“I know, Helen,” he said soothingly as he pried her fingers off his shaft. Carefully, carefully. “Now let me give you some relief. Then we’ll settle into your training with clearer heads. And gentler hands. Much gentler.”
She was still staring at his member. He pulled the blanket up over both of them. “Look at me, Helen.”
Her small shoulders turned toward him and her half-moon blue eyes moved to his face. She squinted.
“I suddenly dinnae trust ye.”
“You’re a wise woman.”
“Tell me what ye plan to do.”
He put his knuckle to the soft skin under her chin and his thumb on the chin itself, gripping her firmly. “I plan to take off your nightdress so you’re as naked as I am.”
“A-aye.”
“Normally, I would next kiss you for a good long while, but you’re already quite excited, aren’t you?”
Her face turned red. “I dinnae know.”
“Do you like kissing, Helen?”
“I. Dinnae. Know.”
“You’ve never been kissed?”
The thrust of her jaw. “I told ye already. Ye are the only man who has ever touched me.”
“And I haven’t kissed you yet, have I?”
She shook her head, breaking his grasp on her chin. “Yer a cruel man, Jack Pike.” She turned and fumbled to get out of the bed.
“Wait.” He grabbed her. “Why are you leaving?”
“’Tis naething to ye,” she spat. “’Tis flirting to ye to say ‘Oh, I havenae kissed ye yet, have I?’ as if ye cannae remember. When ye know! Ye know of my lack of experience. So ye should know it would be an event of great significance to me. My first kiss. Well, yer cruel and don’t deserve my first kiss. Ye haven’t earned it. I will go back to my own bedchamber and tomorrow, I will kiss the first man I see and that will be that. Then ye can give me my training tomorrow night.”
“Please, Helen. Don’t leave.”
She sniffed. He sensed a chink in her armor. He could be penitent and begging if that’s what it took. Just another one of the many weapons in his vast arsenal.
“You’re right. Iamthoughtless and cruel. Don’t go back to your bedchamber now and kiss the first man you see tomorrow. Because I would have to set up camp in the hall outside your room to make sure I was the first man you saw tomorrow.”
“Ye widnae.”
“I would.”
“Ye have a lot of fine words, Jack Pike. Do ye ever do any of these grand gestures ye talk about?”
“I usually don’t have to. As you already know, I’m a scoundrel. But I would make the grand gesture for you, Lady Kinmarloch. Your first kiss deserves it. But please don’t make me sleep in the cold hallway. Stay here with me in this warm bed. I won’t be cruel again, I promise.”
She sniffed once more, but she lay back down. Thank God he hadn’t lost his touch up here in the wilds of Caledonia.
He moved a piece of hair off her face. “I am at your disposal, my lady. May I kiss you?”
She put her fingers up to his mouth. She traced his lips. Her voice was soft. “The first time I ever saw ye . . .”
“Yes?”
“I wanted to lick the rain off yer lips.”
