Chapter Ten
Lord, save herfrom a man who knew how to kiss.
Mairi had known the kiss was coming. She’d seen the intention in his eyes long before he cupped her cheek and pulled her in. What surprised her was her own willingness to savor every second of it. She didn’t move away, and she didn’t stop him. Instead, she reveled in the way his lips teased hers before the sudden thrust of his tongue between her teeth. And when she melted into the kiss, he touched every part of her mouth in a wild thrust and parry of dance.
Damn, he was good.
She’d been kissed by other men. He was her first, though, so many years ago. Then as she grew older, she allowed a few others to try. Several kisses occurred beneath mistletoe. A few beneath a romantic night sky. And one had been a shock from a man who received a shock of his own when her knee struck between his thighs.
None of those kisses, including her very first, held a candle to this one.
She rolled her tongue around his, she felt her breath grow short as her heart speeded up. By the time she realized she was clutching his upper arms, she abruptly shoved him away.
Too much!
“Mairi.” Her name was spoken in a soft tone, half growl, half whisper. There was a gentleness in it that she couldn’t deny, even as her mind flashed memories of their first time. He’d been hard and fast, nothing had felt right, and she’d run, run, run.
She pushed to her feet to do so again, but he caught her hand. She could have broken his hold, but she’d spent most of her life learning how to stand her ground. Why would she run away now? Damn it, she couldn’t make sense of her own illogic.
“Mairi, won’t you stay for a moment?”
“What is there to say?” she countered, her tone more biting than she intended. They were the only words that came to mind. She was too busy trying to calm herself to manage anything more than casual hostility.
“That I’m not the callous boy I used to be,” he said. “That I know better how to treat a woman.”
She swallowed. Her heart was beating too fast for her to control, and she needed to run or fight or something—anything—to keep herself from tearing apart. “I know what you’ve learned and who with. I swear the whole of Scotland knows.”
“And what is that, do you think?” he challenged. “In the last ten years, what have I done to make you fear me?”
“I’m not afraid!” she lied. Well, she wasn’t afraid of him, per se, but of what he made her feel. Why wouldn’t her heart slow down?
“Then will you look at me?”
She turned to stare at him. She had to work herself up to his face, so she started with his chest, his ruddy chest hair revealed in the vee of his evening jacket. She saw the dark flush to his skin along his neck. His jaw was square, his mouth… She jumped her gaze up from his mouth. His eyes were steady and clear, but his expression was troubled as he watched her.
“Who hurt you?” he asked. “Who made you fear a man’s touch?”
“Don’t be daft,” she said as she wrenched her wrist free from his grasp. “Yer the only one who took what I didn’t give. Except one, and I paid him harshly for his mistake.”
He grinned. “Was that Seamus, three Christmases ago?”
Her brows rose. “You heard of that?”
“We heard. And if he weren’t still speaking soprano, I would have made sure he never forgot—”
“I can protect myself,” she snapped.
“Aye,” he said. “But when will you stop protecting and allow a man to—”
“Have me?” she interrupted. “When I’ve a ring on my finger and have sworn my duty to my husband before God.”
“And you think you will surrender then?” He shook his head. “I think it will take a very determined and very patient man to breach those walls of yours.”
“You’ll never know, then will you?” It was a childish taunt unworthy of the woman she thought she was. But apparently, this man could bring her back to her pre-teen days of taunts and petty rivalries when she’d bested him in high jumps, but not much else.
She calmed herself by smoothing her skirt. “I best be getting back to the countess.” Then she gasped, belatedly remembering why she’d come up here. “I forgot to ask, will you be up and dressed for her dinner party in two nights? She’s got a bevy of girls for you to charm.”
His brows arched in surprise. “A whole bevy. My, my. Good thing I have plenty of charm.”
