She cleared her throat, reaching for his chin as he focused back on her.
“Logan, please,” she said softly.
His mouth caught hers again, but the sound grew, and he soon pulled away again.
“Faith, wait,” he breathed.
Seemingly distracted, Faith nodded dazedly before her eyes focused as she heard the noise. Shaking her head, she glanced over his shoulder.
“What is that?”
“Shh,” he said, staying her with his hands. “I’ll be right back.”
Logan walked cautiously down the stables, pressing his back along the wall. Two black horses appeared through the thicket, yielding just before the front steps of the lodge. Logan pulled back in an effort not to be seen, but as he recognized the happy, almost giddy couple, his own arousal was extinguished.
Graham was the first off his horse, and he quickly picked Hope up by the waist, swinging her down off the animal as her riding habit twirled out. Her gentle giggle as he did so made Logan aware that he was witnessing a very private moment.
“I’m sorry,” Hope chirped. “That business with Aunt Belle took far longer than it was supposed to.”
“Aye, I almost left without you.”
“You could have.” Graham made a face as if to say he would never leave her, which seemed to please Hope. She tugged at the lapels of her husband’s coat. “Well, all’s well that ends well. We have all afternoon now.”
“That we do,” Graham said, his tone low, his hand caressing her cheek. “Shall we?”
Hope nodded enthusiastically as he led her into the stone lodge, closing the door behind them. It seemed someone wouldhave a rendezvous today, but it wouldn’t be Logan. He returned to Faith.
“Who was it?” she asked.
“Your sister and brother-in-law,” Logan said, perturbed.
“Really?” Faith said, though something in her tone told him that she wasn’t exactly surprised. “How strange.”
He exhaled slowly. “We can’t possibly continue this now.” Pausing, he glanced at her. “Any ideas?”
“I suppose we could always try Harris House?” But before she even finished, he was shaking his head.
“It would be impossible. My father hasn’t left the house in months and my sister is far too aware of the goings on around her.”
“Perhaps they might take a trip? To Glasgow, for instance.”
“What would my father do in Glasgow?”
“I don’t know,” Faith said. “Visit friends? Take in the sights?”
“No. It wouldn’t work. Besides, there are plenty of other places we might meet. For you to come to Harris House would be far too perilous for your reputation.”
Faith gave him a small smirk.
“How chivalrous,” she said sardonically. He opened his mouth, but she lifted her fingers and pressed them against his mouth. “Perhaps tomorrow then? A quarter to eight in the morning, by the flat rock near Loch Fyne.”
Anticipation stirred deep within Logan.
“Very well. Tomorrow.”
With a teasing glance, Faith nodded, and pressed her lips to his once more, kissing him with a heat that he had not noticed before. How strange. But the next moment, she was off, hurrying from the stables with her hood pulled over her head as she headed back toward Lismore on foot.
It felt like a thousand hours until their planned rendezvous. Logan hadn’t anticipated sleeping so soundly the one day hedesired to be up, but when his eyes opened the next morning, he found the morning light was already shining through his window.
