if he looked well enough, he could make out the shape of her hardened nipples. Dear God, help me…
Lorne cleared his throat and hoped to do the same to his mind, which had gone straight to the gutter. “I can no’ answer for why your sister would do anything, other than they must have been attached for a very long time. And love makes men do odd things.” He frowned. Like show up at a lass’s house and throw rocks at her window.
Jaime stared at him for a several beats, the air crackling between them. She licked her lips and shivered, which almost had him groaning. “My investigator has sent a man to Ireland to find them.”
“As has my cousin. Let me give ye my jacket.” He started to unbutton, but she stilled his hand with hers, surprisingly warm for the shivering she was doing.
“Keep it. We’ll no’ be much longer.” She let out a sigh. “I feel helpless staying in the city, waiting to find out what’s happening.”
“Shall we go to Ireland, then?” Please say aye. Let me take ye away from here. To be alone with ye…for hours.
Her eyes widened at that suggestion. “I can no’ do that.”
“And why no’?” But he knew exactly why not. He knew a hundred reasons why not.
“I’ve a business to run.”
That was only one. “Emilia could manage in the meantime.”
Jaime shook her head. “That is too much to ask of her.”
“Is it? She seems capable.” And he was being truthful.
Jaime pursed her lips. “Likely, she is very capable. But I’ve no chaperone. My aunt is returning to London, and I can no’ pick up and leave Scotland on a whim.”
“But ye’ve property in Ireland and ships. Perhaps it is part of your business, and no one else’s, for that matter.”
Jaime chuckled sofly. “And that does no’ explain why ye’re there with me.”
Lorne shrugged. “Considering I’ve been contemplating expanding my wool distribution to Ireland and using your ships to do so, I say it is perfectly explained.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“We’ll need to leave sooner rather than later.” Tonight. Let’s run away right now.
Jaime shivered again, and he took her hands in his, her fingertips chilled from the night air, drawing her closer. He rubbed life back into her hands. “Ye’re cold.”
“Only mildly. But I should get back inside. We’re lucky no’ to have been seen yet.”
“One more thing,” Lorne hedged. “A kiss before I leave.”
He thought she would pull away, that she would shake her head at him, and rail at his impropriety, but she didn’t. Jaime surprised him by tipping her head up.
“Just one.”
Lorne thought he’d died and gone to heaven as he dipped his face to hers. She was glorious. Soft lips, quickly warmed by his breath. He tugged her hands toward his chest, wanting to feel her touch him, wanting to hold her in his arms. She was so supple and curvy beneath the thin layers. Before in her thick skirts and bodice, he’d let his imagination run wild with thoughts of what she’d feel like, but now, oh now, he knew. Rounded hips, a flat belly, and breasts… Och, but her breasts were full, and he desired nothing more than to cup them, massage them, kiss them. To savor the jutting points tempting him.
Sliding his mouth from hers, he trailed kisses down her neck, tasting the faint salt of her skin, the subtle floral scent of her. Jaime leaned her head to the side, giving him better access, a soft sigh on her mouth, and he went lower, his lips gliding over the length of her collarbone. This was wrong. He should stop. It was one thing to fantasize about her, but to make good on it…
Lorne ignored the good-intentioned side of himself. His hands went over her back, following the curve of her spine until he reached her bottom. There, he gripped the roundness of her. Groaned softly at the way she felt. Bloody hell… Her fingers clutched at his shoulders, her body bowing toward him, sinking against his frame, instead of relenting, instead of running.
Lorne dragged them deeper into the shadows of her garden, finding a bench where he settled with her on his lap.
“I know ye said only one kiss, but I beg of ye, Jaime, do no’ make me stop at one.”
“Fine, two,” she said on a sigh. “But only two.”
Then he was going to make it a good one.
This was madness. Like every moment she spent in Lorne’s presence, Jaime seemed to lose a