He nodded.
“That cannot be all you came for.”
“It is.”
“You could have sent a maid.”
He tilted his head. “Is there a problem with my coming here?”
She fought the urge to step back. “No.”
“What is the problem, then?” he asked, closing the space by a small, deliberate margin. “What about me is intimidating?”
“I never said you were intimidating,” she scoffed.
He moved closer again with the care of a man testing a rope. “Does it bother ye when I stand this close?”
Emma gave in and took a step back. “No.”
“Really?” He took another step. “How about… this close?”
She lifted a hand and put her palm on his chest. The heat under the linen surprised her. He was solid beneath his shirt in a way that stirred unsettling thoughts. The beat under her hand was steady.
Sensation flooded faster than sense. For a second, she forgot what she had meant to say and only knew how his body felt against her skin.
“Are ye enjoying yerself?” he asked.
The question held enough humor to unbalance her.
Mortified, she dropped her hand quickly. “I did not mean to,” she said too quickly. “I apologize.”
He laughed, a low sound that belonged to him more than his smile. “I told ye I would tame ye,” he murmured. “It may nae be as hard as I thought.”
She felt the heat in her face and hated it. She straightened her spine, found the iron she had promised herself, and injected it into her voice. “Then know that you have competition.”
He leaned close enough that she felt his warmth on her cheek. “Do ye want to wager?”
Her breath caught. She could see the color at the edge of his irises and a small line at the corner of his eye that meant he knew exactly what he was doing, that he had her where he wanted her.
He did not touch her, and yet the lack of touch felt heavier than contact.
“Logan—”
He stepped back, and the distance felt like a decision he had made long before she opened the door.
“Join me for breakfast later,” he said. “If ye like.”
He turned away, and the hallway swallowed him without a fuss.
Emma stood there, her hand still tingling from the heat, the scent of sandalwood lingering in the air.
Fury rose clean and fast.At him for arriving at her door at first light as if she belonged to his schedule. At herself for melting like a girl who had never stood in a church.
She clenched her teeth and spoke to the empty hallway, “If you want to play this game, my Laird, wewillplay.”
She stepped back into her chamber and shut the door with care.
For the rest of the day, she made a conscious effort to avoid Logan. When she met him in a corridor, she would tip her head in a manner that did not invite talk.Once, when she rounded the corner to the small hall, she found him speaking with a man who looked like he had been traveling for miles.
