Part 15 (1/2)
She opened her eyes, and his thoughts must have been written clear as day on his face, for her smile wavered. Still, she didn't flinch or pull away as he caressed her cheek, gently sliding his finger across the soft skin. Her eyes closed, and she leaned toward him.
Warm sun bathed them, and he felt as if an air of enchantment surrounded them. Slowly, tenderly, he kissed her, and she responded with an innocence that enticed him. With restraint he softly kissed again, as his hands framed her small face. She opened her eyes, and in their golden depths he saw surprise. And the first stirrings of the very same yearning he felt within.
She didn't resist when he put his hand behind her head, sifting his fingers through her damp hair. Slowly, gently, they explored each other's facial contours. Adam fought to keep his touch light and his thoughts from straying past kissing. He must not breach her fragile trust. Like any wounded creature, she must be allowed to come to him in her own time, in her own way, if he held any hope of quenching his thirst for her.
And despite their forced handfast, despite the possibility she loved another, despite her desire to leave Moy, he most definitely wanted more from her. He wanted love. At that thought he deepened the kiss, only a fraction of what he wanted, yet it must have alarmed her, for she jerked away.
GWENYTH SAT BACK and stared at Adam, astounded at the emotions he'd sparked with a few tender kisses. And even more surprised that he was attracted to her in the first place. These kisses held all the promise she'd sensed in their first meeting in Leod's hall, before Leod had made her unlovable.
Adam frightened her, not because he would harm her physically. He had never frightened her that way. But now that she knew him better, she knew beyond doubt that the promises in his kisses would be her undoing, for he would fulfill them beyond imagination. She must not allow it, for both their sakes. As much as she was willing to open her heart a little, to see what life might be like with this man, she was still promised to another.
He sighed and stood, offering his hand to help her up, which she declined, much to his apparent disappointment. ”You trusted me in the water.”
It was true, she had. But here on the rock everything had changed. Did he sense it too? She gazed at him warily.
”Then why can't you trust me now?”
She s.h.i.+vered, and it wasn't from the cold. ”You are a man.” A wonderful man whom I do not want to hurt.
He grinned. ”Aye, and you are a woman. A very pretty woman, even with your hair pasted to your head.” He bent and kissed her lightly on the cheek.
She leapt from the rock and ran to where her clothes lay.
” 'TWAS ONLY A KISS,” he called after her. Why must she be so upset over a chaste kiss? She was pulling her gown over her damp chemise, her movements hurried, nearly frantic.
As he walked toward her, she backed away, tying her girdle and looking for all the world like a frightened animal.
He put his hands out like a supplicant. ”Gwenyth, it was only a kiss. What harm can be done with an innocent kiss?”
”It wasn't just a kissa”it was gentle.”
”Aye, as a kiss between friends should be.”
”Friends?”
He wanted to place his hands on her shoulders, but knew better than to try. ”Can we not allow at least that between us, Gwenyth? Surely friends.h.i.+p is something we both need.”
”I admit to a lack of friends, my laird.” She regarded him with uncertainty. ”We needn't kiss to be friends, though.”
”Nay, but you must learn to trust or you will never be comfortable as a wife. That is what I would teach you, Gwenyth. Trust. Nothing more.”
”I am not one of those wounded creatures your mother spoke of, Adam.”
”Ah, but you are in need of healing.”
Her fingers wound through the strings of her girdle. ”I fear this healing, Adam. The cure is fraught with temptation.”
There was no recrimination, no censure in her voice. Only the truth, plainly spoken.
”You go to the quick, my lady.”
”I see no need to avoid what must be acknowledged. If I am to remain, we must come to an understanding.”
”I thought we had one.”
She twisted her belt ends tighter. ”Then perhaps, I'm asking if it still stands.”
”Why wouldn't it?”
Her gaze seemed to reach down into his very soul, to see what lay hidden there. As if she knew his secrets. As if she knew of his imaginings of her in his armsa” ”You are staring as if I frighten you.” There was no alarm in her words, only acknowledgment.
”You do frighten me, Gwenyth.” He swallowed so hard he felt certain she could hear for herself just how she affected him.
She blushed, head averted, before bringing her gaze back to meet his. ”So, am I correct in thinking we are both . . . drawn to each other?”
Adam groaned and ran his hand roughly through his hair. It was worse than he'd thought. With iron discipline he held himself back from stepping toward her and pulling her into his arms. ”Aye. Drawn begins to cover it.”
Then he looked at her. She was smiling, and suddenly they were both laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Her laugh was wonderful, light and musical, balm for a weary soul.
”I shall have to give you reason to laugh more often, lady. 'Tis a healing sound.”
They sobered, each appraising the other.
Adam glanced down at his hands, hands that, had they a will of their own, would be touching her this very moment. He crossed his arms. ”I remain firm in my vowa”there can be nothing but kisses between us until we have the blessing of a priest.”
”A binding union would be a disaster, Adam. Attraction or no, I am not ready. I have made promises I must keep. There can be no future for us together.”
Daron again. He fought the jealousy and calmly said, ”I believe we have been brought together for a reason, Gwenyth. Fate, destiny, G.o.d's will. I will remain open to the possibility that we were meant to stay together. Will you?”
She didn't answer, but her expression became troubled.
”We are fools, Gwenyth, to think we can avoid G.o.d's will no matter what is revealed to us.”
She continued to knot the material in her girdle. ”And you think it is G.o.d's will that we make the marriage a true one?”
”I think we must be open to that possibility, yes.”
”Perhaps my cousin will rescue us.”
He chuckled. ”From G.o.d?”
She looked stricken by his words, and he laid a hand upon hers to still them. ”And if there is no rescue?”
”Then perhaps you will take me to England yourself.”
”And if I refuse?”