Free Scandalous Summer Nights by Anne Barton

take Olivia. He couldn’t explain why exactly. Except somehow, he knew seeing the dramatic landscape through her eyes would make him appreciate it even more.
    She arched a brow at him. “I assumed you’d be eager to send me packing back to London.”
    “That’s not fair,” he said.
    “No?”
    Of course he didn’t want to send her away. “It’s for your own good.”
    She sighed. “That is precisely what men say when they want a woman to do their bidding.”
    James frowned and stopped to face her. “We’ve already established that you can’t stay. But spending the morning here couldn’t hurt, and there’s a place I’d like to show you—if you’re not averse to hiking up a rather steep path.” Olivia was utterly incapable of declining such a challenge, and they both knew it.
    She retracted the hem of her dress a few inches to reveal a pretty pale blue slipper. “They’re not the most appropriate shoes for a vigorous walk, but it hardly matters if theybecome dirty or worn—I shall have little use for stylish shoes in the convent.”
    He caught the hint of her smile and his anticipation of their outing increased tenfold. “Excellent.” Without thinking, he reached down and laced his fingers through hers, tugging her along the path to his lookout. She squeezed his palm lightly, as if to let him know she was his partner for the next few hours, game for anything he wished to do.
    A prospect that was exciting—and dangerous.
    The rocky path wound around copses of trees and a dilapidated barn before giving way to a narrow dirt path. They were too short of breath for conversation, but her delighted expression spoke volumes. He’d been right to bring her here. Maybe he could repair some of the damage he’d caused the night before, and he and Olivia could go on being friends.
    Thoughts of friendship fled, however, when they were about halfway up the hill. They’d grown warm from exertion and the morning sun, and Olivia shed her shawl, revealing an expanse of creamy skin above her neckline. James tried not to stare, but with each step she took, her breasts bounced slightly, which naturally made him imagine her breasts bare and bouncing above him, her head thrown back in ecstasy as though he and she were—
    Christ. What was
wrong
with him?
    Olivia harbored feelings for him, but that didn’t give him the right to fantasize about her—at least, not like
that
.
    But she had a way of creeping into his thoughts at the oddest times. Like when he examined an ancient fertility statue, or when he heard a lively reel, or when he hoveredon the brink of sleep in his bed. And since the night he kissed her, he’d had a more difficult time pushing those tantalizing visions from his mind. Her heavy-lidded brown eyes invited him to kiss her, hold her… and more.
    James looked up to find Olivia a few yards ahead of him. “You’re slowing down,” she teased breathlessly. “Can’t you keep up?”
    He closed the space between them in five large strides; she squealed in mock fear and hurried toward the summit.
    Her bonnet dangled down her back, and several tendrils of chestnut hair worked their way loose from her chignon. The tantalizing curls drew his gaze to her nape and the elegant length of her throat.
    Damn. He could no longer deny that he desired her; in fact,
desire
seemed far too mild a word, like saying a drowning man “desired” air. But one could have a desire without acting upon it, and James was nothing if not disciplined. This was simply a matter in which his mind must exercise control over his body. He’d always had disdain for men who couldn’t hold their baser instincts in check—it was weakness on their part that made them drink spirits in excess, indulge in opium, and squander their fortunes on mistresses.
    James would not fall prey to Olivia’s womanly charms.
    Even if he
did
appreciate them.
    They reached the crest of the hill, and he drank in the sight of Olivia as she waded off the trail into a