“Some day you and I will play Truth or Dare,” she said hoarsely. “It won’t go well for you, I’m sure.”
He took her cup and stood up. “I’ll think about it. Don’t move.”
She only watched him go, which he supposed should have made him very nervous indeed. But she didn’t move and her hand was much steadier on her next attempt at throwing back whisky-infused tea. He should have been appalled at the waste of the first batch of it, but he couldn’t say he hadn’t done the same thing himself, and more than once.
He spent the rest of the evening curled up with her on thesofa with her head on his shoulder and his hands to himself. He was fairly sure he’d slept, because he snorted himself awake. She was indiscreet enough to refuse to ignore that.
“Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty.”
He grunted. “You could have refrained from comment.”
“You tried to talk me into caddying for you, probably in the snow.”
“I bought you a car.”
“And forced me to drink whisky-laden tea.”
He smiled and suppressed the urge to tip her face up and kiss her. He thought that perhaps it would behoove him to keep his hands and his mouth to himself.
“Nathaniel?”
“Call me Nat.”
She laughed, the barest huff of a laugh. “Do I know you well enough to call you Nat?”
“You drooled on my shoulder and you’ve tempted me to hand you the keys to my car. I think that entitles you to quite a few liberties at my expense.”
She sighed deeply. “Thank you. It was a very lovely day.”
“My pleasure.”
“How do you sayI’m not a demonin Gaelic?”
He froze. He sat up and shifted to look at her. “What?”
She looked at him, clear-eyed. “You heard me.”
“I heard you, but I don’t want to answer you.”
She took a very careful breath. “Please.”
Damn it to hell, what was he supposed to do besides answer her? He cursed a bit, then spat out the words as quickly as possible.
“Chan eil mi a deomhan.”
“Don’t suppose you know a more vintage rendition of that.”
“Don’t suppose I would tell you if I did.”
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Go home, Nathaniel.”
“Emma—”
She stood and held down her hand for him. “I’m tired.”
He let her pull him to his feet, walked to the door with her, then paused on the threshold. He looked at her seriously.
“Emma, don’t.”
