Wed to a Highland Warrior by Donna Fletcher

private,” he said in way of an apology though he would not offer one. He did not want her to know his every thought, and she had to realize that.
    “I understand,” she said.
    He didn’t like that she kept her head turned away from him. He reached out, his hand slipping beneath her chin to gently turn her face.
    She avoided his eyes, and he didn’t like it. “If you’re angry with me, have your say and be done with it.”
    “I am not angry,” she said her glance finally falling on him. “But it is difficult for me to avoid your thoughts when you so easily open them to me.”
    “You know all my thoughts?”
    “Not all. Some come jumbled though I don’t know why, while others are clear, as if you are speaking to me. I don’t understand it myself. Usually, I sense or have a vision, or I hear a thought or two.” She shook her head. “Not so with you. I have seen and sensed more than most with you.”
    “I cannot have you knowing my every thought. It could prove dangerous for you,” he said, and difficult for him. What would happen when he got the urge to kiss her? Or his thoughts turned intimate. What then? “How do we stop this?”
    Her surprised, steady gaze was enough to let him know that she had heard his thoughts. And there was only one thing to do. He cupped her chin, tilted her head up, and kissed her.
    H is kiss was as confident as his stance and his stride. This was a man who knew what he wanted, and he wanted her. The overwhelming sensation of his desire and the rise of her passion melted away any doubts that this was wrong.
    Bliss did something she rarely did—she let herself be carried away. She surrendered to her senses instead of relying on them. Soon, nothing but the kiss filled her head. It was the most freeing feeling she had ever experienced. And she didn’t want it to end; she wanted nothing more than to linger and enjoy it.
    After bringing the kiss to an end, he teased her bottom lip with nibbles and in between asked, “Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”
    “Befuddled,” she murmured, her mind and senses dwelling on the kiss and his tormenting nibbles.
    “My kiss bewildered you?” he asked with a prideful laugh.
    “It did, it has, it does,” she said, her rambling words proving truthful.
    He laughed again, kissed her hard, and hugged her tight. “We have settled our dilemma.”
    Her mind had yet to clear, and so she asked, “How?”
    “It is simple,” he boasted. “I will kiss you whenever you sense too much about me.”
    The idea startled her though she could not say she opposed it. She did, however, want to know, “But do you want to kiss me?”
    He laughed again. “It has proven successful already. You have forgotten.”
    She smiled. “I remember now. I sensed that you wanted to kiss me.”
    “And so I did, without objection from you.”
    “It was most pleasant,” she said, “and gave my mind rest.”
    “Then since I wanted to kiss you, and you wished me to kiss you, we have no problem in how to settle this dilemma.”
    It seemed reasonable enough though she was concerned with where it might lead. But they would not be together long. Even though his intentions were to return her home with him, she had different plans. She would go to her home and remain there with her people. They would protect her, and it would give her time to think about Trey. Nothing made sense when it came to him, not her vision, not her knowing, nothing, and she needed to make sense of it before she lost all sound reason and did something unwise.
    “For now,” she said. “But time may show us otherwise.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “It is up to time; it is not for me to say.”
    “You speak in riddles,” he said.
    “It will make sense soon enough.”
    He shook his head. “You confuse.”
    She laughed. “It is the way I often feel.”
    He stroked her cheek. “How difficult it must be for you.”
    No one had ever cared how she felt. What mattered was what she could tell