Page 99 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
At least her pupils were of a normal size once more.
“Did ye pull the stone from the wall?” he asked.
Her stare swept to the ground. She pursed her lips and nodded. “Forgive me, laird. I’ll pay for its repair with my wages.”
Her hands were warm now, yet Gavin still held them in his own. Her skin was so silky soft, save for the little balls of calluses where she’d obviously been doing sword work. The idea of her training on a small farm somewhere lifted his lips in a smile. “If ye give all yer money away, ye’ll no’ ever afford Geordie a knighthood.”
“But I shouldna have—”
“I believe ye had yer reasons.” He released her hand and found his fingers reaching for her face before he could stop himself. “Though I hope one day ye’ll trust me enough to tell me what’s happened here.”
If her hands were silk, then her face was gossamer– flawlessly smooth and warm beneath his palm. He curled his fingers around the delicate line of her jaw and she tilted her gaze toward him. Her green stare was so deep and fathomless that he could imagine himself lost in them.
“I’d left my room to find ye.” She spoke softly, as if she didn’t want to offer this confession and hoped he wouldn’t hear her.
“Ye’ve found me.” There was an implication in his tone he hadn’t meant. Or rather, hadn’t intentionally meant.
Where Senara’s cheeks had once been devoid of color, they were now brilliant with it– rosy and warm with the bonniest of blushes. She flicked her tongue over her lips, wetting them so they shone like temptation in the candlelight.
Gavin had prided himself on never taking advantage of his position with his staff. Never once had he allowed himself to sample the women in his employ.
Since having met her earlier that day, all he could think of was Senara. The way she smelled like sunshine, the way she laughed and smiled as if she held enough joy for all the world, the way she moved through life without the burden of others’ opinions to drag her backward. His mind ached for more of her conversation and his body burned with a throbbing lust.
And now she was beneath his fingertips, all smooth temptation, and gazing up at him as if he were the only man in all of existence.
“I wanted to thank ye.” Her sweet, warm breath whispered over his lips when she spoke.
God, how he longed to press his mouth to the fullness of hers. He near groaned with the desire to do so.
“For the heather,” she said.
Heather?
She must have caught his pause of momentary confusion, for she gave him a smile, which could have felled a weaker man. “The vase of heather. It’s lovely.”
Her hand went to the expanse of his chest, small and hot and so damn inviting. “Thank ye.” She rose higher and pressed her mouth to his.
It was an innocent’s kiss, close-lipped and over far too quickly, but it was the most beautiful kiss he’d ever received. She did this not once, but twice and then lowered herself and stepped back from him, her fingers to her lips.
“Forgive me. I forget ye’re the laird.” Her brows flinched and the confidence she wore with such ease wavered for the first time since they’d met. “No’ that ye dinna seem to be a laird, only I find ye…that is…ye dinna act as if ye’re better…” She stopped and shook her head with a self-chiding, mirthless smile. “Forgive me.”
She snapped up her candle and darted off into the dark.
Gavin stood there for a long time, in the broken hall with the steady glow of candlelight the only company to his thoughts. His lips hummed with the memory of her mouth on his. They’d been soft and lush, more than he’d imagined.
And he had imagined many times that day.
It was too easy to let his mind take the kiss further. Imagining the part of her lips, the soft stroke of her virgin tongue.
He gave a hearty sigh and pushed himself from such thoughts. It was certainly not healthy for a man to stand around in the middle of the night when he ought to be resting.
He lifted the stone and set it against the hole from where it’d been pulled. It was not easily replaced into the gaping hole. Though considerable mortar showed on the ground below, the stone resisted his push. He pushed the whole of his weight, and only then did it finally glide in to fit flush against the wall.
He stared down at it a moment and pondered how the hell a lass of Senara’s size could have tugged it free in the first place. No matter. With it fitted so well and being an internal wall, it wouldn’t even require a mason.
He stepped back to confirm the thought when he almost tripped over something hard on the floor.
Senara’s dirk winked up at him in the candlelight. He lifted it with a slow grin.
Regardless of what happened the following day, he now had an excuse to see Senara again.
