Evan studied her as he continued to swirl and sip his brandy. Suddenly, she was aware of the quietness of the house, the darkness of the room they sat in, with one small lamp burning, and the sound of her own heart pounding in her chest. Why did he study her that way?
She licked her lips. “Shall we make more visits tomorrow? It would probably be a good idea to find more empty cottages.”
“Aye.” Nothing more, just the continued swirling and sipping of brandy…and studying of her.
Katie drank the last of her sherry and placed the glass on the small wooden table next to her chair. “I find I am quite peaked. I believe I shall retire.” She stood and moved to go past him when a large, warm hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist.
“Nay, stay a while, lass.” He tugged, and she landed on the old, worn settee alongside him.
“Oh.”
“Aye.”
After a few moments of them staring at each other, Evan reached out and cupped her face in his large hand. She shivered at his touch, and surely he heard her heart beating. His skin was dry, warm, and calloused.
“What?” Her word was barely a whisper.
“Something I’ve wanted to do.” Slowly, as if giving her permission to jump and run from the room, he lowered his head until his lips brushed over hers. Softly, tenderly. When she didn’t do anything but stare wide-eyed at him, he chuckled and pulled her close, against his chest, his fingers linked behind her back. “Have ye never been kissed, lass?” His warm breath, smelling of mint and brandy, wafted over her, and she closed her eyes.
“That’s better,” he murmured. Again his lips claimed hers, but this time there was no doubt that he was kissing her. No light brushing of his lips. He covered her mouth hungrily, nipping, sucking, nudging her sealed lips with his tongue until she opened.
He swept in, and ’twas a good thing she was now clinging to his massive shoulders because otherwise she might have slid to the floor. He pulled her closer yet, until her breasts were crushed against his chest. His very warm, very muscular chest.
He scattered tiny kisses over her closed eyelids, her nose, cheeks, jawline. “Aye, lass. ’Tis not a good thing how ye make me think too much about ye.”
He thought about her? If she were to guess, she would say he’d like to throttle her. But his current actions certainly did not run along those lines.
Once again he took her mouth. Anxious to fully participate, she moved her tongue into his mouth, but the groan that came from him made her pull back.
“Nay, lass. Dinnae stop.” His hands were everywhere. Across her back, up and down her arms. His fingers laced into her hair, and he turned her head, taking the kiss much deeper.
Her head was swimming with new and unfamiliar feelings. Her heart pounded, her lungs could not access enough air, and her stomach played host to butterflies doing a Scottish reel. With her clothes suddenly feeling quite restrictive, she had the urge to remove them, as well as Evan’s, in order to feel his warm body against hers.
Just as she was settling in for a long kissing session, Evan pulled back and held her at arm’s length, his hands anchored on her shoulders. “This is not right, Katie. We cannot do this.”
It took her a few moments to gather her thoughts, which resulted in anger. “It appears we are already doing it, my laird.”
Evan stood and ran his fingers through his hair. “Aye. That is the problem. We cannot do this again since ’tis not proper. Ye are a gently bred woman, and I have no right to seduce ye.”
Her eyes grew wide, and her heart started up again. “Ye were trying to seduce me?” Her voice rose on the last few words.
He stared at her, his green eyes dancing with mirth in the light from the low burning lamp. “What did ye think we were doing?”
“Are ye laughing at me?” Katie adjusted her gown and smoothed out her skirts, not meeting his eyes, since she felt like a bairn.
“Nay. Well, maybe. Aye.” He grinned.
In truth, ’twas not her first kiss, but the few busses she’d received from the lads at Stirlingshire didn’t compare to what this man had done to her. Certainly she’d never felt the way she did now.
Those had been youthful kisses. Evan’s kisses were from a man who knew what he was about. That was certainly true, since she had been so addlepated, she didn’t ken he was trying to seduce her.
“Of course I ken what ye were doing. That is, what we were doing…” She hopped up and raised her chin. “Ye are correct. ’Tis not a good thing, and ’twill never happen again. Now, if ye will excuse me, I shall retire.”
With that staunch announcement, she turned on her heel, and with her head held high, strode across the room, barely missing a table, and swept the door open. She passed through with all the dignity and elegance of her upbringing, then closed it with a solid click.
Only to discover her skirts were caught.
…
Evan smiled as Katie tugged at her skirts, then finally opened the door to release them. If nothing else, the lass made him smile more than he’d smiled in a long, long time.
She also made him burn as he’d never done before. ’Twas not just her comely form or her golden-red tresses that never seemed to stay where she wanted them to. Her deep-blue eyes enchanted him, and her smile raised his spirits, but aside from all that, the lass had a sense of bravado about her rarely seen in a young woman.
Bringing her clansmen across the country with no more than a faded piece of
