Page 109 of The Shadow Path
Thatwas more complicated.
Duncan’s shouted declaration hung in the silent air as the maid finished with the hot water. She cleared her throat and looked at Carys. “If you’ll just give it a few moments to cool, Lady Carys, the temperature should be perfect. Do you need any help washing your hair?”
“No, thank you.”
“Very well.” The maid gathered her things, closed the window, and folded the pipe back up against the wall.
It was possible to love two people at the same time, but was it possible to love them in the same way? The love she’d felt forLachlan felt so rooted in her heart that it made her cross a world to find him.
And the love she felt for Duncan was a bright, burning, wild thing that couldn’t be tamed.
And definitely could not be denied.
All the servants slipped out of the room, and Carys turned to Duncan, taking his hand and looking up into his eyes. “I love you too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Duncan Murray’s green eyes went soft and his face relaxed. “Carys?—”
“But I can’t tell you that I don’t love Lachlan at all,” she whispered. “I do, and I think a part of me always will.”
Duncan pulled his hand away. “No.”
“Do you want me to lie?” She blinked back tears. “If I’d only ever met him, I probably could have loved him forever. That’s the truth. But then I met you, and…” She choked back a laugh that was almost a cry. “You’re like an eclipse. You block everything else out. There’s a war going on outside this castle, and somehow all I want is to be with you.”
He lifted his hand to her cheek, his fingers hovering inches away. “What are you saying?”
“I don’t want to be with Lachlan,” Carys whispered. “I have feelings for him, and I always will. But those feelings are nothing compared to what I feel for you.”
Duncan’s eyes burned in satisfaction. “You choose me. You lovememost.”
“Yes.” She swiped at the tears that fell down her cheeks. “It kind of pisses me off right now, but yes.”
His hand softened, and his palm cupped her cheek. “I love you, lass. I love how brave you are. I love how loyal you are to your friends. Even to fucking Lachlan, I suppose.”
“And I love you. I love you in a way that I’ve never loved anyone. I love you in a way that scares me to death, because if you ever took it away” —she clutched a fist to her chest— “I don’t know what I’d do.”
“I’m not going to take it away,” he whispered. “I’m not going to leave you.”
“Good.” She sniffed and wiped angrily at the tears that kept falling down her cheeks. “Because I’ve crossed two worlds now, and I think you’reit. You’re the one. You’re my fate or my destiny or whatever that means, so if that’s not enough for you?—”
“Shut up.” His mouth fell on hers and he drank her in, enfolding her in his arms and lifting her up.
Carys wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders, falling into his kiss and away from the madness that beat outside their door.
If war was coming, she wanted him. She only wanted him.
Duncan walked her to the edge of the bed and set her down. “Fuck me, but I love these tall beds.” When he set her on the massive four-poster bed, her body was perfectly aligned for the rock-hard erection behind his woolen trousers.
He stared down at her desperately. “I don’t know if I can wait for a bath again.”
“Don’t want to wait.” She was ripping at his shirt, eager for his skin. “Bath later.”
The fire in the hearth crackled, and the water in the bath warmed the room. Carys reached down and pulled her shirt up and over her head.
As soon as her breasts were exposed, Duncan was on them, gripping her back and lifting her body to his mouth, feasting onone breast, then the other, his tongue and his teeth arousing the most ferocious hunger.
She was already wet and aching for him. She reached down, her fingers sliding under the waistband of his trousers, searching for the heat and the steel of his erection. Her hand closed around it, and he groaned against her skin.
