Aye, maybe she could at that, but that didn’t mean her safety was any less Arran’s responsibility. That she would disregard it so readily made fury and fear course through his veins in equal measure.
He stepped closer until they were less than an arm’s length apart. Jenna glared up at him, chin lifted, fists clenched, eyes flashing with defiance.
“While ye are a guest in my home,” Arran said in a deathly quiet voice. “Ye will abide my rules. Is that clear?”
“And if I don’t? What will you do, oh mighty caveman? Thow me over your shoulder and carry me away?”
God give him strength! He would like nothing more than to do that very thing.
“Dinna tempt me, woman,” he growled. “I dinna know what yemean by ‘caveman’ but throwing ye over my shoulder seems very appealing right now.”
“Ha! I’d like to see you try!”
She pushed past him, but as she did so, Arran grabbed her arm, yanked her back towards him, and kissed her fiercely.
He didn’t know how it happened. He hadn’t meant to do it. He only knew that his blood was suddenly roaring, his skin was suddenly tingling, and he was powerless to do anything but kiss her, kiss her like his life depended on it.
For an instant, she went rigid, and he expected her to push him away, or slap him, or both. She did neither. After her initial moment of shock, she leaned against him, her arms went around his neck, and she kissed him back, just as passionately as he was kissing her.
Everything around Arran evaporated. He was no longer aware of the sea lapping at the shore just a few feet away, or the driftwood beneath his feet. He could no longer feel the breeze or hear the call of night birds. The only thing that existed was her.
He pressed his hands into the small of her back, pushing her against him. Heat raged through him, desire and longing, and a hundred other different emotions that he couldn’t identify. Jenna filled his senses. All he could feel were her warm lips. All he could taste was her tongue as it danced with his own. All he could smell was the soft scent of her hair as it swirled around him.
But then a branch suddenly snapped behind them and they sprang apart as if stung. Arran whirled, drawing his claymore from across his back and gripping it two-handed as he crouched in front of Jenna, eyes scanning the darkness.
Two bright pinpoints of light regarded him from the shadows and it took a moment for him to realize they were eyes. The eyes blinked and then disappeared and he caught sight of a fox’s bushy tail as it disappeared back into the night.
Arran let out a long breath and straightened, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
“Naught to worry about. Just a fox.”
Jenna swallowed thickly. “Right. Just a fox. Great.”
She glanced up at him, biting her lip in a way that made him want to kiss her again. Hell, just thesightof her made him want to kiss her again and do much more besides. He wanted to lay her down in the sand and make her his. He wanted to hear her moaning his name.
But the moment had passed. Jenna wrapped her arms around herself and took a step back. Away from him. Her lips were swollen from their kiss and there was a faint blush to her cheeks, but she looked uncertain now, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened between them.
God help him,hecouldn’t believe what had just happened between them. Had he completely lost his mind? What had possessed him to kiss her? She was a MacFinnan spellweaver for pity’s sake!
And yet… he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. He would do it again if he could.
“I… um…” he stammered.
“We should be getting back,” she said, cutting him off.
“Um. Aye. We should.”
They climbed the trail up from the beach and began the trek back to Dun Tabor. Neither of them spoke. They walked for perhaps twenty minutes until the silence became too much for Arran to bear.
“Ye still havenae explained why ye came out here alone.”
She opened her mouth for a retort but then her shoulders slumped and she let out a long sigh. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Nay, lass. It isnae.”
She stared out into the darkness for a while. “Because I didn’t want everyone to see me fail again,” she replied at last. She looked over at him. “I didn’t wantyouto see me fail again.”
His breath hitched. He stopped, forcing her to do the same, and looked down at her. “Is that what this is about? Ye think ye have somehow failed?”
