“Bad as all that, is it?”
“No,” she allowed, blushing slightly. “Just for a second it was. But this isn’t going to warm you adequately. You need a fire and—”
“You’d be surprised,” he murmured by her ear, “how quickly you can warm me.”
She shivered again. They both knew it wasn’t because of the cold this time. But then his icy nose touched her cheek and she was startled. She shrieked and jumped back from him. He laughed. She did too, because the sound he was making was contagious.
When he wound down, he sighed dramatically and said, “Verra well, I guess I mun settle for a fire tae do the warming—for now.”
“You should have dressed warmer,” she admonished as he took her arm to start them toward the mansion.
“Nay, this is mild weather they have here, compared tae the Highlands.”
“I agree, it’s much colder in Northumberland too, but how long have you been out in it?”
“Since I left you.”
She shook her head at him. “You’ll be lucky if you don’t have the sniffles by this evening.”
“Och, well, I’m owing you a cold as I recall.”
His grin was too wicked by half, and had her blushing again. She, too, could remember that he’d caught her previous cold by kissing her. To get her mind off of that, she recalled the reason she’d sought him out.
“I’ve spoken with my father,” she said abruptly.
He stopped to draw her back into his arms, surprising her with his sympathy. “I’m sorry, darlin’. Was it painful, his cutting you from his life?”
“No, but—”
He interrupted her, his tone gentle, “You dinna have tae pretend for my sake.”
“Lachlan, really, we never had that kind of relationship.” She leaned back to assure him. “If I never saw him again, it wouldn’t bother me a’tall, and I’m sure he would say the same. But he didn’t quite disown me. Well, he did, but then he sort of changed his mind.”
“He realized the scandal of it would reflect worse on himself, did he? Aye, I was hoping he’d be figuring that out—for your sake.”
She smiled wryly. “He might have, but most likely after the damage was already done and so too late to correct it. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is when he’s angry, which is a great deal of the time, he tends to not think things through. So consequences are the least of his concern.”
He let go of her, his confusion apparent. “Then you were able tae actuallytalkhim out of it?”
“Bargain might better describe it.”
“And what did you have tae bargain with?”
“You.”
Lachlan blinked at that answer. She laughed at his startled expression and decided to tease him a bit. She hooked her arm through his again and made the effort to pull them up the path. That worked for only about three steps, before his feet dug in and she couldn’t budge him another inch.
“You dinna think you can get away wi’out explaining that tae me, d’you, Kimber?”
“Actually…possibly…well, now that you mention it…”
He waited expectantly, but when she said no more, just stared at him wide-eyed, he was surprised again. It was her grin, however, that gave her away, and after a moment, he slowly shook his head at her, and his own grin was entirely too—retaliatory. So when he reached for her, she knew she was in trouble, and with a shriek, she hiked up her skirt and took off up the path.
Of course, it was absurd to think she could out-distance him with those long legs of his, nor did she for more than a few moments. But she didn’t expect to end up on the ground, sprawled on top of him in a most undignified manner, his chuckling bouncing her around on his chest.
“You’re mad,” she admonished, trying to get up, but he wasn’t letting her. “We’re not children, you know.”
“When I’m too old tae play, darlin’, I’ll be using a cane and counting the hairs I have left on my head. Och, mayhap no’ even then will I stop playing wi’ you.”
