Page 5 of Taming the Eagle

But he didn’t, not even now.

With a grunt, Lorcan yanked his shaft free and let his seed gush over her belly. Feeling its warmth trickle down to the nest of hair between her thighs, Fenella leaned back against the trunk. Her limbs trembled in the aftermath of the storm that had left them both panting, their bodies slick with sweat.

Wiping off his seed from her skin with a piece of moss, Lorcan then pulled Fenella into his arms, and together they sank down upon the bank of the glittering burn that bubbled through the glade.

And as they lay there in silence, enjoying the intimacy of the moment, a shadow fell over Fenella.

With all the excitement of encountering the Roman patrol, she’d forgotten her father’s announcement.

Propping herself up on an elbow, she gazed down at her lover’s handsome face.

“Lorcan,” she breathed. “We must talk.”

His eyes opened, focusing upon her. “Aye?”

“Father wishes me to wed Toutorix.”

Lorcan tilted his head, surprise rippling over his face.

“Apparently, he owes the chieftain a favor,” she continued, her pulse quickening, “and promised me to him … without talking to me first.”

Lorcan’s mouth compressed.

“I don’t wish to wed him,” she assured him. “I want to be with you.”

Moments passed before her lover responded, his voice oddly calm. “You can’t defy our tribe’s chieftain, Fen … surely, you realize that?”

Fenella stiffened. She hadn’t expected such a response from him. She’d anticipated jealousy, or angry words, but not this—notcompliance.

She pushed herself up into a sitting position and glared down at him. “I know your father and mine are enemies … and so we can never ask for their permission to be together … but it’s time we thought of ourselves,” she declared. “We must run away … today … before Toutorix forces the issue. I will not wed him.”

Lorcan stared up at her, his gaze veiled.

It was as if a curtain had dropped between them. Only moments earlier, she’d felt close to him, yet with just one look, he’d distanced himself from her.

“I can’t run away with you,” Lorcan replied softly.

“Aye, you can. Let’s go today. Leave it all behind. You’re a warrior, I’m a hunter … we’ll survive.”

With a sigh, Lorcan rolled into a sitting position. His gaze then swung away, focusing upon the clear water of the burn as it bubbled over the peaty earth and stones. “Let me say this another way,” he murmured. “I don’twantto run away with you.”

Fenella’s breathing hitched. She felt as if he’d just punched her in the belly. “What?”

Lorcan sighed once more, still refusing to meet her eye. “I’m with another, Fenella. I can’t leave her.”

Air rushed out of Fenella’s lungs, and the world tilted.

“There’s someone else?” she croaked.

“Aye, I have a wife.”

A wife?

“Since when?” Fenella was stunned. In all the moons they’d been meeting, from the first day their paths had crossed out here in the woods, he’d never mentioned this detail.

Lorcan was frowning when he looked her way once more. “Since three years ago.” He paused then. “We have a son, and she is expecting our second babe in the spring.”

Fenella gaped at him. Shuffling back, she swallowed hard, trying to gather her wits.