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Donella stared at Logan and tried to marshal her scattered thoughts. “Sir, I don’t need to do any Christmas shopping.”
He calmly met her gaze. “I do.”
“And you needmyhelp?”
A roguish smile teased the corners of his enticing mouth. “Obviously, or I wouldn’t ask.”
Irritation finally got the better of her. “Perhaps you should ask Mrs. MacArthur. I’m sure she’d be happy to accommodate you.”
Almost immediately, her tangled emotions were overridden by the horror of her own stupidity. “I, uh . . .”
“Yes, about that,” he gently interrupted. “That’s why we need to talk.”
Tendrils of panic swirled through her stomach. “It’s none of my business, really.”
His jaw took on a stubborn—well, more stubborn than usual—tilt. “I disagree. I need to explain some things.”
When he took a step closer, she held up her hands. “Mr. Kendrick—”
“Are you coming, Donella?” Joseph asked, sticking his head back into the room. “Grandda said we might have time to go to the toy store and get a doll for Rowena. And look at the puzzles, too. But we have to go right now.”
Logan simply lifted an eyebrow in gentle challenge.
Hell and damnation.
“Coming, Joseph,” she said.
As she stalked past Logan, she threw him a seething glance. His only reply as he followed was a low, self-satisfied chuckle.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Now that we’re finally alone . . .”
Donella cut Logan off. “Sir, we are in the middle of a busy street.”
When he unleashed his slow, seductive smile, their surroundings faded away. She gazed up into his eyes, caught as always by their extraordinary color. They reminded her of northern seas under a bright summer sky—hidden depths of blue that stretched to the horizon. Part of her longed to plumb those depths, while the other part wanted to hoist sails and head in the opposite direction.
Because she had secrets of her own, ones she needed to keep hidden safely away.
Logan dipped his head closer. “There’s a park down that side street. We could take a quiet stroll, if you wish.”
Donella resisted the competing urges to plant a hand on his chest and shove him away or grab his cravat and yank him down for a kiss. Instead, she tucked her hands inside her muff, wondering if she was losing her wits. It was an unfortunate prospect, since one insane woman in the family was already one too many.
When she caught a disapproving glance from a pair of elderly ladies, she stepped back. It was perfectly respectable for Logan to escort her, but Glasgow wasn’t London. He’d been standing much too close, and he knew it.
“I have no intention of slinking off to a park with you,” she replied. “So you can put that notion right out of your head.”
“I didn’t ask you to slink. I asked you to go for a walk, so we could talk more privately.”
She took his arm and began steering him along the sidewalk. “That, of course, is why you sent Angus and Joseph haring off. But as I already said, there is no need for a private discussion.”
He extracted his elbow from her grip. “I’m the gentleman, lass. I’m supposed to be escorting you, remember? Unless you wish to generate more gossip with your masterful ways.”
He jerked his head to indicate a couple in front of a milliner’s shop. They were eyeing her and Logan with disapproval. Since the pair looked vaguely familiar, Donella dredged up a smile. In response, the woman let out a censorious huff and disappeared with her companion into the shop.
“They never should have let me out of the convent,” Donella said with a sigh. “I have absolutely no manners.”
Logan chuckled. “Neither do I, but I suppose we should at least pretend we do while in public.”
