Susan King - [Celtic Nights 03] Read Online Free PDF Page A

needing your forgiveness."
    "I would forgive you anything." Her lips caressed his. "Do you think me foolish for this?"
    "Not at all." Was he foolish to think of her as part of him, blood, bone, and soul? She lifted on her toes, melding to him as if she were made for him alone, her breasts soft against his chest, her willingness delicious, unexpected, intoxicating. The thundery demand within his body urged him to let go his caution and pursue this alluring secret with her.
    He kissed her again, feeling his lonely yearning for her ease a little; yet his craving increased, driving him onward.
    Then his thoughts cleared like sunlight melting fog. He set her firmly away from him. "This is beyond a mere token. You will know loving soon enough, but not here, not like this."
    Her breath came as fast as his, and her hands circled his wrists where he held her shoulders. "Better you than—"
    "My friend, not like this." His voice was ragged.
    "Lachlann," she said, "do you not want to pledge with me?"
    "Eva," he said, a sudden suspicion growing. "Would you use this to avoid the marriage your father wants for you?"
    She shook her head. "I had not thought of that."
    He believed her, but his body sobered, and his guard fell into place. He lifted his hands from her. "And what would your father do?" he asked bitterly. "A smith's lad touching his daughter—he would be after me for murder and seal you up for safekeeping. Go home, Eva."
    "I did not mean to anger you. I only wanted—I hoped—"
    "You hoped I was so good a friend? I will be an even better friend, and tell you to go home. Your brothers, your father, and your friend '—he thumped his breastbone savagely—"do not want you disgraced."
    She nodded miserably. "I know."
    "This is only Beltane foolishness, Eva. It is in the air. Girls rolling bannocks to determine their lovers, and wishing to be courted—I would not want you hurt by it."
    She began to gulp as if she might sob. "But—"
    "Hush." He touched a finger to her luscious mouth, still warm from kissing, and brushed a silky curl from her cheek. "Listen to me. Of course I want you. I am a man, and you are lovely. But we will not do this, hey?" he said gently.
    "Tell me... do you want to pledge with me?"
    "Of course. Who could resist you?" he asked, heart slamming. "Now be off with you. I swear if I touch you again, I could not stop so quickly. And you deserve better than a blacksmith's fostered lad, fine as you are," he murmured.
    He had never wanted anything so fiercely as he wanted her now. Yet he fought to resist what she offered him with such seductive innocence. He did not want her out of some headstrong passion. He wanted her wholly, utterly, two equal loves shining like twin stars. If he thought there was some chance of that, he could go away with hope in his heart, and wait forever.
    He would not hurt her, in heart or in flesh, with hasty, hungry, ill-timed loving. What filled him was too powerful to let out all at once. He must tame it—smother it, if need be.
    Her gaze was vulnerable, needy somehow. "Can a kiss be a pledge?" she asked. "Is a token like that not binding?"
    He smiled ruefully. "Sometimes. And sometimes it is Beltane fever. And sometimes it is a convenience to prevent another betrothal." He cocked a brow at her.
    "That is not what I intended," she said haughtily.
    "Eva, we can pledge if you still want it when I return from France, and if your father agrees," he answered with a calm he did not feel. "If you are not wed by then."
    "Oh," she said. "Oh." She looked down again, and he knew she felt rejected. He sighed and let her think it, for that was safest for both of them. But in his heart he had made a pledge to her long ago. He reached out, began to speak.
    The blare of a ram's horn split the silence between them. "Someone is on the other beach, summoning Alpin," he said, looking that way. Eva's name echoed out.
    "Simon and Donal. I must go." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "My fine friend,"