The Highlander's Destiny (Highland Rogues #2) - Mary Wine Page 0,80
He tried to strengthen his argument. “Surely ye can see the need for ye to stay warm.”
She offered him a shrug. “Aye, but that does nae mean I will like it.”
His expression darkened. “Like?” He came toward her.
Her belly tightened. She was so very aware of him. No matter what she was doing, the moment he came close, her entire body became a trembling mass of receptors. Faolan alone seemed able to unlock a facet of her personality, which was only interested in abandoning everything in favor of being his.
Faolan appeared to know it, too. He backed her across the tapestry-covered floor. For certain, she should have said something, but she was held in the grip of mounting excitement. Her body tingled, and she was breathless.
And then she backed into the wall.
Faolan chuckled and flattened his hands on either side of her, pinning her with his large body.
How was it possible to be so keenly aware of another person?
Faolan leaned closer. “Shall we make a memory of something improper in here to afford ye something to smile about tomorrow?”
She liked that idea. But her gaze touched on the bruise on the side of his jaw. The morning’s events cut through the moment. “Ye should not have argued with the Church.”
She slipped under his arm.
“Ye are me, wife, Cora,” he insisted as he reached out to clasp his hand around her wrist and tug her close. A moment later, she was back against the wall. “I will always shelter ye. Without ye, there is nothing I care to keep.”
“Well…ye should not put what ye have earned at risk.” Cora balled up her hand and hit him in the middle of his wide chest. She wasn’t sure just why she hit him, only that she absolutely needed to get through to him the necessity of not putting himself at risk.
Oh aye, ye love him.
He raised her chin. The glitter in his eyes stilled the rest of her argument.
In fact, it stilled everything. Her very heart felt like it was suspended between beats.
“Ye are the reason I draw breath, Cora. Any man who makes the mistake of forgetting that will discover very quickly how much I know about what is truly important in this world. Being laird only has one purpose, and that is to make sure I can give ye a life full of comfort and purpose. But if I have to choose, I will take ye and leave this place without looking back.”
She shivered. “I…I…”
He pressed his thumb against her lips. “It’s true that I stole yer first kiss, Cora, and I am not sorry. Ye are mine by the hand of Fate. And I am yers because ye have lit a fire in me heart, something I firmly believed impossible.”
He leaned down and inhaled her scent. When he lifted his head, Cora felt her eyes glistening with tears.
“I love ye, lass.”
He replaced his thumb with his lips. It was a fiery kiss.
“Come with me, lass.”
Faolan scooped her up, cradling her against his chest. A little twist of emotion went through her, one that left her tingling with excitement, for being carried in his arms was something she found she liked very much.
He chuckled as he took her down the stairs. “Ye like this, eh, lass?”
Cora hooked her arms around his neck in response. The sun was gone, leaving her in her lover’s arms. Perhaps it was doomed to die out.
Well, all the more reason to make the most of the moment.
Faolan didn’t turn toward the tower where his chamber was. Instead, he made his way just past the kitchens, to a door behind them.
“What is that?”
Faolan set her on her feet and went to close the door. Cora moved into the room to peer at what was sitting next to the huge hearth in the kitchen. The room was very warm because it shared a wall with the hearth.
“That is Malcolm’s bathing tub,” Faolan answered her. He moved closer and looked down into it. “I understand he had it made at some hefty expense.”
“I’ve never seen such a large tub.” Cora blinked. “It must take a long time to heat the water for it.”
“Malcolm seems to have accounted for that as well,” Faolan remarked. He moved over to what Cora had believed was the back of the hearth. Instead, there was a door with hinges. In the semidarkness, she could see it glisten with water. Faolan opened the door, and water began to gush down into the tub.