Page 5 of Kiss Me, Macrae

A ragged sound issued from his throat as he lifted his mouth from hers to mutter in a thick growl, “Gods, woman, ye’ll scorch me alive. I’m near to explodin’ from yer kiss alone.”

Allegra opened her eyes to meet his gaze, which had become heavy-lidded and darkened with passion. The sight of such a strong man so fully aroused and desirous was nearly devastating.

“If I’d known ye were hidin’ all this fire, I’d never’ve let ye oot of that bed.”

His words acted like a shock of cold water being tossed over her head as Allegra was suddenly reminded of what could befall a woman who gave in to her desires.

The languid curve of her spine tensed and her thighs tightened.

His gorgeous green eyes flickered with confusion. When she pressed her palms to his hard chest and took a step back, he loosened his hold but wouldn’t release her completely, instead shifting his hands to rest them possessively on her hips.

“You need to go,” she said, grateful for the firmness of her tone when everything inside her trembled.

He lowered his chin. “Ye canna kiss me like that then heave me oot the window.”

The hint of arrogance in his tone prompted her to push more firmly against his chest, though he was about as moveable as a stone wall. “I can and I am. Get out.”

With a ragged sigh, he gave a final resistant squeeze of her hips—his strong fingers imprinting upon the softness of her flesh—before he released her completely.

Allegra stepped out of his reach. But before she could claim another full breath, his mouth widened into a confident grin that made her pulse flutter.

“I dinnae ken who ye are, but I’m gonna find oot. And then I’ll be comin’ for ye tae finish what we started.”

A breathless jolt of anticipation seared through her, but she shook her head. “You’re never going to see me again.”

“Tell yerself that, lass, but we both ken it isna true.” With another grin and a swift heated glance over her body, he swung his legs through the window and pushed off all in one movement.

Allegra took a hasty step forward but then stopped herself.

He’d be fine. The drop was nothing for a man his size.

But still, she held her breath until the sound of his deep baritone singing a rather bawdy tune drifted up from below. She turned away from the window with a huff of relief followed by a deeper sigh that released only a small bit of the tension winding through her body.

She needed to dress and be on her way. She did not want to chance another meeting with the Scot. And she sure as hell didn’t want to think about what had almost transpired. Or what had transpired.

Glancing toward the corner of the room where she recalled seeing her trunk the night before, she stilled. A prickle of alarm swept through her.

Why did her trunk look more battered than usual? And was it bigger than it had been the day before?

She rushed forward to open the lid only to slam it shut again as soon as she saw the men’s clothes folded neatly within.

Oh my God. He’d been right.

It was his room. She was the one who made the mistake.

Her cheeks burning with embarrassment, she frantically redressed in the clothes she’d worn the day before. After twisting her hair up and securing it the best she could, she peeked out the door and scanned the hallway. It was blessedly empty and as she recalled the direction her driver had given her the night before, she realized that in her exhaustion, she’d entered the room on the left instead of the one on the right as she should have.

Holding her breath, she scooted quickly across the hall and into her room, where her trunk was resting against the wall exactly where it should be. For the first time since her maid’s abandonment in Edinburgh, she found herself grateful to be without a personal servant. No one need ever know of her humiliating mistake.

No one beyond the thick-muscled Scotsman, anyway. And as she’d assured him before he made his leap from the window…she was never going to see him again.

Chapter 4

The rest of the drive to the Darrow estate in County Ross was essentially uneventful. Allegra remained beneath a heavy woolen lap blanket, tucked into the corner of the carriage until they turned down the curved drive toward the palatial seventeenth century mansion.

Leaning forward to see better out the frosty window, Allegra admired the symmetrical design and classical features of her friend’s home. Though she knew Darrow House had been built over the partial remnants of an old twelfth century castle, the sight greeting her was that of an elegant and formidable aristocratic manor.

Allegra and Susanna had attended the same boarding school in New York and had become immediate friends though Allegra had been a year ahead. Reserved and slightly cynical, even as a child, Allegra had taken the impetuous, idealistic younger girl under her wing. When Susanna’s father unexpectedly inherited an English title from a distant cousin, he had moved his daughter across the Atlantic.

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