Regency Proposal: The Laird's Forbidden Lady / Haunted by the Earl's Touch

Her silence said she wasn’t convinced. Hell, he was barely convinced himself that changing the law would make a difference. Yet some men were making a go of it, but they were men who owned their estates, who had the power to decide the best way to proceed. If Albright decided to clear his lands, in the end there was little Ian could do about it.

‘Must we swim back?’ she asked.

At last a question he could answer with confidence. ‘No. The cave has a back door. Or a front door, depending on your point of view.’

‘Then we should go. I cannot be found missing from my bed when the maid comes to light the fire.’ She shivered.

Instinctively, his arm went around her. He touched her cheek. The skin was warm and alive beneath his fingers, her mouth so deliciously inviting. Her back was frigid beneath his arm. No wonder she had shivered.

‘We have to get you fully dry first.’

‘I am much warmer than I was.’

‘Aye, but not warm enough.’ He lifted her easily and set her between his legs, so her back was against the warmth of his body, her round little bottom nestled between his thighs. He almost groaned with the pleasure as his body hardened and he prayed she could not feel it through the blanket. He forced himself to ignore the delightful sensation and instead focused on the feel of her cold back permeating through her blanket and his. He pulled her close up against his chest.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘Body heat. The closer we sit together, the warmer we will both be. Something I learned on cold nights when out on the hunt with the men of the clan.’

She leaned back and hummed her approval. The sound struck low in his gut. His arousal swelled painfully. He forced himself to breathe and to think. This woman was not for him.

She laughed a little.

‘What?’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘I’m thinking about a bunch of men snuggled together.’

‘Not pleasant, believe me. Men stink after days in the hills. But it saved us from freezing to death or returning empty-handed.’

‘The clan always protects its members.’

‘Aye.’

‘One of them gave you away tonight.’

‘Possibly.’ A traitor in their midst. The thought gave him a cold feeling in his gut. It would have to be addressed, though. As soon as the hue and cry died down. ‘You didn’t hear who spilled the beans?’

‘No.’

Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy, would it?

He rubbed her finely boned arms with his hands, taking care not to hurt her. Heat blossomed beneath his palms.

‘That feels good.’ She sighed.

He wanted to do more than warm her arms. He wanted to take her with him to the stars and back. A boy’s long-ago dream. It was no more right today than it had been then.

The sooner he got her home, the sooner he could be rid of temptation. It would lead to nothing but trouble for all of them.

The thought of her leaving made the fire seem to blaze less brightly and the cave seem more cavernous and empty. Not since Drew’s departure had he enjoyed one of these night-time adventures, he realised, or shared his worries about the future.

How much more disloyal could he be to his brother’s memory? Probably a whole lot more when it came to this woman, unless he was careful.

He was always careful. Always in control. Tonight was no different.

Chapter Seven

Selina let the blessed warmth of Ian’s body at her back and the heat of the fire in front gather her up and set her adrift. The feel of his arms around her made her feel safe, protected from the world beyond their cave.

Men usually made her nervous. They had to be watched and judged and kept at a distance. If you let them get too close, they found a way to hurt you.

Ian had taught her that lesson when she was an impressionable schoolgirl. How could she forget that about him now?

Or was it the schoolgirl who had once more taken over her mind and her body reminding her of those old foolish longings?

Certainly not. She knew what this was, what it had always been: forbidden desire. A fragile woman always brought out a male’s urge to protect. And thus she held the upper hand, as long as she didn’t allow herself to be drawn under its spell. Under those conditions, there was nothing wrong with a little bit of mutual lust. Provided it didn’t go too far.

A lady had to be careful of her reputation, especially if she hoped to marry.

Then why this pervasive sense of well-being wrapped in his arms when tonight she had risked everything?

She turned her face up, looking at his hard square jaw covered in stubble. Her gaze traced the shadow of his cheek and the carved cheekbone. And the longing inside her seemed to increase with the expansion and contraction of his ribs at her back. A silent sigh, yet she felt it with every bone in her body.

‘I never forgave myself for what I said to you, that day at the beach,’ he murmured low in her ear. ‘Children are cruel, but I was old enough to know better. I had an overabundance of pride in those days.’

Surprised, she twisted in his arms to better see his expression, to assure herself he wasn’t mocking.

Indeed, his lips did smile, but it was a lovely generous smile, youthful, touched by regret, his eyes gleaming with firelight.

Her insides drew tight, pulsed with a sensation that made her eyelids droop and her body soften.

Looking down at her, he inhaled a swift breath. The glimmer in his eyes burst into searing flames.

The air crackled and warmed. All around them heat conspired to make them short of breath and wordless. His arms tightened around her body, his head dipped until his mouth was close enough to brush her lips. The soft caress of each exhale tickled her lips, the scent of him, salt and sea air, and something very male filled her senses.

‘It seems we are destined to rescue each other from time to time,’ she said on a breathless laugh. Though it must never happen again.

Without thought, she put her arms around his neck, tipped her head and kissed his cheek, much as she had as a girl. ‘I’m glad I reached you in time.’

A groan broke in his throat. ‘Me, too.’ His hand came to her jaw, cradling her chin, angling her head the better to kiss her back.

His lips firmed over hers, testing and teasing. His lips parted and his tongue licked her bottom lip. Thrills ran amok in her body, making her gasp with shock at the pleasure of such an intimate touch.

Heavenly sensations coursed through her veins and turned her bones liquid.

His parted lips matched hers and, open-mouthed, their lips melded and moved in a harmony she hadn’t expected. Tentatively, she tried a taste of her own. Their tongues met and danced and played, at first gently, carefully, and then with wild fervour.

Dizzy, breathing hard, she lay in his arms. The magic of his kiss took her out of her body. Whereas she’d been floating before, now she was flying, soaring, released from the chains of the world.

Inside she trembled.

Never in her adult life had she lost her sense of self so utterly as now, as if some part of them had fused and become something different altogether. It exhilarated. And terrified.

Fear made her struggle.

He drew back, breathing hard, looking into her face with a jaw of granite, with eyes the colour of midnight, hot and demanding.

‘We must not,’ he said, gravel-voiced.

‘No,’ she agreed, gazing up at his hard expression. Yet longing was there, in the way his gaze devoured her face, in the way his hands trembled where they touched her cheek, light and gentle as a butterfly. Forbidden wanting. Or was it only her fevered blood making her wish it?

She closed her eyes against such traitorous thoughts. She’d made her choice.

When she opened her eyes she saw anger in his. Perhaps even revulsion. Yet it did not seem so much directed at her as directed at himself as he stood up, leaving her cold and bereft.

‘You must be warm by now,’ Ian said, matter of factly.

Warm? She was burning. ‘Yes. Thank you.’ There, didn’t she sound equally calm? Equally unaffected?

‘Here.’ He handed over her skirts and her bodice. ‘These are dry.’ He frowned when her breeches fell to the floor.

‘For riding,’ she said defensively. ‘What about you?’ She glanced at the blanket he had wrapped around his waist and then at the still-steaming mass of his kilt. It would take hours to dry. A small shiver ran down her back at the thought of hours of temptation in this cave.

‘There are spare clothes here.’ He picked up one of the packages and unwrapped it.

Fascinated, she watched him. ‘You would spare your maidenly blushes if you will look away now, Lady Selina.’ The mockery was back in his voice. Maidenly blushes. After that kiss he no doubt suspected they were nothing more than a front.

Her cheeks hotter than the fires of hell, she whipped her face away and fluffed the billowing fabric of her skirts. Yet for all her good intentions, she could not help but cast a glance from the corner of her eye as he let the blanket fall silently to the floor.

At the edge of the firelight the gleam of his skin was like marble. The image of wide sculpted shoulders tapering to lean waist and firm flanks, the swell of firm lean buttocks and strong thighs seared her vision. Her body clenched at his sheer beauty.

So large and so male. Lithe and perfectly formed. Athletic and sure in his movements as he bent to adjust the cloth. So opposite to her small stature and rounded curves and the awkwardness of her halting gait.

The silhouette of his erection made her gasp. Had he heard and guessed she was watching? If so, he gave no sign. She ducked her head and busied herself with her clothes. Swallowing against the dryness in her mouth, she kept her gaze fixed on her task.

The fire was hot and the light cotton fabric dried quickly. She concentrated on holding her breeches out to the flames. She glanced up when he returned bare-chested. Another delicious clench of her insides. He picked up his shirt and held it to the warmth. The trousers were on the tight side and too short and made his thighs look huge. Not that she was measuring. She wasn’t. But a woman would have to be blind not to notice how strong his legs were and that his feet were large, just like his … She forced the thought to be gone.

But never would she forget the image of his body, the way he looked in profile. Different. Glorious.

‘Time for you to dress now,’ he said, ‘if we are to get you home before dawn.’

She jumped at the sound of his voice. He was right. They really should not linger. ‘Turn your back while I dress.’

An eyebrow flickered up—no doubt she had sounded too harsh, but he walked away, went to his horse with clearly no interest in spying on her.

So they’d kissed. A moment of passion after a wild escape. Whatever had happened between them had been the result of shock. Mutual comfort. Nothing more.

She pulled her hair back from her face; it felt matted and still damp, but she didn’t care. She made a rough plait to hold it, then dressed beneath her blanket, not because she feared he would look, but to ward off some of the chill of the cave. Dressed, she turned back to find him rubbing the horse down with the blanket he had discarded earlier.

She picked up her shawl, still saturated from the sea, and folded it up. A blanket would make a better cloak and be warmer, though heaven knew what her maid was going to say. She wrapped it around her shoulders and tied it behind her waist as peasant girls did, then gathered up his kilt, folding it to give her hands something to do while she waited for him.

‘Are you ready?’ he asked, leading the horse towards her.

She nodded. It was a lie. A knot formed in her stomach. The thought of returning home made her feel the way an escaped prisoner must feel about the return to prison. A prison of her own making. Which didn’t make a bit of sense, not when she was about to marry the man she had chosen for herself. She held out his kilt. ‘You will want this.’

He used one of the ropes to tie it, then rested it across the horse’s withers. ‘We’ll mount up outside.’ He picked up a bucket and emptied it on the fire. Choking smoke filled the cave.

Selina coughed and rubbed at her streaming eyes. ‘You idiot. Couldn’t you wait until we had left?’

He chuckled. The next moment, he was behind her, lifting her onto the horse. ‘We need to make haste, now.’ He jerked on the bridle and led the big black into the tunnel, holding a torch up so they could see ahead of them. They climbed upwards through the narrow space. Sometimes, when the surf was quiet, she could hear running water—what was left of the stream that had carved its way through the rock and out to the sea, no doubt. And then they were out in the cold night air.

He doused the torch, tossed it over the cliff and continued leading the horse, back towards the road.

She clung on to the stallion’s mane and prayed they would make it home in time.

A good few yards from the keep’s entrance, Selina directed him across country. ‘There is an outcropping of rock on the back side of the hill,’ she murmured quietly.

‘I know it.’ Why had he never suspected it might hide an entrance? As lads, his brothers would have been delighted. The thought of the trouble they might have caused made him shudder.

They needed to hurry. Dawn was already changing the eastern sky from black to grey. Beau shied as a figure rose out of the heather. Ian jerked the horse to a stand.

‘Angus,’ Selina cried.

‘Shh,’ Angus hissed. ‘What by all that is holy are you thinking, Ian Gilvry?’

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.

Ian had a sinking feeling in his gut. Who else knew to expect Lady Selina?

Angus shot a glance up at the keep. ‘Do you think I don’t know every nook and cranny of my master’s house, my lady? So it is true.’

‘What are you insinuating, Mr McIver?’

Never had Ian heard her sound so haughty. So much like the stuck-up noblewoman Andrew had described on his return from London.

‘What is happening, Angus?’ Ian asked, jumping clear of Beau.

‘That young lady has been missed from her bed and her fiancé is crying foul, that is what is happening.’

‘Fiancé?’ His gut slipped sideways. He glared up at Lady Selina. Had she been playing some sort of game with him back there in the cave, the sort of flirtation engaged in by ladies of the ton, according to what Andrew had told him?

‘Nothing has been formally announced,’ she said, sounding defensive. She slipped down off the horse and stood at his side.

‘It may not be official,’ Angus said, ‘but he is verra angry. Threatening to ruin your reputation and that of your father. Interfering in official business makes you an accomplice under the law.’

‘He can’t know for certain,’ she said heatedly. ‘No one saw me.’

Ian had the feeling she had her fingers crossed when she said the last. ‘Did someone see her?’

‘I’m no privy to that information. I do know that young Dunstan is beside himself with anger. No doubt he expected a bit of glory out of tonight’s affair. Instead …’

She winced. ‘Father knows I knew what was planned for tonight and he thinks I betrayed him.’

‘Well, you did, didn’t you?’ Angus muttered, his deep voice turning into a low growl of frustration. ‘Lady Albright is in tears, speaking of ruin and disgrace. Your father …’ He shook his head.

Ian stiffened, but for all the anger he felt, he had to acknowledge that if word of her escapade got out Lady Selina would be ruined. Helping a Gilvry escape the gaugers would not be seen as heroic by her people. They also might ponder why she had helped him, and not to her credit.

‘I’ll just have to face the music,’ Lady Selina said in a small breathless voice. ‘It is no one’s business what I was doing tonight and so I will tell him. Father will forgive me, eventually.’

‘I advise against such a step,’ Angus said, his voice as dry as dust. ‘That young man won’t be satisfied until you admit where you were tonight and give evidence against the Laird. If he persuades your father he is right, you’ll have a hard task standing up to them.’

Ian’s fists clenched at the thought of her being bullied.

‘And once they have what they want,’ McIver continued, ‘the Laird will be convicted.’

‘But what else can I do?’ she said.

He gave her a sharp look. ‘According to that maid of yours, it wouldn’t be the first time you’d gone off on a whim in the middle of the night. All you have to do is disappear for a while and turn up somewhere else safe and sound.’

‘So Mary has been gossiping, has she?’ she said icily.

‘Mary is worried out of her wits that she will get the blame.’

Lady Selina’s shoulders sagged. She shook her head. ‘Surely, Father would not blame a servant for my actions? Besides, he knows I don’t do that sort of thing any more.’

‘Who’s to say what maggot gets into a woman’s head?’ Angus said. ‘There has to be somewhere you could go, some friend you could visit who could vouch for your whereabouts?’

She turned to Ian, her face full of worry. ‘There is Alice. Lady Hawkhurst as she is now. Hawkhurst is a formidable man. He might be able to convince them I left before all this occurred. Father would listen to him.’

‘You’ll have to be careful,’ McIver warned. ‘They’ll be searching the glens for you both by morning.’

Ian stared at McIver. ‘Are you proposing I escort her there?’

‘Aye. Unless you have a better idea.’

A curse sprang to his lips; he swallowed it. ‘Perhaps if you bat your beautiful eyes at them, Lady Selina, and tell them you were out for a walk, they’ll believe you.’

‘I’m willing to give it a try,’ she said with a defiant little toss of her head.

‘Laird, if I might have a word with you in private?’ Angus said. He looked up at Lady Selina. ‘Clan business, you ken, my lady.’

‘I suppose you are afraid I will tell them your secrets,’ she said. ‘Well, I’m not so poor spirited. However, speak privately if you must.’ She walked a few steps away.

Ian drew closer to Angus. ‘What is it, man? More bad news?’

‘It depends on your point of view.’ Angus gripped his arm hard. ‘I ought to beat you to within an inch of your life for involving her in your doings.’

Anger rising in his craw, Ian stepped toe to toe with the man. McIver was big, but Ian was taller and fitter. He clenched his fists and pitched his voice low. ‘Speak your piece, man.’

‘Marry the lass.’

The words hit him like a punch to the jaw. Words would not form for a moment or two. More shocking yet was the deep sense of longing filling his chest, as if some hitherto-unrecognised hope had been forced to the surface. No doubt the wrong part of his anatomy doing the thinking. ‘Are you mad? She’s Albright’s daughter.’

The child of his family’s enemy. That was why he’d driven her off all those years ago, when he realised he was in danger of losing himself in her velvet-brown eyes. When he’d felt the stirrings in his blood and in his heart—and seen his brothers’ horror.

Albright would never have countenanced their friendship, let alone anything closer.

And Andrew. Andrew would haunt his every moment if he did such a thing. If not for Selina’s request, and his lingering guilt at the way he had treated her, Drew would still be alive. Instead, he’d forced his brother to leave London and his pursuit of the heiress, his answer to the clan’s financial troubles, who just happened to be Selina’s good friend. Not only that, Ian had shipped the furious Andrew off to America, where he’d been killed. How could he marry a woman who had twisted him around her little finger to the detriment of his brother? He certainly didn’t deserve the surge of happiness the thought of it brought him. ‘You are out of your mind.’

‘I’m being practical, laddie. Marry her and even if they badger her until kingdom come, her word is no good in a court of law.’

‘I don’t believe Lady Selina would give evidence against me.’

‘She might do her best to hold out, but she’s made a complete fool of that young Sassenach. Let her go in there now and you might as well go in, too, with a noose draped around your neck. It’ll be the end for the folks around here. With you gone there will be nothing to stop them from clearing the land. As I said, Dunstan is threatening retribution against her and against her father. Who do you think she will choose, once you are hiding out in the hills?’ His grey brows drew together. ‘Think about it, Gilvry. No matter what happens, she is ruined. I just can’t see her letting her father be implicated, too.’

Damn it to hell. It was too hard a choice for any daughter to make. She owed Ian nothing and her father everything. But marriage? ‘There must be another way.’

Angus looked grim. ‘Your brother Andrew cut a swathe through the lasses in every glen from here to Edinburgh, but you are the Laird and she is a lady. Have you no honour?’

Resentment at the distaste in the other man’s tone fired his temper. ‘I haven’t touched the lass.’ He flushed red as he recalled their kiss and was glad of the poor light. But it was only a kiss. ‘I didn’t ask her to follow me tonight.’

McIver sighed. ‘But she did. Will you let her suffer for trying to help? You are not the man I thought, if you do not do the right thing.’

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to focus, to see his way clear. He needed time to think. Time to plan. ‘I will take her to her friend, but that is all I will do.’

McIver shook his head as if disappointed. ‘Think on what I have said, lad. In the meantime, travel as far as you can from here before it is light. You’ll find a welcome in the glens until you get far enough south. Do not dally. There will be a price on your head by morning.’

Reeling with the conflicting thoughts in his head, Ian returned to Selina with McIver on his heels.

‘Well?’ she said.

Ian gave her a rueful grin. ‘I will take you to your friend.’

She turned to McIver. ‘Are you sure this is the only way?’

Angus nodded. ‘Go with Gilvry or your help will have been for nothing.’ He plucked a saddlebag off the rocks where they’d first seen him. ‘There’s water in here, oats and supplies, some coin. Enough to see you on your way. Get a message to your brother, Laird, when you have things in hand.’ He emphasised the last word with a hard look.

Ian didn’t like McIver’s glibness. He seemed to have thought everything out, as if he had some purpose of his own. But he couldn’t see any alternative.

Certainly not marriage.

He looked up. Dawn was reaching into the sky and he could see Selina’s features more clearly and the anxiety in her eyes.

‘We need to go. Now,’ he said.

Wearily, she nodded her agreement and let him throw her up on Beau. She clung there looking down at him with worry and trust.

If anything, it made him feel worse. Somehow he had to find a way out of this mess. For them both. He mounted before her and looked down at Angus. ‘Tell Niall I will send word.’

He turned Beau around and dug in his heels.

Chapter Eight

Selina had no choice but to cling to the firm waist of the man before her as he turned across country. A dull ache filled her chest. In trying to help Ian, she’d ruined her own future. If only she’d stayed in London, none of this would have happened.

And Ian would have been caught.

It was all the fault of that stupid man Ranald. If he would have just taken her warning to Ian, she could have gone home and no one would have been the wiser.

She looked back over her shoulder at the keep, its outline already distinguishable against the sky. Was she now doing the right thing in going with Ian?

While her heart had said ‘yes’, which was why she hadn’t given them too much of an argument, her head thought it a huge mistake. She had learned a long time ago not to listen to her heart. A cold feeling sank into the pit of her stomach as she realised she was putting her faith in a man she barely knew and had absolutely no reason to trust.