As the man’s thumb continued to caress her cheek, he deepened their kiss. The sensations were new, but Màiri caught on quickly. And despite the madness of kissing a complete stranger out here by the lake, it felt right. Divine, in fact. As if she was meant to be standing here, in the bitter cold, wrapped in the arms of this man who’d called her beautifulafterhe’d seen her mark up close.
This man who didn’t shy away from it but touched it, as if it were something lovely.
This man whose lips glided over her own, coaxing and instructing.
When he reached into her mantle and grabbed her waist, she pushed closer. The moan she heard was her own. A strange sound, one she had never imagined would escape her lips.
Passion.
Something she’d never felt with . . . nay, she would not think of him now. As selfish as it was, Màiri would chance God’s punishment for a stolen moment with a stranger. Remembering her first urge, Màiri took off her own gloves, both of them, and reached up to grasp his face. In response, and without parting his lips from hers, he moved his hand upward from her waist.
To . . .
Run across her breast. And that’s when she knew she really did have to put a stop to this, but not a single part of her wanted that. Especially not as his hand caressed her, squeezing her breast as his tongue insisted on more.
“Jesus Christ, Ian!”
Màiri stepped back so quickly at the epithet she retwisted her ankle. Ignoring the pain, she picked up both gloves and wished she could bury her face in the hood that had fallen down. Quickly pulling it back into place, she looked up to see two men staring down at them.
She did not recognize one, but the other was their neighbor, Ross MacKinnish. At least the stranger had been telling the truth. He did, in fact, appear to be a MacKinnish.
“This isn’t The Swamp,” said the man she didn’t recognize. “What the hell are you doing?”
Swamp?
“I was . . .” Ian looked at her then, as if he was as surprised by what had happened between them as the newcomers. Two dimples appeared in his lower cheeks. Màiri couldn’t look away. A few minutes ago he’d been so intense, and now it appeared as if he had not a care in the world. Whowasthis man? “I was looking for you.”
Ross cleared his throat. She supposed she should acknowledge him now, though she wished for nothing more than to crawl into the snow. “Good day, Ross.”
As if finally remembering the cold, she shivered. The man called Ian moved toward her, but his companion stopped him.
“I don’t think so. Move off, little brother.”
They were brothers? Now that she knew, they did bear a resemblance. And both of them had that strange accent she could not place.
“Good day, Lady Màiri,” Ross acknowledged. She pulled her mantle a little tighter about her body, and his sharp eyes caught the gesture. “Shall we escort you home?”
“Lady Màiri, as in the laird’s daughter?” The brother’s eyes widened as he looked at Ian. It really did appear as if he wished to kill him.
Màiri curtsied to Ross’s companion. “I do not believe we’ve met.”
Ian looked between her and his brother, a small smirk playing on his lips. She suspected she knew what he was thinking—she’d not met either of them before, but she wasn’t about to remind the group of that fact. It was shameful enough to have been caught in such a compromising position.
“Greyson MacKinnish. Apologies, my lady, for my brother’s boorish behavior.”
She glanced at Ian, who did not appear apologetic at all. The opposite, in fact.
“Come, we will escort you back,” Ross said.
Before anyone could stop him, Ian moved toward her and fitted his arm around her.
“Your ankle,” he whispered before she could mention the inappropriateness of his assistance. No less inappropriate, she supposed, than sharing a kiss with the man or allowing his hand to roam freely across her bodice.
Again, she kept such thoughts to herself.
“Thank you,” she said quietly as he helped her mount.
When the handsome stranger walked away to mount his own horse, Màiri had the strange urge to call him back. But that was impossible, of course, and the impact of what had just happened was slowly beginning to dawn on her.
