He sounded more amused than irate.
Selene froze. Her eyes roamed over him, from the great breadth of his shoulders, to the wide chest with its smattering of dark hair, to the arrow of hair disappearing beneath the towel slung over his narrow hips.
And, quite at odds with howshe’dfelt that morning, he did not appear even slightly embarrassed.
“Well now,” he drawled, turning toward her with a slow, feline confidence. “Seems ye’ve taken tae the notion of barging intae rooms without a knock tae gain entrance.”
Her breath caught. She forced her chin up. “I… I… wanted tae repay the favor after this morning.”
“Aye?” He took one deliberate step toward her. Then another. “And what favor would that be?”
“You saw me undressed,” she said, summoning what dignity she could. “I thought it only fair to… even out matters.”
His eyes darkened with something she could not name. “Is that so?” His voice dropped to something deep, warm, dangerous, that caused her heart to stutter alarmingly. “Ye came tae see me naked, then?”
Her cheeks flamed. “I said no such thing. Don’t twist my words. You’re utterly shameless Laird Kenneth.” She straightened her spine and, for some reason she had no understanding of, took a step furtherintothe room, when commonsense and everything she’d ever been taught were urging her to flee.
But then, what had she ever been taught about how to behave when bursting into a gentleman’s sleeping chamber and coming across him naked as the day he was born?
She took another step. And another. Closing the distance between herself and Kenneth.
He grinned, and took two steps toward her, stopping close enough for her to feel the heat radiating from his damp skin and catch the clean scent of his soap.
“Ye think I’m a brute.” He leaned in slightly, his eyes fixed on hers. “Mayhap there is more than one reason why I’m called the Brute of Sleat.”
Before she could muster a retort, he allowed the towel slung around his hips to slip slowly to the floor.
She gasped. Not only at the sight of the enormous thing… suspended between his legs – although it was certainly enough to rob her of breath forever – but at the boldness of it, the utter lack of shame, the sheer, devastating confident manliness of it.
Instinctively she turned away, her hand pressed to her burning cheek. She heard his soft, low, and decidedly wicked chuckle
“Kenneth!”
“Aye?” He wasn’t teasing now. His voice was low, intimate. “Ye wanted fairness. Seems fair tae me.”
She dared a sidelong glance at him – only confirming that he stood tall, gloriously unconcerned by his nakedness.
Something like molten heat coursed through her, scorching a place between her thighs, lighting a deep pleasure and desirefor something she had no words for and had never experienced before that moment.
“I should go.” She sensed there was danger mixed with the delight.
“Aye,” he murmured, snatching up the towel and slinging it around his hips again. He stepped closer still, so close she could feel his breath fan her cheek and a distinct weakening in her legs. “Ye really should.”
Neither of them moved.
His fingers brushed her cheek – feather-light, but with pure intention. Slowly, he leaned in and planted a series of tiny kisses starting with her earlobe, moving slowly over her cheek, hesitating at the corner of her mouth.
Mindlessly she opened her lips, her heart beating a wild rhythm, her palms falling damp to her sides. His breath was hot on her cheek and she could scarcely draw breath as the flames ignited by his touch rose higher.
Her knees were crumbling as she waited for him to take her mouth.
Then—
A loud crash followed by shouting voices erupted in the passageway outside their door.
Selene jolted away from him as though a bucket of ice had suddenly been thrown over her. She uttered a strangled sound, turned in a flash and fled the room. The door slammed shut behind her.
After Kenneth had finally located a pair of trousers, and some measure of composure, he headed to his study. He had barely sat down when one of his men entered.
