Kiwi Bride Series: Highland Kiss by Alexia Praks

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    “ You know I can do more
than that,” he whispered, his warm breath sensuously tickling her
ear.
    She glanced at him through
her dark lashes, her heart fluttering. She didn’t know what to say.
The only things she could be sure of were the nearness of him and
the drumming of her beating heart.
    “ Here. Eat.”
    “ I will eat if you leave
me alone,” she murmured, her eyes downcast.
    “ Nay.”
    She turned to look at him
then, and Alec had to hide his smile at her reaction.
    “ But,” she began. Stop
it, you ninny, she told
herself. He was just playing
with you.
    “ Fine,” she said, her
voice sounding a little bit stronger. “I’ll eat. I’m hungry
anyway.” Then, she practically snatched the bowl from him and
started eating without further reserve.
    Alec couldn’t help but
smile as he watched her devouring her soup so
salaciously.
    Alec made sure Ruby was asleep by the time he returned that night.
He felt rather stupid sneaking into his own
bedroom— his own goddamn
bedroom! He was not a thief,
for God’s sake. But he was pretty sure she’d insist they sleep
separately; and he either had to let her sleep in another room or
he, himself, would have to sleep in another room. And that he didn’t want.
    Once he changed into what
he considered a decent pair of pyjamas: loose trousers and a
T-shirt, which he rarely used, he climbed into bed beside
her.
    Twenty minutes later, his
eyes were still wide open despite being dead tired.
    He just couldn’t sleep. It was not because of the blasted
storm that kept unleashing its fury upon them, but because of the
beauty lying beside him. She was warm, very soft, and half naked. A man didn’t need more than that to torture
him with temptation. To make matters worse, she kept snuggling
closer to him, seeking warmth, not that the room was very cold,
with the fire roaring in the hearth.
    Everything was going fine with him controlling his damn
urges and impulses, but that suddenly changed after midnight. That
was the big problem. She was unexpectedly very hot to
the touch. Not that he intended to touch her, of course, but she,
herself, rolled closer to him, all shivering like a drowned kitten,
craving the warmth of his body. Her skin was burning hot. She was
unnaturally hot, and he knew, God, he knew , she was
in the throes of a fever.
    He knew he had to give her
something to reduce her temperature.
    He hurriedly got out of
bed and found some aspirin. He came back, and managed to wake her
up before helping her take the medicine. When he was satisfied that
she swallowed the two tablets, he lay her back on the bed before
lying down beside her, and letting her head rest in the crook of
his arm.
    When, ten minutes later,
her temperature still didn’t lessen, he got very worried. He’d have
to do something else… and fast.
    He got out of bed and ran
down the stairs to the kitchen.
    Bowl! He needed a
bowl for water. The kitchen was big, and he was never in there
often enough to remember where everything was kept.
    He wanted to ring Mrs.
McKenzie for help, but the thought of waking the woman in the
middle of the night just to find a mere bowl was unreasonable, he
concluded. Thus, he found himself opening every cupboard door he
could put his hands on. At last, he found a bowl and rushed back
upstairs.
    Five minutes later, with
lukewarm water in the bowl and a small towel, Alec started sponge
bathing Ruby’s hot face. He touched her forehead to see if that
helped, and found her temperature there was much cooler.
    “ This is working,” he
said.
    Then he started moving the
wet towel down to her throat. As he did so, he was thinking about
the rest of her body, and paused to look at her flushed face. He
told himself he would not take advantage of her. Anyone would do
what he was about to do if confronted with such an odd
situation.
    He started to unbutton her
shirt.
    “ Forgive me, sweetheart,”
he said.
    Buttons undone, he slipped the towel under her shirt and
started