Page 39 of Bride of Fire
But she wasn’t feeling particularly merciful toward the man who’d usurped her castle. Besides, she found his discomfiture highly entertaining. So she challenged him with a half-grin and a steadfast gaze, observing his unease, waiting for him to claim his leine.
His jaw tensed. His nostrils flared. He compressed his lips.
But to her surprise, as uncomfortable as he appeared, he eventually met her gaze and held it. Resisting the urge to feast his eyes on her womanly attributes, he instead pinned her with a steely stare.
How he then turned the tables on her and made her suddenly feel ill-at-ease was a mystery. But as the moments dragged on, it began to take all her strength of will to stay focused on his smoky, unwavering gaze.
As he continued to lock eyes with her, she felt a curious warmth rush over her body, as if he’d set fire to her flesh. Her ears burned. Her cheeks turned to flame.
Then the stony-eyed devil reached up and loosened the laces of his cotun.
Her smile froze.
Never breaking eye contact, he hauled off the cotun and tossed it onto the bed, leaving his chest bare.
She gulped.
Surely he didn’t mean to ravage her. Not now. Not when her uncle was on his way with an army.
Though she didn’t let her eyes dip, she was all too aware of his powerful shoulders.
His broad chest.
The arms that could hold her down and bend her to his will.
He tormented her a moment longer. And then, with a knowing twinkle in his eyes, he snatched his leine from her and slipped it over his head.
He donned his cotun over the leine and fastened the ties.
Jenefer, however, was still naked when Feiyan returned from the garderobe.
Feiyan gave her a cursory and unsurprised glance and proceeded to the table. “Oatcakes!” she cried. “Did you leave any for me?”
Jenefer was too rattled to reply as she began fumbling into her own clothes with shaking hands.
Suddenly, her appetite was gone. She felt flustered. Unsteady. Off-kilter. She could hardly tie her laces.
To all appearances, Morgan suffered no such affliction, which made her even more vexed.
“I’m postin’ a guard at the door,” he warned them, “but I’m sure ye think ye can somehow outwit or outfight him. Ye told me ye were women of honor. Prove that. Swear to me ye’ll not flee, and I’ll do my best to find your cousin.”
“I swear,” Feiyan said readily, taking a sip of ale as if in salute.
Jenefer wasn’t so sure. She didn’t want Hallie to be found. But she didn’t want to reveal that Rivenloch’s army was on its way either.
“Fine,” she said. “I swear.”
She couldn’t take a proper breath until Morgan was out of the room. And it didn’t help her mood when Feiyan pointed out the laces of her surcoat were tied wrong.
But her appetite did return. She managed to consume the four oatcakes Feiyan left her.
Once her hunger was sated, she was more eager than ever to come up with a battle strategy. She needed to get rid of Morgan Mor mac Giric as soon as possible. He was dangerous.
“We only swore we wouldn’t flee,” she said to Feiyan, who was currently gazing out the window. “We didn’t say anything about leaving this particular bedchamber.”
“You know that’s what he meant,” she said, arching a brow at Jenefer. “He posted a guard outside the door.”
“A guard we could dispatch easily.”
