"Dinnae even think about it,” he growled.
"I didnae do anything!"
"Aye, but ye were considering it. Ye'll not escape, Alana. Ye'll leave this castle when I say, no sooner, and ye'd be better off getting used to the idea." He bent and reached for the tied sheets, still curled in a bundle on the floor. "Get on the bed," he commanded.
The tenor to his voice sent a shiver through her. A shiver of fear or excitement? She wasn't entirely sure. Her feelings toward Morgann had become so muddled. She did not want to stay his prisoner yet she hungered to be around him. Aye, those hits to the head truly had confused her.
Still she kept her back straight and maintained eye contact, even as he bore down upon her. "Nay," she said hoarsely.
"On. The. Bed."
"Nay."
With a sigh, he latched his hands around her waist and threw her on the bed. She squealed as the bed ropes creaked and she bounced against the mattress. Before she could push herself up, Morgann was upon her once more, clasping both wrists in one hand as he bound them with the sheets, effectively tying her to the bed.
Eyes wide, she fought uselessly against him. "How am I to relieve myself now?" she asked feebly.
"I doubt ye even needed to but ye'll be able to use the chamber pot with some difficulty."
Alana glanced down. Aye, she'd not really needed it. But she would at some point during the night. Did he expect her to do so with her hands bound and him lying on a mattress at the foot of her bed?
She tugged on her bindings. "And how shall I stay warm now I've got no blankets?"
“Ye should have thought of that before ye decided to use them to escape.”
She gave the sheets binding her wrists one last tug, blew her hair from her face and slumped against the pillows.
Morgann smirked with satisfaction and Alana gritted her teeth at his display of male pride. "'Tis bad enough ye've kidnapped me but now ye've tied me up and plan to sleep in my chamber. I'll be ruined by the time yer done with me."
He crossed both arms across his chest and rocked back on his heels as he considered her. "Trust me, lass, if I wanted ye ruined, I had enough opportunity on the mountains."
A knot sat in her throat. What did he mean? Surely she hadn't really—
"Oh, aye." He nodded, making her wonder if she'd spoken aloud or perhaps he just read her that easily. "Ye all but offered yerself to me."
She swallowed the lump, hoping the dim candlelight hid the blush in her cheeks. "I didnae!"
"Said ye'd never been with a man and then threw yerself at me." His teeth flashed. "Yer lucky I'm an honourable man. Many lesser men would have taken everything ye offered and more."
"I took ye for many things, Morgann, but I didnae take ye for a liar."
"I'm no' lying about this and ye know it well. I can tell, Alana. Ye remember that moment just as well as I do." Morgann positioned himself at the end of the bed, arms still folded. He released a cynical laugh. "Many lesser men would take ye now too."
Skin prickling, Alana tried to ignore the thrill his words sent through her as her body remembered the sensation of being draped across that powerful form. In the candlelight, his skin gleamed, along with his eyes. It was no wonder she'd offered herself to him really. Who could resist such a man? She tracked every fragment of him, from the dusting of hair at his collar to the veins in his arms. Unfortunately the end of the bed blocked the rest of him.
"Especially when ye look at them like that."
She snapped her gaze to his face, cursing her obviousness. She never had been any good at hiding her thoughts. "Mayhap ye should take me. I am ruined anyway." She smiled. Oh aye, this could work. Seduce him into letting her go. Not that she'd ever seduced a man before. In truth, she'd never even kissed one.
Eyes hooded, Morgann's gaze followed the line of her skirts—where she knew her ankles were on display—up to her breasts, and lingered on her face. Each part of her singed, as if he had touched her rather than just looked. The faint buffet of the wind against the shutters drowned out the sound of her own heavy breaths but it failed to cover the pounding beat in her ears. How long he studied her, she couldn't be sure, but if felt like forever.
And then he spoke and it was not long enough.
"Ye make a tempting offer but I'm in no habit of taking lasses against their will."
"Why would it be against my will?" Embarrassment flamed through her as she heard the desperation in her voice.
Sweet Mary, was it all part of the plan or did she truly long for him to make her his? What she had told him in the mountains had been true. Long ago she'd believed they would probably marry and he would be the one to take her maidenhood but never like this. And she never expected to yearn for it so badly.