Read Online Three Little Secrets by Liz Carlyle - Free Book Online

his lashes dropped shut, and he lowered his mouth to hers.
    Madeleine felt her knees go weak, and felt something delightfully wicked go twisting through her belly, just as it had last night. And then he was kissing her in a different way, opening his mouth over hers, and thrusting his tongue into her mouth with silken, languid motions. The sensation twisted lower, sending raw desire through her body. She began to tremble, and somehow got the heels of her hands against his shoulders. She pushed him halfheartedly away.
    He lifted his mouth, and drew back.
    “We might be caught,” she whispered.
    His feverish gaze consumed her. “Aye, but I do nae care,” he rasped. “Do you?”
    “I—I have no wish to make my father angry,” she answered. “And this kind of kissing—it is wrong, is it not?”
    “Not if we care for one another,” he whispered.
    “But you scarcely know me.”
    There was a stubborn glint in his eye. “I know you well enough,” he said. “Well enough to know you’re the woman for me. And well enough to know you want me.”
    “Has anyone ever mentioned that you are a little presumptuous, Mr. MacLachlan?”
    The hint of a grin tugged at his mouth. “Do you deny it, lass? Say it plain, and I’ll walk awa’”
    She licked her lips uncertainly. “No. No, I cannot say it.”
    The black, sinfully long lashes dropped shut once more, and somehow, they were kissing again. Deeper. More intently. His skillful hands roamed over her body, honing her need to a sharp, keening ache. Her skin was afire, and she yearned for…oh, for something!
    When he stopped, she could scarcely get her breath. “Mr. MacLachlan!” she managed to say. “You are taking liberties which you oughtn’t.”
    He looked at her with deadly seriousness. “Aye, but I mean to mend that soon enough,” he vowed. “I mean to marry you.”
    Madeleine tried to look at him chidingly. “You are a shockingly arrogant man.”
    “Och, no,” he said. “Just a determined one.”
    She lifted her chin. “And if I’ve no wish to marry you?”
    “Aye, perhaps you willna’,” he acknowledged softly. “For I’ve no beautiful words tae charm you. And I’ve little tae give, save the strength of my back and the talent in my hands—but enough of both tae keep a roof o’er your head.”
    His earnestness impressed her. “And that’s all, is it?”
    He held her gaze steadily. “Aye, that’s all,” he said, his grip on her shoulders tightening. “Is it enough, lass, to win you?”
    She looked up at him coyly. “I am not perfectly sure, Mr. MacLachlan,” she teased. “Perhaps you ought to kiss me again, and help me decide?”
    His eyes warmed. “A kiss bedamned,” he said, grinning. “I want you in my bed.”
    “Another of your strengths, I take it?” she murmured. “Or would that be a talent?”
    “Tormenting wench!” he said, dragging her against his chest. “Just take me tae bed and judge for yourself.”
    “I—I dare not,” she whispered.
    Something in his eyes commanded her. “Tonight,” he said. “Dare. I’ll come tae your window.”
    “Oh, God!” Madeleine squeezed her eyes shut. “My father will kill you if he finds out.”
    “Then I’ll die a happy man,” he said solemnly. “I need to see you. We can just talk, Maddie, if that’s all you want.”
    Dear God, it was not all she wanted. “But we won’t just talk,” she rasped. “It—it isn’t like that with us, is it? Even I know it.”
    He hugged her tightly to him. “I shall throw a pebble against the glass. Will you let me in, lass?”
    Madeleine swallowed hard, and almost against her will, nodded. And then his mouth came crushing down again, leaving her weak-kneed and feverish…
     
    “Just who is she, Merrick, anyway?” Wynwood asked, some two hours later. His booted feet were propped on Merrick’s desk, and he cradled a glass of dark, rich whisky in his hands. “Or rather, who was she? I never did hear, you know.”
    Merrick rose from his