Kiwi Bride Series: Highland Kiss by Alexia Praks Page A

bathing her body while keeping his eyes averted, and
staring at her face instead of what he was doing. Once he deemed it
was enough to cool her fever, he touched her forehead again, happy
to discover it was indeed getting cooler.
    After rebuttoning up her
shirt, he lay beside her and pulled the duvet up to her chin. As he
did so, she moved closer to him, mumbling about something he
couldn’t understand in another language. He didn’t have the heart
to just push her away, so he wrapped his arm around her and moved
her closer still. He didn’t know what came over him as he kissed
her forehead gently. She groaned in her language again. He smiled
and closed his eyes.
    Ruby woke up feeling
utterly drowsy and weak. Her body ached sorely. She sat up, and
instantly, her head spun out of control. She gritted her teeth and
swore silently. Once her dizziness ceased, she scanned her
surroundings. She couldn’t remember where she was. She tried to
think, but her brain refused to function properly. Where am I? This wasn’t her bedroom. Where was everyone else?
Where were her mum and four sisters?
    A dog yapped. She glanced
at a very cute, snow-white dog sitting on the edge of the bed near
her feet. He looked as though he, too, had just woken
up.
    She frowned. Then, slowly and painfully, began to remember
the dog. It was Westies. Then she remembered the storm, her injured
foot, and Alec rescuing her. She remembered him driving the Land
Rover back from the woods and carrying her into the manor. She also
recalled how he treated her injured foot; and then, oh God, she remembered herself crying and admitting that she
was scared. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in his
arms.
    She bit her lip as she
suddenly became mortified with embarrassment. Why did she admit to
him she was scared? Why did she fall asleep in his arms?
    You stupid ninny, she
chided herself. What have you
done? You tried to escape him by running away, and instead, you
nearly killed yourself in the storm. But it was her right, she told herself firmly. It was her
freedom to do as she pleased.
    Captain Snow came to sit
on her lap. She stroked the dog’s head and said, “Oh, Westies, he’d
think me a stupid ninny, all right. I can’t face him.”
    “ Whom can’t you face?”
came a deep male voice at the door.
    Ruby glanced up to see
Alec, carrying a tray in his hands.
    You! She wanted to
shout at him. But, of course, she kept quiet as she watched him
enter the room.
    He was especially handsome this morning in his jeans and
T-shirt. Show off! She silently swore because she
couldn’t stop herself from staring at his manly body.
    “ Food for you,” he said,
placing the tray on the bedside table before sitting down beside
her. That got her heart jump-started like crazy.
    Calm down, Ruby, he’s only
a man. He’s only Alec; your captor. He’s simply pretending to be
nice.
    He touched her forehead
with the back of his hand, and Ruby recoiled. She was so surprised
by the gentle contact that she backed away.
    Alec smiled at her
reaction. “You had a fever last night.”
    “ Did I?” she whispered,
her throat dry, a knot forming in the pit of her
stomach.
    He nodded.
    “ I didn’t know,” she said
as she watched him picking up a piece of toast and giving it to
her.
    “ Breakfast in bed?” she
asked.
    “ You’re not getting out of
bed today, I’m afraid,” he informed her. “And plenty of fluids for
you.”
    “ I can feed myself, thank
you very much,” she said, snatching the toast from him.
    He watched her as she ate.
Ruby felt rather uncomfortable and said, “Don’t you have anything
else to do?”
    “ Not really,” he replied
promptly.
    She paused and looked at
him blankly. “How did you know I had a fever last
night?”
    Alec cocked his head to
one side as he studied her. “I was here.”
    “ What were you doing
here?”
    Alec grinned. She
didn’t remember. He was
curious, so he asked, “What do you remember from
yesterday?”
    Ruby