Page 36 of When the Laird Conquers

She lost her train of thought, too captivated by the shape of his mouth. It was passionate, his lips full, with a deep bow and the smallest scar right there at the corner of his mouth that made it seem like he was on the verge of a smirk, even when he was not.

Raising her gaze back to Gordon’s, her stomach fluttered as she discovered that he was looking at her lips too.

His head dipped closer, the air crackling between them. The nearer he drew to her mouth, the more she found she couldn’t breathe, anticipation swelling inside her, narrowing her focus to him and him alone. He was going to kiss her; she was sure of it now.

And what was more surprising, she was not afraid of it.

This was no horrible nightmare in eerie hallways with a winter storm raging outside. This was a thrilling dream, in broad daylight and out in the open, warm sunshine beating down on them both.

She trembled as his breath tickled her lips. He was so close now.

Yes… Yes…

One more second, and she would feel his kiss.

But then he was gone, stepping back, his hand falling away from the plaid-turned-blanket that enveloped her. The air between them thickened, the electric crackle petering out, smothered by the grim, almost wary look on his face.

“Put that fox back in the bushes where its ma can find it, and go back inside, Sunshine,” he said, his voice flat.

“It might die if I do that,” she protested, her heart racing.

His eyes narrowed. “Do as I say, and stop provoking me. Me rules are there for a reason.”

That’s right; he is not supposed to touch me.

Swept up in the moment, she had forgotten that particular decree.

She wanted to tell him that he had also kept all the curtains closed for a reason, yet when she had walked through the castle that morning, they were all still open. She wanted to say that he had obviously kept his beard for a reason but had changed his mind on that. Why couldn’t his rules be changed too, for the right cause?

Instead, she just gave a small nod and walked away, the fox cub safe in her arms.

But as she put distance between herself and Gordon, it was like she had left some part of her back there on the shore where he still stood. An aching need for… something that tugged on her soul, urging her to turn around and go back to him, to satisfy whatever was nagging at her core.

In the end, she didn’t even dare to glance back, fearing she might lose control altogether… and fearful that he might not be watching her go, that he did not feel anything about the growing distance between them.

Worse, that she might never be so close to him again.

14

Agnes told herself that it was because of the fox cub that she couldn’t sleep, worried that the poor thing had been snatched up by another predator instead of reunited with its mother. But the reality had more to do with a Wolf than a fox.

She couldn’t get Gordon out of her head. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way he had leaned in; the whisper of his breath against her lips; the flush of heat that had coursed through her veins when he had let his gaze admire her fully; the mere fact that she had wanted to be kissed by him, regardless of whatever skeletons he had in his tower.

You keep wanting to scare me, but you keep doing the opposite.

She groaned and turned on the bed, burying her face in her pillow. Perhaps she could smother herself to sleep.

“Your rules are stupid,” she muttered into the eiderdown.

Was your plan to torment me all along? Tell me you can’t touch me so that all I can think about is your touch?

She had assumed he had earned the nickname of the Cruel One by some violent misdeeds against his enemies. What if she had gotten it all wrong? What if he had earned that nickname by toying with women’s minds instead?

“And what if Edwin never stops pursuing Lizzy? What if I am always under your protection?” she protested as if he were there in the room with her. “Does that mean I am never to let any man look at me again?”

It was not that she desired the attention of other men, but if he was not going to marry her, she ought to have the luxury of choice.

Then again, who could compare?