Page 23 of Taming the Scot
She paused, giving him a questioning look.
“Allow me to pull out your chair, as a gentleman would.”
Slowly, she sat back down, shifting her skirts out of the way so she’d not step on them again. She watched him come round the table as though he were a lion on the prowl and she the unsuspecting victim. Except, she suspected. Very much so. And her heart started to beat a little faster in response.
When he rounded the table and placed his hands on the back of her chair, his fingers brushed the nape of her neck with a whisper of a touch. She shivered, then held her breath. Pressed her hands against her thighs to keep her body still.
He moved the chair back effortlessly, and when she rose, he stayed in place, close. Too close. She could practically feel his breath on her hair, skating down her spine. And not in a way that scared her, even if it should have. Nay, this was all too pleasant. Slowly, she turned to face him, eyes upward. He gazed down at her, serious, intense.
She could have drowned in those blue pools. Could have stared into them for days and days. Did he think what she did? Feel what she did?
My God, she was mad. Bronwen forced herself out of whatever stupor she was languidly falling into.
“Thank ye, Captain.” Her voice was barely audible.
“My pleasure, Miss Holmes.” She longed to hear him say her first name. The only name that felt like it belonged to her—Bronwen. But that would be entirely inappropriate. And it was something saved for family, for dear female friends. Not a man she was supposed to be teaching manners to. It was the very opposite of what she’d teach him and what she should want.
Euan offered her his arm, and she was tempted to take it, but something caused her to hesitate. If her thoughts were already winding down a dangerous path, then it would make sense for her to pull back to rein them in.
“I will no’ bite,” he remarked, though the wicked grin he gave her said otherwise.
And the little frisson of delight that raced up her spine said she wouldn’t mind.
“I do no’ think it appropriate,” she said, her chin rising a notch. The truth was, she didn’t want to touch him—because she so very much wanted to. Yet she was afraid of what feeling his strong arm beneath her palm would do. Already, every nerve ending was tingling from the slight touch a moment ago. Parts of her she’d not known existed had suddenly come blooming to life.
An intense desire to flee made her limbs twitch. To run to her bedchamber, hide away, and write a missive to her cousin to send another ship. Emilia would help; she was certain of it. But she’d already taken enough charity from Emilia.
And wasn’t she more disciplined than this?
“Why no’?” Euan asked. “I offer my sisters my arm. Is that inappropriate?”
“Nay,” Bronwen said deliberately.
“So why should it be so if I offer it to ye? Can ye say that in the drawing room, when two people are in conversation and taking a turn about the room arm in arm, it is wicked?”
“Nay,” she said again, even though she didn’t know the answer. Why hadn’t the tiny handbook touched on that subject? Where she came from, people didn’t take a turn about the room. They came home from work and collapsed. What must it be like to have the energy of the idle?
“Ah-ha, then ye see, ’tis fine.” He held out his arm, wagging his elbow toward her.
Bronwen had no other choice but to accept. She laced her arm through his, her fingers resting above the wool of his jacket before she finally placed them down. An unforeseen sharp sting zinged its way up her arm, and she did a little jerk. She’d been shocked. Literally.
She stifled her surprise, and Euan laughed. “Well, that was a shock,” he said.
“Very unexpected. And perhaps the reason I was hesitating.”
“Ye can tell the future?” They crossed from the dining room into the main entry hall.
She gave a half-frown, half-smile. “If only I could see into the future, Captain. Life would look a lot different.”
“How so?” He sounded genuinely curious about her answer, not simply paying her lip service.
She bit the inside of her cheek, realizing too late she’d divulged a little too much about herself. The captain wasn’t supposed to be this interested in her. If he found out about the debt she owed, he would force her to leave. Then she’d be at the mercy of Prince and his henchmen.
A loud knock at the main door echoed in the grand foyer, and once again, Bronwen almost leapt out of her skin. Who could be banging on the door? The only answer her brain came up with was that they’d found her. They’d made it clear before that they wouldn’t stop looking for her. She’d prayed they wouldn’t make it all the way to Drum, but it seemed Prince’s reach knew no end.
“Ye seem… restless today,” Euan said with concern. “Are ye all right?”
She glared up at him. “Ye shocked me earlier. Quite literally.”
