Page 72 of A Wolf's Treasure
Heat crept up the back of her neck, and she looked away. She felt more than saw Duncan step in closer to her.
“Ryanne? Lass, what’s wrong?”
Feeling like a fool, she wasn’t going to say anything. She was a grown female and didn’t have the time or the need for all of this frivolous behavior. Didn’t need the attention of another to make her feel good about herself.
Didn’t need it. But she wanted it. From him. “Why don’t you ever flirt with me like that?” Somehow, she found the nerve to meet his eyes.
His brows lowered in confusion. “What?”
“You never flirt with me,” she repeated. Stronger now. “Every other female who looks your way gets a wink and a smile. A teasing comment or a compliment. And I’m just wondering, why don’t I? Am I not attractive to you? Am I not fun?”
He stared at her in confusion for a long time. It was so long, in fact, she began to wonder if she’d actually said all that out loud or just thought it in her head.
She rubbed the spot between her eyebrows, trying to relieve the sudden pressure. Perhaps it had been a stupid thing to ask, as the answer was quite obvious.
“Ryanne, look at me, lass.”
Reluctantly, she dropped her arm back down to her side and did as he asked.
Duncan was still staring down at her, but his green eyes were both bright and intense. His expression dead serious. “I dinna flirt with ye because yer no’ like those others.” He kept his distance even now, after everything.
She barely kept herself from snorting. “That’s quite obvious, thank you.” Then she gave him a tight smile, fighting the pain rising within her until she could get somewhere alone to process it.
“No, ye dinna understand what I’m saying.”
Her emotions were spun tight, and she may have shouted at him. “Then what exactly are you saying, wolf?”
Gently, never taking his burning green eyes from her face, he took her hands in both of his. “I dinna flirt with ye, lass, because ye are…ye are…” His brows lowered, his eyes searching her face. “Because ye are more, Ryanne. I can no’ explain it.”
“Can you try?” Her voice sounded tiny and unsure in her own ears.
With a deep breath and a nod, he seemed to brace himself. Against what? she wondered.
“I act th’ way I do with females, with other females,” he corrected himself. “Because it was what I did, ye ken, after.”
He didn’t have to explain to her what event he was speaking of. And now she knew why the steel had suddenly infused his spine. He assumed that posture whenever he had to speak of what was done to him.
“I don’t even remember when it started, but it made me feel…more a male, somehow, by making th’ females feel good in th’ only way I could. Do ye ken what I’m sayin’?”
Her wolf stood before her, proud and strong, but there was nevertheless a vulnerability in his eyes that tugged hard on her heart.
“But with ye, Ryanne, I can no’ do it. I can no’ pretend with ye. Because ye aremore.” Releasing one of her hands, he brushed his fingers down her cheek and along her jaw. “Ye aremore. Tis th’ only way I ken how tae say it.”
“Oh,” she said.
Oh.
One side of his mouth turned up, and she watched in fascination as a dimple appeared. “I’d verra much like tae kiss ye now. If that’s alright with ye.”
In the center of her chest, her heart began to pump loud and hard.
She was more.
His hand cupped her face as he leaned down and touched his forehead to hers. “Och, Ryanne. I never want tae be without ye, lass,” he whispered.
And as he claimed her lips, she felt the touch of his soul to hers, and she knew.
He wasmore.
And he was hers.
