Page 18 of A Heart Worth Loving

Chapter Six

Kyla sprang away from Ewan as her mother opened the manor house door.

“Kyla?” Her mother squinted into the bright afternoon, then her eyes lit. “Why, Lord Kilbreck, what brings you to our humble home, again?”

Ewan executed a polite bow. “I merely wished to see Miss Brodrick safely home.”

“How kind of you. I am so sorry. Kyla, you shouldn’t trouble his lordship.”

Kyla frowned. As always, her mother was so enamored with title-bearing folk, she thought of little else.

“No trouble at all,” he replied. “Your daughter is a delight.”

A delight?

“Good day, Miss Brodrick.” He slanted his head to the side and winked.

The rogue had winked at her.

She bit back a laugh. He turned and strolled down the drive. She’d actually kissed Ewan Kilbreck—a Beast of Blackstone Abbey. He seemed to like the kiss. Butterflies skittered across the insides of her stomach. She had never been so brazen in her life. Had she really sucked his tongue into her mouth? He had tasted so delicious. What might he do if he thought her loose? Would he kiss her again?

Kyla watched him pass through the gate and disappear among the trees. Perhaps she should open the gate and allow his sheep to escape again. She could help him herd them back and then…who knew? She started to turn then froze. Oh no, she’d forgotten the keys. Again. Kyla smiled. She would have to visit Lord Kilbreck tomorrow to get the keys.

Her mother, she realized, had left her standing alone on the stoop. Kyla went inside. Where had her mother gone? Wasn’t she angry Kyla had kissed a man? Kyla found her mother in the drawing room, nibbling on a cheese biscuit.

As Kyla entered, she looked up and said, “Oh, do pour me a cup of tea, will you? Shall we have smoked salmon at the dinner party?”

Kyla dutifully sat on the couch before the the tea tray and poured a cup of tea.

“What do you think of apple tartlets for the party?” her mother went on. “I love them, and Mattie makes the best apple tartlets in the Highlands.”

Kyla set the cup and saucer before her mother. “Aren’t you concerned that I spent the day with Ewan?” she asked.

“Lord Kilbreck? Ah yes, Margaret mentioned you were helping him find his sheep.” Her mother yawned. “Did you find them?”

“Mother, you are missing the point. Is he not a man?”

Her mother blinked, then nodded understanding. “Ah, my dear, fret not. We know better than to think anything untoward. You are…ours. No one thinks any the worse of you, just neighborly kindness.”

No man would want her, is what her mother meant. Was her mind so filled with pastries, cucumber sandwiches, salmon and party decorations that she was blind to everything else? Kyla knew that the truth went deeper. Her mother simply had never considered the possibility that a man would want to compromise her eldest daughter.

“I am tired,” Kyla said. “I think I will lie down.”

“Send Margaret, will you?”

“Of course,” Kyla said, and retired to her room.

***

Like so many other nights, Ewan paced the library. This time, however, his thoughts were of his beautiful neighbor, instead of the horrors of the past. In recent years, his only thoughts of women were borne out of necessity to slake his body’s need, and even that had been some time.

He dropped into the leather chair before the hearth and finished the glass of whisky sitting on the table—the third glass of the night. He set the glass back on the table, stretched out his long legs and closed his eyes. Kyla’s lovely face rose in memory. The taste of her flooded him and his body responded with such intensity the need couldn’t be ignored. When she’d sucked his tongue into her mouth, her lips had been warm, velvety and oh, so tight. She was unschooled, but her enthusiasm and energy made up for her lack of experience. He wagered she would learn quickly.

He imagined pulling her hand to his erection and covering her hand as she wrapped her cool fingers around the base. The edge of her palm would brush his bollocks, as if to tease him. If he were lucky, he would be able to coax her to grasp him with both hands as she closed her mouth around his cock.

“Flick the tip of my cock with your tongue, love,” he begged.

His body clenched when her tongue flicked several times and he was sure he would climax. Then, to his surprise—and delight—she slowly ringed the tip. He held his breath and she ran her tongue down the underside. He further hardened. When she took him deep into her mouth, her hands gripped the base of his erection so hard it bordered on pain. In, then out. In, then out. In, then out, this time, sucking.