“Ifell, Jamie,” she said angrily, guessing what he’d been thinking. “Thommysavedme from cracking my head open on these rocks.” He didn’t miss the “For goodness’ sake!” added under her breath.
“Get a rope,” Thom said, conscious of MacLeod’s presence. He didn’t want him to think he hadn’t heeded his warning—which he hadn’t, damn it. “I will fill you in on all the details once Elizabeth has been seen to.”
14
I’M FINE,” ELIZABETH SAID, brushing off her brother’s concern. After being pulled up the hill with the help of the rope, Jamie had ordered a tent to be quickly set up for her to be checked over. “’Tis my pride that is bruised more than anything else. I can’t believe I was so careless.”
“You could have been killed,” Jamie said. As it was wont to happen once the threat of danger was over, some of his concern gave way to anger. “Damn it, Ella, you know better than to wander off on your own like that.”
Joanna hurried to her defense as she usually did when Jamie lost his temper with her. Putting herself between the stubborn siblings who often butted heads was something she’d been doing since they’d first met. “It was an accident, James. Elizabeth didn’t mean to slip. And she didn’t wander off, she was looking for privacy, which everyone needs a few times a day.”
If Joanna had always been the loyal defender, then Izzie had always been the clever diplomat. She turned the conversation away from Elizabeth’s part in the day’s events. “You are so fortunate Thom found you when he did,” Izzie said. “I can’t imagine having to jump like that. You must have been terrified.”
She had been—at first. But the moment Thom had his arm around her, she’d felt secure. A calmness had descended over her, which given the situation was preposterous. “I was,” she said. “But I knew Thom wouldn’t let me fall.”
There was a moment of silence as her brother, sister-in-law, and cousin stared at her with varying degrees of interest, from Izzie’s curiosity, to Joanna’s “I knew it!” to Jamie’s eagle-eyed suspicion.
Self-conscious under their scrutiny, Elizabeth added, “I just meant that he is so good at climbing there is no one I would rather have with me in that situation.”
“Hehasdone it before,” Joanna pointed out with a smile.
“He has?” Izzie said. “You never told me,” she said to Elizabeth accusingly.
Joanna proceeded to rectify the matter, recounting the tale of their refusal to be left out of the boys’ game and the dangerous aftermath.
Unfortunately, the story had not distracted her brother. “Did anything else happen, Ella?”
The image of her plastered against Thom’s big, hard body, her leg wrapped tightly around his waist as he pressed his manhood against her shuddering body, his hand touching her as their mouths devoured and tongues lashed...
“Elizabeth?”
She startled at her brother’s voice and blinked incredulously. Good God, she couldn’t think about that! She shouldneverthink about that. What could she have been thinking to kiss him again?
No matter how incredible it felt.
She forced a calmness she did not feel to her expression and hoped the guilt was not plain on her face. “What are you implying, Jamie?”
He gave her a hard look. “You know exactly what I’m implying.”
Joanna intervened again. “It is really none of your business, James.”
“Damn right, it’s my business! She’s my sister and my responsibility. And she’s marrying Randolph.”
“Nothing has been decided,” Joanna said.
“Yes, it has,” Elizabeth insisted. “We’re going to Edinburgh to meet my betrothed, and my sliding down a hill has not changed that. But Thom is my friend, Jamie, and nothing will change that either.”
Except it had changed. Elizabeth was beginning to realize that first kiss—and the one that had followed—had changed everything. What she didn’t know was how to change it back.
Despite the late start, once he was assured Elizabeth was uninjured, rather than spend another night on the road, Jamie decided to press on to Edinburgh. It was only a handful of miles, and with a break in the rain, he hoped they would reach Holyrood Abbey—where the king had set up his temporary court—by vespers. Elizabeth suspected a big part of his decision was to prevent her and Thom from any more “chance” encounters on the road—with or without Joanna’s intervention.
Elizabeth couldn’t fault his reasoning—or the need. As much as she’d loved spending time with Thom, and a return to some vestige of their former friendship, she knew it was probably best to put temptation out of temptation’s reach.
And he was temptation personified.
Why had he kissed her, blast it? Why had he made her feel... she didn’t know what she felt, but whatever it was she didn’t like it. It made her anxious. Unsettled. Confused. It made her heart jump whenever she caught sight of him. It made her ache to finish what they’d started.
What was wrong with her? She’d narrowly avoided disaster twice, and she was looking for another opportunity? She must be out of her mind.
