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* * *
Afterward, Ian found himself embarrassingly weak and curiously absent from his body. Somewhere in the midst of their frenzy Bella had managed to twine her legs behind his back. Their bodies were still joined, damp with sweat that cooled rapidly in the night air.
“You’re half naked,” he muttered.
She nipped the side of his neck with sharp teeth. “Are you complaining, my genius lover?”
“Hell, no. I think I’d better get you back to civilization, though. You’re shivering.”
“I never get sick,” she said blithely. “Sex outdoors is fun. I’m ticking off all sorts of firsts on this trip.”
Something about her description bothered him, but he couldn’t summon enough brain cells to understand why.
When Bella wiggled her way off his lap and stood, he held her hand as she straightened her dress. He’d likely ruined his tux pants. He got up as well and stifled a groan. After dealing with the condom and zipping his trousers, he rubbed his butt ruefully with both hands. “I think I may have a permanent sex injury,” he complained. “Next time let’s try for a flatter surface.”
“This mountaintop thing was your idea,” Bella pointed out.
“True.” He stared down at her bare feet. What had he been thinking? “I’ll have to piggyback you,” he said. “It’s getting too cold out here for you to walk, and your fancy shoes will be dangerous until we get down the flatter part of the trail.”
“Oh, no,” she said, her tone brooking no opposition. “Those rock steps are steep and wet. If one of us falls, no sense in both of us going down.”
In the end, their descent was slow, but accident free. When they reached the spot where the car had dropped them off, Bella put her heels back on. She left the stockings in his pocket. He hadn’t a clue if she was miserable or not, but she never complained.
He tried to call a cab, but none were available at the moment.
“I can walk,” Bella said firmly. “These shoes are more comfortable than they look.”
They set off toward the hotel holding hands. He would have given just about anything to know what she was thinking. On paper, he was a genius, but when it came to the female brain, he was as clueless as the next fellow.
Now that the ceremony at the palace was over, another disconcerting reality loomed. It was possible that this feeling in his gut was infinitely more than passing interest in a pretty woman.
He had feelings for Bella. Real, complicated human emotions. That much he understood. What was less clear were the options for pursuing a connection that was tenuous at best.
Bella enjoyed his company. She even decoded his sense of humor and appeared to “get” him. Though he spent far too many hours alone in his ordinary workaday life, Bella had unwittingly taught him to enjoy the presence of another human being when he was working.
But did he love her? His libido shied away from the topic, determined to keep tonight’s agenda on a carnal level. Bella wasn’t going anywhere. He had time to figure this out.
At the hotel they were able to walk through the front door without incident. The messy weather and the late hour had discouraged the gutter press. Although the lobby was empty, the front desk clerk raised an eye at their appearance. Bella’s hair was a nimbus around her head. Ian’s pants were wrinkled, and his shoes were caked in mud where he had inadvertently stumbled off the path.
Side by side, they walked up the narrow stairs. Bella stopped at her room and smiled. “Good night, Ian.”
“Bella,” he said urgently. Backing her against the door he kissed her roughly, his hands on her shoulders. “I don’t want to say good night.”
Big blue eyes searched his face. “I’m a mess. We both are. Shouldn’t we go on to bed?”
“To bed? Hell, yes.” He cupped her cheeks in his hands. “I want to sleep with you, lass. After I make love to you again. Am I making too many assumptions? What do you want, lovely girl?”
If he could have read the secrets in her eyes, his feet might have found solid ground. As it was, he was adrift and sinking. He knew what he wanted in the next ten seconds, but he couldn’t see past the end of the hall, much less into a future that included Bella Craig.
She sighed…a long, drawn out sound that told him she was as conflicted as he was. “Okay, Ian. My room. Only after we’ve both had half an hour to clean up. Deal?”
He nodded. “Deal.”
* * *
Bella stripped off her beautiful new dress and tossed it on a chair. Only then did she remember she was naked from the waist down. She groaned aloud. What kind of woman leaves her underpants on top of Arthur’s Seat in the middle of Edinburgh?
In the bathroom, she avoided the mirror. She knew her hair was out of control, and on top of that, she didn’t really want to face the doubt she would see in her own eyes. Ian had practically come right out and said he wasn’t interested in anything more than meaningless sex. All that talk about Prince Harry choosing to play the field, and Ian not wanting to call Bella his fiancée even as a ruse.
