nipples were so sensitive that she gasped when they brushed against his chest.
"I need to be inside ye," he said between frantic kisses. "Now."
"Aye," burst from her throat as he thrust deep inside her in one stroke, and her body clenched around him in another spasm of pleasure. Before she could catch her breath, he thrust into her faster and harder. Her back was banging against the door, but she didn't care. She could never get enough of him, never. She held on to him more tightly as he moved against her, sending hot shards of pleasure darting through her that were almost painful. He shuddered, and she cried out again as he called her name and exploded inside her.
He rested his forehead on the door and held her up, which was good because she could not have stood on her own. They were both panting and sweaty. After a long while, he leaned back just far enough to look into her face with his silvery blue eyes.
"I love ye with all my heart," he said, rubbing his thumb across her cheek. "You're part of me, and I am part of you. We are two halves of one whole."
* * *
Connor turned to Ilysa again and again in the night, trying to persuade her with his body to stay, to show her how much he loved and needed her. As he watched the room in the eerie light of dawn, lack of sleep made him feel as if he were floating. And yet, he did not want to close his eyes for fear she would slip away from him while he slept.
She stirred, restless in her sleep. When she opened her eyes, he saw farewell in them.
No, I cannot let her go. He caught her tear with his finger, and then her arms came around his neck. He breathed in the familiar scent of lilies and held her.
"Make love to me as if it were the last time," she said.
He did as she asked.
He pressed his lips to her palm, then he laid her on her back and kissed every inch of her, starting with her toes. Though he already had her body embedded in his memory, he memorized it again as he traced the arch of her foot, her slender ankle, the softness on the back of her knee.
He let the gold and red strands of her hair slide through his fingers.
He knew her, knew how to make her sigh, knew what the slight hitch in her breath meant. He used it all against her, trying to convince the stubborn woman he loved that what was between them was all that mattered. That it was enough.
She was quivering with need before they finally joined.
"Ye belong to me," he told her. She did not argue, but with Ilysa that never meant agreement.
They made love with a desperate passion.
* * *
Ilysa held Connor to her a final time, then she forced herself to pry her arms loose and slide out of bed - and out of his reach. She slipped on her nightshift before she changed her mind.
"I thought I could do this," she said, swallowing back her tears. "But I've met her now, and I can't."
"Ilysa, please," Connor said but stopped when she held up her hand.
"I wish I could say it is only because I don't want to take your attention from her," she said. "But the truth is that she's far too pretty, too lively, too sweet."
"Sweet? She cares nothing about the welfare of my clan. She frets about silly things."
"Jane is just young," Ilysa said.
"She is the same age as you are."
"She hasn't had responsibilities and doesn't know any better, but she will learn," Ilysa said. "Ye will love her in time."
That was what had finally convinced her she must go. She could neither bear to be the reason Connor did not fall in love with his wife, nor watch him fall in love with her.
"I've told ye that no one else will ever have my heart," he said.
"I can't share ye. I just can't do it." Ilysa briskly re-braided her hair out of habit and to calm herself. "I want something of my own. A home, a family, a husband."
Connor got out of bed and clasped his hands around hers.
"We can have children," he said. "Your sons will have chieftain's blood, and the same chance to be chosen chieftain as my other sons."
"Isn't that precisely what ye feared?" She looked away from him so he would