Page 95 of The Highlander's English Bride

“Painfully, one hopes.”

He laughed. “As painful as I can make it.”

“Splendid.”

“For a sheltered miss from Mayfair, you’re rather bloodthirsty. It’s quite thrilling,” he teased.

“While I am naturally delighted that you find me so entertaining, don’t think you can divert me, sir. We should not have let the children out of our sight. Until Old Billisdealt with, they’re in danger, even with Emmy.”

“Tilly’s as smart as they come. She wouldn’t go to Emmy if she didn’t feel secure there.”

They stepped out into Cowgate, a wide street running through Old Town. Carriages and carts rumbled by in a continuous stream, while merchants, shoppers, and day laborers hurried about their business.

Graeme stuck up an arm to flag down an approaching hackney.

“But—” She had to bite back her question when the carriage pulled over.

“Heriot Row,” Graeme said to the coachman.

When Sabrina started to climb into the hackney, her foot slipped. Glancing down at her half boots, she sighed. They were smeared with a gruesome-looking muck. “Oh, blast. These are brand new.”

“Let that be a lesson to you. No more sneaking off to Old Town.”

“And, as I said—” She gasped when Graeme wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her straight up into the hackney and onto the seat.

“That was hardly necessary,” she snapped when he climbed in beside her.

“Apparently it was. Anyway, I’ll buy you a pair of new boots.”

“I donotneed you to buy me boots.”

Graeme bent forward to inspect his own footwear. “Actually, I think you should buymenew boots. What in God’s name was in that alley? It’s disgusting.”

“Stop trying to change the topic.”

He had the nerve to give her an exceedingly warm smile that threatened to knock every sensible thought from her brain. “I thought we were finished with that topic, except for the part where you keep haring off on these deranged missions.”

“There was nothing deranged about it. And the children should have returned to Heriot Row with us. Instead,yousent them haring off without any protection whatsoever.”

“Lass, it’s only for a few days. Besides, Tilly is better at surviving in the stews than you could ever imagine.”

“I don’t want to imagine it. And while Tilly may be very resourceful, Charlie is only a little boy.”

Graeme began to look a wee bit irritated. “I truly don’t mean to insult you, Sabrina, but you’re like a little lamb wandering off into the woods compared to TillyorCharlie. That boy survived an orphanage, remember.”

She gave him the haughtiest look she could summon. “That comparison is exceedingly insulting. I am a grown woman, and I have proven more than once that I am quite resourceful in a pinch.”

Graeme’s demeanor transformed to decisively annoyed. “Some of that resourcefulness stems from the fact that you’re rich, Sabrina. And that’s grand, as far as it goes. But you can’t just pay people to do what you want or manage them into compliance. Frankly, it’s arrogant to think that you can. Tilly knows her own mind, and she knows what she wants. If she’d wanted to come to Heriot Row, I would have made that happen. But she didn’t. I respect that decision, as should you.”

For a generally taciturn man, he could certainly deliver an effective lecture. If Sabrina were a better person, she would admit that he’d landed more than a few home points.

Apparently, though, she wasnota better person, at least when it came to Graeme Kendrick.

“You think I’m arrogant? Well, that’s rich, coming from you. You’re the most arrogant, interfering man I’ve ever met.”

He twisted sideways, looming over her. Green thunderbolts all but shot from his gaze. Truly, his eyes were the most extraordinary she’d ever seen. They held a startling emerald clarity that yet hinted at untold, turbulent depths. For an alarming moment, she fought the temptation to yank his head down and kiss him to see if he tasted of those same turbulent but dangerously enticing depths.

“It’s a damn good thing I’m interfering,” he growled, “since you have a talent for getting yourself into insanely tight spots.”

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