She pushed, straightening her arms and twisting out of his hold. “No means no.”
He knew he stood looking at her stupidly, but with passion-filled blood thundering so loudly in his veins, he couldn’t think straight. His dazed brain took in her narrowed eyes. She was trying to look fierce, but he saw the passion curling through her stormy irises. He knew without a doubt that if he persisted, he could kiss her, finally taste her lips.
He let her go. Shaking the cotton from his brain, he wondered if the fever he’d felt coming on earlier had arrived.
Certainly, their meeting was unusual. She was different, exotic, and beautiful.
And it had been a long time since he’d enjoyed a woman’s kiss.
Perhaps he wanted to taste, to feel a woman’s body in his arms one last time before he either died from his injury or was found and killed by the English or their sympathizers. Even without either of those specters hanging over him, the lass wanted nothing more than to go home. He would soon leave her with her family to never see her again.
He caught her gaze.
It didn’t matter. He would not ruin the woman who had saved his life. No. He would not be overcome by her body or her strange but enthralling ways.
Chapter 11
Iain stood watching her as if he were deeply interested in her next move.
Abby blinked at him.
She’d said no, but her heart was doing crazy jigs in her chest. She had to fight the current of sizzling electricity still drawing her to him. She had to get away or she would be pleading with him to kiss her.
The thought flitted through her mind that he hadn’t ever been told no before. She took in his smoldering eyes, long nose, and square jawline—his broad shoulders and muscled chest. Probably not.
She knew without a doubt that he wanted her, but that was all it was—pure lust. Though she had promised herself she would never rely on a man again, she’d never envisaged being stranded in Scotland of the past, where she needed to depend heavily on a man to survive. But that was just while she was trapped there. At home, she was a successful and independent woman.
She straightened her back and peered at him. Men were unreliable, each and every one of them. She took in a deepbreath. That wasn’t fair. Just because her last boyfriend wasn’t there for her when she needed him didn’t mean that all men were untrustworthy.
She screwed up her nose. There was no way she could picture the brawny Highlander running away and leaving her at the mercy of muggers. Iain had fought in a battle, for Pete’s sake. Cowards didn’t engage in sword fights.
She stared at the ground. If she was lucky, she wouldn’t find out what Iain was really like. She would go home and resume her life. She kicked at a pile of wet leaves. Her lonely life. If she was honest, and she tried to be, at least with herself, she had never felt so alive since arriving in 1746.
Her body became engaged whenever Iain was near. Her blood seemed to flow through her veins more easily, and in Mary’s company, she was quick to laugh. She hadn’t felt so free in a long time. Maybe she’d never truly felt free.
As she stepped into the clearing, Colin’s low voice growled, “Fill the buckets with water for breakfast.”
Abigail spun around, expecting him to be talking to her, and was about to give him an earful, when she noted it was Iain he was ordering about.
Couldn’t the oaf see that Iain was a valiant warrior? He was wounded, for Pete’s sake, and he’d been traveling with them without complaint. He’d even helped out around the camp as much as he could with his injury, yet the man had the audacity to be rude to him.
She moved to interfere but hesitated when she saw Iain quickly shake his head at her. He took the buckets and headed to the stream.
Dazed, she wondered where the need to defend him had come from. She caught up to him at the water’s edge. “Why didn’t you tell him where to go?”
Cocking his head at her words, Iain said, “Where would I tell him to go? This is his family.”
“Ah, I mean, why didn’t you tell him to lay off . . . no.”Ugh, way to make him think you’re completely insane, Abs.“I mean, you shouldn’t let him talk to you like that.”
He eyed her for a moment, a slight crease between his brows. “They dinnae need us, but we have need of them. Filling buckets takes no strength, and if it keeps us traveling with them, then so be it.”
***
With no choice but to share Iain’s blankets, Abby tried to keep as far away from his heat-filled body as she could. But as the fire waned, the cold Scottish night descended upon her, and she began to shiver. She tried to clench her mouth to stop her teeth from chattering. She could feel the heat coming off Iain’s body. So close. NO. She had to keep her distance.
Behind her, Iain growled impatiently, and he pulled her in close, wrapping an arm around her.
As if some sort of primal self-preservation took her over, she sought his body’s heat.
