Page 113 of The Highlander's Christmas Bride

A smile twitched at his lips. “You really haven’t been paying attention, have you?” He shook his head. “Or else Ihavemade a complete hash of this. What a pair we are, my sweet lass.”

Donella felt her mouth sag open. That turned his slight smile into a full-out grin as he tipped her chin back up with a gentle finger.

Annoyed that she’d been gaping at him like a half-wit, she scowled. “Are you saying that you’re actually courting me?”

“I tried to make that rather obvious, but apparently not obvious enough.”

“Good Lord,” she whispered.

When he continued to regard her with amusement, she made an effort to say something coherent. “Butwhy? It makes no sense.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“I’m so happy you find this amusing,” she stiffly replied. “If I find out that Alasdair is bothering you about that stupid abduction attempt, I will murder you both. You need to stop acting like bacon-brained idiots. Absolutely nothing happened in that cabin, and you know it.”

Liar.

“One of the things I most like about you is your brutally refreshing honesty,” he said. “You think nothing of insulting a man to his face, even if he’s courting you.Especiallyif he’s courting you. It’s a bold tactic.”

Donella couldn’t decide whether she wanted to slap him or herself for engaging in such a ridiculous conversation. How it had gotten so ridiculous, and so quickly, was a bit of a mystery. But now all she wanted was for it to end.

“When a man acts with such a complete lack of decorum, I don’t know what else one should do. Now, if you’re quite finished insulting me—”

He gently reeled her back when she tried to stalk past him. “Come back here, daft girl. By the way, I believe you’re the one who’s insulting me, not the other way around.”

Even though his eyes still glittered with amusement, there was heat there, too—a seductive heat that fluttered her insides like a flock of sparrows.

Donella gazed up at him, feeling wooly-headed. “I . . . I don’t know what you want from me.”

“First, I want you to accept my apology for last night’s stupidity.”

“But I already did that.”

“I meantrulyaccept it.”

When she gnawed her lower lip, Logan’s gaze flickered down to her mouth and caught there.

“I do,” she hastily said. “Are we finished?”

“Not quite. I also need you to understand that I meant what I said about Mrs. MacArthur.”

She resisted the temptation to chew on her lip again. Anxiety and a burgeoning hope were destroying her nerves. “It didn’t seem so last night.”

“I truly was surprised to see her,” he admitted. “Mrs. MacArthur and I were once quite close.”

“From what I heard, you proposed marriage.”

His smile was wry. “Blunt, as always. I do like that quality.”

She refused to be distracted. “Youweregoing to marry her.”

Now it was Logan’s turn to stare up at the church spire. “Yes, but whatever we had back then, well, let’s just say it’s best left in the past.”

Donella knew he was thinking about little Cam, and how he’d been unable to save him.

She fleetingly touched his chest. “I’m so sorry, Logan.”

He turned to look at her. For a moment, his eyes seemed as cold and stark as winter. But as their gazes held, the cold faded away.

---