To Kiss a Highland Rose (Kiss the Wallflower #6) - Tamara Gill Page 0,21

be his wife and came to know him even better than she did now, she was sure to miss him. Mourn the idea of them she had started to imagine quite more than she should.

"My brother has said I may move to Halligale after the Season, especially if I do not marry. I'm not a young debutante, and my brother does not believe I need to live quite so strictly as an impressionable young woman ought. I shall have my independence, at least, if not a husband."

"Your brother is very accommodating to allow you such freedom. I do not think I would allow my sister—were I to have one—such liberties. Who knows what rogues are lurking about, just waiting for their moment to swoop in and seduce them to scandal?" He waggled his brows, grinning.

Elizabeth laughed. "What fun to be had if they did," she said, teasing him.

"Hmm," he murmured, the sound making her insides quiver. "With me as your neighbor, mayhap, it will be me who'll knock on your door late at night and ask to share a nightcap."

She gasped, and he pulled her against him, spinning her yet again in the dance. "When can we be alone, Lady Elizabeth? I cannot wait much longer to have you in my arms once more." His words whispered against her ear sent delicious shivers down her spine. Did he mean what she thought he did?

"There is no place here for such rendezvous, my lord. You will have to be content to have me in your arms, such as we are now." Although the idea of sneaking away, of allowing him to kiss her as he had before, was more tempting than anything else in the world right now.

He was dangerous, not only to her reputation but to her ability to deny him. She bit back the smile that wanted to burst from her lips. How she loved every moment of his inappropriate words.

And the dark, hungry look he had that promised everything she'd ever wanted and more.

Chapter 9

Sebastian wasn't sure where the need to have Elizabeth all to himself was coming from, but it was there, as certain as the air he breathed, the wine he drank, he wanted her. The last day of not seeing her had been the longest in his life. It was totally unlike him to constantly think of one particular woman. And yet, that is exactly what he'd one.

He'd wanted to see her on the morning that he'd left Lady Dalton's estate but had not marked her in the breakfast room or any of the other downstairs parlors open to the guests. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to her had she been there. Maybe he needed to remind himself that what they had shared was not an imagined fantasy, that she had kissed him back, sunk into his arms, and allowed him to take his fill of her as much as he'd desired.

He wanted to kiss her again. To feel her pliant and needy in his arms. But how to get her to be alone with him? That was the question.

"Will you come for a drive with me tomorrow? We can travel past Edinburgh Castle or go out into the country if you prefer?" He waited with bated breath to hear her answer, hoping she would say yes.

Her eyes brightened. "I would like that very much."

"Wonderful." He smiled, holding her hand through the dance. He could not remember the last time he looked forward to such an outing. He'd never before invited any particular woman for a carriage drive or to spend the day together. He supposed she would need to bring a maid, but he wasn't so worried about that. Servants knew when to blend into their surroundings and give privacy.

Sebastian reminded himself he was going to all this trouble because he wanted his ancestral home back. Not because he found her enchanting, pretty as a peach and a woman who excited him, made him feel more alive than he had in, well, forever.

"I shall pick you up at eleven if that is agreeable?"

"That will do very well," she replied, smiling up at him as if he'd just bestowed on her a bunch of flowers.

She would suit holding a dozen red roses. It would bring out the fierceness of her hair, make her eyes shine. He leaned close, spinning her and moving her off the ballroom floor and behind a large gathering of potted ferns.

Without warning, he spun her, so she