He had greater luck the next evening, when Allyson appeared after two days of seclusion. She looked rested and better able to endure her family. She wore a gown that didn’t fit her well, so Ewan realized it was one that still needed altering, but it complimented her fair coloring.
He met her at the bottom of the steps and glanced about to check that no one noticed as he guided her down a passageway he’d discovered led to the gardens but wasn’t often used. When they entered the shadows, he stopped them. She tempted him to press her against the wall and swoop in for a kiss, but he didn’t want to frighten her. After four years at court, he doubted he was the first man to want to steal a kiss from her, but that only seemed to make taking her by surprise even worse. When coupled with what she must have witnessed at Chillingham, Ewan didn’t want to terrify her.
“Lass, you look vera bonnie this evening,” he murmured as he turned to face her. A torch further down the passageway offered enough light for them to see one another.
“Bonnie?” Ewan noted that she sounded disappointed with the word.
“Aye, vera pretty.”
“Thank you,” Allyson whispered, but while she was polite, she still sounded unhappy.
“Lass, what is it? Do you not want me to compliment your appearance?”
“No, I’d just hoped—” Allyson trailed off and leaned back against the wall.
“Hoped what, Ally? What’s troubling you?”
“It’s naught, Ewan. We should go before anyone mentions we’re missing. You don’t need my clan to force you to the kirk because we get caught alone.”
“It is something, and I’m not opposed to someone finding us.”
Allyson shook her head and looked back toward the Great Hall. She whispered, “Don’t.”
“Ally, what is it? I don’t understand what’s the matter, but I want to.”
“Ewan, don’t do this. Don’t pretend that any of this matters.”
“Who said I’m pretending?” Ewan refused to wait any longer. Whatever bothered Allyson made her question his sincerity. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his larger frame. His other hand cupped her jaw as he lowered his mouth to hers. The contact snapped his control. He inched her back against the wall as his tongue dove into her mouth. He kept the pressure light, but he was insistent. He wanted to taste her and touch her until she melted against him as she had in the garden. His hand slid along her neck until his fingers trailed over her collarbone to her breast. He groaned as his palm encompassed the supple mound. He kneaded the flesh as Allyson’s tongue flicked his, luring it back into her mouth. Her hands tangled in his hair as he stooped to kiss the exposed skin above the neckline of her gown. The kirtle hung loose enough for him to push the material lower until he could lick the swell of her breast. Ewan fought to regain his self-restraint and pulled away but not before he squeezed her breast once more.
“Why—why’d you do that?” Allyson panted.
“Because I thought I wouldn’t survive without it,” Ewan confessed. “Because I’ve missed you the last two days and worried about you. Because you’re so damn bonnie that I can’t help myself.”
“Bonnie? Just bonnie. Ewan, go find Mary or Alice.” Allyson tried to push away, but Ewan’s hands shackled her to the wall as he pinned them at her sides.
“Why the hell would I want to find either of them when I nearly spilled myself kissing you?” he demanded.
“Because they’re the beautiful ones. They’re the ones every man wants.”
“You’re beautiful, too, Ally. And not every man wants them. They’re your sisters, but I can barely tolerate them.”
“No one said you had to tolerate them to look at them. And what Mary will do for you, to you, doesn’t involve her personality.”
Ewan dropped Allyson’s arms and lurched backward like she burned him.
“I do not want Mary, and I do not want Alice. I don’t want them in my bed, and I don’t want to be in them.” Ewan snapped. “They aren’t the ones I’ve kissed and been yearning to kiss.”
“Yearning?” The disbelief in Allyson’s voice tore through Ewan’s annoyance. He reminded himself that she wasn’t being awkward on purpose. Allyson was beautiful, but so were her three sisters, and she’d grown up cast in their shadows. She was aware Mary and Alice were solicitous to him, and she assumed, with his past, that he wouldn’t hesitate to accept the offers.
“Ally, we don’t have time for me to explain everything, but I will. Meet me tonight in the garden, please. But for now, rest assured I will never touch either of your sisters. Ever. Will you?”
Allyson nodded but couldn’t force the words out without bursting into tears. She was unprepared for Ewan’s embrace. Where the last one had been arousing, this one was comforting. He kissed the crown of her head as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“I don’t understand any of this,” she murmured.
“I know, little one. I’ll make sure you do if you’ll meet me.”
“Aye, I’ll meet you.”
