Free Midnight's Kiss by Donna Grant Page A

didn’t think I was that tired. I normally don’t take off my boots either.”
    When Andy looked away so he didn’t have to meet her eyes, she set down her coffee and cocked her head at her friend. “Andy? What happened?”
    “He asked me not to tell you.”
    A sick feeling began in her stomach. “Who?”
    “Arran. He found you asleep. I took off your shoes, and he turned you over and covered you with the blanket.”
    Ronnie looked at her cot. Arran had found her and helped her. He’d held her. She’d been in his arms, felt his hard body and the strength of his muscles once more, and she hadn’t even been awake to enjoy it? She felt cheated and angry that she hadn’t been able to touch him again at her leisure.
    “Probably for the better,” she mumbled.
    “What?” Andy asked.
    She shook her head. “Nothing. I won’t tell him you told me.”
    “Good,” Andy said with a sigh. “He’s a likable fellow, but I get the feeling he’s not someone you want to piss off. I suspect he’d be a bad enemy to have.”
    Ronnie recalled how easy he shifted from casual to “battle-ready,” as she’d come to think of it. It was as if he was primed for combat and just waiting for the right word or gesture. A Highland warrior of old, she inwardly mused.
    Yes, she could see that. Arran, with his long hair, roguish smile, and the old soul she glimpsed in his eyes could very well have stood on the slopes of the Highlands hundreds of years ago in a kilt, sword in hand while an army stood at his back, waiting for him to give the word to go into battle.
    “A true Highlander,” she whispered.
    “What?” Andy asked with a small frown.
    Ronnie shrugged and took a bite of the large, buttery biscuit. “Nothing.”
    It wasn’t like the biscuits she was used to in the States. These were bigger and better. Different for sure, but fast becoming a favorite.
    “He’s, ah, he started early again.”
    Somehow Andy’s words didn’t surprise her. Nor did she have to ask whom he was referring to. Arran. Since he came to the site, he’d become a force to be reckoned with. She couldn’t look anywhere and not see or hear him.
    Ronnie’s body tingled just thinking of his hands on her again. If she’d been awake, would she have been brave enough to kiss him, to test the waters of passion she’d shied away from for so long?
    Arran kept her from concentrating on the dig. With him being so near, her thoughts turned to his strong arms, hard body, large hands, and gold eyes. She remembered his hard body, and the stark hunger she’d seen reflected in his gaze.
    She shivered just thinking about it. No one had ever looked at her as Arran had. The offer was there in his gaze, in the way he held her. All she had to do was give in.
    If she did, if she dared such a thing, she knew being with him would be glorious, but he’d likely leave her in such a mess that she might never function again. Arran was that strong, that appealing.
    That captivating.
    He was sex and need, temptation and desire all rolled into one package. And she wanted him. The compulsion to lean into him, to run her hand along his muscles and open her lips for him was so strong, she had to fight not to do just that when he was near.
    “Ronnie?”
    She blinked and looked up at Andy. They’d been speaking of Arran. But what about him? Oh, yes, his working early. “As long as he doesn’t mess anything up, I don’t care.”
    “No chance of that. He woke me up and had me stay with him just to make sure he did everything right.”
    For some reason, that made Ronnie smile. Then she realized Arran wasn’t doing it because he knew how much the site meant to her. He did it because that’s what he was supposed to do.
    The smile quickly died, but not the excitement she couldn’t dispel at seeing him again. God, what was wrong with her? He was just one guy. One guy who had rocked her back on her heels since he’d walked into her life.
    How in the hell was she going to survive