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Kenric shrugged slightly as a serving girl eased hesitantly up to him, eyeing him with fear, and placed an ale in front of him. He took a long gulp of the ale as the girl raced away. “You might have to to consummate your marriage,” he finally said. “Rumor has it she wants nothing to do with you.”

Terran snorted. “That is no rumor. Lady Bria has made it abundantly clear she doesn’t want to be my wife.” Terran’s eyes turned watchfully to the double doors. “She has a lover.”

“Lady Bria has a lover?” Kenric echoed.

“And he’s not just any man,” Terran said. “He’s the Midnight Shadow.”

Kenric almost spilled his ale, but quickly grabbed the mug with both hands.

“I want him caught,” Terran demanded.

“You have a plan?”

Terran nodded. Unable to sleep, he had been thinking of one all night. “Spread the word two tax collectors will be riding in tonight with the southern part of the village’s tithe. You’ll be waiting for him.”

Chapter twenty-one

Bria clutched her bag tightly to her chest. She’d waited as long as she could to leave the castle. Deb had told her of two tax collectors returning from collecting the tithe on the southern edge of Terran’s lands. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Bria snuck through the dark, still courtyard to the stables. She sighed slightly as she pushed the door open. She had made it. No one had seen her. She entered and shut the door behind her. There was a thrill in sneaking out to become the Midnight Shadow, a danger that excited her. And every night upon her safe return, a victorious feeling soared through her, making her feel exuberant, as if she were floating on a cloud. Despite the fact she’d almost been discovered, she found herself again tempting fate.

A slight grin curled her lip as she moved through the stable. The Midnight Shadow would not be denied.

“Going to see him again, aren’t you?”

Bria stifled the surprised cry that rose in her throat. She quickly dropped the bag behind a bundle of hay, hiding it from view, before turning to confront her questioner.

Terran stood silhouetted against the window of the stables. He approached her. “Who is he?”

Bria stood her ground, trembling fiercely. She could not tell him. Ever. He was the cause of such hardship for his people. He’d never understand. Besides, she’d tried to tell him, tried to explain about Mary’s death, but he would hear none of it. “I don’t know who you mean,” she replied sweetly.

He seized her shoulders, dragging her close to him. “You know,” he hissed, so close she could almost feel the movement of his lips against hers. “Tell me,” he commanded.

She lifted her chin slightly, but the movement only thrust her lips closer to his.

He looked at her mouth, and she suddenly felt a hot tingling in her lips. The next instant, he pulled her closer, pressing his lips to hers, kissing her with an angry insistence. Shock held her immobile. The vehemence in his kiss frightened her. Because beneath his anger, she sensed something else. Desperation. Need.

And her own body responded to that need, to the urgency building in her. She lifted her hand to touch his arm, and her fingers brushed the hard muscle hidden by his tunic.

Terran responded by pulling her tighter, closer against him. He plundered her mouth until all her resistance was gone. The swirling passion of her emotion caught her up in its whirlwind and buffeted her until she was dizzy.

He thrust his hand beneath her dress, his searing touch burning across her chest to her breast, enflaming it with heated strokes of his thumb, until her nipple was as hard as a pebble. She was breathless, panting against Terran’s mouth, groaning with the awakened need that scorched through his body into hers.

She should stop him, but, God help her, she wanted him to show her. She wanted Terran to teach her what was making her feel this way. She wanted him to...

He reached down and cupped her buttocks, pulling her against his hardness. She gasped as the core of her being brushed against him. Her emotions swept her up and up, until she was unable to remember who she was or what she was doing. His hand stroked her breast, teasing and caressing. His other hand moved lower and lower, closer to the spot where she needed him.

Terran pushed her back to the wall, shoving his leg between hers. Instinctively, her hips moved, rubbing over his leg. The mounting urgency, the growing need, filled her until it was all she knew, all she cared about.

Suddenly, he stepped back, releasing her.

She almost fell forward. She was breathing hard, panting for completion. She stepped toward him, but he grabbed her shoulders to hold her at arm’s length. He studied her face.

Finally, Terran dropped his hands. “Go to your lover with my kiss on your lips and my touch on your skin and know that when we are wed, I will have you and you will belong to me. Completely.” He turned away and headed toward the door.

Bria watched his straight back and almost cried out to him. She felt a longing and want whirling inside her the likes of which she had never known. For a moment, she thought of telling him she was the Midnight Shadow, just so he’d kiss her and touch her again.

But slowly, rationality returned. She wanted him to understand why she felt the need to continue her rides, but he would never listen to her. Betrothed or not, he was her enemy. There were people who needed her. His people.