Page 29 of Enchantment of a Highlander

This time Alec did stop the horse, directly in front of the home. A red fox slipped from the woods and sat beside a nearby tree with his tail folded across his paws.

Alec slid off the horse without disturbing Celia and raised his hand to help her down. She stubbornly stared at him from up high.

“’Tis just a fox,” Alec said. “He willna hurt ye.”

Celia shook her head, ignoring his attempt to calm her. “I am not going in there. It belongs to someone else. I’ll…find somewhere else to go.”

Alec suppressed a smile and pulled the iron key from his pocket. “That willna be necessary.”

Her brow furrowed.

“This is yer home. I’ve been repairing all the tenants’ properties.” He held the key out toward her. “No just yers, aye?”

She slid from the horse finally, her fingers warm against the palm of his hand. Her mouth opened and closed, wordless. She pressed her fingertips to her lips as if she could hold in the emotion sparkling bright in her eyes. “It’s so lovely,” she exhaled.

Alec’s cheeks burned with barely restrained excitement.

If she was surprised by the outside of the cottage, she’d be even more thrilled with the inside.

But he wouldn’t stay to see her face, not when doing so would appear as if he wanted more in return.

And the assumption wouldn’t be wholly incorrect. He wanted more, he wanted all of her, but not in repayment for what he’d done and only if she would let him. Only if she asked.

Her eyes shone glassy with unshed tears. “I can’t pay you for this.”

“It isna to pay back. This is what my father should have done all these years—maintain the land and the people.”

A pink blush tinged her cheeks and paired beautifully with the way her eyes sparkled. Her smile was broad and unhindered and it made him realize he’d never seen her look genuinely happy until this moment.

He also realized then, he wanted to see that expression more often.

She stepped slowly toward the front step and let her fingertips brush the metal lock, an amenity her previous door had lacked. “This is so much. Surely it was expensive.”

He shrugged off the comment. “Ach, dinna worry, the rents ye’ve paid cover the cost.”

She turned back around to him and the smile faded.

He’d said the wrong thing.

“I never paid rent. None was ever required.” She glanced to the cottage at her back. “But I will, if not with coin, then with my healing.”

“Say ye’ll come by the castle tomorrow.” Sunlight filtered through the leaves overhead and glowed against her smooth cheek. “To check on Duncan.”

God’s teeth, it was so hard not to reach out and touch her, especially when he knew how soft and smooth she’d be against his fingers.

He hadn’t known another woman since her. Fool that he might be, he hadn’t wanted to. Not after she’d emerged from the forest and stripped down with the grace of a nymph before offering herself to him.

No man could go back to a common woman after such an encounter.

Not when she was so provoking, so enigmatic.

He wanted her secrets whispered against his skin, he wanted her to gaze up at him with unquestionable trust, he wanted her to be as consumed by him as he was by her.

Her tongue flicked against her lips. How he wished it’d flick against his own, or perhaps against his flesh, or even lower, to the source of his heartbeat.

“You can’t stare at me like that,” she breathed. Her gaze, he noticed, did not leave his eyes.

He clenched his hands into fists at his side to keep from grabbing her against him. “Ye said I couldna touch ye.” She was already close enough to tempt him with the warmth of her body. “Ye dinna say I couldna look at ye.”