d it were morning so she could be doing.
When the door opened, she picked up the dagger she’d set beside the basin. Then put it down again when Larkin stepped in.
“Didn’t hear you knock.”
“I didn’t. I thought you might be sleeping.” He closed the door quietly behind him, took a quick scan of the room. “Does this suit you then?”
“The room? It’s rock star. Feel a little weird, that’s all. Like I walked into a book.”
“I understand that, as I felt the same not long ago. Your wounds, do they trouble you?”
“They’re nothing. Yours?”
“My mother fussed over them. That made her happy, as did weeping all over me. She’s anxious to meet you, all of you.”
“I guess.” Awkward, Blair thought. Why was it all so awkward? “I, ah, it never really computed before. You being royalty.”
“Oh well, that’s not much to do with me, really. It’s more ceremonial than anything. Honorary, you could say.” He cocked his head as he moved toward her. “Did you think I wouldn’t come to you tonight?”
“I don’t know what I thought. It’s all pretty confusing.”
“Confused, are you?” A smile flirted around his mouth. “I don’t mind that. I’ll just confuse you a bit more, seduce you.”
He traced his finger along the edge of her tank, just teasing the skin.
“You spend a lot of time on seductions? Say, working that on the blonde with the breasts? What was her name? Isleen.”
“Flirtation, all in good fun, never seduction. It’s not proper or fair to take advantage of one who serves you.” He leaned to her, brushed his lips over her shoulder, nudged the strap down. “And while I might have dallied in the past, you weren’t here. For it’s the God’s truth there’s not another woman in Geall to compare to you.”
He brought his lips to hers, just to nibble. “Blair Murphy,” he murmured. “Warrior and beauty.”
He played his hands down her back, deepening the kiss just a little. Then just a little more. And when his lips cruised over her face, along her throat, he all but crooned to her in Gaelic.
The sound of it, the feel of him nearly had her eyes rolling back in her head.
“I keep thinking this is a mistake. But it feels so damn good.”
“Not a mistake.” He caught her chin with his teeth while his thumbs slid up, circled her nipples. “Not at all.”
Part of the journey, she told herself as she melted into him. They’d take something good, something strong for themselves along the way.
So she met his lips with hers now, sank herself into him, the warm, solid flesh. There was sweetness in those easy strokes of his hands, and a shivering thrill whenever they found her secrets.
When he lifted her into his arms, she didn’t feel like a warrior. She felt conquered.
“I want you.” She pressed her face into the curve of his throat as he lay her on the bed. And just breathed him in. “How can I want you so much?”
“It’s meant.” He lifted her hand, kissed the cup of her palm. “Ssh,” he said before she could speak. “Just feel. For tonight, let’s both of us just feel.”
She could be so soft, he thought, so pliant, so giving. In surrender she made him feel like a king. Those eyes, the drowning blue, watched him as they moved together. They blurred with pleasure as he touched her, tasted her. Those hands, so firm on the hilt of a sword, trembled a little when she drew his shirt aside to find him.
Her lips pressed against his chest, against the heart that was already lost to her.
They took each other slowly, quietly, while the firelight shimmered over their bodies. There were murmurs and sighs instead of words, and a long, lazy climb instead of the frantic race.
When he slipped inside her, he watched her face, watched her as they moved together. As everything in him gathered for that final leap, he watched her still.
And at the end of it, he thought he’d simply fallen into her eyes.