“Kitty, stop.” Without thinking, he took her elbow and pulled her to a halt. He lifted her chin until her gaze met his. “I’ve hardly slept since that night, knowing the way I spoke to you.”
He brushed the backs of his fingers against her soft cheek and his heart slammed against his ribs. Stop! But he couldn’t. Her pull was too powerful, and the look of yearning in her blue-green eyes drew him into their enchanted depths. “I promise that you being a Tory makes no difference to me—not to our friendship. I shall do my best to keep my mouth quiet on such issues from this time forth, but I can make no promises. You know me well enough to understand that.”
“I understand,” she whispered. Kitty’s breathing shuddered and she licked her lips until they resembled dew-kissed strawberries just waiting to be sampled. Suddenly he wanted nothing more than a taste of her mouth. He leaned forward, entranced, desperate to know if her kiss would be as sweet as he imagined.
***
Kitty’s limbs went numb and she parted her lips as her breathing turned erratic. Nathaniel’s warm hand moved from her cheek to the back of her neck and his eyes focused on her lips. Her mouth went dry. He leaned closer, moving his other hand around her waist and pulling her to him.
Could this be real? Kitty’s heart twirled in her chest and she closed her eyes, feeling his warm breath on her face. The emotions she’d carefully concealed so long ago hurled from their hiding place and basked in the sunny-warmth of desire. She need only lift to her toes...
Foolish, girl! What are you thinking?
Gasping, she pushed away as if she had just escaped a whirlpool. Heaving, she stared at Nathaniel’s wide eyes and parted lips. This couldn’t happen. Nathaniel attracted every available woman in town. Kissing him would change Kitty forever—but it would do nothing to him.
She stepped backward. “I... I need to be going.”
When she stepped away, Nathaniel’s expression pushed down and his lips pressed together almost as if he regretted the distance.
Nathaniel shifted his weight, speaking in such an even tone and with such a wry smile, ‘twas as if he had not nearly touched his mouth to hers. “I’ll be expecting something delicious tomorrow night.”
A nervous giggle tickled her throat. “You shall have it.” She nodded her good-bye and started toward the road.
It took ridiculous concentration to put one foot in front of the other. She could feel his eyes at her back and picked up her pace. Why did he watch her?
Reaching the road, she almost ran for the bend where the trees would mask her from Nathaniel’s view when a raspy voice called for her from behind.
“There you are, Miss Campbell. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Cyprian’s malice-laden tone scraped across her like pointed nails.
She jerked to a stop and spun, holding her arms at her sides. Glaring, she kept her mouth tight as she spoke. “I have nothing to say to you.”
Flicking her gaze to where Nathaniel had been, she exhaled. Thankfully, he had gone back inside.
Cyprian’s dark gaze thinned and he laughed. “Aye, but I have much to say to you.”
Courage rising, she pinched her lips. “Nothing I care to hear, I assure you.”
“I fear you have no choice.” He led her forward as if they were good friends, but his rock-like fingers gouged into the tender under-flesh of her arm. “There may be prying eyes, so act as if all is well. Walk beside me, and listen.”
Kitty’s heart thrashed in protest, but she did as commanded, focusing on the small rocks and clods of dirt in the ground as she walked.
“You have only a few days left,” he said. “As I already instructed, I will expect you to pick up the basket I leave for you at my tavern and deliver it to a small cabin across town.”
“But I don’t know where—”
“I will take you there now.”
Her hands trembled and she held her jaw together to keep from screaming.
Cyprian tipped his hat at a passing rider. “Good day.”
As he took her through town, every passing shopper, every carriage seemed to slow and their glaring eyes latched onto her as if they suspected her impending betrayal.
Cyprian continued speaking as they passed the shoemaker’s at the opposite edge of town. “No one will suspect what you will be carrying in your little basket, now will they? That is the excitement of it.”
Pushing her forward onto a hidden path, Kitty scanned the wooded area for any sign of the cabin, but it wasn’t until they’d walked in painful quiet for several more minutes that it finally came into view.