Hit Me With Your Best Scot (Wild Wicked Highlanders #3) - Suzanne Enoch Page 0,82

that, but Amelia-Rose squeezed his hand, and with a glance at her, he subsided. “I do understand, Jane,” she said. “My mother expects to be obeyed. I can only ask for your cooperation in this. The decision is yours.”

“Yes, it is. And I think we’ve given you enough time to gracefully end whatever may exist between you and the Honorable Mr. Niall MacTaggert.”

She’d given Niall’s precise title, the one by which he would be formally addressed. And she’d done it on purpose. Amelia-Rose wanted to clench her fists and scream. If not for that lack of peerage, Niall would be perfect. He was perfect, as far as she was concerned.

Could it be enough? She could speak to her father first; Charles did have a firmer grasp on practicality than did his wife. Perhaps she could convince him. She’d been on display for two years now, after all, and though Niall very little resembled Mr. and Mrs. Baxter’s ideal, he was technically a gentleman. His brother was a viscount, he was an aristocrat, and he very much seemed to like her. Perhaps more, though she refused to use the word. Not yet. Not when so many things could go wrong.

“Shall I return ye to Baxter House?” Niall asked.

No. “Yes, I suppose we should go.” And to think, a fortnight ago she’d claimed to detest Highlanders. But back then, she’d never actually conversed with one.

As they arrived in front of Baxter House, Niall put his arm over the back of the seat behind her. When he half turned to face her, the warmth of him seemed to surround her. It was heady. He made her nearly giddy, and she was not a giddy person.

“Which window is yers, then?” he murmured, looking up at the house. “I’ll nae be kept from ye if yer parents decide we’re nae a match.”

“I think you mean when they decide,” she returned, wondering if a woman could combust just from wicked thoughts.

He glanced about, then briefly leaned his temple against hers. “I did promise to ravage ye, lass,” he murmured. “Dunnae make me into a liar.”

Goodness. That began an entirely different kind of heat running through her. With his easy grace and athletic build, she’d been imagining for days what it would be like to be in his arms. To have him inside her. This tall, rugged, independent man who didn’t care what anyone thought, wanted her. No doubt he could have half the women of Mayfair if he chose. But for some reason, he continued to look at her. Only at her.

No one thanked him for it. Even she scoffed at him. And yet there he sat, his thigh touching hers, his light-green eyes no doubt trying to decipher what in the world she must be thinking. But today, she was tired of thinking. She wanted to feel, and she wished it could be that simple. “Niall, you know my mother will never agree to a match between us. Ever.”

Niall lifted her hand in his to brush his lips against her knuckles. “I will charm her, adae. Or at the least, wear her down to my way of thinking. I didnae come down all the way from the Highlands to meet ye and then bid ye goodbye.”

“That sounds very romantic.”

“It’s supposed to.” He released her hand. “Point me to yer window.”

Jane sat bolt-upright. “She will do no such thing!”

He lifted both eyebrows. “What’s this, now?”

“You heard me.”

“Well, I reckon the lass can decide for herself what she will or willnae do.”

Oh, she shouldn’t. But doing what she should hadn’t proved very satisfying. “The second one from the left,” she said, pointing at the upper floor.

“The yellow curtains?”

“Yes.”

“Well, now I’ll have to sit up in your bedchamber all night tonight,” Jane complained.

“He was only curious, Jane.” She looked over her shoulder at him, to see him wiping away a grin. “Isn’t that correct, Niall?”

“Aye. Curious.”

“Well, dunnae ye look grand.”

Starting, Niall looked up as the barouche neared Oswell House. Aden, mounted on Loki, came even with the carriage, gave a half salute, and continued on in the opposite direction. “Where are ye headed?” Niall asked, turning in the soft seat to keep his brother in sight.

“Just out. It’s too civilized in the house. And I keep seeing Francesca lurking behind me.”

That could be handy. “Wait for me; I’ll join ye.”

The vehicle turned up the short drive, and Aden circled around to trail them. Generally the MacTaggerts worked alone when pursuing a lass, but this was no ordinary lass,