1
" When Alex moved as if to escort Lina, Ian gave him a fierce look and stepped forward to offer his arm.
“If I may, my lady,” he said politely.
She raised her eyebrows much as his mother might have done. But she put a hand on the forearm he’d extended and smiled demurely. “You are most kind, sir.”
“Sakes, lass,” he muttered. “Do you mock my courtesy? Can I do nowt to win your approval?”
She gave him a direct look and said in a normal tone, “Faith, sir, do you seek my approval? You must know that you have earned my gratitude.”
“But you still disapprove of how I won it, do you not?”
“That is unfair,” she said. “I have already admitted having mixed feelings about that. I do still believe that one should think before leaping into danger.”
“What makes you imagine that I do not?”
“I know you don’t always think before you act. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
2
" But as she rounded the last turn before the hall landing, she nearly collided with Sir Ian, carrying his mother’s shawl.
“Oh!” Lina exclaimed, coming to an abrupt halt a step above his.
“Rather careless of you to leave this behind,” he said.
He was too close.
“Aye, it was,” she agreed, stepping back up a step to gain more space.
His eyes danced. “Mayhap I should demand a penance before returning it.”
“You dare,” she said, stiffening and wishing he were not so fiendishly beguiling with that boyish gleam of mischief in his eyes. He was definitely not just a mischievous boy anymore, though. And, for a lady to encourage such behavior . . .
He looked up, as if to heaven, and murmured, “Just one wee ki—”
“Shame on you, Sir Ian Colquhoun,” she interjected, thinking she sounded just like her mother. “Galbraith cannot know that you are on this stairway.”
“Once again, you are wrong, lass,” he said, his eyes still alight. “He is still with Lizzie on the dais—giving her a well-deserved scolding, I trust. I saw that you had left the shawl and offered to find a maidservant to return it to you. But this is much better. I do think you should thank me prettily for taking so much trouble.”
“I will thank you. After you have returned it to me.”
Cocking his head, he held the shawl higher, so she’d have to reach for it.
When she did, he moved it back out of her reach.
Lina lowered her outstretched hand to her side and eyed him sternly from her slightly superior height. “I thought you sought my approval.”
He stepped up to the stair below hers, putting the shawl out of reach again. His face was now inches higher than hers and his body again much too close for comfort.
“I’d prefer something else just now,” he said softly, looking into her eyes.
Reaching with his left hand for her right wrist, he held it firmly. Apparently oblivious of her attempt to snatch it free, he pressed the shawl into her hand and let go of her wrist, his gaze never leaving hers.
She waited to see what he would do next.
He smiled then, wryly, as if he dared her to walk away.
His lips were tantalizingly close.
Lina shut her eyes.
“Coward,” Ian murmured, enjoying himself.
Her eyes flew open. Then, to his astonishment, she learned forward, brushed her lips against his right cheek, and whirled, snatching up her skirts in her free hand as first her right foot and then her left blindly sought the next stair upward.
Reaching out, he easily caught her arm. “Not so fast,” he said, turning her back to face him. “You must not kiss and run, lass. That’s against the rules.”
“The lady makes the rules, sir. Let go of me.” She was two steps above his again, looking disdainfully down her nose at him. She did not try to pull away.
She was testing him, he knew. But she was right about who made the rules.
Even so, the urge was strong to seize her and teach her what kissing was all about. However, he also wanted to make her desire that kiss enough to abandon her disapproval. And that was the greater challenge.
Sakes, if he were seeking a wife and had no royal duty commanding him . . .
Shifting his grip to her hand, he drew it to his lips and slowly kissed each knuckle. Then he kissed the silky skin above them, turned her trembling hand palm up long enough to breathe gently into that tender palm . . . and released her.
With a barely discernable gasp, she turned away, her dignity apparently still—or again—intact. He enjoyed watching her move, so he stood where he was to savor the sight. His reward came when she stopped before vanishing around the next curve and looked back. Her lips parted slowly, invitingly, in surprise.
He bowed and had the delight of seeing her whirl again and hurry away.
“I shall win this battle, I think,” he murmured to himself. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
3
" It occurs to me, lass, that I saved you from a much worse fate than I knew by rescuing you from Dumbarton and from Dougal. He would have made you a terrible husband.”
“No worse than most, I expect,” she said, still eyeing the crags.
“Nonsense, even I would make a better husband than Dougal, had I any wish yet to marry. You might at least admit that much.”
She stiffened, thrusting her plump bosom out enticingly. “I have no desire to marry Dougal, as you ken fine,” she said. “Nor do I want to marry you. You are both, albeit in different ways, equally objectionable to me as husbands.”
“Now I am stung,” he declared, affecting great indignation. “You have made your disapproval of me clear since you were eight years old. But, other than a too-frequent accusation of recklessness, which I dispute, what fault do you find in me?”
So sorely tempted was Lina to list his faults for him that she had to bite her tongue to keep the words from flying off it. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
4
" What’s past cannot be mended, lass. So there can be no reason to talk more about my faults, either.”
Lina raised her eyebrows, wondering if he believed that. How could one learn from past mistakes if one did not reconsider actions that had led to them?
“Don’t say it,” he said with a smile. “You’ve nae need to. I resist reflecting on the past, because my actions rarely look as brilliant afterward as they did at the time. They never do when the reflection hits me from my father’s perspective.”
She chuckled. “I think you fib about the dimming of your brilliance in your own mind, sir. But the rest is true, as I know for myself. Sithee, if Mam heard what you said to me earlier, I’ll soon hear her views about young ladies who linger with gentlemen on stairways after they’ve been ordered off to bed.”
His lips twitched. When he bit hard on the lower one, the echo of her own words returned, and the unintended image they had created enflamed her cheeks.
“You know that I meant after I had been ordered to bed,” she muttered.
He grinned. “Do I?”
She shook her head at him and fell silent, hoping he would stop teasing long enough for her to recover her equanimity. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
5
" Ian and Rob remained standing.
“What did Dougal want?” Ian asked.
“Our Lina’s hand, that’s what.” Andrew crossed his arms against his chest.
Ian stared at him, resisting an urge to grind his teeth.
“In marriage?” Rob asked.
“Aye, sure, in marriage,” Andrew said, his thick, dark eyebrows knitting together. “The knave dared to tell me that such a marriage would reunite Clan Farlan. Then he had the gall to ask if I didna want such an end to the trouble and strife of the past two decades. Come to that, I expect it might serve such an end.”
Ian felt as if the Fates had kicked the wind out of him. But he gathered enough air to say, “You didn’t . . . that is, you couldn’t have agreed to that.”
Rob’s eyebrows shot up then, and Ian’s peripheral vision caught that rare sign of surprise in his friend. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
6
" Prithee, sir,” Ian said, controlling his impatience, “tell us what Dougal said.”
“He said he’d tell the world that he’s had his way with our Lina, even shared her with his men. Och, but I wanted to hang him from the tree outside me gate right then! In short, if Dougal canna have her, he’ll murder her reputation. So, in my fury, I’ve condemned my daughter to the sad future of an unmarried, unwanted woman. A future in which others will revile her, if Dougal has his say. Och, I’m a villain m’self to do such a vile thing. Mayhap I should think more on it, unless . . .”
He looked at Rob, who stared silently, blankly back at him.
After a glance at Ian, Andrew chose a point midway between the two men and said with a slight, self-deprecating shrug, “I dinna suppose ye’d . . . either o’ ye . . . be willing to marry the poor lassie and save her from such a dreadful fate.”
Ian saw the pit yawning before him, but he barely heeded it. Having saved Lina from one wretched fate, he did not want to watch her fall victim to another.
Impulsively, he said, “I . . . I’d be willing to give the idea some thought, sir.”
“Good lad,” Andrew said cheerfully. “I’ll let ye have her. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
7
" Meeting Andrew’s steady gaze, Ian said, “Did you really tell Dougal that you would see him and Pharlain in hell before you would let Lina marry him?”
“I did, aye. After he made his vile threats, I also told him I’d gut him and feed his entrails to the beasts o’ the forest here afore I’d give him our Lina.” He added mildly, “I think the man understands that I didna like the notion.”
Hearing a strange sound from Rob, Ian darted a glance at him to see that his friend had clapped a hand to his mouth. Above it, his eyes twinkled merrily.
“Did you just laugh?” Ian demanded.
Rob shook his head, lowering his hand, and eyes still atwinkle, said, “I choked.” Extending a hand to Andrew, he said, “It is an honor to know you, sir.”
“Aye, good, for I’ve one more daughter t’ marry off, ye ken—our Muriella. She’s a mite young yet, her mam says. But if ye’d be interested . . .”
Sobering instantly, Rob said, “You do me great honor, my lord, and I thank you. But I’ll not inflict myself so on any female at present.”
Andrew gave him a long look but said no more on the subject of Muriella.
Instead, he turned to Ian and said, “Shall we send for our Lina and tell her the good news, lad? Or d’ye need me to tell ye what a rare prize the lassie is, so ye can think more on the notion?”
Ian’s thoughts had flown to Lina’s likely reaction to the “good news.” She would scarcely receive it as such. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
8
" Andrew, sounding impatient, said, “Will ye do it, lassie?”
Blinking, Lina realized that she was still staring at Ian.
He smiled, and so compelling was his smile that her own lips twitched in response. “It is up to you, lass,” Ian said quietly. “I’d like it fine if you would.”
Warmth spread through her at those simple words. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
9
" He took her near hand in his and raised it to his lips as he had once before. This time, he kissed it lightly, looking at her as he did, his expression unusually solemn. “Aye, sure, we’ll go in,” he said. “Just as soon as you look me in the eyes and tell me you’re doing this willingly and not just because you said you would.”
She looked him right in the eye then and said, “You first.”
Ian laughed as much at the look of determination on Lina’s face as at the challenge she had flung at him.
When she continued to watch him, he sobered. He was still holding her hand, so he gave it a warm squeeze and said, “I’m more willing with every minute that passes, lass. I believe that we will suit each other well.”
“This may be the most reckless thing you have done, sir.”
“It may be, aye. But you are doing it with me, so I’ll wager that you won’t carp and correct me at every turn as some wives try to do.”
“I would not do that in any event,” she said, peering into his face in that way she had that made him feel as if she would see right through him to his core. “I wonder if my opinions matter to you, though. I’m unlikely to change my feelings about many things that you do. Nor will I agree with you in all that you say.”
“Then, likely we’ll fratch from time to time,” he said. “Would it help if I were to promise that I’ll always listen?”
“It might,” she said doubtfully. “It would help more if you did always listen.”
He choked on another bubble of laughter. Forcing himself to speak seriously, he said, “Have you hitherto found me an unwilling listener?”
She shook her head, looking at his chest again. “No, sir, not recently.”
Cupping her chin with his free hand, he tilted it up and kissed her gently on the lips. “Then, we must leave it there, I think. Your father is calling to us.”
Her lips had parted. She stared at him blindly.
“Lina?”
“We must go in, aye,” she said. Whirling, she stepped through the archway, only to stop in her tracks when the hall erupted in applause and cheering.
Rather pleased to know that his kiss had ruffled her more than any teasing had, he followed her. "
― Amanda Scott , The Knight's Temptress (Lairds of the Loch, #2)
