Page 68 of The Red Woman and the White Bear

“And,” he added before she could speak again, “you are the only one to have given me the control I’ve sought all along.”

Instead of responding, Aisling sat quietly, watching the candlelight play over their hands. Kael let her process in silence. Her face was unguarded when she was thinking; he could see the wheels turning over in her mind. Sadness flitted across her features, and hurt. Then resolve.

She stood, and Kael mirrored her action. The scrape of the chairs against stone seemed loud after their stillness.

“I should let you rest awhile longer,” she said.

Kael offered a tired half-smile. “Would that I could. I have left matters unattended for far too long in my absence. But,” he hesitated, letting that smile mask the panic that gripped his heart, “you’ll stay?”

Aisling nodded. “If you’ll allow it.”

“Without question.”

She nodded again, already moving toward the door. Over her shoulder, she made to say something more, but Kael had already caught her by the arm and spun her back into his chest.

The bruising kiss he delivered stopped her from speaking further, punishing her for leaving. Punishing himself for making her leave. She froze, then melted. He curled his fingers around her jaw to still her there against him as he deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue between her waiting lips. He’d been starving for her: for the press of her skin against his, for the way she was so gentle with him despite the scrape of his rough edges. She could have been harsh or unkind, as he had been, but that wasn’t Aisling.

He felt the shift in Aisling’s body as her initial surprise quickly gave way to a surge of longing and she responded to him with a fervor that mirrored his own. Her arms wrapped around his neck as their mouths moved together with an almost desperate intensity, somehow speaking every unspoken word that hung between them. His grip on her tightened just slightly as he tried to anchor himself to this precise moment. Aisling’s mouth was warm and demanding; Kael’s breath mingled with hers and he kissed her with such hunger it frightened him. It didn’t seem to frighten her, though.

It was only with great reluctance that he relaxed his hold on her and let her settle back onto her feet. Her hands slid down to rest on his arms for balance, but he kept his around her waist. He wasn’t readyto let her go.

“I’ll send for you shortly,” Kael promised, pressing his lips to her forehead this time. Cheeks flushed and eyes shining, Aisling could only nod wordlessly before she took her leave.

Briar was on Aisling almost before she managed to pull Kael’s door closed behind her. He lunged forward and planted his front paws squarely on her chest, toppling her back several steps until she could balance with his weight. Rodney scowled up at her from where he was seated on the cold ground on the opposite side of the corridor.

“Really, Aisling?” he groused. “You were in there for ages.”

Aisling dropped Briar’s paws and crossed over to Rodney, kicking one of his feet with hers lightly. “You didn’t have to wait out here the whole time.”

He scoffed. “You’re lucky that’s all I did; I should have come inwith you.”

“I was fine,” Aisling insisted. She held out a hand to Rodney and when he took it, she hauled him to his feet.

“What took you so long, anyhow?” Rodney rubbed his backside and rolled his shoulders, wincing at the stiffness there. He began walking up the passageway in the direction they’d entered from the night before. Briar padded alongside Aisling, occasionally working his head under her hand to be scratched.

“I fell asleep.” Her lips tingled and her cheeks felt hot and flushed. She was glad that Rodney seemed more focused on finding his way than on her lie.

“Not withhim?” he pressed. She didn’t like his tone or the way he deliberately avoided saying Kael’s name. Even addressing him by his formal title would have sounded kinder.

“No, not withKael.” Aisling stressed his name to make her point. “But even if I had, it wouldn’t be any of your business at all.”

Not far beyond the entrance to Kael’s suite of rooms, Rodney showed Aisling into the adjoining chambers that had been prepared for them. He’d taken the liberty of selecting the deeper of the two for Aisling, so that she’d have to cross through both their shared bathroom and his room to exit back into the hall. She had no doubt he’d done so on purpose.

Her bag was on the bed, open. Rodney had pulled Briar’s food out, but he’d left the bowl untouched. Now that he was back at Aisling’s side, he ate like he hadn’t in days.

“As your best friend, I have every right to worry. So when you put yourself at risk, it absolutely is my business.” Rodney leaned againstthe carved doorway and watched Aisling dig in her bag for a fresh set of clothes.

“I wasn’t at risk. I thought he’d send me away,” Aisling said, sitting on the bench at the foot of the bed, “but I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Well,” he started, shifting uncomfortably and rubbing his neck. He was blushing now, and making a concerted effort to look anywhere else in the room but at Aisling. “If you ever want to talk about any of…that…I can listen. I doubt I can offer any great advice, but—”

Wrinkling her nose, Aisling cut him off quickly. “Gross, no. Thanks, but no thanks.”

Rodney blew out a heavy sigh. “Thank fuck. I really didn’t want to hear about it.”

Aisling rolled her eyes and shooed Rodney back into his side of their suite so that she could bathe and change. Her fingers still trembled as she worked the soap over her body, the emotions that had been building in her chest since her return wearing aggressively on her nerves. And that kiss—that kiss had told her everything she needed to know. He’d missed her. Once, she wouldn’t have thought him capable of such a feeling. But Kael was not the monster that everyone made him out to be. That he made himself out to be.

Rodney was sprawled on his bed when she emerged, and she joined him. He nodded toward the table in the corner, now laden with fruit and bread. “A hob dropped that off a minute ago. Eatsomething.”

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