Page 10 of The Duke's Christmas Scandal
A frisson skittered along her spine when their fingertips brushed. He had nice hands. Big enough that the glass looked tiny in his grasp. Tavi cradled it, sniffing.
“It smells like heather,” she said. “With a hint of lavender and an undertone of peat.”
He smiled. Her heart gave a startled thump.
“You’re already a connoisseur, Mrs. Dawson.”
She wrinkled her nose and raised the glass to her lips. The scent was stronger up close. Her first sip seared straight down her sternum. Holding the drink out so as not to spill it, she thumped her chest.
“Burns, doesn’t it?”
He shifted and took it back, offering her water from his canteen. She drank deeply. Her head already felt fuzzy.
“I don’t feel the need to try that again,” she declared, settling back down on her stomach with her head near his.
“More for me.” He sipped. “It helps if you go slowly.”
“Let me try again.”
He passed it over without commenting on her abrupt change of heart. Their fingertips brushed again. An electric jolt shot down her midsection when their gazes clashed and held.
If she leaned forward, their lips would meet.
“We could share it,” she blurted out. “The bed, I mean. Like we’re sharing this.”
She tipped up the glass and drained it to cover her embarrassment.
CHAPTER5
IAN
Twin bright red roses bloomed on Tavi’s cheeks—and once a solid slug of his whisky went down her lovely throat, that flush crawled down her skin and disappeared into the high neck of her nightgown.
His cock twitched against the confines of his trousers. He shifted position in an attempt to conceal his reaction. Ian had a fair sense that if she knew he wanted to roll her onto her back and rip that modest garment right off her splendid body, she would run out into the blizzard without her boots.
She clearly didn’t know what a temptation she was.
As befitted an honorable new duke, Ian resolved to ignore his baser impulses. He would not take advantage of a woman who had no choice but to shelter with him. As much as he didn’t relish the prospect of sleeping on a cold stone floor with nothing but a thin wool blanket and his rolled jacket for a pillow, he didn’t trust his gallantry to last until morning if he took Tavi up on her offer.
Not with the way she was looking at him.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said, gently.
Tavi’s blush retreated instantly. She dropped her gaze and pushed back to sit on her heels in the center of the small bed.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” she said, clearly flustered.
Ian got up, feeling his willpower crumble like stones falling from his castle walls.
“I feel terrible for putting you out of your own bed. I should be the one to suffer by sleeping on the floor, for being so stupid as to ride through a snowstorm and get lost.” She rolled off the side and popped up to standing. The top of her head barely came to his chin. He could just imagine how perfectly her breasts would fit in his hands—
And that was exactly why he shouldn’t get into bed with her.
Even if it was cold.
No matter how his cock ached for her.
For all he knew, Tavi was a virgin spinster. Or genuinely married, and her husband for whatever reason allowed his wife to wander off in dangerous weather.
