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He snatched up the bowl, casting a longing look at its contents. “I’ve not had pudding in… as long as I can remember. ”
“I know. ” She remembered her last fantasy of him and nearly choked. Clearing her thr
oat, she said, “Are you certain you won’t …”
“Have a bite?” He stirred it with the spoon she’d brought. “I suppose there’s no harm in having just a bite before we leave. ”
Relaxing at last, she gave him a warm smile.
He pinched her chin. “Wee Beth. Always with a thought for others before yourself, aren’t you?”
“I just thought you might like it. ”
“You thought correctly. ” He went back inside and plopped onto the room’s only stool. When she glanced around nervously, he gestured to the edge of the bed. “No need to cling to manners here. Sit yourself down. ” His anger was gone now, and he nodded enthusiastically at the bowl in his hands. “I can tell by the feel, this will take me but a moment to dispatch. ”
She frowned. “Should I have brought more?”
“Aye, you should have. ” He dug in for his first bite and sighed. “Delicious,” he said, swallowing a mouthful. “A man can never have enough pudding. ” He grew silent then, polishing the bowl off as quickly as he’d promised.
She watched his lips, mesmerized, as he savored each bite. He seemed to revel in it, offering an occasional nod or moan, his reaction better than anything she could’ve conjured in her own mind.
She was more certain than ever that she wanted to kiss that mouth.
He was at home in his room, paying attention to nothing but that bowl of pudding, and she drank in his every detail. How he casually leaned against the wall, and the way the stones at his back tugged his shirt tight against his body.
She’d stroke her fingers along his neck, down to the triangle of skin that peeked through the V of his collar. It would be smooth and tanned.
She’d slip off his shirt. Her arms would wrap around him in an embrace. He’d tense when her fingers touched the scars on his back, but she’d tell him she loved him, and kiss him, and blot those scars from his memory.
He liked her food, a simple fact that gave her a delight she’d never known before. She’d cook for him all the time. And as she watched him now, it seemed he might let her. More than that, it seemed he might enjoy it. Just the notion had her feeling more confident, and less the stammering, whey-faced ninny she’d thought herself when first they’d met.
She was more confident, maybe. But was she desirable?
She studied Aidan’s mouth as he licked the last of the pudding from his spoon. Would he relish her kisses as much as he relished a simple spoonful of pudding? Would his lips and tongue be slow and deliberate, luxuriating in every taste? She shivered.
“You’re cold. ” He shook his head, scraping the last of the bowl. “And look at me, taking my time. ”
“I’m not cold. ” She realized she’d licked her bottom lip suggestively, and she bit it, wondering when she’d become so wicked. “Not cold at all, I assure you. ”
“But it’s late, and you’ve been too kind. ” He put down the bowl and stood to fetch his boots. “Come, then, luvvie. I’ll walk you home. ”
“Thank you, Aidan,” she said, her voice clear and bright. She rose, standing tall, her chin lifted. She would be resolute, acting more the heroine than ever.
Because she had questions about his kisses, and she was determined to get answers.
Chapter 14
“I still don’t understand why that boy is working on our farm. ” Elspeth’s father stoked the fire with a vengeance.
Elspeth prayed he wasn’t imagining Aidan on the other end of the poker. “He’s not a boy. Aidan’s a man. ” The words sent a shiver along her skin.
Her father grunted in response. “Humph. Man, boy … whatever he is, why does he have to come here?”
Refusing to face her father in anger, she squinted at her balance sheet instead. “You’re blocking my light, Da,” she said, shooing him aside with the sort of distracted patience born of living with someone so vociferously opinionated.
He paced to stare out the window. “And he’s still here. It’s night, Elspeth. ”
“It’s barely evening yet. Aidan’s been working hard fencing off pastureland for us, and this is the only time left available for our lessons. Unless you want that I should somehow spirit myself back and forth to Dunnottar before dawn each day?”
