Finally he spoke. “Why do you tremble when I touch you?”

“I am not used to the attentions of men,” she answered him
breathlessly.

Turning her so that she faced him, he looked down at her. “I do
not understand that, Skye O’Malley, for you are outrageously fair.
Has no man, even your betrothed, whispered sweet words of love
into your little shell ear?”

“No.” Her cheeks were softly pink now, and her voice was so
low that he had to bend to hear her.

Niall Burke was enchanted. He felt something strange sweeping
over him, possessing him, rushing him onward to something his
inner voice warned against. “Look at me, sweetheart,” he com-
manded her. “I promise not to bite you, though God knows you’re
a tempting morsel.”

Shyly she raised her blue eyes to his silvery gray ones, and for
a moment Skye felt as if she were drowning. She realized he felt
it too! Neither could tear their gaze away. They were suspended in
time, their souls flowing back and forth between their bodies, twining
into one perfect being.

A great guffaw of laughter from the other side of the hall broke
the spell. With shock, Niall swore, “Christ! What is it you do to
me, little witch?” He was astounded by himself. “Turn your eyes
from me, Skye darling, before I shame us both.” He signaled a
servant bearing a tray of wine goblets and, snatching two, gave one
to Skye. He gulped down the other, welcoming the burning sensation
that spread through his stomach. It gave him something to concen-
trate on, to prevent himself from carrying this girl away from the
hall forever.

When dinner was announced, Lord Burke, as the highest-ranking
guest, was seated next to the bride-to-be. He was artful enough to
hide his troubled emotions, but the meal tasted like sawdust to him.
He was a man of the world, experienced beyond most, but the girl
had affected him as no other female had ever done. He admitted to
himself that he desperately wanted to bed the wench, but there was
a great deal more to it than that, something he had never felt before.
It had all come on him so quickly that be couldn’t understand it