If she thought about it, it would tear her into little pieces. She refused to drown in sorrow. She would drown instead in the exquisiteness of this moment. There would be time for grief later. Too much time. A freaking lifetime.

But now, her man was kissing her. Now, his powerful hands were hot on her bare skin, slipping beneath her sweater. Now, he was gripping her by the waist, and lifting her against him.

She wrapped her legs around him and locked her ankles behind his back, as he backed her into the wall, kissing her passionately.

She had now.

And she wasn’t going to waste a single precious moment of it.

Gwen smiled over her shoulder at Drustan as he followed her to the door.

Shortly after their ninth-century ancestor had risen without a word and stalked from the room with Jessi, Gwen had realized it was nearly dinnertime. And a good thing, too, as she’d completely forgotten lunch in all the fuss today and her stomach was growling hungrily.

But upon Cian’s departure, Dageus and Drustan had promptly gotten into a heated discussion about him. It had taken her a good ten minutes to regain their attention and propose they move their conversation to the dining room.

Now, opening the door, she began to step out into the corridor.

“Oh, my,” she said faintly.

She retreated right back into the library and gently closed the door. “Um, why don’t we just, um, stay here in the library for a little while. Who wants to play Pente?” she said brightly. “I’m not as hungry as I thought I was.” She turned and butted nose to ribs with Drustan.

He caught her by the shoulders. “Why, lass? Is aught amiss? What’s out there?” Drustan stepped back, staring down at her, perplexed.

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

He raised a dark, slanted brow. “Well, then, let’s be off—”

“Oh no, not just yet.” She beamed up at him. Backing herself flush to the door, she draped herself casually against it. “Let’s stay here. Another half hour or so should, be, er, just about right.” She blinked, looking uncertain. “I hope.”

Drustan cocked his head, studied her a moment, then began to reach behind her for the doorknob.

Gwen sighed. “Don’t, Drustan. We can’t leave just yet. Cian and Jessi are out there.”

“‘Out there’?” Drustan said blankly, stopping midreach. “So? Will we not fit past them in the corridor?”

“I’m sure we could if we tried. I’m not sure we’d want to,” Gwen said meaningfully.

He regarded her expectantly.

She tried again. “You know, they’re out there.”

Drustan continued to regard her expectantly.

“Oh, Gwen,” Chloe cooed excitedly, “do you mean out there?”

Gwen nodded.

“Ha!” Chloe exclaimed. “I knew that woman wasn’t stupid.”

“Wait a minute. They’re out there?” Dageus said disbelievingly. “The two of them are out there in the corridor? I put over a hundred rooms in this castle, and they’re bloody out there in the bloody corridor as if they couldn’t find a door to a chamber? ’Tis not as if I concealed them—there’s only one every few bloody paces or so. Is it so much effort to turn a doorknob?”

A muscle leapt in Drustan’s jaw, his eyes narrowed. “Lass, are you telling me that Cian and Jessica are tooping in that corridor? Is that why you closed that door?”

Blushing, she nodded.

“You saw this? Nay, that was a stupid question. Of course you did. What, exactly, did you see, lass?”

“Me? Oh, nothing.” She folded her arms over her chest and stared off at a point somewhere east of his elbow.

“Gwendolyn?” He crossed his arms and waited.

“Okay, so maybe I saw a little,” Gwen admitted, “but he has her up against the wall and all I saw was his butt, and I closed my eyes the minute I saw it.”

“You saw my ancestor’s arse?” Drustan said frostily. “His bare arse? Had the man any clothing on at all?” He began reaching past her again, for the doorknob.

She waved his hand away. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Drustan, you saw him when he left. All he had on to begin with was his plaid. What do you think?”

Drustan’s nostrils flared. “I think the man’s a blethering savage.”

“Aye,” Dageus agreed.

“Oh, you two should talk,” Chloe said, laughing. “And Dageus, need I remind you of some of the places you and I—”

“Case argued and won, lass,” he said hastily.