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“Don’t get me wrong.” Felicity adjusted herself on the thick blanket they were using in lieu of a saddle. When the Roman road ended and they’d emerged from the woods, Will left her to rest, and he returned having somehow procured a horse.

“I’m very happy to be off my feet.” She wriggled those feet, stretching her sore calves.

“And,” she added, nestling her rump back along his belly, “I’m totally loving this riding with you thing.

” And boy, was she. Being safely encased in the hard muscle of Will’s arms and legs was pure, delicious heaven.

“But it seems to me you can’t just take someone’s horse. ”

“ ’Twas borrowed from a Campbell. Believe me, love, the Campbells have coin enough for an entire herd of horses, straight from Arabia if they wished it.”

“Yeah . . .” she said hesitantly. She didn’t think she’d ever really get all the various clans and the seemingly irrational hatred some of them bore each other. “But it’s still stealing.”

“Then would that I could have stolen two.”

“Wouldn’t that just be twice as bad?”

He sighed deeply.

“What did that mean?” She reached back and nudged him with her elbow.

“It means you have much to learn about the ways of the Highlands.”

“Are you saying I’ll be staying?”

“You know I’m not.” He hugged his arms snugly around her belly in an effort to take the sting from his words.

“You’ll see. You’ll decide to let me stay.” She took one of his hands from her belly and brought it to her breast. “How’s about we take a little break so I can try to convince you again?” She wriggled her hips, grinding back in an attempt to rouse him.

“Och, woman.” Will nuzzled her from behind, trailing lingering kisses and nibbles along her neck. He gave her breast a gentle squeeze. “Would that we had time. But there’s no rest for us now.”

Her neck was cool as he pulled from her to take in the wide-open glen around them. The riding was slow going now, headed uphill.

“They’ll be after us,” he said. “We cannot risk getting caught. I imagine we’ll have riled my brother,” Will added with a low chuckle.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ve told you. To Cameron country, to return you home.”

“Will we be safe there?” She still hadn’t gotten over the shock of being kidnapped, or of witnessing men go at each other so savagely. Though she wanted to remain with Will, her strong preference would be to stay clear of men with swords.

And ministers too, now that she thought about it.

“That’s the point of this exercise, love. I’d not have you anywhere that’s not safe.”

She leaned her head back, flush with the feeling of being loved, of being so cared for and protected, and in such a very literal way.

“I’ve got to know,” she heard herself ask. “Have you ever been in love?”

“As I also must know,” he replied quickly, “has anyone ever told you, you ask too many questions?”

“It’s the mark of an intelligent woman.”

“Oh indeed?”

“Yup. Come on, just tell me. You know I won’t let you rest until you answer me.”

If Felicity had thought about it beforehand, she probably would’ve been too nervous to ask such a thing.

But now that the question was out there, she had to know the answer.

Reaching her hand back to tousle his head, she tried to lighten the moment by telling him in a seductive snarl, “You can run, but you can’t hide. ”

He was silent. Completely silent and still at her back. Just when Felicity thought she’d asked a question she maybe didn’t want the answer to, Will spoke.

“No,” he told her quietly. “You are the first. And the last.”

A part of her had known. And though something deep down had sensed how new, how novel, Will’s feelings were to him, his words resonated through her. She let them hang, stabbing her, leaving her unexpectedly gutted, and sad.

It felt like such a tremendous loss. She couldn’t bring herself to understand it. How could she have made such an extraordinary journey, come all this way to find love with this one man, only to have to say good-bye? She couldn’t accept that it was happening, that she would be leaving him.

They rode to the top of the slow- rising hill. Will pulled their horse to a halt and loosened the reins, letting him lower his head to graze. The animal’s coat was lightly damp from exertion, and it gave a twitch and shiver from the gentle breeze that swept the hilltop.

The Highlands rolled out before them. Uneven, tangled greens here, but rock there, gray and lifeless and ragged. Water like indigo glass stretched toward the horizon. There was the distant honking of geese, but an utter quiet also overwhelmed them, like the sound of stone and still water.

The view took her breath away. And it put a picture to all the emotions roiling in her. The not quite desolation, not quite loneliness that clutched at the edges of her heart.

She needed to hear his voice, and so with a nod to a far hill asked, “Is that where we’re going?”

“No, love.” He gathered the reins, and the horse tossed his head in protest. Will felt Felicity’s sudden melancholy like a winter rain. Though it was something he’d known was on the horizon, still it chilled him, stole something from his heart. “We’ve a long journey yet.”

Will needed only to think about moving to push his horse into a walk. He’d always felt at home on horseback. He was a cavalryman; he believed he’d been born thus.

Then the accident had happened, and great beasts like this one had become for him the strong legs he lacked. Many horses, just like this one, saving him in battle.

He let his mind drift, thinking on all those moments in his life when he’d cheated death. As a seven-year-old crushed by a pony. As a man lying broken and bleeding on the battlefield.

It had been Ormonde who’d helped him that day, when he’d been shot on the field at Philiphaugh. Ormonde had pulled him from a puddle of his own blood. Taken him to safety.

He’d been fighting by James Graham’s side. Will’s mind touched on his beloved friend and comrade. Graham was out there somewhere, with his Magda and a cottage full of daughters.

And now Will found himself again owing Ormonde. Will was indebted to him and Ormonde’s Sealed Knot men, and never did he turn his back on his friends. Never did Will forget an obligation.

Soon he would let Felicity go and would let his life be forfeit for the restoration of a king.

But first they needed to ride. Rough, hilly riding, until they reached Lochaber. He felt exposed on these open Highland passes and would feel this nagging danger at their backs until they found themselves safe on Cameron land. Until Felicity was safely returned home.

The thought sickened him. Will felt as though he was dying from the inside, and he’d not be surprised if, in the moment of their farewell, he were to breathe his last.

Fighting his misery, he wrapped his arms more tightly around her. Pulled her as snugly to him as he could, savoring the fit of her back against his belly, her ass pressed against his groin.

He supposed he could’ve found them a second horse, but he’d wanted to feel her close like this.

Having her astride before him felt such a wickedly improper thing, with her skirts hiked up to afford illicit glimpses of calf and knee.

He savored the shift of her shoulders on his chest and the soft give of her breasts against his arms. He fantasized that he was her second skin.

They headed downhill now, and Will leaned back to balance them. Pulled her back with him. They reached the bottom of the hill and he straightened, leaning forward into her, holding her even tighter, closer.

She made a small, pleased noise, and his hands gripped, pressed under her breasts.

“Will . . .” The breathlessness in her voice had him instantly rigid. “You know,” she began, shifting against him, “Will, this is giving me ideas.”

“Oh aye.” He was well acquainted with ideas .

He’d been having them since the moment they’d first met.

Waking dreams that plagued him, day after day.

He felt like a damned schoolboy, stealing renegade glimpses of breast and hip.

And now here she was, flesh and blood, pressed against him for the taking.

He cupped her breast, kneaded it, and felt a rush of blood in his head, the desire for her dizzying. The knowledge that he could just take her, have her, unmoored him.

“Lower,” she said, and he recognized that husky timbre in her voice. It was the sound of Felicity’s want, and his already hard body quickened even more in response. “Lower, Will.”

Could she really mean . . . ?

“I know you said we can’t stop.” Felicity took his hand, nudged it down. “But we don’t need to. Just touch me,” she told him softly.

There was a moan, and Will realized it must’ve been his own. He didn’t require any more urging from her, and brought his hand down. Nestling it between her legs, he damned her thick skirts that once again stood between him and her sweet flesh.

He was fully erect now, and the rub and tangle of his plaid irritated him. Yet again he’d be forced to ride his climax through the maddening chafe of wool.

“Wait,” she said, and he froze, stopping at once. He cursed himself for being a boor. Had she not wanted him to touch her so? Had he somehow misunderstood?

She took the reins, clumsily pulled the horse to a stop.

“What—?” he began.

But Felicity swung her leg over, settling herself sidesaddle, and the words froze in his throat. She twisted her body, anchoring herself on one of his shoulders.

“What,” he exclaimed, “what in God’s name are you—?”

She muttered curses under her breath, struggling and hiking at her skirts. With a violent tug, Felicity flipped her gown up. With a naughty giggle, she was clambering around to face him atop the horse.

“Good Lord, woman, I . . .”

She shoved his plaid up, and cool air hit him, a shock on his burning flesh. And then, God help him, she mounted him. Took him into her, and her wetness drew him deep, and God help him, it felt like where he belonged.

“Felicity, love.” Stroking up her back, his hands spanned the width of her, and he savored the feel of this strange, delicate creature in his arms. He caressed the silk of her hair, and kissed her cheeks and brow and lips.

He couldn’t see enough of her, couldn’t taste enough of her. “You are too much.”

“Trot,” she said.

“What?”

“Trot, Will. Make the horse trot.”

“Och, no,” he managed. “You’ll kill us both.”

And he continued to kiss her instead, and though his body raged, he set aside a small sliver of his mind, concentrating on keeping her balanced over him, on keeping the horse calm below.

She laughed a husky little laugh he recognized, and Will knew he was in trouble. And then, as he suspected she might, Felicity kicked the horse herself. Her legs, these soft, smooth, pale legs of a woman, began kicking away, slamming her heels at the horse’s belly.

Will was their only connection to the horse now, and he held Felicity firmly, bearing her weight, his arms bracing her to him. His legs holding his seat steady.

Their horse was a docile creature, and he stepped into a reluctant walk. Still, Felicity’s heels slammed away, and Will grew even harder despite himself, the feel of her tight body writhing over him more than he could bear. She slammed her heels and the horse broke into a sluggish trot.

Will groaned, fighting to keep ahold of himself. His fingers gripped her soft flesh, and a distant part of himself worried he clung too hard. But she gasped her pleasure, tangling her fingers hard in his hair.

He was losing control. Needed to keep control. This was implausible, unimaginable.

“We must . . .” he began, and then realized he’d forgotten what he was going to say. It was as if a madness was overtaking him. He was deep in her, so deep.

She grew still, and he watched. Fascinated, reverent, he watched as her face grew flushed. Her eyelids flickered shut and her breathing hitched, halted. And then she shouted her climax.

“Will!” she cried, and it echoed through the valley. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew they needed to be careful.

“We must,” he began again, but was unable to speak, so instead put his fingers over her mouth to quiet her. He slowed the horse to a walk, and began to move in and out of her, in time to the gait of the horse.

Felicity bit his fingertip. She opened her eyes, catching and holding his gaze as she sucked his finger in and out of her mouth. Her tongue was rough, her cheek smooth, and Will fought his own climax as memories of his cock in her mouth jerked his body.

She was going to be the death of him. This gorgeous, shocking, unexpected gift would be the death of him, and he’d go a happy man.

Felicity sagged in his arms, her hips rocking in an exaggerated sway. Inhaling sharply, she ground against him, and he could tell she was winding up once more. He felt a rush of her wetness. Her body stilled, and he knew she was close.

He pulled his finger from her lips. He could wait no longer. Clamping his mouth over hers, he took her breath with a kiss as he shot himself into her, riding Felicity as she came in waves over him.