For a long moment his hungering mouth searched the sweetness of hers. Then quite suddenly he released her, bouncing off the bed with a quick display of rugged muscles. Her soft lips still throbbing from the demand of his, Shanna came almost reluctantly off the bed, having somewhere lost much of her desire to leave. Slowly she walked before him as they left the cottage, feeling his hand now and then brush a tumbled lock or lightly stroke her bare arm.
They went through the darkness toward the manor. The birds were already awakening with the freshening breezes of the coming dawn and were testing their voices for their overture, sounding much like the first hesitant notes of flutes, oboes, and other woodwinds. Silent and introspective, Shanna strode beside Ruark. The damp grass was cool beneath her bare feet, and the trees sprinkled the two of them with raindrops as the breezes rustled the lush foliage. Staying to the deepest shadows, they quickly crossed the clearing to the house and were soon beneath Shanna’s balcony.
“You’d best go back now,” she murmured. “I’ll go around to the stairs.”
Ruark gazed upward toward the veranda. “ ‘Twould not be a difficult task getting you up if you’d care to venture this way.”
Shanna peered at him doubtfully. “I’d likely break my neck.”
“Trust me, love,” Ruark laughed. “You’re not very big. I can have you up in a moment.” He bent his knee slightly. “Turn your back to me, give me your hands, and put your foot here on my thigh. You can sit on my shoulder and you’re halfway there.”
Hesitantly Shanna did as bade and was amazed at how effortlessly the maneuver was performed. When she paused on his shoulder, she glanced down, and the sound of her gaiety bubbled in the stillness of morn. She remarked rather risquély, “For a bondslave you always seem to give me a lift in my hour of need. I think I shall keep you around for your service.”
Playfully Ruark nipped her buttock, drawing a muffled protest from Shanna and hastening her journey upward. With his hand under her backside and the other steadying her leg, he raised her up until she could grasp hold of the lower part of the balustrade; then he lifted her higher until she could put her foot on the vine and pull herself up the rest of the way. When she found firm footing on the balcony, Shanna gave a soft, pleased laugh at her accomplishment and bent over the railing to wave him off.
“My thanks, sir dragon,” she called softly.
Ruark chuckled lightly as he swept his arm before his chest and bowed. “Anything to be of service, madam.”
He strode off with that slow, deliberate saunter that reminded her so much of a hunting animal. Fascinated, Shanna watched until she could see him no more. She turned languidly, lifting her hair high off her neck as she smiled to herself, her eyes dreamy and bright with a glowing radiance. She moved into the bedroom, tugging at the ties of her blouse, and froze as a figure stepped from behind the draperies.
“Sir dragon, indeed!” The voice was heavy with displeasure.
“Hergus!” Shanna gasped and tried to quiet the frightened pounding in her breast. “You scared me nigh free of my wit! Why are you about at this hour? And in my room?”
“I was worried ‘bout ye. I know how ye fear the storms so, and I come to sit with ye ’til it passed. When I found ye gone, I waited, fearing yer pa might come, too. I was set to put meself in yer bed and make him think it were you there safely asleep, as ye should’ve been, had ye any sense.”
Anxious to be alone with her own thoughts and memories of the hours passed, Shanna was not in the mood to argue with the woman.
“I’m going to bed,” she firmly stated. “Stay if you will or go. It makes no difference. But whatever, hold your tongue. I won’t listen to you at this hour of the morning.”
Brushing quickly past Hergus, Shanna crossed to the bed where she had left her nightgown. Dawn was beginning to break over the horizon, but she doffed her peasant garb, turning her back to Hergus who stood in a much aggravated stance, arms akimbo, and wore a much-perturbed scowl. For the first time in her life, Shanna felt awkward, even embarrassed by her own nudity with the servant present, though the Scotswoman had helped her to dress almost from her first breath. Was it just the magenta hue of the wakening sun that painted the rosy glow on her breasts and thighs, or was it a brand from Ruark’s body joining hers? At the flooding memory of the hours gone by, Shanna flushed with hot color and hastened to slip on the short gown.
“I’ll go,” Hergus sighed unhappily. “But I will na be content ‘til ye cease yer foolery. Shameful ’tis, sleeping with a man, letting him do what he wants with ye without the least of vows atwixt ye. Aaüee, I knew ‘twould bode ill when ye were widowed so soon after ye wed, lovely thing that ye be and hot-blooded—that I can see for meself. You and Mister Ruark, both of ye the same. Too many fires to cool.”