Quest of the Highlander (Crowns & Kilts #5) - Cynthia Wright Page 0,35

her during his weeks at Falkland Palace, yet when he saw her today, the aura about her had been so unsettling that he felt discomfited by those memories. As he had dined with his family tonight, Lennox had casually mentioned Nora to Fiona, wondering if the lovely tapisier might be grieving a loss or dealing with a crisis of some sort. Fi assured him that she had asked Nora the same question, but the girl had denied any problem. At that point, Grant had glanced up, alert, but after Lennox changed the subject to his impending journey west, the lad returned to his trencher of roasted peacock with wine sauce.

Fi’s words came back to him yet again: My dear brother, you barely know the lass. All your life, you have rescued those in need…but is it your place to intervene with Nora Brodie?

Nay, he had more than enough problems of his own, without shouldering Nora’s as well, even if she wanted him to, which she clearly did not. Lennox sighed and closed his eyes. Dawn would be here soon, and he needed sleep so that he might focus on his quest.

No sooner had he drifted off, than a tapping came at his door. Immediately wide awake, Lennox bolted upright and reached for his sword, propped at the side of the bed. Was he going to open the portal completely naked except for his weapon? It seemed he had no choice, for he could see, in his exhaustion, he had forgotten to bar the door.

However, as Lennox swung his legs over the side of the bed, a soft voice spoke.

“Lennox MacLeod? Is this your chamber?”

“Nora!” he said hoarsely, shocked. Moving back against the pillow, he drew the sheet over the lower half of his body. “Come in.”

The door swung slowly open, and Nora’s face came into view, pale and uncertain in the moonlight. She was wearing an emerald-green cloak, the hood pushed back to frame her mass of long curls.

“I cannot rise to offer greeting without revealing more than ye want to see,” he explained with a note of irony. “Close the door and come over here. What the devil has brought ye to my chamber in such an unexpected manner?”

Nora did as he bade, seeming almost to float as she approached. Indeed, Lennox thought as he watched her emerge from the shadows, she could have been a spirit with her luminous skin and haunted blue eyes. However, as she sat down on the edge of his bed, he perceived that her mood was hardly ephemeral.

“I have come to ask for your help.” There was a tremor in her voice. “You must help me!”

Taken aback, Lennox reached for her hands and found them cold and damp. “By the saints, what is it?”

“Promise. I beg of you!”

“Nora Brodie, I will assist if I can, but first ye must tell me what is wrong.”

“I cannot confide all, not yet, but you must believe that my circumstances are desperate.” She closed her eyes for a moment, and Lennox almost imagined he could hear her heartbeat in the silence between them. “Please, take me with you when you leave Stirling Castle.”

Lennox could not believe his ears. “Are ye in jest? I cannot do such a thing. Ye would be ruined and your father would see me hanged. Or worse.”

“What if I told you I have been thinking of you? That I have…feelings for you and cannot bear to think of you leaving forever?”

Now Nora came closer, sitting near so her soft hip touched his hard flank, and he inhaled her fresh scent, like linen and sunshine. Their eyes met. She reached up and touched the muscled planes of his chest.

“Lass, I think ye have gone mad,” he managed to whisper.

In the next moment, Nora had slipped a hand to the back of Lennox’s neck. “If you will not take me away, then grant me one kiss.”

A groan seemed to rise up from the core of him as her sweet lips lightly brushed his. All the times she had visited him in dreams suddenly were real, and arousal coursed through him like a wildfire. “Nora.” Had he spoken?

Her mouth opened under his, and he tasted her, so sweet, his tongue lightly touching hers. Gently, then with building intensity. Her cloak had come open, and Lennox realized that she wore only her shift beneath it. It was open halfway in front, affording him a glimpse of the inviting curve of one breast. His cock, already stiff with