Not Without Juliet - By L.L. Muir Page 0,52

breath, stalling, wanting to wait just a minute longer before saying anything that might make him want to let go of her.

"You're going to think it's silly."

"Never." He lifted her chin with a knuckle, and then the contact was gone. She very nearly lowered her head again, just to feel that knuckle a second time. It felt wonderful, like her chin had been starved for attention.

How pathetic.

"Fine,” she said. “I've had this recurring dream, see. It was about you—probably because of that picture on the website. But then I got to Scotland and saw Montgomery and I thought I was lusting after Jillian’s husband. I was sick about it, actually."

"Lusting, ye say?"

She tried to pull away, but then she remembered how badly she wanted to not be in that cell with Skully, so she let him pull her close again, grateful that he still wanted to, considering how silly she was acting.

"I ask, Juliet, because I've shared this dream."

Oh, great.

"Uh huh," she said. "Sure you have."

No way was she going to stand there and make a fool out of her. But if she put up much of a struggle, the candle would go out and she would freak out.

She took a careful step back, but he only pulled her tighter. The light wobbled and she froze.

He shook his head. "You don't believe me. I understand why you wouldn’t. I do. But I’m not playing with you. Hear me out, aye? In this dream, is it always dark?"

"Lucky guess."

"And is there always something between us, keeping us apart?"

She gave him one nod. No way would he guess anything else.

"And perhaps we only have a few stolen moments together because I'm supposed to die in the morning?"

Oh my hell! How does he know?

"What? Wait! What?"

He sighed. "Perhaps that wasn’t technically part of our dream then. But I always supposed what kept us apart was the impression that you were Jillian and the love of Monty's life, and not a wall of bars."

"Wait. Just wait a minute. What about you dying in the morning? Was that a dream, or is it real?" She found her fingers digging into his skin, trying to pull him closer, but he didn't seem to mind, which was lucky, because she couldn't seem to stop. She felt so desperate, just like she always did, clinging to him like she was. It was exquisite torture, wanting to hold onto the dream, not wanting to wake up, but at the same time hoping she wasn’t dreaming at all.

"The Gordon has decreed it,” he said casually, like, “It’s supposed to rain in the morning."

She stared at his broad chest and the neck just above it. Hang him? How could they? Were they blind? Then she remembered Skully.

"The Gordon is the bastard who left his son to die, right?"

"Right you are,” Quinn said, but she had the impression, from the way he was staring at her, that he wasn’t paying a lot of attention to their conversation. His eyes kept moving around her face, like it was a puzzle he was trying to solve. If someone handed him a pen, he might draw a little path from her brows, to her ears, back to her nose, then around to her chin. Her mouth was apparently the end game.

Please, let my mouth be the end game.

He looked back at her eyes and smiled.

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Then, we've just got to get you out of here."

She knew full well she was stepping back on the delusion train, but she didn’t care. This was no time to be realistic. Wolfproof, bulletproof, and fireproof. Well, the last part she wouldn’t have to wonder about if she managed to escape with him.

He laughed. "You have a grand plan, do ye?"

"Aye. I do." She couldn’t help but mock his sexy Scottish brogue.

"Complicated, is it?" He tucked her hair back behind one ear. She was losing his attention again.

"No, not really." She tried to imitate his sexy smile too, to get him to look at her lips again, but she’d done better with the accent.

He raised one brow. No way could she copy that.

"Truly? Then I must hear this plan."

She grinned and wished she could wink, but she was afraid she’d look anything but sexy doing it.

"We scream,” she said, “until they come to shut us up, then we overpower them and get away."

He laughed. Hard. It started to sound a little hysterical.

"Hey, don't knock it. I'll have you know every plan I've had lately