But she’d been there the night before.
More heat blazed across the surface of her cheeks. She discovered herself immensely grateful for the growing darkness. Something about Faolan reduced her to a bundle of impulses. It was frustrating, to say the least.
“It is the only bedchamber we have for the time being. So…” Faolan stepped closer to her.
Too close, for her heart started hammering away.
“Ye will turn about and return abovestairs now, Mistress.”
Cora had to tip her head back to meet his gaze. Even in the poor light, she caught a flash of determination in his eyes. The awkwardness gripping her dissipated as something else flared up inside her.
“I was out riding with me brother’s Retainers,” she explained firmly. “So, the kitchen will serve plenty well enough. Thank ye.”
“Having women in close quarters is troublesome,” Faolan replied. “I do nae need to have reason to discipline one of me men.”
There was a bluntness in his expression that she wasn’t blind to. Still, she just couldn’t find agreement in her.
“I will no’ sleep in yer bed.”
One of Faolan’s dark eyebrows rose. So close to him, Cora saw it clearly. A moment later, he was leaning over. She was still standing on the steps, which allowed him to put his shoulder against her belly. He captured her right arm and gave a firm tug. She tumbled over his shoulder before he straightened up.
“Ye are going, Mistress,” Faolan declared as he took to climbing the steps with her hanging over his shoulder. “And ye are going now.”
“Have ye gone mad?”
Her words were half-muffled against his back. But her head was swaying as he moved, making her reach out and grasp his waist to stabilize herself.
“Put me….” Cora landed on her back in the bed before she finished. The bed ropes creaked, and the mattress swayed as Faolan looked down on her. She started to struggle to sit up, but he reached out and clasped her wrists before pinning them to the surface of the bed.
Christ, he was strong.
Cora gasped, struggling against the knowledge of just how completely she was in his power. They were so close. Her senses felt keenly alert, as though she’d been going through her life only half aware until that moment. Now, her heart was pumping harder, her breaths coming faster, as she noted a hundred little details about him that she’d never really seen before on other men.
“Yer brother indulged ye by allowing ye to ride with his men, and ye see what happened when circumstances became dire. Ye ended up fighting for yer life against the river,” Faolan spoke softly. There was emotion in his eyes that warned her he was being very serious.
“Out here, I can nae afford ye the same leniency, lass,” he continued. “Me men are a decent lot, but ye would test their limits if circumstances brought ye together with one of them in the darker hours of the night.” His gaze settled on her lips for a moment. “Ye are temping, Cora.”
The timbre of his voice sent a shiver down her spine. The memory of them sharing the bed the night before surfaced, making her feel like her insides were melting. There was a strange twisting of her belly, and she felt like her lips were suddenly far too sensitive to bear. She craved something. Something she didn’t dare name.
Faolan suddenly pushed away from her. The bed ropes groaned once more as he stood up and contemplated her.
Cora sat up, pushing her hands behind her as her gaze remained fused with his.
A moment later, he’d spun around. The longer pleats of his kilt swished back and forth as he walked, giving her a peek at his thighs.
The door shut with a hard sound. She shook as she stared at the wood.
*
Virgin.
Faolan tried to focus on the word. The trouble was, he was still seeing the way she’d looked at him.
Like she wanted to try him.
Christ.
Cora was a virgin, but she was also the siren he’d first seen shaking her fist at the storm. Even tumbled and bruised, she’d spit in the eye of her tormentor.
So it stood to reason that while he might intimidate her, she’d still jut her chin out at him.
The problem was, he liked that boldness.
Liked it far too much.
Faolan stopped while he was still in the lower part of the stairwell. He drew in several deep breaths. He didn’t need his men to get a look at him. They already thought keeping Cora was a fine idea. With just a tiny bit of encouragement, they’d take to doing their best to push Cora into his path, and he honestly doubted his resolve.
But he was beneath her.
It was strange the way the idea bothered him. It was a fact that he’d enjoyed knowing he’d been born on the wrong side of the sheets, because it seemed to ruffle so many feathers. It wasn’t as if he’d committed the sin himself, but his life had been full of times when his illegitimacy had been thrown in his face.
He was the product of sin.
He’d embraced it rather than allow it to weigh his shoulders down. It had been the only way to find peace with himself over the years. He chuckled a little on his way back to the hall. It was a fact that he’d never expected to question.
But what man actually expected a siren to be tossed up onto the rocks at his feet?
*
Faolan was wiser than Cora’s impulses.
Wiser than her rioting emotions.
But Cora was still in his bed, and that made her uncomfortable and frustrated. The night before, she’d been too exhausted to realize the bedding held his scent. Now, she couldn’t seem to ignore it.
She liked it.
She punched the pillow. Clearly, there were consequences for not sitting at home and waiting for Cormac Grant to come and claim her. Oh, it wasn’t the gossip, which she’d long heard would tarnish her reputation.
No, Cora was discovering a very real longing growing inside her to have Faolan join her in the bed once again. If she were home, she’d never have encountered him. Never realized the true meaning of the word intriguing.
Ye’ve gone mad.
Maybe.
Or perhaps she was just continuing to grow up, and the woman in her recognized just what a prime specimen Faolan was. They did say lust was fickle. That it struck without warning and was deaf to logical thinking. It would seem Fate wasn’t finished toying with her yet.
Was she becoming a wanton then?
Cora lay back to contemplate that thought. Her belly was quiet now, but she still recalled the way it had twisted with excitement. Her heart had been hammering away, and it was a plain fact that she had been breathless, wondering if Faolan was intent on kissing her when he’d had her pinned down.
But wanton was a harsh word. A sinful one.
Would ye prefer to be frigid?
Cora ended up grinning. Spending time with the Mackenzie Retainers had brought her into contact with the sort of conversations men had with one another when they didn’t expect there to be women around. While some of it was offensive, what she’d learned was worth the blushes. At least that was her opinion. Alone in the bedchamber, there was no reason not to be honest.
She’d enjoyed being next to Faolan the night before. In fact, enjoy was too tame a word to describe the sensation she’d experienced.
Like she’d been made to fit against him.
But that thought also sobered her, for there was something dangerous in the way it seemed to be rooted deep in her mind. She hadn’t decided to like him; in fact, he frustrated her with his stubborn persistence to overrule her with his greater strength.