Free The Accidental Highland Hero by Terry Spear Page B

naught much at all. He would not take advantage of the lass.
    Separating from the kiss that left him agonizing for much more, he again stepped away from her, his own breathing just as ragged.
    Her cheeks flushed anew, and after looking at him with a mixture of fascination and surprise, she finally had the good grace to look demurely away. ‘Twas more than disturbing to feel so hot and bothered for a lass he had no intention of bedding. Catriona’s arrival and getting this charade over with would not be accomplished soon enough.
    He took the lady’s arm and walked her farther along the garden path, waiting for her to say something, expecting small talk but having only silence.
    “What think you, lass?” he finally asked to break up the insufferable silence stretching between them.
    “You are well versed in kissing lassies.”
    This bit of witticism brought a smile to his lips. Her cheeks again blossomed with color. Was she thinking he had gone farther with the others?  She would think right. With an eager lass, he would have made sure they were somewhere private before the kissing began. ‘Twas only natural what would follow.
    “May I ask you a personal question?”  Her voice was very small, mayhap a little reluctant.
    He couldn’t wait to hear her query. “Aye, ask away.”
    “Do you kiss Catriona the same way?”  Her gaze snagged his.
    What could he say to that?  Catriona had buried her first husband at the age of six and ten. She had not given up men for the last four years of her life, pretending to be the sweet, grieving widow languishing for her dead husband. ‘Twas an arranged marriage, and she had even lured James to her bed on occasion when her old husband had been away.
    That’s why James presumed Catriona would do sufficiently as his wife. She was well-versed in pleasuring a man. Taking an eager woman to bed was much more satisfying than bedding a lassie who was not, he assumed.
    “I see by the smile on your face ‘tis so,” Eilis said.
    Emotions fluttered across her face, but he couldn’t tell what they were exactly—condemnation, fascination, envy?
    She didn’t know him and wished to escape from her captivity here. Why would she feel anything about his relations with Catriona at all?  He had never understood the female mind. Even with Catriona he thought as good in bed together as they were and because of being the chief of his clan, she would jump at the chance to be his betrothed.
    ‘Twas his duty, though to consider other Highlander’s daughters. No, more than duty. ‘Twas necessary to keep the clans from taking offense should he have not considered other leaders’ daughters. Now he had done so, and Catriona was the one to receive the prize. She should have been more than pleased.
    “I…I do not think I have ever been kissed before.”
    James brought her to an abrupt halt. “Your memories are returning?”
    She touched the tip of a slender finger to her full lip and stroked it like he wished to do with his tongue. “I think I would have remembered.”
    “Did my kiss give you pleasure then?”  He had no need to know the answer to his question. He wasn’t sure why he even asked. Mayhap because he might have been her first and wished to know if he met with her expectations or exceeded them. And why it should have mattered was another point he didn’t wish to consider too closely.
    Footsteps approached, and they both turned to see one of his men hurry into the garden. Ian bowed quickly. “I beg your pardon, my laird, for, ahem, interrupting you, but Niall wished me to bring this to you at once.”
    “Aye, what is the matter, Ian?”
    “My laird, the lady of Castle Craven sends a missive.”
    His heart pounding, James ripped open the parchment and took a relieved breath. “Catriona is coming this way in just two day’s time. Splendid.” He took Eilis’s small hand in his. “We have much work to do, lass, if we are to pull this off. But first, we must decide on a clan