Chapter 19 #2
chambers and keep her safe. But that was impossible. She was a
woman with a mind of her own. It seemed that all he could do was
stand idly by while she leaped from one dangerous adventure to the
next.
Did she not know that she was tearing him
apart?
He heard Sabina’s high-pitched, childish
voice. “Oh, my lady. That is the loveliest gown of all. You look so
beautiful.’’
“Thank you, Sabina. And thank you for all
your aid. Now you must go and assist the queen, or she will have
your head.”
The girl giggled. “Aye, my lady.”
Jamie heard the door close, then heard the
sound of Lindsey humming as she moved around her room.
Humming. His fury grew. She was humming a
tune while he was still reeling from the assault on his nerves.
The door of her sleeping chamber opened and
Lindsey stepped into the room.
She was wearing a gown of gold that would put
the sun to shame. Shot with silver and gold threads, it shimmered
and glowed in the light of the candles. Her hair had been pulled
off her face with golden combs. She was so beautiful she took his
breath away.
She seemed surprised to find him there. For a
moment her eyes widened. Then she gave him a sweet smile. She had
already forgiven him for his earlier display of temper.
“I never properly thanked you for what you
did, my lord. I am most grateful that you rescued me from the
forest.”
He said nothing. But, she noted, the frown
was back on his face. And a little muscle was working in the side
of his jaw.
“I am sorry to have caused so much
trouble.”
“Aye. Trouble. You have been nothing but
trouble since the day I met you.”
She was stung by his harsh words. She should
have known he was nothing more than a disagreeable tyrant. “Then
you will forgive me, my lord, if I do not tarry, since I am
obviously unwelcome company.”
As she turned away his hand snaked out,
clamping her wrist in a painful grasp. She could feel the carefully
coiled tension vibrating through him.
Her eyes grew as dark and stormy as his. “You
will let me go at once.”
“Nay, my lady. Not until I have had my
say.”
She lifted her chin with an air of defiance.
All the curses her brothers had taught her through the years leaped
to her mind. “I am not interested in your words, you son of a
viper. May you rot—”
“You will listen.” His hand closed over her
shoulder, forcing her to stand still. He bit off each word with a
fury that had him trembling. “You will ride only when I am with
you.”
“How dare—’’
He drew her closer, until she could feel the
sting of his hot breath against her temple. “You will go nowhere
with Ian MacPherson.”
“I will go wherever I—”
“Damn you.” He kissed her. A hard, punishing
kiss that cut off her words and left her breathless.
Against her lips he rasped, “You are driving
me mad, Lindsey. You are the most infuriating, impossible female I
have ever encountered.”
“Well, if this is how you intend to treat
me...”
He kissed her again and felt all his tightly
held control begin to slip. What had begun as a desperate move to
silence her quickly became a passion that, once unleashed, whirled
out of control.
He crushed her to him and devoured her with
kisses that left her no chance to protest, no chance to even think.
There was no gentleness in him now. Only fire and rage and hard,
driving need. The hands that pressed against her might have bruised
her tender flesh. He was beyond knowing. He knew only that he was
caught up in something so powerful, so compelling, he had not the
strength to fight it.
Lindsey was overwhelmed by the passionate
rage in him. It matched her own troubling feelings. But as the kiss
deepened, she sensed the subtle change in him. Though the hands
that held her were still firm, they were no longer rough. And
though his kisses devoured her, they were no longer punishing. His
lips were warm and firm and demanding. “What am I to do with you?”
His whisper had the sound of quiet desperation. “I cannot sleep,
knowing you are but a few steps away. I am tormented by thoughts of
storming your room and making you mine. I can bear this tension no
longer.”
For the first time, she was at a loss for
words. She went very still as his meaning began to penetrate the
confusion that clouded her mind.
She lifted her lips and felt a wild surge of
power when he kissed her with a hunger that left her trembling.
“You are not angry with me?”
“Angry, my lady?” His lips roamed her face,
touching lightly across her lids, her brow, her temple. “I am
beyond anger. I am being devoured by worry, and jealousy, and fear
for your safety.”
She heard but one word.
“You are jealous? Of—Ian MacPherson?”
He responded with a low, guttural sound
before returning for another taste of her lips. “I am consumed with
fears for your safety, and you care only if I am jealous.”
“You are. I can hear it in your voice.” She
gave a delighted laugh and wrapped her arms around his waist.
He was surprised at how quickly his anger
returned. “You mock me.”
“Nay, my lord.” She drew closer, loving the
way his eyes darkened as he studied her. “It is just that I
thought...” She ran a tongue over her lips and tried again.
“Earlier this day, I suspected that you despised me for carelessly
getting lost in the forest. I realized that I caused you untold
worry, but...”
“It would seem,” he said, pressing his lips
over hers, “that this is the only way to make you understand
anything.”
The kiss was long, and slow, and unhurried.
And as the passion built, their kisses became more desperate, until
their breathing was shallow and ragged. His hands gripped her
shoulders, his thumbs making lazy circles on the bare flesh of her
upper arms.
“Stay with me, Lindsey.”
She heard his words as if from a great
distance, and struggled with a new kind of terror. She pushed
against him, but she was no match for his strength.
“I must go. They await me below stairs.”
He brought his lips to her throat, where his
nibbling kisses left her weak with needs. Needs that pulsed and
throbbed until she was forced to cling weakly to him.
“Nay. Stay here with me.”
His meaning was very plain. She struggled to
clear her mind. She wanted what he wanted. The need for him had
grown with every kiss. But the thought of what he was asking
terrified her. They were not betrothed. He had not spoken for
her.
“I cannot.”
He brought his lips to her shoulder and
thrilled to the way she trembled in his arms as he ran kisses
across her sensitive skin.
“And I cannot bear another moment without
you, Lindsey. I love you. God help me, I tried to deny it, but I
can no longer deny what my heart tells me. I love you.”
Love. It was the only thing he could have
said that left her defenseless. With a little gasp she stared at
him, then lifted her hand to his cheek in a gesture so tender, he
felt his heart stop.
“You truly love me?”
“Aye.”
She touched a finger to his lips. “And I love
you, Jamie MacDonald.”
For a long moment, Jamie could not speak. But
in his eyes was a look so filled with love and longing, there was
no denying his feelings.
“Then you will stay with me?”
Lindsey could not speak over the lump in her
throat. With tears glittering like diamonds in her eyes, she
nodded.
Without a word he lifted her in his arms and
carried her to his sleeping chamber.