Highlander Most Wanted Page 0,33
pain or humiliation from him.
It made what he’d come to confront her over even more distasteful, and a pang of unwanted guilt nagged at him. He hadn’t realized until now how much he wanted to be wrong.…
Finally, he started down the incline, breaking the visible tension between them. The lass was likely freezing, standing there hip-deep in the water.
He tried very hard not to let his gaze wander, but he was inexorably drawn to her breasts and down the flat line of her belly to where the dark curls of her womanhood were barely visible above the waterline.
Jesu, but he was breaking into a sweat and the morning air still had a decided chill to it.
Her body was perfect, and simply made for a man’s hands to appreciate. Her breasts were plump but not too much so. Just enough to fill his palm … and his mouth.
And ah but he could well imagine cradling her luscious backside in his hands as he stroked in and out of her.
As he neared the water’s edge, Genevieve lowered herself in the water, her eyes hooded and wary.
“I would speak to you, Genevieve,” Bowen said, his voice graver than he intended.
“I would prefer our conversation to take place when I’m at least covered,” she said in a tart voice that gave him hope.
A saucy Genevieve he could take. A beaten-down, frightened Genevieve made his stomach knot.
“I’ll turn my back and allow you to leave the water so you don’t grow chilled,” he offered.
When he didn’t immediately proffer his back, she frowned and made a circling motion with her hand.
Smothering a smile that surprised him by twitching at his lips, he swiftly turned his back and stared at the keep looming in the distance.
Damn it but he didn’t want to be soft toward her. He didn’t want her to make him smile—or anything else. But he was a liar if he suggested such. He could tell himself all he wanted, but there was something about the lass that was compelling.
His body and mind were not in accord on this matter, and his body was fast winning the battle.
Soft splashing sounds reached his ears, and a shiver stole down his spine at the idea that she was rising from the water. Rivulets would be sliding down her sleek body and, even now, chill bumps would dot her torso, hardening her nipples, and water would cling to the damp curls between her legs. Hiding all that warm, moist womanly flesh that he ached to explore.
A blistering curse burned his lips. It was absurd for him to carry on like a lad who hadn’t yet reached manhood. He stood there fidgeting like a nervous boy who’d just laid eyes on his first naked woman.
“You can turn around now.”
Genevieve’s voice was soft and sweet, and he spun immediately, eager to drink in her appearance again.
She was wrapped in a drying blanket. It covered every inch of her skin. Only her head poked out. Her wet hair lay limply over her head and was arranged to cover her scarred cheek.
He wanted to tell her that she needn’t hide her disfigurement from him. It certainly didn’t make him want her less. It had been Ian’s intention to ruin her for any other man, but Ian was a bloody fool for ever thinking that scarring the lass’s face would make her any less desirable.
His fingers curled in anger at the thought of Ian holding her down and flaying open her cheek with a knife.
She cleared her throat awkwardly at his prolonged silence.
“Laird? You wanted to speak with me?”
He let out his breath as she settled on one of the large boulders that lined the river. Her blanket was pulled even tighter around her as she huddled behind its protection.
The right thing to do would be to allow her to dress and return to the keep, but he didn’t want anyone to overhear their conversation.
Deciding to sit across from her on the banks of the stream rather than to continue looming over her, he settled down and then met her gaze.
“I would ask you a question, and I’d like an honest answer.”
Her eyes narrowed at the slight and she pursed her lips, but she remained silent. Then she merely nodded.
“Did you have anything to do with Eveline Montgomery’s abduction?” he asked bluntly.
She froze. Went completely still. Where before she’d fidgeted nervously in the folds of the blanket, now she didn’t so much as move a muscle. Her jaw tightened and fear crawled, ugly