But when she rewarded him with that glimmering smile, he tossed caution out the window.
You’re going to marry the lass, anyway.
Donella touched a gentle finger to his lips. “Then I suggest we put those minutes to good use.”
As he leaned in to kiss her, she pressed two fingers over his lips.
“But let’s be sensible,” she teased. “Heaven knows, Mr. Kendrick, we don’t want to cause any gossip.”
“Cheeky lass,” he growled.
When he took her mouth in a devouring kiss, she sank into his embrace. For long delicious moments, Logan pleasured her mouth, as he wanted to pleasure the rest of her body. When she snuggled closer, he wrapped his fingers around the back of her head, dislodging the bandeau. While made of the softest of velvets, it wasn’t as soft as Donella’s bright curls or the silky texture of the nape of her neck.
Her breath was sweet against his lips, and the sound of her happy sigh whispered through him. Logan planted a searing kiss against her mouth, openmouthed and hungry, before reluctantly beginning to pull back. But the creamy skin of her cheek, the delicate curve of her jawline was so tempting that he had to sample them as well. Then, he promised himself, he’d stop.
When he trailed kisses across her kitten-soft cheek, she moaned and wriggled again, the movement shooting heat through his groin. Swallowing a curse, he pulled back to gaze at the beauty he held fast in his arms.
That was almost his undoing, since her delectable breasts had swelled over her bodice, and her dress was now hiked up over her knees, exposing the tops of her garters and affording a peek at her rounded thighs.
Unable to resist, Logan rested a hand on her knee, playing with her delicate stockings.
Her innocently seductive gaze, soft as moss, met his. “Should we stop?” she whispered.
“Probably,” he whispered back.
Just a few minutes more.
He tipped Donella back over his arm and trailed his tongue over the pulse beating just under the delicate skin of her neck.
“Oh, oh,” she gasped, arching beneath him.
Something broke free, and all his restraint fell away. As he lavished kisses on her neck, Donella let out a moan. Logan slid a hand under the hem of her gown, trailing up over smooth skin—
A startled feminine gasp from behind them was followed by a string of masculine curses.
Fate, it seemed, was about to catch up with them.
“What the hell is this?” roared an aggrieved voice.
Donella’s eyes flew open, wide with panic. When she started to struggle, Logan clamped her firmly in his arms and brought her to a sitting position on his lap. Then he twisted them both around so he could face the impending mayhem.
Alec charged into the room, all but breathing fire from flared nostrils. Right behind him, shaking her head but looking more amused than irritated, was Edie.
“What the hell does it look like?” Logan replied.
“Oh, my God.” Donella buried her face into his cravat.
Logan gave her a reassuring squeeze. “It’s all right, sweetheart. Everything will be fine.”
“Yes, it will,” Alec barked. “After I rip your head off, you bastard.”
Edie elbowed her better half. “No fighting in the middle of parties.” Then she adopted a stern look. “Really, Mr. Kendrick. I expected better of you.”
Logan ticked up an eyebrow. “Really?”
Her mouth twitched. “I suppose not. Although you might want to allow Donella the chance to, er, arrange herself before this discussion goes any further.”
Logan glanced down and sighed. Bringing them around to face the room had done a splendid job of twisting the poor girl’s dress well above her knees and pulled her bodice sadly askew.
When Donella glanced down at her gown, she yelped and started to flail.
Logan ducked to avoid her backhanding him. “Hang on, lass, or you’ll knock me out.”
“I’ll be doing that myself,” Alec threatened.
Edie shoved her husband aside. “Get out of my way, you big Scottish oaf.” She marched up to the chaise. “Would you please put Donella down so I can help her correct herself?”
“As soon as she stops wriggling about like a hog in a gunnysack, I will be happy to do so,” Logan said.
Donella froze, and both women all but incinerated him with smoldering glares.
“Sorry,” he said with a wince.
“You are as big an oaf as my husband,” Edie replied as she helped Donella off Logan’s lap.
“Are you just going to sit there?” Alec demanded of him.
“I rather think I am.”
“It’s quite rude to remain sitting while the ladies are standing,” Edie said as she brushed Donella’s skirts back into some semblance of order.
“Best if I stay seated, lass.”
“Get up, you coward,” Alec said.
Logan sighed and came to his feet. Everyone’s gaze immediately went to the unfortunate tenting arrangement underneath his kilt.
“That explains why you wanted to remain seated,” Edie dryly said.
“Aye.” Fortunately, the situation was quickly self-correcting.
Donella sank back onto the chaise and covered her face. “Someone please kill me now.”
“No, I’ll just kill Logan,” Alec replied. “And then your problem will be solved.”
Edie, who was starting to fix Donella’s hair, scowled at her husband. “No one is killing anyone. We know what needs to happen, and I’m sure Logan does, too.”
“Of course I do. In fact, I was in the middle of proposing to Donella when you interrupted us.”
Donella raised her head. “You most certainly were not.”
“Now I am going to kill him,” said Alec.
Logan stared at Donella with disbelief. “What in God’s name did you think this was about? Playing skittles? Of course we’re going to get married.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, which disheveled her bodice anew. “Sir, I do not recall hearing the beginning of any such proposal.”
“But I specifically asked if you were sure about what we were doing, and you said yes.”
“And I said I was sure about this.” She waggled a hand between them, as if to explain what had transpired on the chaise. “Not about that.”
“Well, that is exactly what I took it to mean.”
“Then you assumed incorrectly,” she said in a haughty voice.
“This is a ridiculous conversation,” Alec complained. “You’re not making any sense.”
“They’re making perfect sense.” Edie struggled to pull Donella’s tight sleeve up over her shoulder. “You’re just too thickheaded to understand.”
“Edie—”
She rounded on her husband. “Donella is making it clear that she will not be forced into marriage simply because we discovered them in a private moment.”
“She’d damn well better marry the bastard, or else.”
“Keep your voice down,” his wife ordered. “You’ll bring the entire house down on us.”
“Of course I’m going to marry her,” Logan said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you from the moment you stormed into the bloody room.”
“You might try proposing first,” Donella said in a freezing tone.
Logan stopped glaring at Alec long enough to take in her angry flush and the stubborn tilt to her jaw. But behind the irate expression, he saw shame in her eyes and, worst of all, an uncertainty that made her look achingly young.
That almost broke his heart. That she could still be uncertain of him . . .
He crouched down and took her hands. They were trembling, and her fingers were cold.
“I’m sorry that I got it backward, love,” he said gently. “But you know how I feel about you, and you know what I want.”
She gnawed her lip. “I don’t, actually.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Very well. I’m quite certain about the secon
d part,” she said in a grumpy voice.
“I want it all, Donella. I want you.”
She shook her head. “Not like this. Not when neither of us is given a true choice.”
Logan mentally frowned. He understood her embarrassment but got the sense that something else was holding her back.
“That’s because you don’t have a choice,” Alec barked.
Donella suddenly batted Logan’s hands away and rushed to her feet. “How dare you lecture me, Alasdair Gilbride? I caught you in the exact same situation with Eden.”
Logan stood. “That was worse, since you were engaged to the idiot at the time.” He flashed his teeth at Alec, who was steaming like a kettle about to boil over.
“You must admit the irony is rather thick on the ground, dearest,” Edie said to her husband.
Alec fumed a bit longer before capitulating. “Oh, very well. But this has got to be dealt with. And it has to be tonight, or I will kill Logan.”
“I do wish you would stop making outlandish threats,” Donella said. “It’s annoying. And nobody is forcing me—or Mr. Kendrick—to do anything tonight.”
Now it was Logan’s turn to feel frustrated. “Donella, your cousin may be an idiot most of the time—”
“That’s rich, coming from you,” Alec interrupted.
“But he’s right about this,” Logan continued. “We need to announce our betrothal as soon as possible.”
Her chin went up again in that stubborn tilt. “I’m not doing anything until I’ve had time to consider it fully.”
“That’s the spirit,” Edie said. “Let’s just get you moderately presentable, and then we’ll sneak you upstairs.”
“No one is sneaking anywhere until this is resolved,” Alec sternly said.
Edie rolled her eyes. “Would you please keep your blasted—”
“Laddie, are ye in there?” Angus called from outside the door. A moment later, he barreled into the room. “Nick is lookin’ for ye, and . . . what the bloody hell is goin’ on here?”
“Grandda, this is not a good time,” Logan said. “Why don’t you find Nick and ask him to meet me in the supper room? I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Angus stomped across the room and halted in front of the chaise, his gaze flickering between Logan and Donella. His eyes grew wide as he took in her sagging bodice, wrinkled skirt, and messy hair.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” she said, blushing so brightly, her freckles disappeared.
“So, this is what ye have been up to.” Angus jabbed a finger at Logan’s nose. “Shame on ye for goin’ it about so shabbily. Yes, ye should be marryin’ the good lass, but de-flowerin’ the Flower—”
Logan clamped a hand over his grandfather’s mouth. “Shut up, Grandda.”
The old man removed Logan’s hand and grimaced an apology at Donella, who looked all but ready to faint.
Logan rather wished he could faint, or better yet disappear with Donella. This was probably the most embarrassing night of his life, and he’d had more than a few over the years.
“Sorry, lass,” Angus said. “I dinna mean to embarrass ye, but I was that surprised to see ye so . . .”
“Fashed?” Edie suggested.
“Never ye fear, though,” he earnestly added. “The lad will do the right thing, or I’ll kill him myself.”
“You’d have to line up,” Logan said. “Of course I’m going to marry the girl. Now, will you please go find Nick and—”
“Uh-oh,” Edie said. “Too late.”
Logan turned to see his brother standing in the doorway, his expression slowly turning thunderous. Victoria, by his side, simply looked resigned.
“Logan, what is the meaning of this?”
The others could shout and bluster as much as they wanted, and Logan wouldn’t give a damn other than how it affected Donella. But his brother’s icy tone and stern expression had Logan cringing like a guilty schoolboy.
“It’s not what it looks like, Nick.”
Victoria crossed the room to join Donella and Edie. “If I had to venture a guess, I’d say it’s exactly what it looks like.” She shook her head at Logan. “Really, I am most disappointed in you.”
“Feel free to join the club.”
“I’ll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head, Logan,” Nick said as he stalked into the room.
“It’s just as much my fault as his,” Donella said.
“I very much doubt that, Miss Haddon.” Nick took in her state of disrepair and then directed another glare at Logan. “Really?”
Logan held up his hands. “She’s not wrong, you know. We didn’t come in here just to . . .”
“Snog?” Alec sarcastically finished.
“I’ll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head, Alasdair,” Donella snapped. “Mr. Kendrick was about to say that we came in here to discuss an unfortunate scene that occurred in the supper room.”
“It looks like ye got distracted,” Angus commented.
“We did,” Logan said. “It was my fault.”
Donella shook her head. “No, it—”
“Lass, would you please let me explain?” Logan interrupted, exasperated. “We’ll be here all night if I don’t.”
“It’s going to take me all night to fix this dress and Donella’s hair,” Edie said as she once more yanked on the girl’s sleeves. “You are a menace, Logan Kendrick. The dress is ruined.”
“That’s not the only thing that’s ruined,” Donella said morosely.
Logan briefly closed his eyes, feeling like an utter worm. He’d made a complete cock-up of everything, and his poor, sweet girl would suffer the consequences.
As would his attempts to woo her, if her scrambling retreat was any indication.
“Victoria, perhaps you can assist Eden,” Nick said, “while Logan explains why, exactly, he felt the need to lure Miss Haddon into a very ill-advised private conversation.”
Logan glared at his brother. “From what I heard, you had more than a few ill-advised private conversations with your wife. While she was still a spinster, I might add.”
“Point taken,” Victoria said.
Edie smothered a chuckle. “It would appear that every man in this room is a reprobate. How shocking.”
“Not me,” said Angus in a pious tone.
“We are straying quite beyond the point,” Nick said, looking massively annoyed.
“Aye, we are,” Alec agreed. “Start talking, Kendrick, and it had better be good.”
Logan glanced at Donella, now sitting on the chaise while Victoria tried to readjust her lopsided bandeau. She nodded her silent approval.
“It was about Donella’s mother,” Logan said. “About her current unfortunate situation.”
Alec immediately went stiff as a plank. “My aunt’s situation is no one’s business.”
“Tell that to the guests who were loudly gossiping that my mother was in a lunatic asylum,” Donella countered. “They said I belonged in there with her.”
Her stark statement knocked the room into momentary silence.
Predictably, Angus recovered first. “Yer mam’s in a lunatic asylum?”
Logan jabbed him in the shoulder. “Of course she’s not. And do not repeat that gossip.”
His grandfather scowled. “I wouldna do that. I’m not a boob, ye ken.”
Edie bent down to give Donella a hug. “I’m so sorry, dearest. It must have been incredibly distressing to hear such ugly talk.”
Donella gave her a wan smile.
“Hell and damnation.” Alec rubbed a frustrated hand over his head. “I thought we’d scotched that sort of nonsense years ago.”
“Apparently not,” Logan said. “I might also add that you’ve done a piss-poor job of protecting Donella from gossip. You and your uncle have left her dangling in the damn wind, from what I can tell.”
“Language, Mr. Kendrick,” Donella said.
He smothered a smile. Even in the middle of a crisis, the almost-nun managed
to scold him for cursing. It was perverse, but he loved that about her.
“That’s bloody nonsense,” Alec snapped. “And it’s none of your damn business, anyway.”
“Language, dear,” Edie said in a mocking tone.
Alec shot her a disbelieving glance before switching his attention back to Logan. “May I remind you that Donella has been staying with the Kendrick family, under their protection? If you ask me, your family has been making a hash of it, especially after that incident in the sweet shop.”
Angus bristled. “Now, see here—”
Nick held up a restraining hand. “While it’s true that Miss Haddon is under my protection, I cannot be happy that Victoria and I know so little about her mother’s situation. It obviously makes it difficult to manage any resulting gossip.”
“Always holdin’ it close to the vest, is Riddick.” Angus sniffed. “Thinks he’s better than the rest of us.” Then he pointed at Alec. “As do ye, laddie. But let’s not forget whose wife is the daughter of the Prince Regent, ye ken.”
That helpful intervention had the expected result. The other men started arguing, with their wives trying to intervene.
For a few moments, Logan almost enjoyed the ridiculous scene. While Victoria was the illegitimate daughter of the Prince Regent, Alec was the illegitimate son of one of the Regent’s younger brothers. And since Victoria’s mother had been a barmaid and Alec’s mother a countess, Logan figured it was debatable when it came to bragging rights.
Then again, Scots tended to take the finer points of family heritage rather seriously.
While the various parties were distracted by the argument, Donella tried to sneak away from the room. She was nearing the door when Logan reeled her back.
“None of that, lass.” He dropped a kiss on her messy curls, barely held in place by the still-lopsided bandeau. “By the way, I like your hair.”
She gave him a shove. “You’re as ridiculous as the rest of them, and this entire episode is making my head ache.”
He tipped up her chin and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “We’ll get it sorted, I promise.”
“You, Kendrick,” Alec barked. “No kissing until you’re betrothed. Better yet, not until you’re married.”
Edie feigned surprise. “I don’t believe we waited, dearest. Perhaps you can refresh my memory, if it’s faulty.”
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