A Winter Wedding

‘Would you?’

‘I think I might even enjoy it.’

‘What if we disagree?’

Innes pulled her round to face him, sliding his arms around her waist. ‘Madame Hera has the final say, naturally.’

‘And as to the—the other thing?’

Innes smiled. ‘Your introduction into the palace of pleasures? I was thinking that it would be best if we started first with some theory.’

Her eyes widened. ‘You have textbooks?’

‘Good lord, no. I meant Madame Hera’s correspondence. We could discuss it. I could explain anything you are not sure of. That way, you will be able to start answering some of your letters, and at the same time, you can accustom yourself to—to—before you have to—if you do. You might decide not to.’ Innes stopped, at a loss for words, wondering if what he was suggesting was idiotic, or even repugnant.

But Ainsley smiled at him. ‘You mean that I become accustomed to what to expect?’ she asked.

‘And you can accustom me to what you want, too.’

‘I don’t know what I want.’

‘Save that I must wear a kilt?’

Her cheeks flamed. ‘I had forgotten that.’

‘Do you dream of a wild Highlander?’

‘No. Yes.’

‘What does he do?’

‘I don’t know.’ Ainsley’s mouth trembled on the brink of a smile. ‘He—he wants me.’

‘You know I already do.’

‘No, I mean he—he really wants me. He— No, it’s silly.’

‘He finds you irresistible,’ Innes said, charmed and aroused. ‘He wants you so much,’ he whispered into her ear, ‘that he carries you off, right in the middle of the day, and has his wicked way with you on the moor. Or would you prefer a cave?’

‘A cave. In the firelight.’

He was hard. Innes cursed under his breath. He hadn’t meant this to happen. He edged away from her carefully. ‘You are a very apt pupil,’ he said.

‘Oh. I didn’t realise— Is that what that was, a lesson?’

‘It’s all it was meant to be,’ Innes said, ‘but you are a little too good at this. Another minute and I’d be rushing off to find a kilt.’

‘Oh.’

It was a different kind of ‘oh’ this time. She looked at him with the most delightful, pleased little smile on her face, and Innes simply could not resist her. He kissed her, briefly but deeply. ‘I am already looking forward to the next lesson,’ he said.

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