Page 42 of The Scot is Hers
With no one there to stop them, he leaned down and brushed his mouth over hers, savoring the feel of their lips locked. God, but he loved her scent. Sweet, floral, with an air of mischief if mischief had a fragrance.
11
Giselle had wished for a moment like this.
A chance to be alone with Alec in a fairy tale setting, living out her fantasy. And here she was, melting under his kiss beneath the light of the moon. She curled her fingers around the lapels of his jacket. Just as he hadn’t touched her the first time they kissed, Alec kept his hands hidden.
But Giselle wanted to touch him, wanted him to touch her. She’d been thrilled when he’d given her hand a gentle squeeze in the parlor as their engagement was announced. She knew that he hesitated because of what she’d told him about Joshua Keith taking liberties without asking.
Alec would wait for her permission—and she was going to give it to him by showing him. Giselle slid her hands down his arm, threading her fingers with his. She moved his hands to the small of her back, firmly planting them there. The pressure of his touch sent frissons of heat through her. Alec abruptly ended their kiss, staring into her eyes with a question.
“Are ye certain ye’re all right with me touching ye?” he asked.
Giselle smiled up at him. “Aye. I want ye to.”
He grinned, stroking gently up her spine as he watched her reaction. “Still certain?”
Giselle let out a throaty laugh that she barely recognized. “Aye.” Then she placed her hands on his shoulders and tugged him in for another kiss.
The feel of his hands on her back—caressing softly up and down, tugging her a little closer with each ensuing swipe—combined with the heady kiss and her own exploration of his strong shoulders had Giselle’s heart pounding. It was as she’d imagined the most perfect kiss between a man and a woman should be. She could barely catch her breath. Was this how it would always be?
She prayed it was, even if a little part of her tapped negatively against the fantasy, trying to burst her bubble of passion and bliss. They had agreed to marry for convenience, after all. But the logical part of her said that perhaps convenience could also be pleasurable.
At least that was what it seemed like right here and now. Pure enjoyment and happiness.
But all that would come to a close soon when the truth came out to her parents. When the guests here realized she’d lied about Sir Joshua to save face at the dining table. Of course, it hadn’t been a complete lie. She hadn’t truly agreed to marry Joshua Keith. Only under duress and at the insistence of her parents had she minorly acquiesced, and that didn’t count, did it? That wasn’t a true agreement; at least, she tended to think not.
The last thing she wanted to be thinking about right now was her former betrothed. She wanted to think only of Alec and the way he was nibbling at her lips. The way her nipples tingled at the feel of him touching her back, stroking her tongue with his own.
Voices carried across the lawn from the house, growing closer, louder, until it finally got through their heads that the rest of the crowd was headed their way.
They broke their kiss, both of them startled as Alec leapt off the bench and several feet away, giving the impression of propriety when a moment ago they had been anything but.
Giselle’s lips still burned, her blood still humming with the pleasure of his kiss as the party from inside turned a corner in the garden and came into view. Though it was dusk, their shapes glowed in the moonlight, along with the torches several footmen carried to light the path.
Och! But Jaime and Lorne!
However, she needn’t have worried, as Jaime appeared miraculously at her side and said, “It looks like we have company,” sliding onto the bench beside her.
Lorne and Alec looked deep in conversation, though no words left their mouths, and they turned in unison to greet the countess, who appeared irritated to be outside. Lady Mary, however, looked quite smug, as if she’d either caught them doing something they shouldn’t or was proud that she’d interrupted what was meant to be a private moment without a crowd.
Giselle would have bet a month’s pin money that it was Lady Mary’s idea to come out into the garden. She wasn’t an idiot even if she acted like one, and no doubt she suspected they’d come to the garden for a moment of privacy, to share a kiss. But alas, because of the loudness of the guests’ approach, what she’d stumbled upon was simply four people in conversation. All fit to be proper and looking startled at the approach of the others who’d not been invited to join them.
How fortuitous for Giselle. She whispered through her smile to Jaime, “Thank ye.”
“Of course. We did no’ want to ruin the rest of the week by getting ye stuck with his mother as a chaperone,” Jaime replied conspiratorially with a tinkling laugh and a wink.
Giselle giggled and turned to face the crowd, her eyes settling on Lady Mary. “’Tis a beautiful night. I’m so glad ye all joined us.” She offered a winning smile that had the men nodding, and the mothers too, despite their disappointment that their daughters would no longer be able to gain a proposal from Alec. Unless they hoped to intervene somehow as she suspected Lady Mary might.
That lass was up to something. She glowered in their direction as though she’d eaten an entire lemon. All pinched and puckered. It was exceedingly unattractive. But rather than worry over it, Giselle decided the best thing to do would be to ignore it. If she were to pay attention to such childish and behavior, she’d only be letting the lass win.
“How was the game of cards?” Alec asked. “Any winners?”
“We were only halfway through when Lady Mary felt ill,” Malcolm said with a raised brow, pointedly saying without the direct words that their being here was Mary’s idea entirely.
Ah, so it had been her idea. How obvious she was. Only one lass was missing, Miss Maggie, Euan’s sister. Giselle had the impression that she was quite a lot nicer than the rest of the lasses here. She also had not come to gain a husband.
“I do hope ye’re feeling better now that ye’ve had some air,” Giselle said.
