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Let her go, his mind was screaming at him. All your problems will be solved once she is gone.
“Besides,” he continued, “I wouldnae say that we’re complete strangers.”
Charlotte coughed lightly, but her face did not betray her. “No, I suppose not. You know more about me than I know about you. Reading that letter gave you more information than I wished.”
She closed her trunk with a loud bang and then moved toward the door. “Seamus is waiting for me. I will send someone for the trunk. I suppose this is goodbye then.” She glanced at it, glanced at him, and then turned the doorknob.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep, the stress of all he had to do, that she was leaving more abruptly than he had planned in his mind, or the fact that she might soon be married. Angus moved to her quickly and grabbed her wrist. Charlotte turned back, her lips open in surprise. She met his eyes, and for a moment, there was no anger in them.
They seemed to be in this dance since Charlotte had come to the Isle, where she would step forward, and so would he, and then one would step back. Then they would twist around each other and do the same again. Here he was, stepping forward, making a move in the heat of the moment. She didn’t pull away, so he lifted her hand to his lips and laid a kiss across the soft skin of her hand. He didn’t take his eyes from her, and she still didn’t try to stop him. Then he couldn’t resist. He moved his lips to hers, and that feeling was there again between them, just like it had been last night.
But this time, it was soft and slow, and Angus could feel himself harden instantly at the touch of her smooth lips. Their hands had parted now, and Charlotte slowly moved her hands over his shoulders and interlocked them on the back of his neck. Angus moved his to her waist, and the door shut behind her, just as he was opening his mouth to taste her further.
But it seemed to jolt her to attention. She pushed his chest, hard, and with surprise, backed away. He feared his hard cock may have scared her away. But she didn’t look down. She merely watched him with fire in her eyes. “No!” she said. “You cannot do this and try to get me to forgive you or whatever it is you’re doing. You read my letter; you don’t ever trust my decisions, and you called me a burden. You cannot kiss all that away. I am not just some woman who will melt into a man’s arms and do whatever he wishes her to do!” she yelled and grasped at the doorknob to leave.
Once she departed, Angus felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. Was she equating him with the man on the shore? Did she think that he was like that man, someone who would take favors from a woman without her permission? He touched his mouth and closed his eyes with guilt.
Bloody Hell! That could not be. He could not be that man. But now she had left and would leave thinking that. He left the room and walked slowly to his study. His face was grim. But before he sat down, he watched her and Seamus at the boat, readying their way to move out into the smooth water. It was the calm after the storm, and the water was more serene than it had been in days.
He stood, his hands behind his back, and he chided himself for what he’d done on impulse.
What did ye hope tae achieve with the lass? Did ye think it would make her stay? Did ye even want that? Bleeding idiot. Now she thinks yer a bastard. But nae matter. She is gone now, and ye dinnae need tae think of her anymore.
He watched her turn back for a moment and look up at the castle before Seamus helped her into the boat. Servants had brought her trunk and placed it in the center. As Charlotte stared upwards, her expression looked like she was concentrating, perhaps trying to capture the image of the castle in her mind before she parted from it. She glanced toward him at the window, and he drew back slightly, but she didn’t make any face to show that she had seen him.
Strands of hair were whipping across her face in the wind, and it reminded him of the day that he had caught her as she was falling when trying to climb the nearby hill.
He had captured her thin waist in his hands, and when she’d turned around in surprise, she’d looked just like that: a wind-swept beauty. Charlotte stepped into the boat, and her back faced him, as Seamus began to row away, moving her slowly towards the mainland and out of Angus’ life.
He turned away, ignoring the clench in his heart at the thought. He sat down at the table, his papers before him, with all the work that desperately needed to get done. Sure, she was gone, and now his duty of protecting her had fallen to her father. That duty was done. She was no longer his responsibility. Therefore, he could breathe easily and forget about her. But as he sat there, thinking about the new kiss that they had just shared in her room, he knew that he would not forget her. He would be thinking about her every day and every night until he saw her again.
Damn that lass.
