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“Aye, and stubborn as one too. ” As she felt herself being eased back onto the bed, her mouth went dry. “But … but … what of our … lessons?”
“I’ll teach you a lesson. ”
Excitement jolted her, and it made her feel as brazen as the pluckiest of heroines. “One I’ll not soon forget?”
A true, hearty laugh erupted from him, and though it faded, the ghost of it lingered in his eyes. “You’re a strange bird, Beth. Do you know that?”
Beth. That name again. She swallowed hard. “So you’ve informed me. ”
“I believe you truly do think you’re helping me. ”
“I am,” she said earnestly. “I do. ”
“What are you doing sparing a care for a man like me?” She was on her back now, his hand heavy and gentle at her shoulder. He gave her a squeeze. “Don’t you know I’m beyond help?”
“Nobody is beyond help. ”
“You are. Just now, just here. ” He drew a tentative finger down her cheek, outlining her eyebrow, her cheekbone. “Look, for example, at how vulnerable you are right now. One could easily call your predicament beyond help. ”
Her pulse pounded, her face burning from his touch. “Mine is not a predicament. That… that would imply …”
“Imply what? That you won’t come to harm at my hand?” He cupped her cheek, his movements bolder now. “How do you know that? After all, we’ve really only just met. My own family barely knows me. ” Keeping her cradled in his hand, he leaned close to brush his cheek along the other side of her face. “How are you to know I won’t … take advantage?”
The rasp of his voice, the faint graze of stubble on her skin, the pure immediacy of him sent a shock of wanting between her legs.
“Or perhaps,” he whispered in her ear, “you meant to imply that your current situation is a desirable one?” He brushed his lips over her skin. “Have I the right of it? Do you desire this situation?”
He was so close, the heat of his chest imprinted itself on her breasts. His hands were strong and sure, and their touch made her feel delicate and fine.
Was this how a seduction began? Was she supposed to give him a sign? Her mind was a tumult—she wanted to act, but had no idea how.
Someone shouted from far away, and Elspeth stiffened.
Aidan stilled, hovering at her cheek for what felt an eternity, his breath coming in warm, exhilarating puffs along her cheek. Dismissing the outside sounds as one of his brothers, she wondered if he’d kiss her when it grew quiet again, impatient to see how he might go about it.
&nbs
p; But when he pulled away, his eyes had gone cold. “Perhaps not. ”
“Wait—” What happened? Had she done something wrong? Why had he not kissed her? I do desire it, she wanted to cry. She’d thought he had too, but he’d turned to stone.
Aidan bolted up from the bed, snatching his papers from where they’d drifted onto the floor. “I’ve business to attend to. ” He opened the door, and standing with his back to her, added, “I presume you’ll see yourself out. ”
Chagrin, confusion, and embarrassment burned her from within. Like the greatest of heroines, she wouldn’t be daunted. She would be resolved.
And then Elspeth sat up, secreting into her bodice the single, rumpled page that she’d managed to steal from Aidan’s pile.
Chapter 17
Aidan stormed from his room, searching for someone to throttle. Preferably the half-wits who’d been making noise so near to his door. If his ears had the right of it, said half-wits had been Aidan’s hired man and Gregor, who’d probably detained the stranger he’d found skulking about, likely with as much subtlety as a barn afire. He wanted to strangle both of them, even though their shouts had saved him from himself.
Or rather, it’d been Elspeth who’d been saved, from the likes of him. He’d almost kissed her. He’d wanted to, and badly. And if he ever kissed her, he didn’t know if he’d be able to stop.
Aidan stopped in his tracks, scrubbing a hand roughly over his face, willing the cold sea wind to whip the memory away. But it was no good. The picture of her lounging so carelessly on his bed was etched in his mind.
He’d walked into his room, and for a joyful moment— an exquisitely painful moment—he’d imagined himself a man who might have a woman like her, sprawled there for him, waiting to share her smiles, just for him. To come home each night to such a sight would be heaven indeed.
But instead he’d entered, and panic had jolted her, and the eyes that’d greeted him were guilty, not smiling. At first he thought she’d been spying on him as though he were a circus curiosity.
