The other young ladies had started on theirs, each playing up their work to the cheers and bawdy comments of those gathered around them. As each ball of mistletoe was put up, a young man of the lady’s choosing was invited to kiss her.
Jonas noticed these were not tame kisses.
Good.
His would not be tame, either.
He held Ailis by the waist while she climbed up three steps of a small ladder to reach the height of the first doorway. Since her injured arm was still in a sling, she struggled to hook her mistletoe onto the bough of holly and ivy already strung across the transom. It took her several tries, but she was in no danger of falling while he held her securely about the waist.
He felt a current of attraction flow through him every time he touched her. Even earlier today when he had been in such a rage,the mere sight of her had soothed him. She was soft as a lamb and had magical eyes that always seemed to sparkle, and golden hair that seemed ready to burst from its pins at any moment.
When she was through, he lifted her down from her perch, keeping his arms firmly around her so that she would not fall even when she suddenly lost her footing and accidentally slid down his body.
“Ailis,” he said with a groaning laugh. “Are you trying to torture me?”
She clutched his shoulder in desperation, having only the one good arm for support while the other was still bound.
It was a deliciously slow slide.
The crowd enjoyed the show. Everyone moved over to them and began to chant, “Kiss her!”
Jonas winked at Mrs. Curtis, who had been helping out with the church decorations along with her regular housekeeping duties at the vicar’s manse and now cheered hardest.
Heaven and earth, he was going to kiss Ailis breathless.
And he did.
A roar sprang up throughout the crowd.
He barely heard the thunderous bellows and whistles, for all had faded into the background the moment he sank his lips onto Ailis’s rosebud mouth and felt the soft give of her lips as she responded with shyness, at first, and then gave in to the moment with all her heart.
He did not release her when it ended.
He could not release her, for she looked thoroughly dazed and decidedly out of balance. Nor did he want to let go of her now that she had admitted her feelings. Somehow, she had become a part of him, the missing part he had been longing for during all those years of battle, blood, and captivity.
Other ladies began to offer their assistance, calling out to Ailis to hand over the second mistletoe to them.
He wouldn’t allow that to happen.
He took the mistletoe out of her hand and clutched it firmly. “Where do we hang this next one?”
Ailis pointed to another door, one that led out from the nave.
Now all the volunteers followed them to it, cheering as Jonas swept Ailis into his arms and lifted her once again onto the third step of a small ladder. Cries of “kiss her” began before she had finished hooking the mistletoe atop the doorway.
When she was done, he set her down and drew her into his arms.
As he closed his mouth over hers for kiss number nine, he already knew what kiss number ten had to be. For all the depth and heart of their ninth kiss, for all the sweetness of her lips and the possessive claim of his, neither this kiss nor all the others that had come before would match the splendor of kiss number ten.
Still, he held this kiss for as long as he dared. And ended it with greatest reluctance.
But he also realized that as her volunteers sobered, they would begin to wonder if something more was going on between him and Ailis.
Well, that could not be helped.
But he sought to dispel any rumors by staying on after the decorating was done and game stalls had been built, sharing a drink with the men and mildly flirting with the ladies while they cleared the tables and prepared them for the piles of food to be delivered at the start of tomorrow’s festivities.
When the night drew to a close, he walked Ailis next door to the manse where she and her uncle resided. The day had been a long one for her, so he did not delay her when she retired to her bedchamber while he spoke to her uncle.
