“I didn’t mean any harm. Just havin’ a little fun, mate.”
Duncan pulled Tara to his side.
Stumbling back, the drunk tripped on a table, righted himself, and then ran from the room. Only then did Duncan put his sword back in its sheath.
Once the man was out of sight, Duncan shifted his eyes to Tara’s. “Are you all right?”
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Her jaw dropped.
“Would you like to take a walk?”
Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded.
Cassy stood and clinked a spoon against her half-empty glass. “All right folks! The show’s over!
Done. Go back to eating and whatever.”
Fin directed Grainna’s man to the drunk who needed to be put in his place. Duncan slipped away from the people with Tara on his arm. Alone.
****
She was having a hard time processing what had happened. Never, not even in her wildest dreams, would she ever have imagined a man drawing a sword on another on her behalf. It was one of those defining moments, the kind that made her glad she was a girl. Her heart gave a flutter when she replayed the scene in her head. It wasn’t that she felt very threatened by the man. Annoyed was a better word. The fact that Duncan was ready to shed blood for her gave her a power she never thought possible.
They walked in silence for some time before Tara said, “Thank you.”
“’Tis nothing.”
“Are you kidding? That man was a jerk. Before I knew what was happening there you were, putting him in his place.” She turned to him, smiled. “And all this time I thought this was a prop.” She touched the edge of his sword.
“What is a prop?”
“A fake. You know, part of a costume,” she explained.
“Oh.” His hand rested over hers. “Nay, ’tis no prop.”
“It looks heavy. Is it?” She grasped its hilt.
He drew it out for her, placed it in her hands.
“You tell me.”
Once he lifted his hand from the blade, the full 68
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weight pulled it down to the ground. “Wow.” Tara strained to lift it back up with both hands. “I had no idea it was this heavy.”
He had lifted it as if it weighted no more than a bag of marshmallows. Why did the thought send a tingle between her legs?
Embarrassed by her own thoughts, she handed him the sword. Her head turned toward the sky. She struggled with the sudden lack of conversation. “The stars are beautiful.”
“You are beautiful. The stars are bright and many.”
His eyes searched hers when they came to rest on his.
“What am I to do with you?” she whispered.
His arms circled her, pulling her close. “What do you want to do with me?”
“Well, what I want to do, and what I should do, are two entirely different things.” Her breath quickened when he pulled her closer still.
He held his mouth only a fraction away from hers. “Tell me what you want, Tara.”
His breath was warm and smelled faintly of wine. It was hard to think with him so close. She wanted desperately for his lips to join hers.
Just when she thought he would end her anguish, his lips sailed past hers and met with the beating pulse at the base of her neck. His hand grasped her long mane, pushed it aside, and exposed the long column for his pleasure.
Heat seared a trail where his lips traveled. “Tell me what you want,” he repeated, never giving her time to think as his lips tormented her throat.
A burning, she could never call a mere spark, started to build. Her body molded itself to his of its own accord. His teeth found the sensitive lobe of her ear, sending shock waves down her spine. “You,” she gasped. “God help me, I want you.”
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Tara noticed his smile before his lips crushed to hers, devoured her.
The meeting of their lips was an act of spontaneous combustion. Unlike when he had kissed her before, this time, there was no slow mingling of tastes, or sensuous arousal. This was primal and needy with no room for thought, no question where it was leading.
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Chapter 6
Grainna followed them out when they left the dance hall. She watched Duncan pull Tara into his arms. Grainna’s eyes heated with fury and vengeance.
Patiently, she kept to the shadows and waited for both their minds to go blank. Her hands opened palm up, her eyes closed as she probed into their minds.
Duncan’s was filled with visions of a more intimate mating with Tara. Grainna could feel his lust for the woman. She felt his triumph of being her first. In Tara’s mind, passion and trust drove her actions, along with a deeper attachment to the man.
Her resolve to remain a virgin hung on by a thread.
Grainna looked deeper, into the part of Tara’s memories, to where her thought process had kept her virginity intact until now.