Page 45 of To Wed a Wild Scot
Then there was that kiss…
Logan’s lips curved. Well, he wouldn’t be the first man who’d married to gratify his lust.
“That’s a satisfied smirk you’re wearing. I can’t think of a single reason why you should be so pleased with yourself. Plenty of reasons why you shouldn’t be, however.”
Logan glanced over his shoulder to find Fitz standing just inside the library door. “I don’t suppose it would do any good to ask you to keep those reasons to yourself, would it?”
“None at all.” Fitz came into the room, paused at the sideboard to pour himself a glass of port, then strolled over to the fireplace. He threw himself into the chair across from Logan’s and fixed him with a cool stare.
Logan shifted uncomfortably.It was unsettling to see his own face staring back at him. Fitz had been at Castle Kinross for months, but Logan still wasn’t used to seeing his image in anything other than his mirror.
“Well?” Fitz crossed an ankle over his knee and raised one dark eyebrow at Logan.
Logan scowled. It wasn’t just Fitz’s appearance, either. It was his voice, his gestures—everything about him. It was damn unnerving they could look so much alike, yet still be so different. “Well, what?”
Fitz’s eyebrow went up another notch. “Even if your adventure with Lina last night was as innocent as you say, it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. You know that, right?”
Logan didn’t try to deny it. If it got about that he and Lady Juliana had spent a night together away from Castle Kinross, her reputation would be ruined. “I know.”
Fitz waited for him to say something more. When Logan remained quiet, Fitz considered him for a long moment, his eyes slightly narrowed. For the first time it occurred to Logan that the brother who’d been so agreeable since he arrived at Castle Kinross could be pushed too far. He’d make a worthy adversary once he was.
Fitz studied the glass of port dangling from his fingers. “Given the circumstances, perhaps you’d like to reconsider the question of your marriage to Lady Juliana?”
Logan was already considering it, but he stiffened at the commanding note in Fitz’s voice. “That sounds like an order, brother. Every bit the duke, aren’t you?”
“I’m the laird, as well. Or have you forgotten that?”
Logan recrossed his ankles, uncaring that his boots left a muddy streak on the pale-yellow silk ottoman. Fitz might be his elder brother, but Logan had been his own man for twenty-eight years, and he wasn’t going to start answering to someone now. “Do you think to issue commands to me, brother?”
He expected an angry retort, but Fitz only gave him a calm shrug. “Lina’s reputation has been compromised. I don’t blame you for it, but I do want to know what you intend to do about it.”
Logan had just been asking himself that same question, but that did nothing to prevent the spark of temper rising in his chest. “I haven’t decided yet, but when I do, you can be sure I’ll speak to Lady Juliana about it, notyou. It’s none of your concern, Fitz.”
“Lina’s my dearest friend. Everything to do with her is my concern.”
Logan thought he heard a proprietary note in Fitz’s voice, and his brows lowered. Fitz might have grown up with Juliana, but they were no longer betrothed. He didn’t have any claim on her. “You should have thought of that before you fell in love with Emilia.”
As soon as the words left his lips, Logan wished them back. “I beg your pardon. I didn’t mean—”
An angry flush rose to Fitz’s cheeks. “Perhaps I would have, if you hadn’t hidden Lina’s letters from me, but I’m afraid it’s rather late for that now. So, let’s get back to the point, shall we? What do you intend to do about Lina?”
It was a bloody good question. Pity he still didn’t have an answer.
Logan dragged a hand down his face. He never should have kissed her. If he’d never kissed her, he wouldn’t know those tempting pink lips were even more delicious than they looked. He’d have no idea that the sensation of Juliana’s fingers dragging through his hair was enough to bring him to his knees at her feet.
Those green eyes…
Try as he might, he couldn’t think of a single thing to dislike about her wide green eyes. He’d avoided looking directly at her today, but more than once, when his gaze caught hers, he’d struggled to look away again.
He liked her eyes best when they were flashing with temper.
Which they often did, when he was around. Would it be the worst thing in the world to gaze into those flashing green eyes every day? He’d have to keep her in a temper, of course, but that would be easy enough.
And that kiss…good Lord, that kiss.
Logan thought of her lips opening under his, and a lust unlike any he’d felt before unfurled in his belly. Juliana hadn’t said a word about consummating the marriage, but the union wouldn’t be legal otherwise. She’d be hiswife, after all.
But was a single, knee-weakening kiss a good enough reason to leave Scotland? This was his home, and his father’s home before him. The Blairs had lived at Castle Kinross for as far back as anyone could remember. Logan had always imagined he’d marry a sweet, blue-eyed Scottish lass someday, and raise a half-dozen or so dark-haired Scottish children here.
