Highland Heather - Highland Heather Part 57
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Highland Heather Part 57

The look in his eyes was so bleak, Brenna longed to reach out to him, to offer him a measure of comfort. But she did not know how.

"I am sorry, my lord. Even now, your grief is such that it pains you to speak of it."

"Grief?" He turned to her then and she saw the pain etched on his handsome features.

"You mistake bitterness for grief. I cannot grieve over what was never mine."

She blinked.

"What are you saying?"

"The lady loved another. She only used me to make her lover jealous.

And to give his child a name. "

"Child! You have a child, my lord?"

"Nay." He drained the goblet and refilled it.

"The child died in her womb."

Without thinking she touched a hand to his sleeve.

"I am sorry, my lord."

He pulled away from her touch, but not before he felt the first stirrings of desire.

"I do not want your pity."

She watched as he emptied the goblet a second time. There were no words that she could speak. And yet she had to ask the question that burned in her mind.

"Why..." She swallowed and tried again.

"Why, when you are so bitter, would you ask for my hand? It is obvious that you do not wish to be wed again."

Why, indeed? Had he not asked himself this very question? His face became an unreadable mask.

"I am, after all, responsible for bringing you to England. When I surmised that Windham would speak for you, I knew that I could not allow you to be placed under his cruel domination." He shrugged.

"I accepted my responsibility."

"Your responsibility?" In her fury, Brenna's hand tightened on the stem of the goblet.

"Your responsibility?" The temper she had kept under such careful control exploded. She turned on him with all the fury of a wounded tigress.

"I will not be wed to a man out of some misguided sense of duty."

"Would you have me turn you over to Windham?"

"Nay. There is a much simpler solution to the problem. Let me return to my home in Scotland."

As patiently as if he were explaining to a child he said, "The queen has decreed..."

"Damn the queen! And damn you, Morgan Grey!" With uncharacteristic vengeance she hurled the goblet against the fireplace.

Before she could turn away his hand snaked out, catching her roughly by the shoulder. In his eyes was the barest hint of a smile.

"So. It is as I suspected. Beneath the cool facade the lady does have a temper."

"I told you I would show you how a Scot fights." She tried to push away, but the hands holding her were too strong.

He dragged her firmly against him.

"And I told you I would show you how an Englishman loves."

"No. You cannot..."

He cut off her protest, crushing her mouth with his.

She felt the rush of heat that always seemed to swamp her at his touch.

And then she felt the tremors begin as his mouth plundered hers. Wave after wave of feeling poured through her as his mouth moved over hers.

She pounded her fists on his shoulders until she was exhausted from the effort, but he continued to pin her as effortlessly as if she were a small child.

"Has any Scotsman ever kissed you like this?" he muttered against her lips.

He traced the outline of her lips with his tongue, and she gave an involuntary shudder.

He parted her lips and invaded the sweetness of her mouth. She gasped and tried to pull away, but he was too strong. For long moments he stared down at her, seeing the angry flare that darkened her eyes to midnight blue.

With his hands on either side of her face he kissed her slowly, thoroughly, lingering over her lips until the heat flickered, then flared, then burst into an inferno, threatening to sear them.

"Has any Scotsman ever made you burn like this?" His breath was hot against her cheek.

"Damn you."

"Aye. I am damned," he rasped, plunging his hands into her tangles of silken hair. She tried to pull away but his hands tightened, holding her head still.

He bent his head and kissed her again and again until she was forced to take in long, shuddering breaths to fill her lungs.

With a knowing smile he brought his hands around her, moving them slowly along her sides until his thumbs encountered the soft swell of her breasts. Instantly her nipples hardened and his excitement grew.

"Damned to want what I should never have."

He felt her trembling response and thrilled to it.

"Has any Scotsman ever touched you like this?"