Silver Flame. Hannah Howell

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СКАЧАТЬ the kisses he pressed to her throat and face more fevered.

      He slid his arm beneath her hips, holding her close as his body bucked with release. Her name was an exultant cry upon his lips. At nearly the same moment she tumbled into desire’s final, blinding grip. She held him as tightly as she could as it took full hold of her. Long after he lay sprawled in her arms, she still squirmed with the pleasurable effects of it all.

      They lay together, spent, for a long time. But gradually sanity returned to her, and with it came shame. She closed her eyes and averted her face when he cleansed them both of the remnants of her innocence. The loss of her purity did not trouble her as much as her enjoyment of that theft did. When Gamel returned to bed, she tried to avoid his touch, but he would not allow it. He tugged her into his arms with a gentle but inescapable firmness. She ruefully admitted to herself that she liked being there.

      “Sine,” he whispered, “how was I to ken that ye were a virgin?”

      She looked at him with faint curiosity. “And would ye have let me be if ye had kenned it?”

      “Nay,” he answered with quiet honesty as he eased the covers down her body.

      “Then what matter?” She inwardly cursed the heat which flickered to life within her as he lightly trailed his fingers over her breasts. “I am still in your bed through a bargain.”

      “The bargain was necessary to remove ye from Farthing’s bed.”

      “That makes it justifiable? But I am here. I abide with you this night.”

      “Not just this night, Sine Catriona. Ye are mine.”

      Something in his tone thrilled her, but she denied it. She did not even allow herself to think on whether she wanted to be his or not, or if he meant as leman or wife. None of that mattered, nor could it be allowed to matter. When she had fled from her father’s murderers, she had vowed revenge as well as retrieval of all that had been stolen from her and the twins. Nothing could interfere with that, not even a beautiful auburn-haired man who set her blood to boil with but a touch.

      Gamel bent his head to softly kiss the erect tip of each breast. “Ye are mine, Sine Catriona. Say it. Admit it,” he ordered, framing her face with his hands.

      She watched his head against her breasts, then met his jewel-bright gaze. Behind that commanding tone lurked a hint of desperation.

      Though it puzzled her, she knew he was right. She was his. To admit that did not mean she vowed to stay with him. It simply acknowledged the bond that existed between them. She knew that bond would hold no matter who or what came into their lives.

      “Aye,” she finally said. “Aye, I am yours.”

      Beneath her hands she felt a fine tremor pass through his body as he kissed her. The matter of possession was clearly important to him. She wondered how much or how little emotion was behind that need. A man’s desire to possess could be such a shallow thing, no more than a point of pride. Sine wondered why the possibility that his was should make her so sad.

      She also felt a bit guilty. He now believed she had promised to stay with him. It was going to be an agony to walk away from him when dawn lightened the sky, but she would walk away. All she could hope for was that he was either too proud or too busy to hunt her down.

      He made love to her again. The fierce need still flared between them. Sine sensed that he maintained some control of his passion. She had none at all as she clung to him, singing out her pleasure.

      “Why do ye stay with Farthing?” Gamel asked a while later. “He cannae be all a mon should be with ye.”

      “Love isnae based upon what dangles between a mon’s legs.”

      Gamel’s hand clenched on the tankard of wine he shared with her. “Ye dinnae love him.”

      She moved slightly from where she sat curled up at his side. “Aye, I do.”

      “Nay, ye cannae, not when ye say ye are mine. Not when ye feel as ye do.”

      “How do ye ken what I feel or dinnae feel? I dinnae ken it myself. Ye have given me no chance to think.”

      Encircling her neck with his arm, he gave her a deep, fierce kiss. “That. That is what ye feel for me.”

      “Fire. Passion beyond reason. Fear.”

      “Fear?” He jerked away from her. “Nay. Dinnae say ye fear me.”

      “And why not? I was a virgin, untried in all the ways of loving. Suddenly there comes a mon who but looks at me and sets my innards afire, fills me with emotions I ken little of and understand less. Aye, I fear ye, as any maid would. Ye have thrust me into womanhood without wooing or preparation.”

      “No matter how ye arrived within my bed, I would have been unable to grant ye either.” He took a deep drink of wine, set the tankard aside, then pulled her into his arms. “I have ne’er ached so badly, ne’er wanted so fiercely. Wooing was beyond me. I believe I barely avoided rape.”

      “Now there is consolation.”

      “Sine, this isnae something to fear. ’Tis something to revel in. I have kenned my share of women, mayhaps more than my share, but never have I tasted such as this.”

      “The Land of Cockaigne.”

      “What?”

      “Farthing claims such as this is the Land of Cockaigne, paradise upon earth.” She could see that mention of Farthing did not please Gamel at all.

      “How long have ye been with him?”

      “Six years.”

      “Ye were but a child when ye joined him. What? Ten, eleven?”

      “Just twelve. A child who needed someone to care for her and her brothers.”

      “And ye call it caring when he teaches ye to steal?”

      “Aye—taught us to steal with skill. Theft and conjuring were his only skills and he shared them with us.”

      “He has a fine talent with a sword.”

      “Aye, so? He should sell that, should he? How would he keep us if he became some lordling’s hired sword? Such work is also hard, rewards not often forthcoming even when weel earned. The risks are verra high. He cares for me and the twins. He protects us. We had no one and he took us in. I willnae question his life, for he shared it with us willingly, kindly. I love that mon. Aye, ye may growl, glare, and curse all ye like if it makes ye feel better,” she added when he did just that. “Howbeit, none of that will change the fact.”

      “Then love him, curse your beautiful eyes.” He pushed her onto her back. “Love him, but it will never change the fact that ye are mine. Mine, Sine.”

      “Yours.”

      She whispered the word as she stood by the bed a few hours later, watching him sleep. Each ache in her body brought forth a heated memory. It was hard to leave the shelter of his arms, harder still to dress in the faint light of a swiftly approaching dawn. She knew that, in his mind, her СКАЧАТЬ