Across a Dark Highland Shore (Hot Highlands Romance Book 2) by Kelly Jameson Page B

admired probably since she was a cooing babe. She is proud and expects praise, romance, and unwavering devotion. If ye dunna think ye can make her fall in love with ye, then she willna.”
    “I am who I am. If she canna hav’e me as I am….”
    “Ye arena listening to me, Highlander. Start by listening to me. I ken in comparison to Lady Katherine I seem barely a woman, but a woman I am. And more qualified than ye are to tell ye what a woman wants from a man.”
    He took a step closer and she had to crane her neck to look up at him. There was amusement in his eyes.
    “Yer vera set in yer ways, Highlander. That will have to change posthaste.”
    “Indeed?”
    Isobel crossed her arms over her chest and began to tap her foot. “Och, but where do we begin? Did Logan recite poetry for her? Did he bring her pretty gifts? Did he dance with her?”
    “That’s an annoying habit of yers, tapping yer foot.”
    “Aye. I have many faults. But we were discussing yers.”
    “By all means, continue to expound upon my faults.”
    “Nay, Highlander, ‘twould take too long.”
    He arched a dark eyebrow and she began to pace, to walk back and forth along the narrow aisle.
    “Logan was always reciting poetry for Lady Katherine,” he said, “Gaelic and some Latin. When they were apart, he sat in his room and wrote her foolish, flowery letters full of his declarations of love. I think he wrote her no fewer than one hundred love sonnets.” He rolled his eyes. “And he lavished gifts upon her at e’ery opportunity.”
    She walked passed him and he grabbed her arm. “Will ye stop that pacing!”
    She began to tap her foot in response.
    “Och,” he said, releasing her arm. “Will ye stop that tapping! All that poetry was foolish. All those flowery words. Why can a man no’ just say what he feels with straightforward words?” He sighed. “I’m afraid that Logan was much more eloquent than I.”
    “What about yer dancing?”
    “Logan danced with Lady Katherine whene’er there were entertainments. I thought that a foolish waste of time as well.”
    “So what did ye do, Highlander, hide in the shadows while e’eryone else danced about?”
    “Yea. So? Ye said once ye preferred the shadows, too.”
    “There will be foolish feasting and dancing this evening?”
    “Aye. And it will be foolish. Did I mention that? But ‘tis the sort of foolish thing the clan needs now. A distraction.”
    “Do ye dance at all, Highlander?”
    In response, he snorted.
    “Tonight ye will dance. With Lady Katherine.”
    “Nay.”
    “Aye. Ye will. She willna expect it. It’s a romantic gesture. What woman doesna enjoy dancing with a handsome man? Surely dancing is something Lady Katherine is quite familiar with. And she quite clearly enjoys an audience for her charms.”
    “So ye think me handsome, Isobel?”
    “I think ye arrogant, Highlander.”
    His lips twitched. “Ye’ve said that before, mayhap on more than one occasion.”
    “We dunna have much time. Now sit. I will tell ye how to dance with a woman. Where to place yer hands, how a woman likes to be commanded and led during the dance, how she likes to be looked at, how she wants to feel in yer arms….”
    “Nay. Ye will no’ tell me how to dance. Ye will show me. I am a slow learner when it comes to such sophisticated graces. It’s been…a long time since I danced.”
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
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    “Vera well, Highlander. Ye vex me so. But we ha’e no musicians, so we will ha’e to imagine the music.”
    “Ha’e ye e’er danced with a man, Isobel?”
    “I ken ‘tis hard for ye to imagine a man asking me to dance, but yea, I danced, once or twice. And many times during the festivals I would watch my mum dance, when she thought I was sleeping. When she danced with Brodie, my father, ‘twas one of the few times I remember her being truly happy. Brodie’s wife was a miserable, wretched woman who ne’er attended any of the festivals herself. She felt them