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"Nay."
He spoke the word softly, but he might as well have shouted it, because the force of his
utterance flattened her against the wall. She held her hands stiffly at her sides, knowing
that if she raised them to ward him off, she'd end up with her palms splayed across his
wide chest, feeling the solidness of muscle and flesh, the strong pounding of his heart.
His lips curved up secretive, sexual. "Ye may touch me, Kathy."
With a distant part of her mind, she noted his abandonment of her title. "Touch you? I
don't want to touch you. Why would I want to do that?" She clenched her fists to keep her
hands at her sides.
"Ye dinna lie well, lass." His gaze never wavered from her face. "I want to touch ye. I want
to touch the fear in ye and change it to hunger."
"I'm not afraid of you." Which wasn't exactly true. Her senses were already gorging, but
the excess baggage she'd toted behind her to this time would keep her on a strict diet. Fear
of being hurt, of being a failure again, were strong appetite suppresses.
His smile widened as he reached past her and pulled the tapestry aside. The brush of his
chest against her nipples dragged a gasp from her. "Go and sit by the fire while I tell ye
more about the Pleasure Master."
She heard only the word "Go" as she hurried back to the main chamber, then sat down on
her furs. Safe. He sat down beside her. Maybe not so safe.
"The woman ye saw came only to speak of how to please a man. She is a widow who was
married to one who wanted only compliance. She will soon marry a man who expects her
to know much about pleasuring him."
"What did you tell her?" Did you give her a hands-on demonstration?
He acknowledged her unspoken question with a grin. "I told her of places to touch a man
that would drive him mad wi' want of her and how to gain her own release when she held
him deep inside her "
"Okay, heard enough, don't want to hear anymore." Where would you touch a man? She
supposed he didn't mean the obvious places. But she wouldn't ask, didn't want to know.
"I don't understand why she'd come to you, though. She looked as though she'd traveled a
long distance. Couldn't she have found someone closer to tell her those things?"
He studied her from under half-lowered lids, and she resisted the urge to squirm. "There
are those who could tell her about the touching, but the touching comes last. She has
wealth and can afford to travel to one who knows what comes before."
"And that would be . . . ?"
"In time, lass." His smile was full of wicked promise. "I'll teach ye of what comes before
and the places ye may touch a man." He stopped smiling. "And the places a man may
touch ye." He left her. Left her to dream of his hard body, spread for her enjoyment. His
hands, his mouth touching every part of her, wringing a response from her that she ached
for, feared.
She opened her eyes to morning light shining through the roof opening and Baby Born
sitting whole on the shelf beside the hearth.
Shifting her gaze, she saw Ian seated by the fire. He was dressed, but his hair was still
damp. He must have visited his cave pool. No pool for her this morning. She wanted
warm water.
"You're up early, Ian." She rose, thankful for the gown Mary had given her. It covered her
from neck to toe, and after her conversation with Ian last night, plus her vivid dreams, she
felt the need to hide behind an armor of cloth. As if that would make any difference to Ian.
"Aye. I was speaking wi' Peter. He has told me that life is like a box of chocolates and that
I'll ne'er know what I'll get. 'Tis a wise thought."
"But not totally original." She sidled over to Ian and sat down beside him. First she'd lull
him with ordinary conversation. "I noticed that you didn't take Baby Born apart."
He glanced at the doll. "When I looked at her, I knew I wouldna be able to put her back
together again. I dinna take things apart if 'twill destroy them."
A deeper understanding arced between them. "Remember that, Ian. Please remember
that."
He nodded, then returned his attention to Peter. "Yon toy is stranger than the others."
She wasn't interested in Peter right now; she was interested in a warm bath. "I don't know.
Toy technology has really skyrocketed. You'd be surprised what toys can do."
She glanced at Peter, but the toy's lights remained dark. "I was really desperate for toys,
and I needed them fast. So I stopped at this strip mall with a bunch of stores that had only
a few toys left. The store where I got Peter didn't even have a sign outside. But there he
was, sitting on the shelf with a price underneath him. He was the only one left, and I didn't
see any salespeople around, so I left the money on the counter and ran to the next store. I
wasn't even sure what he did, but I couldn't be picky."
"Mayhap he can do more than ye know."
His gaze shifted to her, and she felt the shock as though it were the first time. How did he
do that? "I've already asked him to send me home, and I'm still here."
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