Oh yes, indeed.
Chapter Seven
Well,fook.
Panting, Kenneth pressed his forehead into the brick of the backside of the townhouse, his fingers trembling from the strain of holding his body thirty feet off the ground. Why the shite couldn’t the Fokettes have planted some sturdy English ivy, or perhaps an ornately trellised climbing rose back here?
Because the mews are dark, ye twit. Nae light to grow convenient hand-holdy sort of plants.
Right.
Blowing out a breath, he lifted himself up another foot, his stockinged toe searching for a hold. It had been alongtime since he’d done anything this foolish, and that at least had been for a midnight infiltration.
If ye have yer way, this will be a different sort of midnight infiltration, eh?
Oh, Christ.
The last thing he needed, pressed against the brick like this, was a cockstand. If he grew erect, he’d end up tipping backwards.
To fight the urge, and ignore what was waiting for him at the top of this climb, Kenneth focused on the irregularities in the brick inches from his nose, telling himself he was being logical by looking for handholds.
It more or less worked. With a final grunt, he reached Barbara’s windowsill without having more than a few passing thoughts about what she’d look like in her nightgown, all rosy and delicious, spread across her bed, curls cascading?—
Fooking focus, ye dobber!
Right.
Dangling one-handed from a windowsill wasstillnot the proper place for a cockstand.
With another grunt of effort, Kenneth got his elbow and forearm on the sill, his shoulders already aching. Damnation, he was out of practice! His toes anchored him while the other palm splayed across the glass, hoping Barbara had done as he’d asked earlier.
If no’, yer life just got a lot more difficult. And if ye slip and fall backwards, a lot shorter. Ye’ll have the rest of yer life to curse yer stupidity…but luckily it willnae be verra long.
Just what he needed: a pep talk.
To his surprise, as Kenneth began to lift the window from the outside, the glass suddenly swung open without any effort. It wasn’t until smaller hands latched onto his arm that he realized what had happened.
“I cannot believe youclimbedup an empty wall,” Barbara scolded in a whisper as she tugged him. “Of all the idiotic, impressive, dangerous things…”
Together the two of them managed to lift Kenneth over the sill, and when he tumbled face-first through the window, she backed up to allow him space to roll forward across the floor. He ended up splayed on his back, breathing heavily, relieved to feel solid ground beneath him.
When he tipped his head back, it was to see her looming—upside down, from his point of view—in a silk dressing gown that clung to her curves in all the right ways. She carried a lit candlestick and aye, her golden curls spilled across her shoulders.
This. This view right here? Made the last fifteen minutes worth it.
Kenneth struggled to control his breathing. “Dangerous but magnificent, aye? Virile and manly and flattering?”
Her lips curled softly. “Yes, all of those things. Dare I ask why you are here?”
For exactly the reason ye think, love.He’d been wagering she was as ready as he was to fully taste her, and she’d left her window unlocked as he’d urged.
She wanted him here.
Keeping that thought in the forefront of his mind, Kenneth rolled upright, and then to his feet.
“You are not wearing shoes!”
He glanced down at his feet, then back to her. “And ye are no’ wearing a gown. I had to take my shoes off to climb. What’s yer excuse?”
