“I pity your brother in some ways,” he murmured.
Allie lifted her gaze to his, an outraged question mark surely on her face.
He smiled, tired and soft. “I pity Kendall because his actions destroyed a possession that is worth more than gold—your loving heart.”
His words battered her armor, knocking away a gauntlet and scratching a greave.
Another bit of herself capitulating to Ethan Penn-Leith’s kindness.
Later, Allie would try to piece together what happened next.
She leaned forward to rise . . . perhaps to collect a handkerchief from beside the washbasin?
But Ethan still had a hand atop her leg.
Regardless, in one breathless second, Allie lost her balance as she rose and pitched forward . . .
. . . landing with a quietoofatop Ethan’s chest.
She barely caught herself before cracking her forehead on his.
Ethan’s palms reflexively wrapped around her waist again, holding her to him.
They both froze.
Her mouth was barely an inch from his.
Allie was acutely aware of the more than six feet of muscled male beneath her. The press of his thigh against her hip. The aching desire in her belly to close that last inch and claim his mouth once more.
“This is verra bad,” he whispered roughly.
“Yes,” she replied, equally hoarse. “This . . . can’t happen.”
“Aye.”
And still she remained there, atop him, her mouth a fraction from his.
She remembered his kiss—hot, searing, hungry. A sense-obliterating flare of passion.
A kiss like that in this moment would be akin to a torch set to a funeral pyre.
They would both be sent to a blazing death.
“I won’t kiss you,” she said. “And you insisted you wouldn’t kiss me unless I want more than mere friendship.”
Ethan squinted at her. “Did I say that?” His eyes fixed on her mouth. “That was a stupid thing tae say.”
“You meant it.”
“Then I take it back.”
“That’s merely your whisky-addled brain speaking.” Allie fought to come to her senses. “If we ever kiss again, I want us to do it for the correct reasons. I won’t take advantage of your drunken state.”
She pushed up on her hands, only to have Ethan hold her tight in place.
“Nae, please take advantage,” he murmured against her lips. “Take all my advantage. What was it ye said? Sometimes a kiss can just be a kiss. Let’s do that.”
“Ethan,” she pleaded.
