Page 10 of The Highlander Is All That

His face went a bit red. “Do you often kiss strange men with no provocation?” A bark.

Really, he had no call to be snippy.

“You provoked me,” she pointed out.

“I most certainly did no’.” Oh yes. Outrage indeed.

“You smiled at me.”

“You smiled at me.”

“And when I tripped”—she had not actually tripped—“you caught me.”

“That was the bluidy gentlemanly thing to do.”

“But you kept holding me. And staring at me. And breathing on me. And, in fact, you are the one who kissed me.” Again, untrue. It had been a mutual thing.

“This conversation is beside the point.”

She gaped at him. Was it? Was it really? “What is the point, exactly?”

“I shouldna ha’ kissed you.” She loved that as his dander rose, his accent became more pronounced.

“It was a nice kiss.”

“I am here to protect you from blackhearts who would kiss you like that.”

“But I enjoyed it.”

“Stop saying that!” He raked his hair again until it stood on end.

“But it’s true.”

“Elizabeth. Please. This canna happen again.”

“All right.” She had every intention that it would, but for some reason, her quick capitulation seemed to annoy him even more.

“We should go back to the house,” he said.

“Of course.” He flinched when she took his arm as they started on the path, but then he settled into the expected role.

They walked in silence for a bit, but mostly because Hamish was brooding. When he spoke, it was in something of a grumble. “So, do you?”

She glanced at him. His expression was tight. A muscle bunched in his cheek. She noticed that the speckles of his beard caught the sun in glints of gold and red. “Do I what?”

“Kiss strange men?”

Ah. He was jealous. She hid her smile. “I do try to avoid the strange ones.”

Oh! He did not like that. He bristled like a hedgehog.

Her smile deepened.

“How many men have you kissed?”

She couldn’t tell him the truth, so she merely shrugged.

“Can you even remember?”