“Aye?”
“Someone may well have seen us together by now.”
“I dinnae think so, sweet,” he disagreed, and his lips quirked as if amused. “All things considered, it might work in our favor if someone did spot us.”
She shook her head. “Tongues already wag about me. But I would not cause any scandal against you or your family.”
To her surprise, or perhaps not, his smile flashed.
“Sweetness, I dinnae care about your London gossips. Indeed, there isn’t much here I worry about at all.” His smile deepened. “I am no’ a man to concern myself with the strictures of English society.”
“I suspect you are more a gentleman than any man in London.”
He leaned toward her, his eyes twinkling. “I am a Highlander. That is enough.”
It is more than enough.
It is everything.
Melissa kept her opinion to herself, for he’d reined in and was dismounting. They’d reached the corner where he’d leave her. Sure enough, before she even realized what he was doing, he’d seized her waist and plucked her off the horse, setting her lightly onto the edge of the cobbled road.
“I will follow you at a discreet distance,” he said, strengthening her regard of him. “No one will know I’ve my eye on you, but you’ll no’ leave my sight until the Merrivales’ door closes safely behind you.”
“I thank you,” she said again, her heart fluttering. “But…”
She let the words tail off, brushed at her cloak, straightening its folds. “What happens next?”
She had to know.
He swung back up onto his horse before answering, the reins of her borrowed steed still in his hand.
“I will ride out to Hampstead Heath to meet with Farmer Steckles,” he said, his eyes warming as he looked down at her. “And when you and family leave London…” This time he paused, waiting as a particularly large carriage rumbled past. “You are heading back to Cranleigh Manor in two days, is that still so?”
She blinked. “I didn’t mention our plans. How did you know?”
He lifted a brow. “I thought you knew Highlanders are curious?”
“I forgot.” She smiled.
You steal my wits, see you?
My wits, my heart, my composure, just everything…
As if he heard her unspoken words, he leaned down and took her hand, lifting it to his lips. Holding her gaze, he kissed first her knuckles and then her fingers.
“You will no’ see me again until Cranleigh,” he said, releasing her hand. “But I will see you. I’ll ride along a good ways behind your carriage, using my own. Once you’ve reached your home, I will come for you.
“And when I do” – he straightened in his saddle – “you must go along with everything I say.”
“I will,” she promised.
“You must also be prepared for anything I might do.”
“I will be,” she agreed.
“I may have to kiss you.”
“I will not mind.” Her heart leapt, the feelings he stirred in her making her want him to kiss her now. “You may kiss me all you wish,” she said before she could stop herself. “I mean-”
