Moonlight Surrender (Moonlight Book 3) Page 15

  She smiled at him. “I’m too tired to fight off your advances, Duncan.”

  He knew she was right. He could easily have her now. But it would not be fair. When they came together, he wanted her fully alert and awake. Aware of everything. For the experience was one to be shared by them both, not just him alone.

  “For now,” he told her, as he began to guide her out the door, “there’ll be no advances.” She looked at him in surprise. “I give you my word,” he promised. “Come, I’ll take you home.”

  She was too exhausted to correct him. It wasn’t her home, but his he was taking her to. But for now, anyplace would do.

  When she sagged, he lifted her easily into his arms. “Your shoulder,” she protested.

  “Is well, thanks to you, as are my friends. Now, hold your peace for once, woman, and let me take care of you.”

  The protest died on her lips as she lay back in his arms. “Just for now,” she murmured.

  She fell asleep a moment before her body touched the bed and she slept the whole of the day away, too exhausted even to turn.

  When she awoke, the first thing her eyes rested upon was Duncan. He was sitting, dozing, in a chair beside her bed, just as she had sat beside Enid, and before that, beside him.

  But she was not in any need for medical aid.

  Beth looked about. Dusk was entering the room. Had she truly slept so long?

  As she stirred, she saw Duncan’s eyes open. “Why aren’t you in your bed?” She struggled to clear the cobwebs from her mind.

  A smile slowly curved his mouth. “The view there is not nearly so beautiful.” Now that she was awake, there were questions he wanted to ask. He shifted from the chair to her bed. “How did you know what to do? Last night, how did you know?”

  Beth sat up, dragging a hand through her hair. “My father’s a doctor. He took me with him when he tended to his patients. At times he let me help. He would always let me watch him when he worked.” She pulled her knees up and hugged them to her as she wrapped her arms around them.

  Duncan frowned slightly. ‘”Tis a strange thing to let a daughter do.”

  So many people thought. Beth shrugged. “He has no sons. I think I fill that space for him.”

  Duncan laughed softly. “If he thinks of you as a son, the man’s eyes are not what they should be.” His eyes seemed to touch her everywhere at once. And burned what they touched. “I’ve never seen a less likely boy.”

  She averted her face. His eyes were too intense and her resolve too weak. “I am not like my sisters. I have no interest in ‘womanly’ things.”

  “Your training, odd as it is, was very fortunate for Enid.” He cupped his hand about her cheek. She was forced to turn her eyes to his. It was her downfall. “But you don’t speak the truth.”

  “What?”

  “You have an interest in some womanly things, Beth.” He rubbed his thumb over her lip. Instantly, the last vestiges of sleep fled. Every fiber of her body was awake.

  Waiting.

  He saw desire bloom in her eyes, and it aroused him to a fever pitch he didn’t think possible. Very deliberately, he gathered her into his arms.

  Alarmed, she pulled back, knowing she possessed no strength to fight him. Or herself.

  “Duncan, you promised.”

  “Aye, that I did.” He smiled, knowing full well the words he had spoken. “But that was this morning, at dawn,” he pointed out. “And I kept my promise then. But this is now.”

  The next moment, his mouth found hers as if it was the other half of a whole. The other half of his soul.

  Chapter Nineteen

  This is what it must be like, Beth thought, to be drunk on wine. To be so hopelessly intoxicated that you do not know of anything beyond your own senses. And even those were not to be trusted. Everything seemed to be so much larger, so much brighter, so much more overpowering now. There was nothing outside of herself, save for the haven created by this man.

  A haven within a storm.

  A haven that had its own storm.

  As Duncan’s lips moved over hers, coaxing, stirring, hot and moist, Beth became aware of a hunger within her, a hunger she did not understand, for things she did not know of.

  Unable to stop herself, she wound her fingers into his hair. It was as if her body had parted company with her mind, as if it had deserted her will completely and was now rushing recklessly toward something she sensed was wondrous. Though she fought against it, her body was attempting to drag her along with it in its wake.

  She could not surrender. There was too much at stake and no time to indulge herself, even if it was proper and without sin.

  Trembling, she shifted until she managed to wedge her hands to Duncan’s chest and push him back. Her heart pounded so that she could speak only in a whisper, a whisper that tempted and aroused him.

  “I cannot do this.”

  “This?” he questioned innocently.

  Gently Duncan passed his hand over her cheek, barely grazing the silken skin. His own heart was beating harder than he had ever known it to beat before. Beating hard from wanting her.

  From knowing that he was not to have her.

  As hot as his blood surged within him, Duncan would not force himself upon her. He wanted no accusations in those blue eyes when they looked at him, for they would haunt him all the days of his life.

  Just as she would now.

  Even the lightest of touches ignited flames within her. Beth tried to draw away, but there was hardly anywhere to go upon the bed.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “No.” His breath tantalizing her face, Duncan softly pressed a kiss to the slender slope of her neck. “Tell me,” he whispered.

  He knew very well what she meant. And what he meant for them to do. What she longed to do. “Coupling,” she breathed.

  “Cannot, Beth?” he echoed. “Nay, never say cannot.” His fingers twined with hers. “Let me show you the way of it.”

  Beth shook her head. “No, I—“

  Everything within her shouted, “Yes,” begged for it to be “yes.” But she knew that if she gave in to him, to her own hunger, she would no longer be her own mas-

  ter. She would be tied to this man who could make her want things that should be beyond her reach.

  It was a wicked battle that raged within her.

  It lasted all of a few moments but felt like eternity to her. Determination triumphed, much to desire’s sorrow. With a mighty cry, Beth pushed him from her, from the very bed.

  Duncan fell with a thud to the floor. He hit his head against the bedpost as he landed. Stunned, he rubbed his head and looked up at her.

  Beth rose and ignored the desire to see to his head. ‘Though you make my body rebel against my mind—“

  Duncan did not let her continue. Instead, he smiled in victory. “Do I Beth? Do I?”

  His words hung about her like a beckoning siren’s song. It was easy to see that he had made his life upon the sea. The rogue.

  “You know you do.” Her hands upon her hips, she looked down at him. “And I cannot say that it is not—“ She searched for a word that would not incriminate her. “—Pleasant.”

  Duncan leaned on an elbow, his brow arched in amusement. “Only pleasant?”

  “Yes.” She ground out the word. The man was as far from being a gentleman as Virginia was from France. “Pleasant,” she repeated. “I cannot dally with you any longer. I must go to Paris.”

  Dally was it? Perhaps the woman needed a lesson after all. “To save your father,” he quoted patiently.

  She didn’t care for the condescending tone in his voice. Did he think her a child on a fool’s mission, to be patiently humored until she lost interest?

  “Yes, to save my father.”

  Duncan shook his head. They had been over this ground before. It was a stubborn breed that God had put into skirts.

  “You are a woman,” he pointed out patiently. “I would not use the word ‘mere,’ for there is noth
ing mere about you, but the fact remains that you are a woman, and subject to the lascivious desires of any man.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she looked down upon him. “I can care for myself.”

  “Can you, Beth?” Had she listened for it, she would have heard the warning note in his voice.

  But as it was, she was too busy taking umbrage at Duncan’s presumption to notice. Beth lifted her chin stubbornly. “Yes, I can.”

  The smile on his mouth mocked her. “You could not with me.”

  Her smug look was meant to silence him. “You are on the floor, are you not?”

  The next moment Duncan’s arm darted out and he struck her on the calves. He caught her unawares, and Beth shrieked in surprise as she tumbled down onto him.

  She landed so that her body covered his much as a blanket does a horse. Duncan was quick to catch her hands so she could not rise.

  “And now, so are you.” His laugh was lusty as it filled the air. “See how well we fit together, Beth?”

  She struggled against him, but it only served to arouse him more. And her as well.

  When his tongue touched but the merest hollow of her throat, it made her ache for him once again.

  With a little cry, Beth brought her mouth down to Duncan’s.

  The kiss, of her own volition, was the beginning of her undoing. The room and all within it seemed to spin into a deep, rimless darkness.

  She gave herself up to the sensation for a moment, savoring, delighting, mourning for what was not to be. She swore to herself that the control, the reins to this ride, were still in her hands.

  To prove it, she pulled back from him with all her might. Her weight was balanced on her palms, which were spread out on the floor. Her body hovered over his, her breasts, full and ripe, straining to fall free. She was aware that his arms were around her. Still, she could get up, if she wanted to.

  But did she want to?

  Her breath was not easy to catch. She forced it to steady within her breast before she spoke.

  His eyes were fastened to the tempting cleavage as it rose and fell before him.

  “I was not questioning the fit, Duncan, merely the propriety of it.”

  He knew better than to laugh at her words. Propriety could go to bloody hell. Duncan cupped his hand at the back of her head so that she would not draw too far away from him.

  ‘Then do not question anything at all, sweet Beth. For I am long past questions and words. Feel, Beth.” The word rippled seductively along her bare throat. “Here.” He drew a tiny mark across her breast, where her heart beat wildly. The tip of his finger singed her. “Feel here.”

  The very sound of the words brought a cry from her. More than anything in the world, she wanted this man.

  Now.

  “This changes nothing,” she warned, as her eminent capitulation shimmered before her.

  “Oh, no,” he contradicted, his eyes on hers. “This changes everything.”

  The next moment, the debate dissolved in smoke as the last of her will deserted her. With a cry of surrender, Beth descended into the fires that were waiting for her.

  The clothes were cumbersome. He was desperate to have her free of them. Duncan burned for all of her, for every taste, every look. More than anything, he wanted to satisfy his curiosity if the goddess he had dreamed of that first night truly existed or if she was just a worshipful creation of his mind.

  As his mouth reduced her to the purest form of passion, he undid the laces at her back with hands that were well suited to their task. Bridling his impatience, he tugged the unwanted material from her shoulders and slid it down hips that were ripe for a man’s hands.

  He thought himself in heaven, just as he had that night.

  Beth moved slightly as she realized that the material was leaving her body. She had no idea that he was removing her dress until it was gone.

  For a moment, her eyes held his. “You have skill at this.”

  “Purely a beginner’s luck,” he murmured against her mouth. The taste he found there excited him. The wine within Sin-Jin’s cellar paled in comparison.

  Her fingers spread upon his open white shirt, she looked at him, undecided as to whether to be insulted or not. “What kind of a fool do you take me for?”

  He was hungry for another taste, not words. “No fool at all, Beth. Merely my salvation.”

  The words echoed from his mouth into hers as he kissed her once more.

  The words were pretty, but she would not let them cloud her head. It would be her undoing entirely if she did. Beth knew that what was to happen now between them Duncan had done many times before. It was only for her that the mystery existed.

  Only for her that the excitement pulsed.

  Pushing her uncertainties aside, Beth placed herself in Duncan’s hands and let him lead her to a land she wanted to enter.

  Her desire grew, becoming boundless. The fire within her grew to incredible portions, like a bonfire struck within the meadow that the winds suddenly whipped out of control.

  She felt his hands hot upon her fevered skin, felt him tug away her chemise and the pantaloons she wore, felt his touch as it skimmed and explored and caressed her nude, pulsating body.

  The touch of his hand was as gentle as it was urgent.

  His hands were everywhere, claiming her, making her yearn, creating a woman she did not recognize.

  She groaned as she felt Duncan’s lips at her breast, suckling there like the child she had delivered yesterday.

  And yet not like the child at all.

  She had no idea that a man could do this to a woman.

  Eager, her hands wild, she tugged on Duncan’s shirt. Duncan swallowed the pleased laugh that echoed in his throat. It was just as he had thought, just as he had hoped. Beneath the cool words beat the heart of a wildcat.

  And for this moment, the wildcat was his.

  He took her hands in his and rose, bringing her to her feet as well. She was as nude now as she had been that first night, that night he half thought he created her in his delirium.

  His gaze swept over her, warming her blood. “You are more beautiful than you were that first night.”

  Even now, she blushed. “I thought you were asleep.”

  “And I thought myself in heaven.” He stripped his shirt from his body and threw it aside. He was eager to feel her flesh against his, eager to savor every tiny shred that he could, every tiny bit she had to offer. He almost laughed at himself. He was behaving as if this was his first time as well.

  Perhaps, in a very strange way, it was.

  Chapter Twenty

  She did not know what madness overtook her. She only knew that it was madness, and she was glad of it.

  With hesitant, questing fingers, she dipped her hands down to his britches. They formed a barrier she wished to breech.

  “You are dressed and I am not,” she protested. Heat seemed to flow from her fingertips, warming his very skin, though she touched but the cloth between. “ ’Tis not fair, Duncan.”

  Fair? No it was not fair, he thought. It was not fair that the hunter became the hunted. And yet he had, and gladly so, if it meant having her this way.

  “I shall always be fair to you, Beth. Always.”

  The promise, delivered with a smile, held more truth than she could ever have hoped for, far more than she would have believed. It frightened him to feel the depth of emotions that were coursing through his veins like the force of a river swollen with the rain from a deluge. He had always been in control of all his feelings, even that night at his father’s manor. Never once had there been a need to struggle in order to maintain a tight rein.

  There was need now.

  For in his heart, in his very soul, he felt emotions straining to break free. Emotions that would shackle him more tightly than any iron chain forged in the bowels of the Tower of London.

  He wanted her, forever. Exactly the way she was this moment.

  What would she say if she knew?

  Rather
than aid her, Duncan let Beth undo his britches herself. He sucked in his breath as her long, tapering fingers slid along his hips, urging the fabric down. And by the same stroke, urging him up.

  The britches fell to the floor and he kicked them aside carelessly, leaving them scattered with the rest of the garments they’d taken from each other.

  He burned to plunge himself into her, to feel that hot burst within his loins which would allow him to renew himself.

  But rather than race to the end he knew was waiting for him, Duncan took her hand and softly kissed the palm. He felt her shiver, not from the cold but from the heat, and his heart was made glad.

  It would be worth the trouble and the wait. She would be worth the trouble.

  “Come, Beth, let me show you what it is like.”

  Fear had entered her heart.

  Fear of going forward. Fear that he would cease now, before she reached journey’s end. She was torn, confused, and needy beyond her wildest expectations.

  But as his mouth touched hers, as his body pressed against her in all the points that God had created to join them eternally, and they fell together to the bed, all doubts fled from her mind. No thought was left, save that she wanted to follow to where this man led, not two steps behind, or even one, but at his side.

  When he touched her, his palms gliding along her sleek body, she groaned, but held fast to that one thought, that one goal. She would make him hers as much as he made her his.

  Determined, Beth matched him touch for touch, stroke for stroke, passion for passion, until the leader became the follower, the jailer the prisoner.

  And then the tables were turned again and they began from the beginning.

  Duncan had long ago lost count of the women he had had. In their time, they had brought him endless pleasure. He could not now remember a one. Indeed, there might as well have been none, for all the impression they had left upon his mind and soul. Their very memory was burnt away in the trail this woman forged now.

  The embers this small chit of a woman stirred were something new, something completely beyond the scope of his imagination.