They simply . . . didn’t mix with the local clan folk, as he said.
“Life is rather boring at Dunmore,” Isla confessed.
“Aye?”
“Ayyyye,” she drawled just to see him smile again. He did not disappoint, his lips stretching wide.
There was something arresting about this boy. The way that he looked at her, the angle of his head as he spoke, the quiet earnestness of his gaze combined with the rough masculinity of his frame.
Never before had she been so aware of her own body as female and another’s as male. It shook something awake within her belly. Like standing in the midst of an electrical storm, the current buzzing along her skin.
“We shouldn’t be speaking,” she said.
“Nae, we shouldn’t."
“Why do our families hate each other? I don’t understand.”
“Me, either. All I know is my da’ would whip me if he caught me here.”
“Mine would lock me in my room for a week.”
“Would he now?”
Isla shrugged. “Perhaps. I actually don’t know what he would do as I’ve never . . .”
She left the rest dangling, but she was fairly certain she heard the wordstimidandcompliantwhisper on the wind.
Lifting an eyebrow at her, he deliberately took another obscene bite of cake, holding her gaze the entire time.
A challenge, she realized.
Isla stared, unable to look away.
Still chewing, he waggled his eyebrows and then glanced meaningfully at the slice in her hand.
I dare ye, his eyes said.
Isla pursed her lips, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. She had only been in this boy’s company for ten minutes, and she already knew he was incorrigible.
He swallowed and licked his lips.
“Go on, then.” He nudged his chin toward her slice. “The biggest bite ye can manage.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“That is decidedly poor logic.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Because life is meant to be lived. Not constantly harrowed up by our fathers’shouldsorshouldn’ts.”
“Mmm. A bit better.”
She glanced down at the cake.
Oh, heavens.
She was going to do this. She was going to take an enormous bite and swallowtimidandcompliantright down.
