8
ELIZABETH WAS REELING. The relief she’d felt on learning from Carrick’s squire where Thom was fled the moment she entered the kitchens and saw . . .
Everything. Her mouth went dry. Heat flooded her cheeks and spread over her skin in a prickly swath. He’d been naked. For one mind-numbing, breath-stealing, blood-heating moment she’d seen every inch of his body, and it had been incredible. The rock-hard muscles of his arms and chest had continued down past his narrow waist to his flanks and legs. There didn’t seem to be a spare ounce of flesh on him; he was lean, chiseled, and honed to a razor-sharp blade of masculine power and strength.
Good gracious, how could he have been hiding all this from her? For a moment she felt a spark of anger, feeling as if she’d been duped.
And then there had been that other part of masculine strength and power. The long, thick proof of his manhood that she’d glimpsed for only an instant before the drying cloth had been wrapped around his waist.
She’d felt something strange low in her belly. A flutter of awareness. A tiny contraction that made her body quiver.
With little privacy in a castle, she’d seen a number of backsides and male parts and never given it much thought. But she was thinking now, and she didn’t think she’d ever forget the sight of him. Just as she would never forget the lash of pain that had splayed through her chest when she saw the woman plastered to his chest and realized what she’d interrupted.
Were they . . . ?
Panic rose in her chest. Panic that put to shame the fear she’d felt on thinking that she wouldn’t be able to find him before Jamie did.
But her brother was still in the Hall eating; she still had time to convince Thom to help before he was ordered to do so. Trying to ignore the arm he had looped around the woman’s waist, she repeated, “Please, Thom.”
She stared into his eyes and felt a strange shiver run through her. There was something different about him. Something dangerous. Something hot and edgy that she didn’t understand. He wasn’t calm and indifferent anymore.
Their eyes held, and she almost backed away. Something wasn’t right. There was a strange energy crackling between them that instinctively she knew she could not handle. It was like trying to harness a maelstrom, trying to capture lightning, or trying to silence thunder.
“Very well,” he said.
She detected a slight slur in his voice and frowned. Was he drunk? Thom didn’t drink to excess. At least the Thom she’d known didn’t, but how much did she know about the man before her?
If she thought too much about that question, she might be more nervous than she already was. She was nervous, she realized. Which was ridiculous. This was Thom, she reminded herself. She’d known him for most of her life. He was like a brother to her.
The rejection of that thought was instant and visceral. He wasn’t like a brother to her at all. Not anymore, at least—if he ever had been.
He removed his arm from the woman’s waist. “Thank you, lass. But I think I can manage from here.”
The serving maid looked like she wanted to argue, but glanced in Elizabeth’s direction and seemed to think better of it.
Elizabeth stepped to the side to let the woman pass. A moment later, she and Thom were alone. Or virtually alone, as there were still a few people in the kitchens. But this corner was fairly secluded. No one would bother them. Why did that knowledge suddenly make the air between them fire even hotter?
She turned away to give him some privacy while he dressed, although she knew it was as much to stop herself from looking at him again.
When he’d donned a linen shirt and breeches, she crossed the room to stand before him. The heat and smell of soap from the tub infused her senses. At least that’s what she told herself. But she knew it probably had more to do with his heat and the fresh scent of soap that emanated from his skin. He smelled good. Really good.
She still couldn’t get used to how big he was. Standing this close to him, his chest a broad steely shield before her, it made her want to reach out and . . .
She cleared her throat, trying to shake off her errant thoughts. She had to focus on why she was here. “Jamie is back.”
She could almost feel him stiffen as every muscle in his body seemed to flex. Good gracious, why did she suddenly feel the urge to trace the chiseled contours with her fingertips and see if they were as steely as they looked?
“I know; I saw him ride in.”
“Then you must have seen that Archie wasn’t with him? It didn’t work, Thom. Jamie couldn’t climb the cliff. There was a sheer section near the top and he couldn’t do it. But you could. He said it would be easy for you. That you’ve climbed far more difficult before. I know it’s asking a lot, I know it could be dangerous, but he said there weren’t any soldiers guarding that section, and the other warriors will follow . . .” He wasn’t saying anything. Indeed, she couldn’t help noticing how eerily quiet he was while she rambled on. Something is wrong. But she didn’t listen to that little voice and pressed on. “I know you refused. I know you have no reason to help, but please, I’m begging you to reconsider.”
She had to convince him. After what he’d told her about feeling like a servant and being at their “command,” she couldn’t let him think he didn’t have a choice. He’d worked so hard to make a new life, and if Jamie forced him to do this, it would be a blow to his pride that he might never forgive.
She hadn’t realized her hand had fallen on his arm as she’d spoken until she noticed him staring at it. She tried to pull it back self-consciously, but he wouldn’t let her. He circled her wrist and drew her closer.
Their bodies were almost touching. Good Lord, it felt like she’d walked into the forge. Heat bellowed over her, weakening her knees. She felt strange. Light-headed—as if she might faint.
What was happening to her? This was Thommy.
“How badly do you want it, Elizabeth?” His voice was low and husky, and so ripe with meaning, she wondered if they were still talking about Archie. “What are you willing to bargain?”
Bargain? Suddenly, she understood. Money! Why hadn’t she thought of that before? If it seemed unusually mercenary for Thom, she reminded herself that things were different now. For a man to be a knight, it took coin. “Name your price, and you shall have it. I do not have much silver of my own, but I’m sure Jamie will pay you whatever—”
“I don’t want your brother’s blasted money!”
“But I told you, I have little of my own that is not in my tocher—” She stopped, looking at him in shock.
Was that what he was proposing? Marriage?
He laughed harshly. “Don’t look so horrified, that will not be required of you. As I said, I have other plans.”
She frowned, not just at the reminder of his betrothal, but at how quick he was to assume he knew what she was thinking. She’d been surprised—not horrified. “Then I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you?” His voice was husky again as his gaze slid down her body. Slowly. Intently. Leaving an imprint in its wake. “Can you think of nothing else with which to bargain?”
She gasped. The heat in his gaze left no doubt as to his meaning.
Jamie was right. Thom was not the noble boy with the fierce sense of right and wrong whom she remembered. He’d been prone to brooding moods at times, but this was a dark, angry side that she’d never seen before. “You would force me to give you my virtue?”
His eyes found hers. The hot flash of blue sent a blast of heat all the way to her toes. But it was the sultry smile that made her limbs start to melt. “Force?” He pulled her body snugly against his. “I won’t need to force anything.”
The fierce sensations that shuddered through her made her wonder if he might be right.
As a man who’d been around fire his whole life, Thom knew better than to play with it. But he wasn’t just playing with it, he was fueling it, stoking it, daring it to burn him. But he couldn’t stop. He finally had Lady Elizabeth Douglas where he wanted her. Seeing him—really seeing him—and the burgeoning awareness shuddering through her was irresistible.
He’d only sought to bargain with a kiss, but when she’d assumed more . . . well, he was not exactly in the right state of mind to set her right.
But why her assuming he wanted money angered him more than her thinking he was bargaining with her virtue he didn’t know.
He never should have touched her, and he especially never should have brought her body against his. The feel of her breasts crushed against his chest, the dart of her nipples, the flush of desire on her cheeks, and the sweet gasp and parting of her lips drove him out of his mind with lust. It took him to a place that was dark and deep and impossible to find his way out of. It was the place of erotic dreams and fantasies. The place where he finally tasted her. Finally touched her. Finally had her flush with desire and weak with surrender.
“You aren’t serious,” she managed nervously. “I know you, Thom. You don’t mean it.”
Her certainty only fueled the flames hotter. She didn’t know him at all. “You knew a boy who knew his place. A boy who only let you see what he wanted you to see. A village lad who wouldn’t dare to touch the perfect little princess for fear that he might sully her.”
Her eyes widened and flickered with what looked like fear. He didn’t know whom he hated more at that moment. He let her go and set her away from him, needing to put distance between her and his surging body. His fists clenched and re-clenched at his sides as he fought for control. “Is the thought of having my hands on you so offensive?”
She blinked. “No! I mean yes . . . I mean no, of course not! Why are you trying to confuse me?”
His mouth set in a hard, unforgiving line. “Is that what I’m doing? I thought we were bargaining. But since my terms didn’t appeal to you—”
“A kiss,” she said, cutting him off.
His heart might have stopped beating. His breath, however, had definitely stopped. All he could do was stare at her and wait for her to explain.
“I will let you kiss me, and then you will agree to help rescue Archie.”
Let you. His jaw clenched. “How gracious of you, but I’m afraid that isn’t good enough.”
She flushed, obviously surprised by his rejection of her terms. Did she think him that desperate for a taste of her?
So what if he was, damn it!
“What do you want, then?” she demanded, her own temper flaring.
“I will let you kiss me,” he said.
Her brows drew together. “That’s what I said.”
He didn’t correct her. “And we will see if you can persuade me that it is worth the risk.”
The furrow between her brows deepened. “How am I to do that?”
“Make it good.” His voice gave no hint of the rapid heating of his blood. “I’m sure you’ve been kissed before?”
Her eyes narrowed, as if she suspected there was more behind the question than there first appeared. She was right.
“Once or twice.”
The rage that rose inside him was so fast and furious it could only be bloodlust. His muscles flared. The thought of someone else touching her drove him to the very edge of his restraint. Who? When? Kill.
Somehow he managed to respond without growling. “Good. Then you will know what to do.”
Elizabeth had no idea what to do. Thom—the person she thought she knew most in the world who it turned out she didn’t know at all—was standing there obviously waiting for her to begin.
She eyed him warily, sensing that there was far more to this conversation than she was hearing.
It had seemed like a good idea, but now that she was actually looking at him, knowing what she had to do, it felt . . . bigger. Much bigger. And daunting. And somehow important—as if she were about to do something that she knew could never be undone.
She licked her suddenly dry lips and took a small step forward. But her entire body seemed to shake. Her knees were wobbling, her legs had turned to jelly, and her stomach seemed to be flipping around inside like a fish out of water.
That’s what she was. She had no idea what she was doing. She had been kissed before—twice, actually—but somehow she sensed a kiss like the quick pecks stolen by a particularly bold French suitor was not going to suffice.
Make it good.
She looked up at him, feeling her heart rise to her throat.
If only he weren’t so imposing.
If only he weren’t so tall, and so outrageously handsome.
And if only she hadn’t just seen him naked. Dear God, it was no time to think about that! Her heart was hammering so loudly she wondered if he could hear it.
His arms were crossed as he watched her move infinitesimally closer. “I don’t have all night.”
She scowled at him. This wasn’t easy for her, blast him. Straightening her shoulders, she wiped her hands on her skirts and closed the distance between them.
She stopped about a foot away.
His mouth curled with a smile that made her feel like a plump, juicy lamb. “I won’t bite,” he said, and then so softly that she wondered if she heard him right added, “Unless you want me to.”
Her eyes flew to his. But although he was still smiling that wicked “come closer if you dare” smile, his meaning and thoughts were indecipherable.
Good Lord, it was hot in here! There was a sheen of perspiration on her brow, and her skin felt as if it were fevered.
The tension between them was so thick she couldn’t breathe. Although there might be another explanation. Maybe she was scared to inhale because she feared his scent would wash over her and penetrate her senses again, confusing her.
He had to realize how nervous she was, yet he just stood there watching her with that inscrutable, impervious, annoyingly calm expression on his face. She felt a strange twinge of sympathy for her brother, recalling how many times Thom had used the same expression on him. It was how he’d fought back. How he’d defied his lord without doing so outright.
Was that what he was doing? Fighting back with indifference? The flare of anger gave her just the burst of courage she needed.
She was making more out of this than there was, she told herself. It was only a kiss. She could do this.
Putting both of her hands on his chest to brace herself, she lifted onto her toes.
But she still wasn’t tall enough. His mouth was still a few inches away, and clearly, he wasn’t going to make it easier on her by lowering it.
Blackguard!
Pursing her mouth, and bolder now with anger, she slid her hands around his neck, stretched against him, and dragged his head down to hers.
Their lips met in the softest, most delicate brush. The shock that ran through her, however, was not. It was jolting. Nerve flaring. Heart-stopping.
She almost drew back. But his body was warm, and despite being so hard, it was remarkably cozy, and the spicy scent of whisky on his breath was strangely intoxicating, drawing her in for more.
He had told her to make it good.