MacKerrick gave a mighty tug on the cloak and Evelyn was jerked against his chest. In a blink, MacKerrick had dropped his mouth to hers in a hard kiss, wrapping one long arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him.
Evelyn was so shocked that she froze, her very toes tingling from the sensation of MacKerrick’s warm, dry lips against hers. The scruff on his upper lip chafed at hers with a delicious prickle. He eased his head back and softened his mouth, kissing first her upper lip and then her lower, then sliding his tongue along the seam. He kissed her mouth again gently, wetly, and Evelyn felt her knees go watery, her eyes close, her fingers uncurl.
MacKerrick’s solid chest twisted for an instant, and then his other arm was around Evelyn, pulling her even closer. His skin smelled of fresh winter air and his own masculinity and Evelyn let her hands creep up over his chest, let her mouth soften and her head tilt. It was achingly brilliant, his kissing, his strength all around her and she felt protected from the harsh season, from the grays, from her haunting past…
She realized Minerva’s cloak was no longer between them.
Evelyn shoved MacKerrick away with a cry and her eyes searched the floor around her frantically.
Minerva’s cloak lay tossed across the fire pit, slender whips of smoke now curling around it. Evelyn darted to the pit and MacKerrick moved in the same moment, meeting her there. He grabbed Evelyn’s arm as she reached for the cloak, but she twisted with a cry and grabbed a fold with her other hand.
“Let go!” she cried as MacKerrick snaked an arm about her waist.
“You’ll set the house afire, Eve!” He tried to swing her away from the pit.
Evelyn raised a leg and swung her heel down hard into MacKerrick’s shin, drove an elbow into his ribs, and twisted, all in the same moment, dragging the smoking cloak from the fire pit and whirling away from MacKerrick.
The highlander laid hand to a bucket of melt water in an instant and turned toward Eve, his arm in motion even as she raised a warding hand and whipped the cloak behind her.
“MacKerrick, nay! It’s not—”
The cold water hit Evelyn full in the face and she would have shrieked if not for the flood that smacked into her open mouth and sluiced up both nostrils. She was instantly drenched in the icy wash and coughed and spat, trying to catch her breath.
MacKerrick stood near the fire pit, holding the now-empty bucket and looking like a great, angry lummox.
“It wasn’t afire,” Evelyn managed to gasp. She brought the cloak—bone dry and completely unsinged, as well—to her face to mop at the dripping rivulets.
“See?” MacKerrick said smugly. “What fabric willna burn?Cursed fabric.”
“You. Are. Mad!” Evelyn yelled. She held her arms akimbo. “Look what you’ve done! This is my only suit of clothes! I’ll likely catch fever and die now, thank you very much, sir.”
To her surprise, MacKerrick looked genuinely aghast at the idea. The bucket fell from his hand with a hollow conk as he stepped toward her.
Evelyn backed away. “Nay! You stay far, far, far away from me. You—you…sneak! Youkissedme! To trick me!”
“Eve—”
“Get out!” Evelyn was now embarrassed to tears but would not allow them to fall in MacKerrick’s presence. How could she have been so foolish, so gullible, as to have fallen, face first, as it was, into such a despicable trap? She had let him kiss her! She had kissed him back!
She’d had no idea she was of such loose morals.
“Get out!” she repeated with a stamp of her foot and flung an arm toward the door. Water droplets arced away from her and her face felt as though it was on fire. “I must get dry and I’ll not have you about watching lecherously!”
MacKerrick sent her an exasperated look. “Eve—”
“Out!” she shrieked. “Get out! Get out! Get out! Get—”
“All right!” MacKerrick bellowed. He stomped to the door and paused, grabbing up his bow and arrows. “But if the grays—”
“I hope they eat you!” she screamed, beyond all reason now.
The highlander raised the bar and opened the door. He stopped to look over his shoulder. “Be sure to dry your hair, lass, else—”
Evelyn shrieked and snatched the mead jug from the floor. She hurled it at MacKerrick, who went wide-eyed before darting outside. He slammed the door just as the jug smashed into it, exploding mead and broken slivers onto the floor.
Evelyn threw the cloak after the jug and then crossed to the door to drop the bar in place. She stepped back, her chin quivering.
“And stay out!” she yelled.
