Page 58 of A Dash of Scot
“The moment I met ye.”
“Flatterer.” Her eyes danced.
“When it comes to ye, sweet Poppy, I will flatter until I have no breath left in my body.” He wrapped around his finger a lock of hair not pulled back into her low knot.
“Your wooing is quite good.”
“The more I practice, the better it will be. Like kissing,” he drawled.
“Is that so?” Her gaze slid to his mouth, and desire pooled in his gut. “Should we…practice?”
Dougal nearly choked at her bold suggestion, for he very much wanted to tug her into his embrace. “I think it is only fair?—”
But just then, Sentry crashed into the back of Dougal’s legs, causing his knees to buckle, and though he caught himself before he stumbled, it wasn’t before he reached forward and accidentally pressed his hands to Poppy’s breasts to catch his balance.
Her mouth popped open, and so did his as they both stared down at her chest with his hands splayed over her bosom. They were ample and soft, and he wanted nothing more than to massage them. To bend down and kiss them. This reminded him of those moments in the garden a year ago where he’d brushed his palms over her taut nipples.
“Dougal,” she said.
“Ah, sorry about that.” He yanked his hands away, a pain in itself when he was perfectly happy there. Impossible, but his face flamed with heat. “Did they see?” He didn’t want to look behind him at the colonel and Anise.
“Thankfully, no.”
“Please do accept my apologies for, uh…touching ye inappropriately.”
“Well, it was an accident, and also…it is only inappropriate if I didn’t want you to touch me.”
Dougal groaned. “Poppy…”
“This walk has too much open space. You should have suggested the woods.” Her pout was put on.
He chuckled. “I would relish the chance to ravish ye against a tree.”
Poppy’s eyes flashed with a yearning he felt deep in his bones. “I want to be ravished.”
“I can make that happen,” he said in a gravelly and tight voice.
Dougal let out a low whistle. Not only did Sentry come to his side, but a footman appeared from where he’d been posted by the castle, and Sentry obeyed Dougal’s command to follow the footman for the rest of his walk.
Then he turned to the colonel and Anise. “Shall I show ye my garden maze? It was built by my great-grandmother. We can get lost in there for hours.” He turned to Poppy and winked, watching in fascination as her cheeks pinkened.
He leaned low. “I think we might have a tree in the garden…or at the verra least, a bench.”
“Oh,” she murmured, half-sigh, half-gasp.
Being in a playful mood, Anise ran ahead to the maze, and the colonel shot Dougal a look Poppy didn’t miss that might have said something along the lines of “I’m in trouble.”
Which, if the colonel chased after Anise, he was.
But, on the same note, Poppy very much wanted him to chase after her sister because that meant she and Dougal would be left alone. That her ravishment could begin, and she very much wanted her mouth on his.
The moment they’d started walking arm in arm along the Kyle, her limbs had thrummed with anticipation for a kiss they hadn’t shared since the day before.
How funny that if she agreed to marry him—which she planned to do—she could kiss him whenever she wanted, but before they said, “I do,” they had to sneak around? Though she supposed if they were in public or other people were around, they probably weren’t supposed to show affection.
She had seen her mother and father kiss, but only when they didn’t realize anyone was watching.
Dougal held out his hand to her. “I know the perfect spot.”
