“Monster?” she asked, trying to concentrate on his words.
“Aye,” he said, mischief lighting his eyes and turning up the corners of his mouth. “We call her Nessie. She’s lived in these waters for years now, longer than any of us have been alive, that’s for certain. Now and then, when one is out swimming, ye may feel something brush by your foot with no explanation. That’s Nessie. She knows us and is just being friendly. Strangers though… she doesna like those who do not belong.”
“Like the English?” she said, trying not to laugh at his outlandish story as she turned to face him.
“Aye, like the English,” he said, smiling now in earnest. Their bare feet were planted next to one another in the water, his face so close to hers. Close enough to touch… and she did, reaching out a hand to brush a lock of hair off his forehead and back behind his ear. As she did so, their eyes met, and she knew the monster of the lake could have reared up right next to her and she would not have been able to turn away.
The laughter in his face died, his eyes hardening so dark they were nearly black. She swallowed but didn’t move, and when he lowered his head to hers, she could do nothing but meet him halfway.
His lips were as warm as the wind that swept over the lake toward them, the arms that came around her as strong and as sure as the hills that looked over them from across the water. Never before had she felt such emotion as she did when their lips met, giving and taking all that they had to offer one another.
His hands roamed her back, one settling into her hair, which had been pinned in a loose knot at the back of her head. He pulled out a couple of pins, sending it rolling onto her shoulders. She gasped, so in awe of him and the strength she felt in his upper arms, where she rested her hands without thinking. The muscles bunched underneath her fingers, and she forgot everything but the feel of him and his mouth on hers.
His tongue teased her lips, and she opened to him, gasping when the smooth velvet of him began a love play she was completely unfamiliar with yet responded to without thinking. He was more man than she had ever seen before, and she never wanted it to stop.
But as a bird called, breaking the silence that had filled the still air around them, he moved his hands to her elbows, and stepped away from her, leaving her feeling utterly and completely bereft.
14
Adam breathed hard as he tried to take control of himself. What had come over him to kiss this Englishwoman so?
Perhaps it was the setting. While he had seen the scene before him thousands of times, he had never done so through her eyes. The way she had explained it sounded like lyrics to a song, and he had never taken the time to fully appreciate the beauty that the land just the other side of his front door held.
Or perhaps it was her. He looked at her now, her long auburn hair cascading down her back after he had released her, the red of it shining in the sun. Her blue eyes reminded him of the water below, and they were dreamy now as she looked up at him. Her lips were rosy from his kisses. Aye, she looked like she had been completely and thoroughly ravished.
Adam knew two things. The first was that he should never, ever have kissed her. The second was that he wanted to again.
He cleared his throat and looked away, over her shoulder at the sky behind her.
“We’ve tarried here far too long,” he said, somewhat gruffly. “We must get a move on.”
She nodded, saying nothing, and as he noted the innocence about her, the way she looked at him made him feel like an ass. Clearly, the kiss had meant something to her. Perhaps it was due to the serious conversation they’d carried out prior, or perhaps it was the effect of the loch. Whatever it was, she had to understand that this would be the last of it, that there would be nothing further between the two of them.
“Will your fiancé be missin’ ye?” he asked, knowing it would anger her, as he set into a bit of melancholy himself.
“I do not have a fiancé,” she said, throwing up her hands in frustration as she turned to walk back to their horses. Good. He had raised her ire. Perhaps now she would forget any other emotion toward him.
“That’s right,” he said. “I remember. But what else will you do, if you do not marry the man? Will your father support you forever?”
“No,” she said, and he regretted his question when he saw the look of panic cross her eyes. “I suppose I shall find someone to marry eventually. And if not, then I will work.”
“Work?” he asked her. “What would you do?”
“I’m not sure, really,” she replied.
As she took his arm to regain her balance, he belatedly remembered the wound in her leg. He hoped she hadn’t hurt it walking down to the water, but she seemed fine besides the lack of balance over the craggy rocks.
“But I like to stay busy. I enjoy learning new tasks, and if my father will not allow me to work or do business in his company then I will have to go elsewhere. Perhaps to another company like my father’s, if he truly refuses to allow me to work for him. Or perhaps I shall work as a secretary. I have the skills and am very organized.”
“I dinna doubt it,” he said. “Though I canna see you taking orders particularly well.”
She seemed to ignore him as she mounted her horse, refusing his help.
“Lead the way, kind sir,”
