Page 17 of A Heart Worth Loving

He pointed to a green sapling. “Harder is better, I would imagine?”

“Aye,” she replied, and pointed to a long branch. “That is a sturdy one.”

Ewan sighed, then broke the branch from the tree.

At last, staffs in hand, they approached the sheep.

As they herded the sheep down the path, Ewan fell into step beside her. “I thank you for your help.”

“We are even for your aid this morning.”

He recalled her sister and her invitation. “Forgive my refusal to attend your dinner party.” He hesitated. “Of late, I am not the stuff of parties.”

Kyla laughed. “Truth be told, I have never been. I cannot bear sitting there, listening to the tattle. I would rather chase sheep. Where shall we drive them?” she asked as they neared the abbey.

He pointed to the eastern field. It was small, but large enough to keep them until they repaired the fence. He opened the gate as Kyla ran behind the sheep, driving them forward. The sheep obligingly entered.

“Thirty-seven,” she said.

Too distracted, he’d forgotten to count. He lifted a brow. He was behaving quite unlike himself. He closed the gate.

Kyla leaned her staff against the fence, then smoothed her skirt. “I must be going.”

“Allow me to see you home.”

“No need to bother.”

“I insist.” He didn’t want to chance Mallatratt waylaying her on the way home.

They walked in companionable silence. A dozen times, Ewan considered and rejected the impulse to kiss her again. He had almost talked himself into rejecting good sense and pulling her behind one of the trees, when the manor came into view.

They reached the door and Kyla faced him. “Thank you for a most pleasant afternoon, Lord Kilbreck.”

“Thank you, Miss Brodrick,” he said. Today had truly been one of the most pleasant days he’d experienced for as long as he could recall.

He felt like a schoolboy who didn’t want their time to end. Had she inched closer, or had he? He must have. She still stood next to the manor house door. He needed to taste those lips. He needed to kiss her, experience her softness against him. Her eyes, so wide, had locked onto his.

If only she were a ghost…

He forced himself to step back.

She grasped his shirt front and dragged him forward too paces. Her breasts met his chest. Desire shot straight to his cock. She lifted on tiptoes and pulled his mouth down to hers. She tasted even sweeter than before. Ewan flicked her lips and groaned when she immediately opened for him. Before he could thrust his tongue inside her mouth, she sucked him inside. A mental picture flashed of those full lips around his cock, sucking as she did his tongue. In the distant recesses of his mind, he heard the faint snap of a door latch opening?

A door latch?

He broke the kiss and stumbled back two paces. The door opened.

Kyla’s eyes widened.

Her lips were swollen from his kiss. She looked bloody beautiful—and guilty.

Mrs. Brodrick emerged from the house. “Kyla?”