Page 54 of Highland Champion
He wasn’t sure exactly what it was about the man that made his hackles rise. Getting angry at losing a card game only added to the overall mistrust Alasdair had. He had done some nosing around, but hadn’t unearthed anything damaging. The only valuable bit of information—if he could even call it useful—was that a Baron Leary, who had estates in both England and Ireland, had introduced him to some of the aristocracy. Nothing untoward about that, but he still had the feeling that Taylor was the type of man to take advantage of others.
Obviously, he’d bungled trying to get that message across, too. He should have known Fiona would flare up, but the thought of her allowing liberties… Damnation. His sister was only eight-and-ten.
But he shouldn’t have brought up kissing. He should have known the question would backfire and it had. Right in front of Lorelei.
She’d looked away when Fiona asked whether he’d kissed Melissa, but as rigid as Lorelei had held herself, he knew she was waiting for his answer. And what answer could he give? He hadn’t kissed the girl and he didn’t intend to, but his father had made it clear—both with words and an occasional fist against the ear—that the one thing a man didn’t do was talk about a woman he might—or might not—be involved with.
He didn’t want to discuss Melissa at all. He was already walking a fine line. Her father was due to arrive home any day now and he—his clan—definitely needed his support.
Alasdair sighed. Even if he had said no to the question, denials usually just raised the question of doubt, especially in light of the rumors that Campbell had mentioned were already circulating. He certainly didn’t want Lorelei to think he was lying to her. But how could he explain?
Perhaps it was best he used this opportunity to make an excuse to leave before he managed to foul things further. So far today, he’d succeeded only in making his strong-willed sister dig her heels in like a stubborn bairn. He didn’t need to make the situation any worse with Lorelei, either.
But he desperately wanted to know what she was thinking.
…
“That was lovely,” Lorelei said as their entire entourage—Fiona, Louisa, Melissa, along with Gavin, Alasdair, the Mount Stuarts, and Lady Bute—emerged with the throngs of people exiting one of the buildings at Vauxhall. “I kept holding my breath that the tightrope walkers wouldn’t fall.”
“I was holding my breath, too, but for a different reason,” Alasdair whispered and took her hand. “Come with me.”
She didn’t question him as he maneuvered cleverly through the crowd, quickly losing sight of the rest of the party.
“This way.” He turned off the wide path with its many luminous lamps and onto a narrow, darker one that twisted and turned until Lorelei didn’t know quite where she was. Not that she cared. She was with Alasdair.
“Melissa is going to be angry that you got away from her,” she teased.
“I doona care about Melissa. ’Tis ye I want,” he answered. “’Tis ye I have always wanted.”
His mouth lowered to hers, teasing at leisure, nibbling at a corner of her mouth, then sweeping his tongue across. She gasped. He took the opportunity to sweep inside, exploring her thoroughly as he deepened the kiss. One arm encircled her waist to pull her closer and his other hand caressed her cheek before drifting down to brush along her collarbone. And then his fingers splayed over her breast, his thumb flicking her hardening nipple.
She moaned into his mouth and pressed closer to the heat of his body, even as he lifted his head.
“Do ye want more, lass?”
“Y…yes…mo…more…”
And suddenly the heat was gone, leaving her cold. Lorelei’s eyes sprang open as she sat up. It took a moment to realize she wasn’t in a secluded garden at Vauxhall, but in her bedchamber instead. Alone.
It had seemed so real. She touched her lips, expecting to find them puffy from the kiss she could still feel. Her breasts felt heavy and swollen, too, from where Alasdair had touched them.
But of course he hadn’t touched them nor had he kissed her. It had been only a dream, much more vivid than the last one. The truth—which felt like a bucket of cold water thrown over her—was that she was only his sister-by-marriage. Hissisterand hisduty. That’s what he’d said this afternoon. She wasn’t Melissa and she never would frolic with him behind discreet bushes.
He thought of her as hissister.
She pulled the pillow over her head and let the tears fall.
Chapter Sixteen
“We’ve nae been out on an adventure in over a fortnight,” Fiona said the next Monday after they separated from Louisa. “I am ready!”
“So am I.” Mrs. Montagu had had a bout of ague and Louisa’s meetings had been cancelled, so they’d pretty much stuck to real shopping and a visit to a museum or two on Mondays. “I have been wanting to go to Seven Dials in St. Giles forever. Emily would never let me.”
“Why nae?”
“Well, for one thing, we have to go through Covent Garden to get to it—”
“The bawdy houses didna look bad,” Fiona said, “and if the aristocrats go there for…pleasure, it doesna seem that dangerous, either.”
