The Warrior of Clan Kincaid by Lily Blackwood

Author:Lily Blackwood [Blackwood, Lily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

“Until now,” he repeated.

Derryth did not speak. She did not know what to say. She could summon no argument to disarm him. No reason to dissuade.

Cull’s eyes burned with intensity. “Not only that, but he has given me a chance to rise above a past that would otherwise still chain me. A chance to have property, and a castle of my own. But more important, a name to give daughters and sons.” He paused. “It is all I have ever wanted. It is all I’ve ever striven for. I will not allow the chance to slip away.”

Something else occurred to her then. “Like other men of such position, you will marry a noblewoman, to strengthen your position.”

“That is … the expectation,” he replied softly.

“Why have you told me all of this?” she asked, forcing a brave smile, though tears stung her eyes. “You could have just gone on as before, until you let me go.”

“I wanted you to know why.”

“Why you can’t choose me,” she said, her heart breaking, just a bit, because of the finality of it all.

He dipped his chin. “Perhaps one day you’ll forgive me for what I’m going to do there, in Inverhaven, but I know you won’t be able to forget.” He touched her hand, where it rested on the blanket. “I just wanted you to know it’s all right for us to be on opposite sides. That you can hate my actions, and I don’t blame you.”

He did not know how opposite their sides were. Not yet. But he would soon. She did feel greater peace now, knowing he would understand when the time came. That there would be no accusations of betrayal or duplicity.

She nodded, blinking away tears. “We don’t have to hate each other.”

She felt such sadness. As if they were saying good-bye. Desperately, her gaze swept over his lips … the line of jaw … to his throat below, memorizing his every feature.

“I could never hate you,” he said, leaning closer, his blue eyes spearing her through with such intensity, she shivered. “And soon … I’ve no choice but to let you go.”

One last kiss.

Her pulse rising in her ears, she moved toward him, her hands touching his chest.

His mouth crushed down on hers, with a passion that stunned her. Feeling helpless against his desire and her own, she clutched at him, kissing him back. His mouth slanted on hers, tasting of wine, and his hands came to her shoulders. Derryth was so centered on him, on remembering every detail of these moments that might be their last, she did not protest when he lay her back onto the blanket. His eyes glazed with passion, he lay beside her and deftly unfastened her cloak. She stared up through the tree limbs, her hands in his flaxen hair as his mouth moved to her neck … and his hands to the lacings of her kirtle, the front of which he parted.

“Again,” he murmured. “One kiss, and I am lost.”

She gasped, as

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