his raging appetite. To guard her from harm at his hands.
His mistake was using the word, “frighten.”
Hallidis of Rivenloch wasn’t afraid of anything. Least of all the sort of blunted dagger that every milkmaid’s mother in Scotland had been impaled with at one time or another.
It was only doubt and misgiving that made her hesitate.
In battle, such doubt came from not knowing one’s foe, being unable to predict behavior or anticipate attacks.
The answer then was not to withdraw, but to lean in. To learn everything she could about Colban an Curaidh.
Though Colban had retreated, his chest still heaved with lusty breaths, and there was a shimmering spark in his eyes where desire smoldered. It would take but a small nudge, a whisper of encouragement to make that spark flicker back to life.
“I’m not afraid,” she told him.
With confidence born of willpower, she reached into the water and moved his hands aside. Then she slipped her hand carefully around him, grasping him as she would a sword.
He sucked a hard breath between his teeth. For one shameful instant, she feared she’d hurt him. But a quick glance at the pleasure in his eyes disabused her of that notion.
It was not unpleasant, holding him like this. His velvety smoothness would not injure her, she was sure.
He’d closed his eyes. She took the opportunity to lean forward and steal a kiss.
He responded at once, cradling her head in his hands and delving deeply into her mouth, letting their tongues mate in liquid ecstasy.
Beneath the water, her fingers skimmed along his length. He pulsed within her hand, which she slid all the way up to the hilt.
He groaned as if in torment, and Isabel’s warning haunted her.
“Is that too rough?” she murmured. “Have I hurt you?”
He answered with a sultry chuckle. “’Tisn’t pain, lass.”
His hand made a swift but sensual trek down her body, past her breasts, across her abdomen, and lower. He slipped his fingers into her nest of curls, stroking her there like a kitten.
Then he eased a finger between her nether lips, trespassing into the very place where all her desire centered.
At his touch, a surge of need blew through her soul like a hot wind. Her entire body felt suddenly aflame.
He was right. It wasn’t pain. It was like a sweet torment. A pleasurable, unquenchable longing for more.
She writhed against him, delighting in the pressure and friction of his fingertips grazing her flesh.
Below the water, he moved in a similar fashion against her palm, like a dagger seeking the sheath of her hand.
Soon their exploration took a serious turn. A turn from which there was little hope of return. Temptation would not be denied. Longing became need.
Caught up in a growing firestorm of sensations, billowing quickly out of control, Hallie gasped for breath.
Colban answered with a groan, resting his brow on her shoulder as if he battled some inner demon of his own making.
And in that moment of torturous restraint, hovering on the edge of desire and sin, of what they longed for and what was forbidden, a dangerous notion flickered to life in Hallie’s fevered brain.
Why should they hold back?
Why shouldn’t they simply follow their instincts? Let nature guide them? Strike while the iron was hot?
She wanted him.
He wanted her.
What would seal their union better than consummating it?
And then an even darker thought intruded upon her reasoning.
If she surrendered her virginity to him, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to undo their betrothal and deny their marriage. No one could foil her plans. Not her parents. Not even the king.
Coupling with the handsome Highlander was not only a desirable option. It was a damned clever strategy.
Colban was going to shame himself. He could feel it.
It had been a while since he’d unleashed the beast. And it was roaring for release.
He had to stop the lovely lass before it was too late to stop. The last thing he wanted was for his bride to see him gushing in the bath like a beardless lad. She might have second thoughts about marrying a man with so little control.
So he reluctantly withdrew his fingers from her warm and lovely nest, ignoring her sigh of dismay.
Grasping her shoulder, he lifted his head and, with a wordless look of apology, pushed her gently away. He pulled out of her grip, shivering in spite of himself at the divine sensation.
At the interruption, her eyes narrowed with impatience. But impatience rapidly turned to confusion and then disappointment. She assumed he was rejecting her.
Moved by the