The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

not full dark yet.”
    “It will be. I’ve seen you in candlelight before,” he said easily as he touched the flame of the match to the candles he’d set on the narrow mantel over the fire he’d already set to glowing. “But I didn’t take time to appreciate it. I will tonight.”
    “I don’t see why you have to make the situation romantic instead of what it is.”
    “Not afraid of a little romance, are you, Mary Brenna?”
    “No, but . . .” He turned, and the subtle and shifting lights of flame danced over his face, behind him, around him. He might have stepped out of one of the pictures Jude drew. Of faerie princes and valiant knights and poetic harpists.
    “There’s something about the way you look,” she managed, “that makes my mouth water half the time. I don’t much care for it, to be honest with you, and I’d prefer getting it out of my system.”
    “Well, now.” His voice was as smooth as hers was annoyed. “Why don’t we see what we can do about that?”
    Keeping his eyes on hers, he crossed to her.
     
     
     

 
TWELVE
     
     
     
    H OWEVER ODD THE situation, Brenna thought, it was still Shawn, a man she’d known and cared for all her life. However ridiculous it all seemed, she still wanted him.
    Nerves were as out of place as the harpsong and the candlelight.
    So when he laid his hands on her shoulders, when he ran them lightly down her arms to link with her hands, she tipped her head up. “If I laugh,” she told him, “it’s nothing personal. It’s just the whole business of this that strikes me funny.”
    “All right.”
    Since he only stood watching her, seemed to be waiting, she rose to her toes and took his mouth with hers. She didn’t mean to rush it, as she’d already concluded he wouldn’t allow that in any case. But at that first taste she wanted more, she wanted it all. And quickly. Her hands flexed in his as she chewed on his bottom lip.
    “I’ve got this powerful urge for you. I can’t help it.”
    “Who’s asking you to?” He wouldn’t rush, no, but it was tempting to pick up the pace. That fascinating little body of hers was already vibrating against his, and her mouth was like a fever. But he thought it would be much more satisfying all around to let her drive him crazy for a while yet.
    “Come up here.” He let go of her hands to take her hips, to hitch her up so that her legs wrapped his waist as they’d done once before. “And kiss me again. I like it.”
    Now she did laugh, and the nerves that had worried her flitted away. “Do you, now? Well, as I recall, the first time I did it . . .” She brought her mouth to within a breath of his, then drew back—once, twice. “You looked as though I’d coshed you over the head with my hammer.”
    “That’s because I wasn’t expecting it, and you turned my brain upside down.” He gave her bottom an intimate, and friendly, squeeze. “Bet you can’t do it again.”
    “Oh, so it’s a wager, is it?” Eyes glinting with the challenge, with the fun, she fisted her hands in his hair. “You’re about to lose.”
    She put herself into her work, he had to give her that. He could all but feel his eyes roll back in his head as her mouth attacked his. There were times when surrender wasn’t a humbling experience at all. There was a hint of wine still on her tongue, warm and rich. Mixed with her own flavor, it spun into him, a lovely and intoxicating combination.
    Harpsong and candlelight, a hot-blooded woman twined around him. He let both the passion and the romance pump into his system. Alluring. Arousing.Pleasure took on a fine, sharp edge.
    She felt his fingers dig into her hips, heard his breath quicken like a man who’d done a fast sprint up a long hill. When he shifted, turning toward the bed, triumph flashed through her.
    She would have him now. Her way. Fast and furious and done. Then this terrible pressure in her chest, her belly, her head, would find release. Her breath caught in a laughing gasp when he spilled her onto the bed, then covered her, pressed her into the mattress, tight body to tight body.
    “I’ll have to give you that one.” There was a gleam in her eye that only sharpened when he pulled her hands over her head and cuffed her wrists. “But now it’s my turn. As I recall, the first time I kissed you, your eyes went blurry and blind.” He closed his teeth gently over her jaw. “And you trembled.”
    Deliberately she arched her hips, pressed against him. “I’ll bet