She laughed low in her throat. “Do ye wish tae take me away from here, then? But ye hardly know me.”
He lifted his eyebrows, feigning exasperation. “I am trying my hardest tae, but ye’re not cooperating.”
She knew it was the truth. When he lifted a hand to gently cup her cheek, she smiled, leaning into his hand and putting her small palm over his big, rough mitt.
“Mayhap… mayhap I’ll tell ye more the next time we meet,” she said. “’Tis just that there can be a good deal of hate in the Highlands. Fierce loyalties, but also fierce hatreds. I fear… I fear things may change if we know too much about each other.”
Cam’s smile had faded as he listened to her words that were all too true. “A man’s clan has never mattered tae me,” he said honestly. “It’s the strength of his character, not the strength of his loyalties. The same goes for a lass. It’s the strength of her heart, not the strength of her clan.”
Isadora appreciated that view, but she was still afraid. She still didn’t want to divulge too much and chance that he might walk away from her. Even though his words were noble, she didn’t know him well enough to know if he truly, deeply meant them.
She was still afraid.
“Will ye tell me something?” she asked softly.
“Anything,” he murmured.
“Where do ye see yerself a year from now? What will ye be doing?”
His quirky smile was back. “Still working with my grandfather, I suppose.”
“Is that all?”
He lifted his big shoulders. “Mayhap I have a wife tae scold me and tell me I’m working too hard. A wife who will take me intae vales and glens when we visit her family in the hills.”
Her pale cheeks were back to flushing as the subject of marriage was presented. It was something Isadora had all but resigned herself to never happening, but that was before Cam re-entered her life.
Now, what she thought was beyond her reach might very well be within her grasp.
God’s Bones, is it possible?
“That sounds like a dream easily reached.”
“Is it?”
She nodded. Then, the hand that was cupping her face wound itself in her hair as Cam pulled her to him, depositing the sweetest of kisses on her tender lips. He’d only meant it to be a brief kiss, a foretaste of the woman he was becoming increasingly infatuated with, but she tasted so good that he kissed her again, this time with more force.
Isadora collapsed against him.
His kiss was hot, delicious, and crushing. He was holding her so tightly that she could barely breathe, but she hardly cared. She didn’t need to breathe so long as Cam was holding her, his mouth against hers, tenderly suckling her lips.
She’d never known such a kiss in all her life.
“I hope it is a dream easily reached,” he said against her mouth, “for I feel as if it is already within my grasp.”
He pulled away to look at her, his hand still holding her face, but Isadora was gasping. He’d managed to suck the air right out of her.
“If ye kiss me again like that, it might be closer than ye think,” she whispered.
He did, pulling her fiercely against him. His mouth was on hers, his hands in her hair; he was gently prying her lips open with his tongue so he could feast on her. Isadora simply went along with him, letting the man do as he pleased, because everything he’d done so far had felt wonderful.
She was a willing student.
Somehow, she ended up straddling his lap, her long hair covering his shoulders. Her hands were on his face, holding him fast to her lips as she began to take on the aggressor role. She ended up kissing his dimpled chin, his jaw, and his cheek before he stopped her, pulling her back so he could look her in the face.
“I want ye tae come with me tomorrow and meet my grandfather,” he said huskily. “I want ye tae come tae Netherton. Will ye come?”
She was flushed from his kisses. “Why?”
