Free Heart's Magic by Gail Dayton Page B

her
fingers curled around his.
    " Harry. " She took back that hand and
spun away from him, walking a few steps to put herself out of his
reach. "Obviously, you did not understand. I didn't mean no more kissing until
after the challenge. I meant no more kissing again, ever. Besides,
I still have a challenge."
    "Dodd." Harry flipped a
hand, dismissing the wizard as he stalked toward her. "'E's no
challenge for you. Not now I've seen wot you can do."
    Elinor backed away.
"Harry, no. " She
wasn't afraid of him physically, though he was larger than she and
powerfully built, a tawny bull of a man. She feared what he could
make her feel. "We cannot."
    "Why not?" His eyes
smoldered at her, as if alchemical fires burned deep inside him.
"You liked it. I know you did. There's no 'arm in a few kisses or a
bit of a cuddle."
    "Of course there is. In
kisses like that one. In--in licentious cuddling."
    He grinned at her, his gaze
no less heated. "Is that wot it was? Licentious?"
    "Harry, stop it. I am
serious about this."
    He stopped, sighed, ran a
hand back over his hair, which did not help its disarray.
"Right."
    He'd backed her almost to
the fireplace. Elinor ducked around him, hoping to make it to the
door and away. He caught her arm before she'd taken three steps,
swinging her around to put himself between her and the door
again.
    "Oh no," he said. "You're
not running away, not till we 'ave this out. I can see you mean wot
you're saying, that we can't be kissin' and such. I got that. What
I don't understand is why. An' you're not leavin' 'ere till I
do."
    "Harry--" She ground his
name between her teeth.
    "I know. We might be 'ere
all week with you tryin' to explain. Some things I don't see so
clear--like when it's not about magic. But it is wot it is. So
explain it to me."
    Elinor jerked her arm free
of his grasp and plopped in the upholstered chair there by the
fireplace. "You are so infuriating!"
    "Makes us even then." He
stood in the middle of the room, legs spread, hands propped on his
hips. "You're absolutely incomprehensible besides. But you're
female, so--" He shrugged. "I'll do my best to comprehend, if
you'll explain."
    "You simply cannot go about
indiscriminately kissing people," Elinor huffed.
    "I was very discriminating.
I kissed you. Only
you."
    "All right then, me. You cannot just be
kissing me willy-nilly."
    "You said that. Wot you
still ain't said is why. That's what I'm waiting for. An' don't
tell me you don't like it, 'cause I don't want to be callin' you a
liar."
    "Maybe I did. Like it, I
mean. But I didn't want to. I can't." Elinor hunted for words to
make him understand. She didn't know why he didn't already. It was
so obviously clear to her. "Harry, kisses--especially if one likes
them--don't stop at just kisses. They lead to--to scandal. I just
became magistrate of the wizard's guild. I cannot afford any
scandal in my life. Not even the hint of it."
    "Is that all you're worried
about?" Harry flipped his hand, dismissing scandal as lightly as he
had the wizard Dodd. "We'll get married, then."
    "What?!" Elinor popped up
from her chair, shock slamming into her.
    "Married. It's no trouble."
He shrugged, appallingly unconcerned.
    " No. Absolutely not." So many emotions
tumbled through her--anger, alarm, horror--she couldn't grasp other
words, words she needed.
    "I don't mind."
    "Well, I do. I am not
marrying you. I am--"
    "Wot? I'm good enough to
kiss, but not good enough to marry?" His eyes narrowed, fists
moving to prop on his hips.
    "I did not say that. Stop
twisting my words." She stamped her foot. He made her so angry that
she actually stamped her foot. She never did that. Elinor tried to
collect her emotions and smooth them over.
    "I didn't do it right, did
I? That's wot's got you all tempered up." Harry went down to one
knee and caught her hand.
    That hand had a tight grip
on her skirt--probably to keep it from striking him for his
deliberate misunderstandings. She would not let go, would not give
in to him in