“Now I can see where I’m stepping.”She did a little hop, tapping both feet as if the sight of her shapely legs encased in stockings didn’t already hold him prisoner.With unbelievable innocence, she smiled and swayed from side to side, proud of her handiwork.When he didn’t take her hand, her smile slowly faded.“I still need to hold your hand, though, since there’s no railing.”
“Lass.”He didn’t know what else to say.All sense had left him.
“What?”She looked down at her feet and tapped her toes again.“It’s safer this way.”
“Aye, but?—”
“No one will see but you.We’re the only ones here.”
“And ye dinna care if I see yer legs?”
“All you’re seeing are my plump little calves and my knees dressed up in stockings.It’s no worse than if I had on my leggings.”
His mouth had gone so dry that he struggled to speak.“Women dinna wear leggings.”He finally managed to dip a nod at her comely knees.“Nor do they show themselves in such a way to just any man.Only their husbands see them in this state of undress.”
Her shoulders sagged in disappointment as she lumbered down another step toward him.“Thank you for the eighteenth century survival tip.This is why I really hoped you were lying about time travel.I’ll never fit in here, and your people will probably try to burn me at the stake for witchcraft or something.Do they do that in this century?”
“I would never let them do that to ye,” he said, unable to pull his focus from her legs.What he wouldn’t give to run his hands along them, higher and higher still, until?—
“Lovely.Now I’ve got yet another thing to worry about,” she said in a sharp, grumbling tone, yanking him from his fantasy.“Can I at least hold up my skirts this one time since we’re alone?I’m really nervous about these stairs.”
“Nay, lass.”He refused to give over on this.“Shake yer skirts back down where they belong.We could meet a maid or one of the lads carrying wood at any moment.I dinna wish them to think ill of ye.”
“Fine.”She dumped them from the crook of her arm and stomped them down in place.“If I break my neck, my death is on you.”
“Well, I canna have that.”He scooped her up into his arms and cradled her to his chest like a wee babe.“I’ll have ye downstairs in no time.Whole and unscathed.”
She squeaked, making him wonder what other delicious noises she might make if he pleased her into the notion.She tightened an arm around his neck as he plodded down the narrow, winding steps.Tensing against him, she thumped him on the chest.“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Carrying ye.”He struggled to concentrate on his footing rather than her warm softness against his chest.
“Why?”she asked, growling the word through clenched teeth.
“I dinna wish ye to break yer lovely wee neck.”
“I’m going to break your lovely wee neck.”
He laughed, moving slower because his cock had stiffened to a merciless hardness.Lore a’mighty, what he wouldn’t give to take her right here on the stairs.He hitched her higher against his chest, making her squeak again with the wee toss.“Why would ye wish to break my neck when I’ve been nothing but the most thoughtful of hosts?”
“How much farther?”she asked with another lovely wee growl that thrilled him.
“Nearly there, lass,” he answered, slowing even more.
“You’re stretching this out on purpose.”Accusation flashed like lightning in her eyes.“You think this is funny.”
“Actually, I do find this quite enjoyable.”He halted just before rounding the final curve.As soon as he descended the last few steps, he would have to set her on her feet, and he was nay yet ready to deny himself the feel of her in his arms.Whether it was his weariness, the irresistibility of this fine woman, or another of Mairwen’s spells, he sensed his control was slipping and didn’t give a damn if it did.He leaned to one side, propped against the wall, and tipped his mouth closer to hers.“Do ye not find this enjoyable, Jessa?”he asked soft and low.
She scowled at him as if trying to destroy him with the ferocity of her glare.
He nuzzled closer and touched his forehead to hers.“Have ye no answer for me, my lovely wee fox?”
“I do not want to find this enjoyable.”
“And why is that?”He barely brushed his lips across hers, killing himself with the teasing.Lore, he needed to taste her soon or die in the trying.
“Because you’re—complicated,” she whispered, then fisted her hand in his hair and pulled him in, kissing him hard and deep, devouring him heart and soul.A fiery shudder tore through him like an uncontrollable inferno.He tightened his hold on her and sank to the steps to keep from dropping her.She broke the connection, squirming as she turned her face away.“Let me go.Now.”
He released her and helped her stand.“Jessa?—”
