Part 4 (2/2)

”You're wrong,” he said intensely. ”For us, it's the most proper thing in the world.” He started to say that he loved her, a phrase that worked like a magical spell on any mortal female who was already as aroused as Leah was. Yet he could not utter the words. In some indefinable way, it seemed wrong to lie to her about that.

He kissed her throat again, at the same time slipping her shawl from her shoulders and deftly unfastening the tapes securing the back of her gown. The bodice fell away, revealing her lacy underthings and the tops of her perfect b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

”Oh, Duncan.” Eyes wide and startled, she made an ineffectual attempt to cover herself properly. ”You really shouldn't do such things.”

”I must have you, Leah,” he said tightly. Though he wore the form of a mortal, it was Ranulph's own need that burned through his words. He captured her mouth, swallowing her protests while his hands delved beneath her gauzy garments.

He should have let his pa.s.sion show sooner, for suddenly she was responding with a desire that matched his own, her small hands biting into his back. She was like a flame, her lithe body twisting beneath his, her hands and mouth eager.

Madness swept through him, a scorching need to make her his own. Yet even as he possessed her, their bodies joining with a wildness that seared his senses, he realized that something was wrong. Something was wrong.

He cried out at the same time as she, drowning in pa.s.sion's inferno. In that same instant, as he felt the fierce heat of her response, his partner suddenly transformed. Her slight body became more voluptuous, her tawny hair turned into a tangle of silken tresses as black as night.

With shock and incredulous rage, he realized that it was not Leah but Kamana who lay beneath him, her shapely limbs twined around him and her golden eyes filled with wicked amus.e.m.e.nt. Violently he wrenched himself from her embrace. ”d.a.m.n you!” he panted. ”How dare you interfere with me!”

She laughed, unabashed, and rolled onto her side, propping her head up on one hand. Her clothing had vanished, leaving her naked except for the gossamer spill of her raven hair. ”Why are you so angry? You seemed to be enjoying yourself.” Her free hand drifted to her breast, where the mark of his teeth still showed. ”I thought I played the innocent very well, until the end.”

He flushed. ”That is not the point. You had no right to deceive me.”

Her brows arched. ”Yet you had a right to deceive that child, to take the virginity that mortals prize so much? That would have been unkind.” Her voice became husky. ”I thought that you were in need of a diversion, so I sacrificed myself to that cause.”

He snorted. ”Sacrificed! You mated like a she-panther. The marks on my back will not disappear quickly. Is that why you came to England, to find bolder lovers than the Folk of India?”

Her laughter pealed through the fog that enclosed their private glen. ”s.e.xual congress is one of the great arts among my people. There are none in Angland that could match the sensual skill of one of my kind.”

Seeing that he was on the verge of explosion, she added kindly, ”Oh, I admit that you are not without a certain talent in this area. With practice, and the teaching of a skilled partner, you might someday equal a lord of Hind.” She stretched a hand lazily toward him, her fingers trailing sparkles of light.

Cursing, he leaped to his feet before she could touch him. ”You witch! You were probably driven out by your own kind, and that is why you've come here to plague me.”

She dropped her teasing manner. ”Not at all. But I will not let you hurt that child wantonly. The fact that she is bound by the faery bargain she made does not mean she must be your prey now. Have patience, and you will soon have all that you desire.”

”What I desire is to be free of you,” he said viciously. Then he whirled into the fog as her laughter followed him.

One moment Leah was smiling at one of Duncan's remarks, and the next the thickest fog she had ever seen had fallen with amazing swiftness. She gasped and turned around, then realized that somehow she had let go of Duncan's arm. At first she was not alarmed, thinking that he must be within touching distance.

But he wasn't. He had vanished. She moved toward where he had been, or where she thought he had been, without success. Fear began to rise in her. The fog was uncanny, menacing. Struggling to contain her panic, she called, ”Duncan?”

There was no answer. Hands clenched, she called again. Why could she hear nothing? It was as if she had fallen from the face of the earth into a nightmare.

Then she heard a faint, ”I'm here, Leah.”

She exhaled with relief, but in the fog it was impossible to tell from where his voice had come. Uncertainly she turned in a circle. ”Where?” she called back.

”Stay where you are,” he ordered, his voice a little closer. ”If we both move, we'll never find each other.”

Obediently she stood still, drawing her shawl tight against the biting chill. After what seemed like forever but was probably only a couple of minutes, Duncan emerged from the fog in front of her.

”Thank heaven!” She reached out with both hands.

He caught them, his grip warm and secure. ”Are you all right?”

She nodded, ashamed of her fear. ”Just a little disoriented.”

His hands tightened on hers. ”I had a strange feeling that there was some great danger in the fog. Danger for you. I was terrified that I wouldn't find you in time.”

She swallowed. ”I was afraid too, until you came.”

He cupped her face in his hands, his gaze intense. ”I don't know what I would do if something happened to you, Leah. I feel as if I've known you forever instead of just a few days.”

”I . . . I feel the same way.” Tears stung in her eyes, and she didn't know why.

”You are so lovely, Leah,” he whispered. ”The loveliest creature I've ever seen.”

Then he bent his head and touched his lips to hers. The kiss was exquisitely gentle, totally different from the Duke of Hardcastle's rough embrace. But sweet, so sweet. She yearned toward him, feeling the effect of the kiss in every fiber of her body.

When he lifted his mouth away, she said shakily, ”Is it wicked of me to enjoy that so much?”

”If so, we are wicked together.” He wrapped her in a warm, protective hug. With a sigh she relaxed against him, feeling the beat of his heart. She was in love. Though she'd never experienced the state before, it was as unmistakable as a sunrise.

Duncan held her for long minutes, stroking her head and back. Finally he said reluctantly, ”I must return you to your G.o.dmother before I do something I shouldn't.”

She nodded, but didn't have the will to move away.

Slowly he disengaged himself from their embrace, his hands skimming over her back and hips as lightly as b.u.t.terfly wings. ”The fog should thin as we move away from the river,” he said in a determined voice. ”If we follow the gravel path, we'll be all right.”

They set off, her hand locked in his. She counted her steps. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. They walked out of the fog as abruptly as if they'd entered a lighted room. ”How odd,” Leah exclaimed, looking around at other revelers who were discussing the strange mist.

”Indeed,” Duncan said thoughtfully. ”Almost unnatural.”

As they watched, the fog began to disperse as quickly as it had formed. Within a few minutes it was no more than a strange, dreamlike memory.

Lord Townley and Lady Wheaton appeared from where the mist had lain, both of them looking pleased and suspiciously mussed. As the older couple came toward them, Duncan said swiftly, ”May I call on you tomorrow? There is . . . something very important I want to discuss with you.”

”Of course you may call,” Leah said as her heart jumped. Might he be intending to offer for her? Though they hadn't know each other long, there seemed to be a rare harmony, a matching of minds and tastes, between them.

She hugged the possibility, knowing that she was grinning like a fool. She didn't care. She was in love, and she thought he loved her.

She had never been happier in her life.

Chapter Six.

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