But it didn’t matter how low she tried to speak; her brazen promise carried in the night air. Kinsey stepped forward and pulled back her arm to throw her dagger.
“Ye’ve no’ ever had a woman who can give pleasure like me,” the serving wench purred.
He doubted that but would have been more than eager to try her claim—if he’d never met Kinsey, that was. When she was around, all other women seemed to fade. They didn’t have her fire, her glow.
She released her blade, which veered off, nicking the side of the stump before falling into the thick grass.
William extracted himself from the serving wench’s insistent company. “I’ve another prize in mind.” He gave her a smile to ease his rejection and joined Kinsey.
He lifted his dagger a little higher for her to see. “If I land this dagger in the stump, I win.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Best of five?”
In truth, he would play this game all night with her. He enjoyed their playful banter as they competed and the way her eyes glinted with their friendly rivalry.
Although he knew deep down, he couldn’t best her. He hated the idea of crumpling her confidence, especially in front of the men. He was too skilled and never should have presented the challenge in the first place.
However, he must have hesitated too long as he decided how best to miss and make it appear accidental, for she lifted her brow. “Don’t do it…”
He blinked down at her innocently.
Her eyes narrowed, far too perceptive for her own good. “If ye lose on purpose, I’ll never forgive ye.”
“My side.” He cupped his hand over the wound.
She smirked.
He sighed in exaggerated resignation and leaned toward her, breathing in the sweet, delicate scent of her. “Then prepare yerself for a kiss, my darling Kinsey.”
Though he’d said it in jest, the reality of it slammed into him. He would be able to press his mouth to hers, to sample her warm, sweet lips, to relish the feel of her body against him. His loins stirred. Suddenly it became much more difficult to focus on planting his blade in the tree stump.
He steadied himself, took aim and let go of his dagger. It missed the center with genuine error, but still landed in the stump.
The men around him cheered and whistled. The blonde tossed him a look that said it was his loss and disappeared back into the tavern. He didn’t care. He’d lost nothing. In fact, he’d won.
He turned to Kinsey, who regarded first his dagger, and then him.
“It appears ye’ve won,” she said.
He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “It appears I have.”
She bit her lip and stepped closer to him. Her focus drifted downward to his mouth.
“Kiss,” Alec shouted.
The other men took up the word in a chant.
Kinsey’s breath quickened. As ever, she didn’t back down. Instead, she lifted her chin while closing her eyes. Determined to face the kiss.
Resigned.
That was not the way one ought to be kissed.
She had to want it as bad as him. To need it.
“No’ in front of all ye.” William faced his men. “I canna have ye stealing my wooing tactics.”
“Are ye worried about competition?” Someone shouted, and everyone laughed.
“Ales on me.” William nodded in the direction of the tavern. “Off with the lot of ye. But dinna stay out too late. We’ll be leaving in the morn.”
“Aye, Mum,” someone else called, and more laughter rose.
William rolled his eyes playfully and shepherded them all inside.
He returned to Kinsey, who appeared as sheepish as he’d ever seen her. Or rather never thought to see her.
She bit her lip again, her fingers twisting against themselves. “Ye didn’t have to do that.”
“I’ll no’ kiss ye in front of those louts.” He offered her his arm. “No’ when it made ye anxious.”
“I’m not anxious.” She accepted his arm and slid her hand into the crook of his elbow.
He knew her to be a resilient lass, but her hand was delicate where it lay against his large arm. The heat from her palm whispered through his sleeve and to his skin beneath. Suddenly he wanted to kiss her then and there, to nudge her back against the tavern wall and let his hands and mouth roam over her until she cried out in breathless whimpers in his ear.
His cock swelled in his trews.
He guided her back to camp. “Kissing isna for public exhibition.”
“Oh?” She was teasing him now, having recovered her poise.
It made him grin. “Aye, kissing should be private. A quiet, suspended moment in time between a man and a woman, hearts racing, breath coming too fast, bodies hot and alive with passion.”
“Like that?” Her whisper coaxed his arousal.
“Aye,” he agreed. “Like that.”
They were near the camp, close enough to smell the earthy scent of whatever Duff had concocted from the forest for supper. A reminder they’d been better off at the tavern.
“We need to be somewhere we can be alone.” He searched the still woods around them, cast in the subtle silver glow of the moon, and stopped. “Somewhere like here.”
“Here?” She turned to him, her eyes wide and innocent.
“Have ye ever been kissed before, Kinsey?”
“Of course, I have.” She answered so readily that he knew she was lying.
“Did ye like it?” He ran his fingertips down the delicate smoothness of her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw.
Her lips parted slightly, but she didn’t reply.
“Ye’ll like my kiss,” he said in a low tone. “If ye want it.”
“After ye rightly won?”
“I’ll no’ take what isna freely given.” He trailed his finger under her chin, gently tilting her face upward. Moonlight washed over her fair skin, making her luminous. “Do ye want me to kiss ye?”
She swallowed.
“I willna expect ye to become my leman over just one kiss.” He skimmed his touch over her bottom lip.
She exhaled a small laugh. “I’d imagine not.”
He stepped toward her, near enough that his right foot went between hers and slipped his hand farther to cup the nape of her neck. “Do ye want me to kiss ye?”
Her eyes flashed with that boldness he liked so much. “I want ye to stop asking me and just do it.”
That was all the answer he needed, and he lowered his head to hers.
Kinsey’s heart pounded with a force that threatened to punch it through her chest. Sir William’s palm was warm where he cradled the back of her neck in his large hand. There was a spiciness to his scent, something utterly masculine.
She lifted her face to his and closed her eyes, unsure what to expect.
She’d lied about having been kissed. She’d never bothered to waste time on dalliances. Not when there were so many other things so much more important.
His lips closed over hers, tasting of the sweet ale they’d consumed. His mouth moved, as if he were sampling first her top lip, then her lower. Pleasure tingled over her skin, thrilling and visceral. She made a small sound in the back of her throat. A whimper? Or a moan, mayhap?
She couldn’t think straight as he continued to brush their lips against one another. Her pulse thundered in her ears and throbbed an unfamiliar heat between her thighs. It embarrassed her to have such a powerfully intimate reaction to this man. But it also filled her with a longing to find out if it could go deeper.