Page 108 of Dark Seduction

“Ye shouldn’t have come,” he said, tilting up her face. He could not wait to kiss her, and every inch of him pulsed with explosive force. God, he had to take this woman and he had to do so now….

He claimed her mouth, trying to be gentle because he now knew she liked to start slowly. Still, he was a man and he pushed her against the wall, spreading her thighs with his, urgency racking his body. He could not wait. He pushed her down onto the pallet.

He pinned her there. Her clothing had vanished, and so had his. He deepened the kiss and in spite of the urgency consuming him, he slowly slid into her, shaking and gasping as he did so, fighting for self-control. He loved her hot, wet, tight flesh.

Claire gasped with pleasure; so did he.

He was throbbing so greatly he was ready to come, and so was she. He lifted his head to smile at her, breaking the kiss. I love ye, lass.

Her eyes widened and then she flung her face to his neck, crying out in her pleasure. His joy began. And then the door slammed against the stone wall.

Malcolm woke up, instantly realizing he had been dreaming. But it had seemed real, and he was as aroused as if he and Claire were really in his bed together. He lay facedown on the pallet, and because Royce shared the high tower room, he breathed hard, fighting for composure.

“Get up.”

Malcolm realized the command was not addressed to him. He had been using his brat as a blanket, and he threw it aside, sitting up. Royce was being singled out by the two guards. Alarm began.

His uncle stood in the tower’s center, his wrists being bound in front of him. Malcolm stood slowly, warily. Four slits were spaced evenly on the round tower walls, and Malcolm saw a night sky filled with stars and a high moon. It could not be much past midnight. Prisoners were executed in the broad light of day with an audience, so no one could misinterpret the extent of royal prerogative and power. So this was not an execution. Malcolm’s alarm eased, but not greatly.

For while his uncle’s face was so expressionless it might have been cast from stone, he felt a thrumming tension in him. Briefly, Malcolm was confused. The heat felt sexual.

“Yer t’ come with us,” a guard said to Royce.

“Where do ye take him?” Malcolm demanded in the tone of a laird of a great clan who expected to be answered at once.

One of the guards glanced at him. “’Tis nay yer affair.”

Malcolm lurked easily enough and was stunned to discover that Queen Joan had ordered Royce brought to her privy chambers. Incredulous, he looked at his uncle again.

He was not a fool. Everyone except the king knew of his wife’s extreme carnal appetites and her numerous affairs. There could be only one reason for the queen to summon Royce at such an hour. But in the name of all gods, when had Royce even attracted her interest?

He lurked again and saw Royce and the queen passionately entwined in the royal bed. Worse, he felt his uncle’s amusement, his indifference, and he sensed his lust.

This was not the first time.

Royce’s head could wind up on the block. Was he mad?

Royce looked him in the eye and murmured, “No man can refuse his liege.”

Malcolm was horrified. Royce was correct, but if ever discovered, he would pay for such adultery with his life.

“I dinna care, Malcolm,” Royce said. And suddenly he seemed every one of his 850 or so years. “I dinna fear my death.”

Royce opened his mind completely. And Malcolm saw the vast chasm of his uncle’s exhaustion and loneliness, and realized he was tired of his life.

Royce did not look back as he was led from the tower.

CLAIRE COULD FEEL Malcolm’s presence.

But the palace was a maze of dark corridors lit by burning sconces. Outside every window she passed, the moon was fuller and brighter than it had been last night. Malcolm, where are you? she cried desperately.

But there was no answer.

She had to find him; she had to make certain he was all right.

Claire paused, breathing hard, her back against a wall in an upper floor gallery, absolutely alone. It was very late and any lingering revelers were in the hall downstairs, where there had been a huge supper feast. Malcolm, help me find you!

He did not answer. Claire trembled with despair. She hurried on, the corridor endless, the shadows lengthening, darkening. And then she felt his presence. He was nearby!