamber. But he was. It hurt more than he wanted to admit when he walked in and found no trace of her. It was true he rarely used his chamber, but he had looked forward to coming here all day knowing she would be sharing it with him.
Had he been wrong about the desire between them? It had been centuries since he had taken a woman, but he had thought he sensed in Larena something different, something that had always been unreachable, unattainable before.
He blamed it on Lucan and Cara. Lucan had given Fallon hope that he, too, could discover contentment in a life he had thought doomed.
Fallon gave up staring at the door waiting for Larena to come to him and fell back on the bed with a sigh. He needed to face the fact that she didn’t want him anymore. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he had an idea it had to do with her ring and the Scroll.
If it was, she would never tell him, but Fallon wasn’t about to give up. He wouldn’t take the Scroll from her or allow another to seize it. Unless she told him about it, however, he could never prove his intentions to her. It all came down to trust.
He had never had his worthiness questioned before. In his clan, it was a given he was honorable because of who he was. Yet, Larena had been alone most of her time as a Warrior. She learned early on not to trust anyone. So it was no wonder she didn’t tell him about the Scroll.
Fallon wasn’t sure how he would gain her faith, but he would do whatever was necessary. She was his to protect whether she knew it or not.
He shouldn’t want her as he did. He knew nothing good could come of it. As much as he wanted to be the man his father had intended for him to be, Fallon had failed in every way possible. Everything he was doing now was to atone for the past, but nothing could make up for what he had done to his brothers.
And Larena? Did he dare to bring her close enough to him so that he could fail her too? He shouldn’t want her to want him like he did. It would be much better for Larena if she found someone else. But the thought of another man touching her brought fury unlike any Fallon had ever experienced rushing through him.
He threw his arm over his eyes in an effort to find the sleep he knew wouldn’t come. His mind was filled with Larena, Quinn, the Scroll, and the next attack by Deirdre. He thought of the village and wondered if other Warriors and possibly Druids would come to the castle. He worried how he would feed them all, and most importantly, how he would protect them from Deirdre.
His head began to ache at the base of his skull. There were so many decisions to be made, so many lives to consider. It was one of the reasons he looked to Lucan as often as he did. Fallon might be the leader of their little group, but he wanted to hear what the others had to say and consider every angle.
He didn’t know how long he lay there staring at the canopy of his bed. He knew before he smelled the lilies that Larena was in his chamber. His body recognized her in an instant, and the hunger that was never far filled him again.
Fallon sat up and found her standing at the side of his bed studying him. Her golden tresses fell around her naked body in wild disarray, hiding her lovely breasts from his gaze. He wanted to reach for her hand and pull her against him. But she had to come to him. She had to be the one to acknowledge the undeniable passion that pulsed between them.
“You didn’t imagine it,” she whispered. “There was something between us in Edinburgh. There is still something between us, Fallon.”
“Yet you doona want there to be something, do you? What do you fear?”
She shook her head and licked her lips. “I don’t want to want you, but I cannot stop the feelings inside me. I can’t think when you’re around me, but then when you’re not, I find that I cannot think of anything but you.”
Fallon was glad he had stripped out of his clothes. He didn’t want to waste another moment without feeling his skin against her bare flesh. He fisted his hands in the covers and fought to keep his desire under control.
“You came to me,” he murmured.
She smiled wryly. “My body, it seems, is yours to command.”
“As mine is yours.”
“Is it?” She leaned forward to run her finger along his leg.
He tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry. As her hand neared his crotch, his cock swelled, eager to feel her hands on him. “You know it is. I’ve been yours since I first saw you.”
Her fingers cupped his balls and gently rolled them in her hand. “I’m not sure if I believe you.”
Fallon was on fire. He couldn’t form a coherent thought as her hands caressed him, building the flames that already threatened to burn him. He lay back on the bed, offering himself to her. “Tonight. I am yours.”
“Good.” Never releasing his balls, she climbed on the bed and straddled his legs. Her other hand claimed his cock as her fingers wrapped around his thickness. She stroked his length before gently rubbing her finger on the sensitive head. “Since the first time I saw you I’ve longed to touch you thus.”
Fallon never wanted her to stop. His rod jumped when she ran a finger along the underside of his arousal. He was close to spilling, but he didn’t care. Larena was with him and she was touching him. That was enough.
