Return of the Scot (Scots of Honor #1) - Eliza Knight Page 0,45
what ye think,” he said, hoping to soften whatever answers she’d determined in her mind. “But if I kiss ye anymore, we’re liable to end up on the floor, and…well… If we make it down there, I’m going to touch ye everywhere.”
Jaime’s mouth formed an O, and she let out a little gasp. Was that interest that flared in her gaze? No. He was imagining things, had to be.
“I see.” She smoothed her hands down her skirt, which was only slightly rumpled from her fall.
“Aye.” Lorne stepped back, trying to put space between them.
Regrettably, he watched her go, slipping out of the door to his gymnasium. And leaving him standing there, cock hard as stone and his mind filled with confusion. Jaime… He’d set out with the thought to seduce her, but now it seemed that she was the one doing the seducing. Or at the very least, he was tormenting himself by stealing heated kisses in the dark.
“What the hell?”
Lorne glanced up, surprised to see Alec coming through the door. All the desire pulsing in his veins was quick to vacate.
“Did ye come to box?” Lorne asked, nodding toward the ring.
“I might. What was Miss Andrewson doing in here?” Alec stomped forward, clearly out of sorts.
His friend must have thought Lorne had just finished ravishing the lass. Given another five seconds of kissing, he might have.
“It’s no’ what it looks like.” Except that it partly was, though it hadn’t started that way.
“She’s got no father to protect her, no brothers. Her uncle could no’ be bothered to leave London, and her silly aunt is half-sozzled with the other matrons in the ballroom and barely noticed she was gone. When I said marry her, I thought ye’d exchange vows before ye pulled her into a darkened room to ravish her. Good God, man, but ye can no’ risk a scandal like this.”
“Are ye taking up for the lass then?” Lorne asked, crossing his arms over his chest, more amused than anything else. Jaime need not worry about her virtue with him, even if he would have gladly taken it.
“Someone should if ye’re going to be a rake about it.”
Lorne chuckled. “She wanted to talk to me about Shanna. I kissed her, but I promise ye, I’ve no intention of bedding her.” Well, not unless she agreed to wed him.
“Then why did ye kiss her?”
“Why does any man kiss a beautiful lass?” Lorne held his hands out, exasperated.
“Oh my God, man,” Alec faltered. “Ye…love her?”
“Love” had not been the word Lorne would have used. It was a sentiment as foreign to him as losing a boxing match.
“Nay. I desire her.” He cocked his head. “Does that mean ye’ve never kissed a woman ye did no’ love?”
Alec ignored his question. “That is no’ the type of woman ye simply desire and make your move on.”
“I know.” Lorne let out a long-suffering sigh, one which he felt a lot more than he’d realized.
“Listen, I know that your good name and reputation were smeared because of her sister, and I’ll never understand why ye took the fall for her, but in this instance, ye actually are kissing the lass. And ye can no’ risk it. Her uncle will come back from London and put a bullet between your eyes; he’ll have no other choice.”
“Aye.” A bullet would spoil a lot of things.
“What the hell are ye thinking?”
Lorne shook his head. “I’m no’ exactly sure what I’m thinking. Only that I…I like her. I find her amusing.”
“I find my grandmother amusing, and I’m no’ kissing her.”
“That’s foul.”
Alec hooted. “It is rather, I know, but ye get the point. Jaime Andrewson is no’ the type of lass ye have an assignation with. She’s the type of lass ye marry.”
“Aye. So ye think I should propose?”
“If ye’re going to keep pulling her into darkened rooms for all to see, aye.”
“No one saw.”
“I did.”
Lorne grunted. “Shite.” He rubbed his hand through his hair. This was not at all what he’d had in mind for tonight. He’d wanted to show the world that he had no feelings for Jaime, and the exact opposite had occurred.
He had a whole lot of feelings for the lass, half of them pooling in his groin.
“Aye, shite is right.” Alec snorted.
“She told me her sister had run away.”
“That’s odd.”
“Said she thinks it’s because Shanna did no’ want to give me the lad.”
Alec pulled a cigar from his pocket, holding it between two fingers, but made no move to light it. “But he’s no’ yours.”