14
Kimberly was still staring at the closed balcony door, still amazed at how quickly she had been left alone—with him—when she heard Lachlan’s deliberate cough, meant to draw her attention to him. She decided to ignore him, and turned about instead to overlook the square behind the Wigginses’ townhouse. Lights flickered down there, showing plainly a mist in the air, some lonely benches, a large statue of some forgotten war hero at the center…
“It does you no good tae ignore me, lass. I am singularly unignorable.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Kimberly remarked, still without looking his way. “I’m actually very good at ignoring things that don’t interest me.”
“Ouch,” Lachlan said, close enough that she realized he’d come quietly up behind her. “You wound me tae the quick, darlin’.”
“I sincerely doubt that’s possible, but on the off chance that it is, well, I’m sure you’ll survive.”
“On the off chance that you’re no’ lying, I’d expire here on the spot.” He paused before adding with feigned surprise, “Och, now, I’m still here. Fancy that.”
She almost laughed. It was very hard not to with the urge so strong. Silliness like that was what she needed in her life—but not from a man whose true interest lay elsewhere, and they both knew where.
“You’ll have to excuse me, Mac—”
“Did those stuffy English tell you how beautiful you look tonight, Kimber?”
A warm glow filled her. She had been in the process of moving away from him, but that stopped her. And yes, she had been told already, by several men tonight, that they thought she was beautiful, but it just wasn’t the same as hearing Lachlan say it.
His hand came to her arm, as if he still needed to physically detain her, when her feet had no thought of moving at the moment. She liked to think he simply wanted to touch her, albeit innocently.
“Have I embarrassed you?” he asked softly.
She wasn’t embarrassed, she was tongue-tied. She really didn’t know how to receive compliments gracefully, having had so few in her life, at least from men. So she shook her head briefly and kept her eyes lowered, but that only seemed to encourage him to further intimacy.
“I’m thinking I like this shy side o’ you. ’Tis unexpected, but verra nice.”
“I’m not—”
“Och, now, dinna get defensive. ’Tis no’ a bad thing, a wee bit o’ shyness.”
She didn’twantto argue with him tonight, but she didn’t want him to get the wrong impression about her either. “I’m really not—”
“Makes a mon want tae kiss you, and I mun confess, I’ve that urge again.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes rose up to meet his, and the moment they connected, his lips were pressing against hers. Unlike their previous kiss, this one was much more serious. He gathered her in his arms. He held her extremely close. And his tongue intruded immediately beyond her lips to forage deeply. It was the kind of kiss she should have learned nothing about until she was safely married. It was the kind of kiss designed to provoke passions, and hers were ignited quickly.
Where that kiss might have led Kimberly wasn’t to find out, however, since several other of the Wigginses’ guests chose that moment to seek some cooling on the balcony. As the doors swung open, Lachlan sprang back, putting a decent distance between them. Unfortunately, the immediate loss of his support left Kimberly swaying unsteadily on her feet, forcing him to lend an arm to her back again. And the easiest way to cover that intimacy was to lead her back inside and straight onto the dance floor.
By the time she was thinking again with any semblance of clarity, it was too late to upbraid him for what he’d done. Not that she had any true desire to do so, when she had enjoyed that kiss so thoroughly. But to say nothing was to let him assume that he could kiss her anytime he liked, which wasn’t so. She would get around to saying something, just—later, after the pleasant glow left her and he wasn’t still lavishing her with his attention.
And Lachlan was doing that.
He wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to where he was leading her in the dance, he was staring at her instead. And there was heat in his light green eyes that continued to warm her. When one of the gentlemen who had previously cut in on her partner tried to do so again, he found Lachlan willing to defy convention with his refusal.
He went so far as to snarl, “Get lost, English. She’s taken.”
Kimberly was embarrassed and thrilled at once, a difficult combination, and she made no remark at all. She simply enjoyed his hand on her back, his other hand clasping hers gently, and every so often her pulse would leap when heaccidentallymoved too close so that her breasts would brush against his chest.
She had no idea that these were practiced moves on his part, that he was setting her up for seduction, and succeeding very well. He was subtle about it, not even using half of his usual tactics, afraid that anything obvious would have adverse effects rather than benefits. And he couldn’t say when or why he’d made the decision to have her, come what may. It hadn’t even been a decision. There was no choice involved. He simply had to have her now, his desire was that great.
15
Kimberly returned to the St. James townhouse in a romantic haze that night. And with Lachlan in the same coach, that haze had no time to clear.
Her opinion of him, of course, had undergone some major changes tonight. In fact, she was already wondering how she might avoid the scandal when she married him, and her father disowned her for it. Notifshe married him. The decision was already made as far as she was concerned.
