Blue Bonnets by Marie Laval Page A

before pulling her down and bringing her mouth to his in a hot, rough, impatient kiss.
    The thick stubble on his cheeks rubbed against her skin. It was wet with melted snow, at once soft and bristly, and made her tingle and shiver all over. She lifted a hand to the side of his face and her fingers stroked his cheek in a timid caress.
    His breathing quickened, tremors shook the steely arms that pinned her to him. Pressing one hand against the back of her neck, he forced her lips open with his mouth. His tongue slid inside her mouth and he kissed her long and deep. It was like being devoured alive, possessed by an irresistible force. And vanquished.
    The world exploded in millions of tiny, bright, colourful pieces and then there was only stormy darkness, waves of desire, and an unbearable heat coiling and spreading inside her. Her hands slid along his chest and onto his shoulders and stayed there, clinging and gripping as he ravaged her mouth. More, she wanted more. She wanted him.
    The sounds of voices nearby shattered the dark spell, and knocked her back to reality. She tore herself away from him, pressed her hands against his chest and pushed hard.
    â€˜Someone’s coming.’
    â€˜So what?’ His eyes were a dark and stormy, his breathing fast and heavy, his heart thumped so hard she could feel it against hers.
    Gripped by panic, she pushed harder.
    â€˜Please. I don’t want anybody to see me… to see us like this.’
    He narrowed his eyes, hissed a breath and released her, and she scrambled to her feet.
    â€˜It’s only Garbhan and his family,’ he remarked as he got up. ‘What does it matter if they see us having a tussle in the snow when they know we spent two nights alone in the cottage?’
    â€˜It matters. Of course it matters,’ she cried out. Gathering her skirts, she ran blindly up the forest track. She had to escape, far away from the man who played havoc with her mind, her body… and her heart.
    â€˜Watch out, Miss Rose,’ Garbhan cried out as she bumped into him. ‘You look all upset and flustered. Has the stag come back to give you another fright?’
    Next to him his wife and the three children looked at her with undisguised curiosity. She forced a few deep breaths down before answering.
    â€˜No, it fled into the woods.’
    â€˜We came to say goodbye,’ Garbhan began, ‘and to thank you for scaring that stag away. Our Lorna was so upset we couldn’t make head nor tail of what she was saying. Lord McGunn was the first to understand what was happening and he shot out of the cottage. I never saw a man run as fast.’
    He took hold of Rose’s hand, squeezed it hard.
    â€˜There was no need for me to run,’ McGunn said behind her. ‘Rose was doing fine on her own.’
    He stepped beside her, his arms filled with the tumblers and pots she had dropped near the stream, and looked at Garbhan.
    â€˜So it’s agreed. I’ll see you all at Wrath in a few days.’
    Rose frowned. ‘Wrath? I thought you were heading for Inverness.’
    â€˜Lord McGunn made us an offer we couldn’t refuse,’ Garbhan said with a beaming smile. ‘We will be forever grateful.’
    â€˜Nonsense,’ McGunn retorted. ‘You’re the one doing me a favour. I told you, I need more workers at the fisheries, and a couple of scullery maids at the Lodge.’
    â€˜God bless you, Lord McGunn,’ Alana said, her eyes full of tears. ‘I promise we’ll work hard for you. You’re a good man and what you’re doing for us, well, it’s wonderful.’
    â€˜It’s no big thing. There’s no need to cry,’ he interrupted in a gruff voice.
    Rose wasn’t fooled by his harsh response. He was preserving their pride as well as saving them from life in the slums. Her breath hitched in her throat, her heart felt so tight, so full, it hurt. She felt a tug at her skirt and looked down to