Free Highland Temptation by Jennifer Haymore Page A

Exactly! Quite uncanny it is.”
    “That’s verra interesting,” Colin murmured. “But my Mrs. Montgomery was born and raised in Inverness. She’s a MacDonald by birth, Scottish through and through.”
    Emilia smiled and nodded.
    “Well, isn’t that something,” Mrs. Thomas mused. “Quite uncanny, indeed.”
    “The innkeeper said dinner is at seven?” Colin asked, trying to change the subject, and remind Mrs. Thomas that she probably had some other task to attend to.
    “Oh, aye, sir. Seven on the button!”
    “Is it possible for dinner to be brought to our room? It has been a long and wet day of travel for us.”
    “Oh, certainly. I’ll have someone bring you a tray, then.”
    “Thank you,” Colin said.
    “You’re very welcome, sir. Ma’am.”
    Emilia nodded, and smiled when Mrs. Thomas lumbered away. As soon as they were alone again, she widened her eyes at Colin. He shook his head slightly, hoping she’d act as if nothing untoward had happened, and that she wouldn’t speak.
    He poured a bit of cream into her tea. “Have some tea, love,” he said. “It’ll warm you.”
    She nodded, pink suffusing her cheeks
,
then cradled the tea in her hands as he had and took a sip. He did the same from his cup. They ate the cakes, which were delicious, and drank their tea in silence, until the innkeeper came to tell them their room was ready.
    With a sigh of relief, Colin jumped up, his gloves in hand, and retrieved Emilia’s bonnet and gloves. He thanked the innkeeper, who gave them the key and directed them to their room on the second floor. Colin guided Emilia upstairs, his hand to her back above her healing wounds, his heart beating far harder than it should.
    They reached the room, and he unlocked the door. They went inside, finding a spacious room with a large bed. The space was cold but clean, and their luggage had already been brought up and placed along the wall beneath the window.
    He closed the door behind them and released a long breath. Emilia sighed at the same time. “I remember her. Her name is Nora, and she was a chambermaid. She was much thinner then, but—”
    “You did well, lass.” She had behaved perfectly, but he was still uneasy. Nora Thomas wasn’t one to keep her mouth shut if someone came by asking questions. But there was nothing to be done about it. If they left now, they’d raise more suspicion. They’d just have to keep up the pretense that Emilia was a young Scottish wife—not Lady Emilia Featherstone of Pinfield Manor.
    She frowned. “I felt…ridiculous.”
    “You were perfect.”
    She sighed again, looking down, and he tossed his gloves to the small table and cupped her cheeks in his hands. Her cheeks were soft and pink from her proximity to the fire downstairs. She blinked bonny gray-blue eyes at him, and he couldn’t stop himself this time. He bent down and kissed her.

Chapter 9
    It felt like she’d been waiting for this moment her entire life.
    Sir Colin Stirling was kissing her, his warm, dry lips moving hungrily over hers. She opened her mouth and mimicked his movement, wanting more. Not wanting this to ever stop.
    His big hands slid from her cheeks to behind her neck, his fingertips pressing into her hairline as he held her locked against him. She reached behind him, grasping the backs of his shoulders and clutching him to her.
    He yanked back, but she didn’t let him go far.
    “I shouldn’t be doing this,” he whispered, his breath hot on her lips.
    “Why?” she demanded.
    “I made a promise…”
    She could easily guess what promise that had been. “To not besmirch my honor?”
    “Aye.”
    “I don’t care.” She moved in, this time initiating the kiss. He didn’t rebuff her, thank God, because she would have been mortified if he had. He quickly took control again, pressing soft, small kisses, sipping from her lips, and she sighed in pleasure. When he nudged her lips open and gently flicked her teeth with his tongue, she gasped. His fingers