Free Haunted Warrior by Allie Mackay Page B

neck, unleashing swirls of pleasurable tingles throughout her. “Graeme—­”
    “Shhh…” He nipped her neck, his beard stubble grazing her skin. His scent flooded her senses, meltingher with its sexy blend of woodsmoke and the sea. The wool of his sweater caressed her cheek, the rough weave cold from the night’s chill. “I’m sorry, lass…”
    The words, spoken against her ear, dashed the sensual spell he’d cast over her. Genuine regret sounded in his voice, letting her know his sudden and fierce embrace wasn’t something he’d wanted.
    Kendra stiffened, and caught Gavin Ramsay flash a scathing look at Graeme. “This isn’t over, seal man,” she thought she heard Ramsay snarl beneath his breath just before he strode for the door.
    She wasn’t sure because in that same moment, Graeme tightened his arms around her and claimed her mouth with his, kissing her long and hard. It was a savage kiss, bold, brazen, and so heated that Kendra’s heart began to hammer loud enough to block out everything except the thunder of her own pulse in her ears.
    Everything else vanished. The world spun away, leaving only silence filled with the roar of her blood. And—­she couldn’t believe it, considering where they were—­a slow, insistent burn deep inside her, liquid flame sluicing intimate places, melting and arousing her.
    Kendra closed her eyes, surrendering to the embrace.
    She brought her hands up between them, gripping the rough wool of his sweater. She could feel his heart thumping beneath her fingers, the warm, solid strength of his chest. She doubted any man had ever held her so tightly, kissed her with such fierce possession.
    When he took her face in his hands, thrusting his fingers into her hair as he deepened the kiss, she didn’t care who saw them.
    Nothing else mattered.
    Until someone—­a woman—­cleared her throat right behind them.
    Kendra froze in embarrassment. Her eyes snappedopen, her mortification complete at finding stout, sour-­faced Janet looking right at her. The older woman’s lips were set in a thin, tight line and her eyes were cold, twin shards of judgment.
    If she could, Kendra would’ve sunk into the floor.
    She was so not into displays of public affection.
    Yet…
    She couldn’t have resisted Graeme’s kiss if her life depended on it. Already he fascinated her. And even though it wasn’t an excuse, he had taken her fully by surprise. What red-­blooded woman could keep her head when a sexy Scotsman with a knock-­your-­socks-­off burr grabbed her, pulled her into his arms, and gave her the kiss of the century?
    She certainly couldn’t.
    Stay unaffected, that was.
    So she did the best she could and summoned a smile, flashing it in the general direction of the goggle-­eyed locals at the bar.
    She didn’t look again at Janet.
    Graeme was still holding her crushed against him and showed no sign of letting her go. It was just a shame that her overly sharp intuition warned her that his kiss and his embrace had nothing to do with a fierce and sudden affection for her. His reasons were elsewhere.
    And that stung more than it should.
    She could easily fall for Graeme MacGrath.
    Worse than that, she suspected she already had.

Chapter 4
    Kendra felt her nerves fraying, torn one by one under the steady gazes of every patron in the Laughing Gull Inn. An unpleasant hush spread through the room, an awkward silence broken only by the swell of the sea slapping against the harbor’s breakwater outside. Although perhaps that sound—­muffled, rhythmic pounding—­was the roar of her blood. She could feel the hard beat of her pulse, the heat staining her face. Her cheeks were surely crimson.
    She didn’t wear embarrassment gladly.
    Could there be a more conspicuous place in the world for such a kiss?
    She highly doubted it.
    Graeme didn’t seem at all troubled. He even looked pleased with himself. And his devil-­may-­care attitude only made her feel all the more