Page 28 of The Highlander's Inconvenient Wife
“Are ye always this stubborn?” he growled angrily as he stood his ground and gripped the branch of fruit, holding it just out of reach.
“No more than you are!” she retorted, becoming increasingly more desperate and annoyed as he lifted the cherries even higher. “Put them back where they were! You…are…interfering!” she yelled between each breath.
“Interfering?” he asked her angrily. “’Tis me garden an’ me castle therefore they are me cherries! Ye are the one who is interfering here!”
“I am not! Your mother told me to pick these cherries, so technically, you are interfering with your mother’s orders!” She gripped his arm and attempted to pull it down so that she could reach the cherries.
“Me maither doesnae run the castle; I am the only person who can give orders around here, an’ will ye stop jumping like that?! Ye will get hurt soon enough!” he ordered her as she hung on his arm like a child trying to climb a tree.
“I’ll get hurt if you don’t leave me be…” her voice suddenly trailed off as her eyes widened in shock.
Jasper could see the fear and confusion as she toppled to the side. Reacting as quickly as he could, he reached out and gripped her waist, but it wasn’t fast enough. He realized too late that her foot had gotten caught on the handle of the basket, causing them both to lose their balance and topple into the mist. Large swirls floated away from them as their bodies hit the earth with her on top of him.
“Are ye hurt?” Jasper asked her as he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, trying his best not to groan from the impact of his back against the earth.
“I…I’m not sure what happened,” she stuttered as she looked back to see her boot caught in the handle of the basket. The cherries lay scattered around their bodies like little red stones.
Jasper watched as color filled her face for the first time since they had met. He hadn’t thought of her as a woman who blushed very often, yet a definite blush was spreading across her cheeks as her eyes travelled up from her boot and up the length of his body. In all of the confusion, he had used his own body to break her fall, resulting in her laying on his chest with one knee between his thighs.
“I must have slipped,” she said after swallowing hard and tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear. The look in her eyes was one of confusion and passion as she bit on her lower lip.
The blanket of fog that had cleared in the fall began to slowly creep back in as Jasper reached up and repeated her gesture, tucking the remaining hair behind her other ear.
“Doesnae matter,” he assured her gently as his breathing began to quicken. The weight of her body pressing into his was beginning to cloud his mind as blood flowed to other parts of his body. “Were ye hurt?”
“I don’t think so,” she said, still stumbling over her words; it was clear that the situation had taken her by surprise as much as it had startled him.
“That’s good,” he breathed in a husky voice as his hands gripped her shoulders in a tender embrace, pulling her slightly down without even thinking about what he was doing.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you.” Her voice was barely above a whisper as she glanced down at his lips, parting her own slightly as her breath quickened. “I didn’t mean to be so clumsy.” The mist swirled around their bodies, covering them in a blanket of cool dampness.
“I wasnae hurt,” he answered as he tilted his head to the side, shifting his body ever so slightly beneath hers so that her hips were positioned against his. The heat of the moment was once again clouding his judgment, making him react to her in dangerous ways.
“Thank goodness,” she whispered as her eyes fluttered shut, causing naturally long lashes to sweep over her cheeks.
Fighting the urge to press his lips against hers with every fiber of his being, he took a deep breath and focussed his mind on something else as his hands continued to gently massage her shoulders.
“I’m glad ye daenae get hurt; next time ye should listen to me…” The urge to kiss her suddenly grew stronger as he lifted his hand, placing it on her neck and drawing her closer. The allure of her body so close to his was more than he could take.
“I beg your pardon?” Her voice suddenly broke through the moment with a very notable sharpness.
Jasper opened his eyes to see a very irate Joan staring down at him with murderous intent in her eyes.
“I just said that this wouldnae have happened if ye listened to me in the first place,” he repeated his statement as the atmosphere between them suddenly lifted.
“And perhaps!” she suddenly huffed as she pushed herself off his body and stood. “Perhaps I wouldn’t have fallen if you had just listened to me in the first place and allowed me to do things on my own!” She raised her voice and balled her fists at her side.
“Why are ye so stubborn!” he yelled back as he jumped to his feet in one smooth motion. “I risked me own neck so that ye wouldnae get hurt, an’ here ye are yellin’ at me about nae getting’ yer way!” He raised his voice in response to match hers.
The nerve of the woman in talking back to him made his blood boil with anger and frustration. There was a limit to how much he was willing to put up with.
“Now isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black!” she snapped sarcastically.
“I daenae ken what that means, but I daenae agree with it!” he retorted as her face grew even more irate. “Ye are far too free with yer words, lass! Ye will get into a lot of trouble one of these days!”
“Well… well, humph!” she growled at him in frustration and stomped her foot, making the mist swirl once again.
“That is nae a word, lass! Speak English instead of spouting nonsense!” The argument grew increasingly more bizarre as they found fault in each other’s behaviors.
