Page 75 of The Highlander's Princess Bride
He sucked in a deep breath, as if composing himself. “I disagree that it would be for the best, but very well.”
Victoria let out a panicked squeak when he leaned over and reached for the footstool beside the chair.
“I’m not going to drop you, love,” he said, holding her securely with his other arm.
Love?Despite his protests, he must be even more foxed than she thought.
With his easy strength, he placed her on the footstool, then smoothed down her skirts with exaggerated care.
“Better?” he murmured.
A good part of her did not think it was better, but of course she would die before admitting as much. “Yes, thank you, sir.”
He settled back in an elegant masculine sprawl, looking much too comfortable given the upsets of the last few days. Victoria couldn’t help noticing the continued evidence of his arousal, since it thrust aggressively against the fall of his breeches. While that should alarm her, she was sorry to say it seemed to be having the opposite effect.
“Now, my little governess,” he said with a lazy smile, “tell me why you climbed through my library window.”
She sighed. “You heard.”
“The three of you were as loud as a cavalry regiment on a charge. No sleeping through that.”
“Then why didn’t you open the confounded door when we knocked?” she said with exasperation. “We were worried about you, so I came in to find the key to let the others in.”
“Ah.” His silvery gaze narrowed to irritated slits. “And I chose not to answer because I didn’t want to. Obviously.”
She pressed a finger to her lips, trying to quell her irritation. Unfortunately, that brought his focus down to her mouth and the seductive gleam back to his eyes.
He reached out to gently tug a lock of hair straggling down by her cheek. “In any case, both keys are on my desk. It wasn’t necessary for you to grope me.”
“Royal said the key would likely be in your pocket,” she said defensively.
He flashed a sardonic smile. In all fairness, shehadbeen groping him.
“I did it with good intentions,” she said.
He nodded. “As you said, you were worried about me.”
“Yourfamilyis worried about you. I volunteered to check on you.”
“By stumbling around in the dark and then crawling through the window?”
Put like that, it did sound rather absurd.
He craned over the arm of his chair to stare down at the whisky decanter. “Dammit, it’s empty. Miss Knight, would you be so good as to fetch me another decanter from the sideboard.”
“I believe you have had enough drink for one evening,” she said in her best governess voice.
His disgusted snort told her what he thought of that assertion.
“Sir, if you would—”
“Why didyoucrawl in here instead of Royal or Angus?”
She tried to think of a diplomatic way to phrase it. “Because it was fairly evident that you would not welcome an intervention from them.”
He snorted. “You mean you were afraid I’d bash their heads in. As were they, no doubt.”
She waggled a hand. “Royal was quite willing to take the risk. However, I didn’t think a brawl would be helpful at the moment.”
