Chapter 12

Idalia raised her hands as if to brush away his words. She looked him directly in the eyes so he could see how sincere she was as she spoke.

"You were not going to take me to him, do not lie to yourself. You might have believed you were, but a part of you knows the truth. You brought me here, away from his reach, and you are running away with me right now because you never planned to take me to him. If you had, I'd have been there with him, fighting for my life right now instead of being here with you."

Idalia could see she was getting through to him. His stern expression, filled with internal torture, had shifted to a look of uncertainty and confusion. Bran had spent so long being hard on himself for the role he had played in August's camp, he could not see that he was as much a victim of circumstances as she had been, or as her sister whom he had saved had been all of those years ago.

"I am so conflicted," he groaned suddenly. He rested the oars on his thighs and ran his hand across his face and hair. Here was a man who was plagued by the choices he had been forced to make. Of course, he was conflicted. She would feel the same if she was in his shoes. "I want tae save me daughter, but what is right? Is putting my daughter in danger tae betray August the best way tae do the right thing? All this time, all I ever wanted was tae make sure she was safe and happy, and now, here I am putting her life in danger."

"Your daughter will be fine, Bran and we will certainly save her," she told him with conviction. When they got back to her family, they would jump into action to get rid of August Raymond before he could escape once again and make another plan to abduct her or to carry out his vengeance. Idalia hoped they would be as quick as possible in reaching their goal.

"Thank ye. Ye have been kind tae me despite the role I played in this charade we're participating in."

"Do not worry about that anymore. You had your reasons, and they were very important ones. Besides, since August Raymond had you followed, I still would have been abducted if you had let me go. The only difference is that you would have been punished alongside me." Bran smiled at her, nodding at her words. There would have been no way to save her if he had been so hasty as to let her go.

Idalia sighed and leaned in, moving closer to him as they continued to float in the water. She reached out to hold his hands that lay motionless on the oars resting on his thighs. She squeezed his hands when he looked up at her, smiling at him as much as she could muster.

Idalia did not know how they would do it, but she was determined they would get his daughter out of August Raymond's clutches. However, that was much was easier said than done.

She wondered what it would be like when they got back and everyone realized that Bran was alive. He would be more interesting to them than she and her disappearance would be and, hopefully, she could manage to escape their questions, eyes filled with disappointment. Idalia shivered as she thought of what her life would have been like now if it had been anyone other than Bran who had been sent in to bring her to August Raymond.

Her hands tightened even further around Bran's at the thought, and she shook her head and smiled at him when he looked down at her in confusion. She leaned in closer to him and stifled the gasp that threatened to escape her mouth when she felt the tension around them intensify the closer she got.

During their conversation, in her bid to help Bran see the good in himself, she had forgotten about the kiss between them. Now, the air was charged and felt electric. Idalia could feel her heart pounding quickly in her chest with an intensity she had only experienced in terrifying moments. But this felt a bit different from what she had felt before in those moments.

Idalia's breath caught in her throat, and she swore she could feel her pulse racing as well. She looked up at Bran, to find he was already looking down at her, and yet she could not read his eyes. She wished she could tell what he was thinking just then, for she wanted terribly to know if his heart pounded like hers did. She wanted to know if his pulse raced wildly, and if his breath had caught as well as their hands joined together.

Was she being silly to think he might have experienced the same feelings as her?

Perhaps she was being foolish. Bran, unlike her, had experience what it was like to be with a woman. He knew more than she did, as was evidenced in the fact that he had a child. She doubted he felt any of these things she was sensing, but still, Idalia wished she could know for certain.

If only I could read his mind...

Her eyes drifted down from his gaze to his strong jawline and then to his lips. Bran had poured his heart out to her in a way that was still a shock to her. She had expected him to only tell her a little bit of why he did what he did and why he stayed, but he had confided fully in her, completely unafraid to let himself be vulnerable before her.

She craved so badly to press her lips to his and kiss him like she had at the house. She wanted to forget about all of their troubles and meld their bodies together until there was no space between them.

Her throat closed up with the desire she suddenly felt, and Idalia furrowed her brows in confusion. Why was this happening? What was even happening? Still, her hands stayed wrapped around his.

"Idalia," Bran ground out, his voice dropping an octave lower and coming out raspier than ever before. Her name on his lips sounded divine. She shivered as his voice washed over her, and she leaned even closer to him, unable to stop the want. Her body screamed at her to give in to what she wanted and allow herself to experience the pleasure of his lips on hers.

"Idalia…" She looked at him, and for the first time, she noticed the hunger in his eyes as he stared at her. Her mouth opened and she gasped, and her throat worked as she swallowed. She could not tell who moved first, but before she could figure out what was going on, she was wrapped in his embrace, with his lips pressed against hers, and his hands pulling her closer. Idalia moaned when she suddenly felt his skin pressed to hers.

Bran deepened the kiss, his hand moving behind her head as he kissed her. He licked her bottom lip, and she gasped, giving him enough of an opening to slide his tongue into her mouth. Idalia gasped when he grabbed her tongue with his lips and sucked it into his mouth. She did not know what to do other than to follow his lead, and Bran seemed to understand that. He moved his head to the side and kissed her lightly, from the side of her lips to her ear and then back again to the other ear. She moaned when he brushed her ear, enjoying the tingly sensation that traveled down her spine. Bran did it again when he saw how it affected her. She twitched when his tongue flicked on her earlobe but relaxed once again in his embrace when the sensation hit her.

Idalia felt herself melting in his hands. She had not realized that her body was capable of giving her all of these pleasures. Her eyes had closed as she let the sensations wash over her when Bran moved suddenly. Her eyes jerked open, and her arms moved to grab the boat tightly when it moved unsteadily in the water. Somehow, in her pleasure haze, she had forgotten they were in the middle of water.

"It is all right. I have ye," he said to her, gently prying her hands off the sides of the boat. He moved his legs to both sides and leaned heavily on them to evenly distribute his weight, and then he reached out for her. Idalia took his hands and maneuvered until she was settled on his lap, facing him. She pressed her lips to his once again, eliciting a chuckle from him before he once again succumbed to their lust. Bran moved her hair aside and latched onto her base of her neck, sucking on it, provoking Idalia to moan even louder this time, her face reddening at her inability to control herself. She felt heat pool at her core from his actions, and a sudden desire to grind herself against him.

Unable to stop herself, Idalia moved even closer and rubbed herself on him, looking up his eyes when even greater jolts of pleasure ran through her being. Bran chuckled once again and held her hips. He lifted her up from him, much to her displeasure and positioned her until she was lying awkwardly on the boat, her bottom half suspended in the air. She blushed once and had the urge to sit back up and adjust her clothes but instead she remained where she was, allowing him to do what he wanted.

She trusted him.

Bran knelt between her legs and ran his hands up her thighs until he got to her most intimate part. He stared in her eyes as he pressed his thumb on her swollen nub and moved it in slowly and gently. Idalia's eyes closed as the pleasure hit her. She tossed her head back and allowed the trapped moan to escape her slightly open mouth as he continued his ministrations. She whimpered, bereft when he suddenly pulled his thumb away from her nub, but her blush soon returned when the cool air caressed her skin. She did not need to look down to know he had exposed her womanhood. Still, Idalia stole an embarrassed peek and jerked in shock when she saw his face close to her exposed wetness. She felt the heat from his breath, and it sent a chill down her spine, with a promise of something wonderful to come.

The first stream of pleasure washed through his tongue and swept through her inner thighs as his hands fondled the flesh. The warmth of his tongue moved closer to where she suddenly wanted it to be, and with it came even more pleasure. She gasped out a short moan, her throat closing up it as he pulled the hood of her nub and slowly licked her upwards. Idalia's eyes fluttered shut when he did it again and again, and then again until her hips bucked, her legs shook from the pleasure she felt and something inside of her threatened to let go.

She chased after it, wishing to reach the peak Bran which continued to draw out of her. She felt a finger prod gently at her sensitive entrance and slip inside of her. Idalia bucked her hips once more, just as the lustful intruder hooked and slid in and out of her and her mouth opened in a scream that she could not hear as she tightened around his finger, her legs around his shoulders. Waves of her release moved through her like those of the ocean, until she calmed and returned at last to earth.

"I want you, Bran," Idalia said as she reached for him. She moved her hand to the hardness tenting his trews and wrapped her fingers around it as much as she could. She moved her hand to his waistband, trying to free his hardness, but he stopped her, reaching out to keep her hands locked in his. She looked up at him in confusion.

Why is he stopping me?

"I cannae. I cannae dae this, Idalia," he said, moving away from her. She frowned and pulled down her gown until she no longer felt the cold air on her skin.

"Why? What's wrong?" she stopped in her attempt to get closer to him when he held out his hand.

"I dinnae deserve a pure girl like ye. Ye are… Ye are so much more than me, an angel, while I'm a devil's servant. I have done so many bad things, and me dirty hands have nae place on yer body."

"No, you are not a bad person, Bran. There is so much good in you," she said, but he shook his head at her.

"Leave it, Idalia." He sat back down and picked up the oar but did not resume rowing. Idalia sat back where she had been before she moved closer to him and stared at him; all of the heat from the moment she had just felt began to leave her.

His warmth was gone.

She looked at him, unable to take her eyes off him. Idalia wished she could go up to him and convince him that he was wrong, but she remained in her seat, feeling the invisible wall he was building come up between them. Her heart ached as she mourned for the man she wanted and would never have.

"I dinnae deserve ye, Idalia," he repeated, the words falling heavily from his lips.

This time, she remained quiet and did not try to convince him otherwise. But as she sat there looking at him still, her heart ached.

What had been the point of all of this if he was simply going to put walls between them?