My Heart's in the Highlands (11 page)

“Papa, really!”

Chapter Thirteen

Hero sucked in a gasp as Mandy tugged at her corset strings, retightening them after the “naptime” her doctor had suggested she indulge in to speed her recovery.  Normally Hero might have welcomed a nap after the active morning and afternoon she had had but today she had merely laid on top of her bed linens clad in only a thin chemise that was little compensation to the heat of the day or to the heat mere thoughts of Ian Conagham fired in her.

Just a flash of that lopsided smile was enough to send her heart racing
, but when it was accompanied by the brush of his knuckles across her cheek or the touch of his lips against the sensitive skin of her wrist, Hero felt as if she might truly swoon for the first time in her life.  In such moments her head swam deliciously, her breath grew shallow, and her extremities—even her lips—would tingle.

It was desire.
  Want.

And so very euphoric.
  Never had she experienced such fascination before. 

“My lady?”

Hero started with a blush.  “Yes, Mandy?”

Her maid raised a curious brow.
  “I was wondering which gown you would like for dinner  tonight?”

“The pink organdy, I think.”

“Oh,” Mandy said with a frown that pulled Hero away from her own thoughts.  “You don’t think so?”

“It’s a lovely gown, my lady.”

Hero matched Mandy’s frown with one of her own, wondering what had prompted such a response.  The gown was beautiful.  The starched organdy had a gathered bodice and loose bell sleeves that were perfect for a hot summer night.  “But?  I thought we agreed that in coming to Cuilean and given the heat of the summer, putting off my mourning would be acceptable as long as I wasn’t out in Society.”

“It’s not that, my lady.
  I was just thinking that perhaps the trio of ruffles at the bottom are a wee bit girlish?” the maid offered haltingly.

“To
o girlish for what?” Hero smiled teasingly.  “Am I getting too old for a flounce or two?”

“Oh, no, my lady!” Mandy rushed to assure her, then bit back a smile when she saw the amusement on her
mistress’s face.  It must have emboldened her because she added more confidently,  “Perhaps the red silk?”

Hero
's eyes widened.  “The red?  Isn’t that a bit sophisticated for a simple dinner at Cuilean?”

“I thought that perhaps Lord Ayr might appreciate the
…”  Mandy pointed with one finger to a spot low on her bosom and Hero felt a blush rush to warm her cheeks once again.  Turning away to hide what it might reveal, Hero sat at her dressing table so that Mandy could go to work on her hair.

Mandy brushed her long hair silently for a few moments until Hero found herself asking
,

“What makes you think I’m trying to impress the marquis?”

“Aren’t you, my lady?”

“You’re being impertinent, Mandy,” Hero said sternly
, but she knew the reprimand wouldn’t stop the maid from voicing her thoughts.  After ten years, Mandy often felt she had earned the right to her opinion.  Hero wasn’t wrong there.

“Look at him, my lady,” Mandy said as
she twisted a lock of hair and expertly jabbed in a hairpin to secure it before moving on to another.  “He’s what the maids in the scullery call a braw, bonny lad.  It’s plain he’s taken a shine to you as well.”

“Is it?”
  Hero’s heart raced at the thought.

“Mmm,” Mandy hummed in the affirmative as she braided a long narrow strand and looped it around the twisted curls.
  “Just as it’s obvious that you are attracted to him.”

Hero cringed at that.
  “Is it?”

The maid only patted her shoulder.
   “I’ve been with you a long time, my lady.  The others don’t see what I can.  But why not take a chance with the marquis?  You could do worse.”

“I’ve hardly been widowed a year.”

“To a man old enough to be your father,” Mandy replied promptly.  “Think what it would be like with a man like Lord Ayr.”

Since
that was all Hero had been able to think about, it  took but a moment for her cheeks to bloom brightly once again.  She thought of his all too brief but tantalizing kisses and his promise to kiss her properly.  What exactly did properly entail? 

How could it possibly be more exhilarating?

Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to try something that would be more inviting to him.

“So the red?” Mandy said with a smile when she saw the light in Hero’s eyes.

“No, no, but perhaps the ivory silk?”

Mandy thought on that
, then nodded before turning to the wardrobe to pull out the gown.  She eyed it critically but seeming satisfied, helped her mistress dress.  Hoops and petticoats went on and then the two-tiered skirt.  The overskirt was ivory silk that was almost the same shade as her hair.  It hung over the apple green silk underskirt in a swooping scalloped hem that was trimmed in a long ivory fringe.  The hem of the green was edged in smaller scallops finished with a wide green and ivory striped ribbon.  The same green was also appliqued in long scalloped cutouts on the ivory overskirt.  The bodice’s shoulder-baring neckline mirrored the scalloped hem of the skirt and was trimmed by a shorter ivory fringe that tickled against her bare arms.  A green and ivory striped belt emphasized her tiny waist. 

By comparison to the wide skirts, the bodice seemed minimal.
  A jade cameo set at the low V between her breasts drew attention to the swell of her breasts.  It was far more subtle than the red, but elegant and alluring nonetheless.

“Lord Ayr will be agog, my lady
,” Mandy said with a smile as she set the latch on the matching necklace.  “You are perfect.”

Perfectly attired?

Perfectly excited was more like it.

“Good evening, Lord Ayr.”

Hero’s soft greeting drifted across the first-floor rotunda, capturing Ian’s attention as he emerged from his rooms that evening.  He looked across the hall to find her doing the same from her rooms on the other side of the grand staircase.  Impossible as it seemed, she was even lovelier than she had been earlier that day.  Unlike the previous night, tonight Hero wore modest jewels.  A choker of three pearl strands with a large jade cameo accented her long neck.  Matching earrings dangled from her ears.

Ian thought that the jade would perfectly match the green
edge of her eyes.  Though the polished jade shone even in the dim light, her eyes sparkled brightly.  Ian took a step toward her, but instead of approaching him, Hero indicated with a tilt of her head that she was going toward the Blue Drawing Room and walked along her half of the oval of the grand staircase, trailing her fingers lightly along the balustrade while Ian matched her progress on the other side. 

Ian
watched Hero as she went, disappearing behind each column only to quickly reappear, casting him sidelong glances flirtatiously from beneath her lashes as she did so.  She paused just before the halfway point of the oval near the drawing room and waited for Ian there.  “Good evening, Lord Ayr,” she said with a smile as he reached her.

“Good evening,
Lady Ayr,” he responded with a bow and held out his hand.  She slipped her small hand into his larger one, her smile broadening.

 
“Thank you again for a pleasant afternoon,” he said.

“Thank you for a pleasant d
ay,” she countered pertly, reaching up to adjust his cravat.  “You look very handsome tonight.”

Ian felt inordinately pleased by the standard compliment.
  Reaching out, he smoothed her hair from her temple unnecessarily, since every strand was in place, but he wanted to touch her and any excuse would do.  Unable to help himself, Ian ran his finger down her long neck, bared by her bound hair.  He would love to see those golden locks hanging loose about her.  “And you are exquisite, though there is something in your eyes.  They are dancing with the devil tonight.  Why is that?”

A blush
brightened her cheeks becomingly and her hands left Ian’s cravat to smooth down his shirtfront.  “Oh, nothing really.  Just …”

“
Wondering?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. His pulse already racing,  he bent his head to whisper in her ear,  “Anticipating?”

She inhaled sharply and swayed toward him even while she shook her head.
  “Of course not.  This is hardly the time …”

“No?”
  Ian brushed the back of his fingers down the slope of her bosom.  “I shouldn’t take my kiss right here?  Isn’t that what you were hoping for?”

“No,” she shook her head.
  “Not here.  Maybe.”

“Maybe?” he leaned closer, his lips just inches from hers.

“Yes,” she sighed, and Ian brushed his lips gently over hers, triumphantly claiming the kiss that he had anticipated all day.

“Daughter, is that you?” Beaumont bellowed from the drawing room.  “Come in!  Come in!  You simply must see this!”

Rolling his eyes, Ian shook his head at Hero.
“Honestly, I don’t know whether to love him or hate him.”

“I did say this wasn’t the right time,” Hero said teasingly
, but there was regret in her eyes as well.  Her cheeks were flushed, her lips moist, and Ian was hard put not to drag her off to his chamber and leave her father to his own devices.

Hero reached out and caressed his cheek, her lips parted as if she meant to speak
, but the duke yelled once more.  “I shall come in, Papa, only if you promise me you are decently clothed,” she said, even as she entered the room.

“I am.
  I am.”

Stifling his burgeoning desires once again,
Ian followed Hero into the drawing room, only to come up short at the sight of the duke lying on his back in the middle of the library floor, staring up at the ceiling.  “I say there, Harry, are you all right then?”

“This is the most marvelous thing.”

“Papa has been examining the ceiling friezes since he arrived,” Hero explained, biting back a smile.  “He feels that lying in the center of the room provides the most advantageous viewpoint to study them.”

“Is that so?
”

“Perhaps it was a good thing you missed breakfast this morning,” she went on, humor lacing her voice.
  “He took the opportunity to lie on the table to get a closer look.”