She slipped her fingers over his and he lifted her to her feet. Water rushed down her body, leaving her sleek and shiny in the low light. Nervously she waited as his gaze swept up and down, heating every inch in his path.

His eyes glittered as he lowered his head. She caught her breath when his mouth hovered precariously over her breast. Then he pulled her nipple into his mouth and sucked strongly at the tip.

Her knees buckled and she would have collapsed back into the tub, but he grasped her around her waist and hauled her against him, his mouth still firmly around her nipple.

“I’m getting you all wet,” she gasped.

“I don’t care.”

He moved to her other breast and flicked his tongue out. It rasped over the sensitive point, sending shivers of delight down her spine.

She was captivated by the picture they presented. Their bodies meshed together in the warm glow of firelight, his mouth at her breast and her skin gleaming from wetness. It was every romantic dream she’d ever hatched. He was her warrior. Though she’d saved him in the beginning, he saved her each and every day.

Her warrior. Her love.

“Love me, Alaric,” she whispered.

“Aye, I do, lass. I do. And I will. Tonight is mine. You’re my captive to do with as I see fit. Never will you feel more cherished and loved than you do this night.”

He left her for the barest moment and returned with a drying blanket. As soon as she stepped from the tub, he wrapped her in it and guided her toward the fire.

Carefully he worked all the excess water from her hair until it lay damply against her back. Then he collected her comb and began patiently working the tangles from her hair.

No one had ever attended her thus. It was a marvelous feeling. She felt important. Like she was the lady of the keep and beloved by her laird.

He pressed his lips to the back of her head and kept them there a long moment. “Tonight you will obey my every command. Aye, I’ll see to your every need because ’tis my wish. But this night you are mine and will cede to my wishes.”

His hands slid up and down her arms, and his mouth moved to the side of her neck. “Think you that you can agree to not say me nay?”

Her insides squeezed unbearably and she was breathing so rapidly that she was light-headed. The power and sensuality in his voice excited her beyond measure. Didn’t he know she would never deny him anything?

She nodded, unable to voice a single word around the knot in her throat.

He turned her head so that their gazes met. His eyes burned into her and his expression was fierce, every inch the warrior he was. “The words, Keeley. I would have the words from you.”