The Campbell Trilogy Read online

  Her eyes flashed with green fire. “How can you say that?” Her tiny fist landed on his chest with surprising force. “Was my innocence not enough for you? What more proof did you want from me?”

  The fact that she’d given herself to him had always bothered him. But he’d convinced himself that it had been unintentional. That like him she’d been carried away by the moment. She had cared for him, just not enough.

  He grabbed her hand and held it firm against his chest, his heart pounding. “You said you loved me and agreed to marry me. Your loyalty should have been with me, but you chose your father. You knew he intended treachery and chose to say nothing. You let me ride away, knowing I might not come back.” His voice shook with emotion he could no longer contain. “My father died because of that battle, Jeannie.”

  Tears sprang in her eyes to slide down her pale cheeks. His hand lifted but he checked the impulse. He would not comfort her, damn it.

  “I’m sorry. I tried to warn you. But what would you have me do? I knew that if I told you, my father’s life would have been forfeit. Would you have kept my secret and said nothing to your cousin?”

  His mouth fell in a tight line. “Of course I would have told my cousin.”

  She dropped her gaze and tried to pull away. “Then I was right to say nothing.”

  But he wouldn’t let her go. He held her wrist and took a step toward her, backing her against the wall, using his body to corner her. She’d started this≔ she would damn well finish it. “The hell you were. Where’s that faith you mentioned? I would have protected you and your father, but you never gave me the opportunity.”

  “How could you? You were just a bastard son. What could you have done against the Earl of Argyll and his powerful cronies?”

  He flushed with anger, his teeth clenched. Just a bastard. It didn’t matter that her words had not been said with scorn, the truth still pricked. “I wouldn’t have turned your father over to my cousin to be killed. I would have gone to your father first, told him that his treachery had been discovered and given him the opportunity to get away before any damage had been done.”

  Her eyes rounded with surprise, the dark velvety lashes sweeping like a raven’s wing against the pale skin of her brow. “I never thought …” Her voice dropped off. But when she lifted her eyes to his again, he could see she didn’t believe him. “ ’Tis easy for you to say now. But I remember how you were then, a young, ambitious warrior trying to erase the stain of your birth. You were the quintessential chivalrous knight—all nobility and honor with little tolerance for deception or injustice. Letting my father go would have put you at odds with your clan. You would never have done anything to blacken your name.”

  Fury cracked like a whip inside him, shattering whatever rein he’d had on his control. Chivalrous knight? God, it was laughable. Not with her. Never with her.

  He leaned into her, her breasts brushing against his chest, his skin crackled, the flames stoking hotter. It was all he could do not to slam her up against the wall and kiss her until the raging inferno inside him quieted. How did she still do this to him? Turn him into someone he didn’t even recognize?

  He heard her sharp intake of breath and saw the frantic pulse in her throat that echoed the beating of her heart. He slid his fingers around her neck, placing his thumb over the tiny flutter. He lowered his face to hers, forcing her to him. “Don’t you understand? I loved you. I would have done anything for you. Anything. Honor? Duty? They meant nothing compared to you.”

  He’d said too much, but he was past all discretion. His life had been so damned clear, he’d known everything he’d wanted until he met her. She’d changed everything.

  She gazed up at him helplessly. “Duncan, I … I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t want her damned pity, he wanted her help. “You’re still choosing to side with your family against me. Even if you weren’t responsible for taking the map and setting me up for treason, what if your father and husband were?”

  “They weren’t.”

  “Then you should have nothing to fear.” He swept his thumb over the delicate point of her chin, tipping her head back to gaze deep into her eyes. The old connection surged through him. He wanted to believe that she hadn’t betrayed him, but she was making it damned near impossible. “Please, tell me what you know, let me see his correspondence. Help me find the truth.”

  Her luminous green eyes swam with turmoil as she struggled with what to do. Her indecision chaffed against his control, already rubbed raw. God’s wounds, he’d practically begged her.

  His blood surged and desire fisted low in his gut. He was hot and hard, and her nearness only made it worse. Never had a woman managed to get so completely beneath his skin. She’d always been the devil’s sweet temptation. His entire body ached for her. Longed for her. How could she deny this madness that burned between them?

  He knew she felt it from the way her lips parted, her eyes darkened, and her breath hitched. But she was trying to fight it. “Duncan, I—”

  He swore, covering her mouth with his to prevent the refusal from passing her lips. He groaned at the contact—at the taste—sinking into her, digging his fingers through her hair to bring her mouth more fully against him.

  His body heated, hardened, overtaken by dark, primitive urges of a man intent on claiming the woman who belonged to him. Blood surged through his body as lust gripped him in its inextricable hold.

  He wanted to punish her for denying him, for denying this, for bringing him to this barbaric state.

  He wanted to sink into the warm, honey recesses of her mouth and devour her. To force her to admit what was between them.

  Not just passion. The flash of rationality pierced the black haze. It was more than passion. Something far deeper and far more meaningful. And he wanted her to acknowledge it. He forced himself to cool and eased back to coax her lips apart with gentle, deft strokes of his mouth and tongue.

  But God, she was sweet. Honey on his tongue. He wanted to sink into her, to delve into the warm sugary recesses, but instead of demanding with the force of passion, he cajoled with infinite tenderness.

  His forbearance was rewarded by a soft moan as she opened her mouth and returned his kiss, surrendering. To him. A bolt of pure masculine satisfaction surged through him as strong as after any battle he’d ever won.

  He knew she’d felt it, knew he was not alone in the force of emotion that made his chest ache with every tentative sweep of her tongue. His tongue circled hers in a slow delicious dance, delving deeper and deeper. She sagged against him, her body melting into his. He groaned at the contact, at the incredible sensation of all those ripe curves pressed up against him.

  The sound startled her out of her trance. With a cry she jerked away, the movement as emphatic as a slap. She stared at him, breathing hard. Her gaze shuttered, but she still bore the stamp of their passion in her swollen lips and flushed cheeks. “I can’t. I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

  He flinched. “Why not?”

  She shook her head, tears blurring her luminous green eyes. “I just can’t. Please don’t ask me again.”

  This time when she turned to leave, Duncan didn’t stop her. His body felt coiled, ready to strike, and he didn’t trust himself. His hardened heart felt the pinch. Her refusal, in the wake of his own weakness for her and the passion that still seized his body, was a double betrayal.

  He clenched his jaw, biting back the flare of disappointment. He’d thought …

  What, that he meant something to her? He was a damned fool thinking he could read emotions in a kiss.

  What the hell had he been thinking? Kissing her only made him more crazed. Lust blinded him to his purpose. He was here to clear his name, not to wake the ghosts of the past.

  She wanted him, but not enough to overcome whatever it was that held her back from helping him. It wasn’t just loyalty to her husband, but something else. She was hiding something and he intended to find out what it was.

  Chapter 13