Chapter 16
William didn’t look at Kinsey again until they found the predetermined location by the river. He couldn’t. As it was, it had been too damn hard not to draw her against him and finish the kiss she’d started.
Her fingers were so petite in his, the connection between them crackling like lightning. He should have dropped his hold on her when they’d reached his men, but he held her a moment longer. Too long.
Reid’s gaze fell on them, and a single brow lift was all the reaction William needed. He slowly released Kinsey’s hand. Tingles of warm pleasure lingered on his skin, a reminder of the sweetness her closeness brought.
William looked around at the faces and breathed a sigh of relief to see so many. They had lost very few, thanks be to God.
Many had even managed to escape with their horses, including Reid.
“It eases my mind to see so many of ye here,” William said to his men.
“The king’s army will go to Jedwood Forest to recover.
Ye may join him there if ye like, but I would like to try taking Mabrick Castle again with a different strategy than before, utilizing what we know now.
” He caught Reid’s eye with a nod. “We are only two days away if we share the horses and can acquire more. The English won’t think to follow us, no’ when they’re chasing the lot who are fleeing to Jedwood. ”
“Where ye go, we follow,” Duff said.
The men around him nodded in agreement.
William’s chest swelled with an appreciation for his men. “Ye’re a good lot. I’m proud of ye.”
His da might be sparing with his praise, but William never wanted his men to question his pride in them.
Kinsey stood off to his right, where she’d remained after he’d released her hand. He longed to look toward her, to reassure himself she was there, that she was safe, alive.
When she’d fought with the sword, he had feared he might lose her before he could get to her. And then she’d saved him. He bit back a smile.
“We willna need to share horses,” Alec said. “There were several tied up a ways from here. Only two guards.”
William could have crowed with delight. With horses, they could travel faster, and could sell some off for coin when it was needed. Whatever had been left back at camp was lost to them. “Will five men be enough to take them?”
Alec grinned. “Ach, aye.”
“Go on with ye then.” William jerked his head in the direction Alec had indicated.
Alec and four others rode off.
Kinsey was still nearby, the familiarity of her feminine scent teasing at his awareness. His gaze drifted toward her and caught on Reid, reminding William what needed to be done. “Reid, go on to Jedwood and inform Laird MacLeod of our intentions.”
Reid grunted in acknowledgment, and William’s attention shifted back to his army. “When the men return with the horses, we ride.”
They cheered their approval, and those with steeds prepared them for a ride that would be a couple of hours at least.
A quiet moment settled on William as the attention of others fixed elsewhere, without the need for action on his part. In that flash of a second, his stare found Kinsey’s and met her bold, ice-blue eyes.
Lust pounded through his veins like fire, leaving him hot and hard beneath the padding of his gambeson. He let his gaze drift down her body, the fitted trews, the narrow leather belt, the white leine, now dirty and stained with a spot of blood.
He needed to bathe as much as he needed to sate his lust. An image rose in his mind, awash in a curtain of steam. A tub filled with hot, scented water and Kinsey. He wanted to plunge into that tub with her—slippery, wet skin and a frantic, eager joining.
Her breath quickened, evident by the rapid rise and fall of her bosom as if she too could see his thoughts. How he longed to cup her breasts in his palms and tease his tongue over those taut pink tips.
He swallowed and forced himself to turn away. “Duff,” he called out in a thick voice. He cleared his throat as the man approached. “I’ll need ye to ride ahead later to see if ye can secure an inn for our party or find a village with more than one inn, aye?”
Duff, of course, was quick to comply, and William filled the time waiting on Alec with planning where they might stop for the night.
The conversation wasn’t the distraction William wanted.
Considering an inn for the night made William think of the bed he would be sleeping in, and the fantasy immediately following of who he wanted in that bed with him.
Kinsey.
His body ached for her. It had for the last several days. Every time his eyes met hers, or he caught the delicate scent of her, he was dragged back to that intimate night when his fingers had explored her so intimately. When they’d slept the night together.
Fortunately, it did not take long for Alec and the four others to return with several horses in tow, the animals still strapped with travel packs.
“They dinna know what hit them, we came so fast.” Alec tossed a leather bag high in the air and caught it.
“Blighters had a good bit of coin on them too.”
“Paying to lodge us in an inn, and providing a bit of ale and food, is the least the bastards could do.” William leapt onto one of the horses.
He glanced back to ensure his men were ready and found Kinsey watching him, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright in a way he recognized well enough to send heat rushing to his cock.
Lovely.
Strong.
Enticing.
Never had he wanted a woman so badly in all his life. And never had his heart been more at risk.
The sun had begun to sink into the horizon when they finally stopped at an inn. Through the duration of the ride, Kinsey could not take her mind off William. How she wished that kiss could have lasted longer in the forest. Mayhap become more.
She’d hardly noticed the frigid wind several of the men groused over. Not when her body was burning up with longing, reliving the way his fingers had played over her sex, drawing out that incredible release.
It was a foolish thing even to waste time remembering when he’d resolved not to have her. He would be another woman’s husband.
He could never be hers.
Why then did he keep watching her like he wanted to drag her into his arms? And why could she not stop herself from wanting him?
She needed a solid night of sleep, a chance to be alone with her torment. Behind a door that she could lock. She bided her time as they filled the inn, eating a hearty meal of freshly cooked venison and crusty bread. Through it all, William’s stare continued to glide toward her.
She might have thought she imagined it, except that the serving wenches confirmed his distracted attention with their continued glares and spiteful resignation.
When enough time had passed that her departure would not bring attention, she pushed to her feet, bade good evening to the men and slowly climbed the stairs.
“I dinna ever thank ye.” William’s familiar voice came from behind her.
She didn’t turn, not trusting herself to even look at him. “For what?”
He appeared at her side. “For saving my life.” His voice was practically in her ear, low and intimate.
She repressed a shiver and kept her focus on the stairs. “Ye saved mine as well. Else I would have been fighting my blade and the Englishman all at once.”
“Were ye injured?” He turned her gently toward him, and his deep brown eyes searched hers. “I dinna ask…”
She shook her head. “And ye? Were ye injured?”
He lifted a shoulder. “A few swipes with a hammer.”
“I can look at them for ye if ye like.” She made the offer without first thinking about how such an invite might sound when clearly, he would have to come into her room for her to do that.
Heat flooded her cheeks and she continued up the stairs. “That is—I mean, I could do it in the hall, or—”
Her thoughts jumbled together, and her heartbeat echoed through every sensitive place on her body. She continued on to the landing, wishing she hadn’t made the offer.
“That’s no’ necessary.” William followed her, not stopping until they reached her door. “Kinsey, I…”
Whatever made him hesitate was the very thing that made her press him to say what he’d intended. “Aye?”
“I dinna trust myself with ye.” His gaze was locked on hers, each of them studying the other with an intensity that made it hard to breathe.
“Why?” she whispered.
His brows furrowed as if he were in pain. “Ye know why.”
Her lips went dry. She flicked her tongue over them, and his attention drifted to her lips. “I do.”
The muscles at his jaw flexed as if he were gritting his teeth. “I should go.” He didn’t move.
She nodded mutely but wished she could shake her head, to beg him instead to stay. As he’d done before.
He would have a wife someday, and that wouldn’t be her.
William reached for her and gently caressed her cheek. Kinsey closed her eyes, reveling in his touch as an embarrassing little whimper rose from the back of her throat.
A moment passed, and his hand didn’t move as she’d expected it to. As she’d hoped it wouldn’t.
The spicy scent of him grew more apparent, and she recognized that he’d drawn nearer. His hand slipped to the back of her neck to cradle the weight of her head, and his mouth found hers.
His lips brushed hers. Sweet. Tender.
She could have cried at the beauty of it. At how greatly her soul had longed for this.
His tongue was gently prodding at her lips, which she parted for him, desperate for the stroke. He deepened their kiss and pressed their bodies more firmly together. Hardness nudged against her belly, a telltale sign of his arousal.
Whatever control had tethered Kinsey until then snapped.
Her kisses turned hungry, desperate, as did his, their bodies arching against one another.
He nudged her back to the door and slid one powerful leg between her legs.
She rolled her hips against him, so his muscular thigh rubbed at her sex. Her desire blazed out of control.
She needed him like air.
Footsteps echoed off the wooden boards, heading straight for them.