Page 35 of The Highlander's Kilted Bride
Kade bent and cupped his hands.
Charlie flashed him a quick smile, and then she braced her hands on his shoulders and placed a foot in his hands. Since that brought her chest directly to eye level, he couldn’t help noticing that her breasts were even more nicely curved than her calves.
“Are you ready, Mr. Kendrick?” she asked.
He snapped his attention back to the matter at hand. “All right, lass, up you go.”
When Kade gave her a good boost, she launched herself and caught the lowest branch and pulled herself up. Deftly, and in a quick flurry of skirts, she swung a leg over the bough and settled into a sitting position. He stared up at her, somewhat dumbfounded at her ease in accomplishing the task.
“You see?” she said. “Easy-peasy.”
“Apparently,” he wryly replied.
“Miss Charlotte’s just the best,” Tommy said in an admiring voice.
“And now to get Maisy down before she attracts any more attention,” Charlie said.
Although the kitten was now mewing even more frantically, perhaps sensing rescue close at hand, Kade suspected it was the oldest daughter of Lord Kinloch, up a tree in full view of the house, who was more likely to attract attention.
Charlie shimmied over to the trunk, bracing against it as she scrambled to her feet. The lass obviously knew what she was doing, but just in case, Kade stood directly beneath, ready to catch her if she fell.
That naturally afforded him a view up her skirts, with an even more fulsome glimpse of her shapely legs, all the way up to the tops of her stockings.
Don’t look, you idiot.
Charlie glanced down. “Not to worry, Mr. Kendrick. I won’t fall.”
“I have complete trust in you, Miss Stewart.”
Reaching for the next branch, she started to climb the tree. The kitten had a death grip on a branch several feet over Charlie’s head, but she quickly reached it. Kade held his breath as she crouched down on the bough—fortunately a thick and sturdy one—and reached for Maisy.
“Come along, you silly thing,” she crooned in a singsong voice.
When the kitten lifted a paw as if to reach for her, Charlie snatched her up. She wobbled a bit but managed to flatten herself against the trunk and keep her grip on the kitten.
“Careful, Charlie,” Kade said in a sharp voice.
“I’m all right,” she replied a moment later, a bit breathlessly.
When she plopped Maisy onto her shoulder, Kade could see the wee mite digging for purchase on Charlie’s gown.
“Ouch, Maisy!”
“All right up there?” Kade asked.
“Yes. Poor thing is just scared, so she’s got a good grip on me.”
She made her way down to the lowest branch and carefully sat down on it.
“If I lean over and drop Maisy, will you catch her?” she asked Kade. “She could probably climb down from here herself, but if I put her onto the branch I’m afraid she’ll go up again.”
“No worries,” Kade replied. “I’ll catch her.”
She wrinkled her nose. “She might scratch.”
“I’ve survived worse.”
“So I’ve heard.”
