Page 14 of Highlander’s Burning Touch

Again, he flashed her a smile with more than just a hint of mischief. Then, he returned to what he was saying, “After all that, I must surely be getting well enough to ride up to the top o’ that hill, that is unless there’s some other reason that ye dinnae want me to?”

His eyes teased her, sorely, as Deva felt herself clam up. Suddenly, she didn’t know what to say. It was, of course, completely obvious that he had recovered from his injury, and they both knew it.

“Well then,” said Niven, making over towards his horse. He held his hand out for her to hold. Reluctantly she took it and picked her way across to the clearing.

On the way over, he stooped to pick up a rock. Then, he launched it, high into the air, and watched as it skated across the woodlands at speed.

“Nae bad for an invalid?” he tested, a sly grin upon his face.

Deva watched it glide and struggled to maintain her stony facade.

“Ach, what is this? Dinnae say yer tossing the stones like them ninnyhammers at the games!” she scoffed, hoping to deflect his attention.

“Ay, ninnyhammers is it now, an’ what’s the problem wi’ the auld Highland games?” he asked, a curious smile spreading hard across his softened lips.

Dammit, Deva found herself drawn into his face, almost magnetically, her lips almost aching to touch his. Struggling to dampen herself down, she pouted theatrically.

“Nae problem, I just dinnae see what there is to get so excited about, all that standing about in the cold an’ rain, watching big wallopers throwing great clods o’ soil about!” she attested. Maybe she was a little harsh, but she could see that it had brought a smile to his face.

“A rock, a river stone if you will, Miss, nae soil, an’ a mighty heavy one too,” he protested, but mildly.

He scooped down to collect another, larger stone, toying with it in his hands as she looked on. He made to launch it, only stopping at the last moment, with a teasing aside.

“H'm, what say we see how well recovered I am?” he said, suddenly dropping the rock and bringing his face up closer to hers until she could almost feel the sheen of his skin upon her. For a moment, Deva thought she was going to explode, all her senses beginning to fizz and pop at the same time.

He was toying with her. She could feel it. The way he peered into her face, openly mocking her. Deva felt her blood heating as it pumped in the veins around her head.

“I dinnae,” she began, then stopped. The sensation of him next to her weaved charms across her body. She knew she could not fight.

“Or do ye think I’m still a wee bit peely-wally?” his amber brown eyes flashed with mischief as he said this. Niven brought his face yet nearer still, revealing a glowing complexion, fresh with the autumn breeze blowing around them.

He looked the picture of health, and Deva knew that. But more than that, the further he leaned in, the more she had to gather herself to resist his beautiful face.

“N-nae, at all,” she said falteringly. He was so close now that she could feel his breathing on her face, soft and gentle. There was definitely no trace of the pallid, ill young man they had rescued earlier on in the week.

The last seven days had been a revelation to Deva. She had never before spent so much time in one man’s company. She had never wanted to. Men weren’t really something she had a lot of experience with, thanks to her dad.

Shuddering, Deva thought of his reaction if she saw them. To keep him at bay, she had sent Allyth with the message that she was visiting Lady Catherine Arbroath. He would not be happy about it, but it would buy her some time.

In every one of the seven days that followed, she had grown closer to the lad she was nursing until he had ceased to be just her patient and become, well, something else entirely.

“Aye, that’s because I’m hale an’ hearty,” Niven said, flexing his biceps and making her smile, “An’ more than that, ready for anything…”

It was clear what he meant. Niven brought his lips closer, right up to hers, and brushed against them tenderly. Everything in Deva’s body began to tingle, and a strange feeling took hold, like electricity.

It was obvious what he was saying. The tense knot between them was about to unravel. They had been skirting the edges for so long; she hadn’t even thought what might happen if they went further.

But now she was hooked.

He was there. He was real, touching her and stroking her lips with his own. Every fiber in him just screamed, touch me.

But she couldn’t. From inside, a throb ran deep. He was reaching out to her, beckoning her like a siren to their prey.

Deva just froze. The sight of him, so close in front of her face, had silenced her. All she could think about was the smoothness of his skin and how much she wanted to reach out and touch it.

His cheeks glowed like a peach, hues of pink and cream coming together in a softness that she urgently needed to stroke.

He held his lips out close, tantalizing her with their silken plumpness. Just a hair’s breadth away from her own. Then he looked at her, for the first time, just a little unsurely, as if perhaps he wasn’t certain this is what she wanted.