“I’ll be doing no such thing.”
He chuckled low.
She swatted his arm. “You’re a beast, Kiernan Shanahan.”
“You like me anyway.”
“Aye, so I do.” The admission slipped out before she could stop it. When he grew silent, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to ward off a shiver.
In the next instant, he shed his coat and then draped it across her shoulders.
She sidestepped away from him. “I can’t be taking your coat.”
He gently pressed her shoulders from behind. “Keep it, Alannah.”
Though the outside of the coat was damp, the interior was warm from his body heat, enveloping her with the scent of his aftershave that was woodsy and heavenly all at once. She could only resist a moment longer before wrapping the coat around her more securely. “I thank you.”
He squeezed her shoulders, seeming to linger a few seconds longer than necessary. Or maybe she was only imagining it.
When he let go, she slowly exhaled. But as his fingers pulled at one of the pins holding her cap in place, her breath caught.
“Your cap is wet.” He spoke matter-of-factly, tugging the pin all the way loose. He didn’t give her time to protest before moving on to the next pin.
She stood motionless as he nimbly pulled out the rest of the pins holding her cap in place.
He dropped the lacy material onto the bench, where it sat in a soggy lump beside his hat.
A strand of her hair fell over her ear.
“Looks like I took out one too many pins.” He reached for the piece and lifted it back toward the knot holding together the rest of her hair.
She raised her hand to take care of the errant strand, but her fingers brushed against his, and she quickly lowered her hand to her chest, feeling the increasing thud of her heartbeat.
He fidgeted a moment, shifting another pin, but in the next instant, more of her hair tumbled free.
“I can see that you’re doing a lovely job fixing it,” she teased. “Are you sure you don’t want to be a lady’s maid?”
“If the brickyard fails, that will be my backup plan.”
She laughed lightly, and more hair fell, toppling over the other shoulder.
He gathered the long tresses as though he had every intention of winding it up and returning it to the remainder of pinned hair. His fingers wound through the long locks. But instead of twisting, he only seemed to be unraveling it all.
“Do you need some help?” Her question came out slightly breathless.
“No.” His one-word answer rumbled all too close to her ear, sending tingles over her neck.
He plucked another pin out and then another.
“You’re only making more of a mess,” she softly chided.
“There. Better.” He bent and placed all the pins on the bench beside her cap.
She started to reach for the pins, needing to sweep her hair back up. She’d only worn her hair down once during their nightly meetings, and that had been the first time when he’d caught her unaware. Every night after that, she’d gone prepared with her hair plaited.
Before she could gather the pins, he wrapped an arm around her from behind and pulled her back. One of his hands was still in her hair, but the other flattened against her waist so she stumbled a step and bumped into his body.
He didn’t move away, but he loosened his hold on her stomach, almost as if he was giving her the chance to break free of his touch.
