Heart and their wives. I think it exists with us.”
“Do you mean that sense of understanding what you need without having to say it?” Moira wondered.
“Yes. I did try to manipulate you,” Kyle admitted. “Many times I tried to get the information I wanted. I’m sorry for that, Moira. I tried to force you to trust me in ways you weren’t ready for. But you weren’t wrong when you said you trusted me and not just with your body. You knew from the beginning. And I knew too. I knew I could give you what you needed, just as much as I needed what you gave me. And I don’t just mean the coupling. I mean what passes between us.”
“Even when I feared you didn’t want me and that you left me behind, that you would reject me if I found you, somehow I still trusted that you were looking for me,” Moira said. “I knew I’d be safe if I could just get to you. I lived at Dunluce for two-and-twenty years and never felt as at home as I do when I’m with you. I can’t fathom how you can understand me so well. But you know when I need comforting. You know when I need to let go, to not be in control. You know when I need challenging. I can’t explain it. It’s just in me, Kyle.”
“Will you stay with me, sweet one?” Kyle asked, holding his breath.
“Yes. Maybe tonight isn’t the night to decide whether I turn pirate or you retire, and maybe tonight isn’t the night to decide if we marry, but I will stay with you always.” Moira had never felt calmer with any decision she’d ever made. The serenity in her expression was genuine for the first time in years. “May I have my spanking now, Capt’n?”
“Good God, yes,” Kyle growled before guiding her across the chamber. She forced away the questions about whether this was his regular chamber. She supposed it was since he’d demanded a key, but Daisy never said to which room. “Stop thinking about her, sweet one, or your spanking will be harsher.”
“How did you know?” Moira asked with disbelief.
“Because I know you. You admitted you were jealous, and you have a sharp mind. You want to know whether this is the chamber I always use. And you assume it is, since she didn’t tell me which room the key went to,” Kyle stated. “Over my knee.”
Moira stretched across Kyle’s legs and waited as he pulled her skirts up to the middle of her back. She waited with building anticipation, but nothing happened.
“Kyle?”
“Hmm. Just enjoying the view, sweet one.” Kyle massaged her upturned globes, reveling in the feel of Moira’s silky skin beneath his rough palms. “You shall receive twenty spanks for risking your beautiful slim neck by bribing the magistrate. You shall receive another punishment for jumping into the sea and nearly killing yourself when I can think about that calmly and rationally. I am not there yet.”
“Yes, Capt’n,” Moira stated. The first slap rang against the walls in the quiet chamber. There was no fire in the hearth, and the noise from the floor below hadn’t grown loud enough for them to hear. Moira counted each spanking, thanking Kyle in between. When he finished, he eased his fingers between her legs.
“You’re wet for me, sweet one,” Kyle observed.
“I have been since I saw you enter the magistrate’s,” Moira confessed. “Then you kissed me outside, and I confess, I wouldn’t have cared who saw us if you decided to couple with me.”
“Do you wish for an audience, Moira? I’ve asked that before,” Kyle said as he worked his fingers in and out of her sheath before rubbing her pearl. Moira moaned, struggling to focus on what Kyle asked.
“No. Not particularly. But if it’s the choice between you touching me or not, then I don’t care who sees,” Moira admitted with another moan. “Please, Kyle.”
“Please what, sweet one?”
“Please may I climax, Capt’n?” Moira begged.
“Yes, sweet one.” Before Moira knew what was happening, Kyle flipped her around, so she was once more cradled against him. His fingers worked her. “I won’t be denied seeing you while you spend in my arms, Moira.”
She clung to him as her back arched from his lap. She gasped as waves of pleasure rolled over her, making her shudder as their gazes locked. As her body calmed, Kyle held her against him, and she had no interest in moving. But as her senses returned