Page 46 of The Scot is Hers
“Why?”
Giselle wasn’t certain how to phrase it. Nerves made her feel jittery. But it was always best to be honest, especially with the man she intended to marry. So she sucked in a breath and blurted out, “The dowager countess has asked me to leave. To break off the engagement. And I suspect by morning, my parents and possibly Joshua Keith will have arrived.”
He frowned, and she glanced toward her feet. “I should no’ have accepted your proposal. I’ve put ye in a grave position, and I do apologize for allowing my selfishness to dictate your future.”
Alec marched forward, his hands on her arms, squeezing gently. “Giselle.”
She wasn’t certain she’d ever heard him use her name so intimately. Ignoring the prickle of tears in her eyes, she looked up at him, her breath quickening along with her heart. “Alec.”
“I’m no’ abandoning ye. I asked ye to marry me knowing full well the consequences of such a request. We made a pact, did we no’? I’m a grown man and can take care of myself—and ye.”
“I would no’ wish to come between ye and your mother. Ye’ll have to defy her wishes.”
“I’ve been defying her wishes since the day I could string together words, and probably before then too with a shake of my head, a stomp of my foot. But in truth, I am no’ defying her. She wants me to wed, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m marrying ye, Giselle Hepburn if ye’ll still have me.”
A flood of relief and something akin to hope rushed through her, made her feel weak in the knees. “Aye, I want to marry ye.”
“Good.” He pulled her into his embrace then, and she dropped the cane, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and bearing the weight on her one good ankle.
She kissed him with as much promise as he showed her. His mouth broke away from hers to trail kisses down the side of her neck.
“Ye smell like heaven,” he murmured against her skin.
Giselle trembled at the sensations his mouth on her neck brought, and she wondered if it would feel the same for him. She curved her face against his neck, placing her lips on a spot where his pulse leapt.
Alec let out a shuddering breath, his hands encasing her ribs. One slowly slid back to her spine while the other crept forward, hovering close to her breast, but he stilled as if waiting for permission.
“Touch me,” she whispered as she pressed her lips back to his.
“I should no’.” His words sounded strangled.
“Aye, ye should.” As she’d moved his hands outside to wrap around her, she placed her palm over his and gently guided him to touch her breast where her nipple puckered.
The heavy, warm weight of his caress sent a delicious spiral of wanting through her. A sensation she’d never experienced before. A thirst for more of his touch, his taste.
Alec’s thumb brushed over her taut nipple, and a shiver trembled over her skin. Her back arched, thrusting her breasts forward, encouraging. Exploring sensuality with Alec in his glorious library was as a fantasy come to life.
“Och, sweet lass,” he groaned against her mouth.
Every inch of her skin tingled, itched, and she had the strongest urge to curl her leg around his hip, to bring the heated parts of herself in contact with his strong body. A need for it.
Alec’s hand slipped lower on her back until his fingers crested over the swell of her derriere and cupped the full flesh. That subtle, naughty grip tucked her closer still, and she felt the rigid hardness of his body against her abdomen—and lower, the place that had started to pulse with need.
Desire, passion, these were words and deeds she’d yet to explore copiously And Alec had opened the world up to her, as if flipping the pages of a forbidden book that she would never be able to close for fear of losing the exquisite euphoria that came from such sweet knowledge.
This man, who had turned her world on its ear for the better... Oh, how she admired him.
“Oh, my. I’m so sorry.”
Giselle nearly leapt out of her skin at the sound of the female voice behind them. She whipped her head around Alec’s wide body in time to see Lady Mary duck from the library. How had she come in without either of them hearing?
“Bloody hell,” Alec cursed as a similar string of words left Giselle. “That wench can no’ seem to keep out of my library.”
The blissful sensations that had made Giselle feel as if she were floating a moment ago evaporated and were replaced by something akin to embarrassment and worry. Lady Mary was the type of jealous hoyden ready to tell anyone who would listen what she’d just witnessed, including the dowager countess .
She could practically feel all the color draining from her face a moment before Alec pressed a finger to her chin, turning her face up toward his.
“Do no’ fash, lass.” His voice was soothing, calm, but it didn’t lessen the anxiety rushing through her. “We are to be married. The announcement was made. A nosy female is no’ going to change that fact. If she decides to share that she barged in on an intimate moment, then what shame is there in two people who plan to wed sharing a kiss?”
