Page 34 of It Happened in the Highlands
Whatever shred of control she’d been clinging to crumbled. She wrapped her hands around his neck, her fingers threaded into his hair. She nipped at his lower lip, challenginghiscontrol, wanting him to show her more.
He groaned as he deepened the kiss, his tongue teasing the corners of her mouth. Her lips opened to his advance, and she became aware of a pulsing heat emanating from her belly. She heard a satisfied sound in the back of his throat as his mouth became more demanding.
Jo couldn’t get close enough to him. Her arms moved higher around his neck, her body pressing against his until no breath of air existed between them. She was running a race and stopping was not an option.
Wynne’s hands slid down her back and over the curve of her bottom, pressing her against his arousal. She should have been frightened. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a muffled alarm was sounding. But she wasn’t afraid. The mating of their mouths thrilled her. The touch of his capable hands as they caressed the sides of her breasts made Jo wonder if he might just take her here in the darkness of this garden.
And then it occurred to her that wondering had somehow become hoping.
A door opened and closed somewhere in the distance, and she gasped. Pressing a hand against his chest, she drew back, horrified by her actions, shaken by what she was about to do, and breathing hard.
The passage of years meant nothing. Their passion still burned, hot enough to consume them. The innocence of youth was gone, replaced by a firestorm of need.
“Wynne, I can’t do this.” Her voice shook. “We shouldn’t.”
“I’m sorry.” His ragged breathing matched hers. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and looked in the direction of the sound.
“I . . . I have to go.” She tried to back away, but he caught her hand.
Jo was starving and he was her sustenance. She was dying of thirst and Wynne was the only one who could quench it.
“Come with us tomorrow.”
Her treacherous heart had already decided.
“I will,” she whispered. “Until tomorrow.”
Chapter 12
Wynne wasn’t certain if it was a matter of wanting to do the honorable thing or if it was the devil in him.
Finding Dermot in his office, he leaned in at the door. The place had more piles of books and journals and scraps of paper every day. The doctor had clearly given up sitting while he worked because his chair, like every other one in the room, was piled high with more volumes and ledgers and medical equipment than Wynne could even begin to identify.
“If we ever have a fire, they’ll be able to see your office burning in Edinburgh.”
Dermot was standing at the desk by the window, writing in a notebook. He grunted in acknowledgment.
Wynne made no attempt to enter. There was no discernible path through the mess on the floor. “Of course, you’ll go up in flames as well. We’ll remember you as the Jeanne d’Arc of the medical profession.”
Another sound came from the area of the window.
“I’ll be out this morning, Joan. Just wanted you to know.”
Another grunt.
“I’ve told Mrs. McKendry already not to expect us back before noon.”
“Us?” The doctor’s head lifted from his work, his eyes curious. “Who is going with you?”
“No worry about me?” Wynne frowned. “You don’t ask where I am going or the reason?”
“Youcan go to the blazes. If you were swallowed by a loch monster, no one would miss you,” Dermot declared before a half smile broke over his face. “Since when have you become such a delicate flower? Wait, I don’t care to have an answer to that either.”
He wondered if his rival knew why Jo left their dinner guests early last night and where she went. Wynne knew, and that was a kiss he’d never forget.
“Very well, then. We’ll be off.”
“Whois going with you?” Dermot repeated the question. “And what does Joan of Arc have to do with any of this?”
