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“Please don’t tell me you’ve decided I’m beyond hope, and you’re of a mind to send me away. ” He’d tossed off his words playfully, but deep down he feared perhaps she might consider him a hopeless case. It was a strangely disquieting thought.
“No, no,” she said quickly. “You’ve gotten quite good, actually. I was thinking to have you do the reading tonight. ” For some reason, this pronouncement had pink blooming in her cheeks.
“If you think I have it in me,” he said.
“Oh, you do have it in you. ” The pink in her cheeks turned to red. “To read. You have it in you to read. ”
He studied her, feeling his lips part in a smile. He’d give anything to know the thoughts that danced through her mind to make the woman blush so. “What am I to read, then?”
“Poetry. ”
“Poetry?” He wondered if their somewhat indecorous interlude on the floor of the Dunnottar dining hall might not just have her feeling a bit daring. “How … audacious. ”
Elspeth dropped her jaw, looking short of breath, and a realization floored him. He’d been on the mark: the woman was feeling bold. Why else would she look like a cat caught in the cream?
Usually, such a revelation would have an easy laugh rolling from him. This time, though, he found himself mute, feeling as uncertain as a lad in leading strings.
“Do you not like poetry?” she asked, sounding fretful.
“I like poetry just fine. ” He forced a jaunty smile.
“Though, generally, the verses one hears aboard ship or in the fields aren’t suitable for a lady. ”
“I’d be curious to hear those. ” A strange tremor energized her voice, but she turned her back to him so quickly, for an instant, he doubted he’d heard correctly.
Heat shot into his groin, and he adjusted himself, leaning forward, elbows on knees. It seemed this Elspeth might indeed enjoy having a bit of wickedness whispered in her ears. “What a strange girl you are. ”
She stilled. “Did I do something wrong?”
He studied the line of her back, the long neck, straight shoulders, and slender torso that tapered down to a small waist. He’d thought she was a scrawny bird, but given this opportunity to stare unabashedly, he discerned curves hidden under her layers of linen. She was simply taut from her labors, leaner than the plush bodies he’d known in the Indies. “No, luvvie, I find you do things very right. ”
He watched, mesmerized, as she began to drag a stool beneath a high shelf. Realizing what she was about, he hopped up to assist her.
“Have a care. ” He came up from behind, catching her around the waist just as she scrambled atop the rickety stool. “It appears I must remember your penchant for climbing. ”
“Oh, I do this all the time. ” She held still a moment, waiting for the stool’s three legs to steady.
He shook his head. “If ever I get you on board ship, I’ll have to remain on my guard. ”
She looked down at him, wide-eyed. “Why?”
“I fear you’d catch sight of the crow’s nest, and be up the mast in a jiff. ” He laughed, partly because of her innocence, and partly because her waist felt so good in his hands. Standing so close, the scent of her filled him, like grass and soap and bread. Like home.
“How I’d adore climbing high into the sails,” she said with a sigh.
“I believe you would. ” He’d give his last coin to see such a thing.
She stared dreamily into space, a look of bliss on her face. Was that how she’d look after a kiss?
His own thought startled him, but then he let himself sit with the notion. His eyes lingered on her mouth. There was a gentle curve to her lips that struck him as eminently kissable. She was so gentle, would she rouse to a man’s touch? Would her awkwardness dissolve in passion?
She was lean in his hands, but not angular, and there was something pleasant in the feel of her—her figure speaking to work and vitality, rather than the artful layers of skirts and adornment of the plantation women. Surely he wasn’t the only man in Aberdeenshire to see her charms.
Had Elspeth ever been courted? But she was such a shy piece, and even if she weren’t, what man was in her life even to provide an opportunity? Angus, the neighboring farmer, came to mind.
At the picture of the brawny, silent bachelor, Aidan bristled. He told himself it wasn’t jealousy that made his chest clench so.
He cleared his throat, in an effort to clear his mind, and nodded to the shelves. “Are you meaning to fetch something, or shall we do our lessons from here?” Giving her waist a squeeze, he added, “Because I find I’m enjoying this particular vantage. ”
