Page 35 of Saved By the Cruel Highlander
“I was lookin’ for ye,” she said after a while. “When I woke up this mornin’, I wanted to see ye.”
“Och, aye?” Elias replied. “What for?”
Holly wished she hadn’t mentioned it now. She could feel the lingering effects of his kiss on her lips. That was why she had searched for him—to be close enough to him that he might kiss her again.
“I, um, ken that our marriage is unusual in some ways, and I wanted to ensure that we could tolerate each other.”
“Tolerate each other?” A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “From the way ye reacted to me kiss last night, ye can do a lot more than tolerate me.”
The mention of the kiss made her stomach flip again.
“What are ye talkin’ about?” Holly demanded, trying to sound as affronted as she could.
“Ye had yer claws in me good, and ye wouldnae let go of me when it was time for me to leave,” the Laird informed her.
What is it ye want? Do ye want to tease me about the kiss and kiss me again, or are ye annoyed that it happened? Ye were annoyed last night, but now ye are charmin’ again.
“I didnae have me claws in ye,” Holly said. “Ye make me sound like a wild beast.”
“Aye, that’s a better description.” Elias laughed. “Ye were much like a wild beast last night when ye kissed me. I thought ye might devour me.”
“I wasnae!” Holly gasped. “And just so we are clear, ye were the one who kissed me and nae the other way around. Devour ye?” she scoffed. “Ye must be imaginin’ things!”
“I havenae imagined anythin’,” Elias told her. “I dinnae think I’ve ever felt such passion from a woman before.”
“Och, away with ye,” Holly said, her voice rising. “I dinnae have any passion.”
“Nay passion?” the Laird asked. “So, ye didnae enjoy it then?”
“What?” Holly asked, scrambling for an answer to put him on the back foot instead of her. “Nay, I enjoyed it just fine. I enjoyed it an appropriate amount.”
The Laird chuckled again and stopped walking when they reached the clearing. “An appropriate amount?” He tilted his head to the side. “I dinnae think I’ve ever heard someone describe a kiss in that way before.”
“Och, leave me be. It must be me head wound makin’ me say funny things.”
It wasn’t her head wound, but the way he made her feel when the two of them were alone in the woods together. He could dowhatever he wanted to her, and she would be powerless to stop him.
I couldnae stop ye because I wouldnae want to stop ye.
“It’s all so clear to me now,” Elias said. “I ken exactly why ye came out here.”
“What?” Holly asked.
“Ye kenned I was out here, did ye nae?”
“I—”
“Ye came seekin’ another kiss because ye didnae get yer fill last night.”
A wave of relief washed over Holly when he did not mention the real reason she had come out into the woods, and then she shrieked in shock at what he had insinuated.
“I didnae!” Holly shouted. “That’s the last thing on me mind!”
“Aye, is it?” Elias said with a cunning smile, like a fox closing in on a hare. He stepped toward her, forcing her back.
“Aye.” Holly tried to say it assertively, but it came out throaty and breathless.
“Well, I dinnae believe ye,” Elias told her.
