A Little Fate by Nora Roberts

passion rather than the rage she felt. “Indulge me and wait for the rest. You will not be disappointed, I promise.”
    â€œWould you rather I nibble some housemaid to sate my appetite?”
    â€œSuch a man as you would have great appetites. I will do my best to meet them, at the proper time.” She broke free. “Your kisses make me tremble. It will break my heart if you only toy with me.”
    He grasped her waist and tossed her up to the saddlemore roughly than necessary. “You’ll know my answer at week’s end.”
    Bastard, she thought as she gathered her reins. But she smiled, with her lashes lowered. “And you, my lord, will know mine.”
    She wanted to bathe, to rub her lips raw so that there was nothing left of the taste or feel of him. But she laughed and talked her way through another night of feasting. She lifted her cup to the king in toast. She danced, and pretended only feminine flusters and objections when Owen pulled her into the shadows and touched her body. As if he had the right.
    Her mind was too troubled to speak of it to Rhiann as she removed the ball gown and put on her nightdress. She watched the sky, careful not to venture too close to the window, as the world quieted toward sleep.
    Then, donning cloak and hood, she slid out into the night, to the stables.
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    S HE knew he wasn’t there. She understood now that part of her would sense him, would always sense him. So he hadn’t waited for her, as she’d asked.
    Once again she took a candle and followed after him through the tunnels, and into the forest beyond.
    He stood in the moonlight. It showered over his ragged shirt, his unkempt hair, the worn boots.
    â€œI told you not to come.”
    â€œI need to speak with you.” She blew the candle out, set it down. “To see you. To be with you.”
    He stepped back. “Are you mad, or simply sent here to ensure I will be?”
    â€œYou could have told me when I asked why you stay here.”
    â€œIt’s nothing to do with you.”
    â€œEverything you do, everything you are, and think and feel, all of you has to do with all of me.”
    â€œYou rode with him.”
    â€œI do what needs to be done, as you do, Thane.” She reached out a hand as she moved to him, but he turned away.
    â€œWill you be wedded to him, and bedded to him? Does that need to be done?”
    For the first time in days a smile that came from her heart curved her lips. “You’re jealous. I’m small enough to enjoy that. He will never have me as a man has a woman. You already have.”
    â€œI haven’t. I won’t.”
    â€œIn dreams you have.” She moved in, laid her cheek on his back and felt his body go taut as a bowstring. “You’ve dreamed of me.”
    Both heart and body strained toward her. “All of my life, it seems, I’ve dreamed of you.”
    â€œYou love me.”
    â€œAll of my life.” He spun back, held her at arm’s length when she would have embraced him. “You kept me alive, I think, in dreaming of you. The loving of you, and being loved. Now, by the gods, you’ll be the death of me.”
    â€œNo one lives forever.” She took off her cloak, spread it on the ground. Then, standing in the moonlight, she drew off her nightdress, let it pool at her feet. “Live now.”
    He reached out, wound her long, dark hair around his fist. He could walk away from this, still had the strength. Or he could take love, one precious moment of love, and have its comfort and torment with him the rest of his days.
    â€œIf hell awaits me, I’ll have one night in heaven first.”
    â€œWe’ll have it.” She waved a hand and around them cast a circle of protective fire. The light of it shimmered in golds as a thin mist covered the ground in a pure white blanket.
    â€œI’ve waited for you, Thane.” She touched her lips to his, fit her body to his.