They returned to the great hall and after a few moments, Elise left him without a backward glance, as though they were merely acquaintances. She disappeared through the door that led to the royal chambers, her bodyguard shadowing her. Many surreptitious glances followed her.

Cameron exhaled a long breath. So far her reputation remained intact. He knew it wasn’t something that especially concerned Elise, and he doubted any of his fellow warriors would think less of her if they knew she had taken him as her lover.

But that was beside the point. Elise was a princess. She should not be spoken about in such a way, and the fact that she had been in the spring was a poisoned thorn in his side. He caught sight of Stuart MacGregor flirting outrageously with the noblewoman Cameron had found himself in bed with the other morning, and his scowl deepened.

He would take great pleasure in bloodying MacGregor’s nose for such lies. But MacGregor wasn’t the only one. Did he intend extracting retribution for every warrior who had claimed to share Elise’s favors in the past?

It was a tempting proposition. But one he reluctantly acknowledged would remain unsatisfied.

Instead, he prowled around the hall and watched Connor’s men and the newly arrived king’s men vie for the Pictish noblewomen’s approval. Scandal and sexual intrigue thickened the air, and the haunting strains of the harps added to his building frustration.

But he could not go to Elise yet. It was too soon.

He swung about and grabbed a tankard of ale. And saw MacAllister watching him with barely concealed speculation. Cameron raised his tankard in a mocking gesture before swallowing half the contents.

There was something about the older man that made his flesh crawl. It wasn’t the fact he deliberately wanted Elise kept in the dark about their destination or the way he’d threatened Cam. It was connected, certainly, but it went much deeper. A fundamental conviction that MacAllister had a hidden agenda.

Of course he did. He was MacAlpin’s man. Cameron’s grip on the tankard tightened. His thoughts regarding his king bordered on treason lately, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. The suspicions were polluting his mind.

He had to discover the truth of what happened to the nine Pictish nobles last spring in Dunadd.

***

Finally it was time. It was a simple matter to leave the hall without attracting attention, and he found the concealed staircase without a problem. An iron grill gate at the foot of the stairs was unlocked and ajar and after a stealthy glance around, he entered the enclosed staircase.

It was dark as he climbed the ancient stone steps. It hadn’t occurred to him to bring a torch. But eventually he saw a glimmer of light ahead.

He emerged through another iron gate where Elise’s bodyguard, torch held aloft, regarded him in stony silence. Cam glowered back. He wasn’t used to resorting to subterfuge when it came to sexual affairs. But his ill temper wasn’t because of the secrecy. He, after all, was the one who had insisted upon it. It was the disapproval etched on the Pict’s face. The expression told Cam as clearly as if the words had been spoken aloud that he wasn’t good enough for the princess. Not even as a transient liaison.

The bodyguard led him along the passage then knocked on a timber door. A servant opened it and Cam stepped into the antechamber, slinging a glance at the bodyguard who folded his arms and radiated menace.

He hoped the man was accompanying Elise on her journey. She needed loyal men around her. And although he trusted Connor’s men with his life, only five were leaving with him tomorrow. The rest were MacAllister’s men and mac Uurguist’s mercenaries.

He followed the servant across the antechamber and waited while she went into, he presumed, Elise’s bedchamber. He took a moment to look around. The antechamber was luxurious in the extreme, with thick rugs covering the floor and tapestries on the walls. For some reason it brought to mind his own hill fort, Dunmar, and the sorry state he’d left it in the last time he’d been there.

Even aside from Dunmar’s sordid history, the grim interior held nothing that would please a princess like Elise.

He glowered at the ornate fireplace. Why was he thinking of Elise and his hill fort? The chance of her ever setting foot inside Dunmar was non-existent. His father might have been a noble and his mother related to cursed foreign royalty, but no royal Scots blood flowed in his own veins. Elise would never be anything more to him than a fleeting liaison.

“Cameron MacNeil.” There was a trace of laughter in Elise’s voice and he swung around. She stood in the open doorway to her bedchamber and his heart slammed against his ribs at the sight of her. She was wearing a sleeveless white under-gown and her hair tumbled over her shoulders, unhindered by any veil.

She was a vision.

“Come.” Her whisper was seductive and she stepped back as he entered her chamber. Even with only the flicking light from the fire, he could see it was as lavishly decorated as the antechamber. “You look entirely disagreeable to be in my company.” Elise smiled up at him. Obviously his scowl didn’t worry her at all and why was he scowling in any case?

This was a brief affair. It could never be anything else. To wish for something more would bring nothing but disappointment.

More than disappointment. He shoved the thought aside. He wouldn’t waste the time he and Elise had together wishing for the impossible.

He kicked the door shut with his heel. Shadows spilled from distant corners. Why had her servants not lit her torches?

“I don’t find your company disagreeable.” He took a lock of her hair and it slid through his fingers, like golden sunbeams. He gave a twisted grin at the thought. When had he ever been so poetic?

“I’m happy to know it.” She reached up and trailed her finger across his lips. “I like to see you smile. It illuminates the chamber.”

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, tugging her close. “You say the most outrageous things, my lady. I have never before been told my presence illuminates a chamber.”

“Then the ladies of Dal Riada must be insensitive to your charms.”

She linked her fingers together around the back of his neck. Her luscious body melded against his, warm and soft and full of promise. It was too dark to see the color of her eyes, but he saw them anyway. They were the blue of a summer sky, when no clouds marred the horizon.

“I have no charms.” He searched her face, memorizing every feature for the years ahead when she would no longer be in his arms. “But I’ve often been called insensitive.”

She sighed, her breath a seductive caress along the line of his jaw. “Perhaps I’m the only one who sees beneath your scowl, Cameron.” Her fingers twined in his hair and her nails teased the back of his neck. “Perhaps I’m the only one you want to see beneath your surly façade.”

He hadn’t thought of that before. But now he considered her words. And realized she spoke the truth.

He did want Elise to see beyond the man who had spent more than a third of his life pledged to avenge his sister’s death. For nine years, bitterness had corroded his soul and concealing his devastating memories and vow of revenge had become second nature.

But deep in his shuttered heart, it wasn’t who he was. Except the boy he had once been had never had the chance to be anything else. Had never known he could want anything else.

Until he had met Elise.

“You’re the only one who’s ever wanted to.” He hadn’t meant to say that aloud, and could feel his familiar scowl masking his feelings once again. His protective barrier against the outside world where ugliness ruled and evil claimed the lives of innocents.

Elise cradled his face. Her hands were soft, her touch gentle, and his taut muscles slowly relaxed. She didn’t say a word, simply gazed up at him as though she could somehow ease his burden through silence alone.

Moments passed. The only sound in the chamber was from the crackle of the fire. The tightness in his chest eased and he exhaled a long breath. Elise hadn’t laughed at him. Had he really expected her to? But it had been so long since he’d said anything that came close to exposing the black turmoil that imprisoned his heart he’d forgotten a tender touch could soothe an aching soul.

For a second an eerie sense of familiarity whispered through his mind. But he had never shared such a moment with a woman. His previous encounters had been earthy and enjoyable but not once had he discarded his battle-honed veneer long enough for his bed partner to glimpse what seethed beneath.

He wasn’t sure why he had now. Except that with Elise, he wanted so much more than he ever had before.

“My brave Scot warrior.” Her hands drifted over his shoulders and she began to loosen the ties on his shirt. “You need no mask when we’re alone.”

It was true. He didn’t. Except for one.

She could never know the part he had played in mac Uurguist’s death.

With reluctance, he released her so he could lay aside his sword, strip off his plaid and pull his shirt over his head. Elise stared at him, and it must have been the flickering light from the fire that distorted her expression because she looked…enthralled.

No woman had ever looked at him in such a manner before. His blood heated and cock thickened, but he refrained from pulling her into his arms. He wanted to enjoy that look on her face a little longer.

“Are you admiring my scars, my lady?” God, where had that come from? He never felt the need to speak during such sexual encounters. He certainly never felt the need to gently mock the reminders of his battles. But even as the thoughts thudded through his mind, he couldn’t stop his grin.

Elise’s look of almost reverential awe as she gazed on his body aroused him in a way he had never before imagined possible.

“Do you have scars?” Her voice was breathless. “I did not notice.”

He laughed. Unbelievably, he flexed his biceps and struck a pose he had never before contemplated. A pose a sex slave might adopt, when trying to catch the eye of a potential new mistress.

“What do you notice, princess?” Was he flirting? Could it be this easy? Yet he couldn’t imagine speaking this way to anyone but Elise.

“I notice…” She hesitated, and finally her gaze once again caught his. “I notice you are the most beautiful man I’ve ever encountered.”

A strange pain twisted through his chest. He’d been called many things in his life. But no woman had ever called him beautiful.

“A man is not beautiful.” His voice was gruff, and his arms dropped to his sides. “But you’re beautiful, Elise. I have never seen another to compare.”

She brushed the tips of her fingers over his chest, a look of wonderment on her face. He wasn’t certain whether it was her touch or her expression that caused his balls to throb with need. He clenched his fists so he wouldn’t be tempted to rip the gown from her and take her where she stood. But he was tempted, regardless.

“I want you, Cameron MacNeil.” Her breathless confession stretched his control beyond his limits. He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her roughly against his body. She laughed, a breathy whisper against his jaw, her palms flattened against his nipples. “Come to the bed.”

He ignored her command and with his free hand grasped her under-gown and tugged the soft material upwards. He wanted to see her naked before him, bathed in nothing but the glowing light of the fire. The vision burned into his brain and it took an agonizing moment for him to realize the pressure against his chest was Elise trying to break free of his embrace.

“What’s wrong?” He loosened his grip around her waist but continued to drag her gown up her leg. Until she clasped his wrist in a silent but eloquent gesture.

“Nothing is wrong.” Without releasing his wrist, she attempted to pull him toward her bed. “Cameron, come to bed.” There was the faintest undercurrent of desperation in her tone and buried beneath the thundering beat of lust suspicion stirred.

He let go of her gown and cradled her face. Her hand slid along his forearm to nestle in the crook of his elbow. Her eyes were dark pools of temptation and he almost forgot what had to be said.

“I don’t want your gown between us this time, Elise. I need to see you.”

She swallowed and the tip of her tongue moistened her lips. He knew she didn’t do it deliberately and yet he still found her action intensely provocative.

“You will. I’ll take my gown off in bed. Beneath the furs.”

His suspicion solidified. “I don’t care about your leg. You know that, don’t you?”

She flinched as though he’d struck her. Instinctively his fingers tightened around her face. Why would she react in such a way?

“Of course.” But her gaze dropped from his. Disbelief seared through his chest. Did she truly believe he lied? “But… I would rather not risk your… I would rather you remember me like this. That’s all.”

The flames from the fire threw shadows across the chamber. Darkness claimed the corners and inched across the floor. It seemed to him that Elise was truly bathed in a halo of light.

But there was a darkness beneath her smile that he had never really seen before. He could agree to her wishes and take her beneath the furs. But if he did, something rare and precious within her soul would wither.

He had no idea where the thought came from or why he should imagine such a fanciful thing. But it wouldn’t shift.

And neither would he.

He rested his forehead against hers. “Three nights ago you followed me, unaccompanied, outside the palace. Today you took me to a deserted roundhouse. And now I’m in your chamber, alone with you. Why would you do all this, my princess, unless you trusted me not to harm you?”

She wound her arms around him, her hands gliding over his taut skin. Her touch was light, almost tentative, but his flesh burned beneath her questing fingers and his cock ached for release.

“I do trust you.” Her whisper was husky and sank into his blood like the finest wine. “I know you would never harm me.”

He closed his eyes, savoring her words. Just a few short months ago, he considered her and all her people his bitterest enemy. But that was before he’d met her.

Before all his bloodied prejudices had been ripped from his embittered soul.

Once again the silence wrapped around them. All he could hear was the sound of his heartbeat in his ears. All he could feel was Elise in his arms.

Need pounded. Frustration warred. He reined in his lust, subdued his passion. He didn’t know—didn’t want to know—what mac Uurguist had done to Elise to make her so uneasy. But he knew one thing.

She had to make the decision herself.