Page 30 of Enchantment of a Highlander

She pulled a shaky breath between her parted lips. Her gaze slid down his chest, leaving warmth in its wake.

He braced a hand on the wall behind her head and leaned over her. The rough exterior bit against his fingers, keeping him focused on his promise. “I’ll no ever forget that day, Celia.”

He waited for the sharp side of her tongue and found it had melted into silence. Her breath came faster and brushed over his skin like a caress.

His body strained toward her. Everything in him bellowed in his head for him to kiss her, to take her.

He pressed harder against the wall so it scraped into his palm and kept his wits in place.

“I’ll see ye tomorrow then?” he asked. “At the castle. For Duncan.”

His own breath was coming faster now. Damn if his skin didn’t feel alive in its tangible awareness of her.

She watched him anxiously, as if she were afraid he would kiss her. Then her gaze slid to his mouth, as if she hoped he might.

“Tomorrow.” There was a huskiness to her voice that shot through his body like wild fire. “After the midday meal.”

“Before.”

She licked her lips again and left her lush mouth wet and tempting.

“Very well,” she said at last. “But don’t think to ask me to join you there, because I won’t.” Her chin lifted with stubborn pride, but the movement wasn’t a hard jerk. It was a soft gesture, one that exposed the creamy expanse of her neck.

The temptation was more than he could bear. He pushed off the cottage and strode toward the horse, not bothering to look behind him as he spoke. “We’ll see.”

• • •

Celia remained against the wall until Alec and his horse had long since disappeared into the forest.

It had taken that amount of time for her heartbeat to slow, for the bones in her legs to harden again and support her weight.

He hadn’t touched her.

As he’d promised.

As she’d made him promise.

Warmth hummed between her legs. What she’d thought to sate with his body months ago awoke anew, the hunger and intensity only exacerbated by hot, slick memories.

But standing idle against the wall while reliving fantasies was not a productive use of her time.

Not when there was so much to do.

Not when resisting him would be hard enough as it was.

The herb garden had to be inspected, harvested, and replanted, her meager stores she’d brought back had to be put away.

She curled her hand around the key until it pressed cool and hard into her palm.

A locked door.

It was security she’d never had. The leather sling and wood toggle latch mechanism she’d used before had provided little resistance between her and everything outside. Now she’d have a band of steel with her very own key.

She pushed away from the wall and retrieved her small bundle of belongings where Alec had set it beside the door. Her gaze snagged the herb garden.

The bit of soil had been bracketed off with a knee-high wooden fence. Someone had also painstakingly removed all weeds from the bed and apparently had been watering it regularly. The small garden was in good repair for the time of year, as if she’d never left and had tended to it herself all this time.

She smiled to herself, grateful for what Alec had done in her absence. One look at the heavy wood door and she knew she’d need those herbs for making concoctions and healing. There was a lot of coin to be made for her services or she’d never be able to repay him.